Chapter 6

As she hesitated for a moment, he called her name once more.

“Ah, it’ll be very late……”

-That’s fine. I’ll be nearby, so contact me when you get off work.

“Okay.”

-Send me the address by text.

Yes, let’s just buy it quickly and get it over with, she thought. Even if she refused, he seemed like the type who would cling stubbornly anyway. After hesitating several times, she typed out the convenience store’s address in a text message and sent it.

〈Call me when you’re done.〉

Even without checking the number, she knew it was him. After giving the text only a rough glance, she put the phone into her pocket.

He didn’t seem this persistent before. Why has he changed so much?

Back then, he had rather seemed like someone who wanted nothing at all. A man who did everything well, with a handsome face on top of that, more mature than others his age, the sort of man one simply could not help but like.

Even when Seohyeon threw absurd tantrums, instead of getting angry, he would only look at her silently for a while and then say just one thing, ‘Fine, do as you want,’ before coolly turning away. She had seen that many times.

Back then, no matter what he did or did not do, he looked wonderful to her. His state now, different from her memories, felt unfamiliar, yet seeing this new side of him made her wonder if perhaps she had been thinking of him only in her own way.

Because a person’s memories could alter things however they pleased.

After her convenience store part-time shift ended, she called him. He said he was at a coffee shop. She had only meant to hand over the coffee and leave, so a coffee shop? Fidgeting with the canned coffee in her eco bag, she headed to the coffee shop where he was.

Even at dawn, the air was heavy. It was humid, as though a heavy rain might come pouring down at any moment.

“I ordered one for you too.”

“…I’m fine, though.”

Her head throbbed. It seemed the signs of her cold had worsened after all. She wanted to go home quickly and rest.

She quietly looked at the coffee he had ordered. She was the one who had said she would buy it, and yet he had already ordered coffee for her as well. Judging by the fact that the ice had not melted, he must have ordered it after hanging up the phone.

Feeling her heart grow heavy, Soyoon drank the coffee. She could count on one hand the number of times she had ever had coffee at a coffee shop like this. She had not even known such a coffee shop had opened near the convenience store. Looking at the receipt, as expected, the price was high.

The price was enough to buy ten cans of the coffee in her bag. Just buying it ten times would already cost as much as one pair of sneakers.

“What are you thinking so hard about?”

“It’s nothing.”

Of course, the coffee tasted good. Extremely good, in fact.

Her throat had been dry, and as the cool coffee went down, it felt as though her pounding head was getting a little better too.

“What about food? Have you eaten?”

“…Yes.”

In truth, she had planned to make do with ramen at the convenience store, or else drink a pack of soju after work ended, but because of this sudden arrangement, Soyoon had no choice but to skip dinner.

His eyes seemed to sharpen, but pretending not to notice, she lifted the coffee cup and gulped it down. As though she were someone trying to soothe her hunger.

“Why are you drinking so fast?”

“…I was thirsty.”

She turned her gaze toward the window. Reflected in the glass, she could see him staring at her. The coffee tasted good, but what Soyoon needed right now was soju. She desperately wanted a cup of hot fish cake broth and a glass of soju. She wanted to get drunk and fall asleep without thinking about anything.

“Let’s go eat.”

“It’s okay. I need to get home quickly.”

“You look tired.”

At his words, Soyoon paused for a moment. It seemed that even in other people’s eyes, she looked tired. She had put on some tint before leaving work because she looked so drained, but apparently even that had not been enough to hide it.

Soyoon did not even say that she was fine.

Just think whatever you want.

We won’t be seeing each other again anyway.

He drove her all the way to the front of her house. He said it was on his way home, but Soyoon knew he was lying. There was no reason for him to come all the way to this out-of-the-way redevelopment area.

“Ah, this.”

“It’s coffee?”

“I said I would buy, but you already paid.”

So, saying that he should at least take this, she pressed the canned coffee into his hand. She lowered her eyes, trying not to look at him making an uncertain expression. The cheap can of coffee in his white hand, a hand that looked as though it had never known hardship, suited him so poorly that it kept catching her eye.

But for Soyoon, this was the best she could do. She wanted to buy Hayoon new sneakers as soon as possible, even if it was only a day sooner.

Soyoon told him not to get out and to just go straight away, but he insisted stubbornly.

Really, why was this man acting like this? Back then, she had practically lived at Seohyeon’s house just because she wanted him to look at her once. Yet then, he had not looked at her even a single time. But now, he kept meeting her gaze.

“Take this.”

“…What is it?”

“Cold medicine.”

It seemed he had heard her coughing during the call. She awkwardly fingered the pharmacy bag he pressed into her hands.

“Don’t get sick.”

At the voice whispering by her ear, her heart seemed to lurch for no reason, and she took a step back.

“Ah! Wait just a moment.”

“Why?”

“I’ll give you back the umbrella and slippers.”

His thick eyebrows twitched. He caught hold of her arm just as she turned to go back into the house.

Before she could even ask, Why?, he placed a hand on top of her head and gave it two light pats.

“I bought you medicine, so next time you’re buying me a meal, okay?”

“What do you mea……!”

“I’m going.”

“Take the umbrella with you!”

Yesterday, he had not left no matter how much she told him to go, but today, even though she was telling him not to leave, he went off anyway, and she just stood there staring after him as if dumbfounded.

Until the car disappeared from sight.

His voice telling her not to get sick lingered in her ears.

Why? Why was he going this far? Because she was a younger girl he had known since childhood? Because she was Seohyeon’s friend? She wanted to ask if that was why he was treating her so well. But she was afraid, so she held it in.

He had never once accepted her feelings.

Soyoon smiled bitterly. It was absurd that her heart was fluttering over nothing more than a single medicine bag. She had liked him since before she was even in elementary school. By the time she reached middle school, she liked him even more. People said love cooled as time passed, but that had never applied to Soyoon.

When she was in high school, there was a time she had gone all the way to his university. The sight of some woman linking arms with him and smiling brightly was the first time Soyoon learned what it meant for her heart to feel torn apart.

The day before summer vacation in her final year of high school, she had gone looking for him at his house and saw that woman crying in his arms. And then her eyes met his, as he was comforting her.

She had tried to pretend she had not seen and leave, but suddenly she became so angry.

So she charged in. She shoved the woman aside, grabbed him by the collar, and bit his lips.

Bleeding, he got angry for the first time and pushed her away hard. Feeling abandoned, Soyoon broke down sobbing right there on the spot.

The man who had just been comforting the crying woman did not comfort her at all and simply went into the house.

Why was she suddenly remembering that moment now, of all times? A sigh escaped her.