15 – 15.
Thud. Hanyeo-won, who was slapped, collapsed to the ground.
The area in front of the school gate, which was buzzing with activity, fell into silence.
“You b*tch.”
Ma Yeon-seo muttered with a low voice, and as if that wasn’t enough, she clenched her fist.
“Ma Yeon-seo!!!”
I quickly regained my senses and hurriedly stopped her.
“What are you doing? Why are you hitting people!!!”
“….”
“Suddenly appearing…! Ryeowon, are you okay?”
“…Yeah….”
Ryeowon, who was sitting down with her hand on her cheek, trembled as if she were frightened and reached out to grab my hand.
She had never even been hit by her father, who was like a scoundrel.
Her heart was so heavy that there seemed to be no way to handle it.
“I’m sorry…! It’s all because of me…!”
“…Ah, no…! It’s not your fault….”
Ryeowon glanced briefly at the memo.
“……”
Meanwhile, the memo just stood there, silently watching us.
I couldn’t figure out what she was thinking.
“Ryeowon, I’m really sorry. I’ll contact you again….”
“…Yeah….”
In my heart, I wanted to formally apologize to her, but for now, it was more important to handle the situation.
Urgently, I sheltered Ryeowon and grabbed hold of the memo’s hand, pulling her along.
“Follow me.”
She obediently followed me.
*
We moved to the memo’s house.
It was always a place full of joy and happiness whenever I visited, but today was not like that.
“Ma Yeon-seo.”
As I sat in the taxi, holding back my anger, I desperately asked her, calmly sitting on the sofa.
“What on earth were you doing earlier?”
“What do you mean?”
Her calm tone implied that she had done nothing wrong.
Unable to bear her audacious attitude any longer, I finally lost my temper.
“You really don’t know? You came to school out of the blue and slapped my friend! Are you out of your mind?”
“Yeah. I am.”
“What, what…?”
“That b*tch was flirting with my man, how could I not be?”
Ma Yeon-seo met my sharp gaze with a piercing look in her eyes.
In that gaze that seemed to know everything, I was momentarily taken aback.
“What nonsense are you talking about? She’s just a friend! Just a classmate…!”
“Just a friend, huh? Then why did she hide it from me?”
“…What…?”
Come to think of it, that was true.
Why did she suddenly come to the school?
And how did she hit Hanyeo-won without any hesitation?
She knew everything from the beginning.
“No, how could…?”
I don’t know how she found out about my relationship with Hanryeowon, but that’s not important right now.
What matters is her behavior that I can see right now.
“Just because of that, does it change your fault…? Think about what you did! How could you slap someone in front of everyone! If you have a complaint, you should say it with words, not hurt people!”
This should have been resolved between us, within our circle.
But Mayeonseo showed a confident attitude as if she was right.
“People don’t understand when you speak.”
“What did you say…?”
“Look. What did I tell you? How many times did I tell you not to get close to other girls? But what? Friends?”
“…Well…”
“Yuchan. Who deceived and broke the promise first?”
I wanted to argue back, but no words came out.
I wanted to enjoy my school life like everyone else. So what if I secretly made a friend?
I wanted to confess the hidden sincerity that I had been harboring all this time, but deceiving and hiding it first was my fault.
It was all my fault.
“Rather… I should’ve hit you…!”
I exclaimed with a trembling voice engulfed in indescribable frustration.
However, she didn’t accept my feelings.
“How could I have hit you?”
It was as if he casually spewed out an incredible story, as if it were an obvious fact.
“I can’t hit you. If you die, you’ll be dead.”
“…!”
Somehow, a faint madness could be felt from his appearance.
“…Yoochan….”
Suddenly, she came closer and reached out her hand, gently caressing his face.
With eyes that dripped honey, she touched him as if handling a precious jewel that would break with just a little force, filled with love and affection.
And then, at some point, she softly clenched her face and whispered with a piercing gaze.
“It’s not hurting each other when you love someone.”
Those words pierced into my heart like a dagger.
“I, I…”
Startled, I tried to force out any words I could.
But she slowly raised her head and interrupted me.
“It’s okay. I know everything in your heart. It was all Hanyeo’s fault, and she deserved punishment. Right?”
It was a mixture of affectionate tone and a one-sided shifting of responsibility that felt contradictory.
“You deceived me because you wanted to deceive me, didn’t you? Maybe… or not?”
“Oh, no… I…”
“You didn’t do anything wrong, right?”
She cut off my words with a cold tone and hugged me tightly.
“Nothing.”
Hidden sharp thorns pricked at my entire body with that chilling remark.
A warning.
That was a warning.
It meant that no matter what I did, it was fine for me, but others could never do the same.
So, from now on, it was a stern “warning” to be careful with my actions.
“Ugh….”
A shiver ran through my body as my breath suddenly caught in my throat.
Finally, it felt like I understood the meaning of love that she had held.
She really wasn’t in her right mind.
“I… I have to do something somehow.”
I, who had suddenly become afraid of the girl I had never stopped loving, snapped back to my senses and pulled her away from my embrace.
Then, swallowing my saliva nervously, I spoke seriously.
“Yeonseo. I sincerely apologize for deceiving you and hurting your feelings.”
“……”
“But no matter how much that’s true, if you keep coming out like this….”
“……”
“I can’t continue to like you.”
“…Do you… dislike me?”
In an instant, Mayeonseo’s gaze turned cold.
“I…! …It’s not that I dislike you….”
In fact, this is her last chance to change her habit.
Desperately suppressing my emotions, I tried to persuade her to be kind.
“How can you like someone who harms those around her and acts recklessly? Isn’t that right?”
But she kept going off track.
“That’s why. I don’t like you.”
“Not yet… I don’t dislike you yet. Just don’t do it anymore in the future. Okay?”
“…Are you saying that you’ll start disliking me soon?”
“Yeonseo…!”
That’s when it happened.
Boldly, Mayeonseo headed towards the kitchen.
“I haven’t finished talking yet!”
Unable to contain myself from her sudden actions, I raised my voice.
Ignoring me, she arrived in the kitchen…
Swiftly, she pulled out a kitchen knife without a word.
“!”
It was a knife that seemed like it could cut me just by grazing me, a knife that was on edge.
“You, you…! What are you doing right now…!”
Mayeonseo returned to me with an indifferent face.
And then, casually handing me the knife handle, she nonchalantly spoke.
“Let me die when I still love you.”
“What, what is this…?”
“Kill me before I become hated.”
Is there something wrong with my ears?
Or is she spouting words that I can’t understand?
At that moment, when I was at a loss for words due to her shocking behavior…
“You hate me? Well then, I’ll do it.”
As if boasting, she reversed the knife in her hand.
“Wait, are you crazy? Put that down right now?!”
Startled, I tried to stop her, my voice filled with anger.
“Aren’t you in your right mind? Put that knife down immediately…!!”
And then…
“I love you. Kang Yoochan.”
Looking straight into my eyes, she aimed for my neck and swung the knife down with all her might, confessing her love.
From Noble mtl dot com
“No!!”
Thunk!
I barely managed to throw myself to the side and prevent the accident, my hands trembling as I forcefully restrained her.
“….”
Meanwhile, she, lying beneath me, continued to look up at me with a calm expression on her face.
In her expressionless face, I couldn’t discern what she was thinking at all.
“What on earth…”
She felt so terrifying.
She was like a time bomb, ready to explode at any moment.
“Please, just stop now! It’s all my fault…!”
“What did you do wrong?”
“….”
“What did you do wrong?”
“I… I hid my friends without permission…! I got mad at you…!”
“Again?”
“…You said you might start hating me… I said terrible things…”
“Again?”
With each word, her breath became stifled and her insides twisted.
“Is that all?”
“….”
Unable to continue, she lowered her head, and with a sigh, she got up.
And as if she couldn’t help it, she gently embraced me and forgave my mistakes.
“It’s okay. Just do better from now on.”
“….”
Tears were about to burst from the sadness I couldn’t put into words.
“We have to break up.”
Even though a warning bell was ringing in my head, saying it couldn’t go on like this…
I couldn’t bring myself to say the words “let’s break up” out loud.
I was afraid of what might happen this time.
I couldn’t utter a single word.
I was a weak human.
*
“I’m sorry.”
I apologized politely to Hanyeo-won.
“Oh, no! It’s not because of you… I’m really okay!”
But her nonchalant attitude only made me feel more guilty.
So I started to distance myself from Hanyeo-won.
“Hey, Yoo-chan… Can we talk for a moment…?”
“…Sorry, I’m busy right now.”
“Ah… Okay….”
The truth was, deep down, I wanted to be close to her like before.
Regardless of gender, I didn’t have a friend who understood me as well as she did.
But…
Every time I had such thoughts, Ma-yeon’s warning kept ringing in my ears.
“I don’t know what she might do next.”
She’s the one who would rather die than break up, pulling out a real knife.
What can’t she do, even to the point of death?
I also wanted to prevent her from going wild.
Even if there was self-deception in my heart.
“Yeah… I just need Yeonseo… Only Yeonseo….”
Soon, summer vacation began.
Yeonseo, who always went to the United States during vacations, stayed in Korea this time.
“I’m glad I can be with you.”
“Uh, yeah… I like it…”
Thanks to that, I commuted to her house every morning and started leaving late in the evening.
Every day was miserable.
“Yoochan… Are you tired these days?”
“…No?”
Because of that, my mother asked me with a slightly worried tone…
“Your face looks really pale these days. Should I buy you some nutritional supplements…?”
“…I’m fine.”
I was already taking plenty of nutritional supplements at Yeonseo’s house.
More than necessary.
[Why aren’t you here?]
“I stopped by the convenience store.”
[Hurry up and come. I miss you.]
“…Yeah.”
Every day, I move my feet with the sentiment of livestock being dragged to the slaughterhouse.
“Let’s eat this.”
“Yeah.”
I eat as she gives me.
“Kiss.”
“Peck.”
Occasionally, we play around.
“I bought this for you. Isn’t it pretty?”
“…Yeah. Thank you. I’ll wear it well.”
Nothing much changed after the start of the semester.
ㄱYeonseo♥ [Come to my house after it’s over.]
ㄱYeonseo♥ [Reply.]
Me [Sorry. I’ll come right after. I love you.]
How long has it been living silently, killing my heart like a stupid doll?
A winter warmer than previous years.
During the vacation, Mayeonseo suddenly left for the United States.
“…To the United States?”
“I’m staying there for a long time this time.”
“Ah… Is that so?”
“Do you like it because I’m not here?”
“Oh, no. Of course, I don’t like it… Take care. I’ll be waiting.”
Truly, it was a long-awaited true freedom.
“Being alone is so comfortable.”
At first, I felt awkward with this freedom, but after a few days, I finally realized and enjoyed it.
I rested as I pleased, and spent time as I pleased.
Just lying down and doing nothing made a smile appear on my face.
Who would have known that being untouched by anyone could bring such happiness?
Love Letter [What are you doing?]
나 [Thinking about you]
As long as I passed the occasional unexpected inspection, no one could stop me.
No one!
“…They’re not answering…”
And so, I was fully immersed in the sweet freedom.
On a night when snowflakes fluttered outside the window.
I was waiting alone for my mother to come home.
“What could be happening…?”
Normally, it was already time for her to finish work and come back, but for some reason, there was no contact until late at night.
Suddenly, the conversation I had with my mother a few days ago bothered me.
-If someone asks about ‘that man,’ say you don’t know anything.
-All of a sudden? …What’s going on?
“I’ll tell you later, so just leave it at that. …Got it?”
Clearly, Mother only told me to hide my relationship with the ‘man’.
Could it be related to the incident where the ‘man’ disappeared a long time ago?
“I can’t do this. I have to go to the mart.”
In the end, unable to bear the worry, it was the moment when Mother was about to leave for the mart where she worked.
Wooong─. Wooong─.
Even the tiger said it would come if I speak. Just then, a call came from Mother.
“Mom! Why are you so late….”
But.
“…Yes?”
[Are you Ms. Kim Yoon-jeong? Right now, Ms. Kim Yoon-jeong…!]
I was taken aback by the unexpected news.
Oh no… Give this guy a break