#033
Fortunately, Ju Isin, who wasn’t particularly interested in my past, didn’t probe further or become suspicious, and accepted my answer with a single nod. Then he made eye contact with Gyoyeon again and this time began questioning her.
“Noona, what’s your relationship with Ranho hyung?”
“Friends. Best friends.”
“Don’t you have feelings for hyung?”
“What? Ranho and I aren’t like that.”
“How can you not like that hyung? Noona, did you see him making bouquets? When he touches flowers, it’s really something else.”
Ju Isin didn’t hide his suspicious expression toward Gyoyeon.
“If you saw hyung touching flowers, your heart would have fluttered.”
“It did flutter, but not particularly? And since it doesn’t usually flutter, it’s fine.”
At Gyoyeon’s firm words, Ju Isin opened his eyes drowsily with a disbelieving face and made sounds in his throat – hmm, hmm, mm. I’m tired to death and these guys…
“Well, anyway. Since neither Ranho nor I are like that, don’t worry about it. Let’s eat lunch. Would you like to come along too?”
“Yes.”
Ju Isin answered without refusing, showing no signs of being shy around strangers.
“I’m, well…”
I don’t want to go. I don’t want to go because it’s uncomfortable. It’s bothersome. Whether my emotions remained completely on my face, the perceptive Gyoyeon grabbed my arm and pulled me with an “ugh-” sound.
“Dongju-ssi said he’d buy you something delicious and asked us to come~ Let’s go together, okay? Rano-ya.”
Gyoyeon was being uncharacteristically clingy. I looked at Yeo Dongju, who was smiling from a distance from Gyoyeon, with disapproving eyes, then reluctantly let out a deep sigh and nodded.
“Let’s go somewhere close. There’s an Italian restaurant nearby. Is that okay? Is that alright with you?”
I deliberately looked at Yeo Dongju rather than Gyoyeon when I asked. At my naturally fierce gaze, Yeo Dongju made a pitiful expression and nodded.
“I don’t mind, so please eat what you like.”
“Let’s go.”
A large hand slipped between the hands that Gyoyeon and I were naturally holding. A palm as soft as velvet, as if it had never experienced hardship, grabbed my wrist and lightly, gently pulled my hand away.
“Hyung, do you like Italian food?”
“I like Korean food.”
When I answered while handing him the jumper I had been holding, Ju Isin’s eyes sparkled and he nodded as if he had gained deep enlightenment.
“I know a place that does Korean food well. Let’s go together sometime.”
Ju Isin smiled brightly and chattered nonstop while putting on his jumper and going outside.
The newly opened Italian restaurant had that distinct new feeling from the interior design. Before I could even look around, Gyoyeon chose the menu.
“Isn’t steak a bit much for lunch?”
“I’m fine with it. Order what you want to eat.”
Yeo Dongju, who had taken the seat next to Gyoyeon, spoke in an affectionate voice. He gently removed the hair stuck to Gyoyeon’s cheek and smiled with his eyes. Gyoyeon’s face instantly turned red.
“Well, hmm… Well, Ranho, Ranho-ya. What should we order? Isin-ssi, what do you like? Pasta? Pizza?”
“I’m not really hungry. Order what you want to eat.”
“Then… should we get the lunch course? It comes with a good variety.”
I nodded, and Yeo Dongju chose another steak, saying the main course was too meager. If he was going to do that, he should have ordered it himself from the beginning. I visibly shook my head because I didn’t like any of his actions.
“Ju Isin-ssi, isn’t there anything you want to eat?”
I asked if there was anything he wanted to eat, looking at Ju Isin who showed no interest in the menu at all, but he just shrugged and didn’t say what he particularly wanted to eat.
“I’ll just eat whatever you give me. I haven’t eaten much of this kind of food, so I don’t really know what’s what.”
He smiled brightly and looked around, checking the menu to see what came with the lunch course. After matching the food with the pictures, even that seemed boring as he pressed the button on the ring on his pinky finger and stared endlessly at the sparkling lights.
Then, at some point finding common ground in his conversation with Gyoyeon, he showed off his characteristic way of speaking and made her laugh. Gyoyeon really burst out laughing with a “kyaruru.” And Yeo Dongju was looking at such Gyoyeon with a disgusting smile.
“…I really hate this.”
“Yes?”
“Ranho-ya?”
Ah, I guess what I was only thinking came out of my mouth.
“Ah, the weather. I really hate how cold the weather is. It already feels like winter. It’s only just November.”
“I thought you said something else. You surprised me! I thought you didn’t want to come here.”
Gyoyeon naturally leaned her head against Yeo Dongju’s arm and let out a shallow sigh. If I hadn’t known Yeo Dongju’s true nature, it would have been a sight worth gushing over as a well-matched pair, but knowing his true colors, even their affectionate appearance only filled me with thoughts of how I could break up their relationship.
“Ranho gets really affected by autumn. So when I can’t reach him around this time, I get anxious and worried.”
“Ah… so Ranho-ssi is affected by autumn.”
Yeo Dongju ostentatiously interlaced his fingers with Gyoyeon’s hand and looked at me with a pitying expression. What the hell, crazy.
“I don’t get affected by autumn anymore. And seasons should be distinguished by the flowers that bloom, not by mood.”
“Really?”
“Really. The flower shop has been busy lately, so I don’t have time to be affected by autumn. And autumn is already over. Isn’t it winter now?”
“That’s a relief. I was seriously considering commuting from your house.”
All of Gyoyeon’s worries are sincere. I’m both grateful for such a friend and feel sorry that a friend would care this much for me.
“Come often. That would work, right?”
“Hey, I need to date too, you know? We’re in the early stages of our relationship. It’s an irreplaceable time.”
Gyoyeon, who smiled brightly with a face full of excitement, looked genuinely happy. Actually, that bastard isn’t as good a guy as you think he is – how exactly should I bring up those words to say them well?
“…Do as much as you want. But marry me instead.”
“Pfft, he’s still going on about marriage. Ranho says he’ll marry me if that team leader rejects him. What should I do?”
“Of course-“
“No way.”
It was Ju Isin, not Yeo Dongju, who answered the cute question first. All three gazes immediately turned to Ju Isin.
“What, why is Isin-ssi saying whether Ranho can or can’t get married…”
“Anyway, no way.”
Ju Isin held the sparkling ring and carefully slipped it onto the tip of my left ring finger.
“I like Ranho hyung, so no way.”
“Crazy.”
“Whoa. Amazing.”
“……”
At the bombshell declaration, all three of us could only make dumbfounded expressions. With perfect timing, a server came and started setting up the food. Gyoyeon’s pupils moved busily back and forth between me and Ju Isin, then at some point became fixed on Ju Isin. Among the four of us, Ju Isin was the only one who could finish the meal as if nothing had happened.
***
After leaving the restaurant, Gyoyeon was the first to come to her senses. She grabbed my hand, stood on her tiptoes, and put her lips to my ear. With the brief words ‘I’ll call you,’ she slowly walked away with Yeo Dongju. I watched their gradually shrinking figures and thought I should confess about Yeo Dongju tonight. My honest feelings were that I didn’t want to leave such a guy by Gyoyeon’s side for even one more minute.
Ju Isin matched my pace as we walked toward the flower shop. I wanted him to leave because it was bothersome, but he didn’t seem to have any intention of doing so.
“How far are you planning to follow me?”
“To the flower shop?”
“Are you going to buy flowers?”
“Do I have to buy some if I follow? Then I’ll buy some!”
At that overly cheerful answer, my body, which had been tense with nervousness, completely relaxed.
“Ah.”
At the laugh that burst out weakly, Ju Isin made a deliberately worried expression and moved his hand to touch and then remove it from my forehead.
“Hyung, why do you hate that noona’s boyfriend?”
“What, how did you know?”
“It would be harder not to know. You were openly disliking him. Only that noona probably didn’t notice.”
Ju Isin stepped one step ahead of me and turned around. I looked straight ahead while Ju Isin looked at me as we walked precariously.
“Why do you hate him?”
“…Just. Gyoyeon is too good for him. It’s funny for someone to say who’s too good for whom when it’s just people meeting people. But still, she’s too good for him.”
“Is that why you asked her to marry you?”
Because I’m certain I could treat her better than Yeo Dongju. I couldn’t bring myself to say that answer because it was too cringeworthy, so I just nodded a couple of times to the question.
“Walk straight. You’re going to fall.”
I passed by Ju Isin, who was standing with his hands in his pockets making a pouty expression. I stepped onto the terrace and only unlocked the door before opening it, then the long body that had been frozen in place moved quickly to follow me.
“What flowers do you have? What kind of flowers? I’m going to my parents. To talk about hyung.”
“Why would you go all the way there to talk about me?”
As soon as I entered, I took off my cardigan and washed my hands out of habit. I turned the lever toward the cold water and rubbed my palms until they felt numb, when Ju Isin, who had approached with quick steps, hurriedly pushed down the lever to stop the water.
“Your fingertips are all red. The weather is cold too, so why-“
“Flowers. I just thought of it. What I should make for Ju Isin-ssi.”
“Do you only think about flowers?”
I gave a slight smile with just the corners of my mouth toward Ju Isin, who had a bewildered expression, then opened the showcase and took out several flowers that would seem unfamiliar to him. Since Ju Isin is a bit restless, today’s flowers should be calm green tones.
“What’s this? The round thing?”
“Green dianthus.”
“What about this? A rose?”
“Yeah, a rose. It’s called Miss Holland. Pretty, right?”
“How do you know all the flower names, hyung?”
Ju Isin seemed to find the dianthus quite fascinating as he held it up in the air and examined it from various angles. He put his finger on the tip of the chestnut-like flower and gently stroked it, then furrowed his eyebrows in a figure-eight shape as if the texture was different from what he had expected.
“If you run a flower shop but don’t know flowers, that would be problematic in its own way, wouldn’t it?”
“I suppose… but this looks like that thing. Mamosa? That thing you grow in water. Mamosa? Right?”
“…You probably mean marimo.”
Author: Hyacinthus B
Hyacinthus
