Chapter 32. I Can Do It Without You
“That girl… he has plans with her, huh….”
Minju’s once-proud and graceful stride came to a halt.
She paused as if lost in thought, then soon resumed walking with a faint smile.
Haeyoung had put on her brand-new gym clothes and even applied a light red lip balm. She arrived at the park early to start practicing.
Her meeting time with Taeseong was 2 p.m., but she wanted to warm up beforehand.
He’d already seen how terrible she was, but if she could show even a little improvement, that would be enough.
“Phew.”
Haeyoung reviewed the dribbling techniques she had practiced and moved around the basketball court.
She had even postponed a tutoring session with Gijun to focus on this practice, so she wanted to make it count.
Thump, thump, thump—
She dribbled across the court.
“Whew, this isn’t too bad, right?”
Just as she started getting used to the feel of the ball, she headed to the bench to take a short break.
While reaching into her bag for her water bottle, she suddenly looked up at the sky.
“It’s getting cloudy…”
She muttered to herself as she gazed at the sky, now covered with gray clouds.
“There wasn’t supposed to be any rain.”
After taking a sip of water with a slightly uneasy feeling, she forced out a cheerful voice.
“Oh well. The weather app can’t always be right, right? It’s probably just cloudy for a bit.”
With a smile meant to chase away her own doubts, she stood up with renewed determination.
There were still thirty minutes before Taeseong was supposed to arrive.
Inside a quiet café on a weekend, a strawberry smoothie and an Americano sat on the table between Hyuk and Taeseong.
Taeseong took a sip of the smoothie and opened the notebook Hyuk had given him.
“Wow, you absolute freak.”
“Can you not talk like that?”
Hyuk scowled as he adjusted his glasses.
Taeseong, unfazed, dove into the notebook’s contents.
“This solution is genius. You solved this problem this easily?”
“Maybe you’re just dumb.”
“Hey, I’m not exactly brainless, you know.”
“Sure, whatever you say.”
Hyuk took a gulp of his Americano.
Taeseong had met with Hyuk today to get a math solution notebook. He was supposed to get it yesterday at school, but Hyuk had forgotten—so here they were on the weekend.
“I swear, if you become a math tutor, you’d be a top-tier one.”
Taeseong offered his unsolicited career advice with a convinced expression.
“I’m not doing that crap.”
“Why not?”
“I don’t want to be in the spotlight.”
“Jeez, no ambition.”
Taeseong clicked his tongue and gulped down half his smoothie in one go.
A sharp pain shot through his head like he’d been smacked with a hammer.
“Agh—”
“Keep doing that and you will crack your skull,” Hyuk said without a trace of concern.
Taeseong pulled away from the straw, rubbing his forehead.
“I need to drink fast. I’ve gotta go.”
“Why?”
“I promised to teach Haeyoung basketball. She’s really bad. I have to help her.”
After finishing the rest of his smoothie and wincing again from the cold, Hyuk shook his head as he watched.
“I’m heading out.”
“Cool.”
As Taeseong rushed to grab his notebook and dash out of the café, Hyuk thought to himself:
If he’s rushing so hard that he gives himself brain freeze… is this really just about friendship?
Taeseong arrived at the bus stop and anxiously glanced at the digital display board. Not that it made the bus come faster.
He kept switching between checking the clock and the display, then finally pulled out his phone to send a message.
I think I’ll be about 10 minutes late—
Just as he was about to hit send, a phone call came in.
<Minju Noona>
Surprised by the unexpected name, he answered quickly.
“Noona?”
“This is a 119 paramedic. Miss Jo Minju has been in a traffic accident. She’s having difficulty breathing and is unable to speak. We suspect a rib injury…”
“An accident?”
Startled, Taeseong cut the paramedic off mid-sentence.
“Please stay calm. Her emergency contact was unavailable, so we’re calling the person she last messaged. Can you come to the hospital?”
“Yes, where is it?”
He hung up and immediately hailed a cab to rush to the hospital—completely forgetting his prior promise.
Back on the court, Haeyoung was dribbling the ball when she lost control of it.
But she didn’t go to pick it up right away.
She stood still, staring blankly at the white boundary line on the basketball court. Then she raised her wrist to check the time.
“It’s already 2:30…”
Where is he, Joo Taeseong?
Why hasn’t he come?
“…He didn’t forget, did he?”
Lowering her head, Haeyoung muttered.
She stood there, drooping for a long while before lifting her head again—firmly this time.
“If he forgot, I’ll just remind him! That’s not hard.”
Speaking to herself with forced brightness, she walked over to the bench and grabbed her phone.
She called him right away.
But—
“The person you are trying to reach is unavailable—”
He didn’t answer.
Swallowing hard, she slowly lowered the phone.
Then she tried again, ignoring the flood of emotions threatening to burst inside her.
“The person you are trying to reach is unavailable—”
As if delivering a final blow, the robotic voice echoed in her ears again.
“He’s not… answering…”
All the emotions she tried to suppress came flooding back.
The crushing disappointment from broken expectations.
The pain of a lifted heart being dropped again.
The shame of trying to look good for someone who didn’t show up.
Haeyoung raised her free hand to her lips and scrubbed off the lip balm harshly with the back of her hand.
As if she didn’t want a trace of it left.
If he was going to do this, he shouldn’t have suggested special training.
He shouldn’t have made her hope.
Shouldn’t have made her heart flutter.
Tears welled up in Haeyoung’s eyes as resentment spilled from her lips.
Just then, as the hot tears began trickling down her cheeks—
a cold raindrop landed on the opposite side of her face.
Plip. Plop.
Raindrops began streaking through the sky, falling onto the world.
An unannounced rain had started, much like Taeseong’s broken promise.
Haeyoung didn’t move to take shelter.
She walked across the downpour to retrieve the ball.
“Damn it… you think I can’t practice without you?”
Her angry voice cut through the rain.
“I can do this all by myself!”
And so, Haeyoung began her solitary training—alone in the rain.
In the emergency room, Minju lay on a bed waiting for her CT and X-ray results.
Just a moment ago, surrounded by paramedics, she had looked so pitiful.
But now she looked… bored.
“When’s Taeseong getting here?”
Contrary to the paramedic’s claim that she couldn’t speak, Minju’s voice was small but clear.
Of course—
the accident had been planned from the start. Faking the pain was just part of the act.
This was what it took to cancel his plans with her.
She hadn’t expected him to reject her so coldly when she asked to meet.
Before hitting the car in front, she had braced herself—so there wasn’t much actual injury. Her neck was a little stiff, but a few physical therapy sessions would fix that.
Still, she planned to act as hurt as possible in front of Taeseong.
So he’d worry about her—so he wouldn’t go to that girl.
“I’ll win him back… step by step. Jo Minju.”
Just as Minju muttered that with her eyes closed, she heard a familiar voice from far away.
“Where’s the patient, Jo Minju, who came in from a car accident?”
“You can find her in the second bed from the end.”
“Thank you.”
Minju perked up her ears and changed her expression like a trained opera actor.
Clack, clack, clack—
Heavy, rushed footsteps stopped near her bed. The curtain swished open.
“Noona!”
Taeseong came panting to her side.
“Are you okay?”
Minju’s eyes followed his face.
His fine black hair slightly tousled, his maturing features on the line between boy and man, his broad shoulders peeking through the gray sweatshirt.
“Can you still not talk?”
Even his dependable voice…
No longer the boy who had once confessed to her—
Taeseong had become a man.
A man who could make any woman’s heart race.
Which only made her want him even more.
