Do Not Feed Recklessly - Chapter 6. Part 2

“Oh, I’m going to school tomorrow. I’ll apologize while we’re waiting for the school bus!”

Ethan prepared to apologize again, but contrary to his hopes, Jia was just as cold as before.

“Move, I was here first!”

“What? Huh?”

“I’m getting on first, you idiot.”

And there she went again, calling him an idiot. When she roughly pushed him aside, Ethan knew he shouldn’t react, but he couldn’t help himself. He shouted back.

“Hey!”

“What are you talking about? I’m getting on first! You idiot!”

“Seriously, don’t joke around. Will you get out of the way?”

He wanted to apologize, but by the time he did it, they were both grabbing each other’s hair, just like when they first met.

“Ethan!”

“Jia!”

It was only when their parents shouted that they suddenly realized their mistake. This wasn’t supposed to happen. Ethan, unsure of what to do next, looked over at Jia, but the situation had only got worse.

Despite everything, Ethan was still determined to apologize. He felt a lingering guilt about their first meeting that weighed heavily on him.

Around this time, Jia began to plant a small flower garden in a corner of the yard. It was in a place where they could see each other through the loose wooden fence. So whenever Jia was outside tending to her garden, Ethan would appear, eager to be near her.

“What are you doing? Why are you hovering, you stupid fool?”

“What?”

“Can’t you just get lost?”

Repairing a relationship that had started on the wrong foot was not easy. Ethan had been hovering around Jia for days, trying to figure out how to improve their relationship.

Then he remembered that Jia didn’t have any friends at school.

‘Oh, I can introduce her to my friends!’

Unlike Ethan, who had many friends, Jia was often alone. This realization gave Ethan a feeling of hope, and with a happy expression on his face, he rushed outside to talk to her. Today, as usual, Jia was busy working in her garden.

Ethan approached hesitantly, clearing his throat a few times to gather his courage before speaking to Jia. “Hey, you little rascal.”

Jia pointedly ignored him, concentrating on the garden as if he were invisible. Undeterred, Ethan continued.

“Why don’t you have any friends?”

At his question, Jia’s expression suddenly hardened, the earlier indifference replaced by a hint of tension.

“What?”

“I said, why don’t you have any friends at school?”

Unaware of the subtle change in her expression, Ethan smiled brightly, pleased that Jia was finally responding to him.

‘If I tell her I’ll introduce her to my friends, she’ll be happy!’

He waited eagerly for her answer, but instead, she shot back.

“What do you care?”

To his surprise, Jia looked even angrier than before.

“Mind your own business, idiot!”

Jia threw down the small gardening trowel she was holding and stormed off. It all happened so fast. 

‘What just happened…?’ Ethan thought, confused. 

He had just wanted to introduce her to his friends. Frustration began to bubble up inside him. 

‘Fine, I won’t try to make up.’ 

Only eight years old, his patience was short and thin. Left alone in the yard, Ethan sulked in frustration and went home dejected.

* * *

After that day, Jia began to noticeably avoid Ethan. It was such an obvious form of avoidance that Ethan couldn’t help but feel it. Even on the school bus, where they had no choice but to see each other, Jia was resolute.

“Hey.”

“…”

“Hey, you little rascal!”

No matter how many names he called her – dwarf, fool, idiot – Jia didn’t look at him.

‘What’s the matter? Do we have to go this far? ‘

Ethan felt increasingly frustrated but didn’t know what else to do. All he could do was stubbornly follow Jia around and try to engage her.

“Hey, you idiot. What are you doing?”

“…”

“Why do you keep ignoring me?”

“…”

“Ugh…”

Ethan decided to test how long Jia would ignore him. He caught a fuzzy caterpillar and threw it in her direction.

“Ahhh!”

Sure enough, the caterpillar landed right in front of her, causing Jia to shriek in surprise and fall backward. The sight was so ridiculous that Ethan couldn’t help but laugh heartily, feeling a sense of relief.

“Ethan, you… you’re going to pay for this!”

“Nyah nyah! Aren’t you angry?”

As they continued to argue, both at school and at home, their classmates began to take notice of Jia.

“Ethan, are you friends with Jia?”

“Yes, she lives next door!”

“Wow, I thought she was quiet and shy because she hardly spoke.”

“No, I think she’s just a bit clumsy. She just moved here from Korea. But she plays well with me. It’s fun!”

Before long, Jia had made new friends of her own. For some reason, seeing Jia with other friends made Ethan feel proud.

One day, while Ethan was alone in the house, his mother and Jia’s mother were having tea in the garden. Suddenly, the doorbell rang incessantly. He rushed to the door and found Jia standing there, holding a sandwich in her hand.

“What are you doing here?”

“I’m just here by myself.”

“Why?”

“My mother told me to bring you this.”

It was a sandwich that Jia’s mother had made as a peace offering. However, Jia had secretly added a generous amount of gochujang, feeling a bit mischievous.

Unaware of this, Ethan smiled brightly and welcomed Jia inside. The two mothers watched their children with pleased smiles.

“Wow, this is spicy!” Ethan exclaimed.

“Idiot, can’t you handle it?” Jia teased.

“What? Huh?”

“In Korea, this level of spiciness isn’t even spicy!”

“Really?”

“Yeah, I don’t find it spicy at all.”

Of course, that was true for Jia, as she hadn’t added any gochujang to her own sandwich. But to tease Ethan, she casually shrugged her shoulders and devoured the sandwich without water.

Watching her, Ethan felt a strange emotion for the first time. He thought it was kind of cool that she could handle spicy food so well, even if he felt a bit stupid for not being able to.

“Wow, it’s so cool…”

Trying to imitate Jia, Ethan forced himself to eat the spicy sandwich, tears and snot welling up as he whimpered.

“It’s so spicy…”

“Pfft, you idiot.”

Jia laughed heartily at his reaction before handing him a glass of cold milk.

“Here, drink this. It’ll help with the spice.”