Chapter 18. I’ll Ask.

“Haeyeong, I went to the bookstore today. If you haven’t bought that workbook you mentioned, I can buy it for you.”

It was a text message from Gijun.

“Haah—.”

For a moment, Haeyeong thought it was from Ju Taeseong, and her heart fluttered. But once she saw it wasn’t, it felt like a balloon losing air.

She didn’t have the energy to reply by text, so she just pressed the call button.

Soon, Gijun’s voice came through.

“Hello?”

“Ah, yes. Oppa… I was going to the bookstore, but I couldn’t buy the workbook. Please help me with that…”

“Okay.”

“Thank you. I’ll make sure to pay you back…”

“But Haeyeong… Your voice doesn’t sound good. Are you okay?”

“Ah—.”

Haeyeong bit her lip.

For some reason, it was hard to say even a small white lie this time, even though it was usually so easy.

“Where are you, Haeyeong?”

Hearing Gijun’s calm voice, Haeyeong hesitated, then told him the truth.

“…I… I fell asleep on the bus and ended up at the last stop. I left my wallet on the bus too, so I had to borrow money for the ride…”

Strangely, she could say things easily to Gijun that she had hesitated to tell Ju Taeseong.

“I’m waiting for the bus now, but they said it’ll take a while…”

It felt like it didn’t matter if he knew how unlucky her day had been.

“Where are you? I’ll come get you.”

“No, it’s okay.”

“Haeyeong, if I didn’t know, maybe I could ignore it. But now that I do, I can’t just leave you there. Send me the location.”

The call ended with Gijun’s firm words.

Haeyeong thought it would be weird to argue about it, so she sent him a text with the location.

About 30 minutes later, a taxi stopped in front of Haeyeong.

Screech—

Gijun got out of the taxi and walked calmly toward her.

“Haeyeong.”

“Oh… Gijun oppa.”

“Are you okay? Why are your clothes so thin…?”

He tried to say more but stopped. Then he took off his own jacket and gently placed it over Haeyeong’s shoulders.

He also picked up the bag with her wet school uniform and her other belongings, and pointed toward the taxi.

“Let’s go. I’ll take you home.”

“…Okay.”

With a weak voice, Haeyeong nodded and got into the taxi.

“Why is she coming home so late?”

After hearing from Mrs. Jincheon that Haeyeong hadn’t come back yet, Taeseong stood waiting at the front gate.

“She didn’t say she wouldn’t eat dinner… but she’s really late. She said she was going to the bookstore, but there’s no call or message…”

“She always says Seoul is scary, but she’s the one wandering around like that.”

He pouted, but still zipped his hoodie all the way up to block the cold wind—
like he was really planning to wait for Haeyeong to return.

With both hands in his pockets, Taeseong quietly cursed and pulled out his phone.

He looked for Haeyeong’s number in his contacts. His finger hovered in the air.
Should he call or not?

Since he left the house, he had opened and closed her contact profile over and over again.
He even memorized her whole phone number by now.

But still, Taeseong couldn’t bring himself to call.

“So, you confess your feelings, and she just coolly leaves when she finds someone she likes. Then why are you so anxious about it?”

Chahyeok’s words kept echoing in his ears.

Yeah… why am I like this?

Why do I care about Cha Haeyeong?

He tried to press the call button, but that question rose to his throat.

They were forced to marry by their grandparents and agreed to divorce when they became adults.
Of course, that was if his confession succeeded.

And if Haeyeong found someone she liked first, he had planned to tell his grandfather about getting divorced.

That way, it would be fair.

Anyway, the only thing that changed was that he had realized she was a better person than he thought.
Maybe… they could even be friends. That was all.

“Why do I care so much…? Why…?”

Because she’s a friend.

“Friends should care about each other at least this much, right?”

He kept repeating those words to himself, and suddenly his lips started moving faster.

“She’s never been to Seoul before, she’s clueless, she could get scammed or something…”

It was like he was arguing back at Chahyeok, listing every reason why he couldn’t help but worry about Haeyeong.

In the end, it was all just an excuse—
A way to convince himself that it was okay to call her, ask where she was, and worry about her.

The thinking took long, but the decision was quick.

Just as Taeseong picked up his phone and was about to press the call button—
A taxi stopped in front of the house.

The door opened, and Haeyeong got out.

Taeseong was about to happily walk up to her,
but then Gijun also stepped out of the taxi.

“Ah—”

Taeseong’s face cracked as he watched the two.

He froze, unable to move closer, when he heard a cheerful voice.

“Oh, Ju Taeseong?”

“…Yeah.”

Taeseong’s eyes were fixed on the jacket hanging over Haeyeong’s shoulders. It was Gijun’s.

“You… were you waiting for me?”

Haeyeong came toward him in little steps.
Only then did Taeseong look away from the jacket and meet her eyes.

Right at that moment, he yanked the jacket off her shoulders.

“Hey! Ju Taeseong! That’s his jacket!”

Worried the jacket might get damaged, Haeyeong shouted in panic.

But Taeseong didn’t care. He took off his own hoodie and draped it over Haeyeong’s shoulders instead.
Then he spoke in a firm voice:

“So.”

“Huh?”

“You should give back the clothes to the person they belong to.
And wear my jacket.”

“Huh? Oh…”

While Haeyeong stood there confused, looking at the jacket now on her shoulders,
Gijun walked over after sending off the taxi.

“Haeyeong, don’t forget your stuff.”

He handed her the bag.

“Ah, right!”

When she saw Taeseong, she had gotten so happy that she forgot everything and jumped out of the taxi.
Now she hit herself on the head in embarrassment.

Gijun, meanwhile, noticed that Haeyeong was now wearing Taeseong’s hoodie and smiled a little.

Taeseong walked over, took the bag from Gijun like it was obvious that he should be the one to carry it.

“Hey, Cha Haeyeong. How could you forget your stuff?”

At Taeseong’s scolding, Gijun barely kept himself from laughing.
He’d known Taeseong since they were kids, but had never seen him act this emotional before.

For the bored, quiet college student Gijun, watching a high schooler like Taeseong act this way was kind of fun.

Maybe he should tease him a little more.

With a playful tone, Gijun said:

“Were you waiting for Haeyeong? Because you were worried?”

“Worried? No. Mrs. Jincheon just told me to come outside.”

“Ohhh, I see.”

Gijun nodded calmly.

“Haeyeong said she was going to the bookstore, but she fell asleep on the bus. Lost her wallet too. She said she had to borrow money from the driver at the last stop…”

“Hyung.”

Taeseong’s sharp voice cut Gijun off. His eyes were fierce, like a wild animal.

“I appreciate you giving Cha Haeyeong a ride home.
But let me ask what happened.”

“……”

“You don’t need to explain.”

“……”

“There’s no need for you to talk for her.”

Taeseong took the bag, handed the jacket back to Gijun, and said:

“Take care.”

Then he grabbed Haeyeong’s wrist and led her toward the gate.

“Oh— oppa! I’ll pay you back for the workbook and the taxi next class!
Thank you for today!”

Haeyeong smiled and shouted back at Gijun, while being pulled away by Taeseong.

“No worries. Just call me again if anything like this happens.”

Hearing their friendly conversation, Taeseong’s lips tightened slightly.

He gripped her wrist harder and walked faster.

Clang—
The iron gate closed behind them.

Halfway across the garden, Taeseong suddenly stopped.

He looked straight at her small round face and let out a soft sigh.

Haeyeong suddenly felt her heart flutter.

“…Did you really… come outside because you were worried about me?”

She asked carefully.

It had been a hard day.
If Ju Taeseong truly worried about her, it might make all the stress go away.

But then—

“Why would I worry about someone as tough as you?”

“….”

“Besides, looks like you’ve got plenty of other people who care about you.”

Taeseong replied coldly and handed her bag back.

“And you don’t even want me to worry about you, right?”

“….”

“That’s why you didn’t contact anyone even when you got lost.”

In the end, Taeseong said something sharp and walked away first.

Haeyeong, arms full of bags, stood there staring blankly at his back.

Then she opened her mouth slowly and mumbled:

“…I did want you to worry about me.”

When I was scared—
the first person I thought of… was you, Ju Taeseong.

“…Forget it. I’m the idiot for expecting anything.”

She gave a bitter smile, shook her head, and started walking again.

Her heart, which had fluttered like the night before a school trip,
now felt cold—like it had been hit by harsh raindrops.

Click.
Taeseong locked the door and dived onto his bed.

He laid his arm over his forehead and muttered to himself.

“What are you doing, Ju Taeseong…”

Worrying all by yourself.
Getting angry all by yourself.
Like an idiot.

“All I had to say was, ‘I was worried, because we live together.’
Just that one line would’ve been enough… Why did I…”

As he blamed himself, Taeseong suddenly sat up—
and then turned all his anger toward Haeyeong.

“Seriously, why’d she call Gijun-hyung anyway?”

She should’ve called me instead.