episode_0017

Minho then recalled that Yunyoung was a non-smoker. Yunyoung wasn’t much of a smoker or drinker, making him a somewhat old-fashioned and conservative friend in some ways.

Mira was currently mistaking Minho for Yunyoung, and the fact that Minho’s body reeked of cigarettes struck her as odd. Minho could infer this thought.

As silence fell for a moment, Mira, perhaps sensing Minho’s discomfort in speaking, opened her mouth first.

It’s natural for people to worry when someone who didn’t smoke suddenly starts. It seemed Mira felt the same way about Minho right now. Especially since, to her, Minho appeared to be her beloved boyfriend, Yunyoung.

Minho answered Mira’s question truthfully.

It would be a lie to say the current situation wasn’t difficult. Last night, staying in the same motel room with Mira, he had crossed a line he shouldn’t have.

This morning, upon realizing that fact, Mira had suffered immense stress and even fainted on the spot. Judging by her reaction, it was very clear she wouldn’t take what happened in bed lightly.

If Mira were to report him to the police, Minho would obviously be in deep trouble in many ways. The moment one gets involved in a sex crime, they cross an irreversible river.

Even if it was an innocent matter, once accused, one suffers great pain, both time-wise and mentally. Furthermore, it’s incredibly difficult to fully restore a tarnished image.

For young men, sex crimes were as terrifying to get entangled in as violent crimes. That’s why nowadays, some keep their distance from women and remain vigilant, and the concept of ‘fence rule’ is also widespread.

However, the previous examples were of innocent parties, but Minho was not innocent. He had done a tremendous amount yesterday. The fact that it was with his friend’s girlfriend delivered an incredibly thrilling sensation.

Perhaps due to the sense of depravity, his spine tingled and shivered with a pleasant chill, feeling better than anything he had ever done before.

Usually, one or two times would exhaust him, but he couldn’t even remember how many times they had done it. Knowing that Mira, who loved her boyfriend, was trying to accommodate him, he exploited that to just go at it relentlessly.

He had released all his recent pent-up frustrations on her. After breaking up with his girlfriend, he hadn’t had much opportunity.

He was aware that this situation was wrong and felt guilty, but he couldn’t stop due to the uncontrollable pleasure. Even so, Minho decided not to think of himself as having done wrong or committed a crime.

Because he thought Mira had initiated physical contact by kissing him first, which had led to everything, and was the biggest contributing factor. A healthy man would find it hard to escape such temptation. With that logic, Minho inwardly defended his actions.

However, he could guess that if it went to the police, he would be at a significant disadvantage. So, he had been anxious and worried about Mira reporting him to the police, but coincidentally, she had developed amnesia.

For now, he could breathe a sigh of relief about this fact, but his heart was pounding with anxiety, wondering when her memory would return. He hadn’t solved the problem, merely postponed it.

Mira, unaware of Minho’s true feelings, simply worried about her beloved boyfriend.

A moment later, Mira said something as if recalling it.

Mira said, showing her phone. The screen showed the number she had called several times – it was Yunyoung’s deceased number.

So, there was no way the call would go through. It had already been disconnected.

Since the call didn’t connect, it seemed Yunyoung’s number was still out of service even after a year. If someone else had been using that number and the call had gone through, a rather awkward situation would have arisen.

Minho gave a bitter smile at the thought and said to Mira,

Mira handed over the phone without any suspicion. It would have been impossible if she didn’t truly believe Minho was Yunyoung.

Minho found the situation both amusing and tragic. This morning she had treated him like an enemy, and now she believed he was her beloved boyfriend.

Sometimes reality was more dramatic than a drama, and this was exactly one of those times.

Minho fiddled with Mira’s phone and said,

Mira grumbled as if feeling hurt.

Minho deleted the entry labeled Kim Minho from Mira’s phone contacts and edited the Lee Yunyoung entry, changing it to his own phone number.

Also, just in case it became an issue, he deleted all the call logs. He even planned to make an excuse, saying he deleted them by mistake if Mira noticed and asked why. He was about to hand it back but then remembered something to check.

Does Mira truly not have any family?

He hadn’t heard much about her family background, but one of the best ways to check was to look through her contacts. He went into her contacts and searched for various terms like mom, mother, dad, father, family, etc., but there wasn’t a single registered number.

It truly seemed like she had no family.

Minho felt pity for Mira and decided to act as her temporary guardian. He was worried about leaving Mira, in her unstable state, with someone else. There was sympathy involved, but also a calculation for his own well-being.

Since he didn’t know when her memory would return, it was better for him to pose as Yunyoung to keep her under his control and act immediately if a problem arose.

Mira, as his girlfriend, would naturally rely on Yunyoung. Whenever a problem arose, she would likely seek Yunyoung’s help first.

-1-

After returning the phone to Mira, the two engaged in a rather meaningless conversation. Since Mira actively initiated the conversation, Minho didn’t have to worry much about what to talk about.

Even with just vague responses, Mira happily prattled on.

After a while, Minho checked his watch and saw that 30 to 40 minutes had passed. He felt bad for Mira, who was still chatting happily, but he felt it was time to go. He couldn’t stay in the hospital indefinitely.

It felt like too much of a waste of precious weekend time to spend it solely on caring for Mira. He wanted to go home and play the console game he bought recently, and also just sprawl out and sleep. Unaware of his feelings, Mira continued to talk without tiring.

Minho had been listening, but when there was no sign of the conversation ending, he decided he should cut it short himself.

Mira showed a momentary expression of regret, but quickly hid it, not wanting to reveal her feelings. It was because she didn’t want to inconvenience Yunyoung. And then, she apologized herself.

Minho replied with a sentence he thought Yunyoung would have said. Judging by Mira’s behavior, Yunyoung seemed to have cherished her, so Minho had tried to imitate him, however clumsily.

As if his guess was correct, Mira blushed at his words and became shy. To think that even Mira, who always seemed so melancholic, had such a cute side…

Minho found it interesting.

If he ever got a chance to date Mira, it didn’t seem like such a bad idea. Of course, this was strictly limited to dating.

Although all her other conditions weren’t great, making her not particularly attractive, her appearance was still decent, so he thought playing along for a little while, not long-term, could be fun.

As Minho was about to get up, Mira urgently stopped him.

Minho found the sudden request strange and hesitated, so

Mira urged him. Left with no choice, Minho approached Mira. Then Mira got up from the bed and lightly kissed Minho on the lips.

Minho’s eyes widened at the sudden kiss. He hadn’t expected a surprise kiss.

Mira, pulling her face away, looked at the dazed Minho, her cheeks reddening as she became shy. Then she said in an embarrassed voice,

Flustered, Minho couldn’t even reply properly as he left the hospital room. The sensation of her lips was incredibly soft and tender, making him feel good. Minho ran his tongue over his lower lip, where her lips had touched.