NILWM - 30

“I’ll be honest. I was anxious that you would meet with Choi In-ha tomorrow and accept his confession. No...”

The word “anxious” wasn’t enough.

“I felt like I was going crazy.”

He couldn’t focus on anything. If she had refused to meet him, he would have done anything to find out where she was meeting Choi In-ha and showed up unannounced. He was certain he would have crashed the confession and made a huge scene.

“...”

“I’m sorry. For making things so hard for you all this time.”

Min Ye-seo looked up and met his gaze. Her eyes, which had been wary, were slowly clearing up like a mist, but a hint of distrust lingered. She couldn’t fully believe that he was being sincere. Just then, someone approached their table.

“Oh? Hi, Senior Joo-hyuk. And... Ye-seo?”

It was a familiar face. Song Yoo-young, an economics student who had been in their group project last spring semester, was standing there. She had the same thick perfume scent and an air of inappropriate curiosity as before.

“Oh... hi, Yoo-young.”

By the end of the team project, their formal titles had naturally been dropped, and they started speaking more casually. But they hadn’t gotten close, nor did they keep in touch after the project ended. They weren’t the type to be friends.

“But what are you two doing here? The exams are over and the semester has ended... Did you run into each other by chance?”

Song Yoo-young’s eyes were wide as she alternated her intense gaze between them. It seemed she wouldn’t leave until she got an answer.

“Well...”

“It’s the first snow, you know? It’s a waste for people who just happened to run into each other to be out on such a special day. You should be with your boyfriend or girlfriend.”

Song Yoo-young giggled to herself and then let her words trail off. Her shrewd gaze was fixed on Ye-seo again.

“But I know Senior is single, and Ye-seo, aren’t you dating Senior Choi In-ha?”

“What? No, I’m not.”

“You’re not? You two were always together, so I thought you were dating. I just assumed that he was your boyfriend...”

“That’s me.”

Joo-hyuk interrupted the two women’s conversation.

“Ye-seo’s boyfriend is me.”

He looked up at Song Yoo-young with his arms crossed. Unlike when they were working on the team project, his words were completely clipped. He didn’t even try to hide his annoyance.

“What...?”

“Ye-seo and I are in a serious relationship, so I hope you won’t make any more misunderstandings like that.”

Song Yoo-young blinked. She looked as if she had been hit hard on the back of the head.

“So... Senior Joo-hyuk is dating Ye-seo? Oh, since when? I never heard that you two were a campus couple.”

“It hasn’t been long, but I’ve liked her for a while.”

This time, not just Song Yoo-young but Ye-seo also looked surprised. He continued speaking calmly.

“Since the first time I met her before the spring semester started.”

“Then... did you ask her out first? You asked Ye-seo?”

“That’s not...”

Just as Ye-seo was about to instinctively deny Song Yoo-young’s question, Joo-hyuk said,

“Yes.”

He nonchalantly agreed.

“I asked her out first.”

While his answer was directed at Song Yoo-young, his gaze remained fixed on Ye-seo across from him. Their eyes met in the air, and Ye-seo’s Adam’s apple moved slightly.

“It looks like your friends are waiting for you.”

Joo-hyuk gestured with his eyes toward the Christmas tree. Two women, who seemed to be Song Yoo-young’s friends, were sitting behind the tree and staring at them.

“Oh, yes. I... I should get going now. Then, have a good time. I’ll get going, bye!”

Song Yoo-young turned around with a stunned look on her face, barely smiling. Even after she had gone back to her friends, the sharp glares continued from behind the tree. Joo-hyuk pushed his chair back.

“Let’s go. To get dinner.”

“What? Oh... okay.”

Ye-seo was startled but soon agreed, picking up her padded jacket and bag from the side of her seat. Han Joo-hyuk stood up in his black long coat and unwound the checked scarf that was loosely draped around his neck. He then walked straight over to Ye-seo and wrapped it around her neck.

“It’s cold outside.”

“...”

“You’ve been in a warm place, so you’ll feel the cold when you go out. And it’s snowing. Oh, it stopped now.”

“I’m okay, Senior. You should take...”

“I don’t get cold easily. Let’s go.”

He took the tray with the empty cups from her, placed it on the return rack, and led the way to the exit. As Ye-seo followed him, she could feel the gazes from Song Yoo-young and her friends’ table following her. Wow, he’s so tall. He looks like a model. So cool. The whispered voices, barely audible, continued until they closed the door.

________________________________________

Outside, the sun had already set. It was not even 6 p.m. yet, so it was early winter evening, and while it was dark, it wasn’t bleak.

“It’s about a 10-minute walk to the public parking lot. Is that okay? I brought my car.”

Oh, he has a car. Ye-seo nodded at Han Joo-hyuk’s question. She was glad that his scarf was covering her mouth. She hoped that if her cheeks were red all the way to her earlobes, it would look like it was from the cold.

“Good. Let’s go.”

And he took her gloved hand and intertwined his bare fingers with hers. Her heart plummeted and began to race. Ye-seo walked a few steps and then, without realizing it, turned to look at him.

“Oh, um. Senior...”

“Oh, sorry. I walked too fast.”

Han Joo-hyuk smiled faintly as he looked down at her. And he squeezed her hand, which was intertwined with his, a little tighter. He consciously shortened his usual long stride. He had his usual nonchalant demeanor.

But Ye-seo was not. Her heart was beating so fast that she felt like it would pop out of her chest. She was glad she was wearing gloves, but at the same time, she regretted it. She wanted to feel the warmth from his skin directly.

As they walked toward the parking lot, she secretly inhaled and held her breath repeatedly. When she did, she could more clearly smell Han Joo-hyuk’s scent. His soft cashmere scarf was rich with his scent. The fresh and spicy scent of wet grass and a forest after the rain was so pleasant.

She was a little surprised when they finally arrived at his car. Even to her completely ignorant eyes, it wasn’t a normal car. Ye-seo was stunned as she got into the passenger seat. The interior looked like a very expensive supercar, just like the exterior, but she didn’t ask what kind of car it was. She knew she wouldn’t know even if she asked.

“Senior. Is this your car?”

But she was curious if it was his car. He replied casually, “Yes,” as he started the engine.

“So you usually took public transportation?”

“Sometimes I bring it. I park it at the community center’s public parking lot and walk from there.”

“Ah...”

The conversation stopped there for a moment. She was happy not because he owned a car, but because she knew something about him that others didn’t. The inside of the car, which was smoothly gliding down the main street, was very cozy. The soft leather seats, the warmth from the heater, and the scent of the air freshener mixed with his body odor on the scarf—everything felt unreal. But the most unreal thing was still...

“Senior, where are we going?”

“I told you a little while ago that we’re going to G 494 because it’s close. You must have missed it.”

“Oh, I guess I forgot.”

Ye-seo’s face flushed red again. He didn’t seem to mind as he turned on the audio and asked again.

“Do you like meat?”

“What? Of course...”

“I’m going to feed you some meat. You seem to have gotten a bit thinner lately.”

“Me?”

Ye-seo unconsciously looked down at her body under the scarf. Maybe her face looked a bit gaunt from the final exam period, but she hadn’t gotten noticeably thinner. But her clothes had gotten a little looser overall since the summer.

“Yeah. Your clothes have gotten a size bigger, compared to the spring semester.”

He replied casually and drove the car toward the G shopping mall parking lot. Ye-seo slightly moistened her dry lips with her tongue. She didn’t know if he was just very observant, or if it was because he had always been interested in her.

________________________________________

It was her first time at a premium Korean beef omakase. She had expected to eat a charcoal-grilled bulgogi set menu at a food court, but this was a dinner course that cost 99,000 won per person.

Ye-seo stared at the menu board, which consisted of three types of appetizers, special sirloin, ribeye, chuck roll, beef-pancake bibim guksu, sirloin with bulgogi, Korean beef sukiyaki, and soybean paste stew, her eyes wide. And she quickly added up the rest of the tutoring fee she would get next week, her bank balance, and the meager allowance her mom sometimes gave her for helping out at the pharmacy.

This is insane. 100,000 won is a month’s worth of food. She was the type of person who wouldn’t go to a place that cost more than 10,000 won per person, even when she was out with Chae-rin and everyone else.

“Senior.”

Han Joo-hyuk had just returned his menu to the server and was pouring tea into a teacup. Ye-seo wrapped her hands around the steaming teacup and began to speak.

“I know it’s a bit late since you already ordered, but I’m not comfortable with places like this. No, I can’t afford it. You seem to be much more well-off than I vaguely thought, but...”

“I know. It’s too much for a student. Although it’s quite cheap for a Korean beef omakase. I wouldn’t come here myself if I weren’t with my elders.”

That makes sense. She wondered if the reason he didn’t purposely park his car at school wasn’t because of the parking fee but because he didn’t want to stand out.

“But we’re a couple now. I can buy my girlfriend something like this with my own money, so don’t feel burdened.”

“With your own money? Were you working a part-time job, Senior?”

She had no idea. She had a feeling that he was busy with something outside of his studies, but she never imagined that he was also working a part-time job. Was it tutoring, too?