First Kiss (8)
Strangely, no expression could be seen on Tae Young-won’s face.
‘Why is he like that?’
Mo Yeon’s head tilted unconsciously at the puzzling sight.
Although he had eagerly accepted it when offered, Mo Yeon had asked several times the next day if he could really keep his glasses. And to Mo Yeon, who wasn’t used to receiving gifts, Tae Young-won had answered very willingly.
Then he emphasized how well he had given birthday gifts to his previous girlfriends.
“I’ve always been like that,” he said.
That statement definitely piqued Mo Yeon’s interest.
It might be considered a strange hobby, but Mo Yeon had been quite curious about Tae Young-won’s dating history for a long time. After all, it was because of women issues that he was able to realize first that he was quite different from the image he showed at school.
So, even though he felt like he might be prying, he couldn’t help but ask.
Mo Yeon answered very firmly.
Tae Young-won quickly nodded in agreement when he emphasized this just in case. Even if he wanted to spread rumors, people wouldn’t listen anyway. He thought it would be the same for him too.
It was like saying that no matter how much an outsider like him tried to tell people that “Tae Young-won actually doesn’t attend church three times a week, has no interest in religion at all, has dated quite a few women, isn’t as nice as people think, is a bit of a pervert, and has no affection for the people at school,” it was clear that he would just be seen as saying strange things and fall deeper into being an outsider.
‘Well, I guess that’s why he asked me out even though I’m a guy.’
From that perspective, it made sense that Tae Young-won only showed his true self in front of him.
However, while Mo Yeon was lost in thought, Tae Young-won’s expression suddenly became slightly subtle.
<…….>
Ah.
Mo Yeon’s mouth opened blankly for a moment. He blinked his eyes a few times, but he couldn’t quite understand.
The corners of Tae Young-won’s mouth curved up slightly. His gaze remained fixed on him. Under his eyes that seemed to see through everything he wanted to hide, Mo Yeon unconsciously lowered his gaze.
The moment their eyes met, he felt a strange sense of déjà vu.
He thought he knew quite a lot about him now. However, at that moment, Mo Yeon couldn’t properly read Tae Young-won’s expression.
Right now, Tae Young-won was emanating something similar to the atmosphere Mo Yeon had felt from him before.
<…….>
It felt similar to when he had suddenly approached him after following him out of a work dinner, saying he thought he had seen him in class.
Yes, back then, Tae Young-won often exuded this kind of atmosphere. He was clearly kind and no different from usual, but somehow he felt distant.
Mo Yeon really didn’t know. He had no idea whether it was rude to ask about previous relationships between lovers, or if it was okay to be curious about it.
Just as he was wondering if he had made a mistake, a low voice was heard.
After saying that, Tae Young-won smiled his usual smile again.
It was a question that naturally came to mind. There was a moment of silence between the two after Mo Yeon’s question.
And Tae Young-won was still staring at Mo Yeon with the corners of his mouth slightly raised.
<…….>
It didn’t take long for his answer to come.
<…….>
Somehow Tae Young-won seemed displeased, but the following story was very interesting.
It was mostly about how well he had given gifts to those women rather than how he had dated them. After all, the conversation had started with the meaning of just accepting a gift that wasn’t much.
Whether it was worth him talking at length, the more specific the examples were, the more reassured Mo Yeon felt. Only after hearing the specific amount of a certain luxury jewelry brand he said he had gifted, Mo Yeon was finally able to shake off his uneasiness.
This meant that an amount Mo Yeon would never spend on glasses was an amount Tae Young-won could spend without thinking, and therefore, he didn’t even care about casually giving it to him.
<……Then I'll accept it gratefully.>
Certainly, what Mo Yeon received would be considered nothing compared to his ex-girlfriends.
“Honestly, Jung-hyun is problematic because he gives too much.”
“Haah.”
That’s why when Han Chae-yeon spoke, Mo Yeon looked at him, remembering the conversation they had back then. At her words, Kim Jung-hyun suddenly sighed, holding his head as if recalling past memories.
People give a lot more gifts to their lovers than I thought. Mo Yeon found the conversation somehow interesting and continued to sip his drink little by little.
“Tae Young-won always treated him like an idiot, wondering why he acted like that. Especially when he bought a necklace worth 1.7 million won or something for a girl he’d only dated for a month.”
“Hey, hey, get the facts straight. It was 1.89 million won.”
Huh?
“Pfft!”
“Oh no, are you okay?”
The drink he was sipping suddenly went down the wrong way. After coughing for a while, Mo Yeon asked again.
“1.89 million won?”
Mo Yeon asked unconsciously while wiping the drink that had spilled on his chin. It was because he had heard this amount recently.
“Yes! We thought he was crazy back then too!”
“Ah….”
Is this amount common among luxury necklaces these days?
He had slight doubts, but it was entirely possible. Fortunately, the two of them assumed that Mo Yeon was just shocked by Kim Jung-hyun’s foolish side.
“But Tae Young-won is the type who would never give gifts, even if he tried. He says he’s not good at choosing them. He’s good at treating meals, but he really doesn’t do gifts.”
“It’s not about whether he has money or not. Even for classmates’ birthdays, he said it was burdensome to enter into a relationship where they exchange birthday gifts, so he just bought drinks instead.”
“But come on, even if it’s burdensome, not being good at choosing is bull. Does he look like someone who can’t choose such things? This guy just lacks sincerity, that’s what it is.”
Seeing Kim Jung-hyun suddenly speaking in an agitated voice, Tae Young-won burst into laughter.
“We can guess that he’s always lying to us about not dating, but these things are revealed unconsciously, you know. But Mo Yeon, you say you received a gift from him? This is quite a rare occurrence.”
As the conversation kept bringing up things he knew, he couldn’t hide his excitement. Mo Yeon tried to suppress his smile and unconsciously turned his gaze towards Tae Young-won.
“A rare occurrence….”
As far as Mo Yeon knew, Tae Young-won was someone who dated women well and gave gifts well.
Moreover, he tended to have clear boundaries between people at school and those within his personal circle. Although he seemed to be close with the two people in front of him now, they weren’t completely within Tae Young-won’s perfect private boundary.
So while his tone and behavior were more comfortable with these two compared to other school people, when it came to issues like gifts, he hadn’t completely opened up.
All the talk about feeling burdened by relationships where gifts are exchanged, or being clumsy at choosing gifts, must have been excuses he made up while pretending to be modest.
And when he looked at Tae Young-won’s expression, he was smiling gently as usual. Still maintaining eye contact, he responded to his friends’ words.
“You guys are right, I actually find those things a bit annoying.”
But somehow, that look in his eyes didn’t seem like a lie at all.
