Ch.111111. Page

“…What does that mean?”

Hana wasn’t a particularly patient person.

Nevertheless, she wanted to give Suhyuk’s words one more consideration.

To be honest, if she were to express her true feelings, she wanted to scream, “What nonsense is this again?”

You say you like me, but you don’t want to date?

What are you trying to do with me?

“Um…”

Suhyuk took a short breath.

He decided to honestly reveal what he feared to Hana.

“Hana. I…”

“Yes?”

“I joined Spirit because I wanted to play guitar in a band.”

He was half kidnapped by Seo-eun, but that was definitely how it started.

And he thought that journey had been solid and successful, at least until the competition.

“What? Is someone going to cut off your fingers if you date me? What does that have to do with anything?”

“If I officially date you, our band will fall apart.”

Suhyuk’s eyes looked sorrowful.

It wasn’t hard to guess what he was talking about.

“You’re talking about Juyeon, right?”

“…Yes.”

Hana bit her lip hard.

“So you’re saying you can’t date me because you’re worried about Juyeon? Because it might interfere with our Spirit activities?”

“That’s a big part of it, and to elaborate further…”

Another unavoidable hurdle in Suhyuk’s life.

That period every young Korean man must go through.

“I’m going to the military soon.”

Hana’s breath caught in her throat. She had thought that if Juyeon was the only problem, maybe they could somehow persuade her.

“I… um… honestly speaking, I don’t know how much you like me.”

“To take it a step further, I’m not even sure why you like me right now.”

“Until recently, I spent months thinking you only saw me as a friend.”

“Remember when I asked you? If you liked me?”

How many nights had he suffered over that absolute denial?

Over those words that they were just friends?

“So with the military coming up soon, it doesn’t feel right to suddenly try to seduce you into dating me.”

“Or to turn our fun little band club into a wasteland.”

“It just doesn’t feel like the right thing to do. To me.”

Communication between dishonest people is like slowly stacking bricks one by one.

The more they talk, the more bricks accumulate.

The lengthening row of bricks gradually rises in height until it becomes a wall.

Despite spending quite a long time together, Hana still seemed like a princess in Suhyuk’s eyes.

Suhyuk was just a pathetic dwarf watching over her.

The dwarf found it difficult to fully accept that the sparkling princess liked him.

“So, putting everything else aside, part of it is that you don’t know how much I like you?”

Hana’s eyes blazed.

She felt like she had been trying so hard to express herself, but nothing was getting through.

If anything, Suhyuk’s attitude only seemed to fan the flames in Hana’s heart even more.

I messed up.

I shouldn’t have said those things.

Hana never dreamed that the words she had said to hide her embarrassment would have such a significant impact.

If that’s the case, from now on, if I show you exactly how much I like you…

“That’s part of it, but looking at everything overall.”

Total disaster.

That phrase best described Suhyuk’s current situation.

Problems that arise when dating.

Problems that wouldn’t exist if they didn’t date.

No matter how he looked at it, not dating seemed to benefit the vast majority.

“I’m planning not to date anyone at least until the end of the semester.”

Hana stared directly into Suhyuk’s eyes.

“Then what about after the semester ends?”

“…We’ll see when we get there.”

“Will you date me then if you know how much I like you?”

“At least our Spirit activities will be over by then.”

Though her chest felt unbearably tight, Hana also didn’t want Spirit to fall apart.

Someone without affection for the club wouldn’t become the practice leader.

Someone without affection wouldn’t suggest creating songs together and entering competitions.

Suhyuk and Spirit.

There was naturally a scale in Hana’s heart too.

Is this right…?

Are his words even worth listening to?

From the perspective of personal romance, it didn’t seem like that big of an issue.

It wasn’t like he wanted to date someone else; he was essentially just asking her to wait about three months.

No. But to just spend this precious time as friends…

Hana grabbed her forehead.

Her head felt like it was about to split.

“Hey. Lee Suhyuk.”

“…Yes?”

“Come here.”

Though he was already right beside her, Suhyuk took one step closer to Hana.

“Close your eyes.”

“…Why?”

“Ah, just close them when I tell you to.”

At Hana’s irritated words, Suhyuk closed his eyes nervously.

Wait, am I going to get slapped or something…

*Smooch*

In a very brief moment.

At the same time, an unforgettable moment came for Suhyuk.

Hana pulled Suhyuk’s face with both hands and slightly raised her tiptoes.

Hana’s soft lips overlapped with Suhyuk’s.

His mind went blank.

For a moment, Suhyuk wondered if he was dreaming.

“Huh…?”

His eyes flew open.

Suhyuk hesitantly took two steps back.

“Hey.”

Hana’s face was bright red, unable to overcome her embarrassment.

But despite her ears feeling like they were about to burn up, Hana never avoided Suhyuk’s eyes.

“That was my first, you know?”

“M-mine too.”

“What? Got a problem with it?”

“No…”

“You said earlier you weren’t sure how much I like you.”

Hana clenched her fist tightly.

“Did that answer your question?”

She kissed me.

And the girl I like made the first move.

Suhyuk could hardly believe this was reality and not fantasy.

Too much stimulation can break the brain.

Suhyuk was completely broken.

“Ah. Yes. It did. It was amazing.”

“Amazing? Want me to do it again?”

“No! No, that’s okay!”

“…Who are you to refuse?”

The uncle, who had just returned from leisurely smoking a cigarette, heaved a deep sigh on the completely dry floor.

“Hey, part-timers.”

The two young people, their faces flushed red as if they’d been drinking,

The pink atmosphere was visibly rising between them.

The uncle wiggled his finger as if telling them to stop.

“Do your lovey-dovey stuff when you’re alone outside, and get some work done. I can’t pay you to play around.”

“S-sorry!”

Suhyuk ran straight to the cleaning supply closet.

Hana watched his retreating figure with her lips pursed.

“Yoon Hana.”

“Huh?”

“You work too, kid.”

“I’ll do it in a bit.”

Though she did it in the heat of the moment, Hana was also dying of embarrassment.

Ah…

I thought I’d do things like this after we started dating.

What is this even…

But she still thought Suhyuk had provoked her first.

How could she stay still after hearing such words?

‘I don’t know how much you like me.’

This idiot couldn’t pick up on her signals, so it was time to show him physically.

As she was rationalizing to herself and trying to cool her face, the uncle poured oil on the fire.

“Why are your faces so red?”

“Did you two kiss or something?”

It was meant as a joke, but Hana reacted with indignation.

“Ah! Are you crazy?! Like I would kiss him in your store! Me!”

“Why are you getting angry? Go fill up the drinks.”

At this point, who was the boss and who was the employee?

As the uncle pushed her toward the refrigerator, Suhyuk, who had brought the cleaning supplies, swept and wiped the floor until it shone.

There was a spoonful of apology in there, but he also couldn’t get his mind off the moment with Hana.

His declaration not to date remained valid, but the kiss was too sweet.

For a brief moment, emotion almost overtook reason.

“If you’re done cleaning, Suhyuk, check the entry today too. Hana, you know what to do?”

The uncle, having finished checking the lighting, spoke in a languid tone.

“Yes, sir.”

“Mm-hmm.”

A brief idle time before customers entered.

As they found themselves alone, Hana plopped down next to Suhyuk.

“Lee Suhyuk.”

“…Yes?”

“You know it’s a big deal if you make mistakes with the money, right?”

Hana, not wanting things to become awkward again, put on an act.

“Yes. I’ll be thorough.”

“If the calculations are off, it’ll be a headache later, so you really need to do it well.”

“…Yes.”

Continued silence.

“Ah, really! If all you say is ‘yes,’ the atmosphere gets weird!”

She spoke out of frustration, but Suhyuk’s response was unexpected.

“…It’s natural for it to be weird.”

“What?”

“After what you did to me…”

Suhyuk’s ears were red.

“…It would be strange if I were normal. After that.”

Hana found herself in serious contemplation about whether to try it again.