Chapter 13 – I’m Good at Math Too
“It’s been a while, Taesung.”
“What are you two doing?”
Gijun smiled calmly and said hi. Taesung wiped the sweat from his forehead and asked again.
“You were playing basketball?”
“Yeah, I lost to Chahyeok. So annoying.”
Taesung looked down at the basketball in his arm and answered.
“No, but seriously. What were you two doing?”
He realized he didn’t get the answer he wanted and got upset.
Then Gijun finally answered with a smirk.
“Oh, Haeyoung said math was hard, so I was helping her.”
As soon as Gijun kindly said “Haeyoung,” Taesung’s eyebrows twitched.
“When did you get close enough to call her Haeyoung?”
Taesung pouted, and Gijun teased him.
“Why, are you mad because I called your wife by name?”
At that moment, Taesung let go of the basketball. It fell to the ground with a loud thud.
He held his chest and looked around, then spoke in a weird voice.
“…Mad? Me?”
“Weren’t you just jealous?”
“W-Why would I be jealous!”
Taesung’s voice got loud.
“Me and her, we’re not like that, hyung!”
Taesung flailed his arms like a wacky balloon man and kept explaining.
“We did have a wedding and registered our marriage, but we’re not actually like a real couple! Why would I get jealous over her?!”
“That’s good to hear.”
Gijun dismissed everything with one sentence, and Taesung bit his lip.
Ugh, I went too far.
Taesung realized his mistake a little too late. He turned his head and looked at Haeyoung.
As expected, her face didn’t look too happy.
Just as he was feeling guilty, Haeyoung smiled brightly and spoke to Gijun.
“Oppa, I don’t understand this problem either. Can you help me?”
“Sure.”
Haeyoung didn’t even look at Taesung, treating him like he was invisible. Taesung froze in place.
Then Gijun, holding his pen again, said gently,
“Taesung, you’re all sweaty. You’ll catch a cold. Go take a shower.”
In the end, Taesung sighed deeply, picked up the basketball, and walked away.
Taesung was in the shower, brushing back his wet hair under the strong water. He sighed to himself.
“Ha, Joo Taesung. Why did you act like that?”
Thinking about what happened earlier made him annoyed. He rubbed his face with both hands.
“Ugh…”
He had already cleared up his misunderstanding about her. Actually, he wanted to get along with her now.
But some weird sharp feeling made him act like a brat.
It just annoyed him that she smiled like that.
“That’s your doll.”
It bothered him that she looked at Gijun with the same smile she once gave him.
Why did I explode like that…?
“And what’s with that smile? And why did she call him oppa when they just met?”
Thinking about Haeyoung’s smile again, Taesung grumbled and squeezed out a lot of shampoo.
“I’m good at math too. I’m top-level!”
He angrily shampooed his hair while bragging to himself.
“She’s got a top math student right next to her, and she goes to some other guy… Ugh.”
Then suddenly, he realized something and stopped.
He touched the bubbles in his hair and was shocked.
“What the—this is body wash!”
Taesung stared at the body wash bottle in shock. Then he quickly turned on the water and washed out the foam.
Like he hadn’t done anything dumb because of Haeyoung.
“Ugh, my hair’s all stiff.”
But it was too late. His black hair was already stiff.
Just like how he couldn’t undo his feelings about Chahaeyoung.
Even after Taesung left, Haeyoung kept asking Gijun math questions.
Later, she looked a bit embarrassed.
“Oh, I took too much of your time. You were going to play baduk (go) with grandpa, right?”
“It’s fine. I can play another time. It’s summer break, I have a lot of free time.”
“Still… I feel bad.”
“No need. Since you’re married to Taesung, you’re like a little sister to me. I’m thankful to your grandpa too. I’m glad I can help like this.”
“Oh—”
Gijun kept a gentle face to make Haeyoung feel better.
“That makes me feel better… hehe.”
Haeyoung smiled brightly, putting her hand on her chest.
Gijun stared at her smiling lips, then said,
“If you don’t know something, you can ask Taesung too. He’s good at math.”
“Huh? Him?”
When she heard Taesung’s name, Haeyoung’s smile dropped.
“He can’t teach me.”
“Why not?”
“You saw earlier, right? He yelled at me.”
“That was—”
“We’d probably just fight instead of study.”
“Really?”
“Yeah. He doesn’t really like me.”
Haeyoung said it like she was a little sad, then quickly changed her tone.
“Well, I don’t like him either!”
She said it strongly like she meant it. Gijun chuckled.
He could tell neither of them really hated the other. They were just pretending.
To a college student only two years older, their feelings were obvious.
They cared about each other but didn’t realize it.
It was kind of cute. And fun to watch.
Taesung doesn’t hate you.
The Taesung I know wouldn’t treat someone he hated like that.
Gijun was about to say that, but stopped himself.
Life was boring. He wanted to enjoy watching this silly, cute high school couple a little longer.
Especially Haeyoung’s changing expressions—they were fun to see.
She was kind of cute.
Maybe this is what having a little sister feels like.
Gijun decided to just watch for now and said to Haeyoung, who was putting away her workbook:
“I’ll be coming often during break to play baduk, so if you have questions, just ask me. Even after school starts too.”
“Okay!”
Haeyoung smiled and nodded without knowing what Gijun was really thinking.
After dinner, Haeyoung came out of the upstairs bathroom and ran into Taesung in the hallway.
She was still steaming from the hot shower. Taesung looked at her quietly, ready to apologize.
But before he could speak, Haeyoung took the lead.
“Move. You’re blocking the way.”
“My shoulders are just big. I’m not blocking the way.”
“Whatever!”
Haeyoung put her hand up in front of him.
“I don’t want to waste time arguing with you. Just move.”
“Ha—”
Taesung, who wanted to say sorry, now looked annoyed.
‘She smiled so easily at Gijun-hyung. Why is she like this to me?’
He forgot his own mistake and blocked her path.
“I’m good at math too.”
“…What?”
Haeyoung looked at him like she didn’t understand.
“I mean, if you have questions, ask me. Not Gijun-hyung.”
“Why would I?”
Haeyoung seriously didn’t understand.
Taesung stammered, then answered,
“Well, we’re married… It doesn’t look good to study with another guy. Grandpa might not like it.”
“Nope. Grandpa said it’s fine to get tutoring from Gijun-oppa if I want.”
“Ah—”
Grandpa, please.
Weren’t you the one who told me to get along with her…?
Haeyoung hit him with facts again.
“And it’s funny hearing that from someone who has a photo of his first love hanging in his room.”
“….”
Taesung had nothing to say.
She was right about everything.
That night, Taesung came downstairs to get some water.
In the kitchen, he found Haeyoung.
She was asleep—deeply.
She had fallen asleep with a pencil in her hand and her math workbook open.
Taesung shook his head.
“That can’t be comfortable.”
He walked over and got closer.
“I want chicken feet… super spicy…”
He heard her talking in her sleep.
“She really likes spicy stuff.”
Taesung chuckled and gently took the pencil from her hand.
His eyes moved from her face to the workbook.
There were lots of erased and rewritten answers. Eraser bits were everywhere. It looked like she struggled a lot.
“…Why couldn’t you solve this?”
Taesung clicked his tongue. He gently lifted her head, pulled the workbook out, and sat across from her.
He picked up the pencil and started writing answers quickly.
In the quiet kitchen, only the sound of pencil scratching filled the air.
“This is so easy. Are you dumb?”
Even though his words were harsh, his handwriting was neat and round.
Soon, the blank pages were filled with his writing.
Taesung looked at Haeyoung and smiled.
It was the clumsy peace offering of a 19-year-old boy.
