Ch.226Side Story – I Became a Heroine After the Pure Love Ending (17)

We found a table by the window on the second floor of the café, spacious enough to comfortably seat about four people. It was a spot with large sofa-style chairs around a slightly elevated table compared to the others.

On one side sat Doha-min and me.

On the other side, the Chairman and Doha-mi sat together on the same chair.

As if it had been predetermined who should sit next to whom.

-Buzzzzz…

The vibrating pager went off shortly after we settled in.

There weren’t many customers in the café, but we had each ordered different menu items.

As expected of Café Ninja Kakashi. They didn’t leave any awkward time for first-time acquaintances to sit around uncomfortably without drinks.

“Looks like they came out faster than expected. Everyone please wait here. I’ll go get them.”

“Wait, Student Ha-min. Please wait.”

As soon as the pager vibrated, Doha-min immediately stood up, but the Chairman stopped him with a worried expression.

“Are you planning to bring all those drinks by yourself?”

“Well… I can manage just fine on my own.”

“But you’ll have to carry all those drinks up the stairs. What if you slip and fall while climbing the stairs…”

“I-I’m not that clumsy, you know?”

“Still, you never know. If it’s cold drinks, you’d just get your clothes wet, but if hot espresso or hot chocolate spills on your face… No, I can’t allow that. I’ll carry the hot drinks, so let me come with…”

“Ah, I’ll go with him.”

Before the Chairman could stand up to follow Doha-min.

I quickly grabbed Doha-min’s arm and clung to him.

“I can carry the hot drinks, right? My hot chocolate and your espresso.”

“No, it’s fine. I’ll go…”

“Huuuh, oppa. Where are you trying to go without me again! You didn’t even buy me the mango smoothie you promised!”

“Ha-Ha-mi…? I’m not going anywhere, I’m just going with Student Ha-min to get the drinks… First, let go of my arm…”

With Doha-mi clinging to the Chairman’s arm, this was my chance.

“Come on, let’s go quickly. My hot chocolate will get cold.”

“Yeah, let’s go.”

“Be-be careful! Don’t run even if you’re in a hurry! Watch your step!”

“That old guy seems a bit weird. He’s acting like he’s your dad.”

“Well, he’s from an educational foundation, so he’s probably just concerned about students.”

Doha-min and I went down to the first floor and picked up the drinks.

Since we didn’t look back while going down the stairs, I couldn’t see what expression the Chairman had on his face, but I’m sure it wasn’t a particularly satisfied one.

Huh? Why do I think that?

Well, because I was holding onto Doha-min’s arm the entire time we went downstairs.

.

.

.

-Slurrrp

“How is it? Feeling better now?”

“Phew… I finally feel my body warming up. In winter, I absolutely must have the hot chocolate from this place.”

The intense warmth and sweetness coming up through the flat straw was melting my brain.

While Zero Lime is always number one in my heart, Ban Do-young’s cold-sensitive body occasionally craved this all-encompassing heat and sugar rush.

“Doha-min, do you want to try this marshmallow topping? I tried it and the slightly toasted part is really delicious. Here, say ‘ah.’ I’ll feed you.”

“Wait, let’s listen to what the Chairman has to say…”

“Who said not to listen? Just open your mouth. I said I’ll feed you.”

“Um… I came here because I wanted to talk to Student Ha-min…”

“Yeah, Do-young. Let’s listen to the Chairman first…”

“You don’t want what I’m offering…?”

“Ah, no, that’s not it. Ahhm.”

Doha-min glanced nervously at the Chairman before quickly taking the marshmallow from my spoon in one bite.

“Hehe, it’s good, right?”

“Yeah… it’s delicious.”

Of course. How could it not be delicious with marshmallow, chocolate, and a bit of Ban Do-young on it?

“Thank you, Chairman. For treating us to these drinks too. Do-young, you should thank him too.”

“I’ll enjoy it, Chairman. But I’m not sharing Doha-min with you.”

“B-Ban Do-young…!”

“It’s alright. My previous encounter with Student Do-young probably didn’t leave a good impression. How many people would feel positively toward someone who threatened to separate them from their most precious person? I completely understand.”

“And you still did that knowing how it would feel?”

“…I apologize.”

The Chairman bowed his head shamefully.

“…You seem to come here quite often.”

After bowing his head, the Chairman carefully looked up and addressed Doha-min again.

“Yes. It’s a good place for comfortable conversations. Do-young and I come here often. We’ve come here frequently after exams or when we meet on weekends.”

“Do you come here often with your mother as well?”

“Hmm… to cafés near our home? She’s taken me out a few times, telling me not to just sit at my desk studying all the time and to get some fresh air.”

“…I see. You have a good mother, Student Ha-min.”

“Th-thank you…”

“Hehe, mango is delicious.”

That good mother was currently stuffing her cheeks full of mango smoothie through a straw.

“Oppa, want some? My mango!”

“…Maybe later, if that’s okay.”

“Really? Then I’ll save some. You have to eat it later, okay? My mango?”

“Yes, thank you, Ha-mi. For saving some for me.”

The Chairman gazed at Doha-mi with wistful eyes, then turned his attention back to Doha-min, as if trying to focus.

Doha-min, sensing the Chairman’s intent, quietly put down his cup.

“…Have you ever heard from your mother? About when she was a student. Even if you haven’t, given the age difference between you and your mother, you might have vaguely figured it out.”

“I haven’t heard much in detail. Talking about high school inevitably leads to the story of when she had me. About her boyfriend… the person she was seeing back then.”

“Did, did you ever face any disadvantages because of that? Bullying from friends… contempt from teachers…”

“Ah, no. The bullying at school was there from the beginning, so it wasn’t because of that… Back then, I was shorter and much more awkward than I am now… Even without my family situation, there was plenty for them to pick on…”

“I’m… I’m sorry.”

“Old man, why are you making our baby relive his painful memories from his loser days! Is buying hot chocolate all you can do?”

Those stories about Doha-min’s loser days are memories that only I, who can love even that side of him, should be allowed to bring up.

“Anyway, I see. Well, if there was no chance of meeting, perhaps explaining that he didn’t exist in this world was the easiest solution.”

After briefly turning his head away, the Chairman nodded slightly as he heard about Doha-min and Doha-mi’s past.

“Yes, so it’s a bit strange. Meeting someone who has had a connection with my mom since high school. And that person turning out to be the Chairman.”

“I feel the same. It’s truly amazing and… surprising… and I’m grateful that Ha-mi’s… that tiny Ha-mi’s child is now sitting in front of me.”

“Doha-mi is still tiny though.”

“Thank you for growing up healthy. Thank you for growing up straight and true. Thank you for becoming a son your mother, who was alone, can be proud of, Student Ha-min.”

“Aren’t you going to thank him for growing up to be such a capable man that he can date a gorgeous girlfriend who’s prettier than Doha-mi?”

“…”

“Chairman, I’m sorry, but could you please say what Do-young wants you to say? When you think about it, it’s not wrong…”

“…I’ll consider it later.”

The Chairman kept bowing his head as he expressed his gratitude to Doha-min.

As if he were someone who needed to express such gratitude.

“A-anyway, the main point I wanted to make is this. Actually… Student Ha-min’s father is…”

“…”

“So… Student Ha-min’s father is actually-“

The Chairman was struggling to force something out of his throat with all his might.

“The one who left your mother alone… who made your family struggle… the incompetent father who failed to fulfill his role is actually…”

“Wait a moment, Chairman.”

Doha-min stopped the Chairman who was trying to force something out of his throat with all his might.

“Why, why do you stop me?”

“Your face… it’s bright red. You look like you’re having a hard time.”

“M-me…?”

“Yes. You’re quite red.”

“Wow, Doha-mi always teased you for being a coward, but I guess she was right. Getting all red like a radish because you can’t say what you want to say—that’s just like you, Doha-min.”

…Huh?

What did I just say?

Why did I suddenly think this parasite brother Chairman resembles our Lime’s dad?

“Wait, could it be.”

I turned my head to look at Doha-min beside me.

Though not as much as the Chairman, Doha-min’s face was also slightly flushed.

Evidence that he was waiting to say something, loaded at the tip of his throat.

“My mom. No matter how much she drank or how alone she was, I don’t think she would be so close to an old friend she had no feelings for. If that were the case, she wouldn’t have insisted on staying single just because I was young.”

“Student Ha-min…”

“For a mom like that to accept a dinner invitation from someone she’s seeing after 20 years… to drink alcohol she doesn’t usually drink, to link arms affectionately or laugh with him, it means the Chairman was someone very precious to my mom… doesn’t it?”

I put down my hot chocolate and alternated my gaze between Doha-min and the Chairman, focusing intently on their conversation.

“You’re… my father, aren’t you? That’s it, right?”

-Slurp

The hot chocolate I was holding in my mouth slightly spilled out.

This was the moment when it was revealed that this parasite brother Chairman, Cheon Sang-min, was actually Doha-min’s father.

“That’s too grand a title… ‘A worthless human who failed to fulfill his role’—that’s sufficient.”

“…”

“That seems harder to say though. How about ‘fucking father’ instead?”

“D-Do-young!”

“Why? It’s a waste to use too many words for someone you don’t like.”

“If it helps release even a little of the resentment you’ve built up… I don’t mind. Call me whatever you—”

“Then, fu(cking) father. Buy me another hot chocolate. And while you’re at it, how about a strawberry cake too?”

“I didn’t tell YOU to call me that!”

Why not?

If he’s Doha-min’s dad, he’s my dad too.

Fu(cking) dad.