****
After some time, in order to return the clothes to Jae-hee, and also to take her clothes back, Yoo-jin met Jae-hee again. With a very downcast face, Yoo-jin handed Jae-hee an Americano. Jae-hee, who took the coffee, lightly bit the straw and quietly listened to Yoo-jin’s confession. It seemed like too big a sin to be forgiven with just one meal, the alcohol bill was not properly settled, she would pay the laundry cost, since vomit might have splashed on the bedding she would change all the sheets, and so on…… While listening to Yoo-jin’s long, detailed story, Jae-hee cut off Yoo-jin’s painful confession and said,
“If you feel that sorry, can you do one favor for me?”
“…What?”
“You said the restaurant you work at, ends work at seven, right? When you go back to the dorm after work, it should be around seven thirty……”
“…?”
“Let’s eat dinner together. Just for one month.”
“…Dinner?”
“Mm. You know Tae-hee, right? The one with short hair among the people we ate with the day before yesterday. She has work for a while, so she will eat dinner separately. So there is also a food ingredient issue… so I thought it would be good if we ate together.”
“…Then isn’t that good for me?”
“It is good for me too. I was already thinking about what to do because of Jeong Tae-hee… With you coming in, it gets solved, right?”
It was a logic that she couldn't understand, but Yoo-jin decided to accept it. She was already tired from the shock of the incident she had caused at the start. She also wanted to get closer to Jae-hee and her group, who treated her kindly. Jae-hee smiled brightly as she saw Yoo-jin nodding. Having smoothly pulled Yoo-jin into the group, Jae-hee only showed a satisfied smile.
As soon as her café part-time job ended, Jae-hee ran to the restaurant where Yoo-jin worked. The hem of her green checkered shirt fluttered in the wind. Her ponytail shook, and Jae-hee’s breath began to tighten, but her running did not stop. A strange excitement and expectation made her flushed cheeks show joy. After running for a while, she stopped near the restaurant, which was exactly 15 minutes away from her café. Since she arrived in 5 minutes, she was out of breath. After taking three deep breaths, Jae-hee walked in a relaxed pace past the front of the restaurant.
“…Huh?”
“Jae-hee!”
Jae-hee’s tearful running, made to create a chance encounter disguised as coincidence, finally paid off. Seeing Yoo-jin running over with a happy face made all the earlier hardship feel like nothing. Jae-hee naturally waved her hand.
“You are off work now?”
“Mm, you too?”
“Mm~ We can go together then. Do you always finish at this time?”
“Yeah, I didn't really notice before, but our way seems the same?”
Same way, bullcrap. If Yoo-jin had walked at her usual slow pace, they would never have met. Jae-hee carefully wiped the sweat on her forehead so Yoo-jin would not notice.
“What is dinner today?”
“Today it is Sang-woo oppa’s turn, so… maybe stew?”
“Sounds good. But why is it stew when it is Sang-woo oppa?”
“His parents run a driver’s restaurant. A home-style rice shop?”
“Ah~”
The study abroad group took turns being on dinner duty, and when Sang-woo, who was good at cooking, cooked, they could expect a solid Korean meal table. It was not that the others were bad at cooking, but his excellent cooking skills were enough to satisfy the study abroad group who missed Korean food.
Jae-hee talked in detail about the study abroad group and explained in detail how to get close with them.
“Tae-ho oppa is just a good person. If you act a little friendly, you can become close fast.”
“Tae-ho oppa, is he the one who looked like a bear?”
“Mm. Even if there is a fight among us, that oppa settles everything. So if that oppa gets angry, we just think we are all dead and kneel down. He is not someone who gets angry, so if he does get angry, it is almost 100% our fault.”
“…I see. And Sang-woo oppa?”
“He likes to joke around and has pride… but he is still a good oppa. I think he said he has two younger siblings? So maybe that is why he takes really good care of me, Tae-hee, and Shi-yeon unnie. Like we are his younger siblings.”
Yoo-jin thought of Sang-woo, who had casually pushed side dishes in front of her. Even though she suddenly joined the meal and might feel awkward, he still acted a bit gruff but kind. That left a strong impression.
“Shi-yeon unnie… she speaks well… to put it nicely she is very open-minded about relationships; badly, she's sexually liberated.”
“Oh, really?”
“If talking about that feels uncomfortable……”
“No, not at all?”
“…Ah, I see.”
Jae-hee fumbled, then quickly shifted the topic back to Tae-hee. D-does she like that?! Jae-hee’s mind became confused, but Yoo-jin was busy memorizing information about the study abroad group in her head.
“What about Tae-hee? Why did she dropped out of the dinner group?”
“Ah, Jeong Tae-hee is the same age as us…actually, she volunteered as a guinea pig.”
“Guinea pig? A lab rat?”
“She said she had to buy some game packs…… and suddenly needed money fast. What could she do? A part-time job would not work, so this time she joined a clinical trial at the medical school.”
“…She'll be okay right?"
“You know our school’s medical school has a good reputation. There won't probably be any big problems… there shouldn’t be. But the experiment condition is that she has to eat fixed meals provided by the research team. So she dropped out.”
“I see…”
While carefully remembering the information about them and falling into thought, Yoo-jin was like that, and Jae-hee kept glancing at her, and without knowing, smiled. Unlike the cute look from a few days ago, even her serious look was very lovely. Why is she this pretty. Yoo-jin. Things she wants to do together increase by dozens every day.
The road that was normal when going home alone became a silk road by walking with Yoo-jin. Her heart pounded, so she tightly held the strap of her messenger bag.
“…By the way, Jae-hee.”
“Mm?”
Jae-hee answered without thinking, and when her eyes met Yoo-jin’s, her face turned red. Maybe because it was dark, she wasn't found out, Yoo-jin asked calmly,
“What food do you like?”
“…Uh, li-like? Why?”
“Why else~?”
Step by step, with the overlapping sound of footsteps, her heart pounded hard.
“Tomorrow is my turn for dinner duty. I want to make what you like.”
It felt like the sound of an angel’s song was coming from somewhere. Yoo-jin’s kindness was too evil for Jae-hee, who liked Yoo-jin. It felt like she would have trouble breathing. Jae-hee tightly grabbed the strap and said,
“Mm, I like anything if it is what you make…”
“Lies~ You haven't even tried what I made.”
“No, it is true. Really… I like everything…”
“Still, if there is just one thing you really want to eat?”
“Just one……? Mm…… gambas al ajillo?”
“…Gambas?”
Seeing Yoo-jin’s face, who was hearing such a dish name for the first time in her life, Jae-hee hurriedly waved her hands.
“No, no!”
“No, I will try to make it. Gambas al… what?”
Yoo-jin took out her phone and made a note. Seeing that, Jae-hee became more flustered and added that it was fine, but Yoo-jin already seemed to have decided to make it. Still, i-it’s not a difficult dish, so it should be okay…right? Thinking like that, Jae-hee continued talking with Yoo-jin.
….
“…Wh-what is this.”
Jae-hee laughed awkwardly at Sang-woo's words. She thought it couldn’t be helped that American chili peppers were used instead of peperoncino, but the green peppers cut into chunks looked very suspicious. Jae-hee, who had already taken a bite, felt confused at the pepper taste, which didn’t have any spiciness at all. Without the spicy pepper to cut the greasiness, the gambas just became shrimp dropped in oil. On top of that, the clam stew that was supposed to be eaten together had a fishy smell. The only normal things were the baguette and the side dishes in the fridge.
“…Wow, thank you for the meal!”
“Is it good?”
“Mm! It's really good!”
Putting in all effort to lift the mood, Jae-hee alone ate about half of the greasy gambas. She also refilled the fishy and bland clam stew two times and ate it. And seeing that, the study abroad group silently decided to adopt a two-person team cooking system, and came to know that Jae-hee really liked Yoo-jin.
After finishing the meal, using digestion as an excuse, Jae-hee and Yoo-jin made it a routine to walk the campus at night. Yoo-jin slowly opened her heart to the devoted Jae-hee. It would only be for a short time, so maybe it would be okay to meet this person. She started to think like that. Since her youth, Yoo-jin had always hidden her feelings completely, she pushed away those who came, and did not even have one proper relationship. She was afraid that if she dated, the feelings she hid would be found out. As someone who had received the spotlight until she was tired of it, Yoo-jin did not like showing herself to others.
But for a first relationship partner, she thought someone like Jae-hee would be good. Devoted, and liking so much that she did not know what to do, that flutter. Feeling that flutter spread to herself and feeling her heart flutter along with it, she started to want to try dating. She thought it was a light feeling, but without knowing, that feeling slowly became deeper.
Watching Jae-hee, who liked to look up at the sky while walking, Yoo-jin asked,
“…Why do you look at the sky like that?”
“I like looking at stars.”
“Stars?”
Yoo-jin stopped walking and looked up at the sky. She saw countless starlight that she had never seen in the sky before, but it only gave her a brief interest, and the feeling did not last long. Soon, she lowered her head and looked at Jae-hee. Jae-hee’s eyes, as she looked at the sky, shined. Under the streetlight, her eyes sparkled with curiosity and longing.
“…How do I come to like something like that?”
“Mm?”
“Nothing, it was just…nonsense.”
“Mm, a hobby doesn’t appear in one day. I… in high school, I mean when I was in high school, I really had a hard time.”
“…”
“I did it for myself too… but for many reasons, I studied beyond what I could handle. Maybe I wanted recognition… or maybe I wanted to shut them up. Even now, I still don’t know, but anyway, I really gritted my teeth and studied. One day, I was so tired of studying, so I came out at night and while walking, I looked up at the sky. Ah, the sky was so pretty that it made me gasp.”
“…”
“At that time, I thought like this. I am living without even the time to look up at this pretty night sky. I was only seventeen or eighteen…It made me upset that I was living without such leisure. After that, I didn’t focus too much on studying.”
“Still, your grades must have been really good.”
“How did you know?”
“Wow~ Seon Jae-hee. So annoying~”
At Yoo-jin’s words, Jae-hee let out a small giggle. Then she reached out her hand and pointed at the sky.
“Look there.”
“…?”
“That brightest one there, the North Star, if you follow that……you will find Pegasus.”
“You know constellations too?”
“A little. So I also like Greek and Roman mythology. So when you borrowed that book… mm, yeah.”
The words, I thought it was fate, came to mind, but Jae-hee swallowed them. Yoo-jin tilted her head and looked at Jae-hee, but Jae-hee only showed a bright smile.
“The stories in the myths are spread out in the night sky. It might be silly and childish, but I like looking at that kind of night sky.”
“…Really…”
What a nice hobby. Thinking of the Greek and Roman classics she had not opened even once, she thought she should borrow it again. On top of that, also a constellation book. She had seen countless people who were absorbed in something, but seeing Jae-hee like this, she suddenly thought, ‘I want to try it too’.
Yoo-jin looked at Jae-hee and thought Jae-hee was cute as she excitedly told stories.
‘…Cute?’
Yoo-jin, wrapped in a strange feeling, became flustered, turned her gaze away from Jae-hee, and started walking. Beside her, Jae-hee’s clear, ringing voice spread softly as she walked along.
****
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