NILWM - 29

On the ninth day of December, a few hours after submitting the last assignment for a non-major course, Ye-seo was checking her phone for messages and texts.

She skimmed a message and couldn’t believe her eyes. The look of relief on her face, which had felt like it was all over, had now turned cold.

[Hi. Still at school?]

Instead of a feeling of joy or happiness, a sense of wariness suddenly shot up.

[I have something to talk about. I want to see you for a bit near your home.]

What’s his game? What could he possibly want to talk about now...?

[I know you won’t be happy about it. But this will be the last time.]

Ye-seo nervously chewed on her lip. She had already read it, so she couldn’t pretend she hadn’t seen it. But the answer was clear.

[I’m sorry. I don’t want to do that.]

Ye-seo’s finger stopped just before she sent the message. The letters on the screen slowly disappeared one by one. She agonized for a long time before putting her phone down on the desk and closing her eyes. Her eyes, already strained from her assignment, felt blurry, and she felt dizzy.

[Okay. I’ll text you again when I get close to your place.]

In the end, it was 20 minutes later when she finally sent the reply.

________________________________________

Late in the afternoon, the year’s first snow began to fall with a soft rustle.

Pedestrians stopped and looked up at the sky. The expressions of the people sticking their heads out of windows and pointing to the sky were mostly bright, but some also looked slightly worried, perhaps about the traffic chaos.

Joo-hyuk also looked up at the sky for a moment before moving toward the meeting place. Even though 20 minutes had passed, his movements were slow and leisurely as he walked toward the cafe with his hands in his pants pockets.

[Sorry. The traffic is bad, so I might be about 10 minutes late. Please wait a little longer for me.]

He was certain the other person would wait patiently, even if he was more than 10 minutes late. He hadn’t been late on purpose, but he was sure that Min Ye-seo would.

He still believed that Min Ye-seo liked him. Even if she was outwardly indifferent, wouldn’t she still feel that way? A person’s feelings can’t cool down that easily. Especially for a serious person like Min Ye-seo.

When he entered the crowded cafe, the staff behind the counter and the women at the table next to it turned to look at him. And they all stared at him, unable to take their eyes off him.

Joo-hyuk didn’t make eye contact with anyone and headed toward the back of the cafe. His long eyelashes and the prominent bridge of his nose stood out under the hair that had fallen onto his forehead. The women’s gazes followed the nearly 190 cm tall man as he passed the sparkling Christmas tree in the middle of the hall and sat down in a corner seat. The curious looks immediately turned toward the person opposite the man.

The looks of admiration and envy gradually turned into curiosity, jealousy, envy, and understanding. The woman who stood up to greet him was just as eye-catching as the man. Her smooth, fair face was flawlessly pretty under her hair, which was tied up in a bun. The baby fat on her cheeks made her look very young.

“Senior.”

“Have you been waiting long? Sorry.”

Joo-hyuk smiled faintly. It was his old, gentle smile.

“No. Senior, it’s the first snow outside, but you don’t seem wet. Oh, your drink...”

“I don’t really want anything.”

He looked at the mug cup in front of Min Ye-seo. The half-empty hot chocolate looked lukewarm.

“Did you... finish that?”

“Huh? Yes...”

“Then I’ll finish it.”

Joo-hyuk pulled the cup toward him and brought it to his lips. Min Ye-seo seemed a bit flustered, but he didn’t care. It wasn’t because he was touching her things, but because he was so casually drinking from the cup she had used.

He emptied the cup and put it down on the table. Then he calmly began to speak.

“The reason I asked to see you today is...”

Min Ye-seo tensed up and slightly hunched her shoulders. Her eyes, trembling with anxiety, were like those of a deer that had encountered a hunter.

“Did Choi In-ha ask to see you tomorrow?”

“What? How did you...?”

“I wish you would cancel that plan.”

Joo-hyuk leaned back deeply in his chair. Suddenly, his eyes felt strained, so he massaged his temples and blinked a few times. He hadn’t slept for more than two hours because he had been thoroughly checking and updating the security of the financial team the night before. Of course, that wasn’t the only reason.

“What do you mean...”

“Choi In-ha likes you. You’re not going to pretend you don’t know, are you?”

“No, it’s not like that.”

Ye-seo’s eyes shot up defiantly. She was already regretting coming out, thinking she shouldn’t have.

“He’s the son of my mom’s friend, and our families have known each other for a long time, so we’re just comfortable like siblings. Oppa In-ha also thinks of me as a younger sister.”

“That’s what you think. There are definitely some things that are obvious from a third person’s perspective, even if the people involved don’t realize it.”

Joo-hyuk pushed the mug cup aside and sighed softly. Then he apologized calmly.

“I’m sorry. I didn’t mean to upset you.”

“...”

“I don’t want to ruin the atmosphere now that we finally managed to meet.”

“Can I ask why?”

He stopped the movement of his hands, which were clasped together and bending at the joints. It seemed to have been an unconscious gesture born of fatigue. Or perhaps it was from an uncharacteristic tension and anxiety.

“I don’t understand why you’re getting involved again, regardless of what Oppa In-ha thinks of me. I thought we had already finished talking about that.”

Moreover, asking her to cancel her plans was a clear overstep. It was a clear abuse of power for a senior to ask of a junior.

“Let’s date, you and I.”

Joo-hyuk didn’t drag it out anymore and went straight to the point. The moment he spoke, Min Ye-seo’s eyes trembled greatly. She looked as if she couldn’t believe what she was hearing.

“Avoiding it and fighting about it... It seems meaningless now. For both of us.”

Ye-seo’s heart sank. He had seen right through the fact that there was still room for him in her heart.

What are you talking about now? It’s too late. I don’t have any feelings for you anymore.

She thought she should say that right now. But the words only circled in her mind and didn’t come out of her mouth. To be precise, she had no intention of letting them come out.

“But Senior...”

Ye-seo’s face looked stunned, and she looked around cautiously before lowering her voice. Fortunately, the cafe staff decorating the tree had made their seat a blind spot for a moment.

“You’ve been so firm about not wanting to be with me. Don’t you remember?”

“...”

“I’ve confessed three times. And I’ve been rejected all three times.”

“Right. So... today, I’m going to confess again.”

Han Joo-hyuk lowered his hand, which had been rubbing his chin, and looked up. The look in his eyes, which met hers head-on, was clear.

“Min Ye-seo, I like you.”

“...”

“Like I said, I can’t hold on anymore, and I can’t deny it. I can’t stand it every time I see you.”

Ye-seo was speechless and just stared at him blankly. Is it true? Apart from her doubts, her heart began to beat faster.

The Han Joo-hyuk she had seen from a distance had always seemed to be doing well. For the past two months, whenever she had glimpsed him in the business administration building, the library, the cafeteria, and cafes, he had seemed as indifferent and calm as ever, without a single ripple of emotion.

Maybe Senior was also trying to look that way, just like me? While his inner self, deep beneath the surface, was always boiling over. While he was somehow suppressing that turmoil and burying it deep down.

Joo-hyuk lowered his gaze under his long eyelashes. His attitude was static, as if he were the one who had been confessed to, not the one who had confessed. Min Ye-seo’s eyes were still wide with a mix of disbelief and shock.

Well, it’s not surprising. After their last confrontation at the hospital, he had deliberately tried not to even look at her. It was a desperate attempt to deny that he cared about her.

Min Ye-seo was that kind of person. A woman who was too bothersome for him to have but couldn’t be given to another guy. To be precise, she was one of the many women in the world he didn’t want to be subservient to. He had believed that.

She was bothersome and annoying. There were times when she came to mind so often that he wished some other guy would just snatch her up. But it was so strange. Just the thought of her looking at another guy the way she looked at him made his blood boil and rage surge.

Now, he was the one who was worried. It was all because of that guy. The returning student who had appeared in the fall semester, Choi In-ha.

The way he circled around Min Ye-seo for nearly three months like a puppy was, ironically, quite similar to the way Min Ye-seo treated him. Of course, the dynamics of the two were extremely different. Min Ye-seo had only followed him with her eyes from a distance after three confessions and rejections, while Choi In-ha was very different in that he showed his feelings openly from the beginning without ever letting her feel them.

In the end, Choi In-ha’s impending confession was the trigger. His motives were as clear as day. The end of the last semester before graduation and graduate school, and this time, just before Christmas, would be the perfect timing.

So now, he couldn’t hold on anymore. The sense of crisis that he hadn’t realized was now keeping pace with the passage of time.

As tomorrow, the day Choi In-ha and Min Ye-seo were to meet, drew closer, his premonition became more and more certain. Choi In-ha would go straight for it, no matter what.

He would at least get a half-hearted answer. Something like, I need some time or I haven’t thought about dating yet. Then that guy would use that slim possibility as an excuse to slowly gain the upper hand in every way, both materially and psychologically. The closeness of their families would also serve as a big advantage.

That son of a b***.*

Just the thought of it made him grit his teeth. To give her to another guy now? Was that even possible? Even though he himself didn’t want to have her, he hated the thought of giving her to another guy even more.

With the emergence of an unexpected opponent, Min Ye-seo’s value had now risen to a point where he simply couldn’t afford to lose her.

“I... don’t know what to say. I’m a little flustered by how sudden this is...”

Finally, Ye-seo spoke. Her blinking eyes, still full of shock, contained deep doubt and distrust.