172. Reversal (11)

…Sleeping?

Seriously?

Here?

He wasn’t snoring, but Kang Joo-hyuk had fallen fast asleep, his breathing sounding like he could start rumbling any second.

Here, with nothing but cars whizzing by, I was stranded alone with him.

…This wasn’t what I wanted.

I had naturally assumed he’d touch my thighs or chest.

Of course, that doesn’t mean I wanted him to touch me.

I just wanted to see him drive back and forth for an hour and a half because a woman he disliked sent him a message, even though he was asleep next to a woman who liked him.

Once I got home, if I contacted Hinami before he went back to the pension, she’d realize too.

Just how dirty and faithless the man she liked really was.

“Mmmph….”

But Kang Joo-hyuk, unlike my expectations, seemed completely uninterested in me.

He didn’t glance at me with a lecherous eye like he used to, and he just passed out after I practically begged him, even though it was humiliating.

…Is he really that tired?

No, that can’t be it.

If he were truly exhausted beyond endurance, he wouldn’t have even given me a ride.

Considering Kang Joo-hyuk’s malicious hobby, his goal must be to trap me here and put me in a difficult situation.

If that’s the case, I have to wake him up somehow and give him what he wants…

“…Leave me alone if you don’t want to get into an accident, get dragged to the police station, and get photographed by reporters.”

“….”

The moment I lightly touched his shoulder to wake him up.

He swatted my hand away with a ‘tak,’ and brushed me aside with a look of annoyance I’d never seen before.

…Hmph.

So that’s how it’s going to be.

Fine. I don’t lose anything either.

The longer I stay here, the more trouble it’ll be for him.

It doesn’t matter how much time passes for me, as long as I don’t get caught.

Kang Joo-hyuk will get more tired the longer he’s away from Hinami.

Frowning, I moved away from him and leaned against the car door, trying to catch some sleep myself.

…If he doesn’t touch me and just lets me go home for free, I can’t complain.

I can just sleep, wake up, and criticize him later if he acts up.

At worst, he’ll just wake up after an hour or two of sleep. If he’s tired, he can just go home and sleep…

**

…Gasp.

The chirping of birds kept ringing in my ears, jolting me awake.

My whole body felt stiff, like my muscles had seized up.

I tried stretching my arms and legs, but it was difficult because my legs were long.

After rubbing my heavy eyelids a few times, I came to my senses and realized the sun was already rising outside the window.

Turning my head away from the blinding sunlight, I looked over.

A man, lying just as uncomfortably as I was, was fast asleep.

“Um, Kang Joo-hyuk-ssi….”

I called out to him in a hoarse voice and shook his shoulder to wake him.

He, who had been slumped over as if he were dead, swayed with my touch, then slowly opened his eyes with a gulp.

He then felt the sunlight streaming in from outside the window, just like me. After leaning his forehead on the steering wheel for a moment, he seemed to ponder something deeply.

…Then he hastily grabbed his phone, glanced at the screen, lifted his head back against the seat, and let out a long sigh mixed with curses, clutching his forehead.

“Ha… Shit.”

It was already almost 6:10 AM.

I couldn’t have imagined I’d be able to sleep so soundly.

Judging by his reaction, he hadn’t expected it either.

“…Still, if I hadn’t slept, I probably would’ve died driving.”

“Um, that’s not the important thing right now….”

“I know. Me too.”

Even an idiot could tell why he sighed.

Hinami must have a ton of missed calls.

Waking up to find her boyfriend and his friend gone? She wouldn’t be sane if she wasn’t furious.

I felt a strange sense of satisfaction seeing his flustered expression, which was a first for me, but I kept my mouth shut, not showing it.

“Ah, the phone’s ringing. Damn…”

The phone rang silently.

No need to peek; the caller ID was obviously Hinami.

Kang Joo-hyuk stared blankly at his phone, swallowed hard, then answered and brought it to his ear.

“Hello…”

-Oppa!

…A voice loud enough to shatter eardrums.

Was she angry, or was she crying?

From my position eavesdropping, I couldn’t tell.

“…Sorry, I’m outside right now.”

-Where are you? Where did you go with Jia?

“She asked me to take her home, so I was driving her back. I got so sleepy I had to pull over and rest.”

-You didn’t get into an accident, right? Are you okay?

Even though he wasn’t on speakerphone, I couldn’t take my eyes off him as he listened to her desperate voice reaching my ears.

…He looked like a perfectly normal guy when he acted like that.

Completely different from the Kang Joo-hyuk I’d always known.

“I’m fine. I stopped because I was worried about causing an accident. There’s really no problem.”

-…So where are you now?

“Not far from the pension.”

-Then are you coming back soon?

“…That’s difficult.”

-Why?

“You can’t make a U-turn on the highway. …First, I need to drop off your friend.”

-…Are you with Jia right now?

“…Yeah. She passed out too.”

Kang Joo-hyuk, who hadn’t lied at all and even admitted I was with him, caught me off guard.

…I really thought he’d make up an excuse about dropping me off before falling asleep.

Isn’t this basically admitting we slept together?

Does he really think Hinami will believe that?

-Can I talk to her? Jia.

“Hold on a sec.”

Kang Joo-hyuk, still on the phone, glanced at me and gave me a look when Hinami asked to speak to me.

I tried to signal back that I didn’t want the phone, but Hinami, who was waiting silently on the other end, left me no choice but to take it.

Completely unprepared and without any plan for what to say to get out of this situation, I cautiously brought the phone to my ear and opened my mouth.

“It’s me….”

-Hey.

…Her voice was so cold it felt like ice.

Not even a hint of familiarity.

“Um, you see….”

-Why did you ask Oppa to drive you this late at night?

“……”

Instead of jealousy or rage, her voice carried a tone of reprimand.

-You know perfectly well Oppa was sleeping with me. Why did you wake him up and make him drive?

“…Sorry.”

-You should apologize to Oppa, not me. I’m just curious. Why did you do it?

She wasn’t saying anything wrong.

Her words were cold, and I couldn’t argue or refute them.

“I… well, because we fought. It was uncomfortable being there….”

-Then you could have just gone home this morning. Oppa said he was stopping by home anyway. Why did you have to wake him up in the middle of the night?

“……”

-…What were you planning to do to Oppa?

“No…!”

…Unbelievable.

Even my friend is trying to slander me now.

-Then why did you do it? Answer me. It’s not like you were scared to sleep alone.

“……”

-Why aren’t you answering? Did you really try to do something to Joo-hyuk oppa?

Why was I the one making excuses to Hinami?

I wasn’t trying to do anything major.

It was just that I figured he wouldn’t let me go home without getting something in return.

I just wanted her to realize the man’s true nature after I fulfilled his sleazy request and he drove me home.

And now, because I fell asleep until morning, why am I the one getting scolded by Hinami instead of Kang Joo-hyuk?

It wasn’t unfair, but it was frustrating, and I couldn’t articulate my thoughts properly.

I definitely didn’t agree to let that bastard Kang Joo-hyuk touch me just to end up like this…

“……”

…Looking at me with pity.

He gestured for his phone back.

I didn’t want to be in a position where I needed his help.

Really.

Everything about this is infuriating.

Because when I get involved with this man, nothing goes my way.

“…Hinami.”

-Yeah.

“Your beloved Oppa is touching my thigh right now.”

-…What?

I grabbed his wrist, which he was extending to take the phone back, and placed it on top of my pants.

Ignoring Kang Joo-hyuk’s bewildered gaze, trying to figure out what I was doing.

“What? Want me to play it loud? Here… …This is the kind of person Kang Joo-hyuk is. You know that, right? You stole him from your unnie like this, too.”

-…Hey, Seo Jia.

I placed my hand over his thick, hard knuckles.

And let the sound of me stroking my soft sweatpants be heard through the receiver.

“I don’t like this guy, but your Oppa keeps threatening me? He seems horny and wants to do dirty things with me. But I don’t need it, so could you take him…?.”

Pouring out all the words I had kept bottled up inside.

…Trying to vent my frustration towards Hinami, who had been driving me crazy for the past few months.

“Ah…”

He pushed my hand away, snatched his phone back, and said.

“…My friend seems delirious from just waking up, so we’ll talk when we get back.”

-…Okay.

“It’ll take some time, though. We have to get off the highway and drive back.”

-It’s okay. Come back quickly.

…As if nothing had happened.

Hinami, with a voice full of confidence that she absolutely believed him.

She treated me like a lunatic.

“……”

Click.

The conversation, which lasted less than 20 seconds, ended the misunderstanding.

He glared at me with utter contempt and said, carefully starting the car.

“…Are you horny or something?”

“Hmph…”

…The words I least wanted to hear, especially from Kang Joo-hyuk.

He had pinned such a terrible, unfair accusation on me.

“Let’s talk when we get back. If we crash while driving, neither of us will benefit.”

He didn’t look at me once until the drive was over, keeping his lips shut tight and his hands only on the steering wheel.

I, too, felt like if I spoke unnecessarily.

…I might lose it and strangle him out of sheer frustration.

So, I bit my lip hard and just stared out the window.

The early morning sun was the only thing that felt warm to me.