PB 3

Chapter 3

Ho-je watched Yeon-shi, tears brimming in her eyes, unable to look away from the couple. His mind was tangled. The tears she had been holding back now streamed down her cheeks.

What kind of relationship does she have with these people to cry like this?

His gaze flickered between the couple and Yeon-shi.

Was she spying? Or silently cursing them with her eyes?

Yeon-shi’s face, staring fiercely at the pair, was a mix of emotions, complicated and raw.

This couldn’t continue. Ho-je grabbed her wrist and pulled her up abruptly.

“W-what… what are you doing?”

Yeon-shi whispered, her voice filled with shock.

“I’m going to act crazy and stick my nose into things.”

“What…?”

Ignoring her question, Ho-je continued to pull her along. Only then, as she was led reluctantly, did Yeon-shi start resisting.

“Hey! Let go! Who do you think you are? I’m calling the police!”

Ho-je covered her mouth with his hand and spoke in a low, warning tone.

“Quiet. Planning to spread rumors that you saw the couple kissing?”

He lowered the mask that had covered his face, revealing his identity.

“I’m not some weirdo—I run the flower shop. Happy now?”

“Who are you to interfere?”

“Exactly. Today, I felt like meddling a little.”

“Ha… unbelievable.”

Yeon-shi shook off his hand and turned away.

“Why? Going back over there?”

“…….”

“Are you some kind of voyeur?”

“No!”

She shouted, turning back to him, then buried her face in her hands and sank to the ground.

“These are my friends…”

Her sobs grew louder than before.

Outside the convenience store, Ho-je helped Yeon-shi sit on a chair and went inside to buy drinks.

He kept glancing back at her worriedly. Yeon-shi kept her head down but no longer cried.

“Huh… sticking my nose in like this… my older brother would freak out if he knew.”

He let out a hollow laugh at the absurdity of his own actions.

Carrying two strawberry milks, he came out of the store. Even though she could feel him, Yeon-shi didn’t look up.

Ho-je handed her one of the drinks. Only then did she lift her head, her tearful eyes meeting his. She looked like a rabbit with tears in her eyes.

Slightly cute…

He immediately scolded himself for thinking that while she was sad.

“Drink this. Something sweet will make you feel a little better.”

He plopped down opposite her and opened the straw. But Yeon-shi didn’t drink—she just stared at him.

Ho-je grabbed the drink from her hands, inserted the straw himself, and handed it back.

“When you’re upset, you have to release it somehow. Bottling it up only hurts inside.”

His gaze softened, but inwardly he chided himself. Who’s comforting whom here? I haven’t even sorted out my own feelings.

He took a sip of his own strawberry milk.

“…Thank you.”

Yeon-shi’s soft voice reached him. He watched as she finally drank, the tiny sip of milk sliding into her mouth.

“Ask me anything you want.”

She put down the straw and held the drink with both hands.

“What should I ask?”

“Why you were crying… why you spied on your friends… aren’t you curious?”

“Not really.”

Ho-je answered indifferently. Her eyes stared at him, questioning why he didn’t care.

“I’m not curious enough to dig into someone else’s wounds.”

“I see…”

Yeon-shi gave a bitter smile and looked away. She had no more words. She had never met someone so calmly receptive, and it puzzled her.

She wondered why he had even meddled when he didn’t need to. Perhaps he was just a genuinely meddlesome person, but he somehow dissolved her suspicion as well.

“But I can listen, though.”

Her eyes flickered, meeting his.

“…Excuse me?”

“I can listen. I have plenty of time today.”

“Ha… why…”

Yeon-shi smiled awkwardly, trailing off mid-sentence.

“Since I’m already meddling, might as well go further. We’re not strangers, anyway.”

“We just met today, though?”

“Not for me.”

“From now on, my friend is you.”

She had once called a tree her friend—a strangely attention-grabbing girl. Ho-je recalled that first day and chuckled softly.

“No, really?”

Yeon-shi tilted her head. Ho-je smiled subtly.

“Let’s skip over what would become the cupcake owner’s embarrassing history, and just speak openly. I’ll listen.”

“Then… would you like a drink?”

Yeon-shi was still bewildered.

She figured if she drank something, she might stop thinking about her friends. She brought Ho-je to a nearby food stall.

The situation was comical. There was no lower point to reach now—everything had already been exposed.

She ordered soju and rolled omelets, smiling bitterly at herself.

The stall owner warned lightly as he served the drinks and fish cake soup.

“Drink a little.”

“Yes, ma’am.”

Yeon-shi laughed bitterly and refilled her cup.

Ho-je raised his cup to join her, but she drank quickly, repeatedly refilling it.

Ho-je clicked his tongue, lowered his cup, and sipped water instead. He had a feeling she might end up completely drunk.

Better that at least one of us stays sober.

He rested an elbow on the table, chin on his palm, watching her.

When she finally lowered her lips, he couldn’t hold back:

“You drink well, huh?”

“No. One glass of soju and I’m drunk.”

“What? Then you’ve already exceeded your limit, haven’t you?”

Yeon-shi looked up at him, startled, then lowered her gaze slightly. Her reactions, meticulously answering every remark, seemed oddly amusing to him.

It was hard to know where to begin. They’d only known each other a few hours, so opening up feelings wasn’t easy.

“Ha…”

Her first sigh.

“My two friends… they’ve been my childhood friends, growing up here together. But they recently started dating…”

“Unrequited love?”

Yeon-shi nodded.

“It’s been a long time. Since high school, actually—about ten years.”

“Did you ever confess?”

“No. If I confessed and we couldn’t even stay friends… what would I do?”

Her sorrowful face darkened further.

“How can someone just sit on unrequited love without even trying? Foolish, isn’t it?”

“Even if I seem foolish, I can’t do it. They’re like family. I didn’t want to cause even a small problem.”

Foolish, indeed.

Ho-je thought of her as someone who had already run away from a challenge out of fear.

“What will you do now?”

“What can I do?”

“After loving them for so long, treating them just as friends has its limits. Can you really be okay with that? Days like today will come again.”

“There’s no solution. Time will fix it.”

What to do with this person…

Ho-je crossed his arms, his expression serious, gazing at her with pity.

“As someone older by a few years, I’ll give you a piece of advice.”

“How old are you?”

“Thirty-two this year.”

“Oh… older than me, huh.”

Embarrassed, Yeon-shi sipped her soju. Ho-je chuckled softly and continued.

“Time doesn’t heal everything. You have to work on it. Unrequited love—it’s a chronic illness.”

“You speak like you’ve experienced it yourself.”

“My situation was very different, but I didn’t have time to heal my own heart.”

Ho-je recalled his modeling days. Expectations, the title of being part of Han-Yu Group—they suffocated him.

He hated others’ eyes on him. When did it start?

Probably when he returned from a bathroom break during a shoot, only to overhear the staff talking behind his back.

“Min Ho-je is terrible. We’ve been shooting for over ten hours, and it still isn’t right. I have no idea what he’s unhappy about. Even if we do it multiple times, it’s the same, and he never just lets it go.”

He had been smiling and reassuring on the surface, but hearing that behind his back…

Ho-je’s face darkened as the memory resurfaced.

Ding—an alert sounded. Yeon-shi checked her phone, and her expression suddenly fell, mirroring Ho-je’s.

It was her friend.