Chapter 49: This might be the first time you’ve done it on your cheek

“Last night, oppa came to see me.”

Yu Garyeon spoke. Her voice was dusty, unlike her moist eyes.

“I was so happy about it…”

In her dream, she had forgotten she had just been sleeping and jumped out in her pajamas. Then she rubbed her face against the man’s chest.
After a while, she drew pictures on his chest as if it were a canvas, then grew tired of it and asked him to call her name.
The man, without a word of complaint, smiled faintly and meticulously called her name, again and again, until she was satisfied.

She led him outside by the hand. Heedless of the pitch-black darkness, she walked wherever she wanted to go.
She shouted in the street, “This is my boyfriend,” and walked along the wide river, arm in arm.

She even stole a kiss on his cheek, taking advantage of the crowded subway, and took a ridiculous picture in a sticker photo booth.
Everything was fun and new.

Yu Garyeon, who had been watching the entire scene from a step away, finally couldn’t contain her swelling heart and started to move.
She also wanted to be held in his arms, to rub her face against him, and to breathe in the scent she had only ever imagined.

But the distance between them didn’t narrow. If anything, it grew wider.
It wasn’t a matter of speed. The man was simply avoiding her.

Why? Yu Garyeon couldn’t understand. That woman hadn’t made any effort at all.

She just happened to be lucky enough to be by the man’s side, and taking advantage of the atmosphere, she had spewed out incoherent confessions, not of her own will, but with the help of alcohol.

I still have so much to say. I’m holding onto so many problems that can’t be solved without him. Why do I have to be deprived of all opportunities just because I was a little late?

That’s wrong. It’s unfair.
But Yu Garyeon could only sit there helplessly, watching the two of them grow distant.
It was around that time that her eyes snapped open.

“It’s true.”

Yu Garyeon continued, her lips twisting in a pained smile.

“It’s a really cheap story.”

Another flash of lightning dyed the entire world white. No, the flash only illuminated one side of things.
Yu Dojin looked at the deep darkness in Yu Garyeon’s face and spoke.

“It’s not cheap.”
“Looking back, I never once moved my feet to approach you. It was the same that day. The weather just happened to be bad, and I just happened to be next to you. That’s all.”

She couldn’t forgive herself for that.

“I like you. I’ve liked you ever since our college days. But… I like the unnis more than that.”

Yu Garyeon was confused.

“But I’m the one who stole it. They must be waiting, and I’m the one holding them back…”

The man in front of her is good. She wants to be his lover, to share her love with him.

But at the same time, she couldn’t bear to think of the faces of the people who would be hurting because of her, suppressing their feelings, suffering the same pain she had once endured.

Conflicting values grew like thorny vines, choking her.

“…I’m sorry. I don’t know what I’m talking about. I have so many thoughts, but I can’t express them.”

Yu Garyeon bit her lip in frustration.
Then, as if asking to be forgotten, she let out a forced laugh and spoke.

“I must have gone crazy from sitting and typing all day without sleeping.”

Just as Yu Garyeon was about to shake her head and secretly wipe away the tears clinging to her eyelashes, a thunderous sound shook her world.

But the source of the sound wasn’t the sky, but the palm of the man in front of her.

Yu Dojin, who had slapped his own cheek with all his might, strode towards the bewildered Yu Garyeon.

“I don’t think it’s strange.”

Yu Dojin said, collapsing beside Yu Garyeon.
No, absolutely not. It’s definitely strange. You need to punish me more actively.

Yu Garyeon was about to open her mouth in despair, but her attempt was thwarted by a fiery palm covering the back of her hand.

The hand she could only hold for a brief moment, disguised as a joke or a coincidence.
His palm, which she could only hold in her dreams, was now on the back of her hand.

A faint gasp escaped Yu Garyeon’s lips.

“Garyeon.”

Yu Dojin tilted his head, met Yu Garyeon’s gaze, and continued.

“You know, even if I went back in time, I would still join the film club.”

The throbbing in their joined hands told her that he wasn’t lying.

“Because it was fun. So much fun that I didn’t care about the pain I would experience later… And it must be the same for you, Garyeon.”

Yu Garyeon clenched her fists silently.
Yes, it was the same for her. Even if she had the chance to go back and start over, she would still join the film club. Definitely.

“I’m sorry. I was so focused on not wanting to disappoint you that I didn’t try to understand what you were thinking.”

This isn’t just about the two of us.

Yu Dojin, having organized his thoughts, gripped Yu Garyeon’s trembling hand even tighter and spoke.

“I’ll try. I’ll do my best to take responsibility for both sides without neglecting either.”
Yu Garyeon bent down and carefully examined Yu Dojin’s face, who was looking up at her.

His slightly intimidating eyes, his rough skin, his endearing smile, like a child’s, despite being older than her. She traced every detail of his face.

No, it was a ridiculous story.

“So can you wait just a little longer until then—”
“…No.”

She lowered her head and kissed the man’s cheek.

“I don’t want to just be taken care of.”

Yu Garyeon said, as if making a declaration.

As soon as she finished speaking, Yu Dojin recoiled.
He cupped the cheek she had kissed with both hands and let out a faint groan, looking at Yu Garyeon.

“Ouch, I’m sorry. I couldn’t help myself. D-Did you not like it?”
“No, th-that’s, no.”

Yu Dojin, who had fled with a girlish shuffle to escape the advancing Yu Garyeon, finally covered his face with both hands and spoke, almost crawling.

“I-It’s my first time.”
“Ah… It might be the first time on the cheek.”
“H-Huh?”
“It’s nothing.”

Yu Garyeon jumped onto Yu Dojin’s back, who was cornered against a pillar, and spoke.

“I’m sorry for always being so spoiled. I won’t say such foolish things anymore.”

I still like him. I can’t give up. I can’t even imagine holding another man’s hand, and I don’t want to.

Yu Garyeon wanted to beat herself up for almost blurting out such foolish words, words she would have regretted for the rest of her life.

“I’ll try too. I won’t just wait anymore, I’ll try my best to make you think that it has to be me. I’ll win you over confidently, without being ashamed of myself.”

Yu Garyeon stood on her tiptoes and whispered to Yu Dojin.

“So please give me a little more time. I’ll pretend I didn’t hear what you said just now, ‘not yet’.”

Hearing her words, Yu Dojin blinked for a moment, then shook his head and slapped his own cheek hard.
He couldn’t be embarrassed forever just because he wasn’t used to it.

“…Yeah, I think it was a little too soon for us.”
“Yeah, we have a mountain of things to do.”

Yes, I have to try. So as not to fall behind my junior who is passionately whispering words of love behind my back.
Yu Dojin slapped his cheek once more.

“You’ll look like a pufferfish if you keep doing that.”
“I need that much grit.”

They laughed like blue frogs rustling in the weeds.

****

“It doesn’t look like it’s going to stop.”

Yu Dojin muttered, opening his umbrella as he got off the bus. As he stepped forward, a puddle on the roadside splashed, soaking his calves.

I should have just spent more time at Garyeon’s place. But I can’t make her wait any longer.

Yu Dojin glanced at his phone screen and hurried his steps.

‘I think I’ll be late, so eat first.’

However, to his considerate message, Han Yeoreum had only replied with a concise ‘ㅗ’ and cut off contact.

She’s so loyal in the weirdest places. Yu Dojin chuckled and jumped over a puddle.
One step, two steps, three steps. After about fifty steps, something strange caught his eye.

A large figure, clearly visible even through the pouring rain, and hair the color of ivory.

A woman with a very familiar build was standing there, biting her nails and staring at the villa he lived in.

Startled by her incredibly precarious appearance, Yu Dojin quickly ran over and reached out his hand.

“Dasom?”

Lee Dasom, who had flinched at the sudden touch, turned her head towards the sound.

“Ah…?”

Soon, realizing who it was, she started trembling, her face pale.

“Dasom, what’s wrong? What happened?”
“Ugh, uwaa…”

Instead of an answer, a pitiful cry burst out.