Episode 2 Part 2
The elevator doors opened, and Ji-hoon stepped out leisurely. After noticing that she wasn’t following him, he turned back.
“What are you doing? Come out.”
He extended his hand, smirking. “What, are you scared of me?”
Se-jeong clenched her fists and stepped out, slapping his hand away. “It’s my choice to come out, got it?”
“Tricky,” he muttered, still smiling.
Ji-hoon led her to his apartment, punching in the code. “Zero, one, zero, three,” he said aloud.
Se-jeong froze. March 1st—her birthday.
Shaking off the thought, she followed him inside. The apartment was just as luxurious as she’d expected. The living room, with its panoramic view of the Han River, was sparsely furnished, dominated by a large bed and a sleek desk.
“What do you want to drink?” Ji-hoon asked.
“Just water,” she replied, her throat dry from all the yelling earlier.
He poured her a glass, handing it over. Their fingers brushed, and Ji-hoon stared at her intently. Flustered, Se-jeong quickly looked away.
“Where’s the file?” she asked, eager to change the subject.
“What file?” he asked, smirking.
Her stomach sank. “The PPT file. The one which you said was in your laptop.”
“Why would I waste time on a 2-credit liberal arts class?” he said, laughing.
“You—!”
Before she could think, she splashed the remaining water on his face. Ji-hoon froze for a moment before laughing again.
“You’re really something,” he said, wiping his face.
Fuming, Se-jeong grabbed her bag and stormed towards the door. Ji-hoon blocked her path, his arm outstretched.
“Where are you going? We’re not done talking.”
“You’re the worst, Do Ji-hoon. I thought you were bad, but you’re even worse than I imagined.”
As she glared at him and spat out, the smile slowly disappeared from Ji-hoon’s face.
“Then why are you rejecting me? It would have been easier if you had accepted me from the beginning.”
Sejeong’s round forehead wrinkled as she looked at him as she spat out sharply.
“What the hell are you talking about?”
The Alpine spring water she had poured on him earlier dripped from his wet hair and ran down his long eyelashes for a man. Ji-hoon blinked and the water droplets on his eyelashes fell off. He frowned fiercely.
“I asked you to eat together, but you ignored me.”
“You, you… Are you talking about when you bumped into me back then?”
“You bumped into me. I was going straight. You were distracted by some kid on the phone.”
Sejeong was so shocked that she couldn’t speak. She took a deep breath for a moment, then exhaled to catch her breath.
Hold it in. Yes, hold it in. You don’t avoid poop because you’re scared of it, you avoid it because it’s dirty.
There was no time for her to waste here and there. Tomorrow was a full day of lectures and a two-hour tutoring session scheduled for the afternoon. Tonight was the only night she had left to prepare for her presentation.
“Do Ji-hoon, listen to me carefully.”
“Say it.”
He looked down at her and muttered haughtily. Sejeong glared at him without giving in and continued, “To be completely honest, I don’t have time to be doing this with you right now. So please step aside when I speak to you softly.”
“Do you think I have time on my hands to do this kind of bullshit?”
“Don’t curse so ignorantly.”
When Sejeong coldly shot back at him for spitting out harsh words, Jihoon let out a relieved sigh. A dangerous light flashed in his eyes as he looked at her. Sejeong continued speaking to him with a flushed face.
“You might find life a little too leisurely and boring, but not me. It might be a two-credit liberal arts class for you, but its not same for me.”
“Are you afraid you’ll lose the scholarship?”
The back of her neck turned bright red. It was definitely a matter of pride rather than shame that she had never missed out on an academic scholarship since entering school.
In order to do that, Sejeong studied hard and submitted her assignments to the point of bloodshed. However, the tone of voice that came out of his mouth was close to ridicule.
“If it’s money, I can give it to you.”
“Why would you do that?”
The flames of anger that had been suppressed for so long erupted in Sejeong’s eyes. She felt something hot surge up inside her. Do Ji-hoon absolutely could not understand her desperation, and although he knew that he did not need to, he felt wronged all over again.
If pride had any form, it felt like it was being shattered and falling to the ground. She opened her eyes wide and raised her voice sharply.
“Why are you giving me money? Are you sick of money?”
The tip of his thin voice trembled messily.
“Well, that’s true, and I also want to do that. It seems like it would be hard for you to live with such a frail body of yours.”
Ji-hoon’s tone of voice as he looked at her was terribly monotonous. Not only did he crush her pride and shatter it to the floor, but his cruelty as he trampled on it was disgusting.
“Are you worried that I might have a hard time?”
Sejeong barely resisted the urge to slap his cheek and muttered in a low whisper.
“Okay. Now do you understand my feelings a little?”
“haha.”
Her white skin turned red as she laughed softly. Her head felt like it was boiling hot. The blood that was pumping out from her heart to her entire body was conveying her anger. Ji-hoon acted like he was determined to pour oil on her fire.
“If you just hold my hand, everything will be easy. Why do you have to live so hard?”
“… … .”
“Just ask me and I’ll give it to you. I’ll teach you how to live an easy life.”
“Ji-hoon.”
Sejeong called his name through her tightly clenched teeth.
“Yes?”
“How old are you this year?”
Ji-hoon smiled, revealing his teeth, at Se-jeong’s question.
“Do you care that I’m a year younger than you? I started school early because I was smart. I know you probably won’t believe me since my physical condition is so anti-Korean.”
Ji-hoon shrugged his shoulders with an arrogant expression, stretching both hands out to the side.
“Yeah. I really can’t believe your age.”
“You’re not the only one who says that. Everyone does it.”
Sejeong barely managed to raise her lips as she watched him proudly spouting out the words.
“What are you going to do being grown up so big physically? When your mental age is that of a kindergartener.”
“What?”
Sejeong took a deep breath as she watched his thick eyebrows gather between his eyebrows. Then she let out the anger bubbling inside her.
“If you like me so much, just ask me out, you son of a bitch.”
The smile disappeared from Ji-hoon’s face. As Se-jeong watched his flawless, smooth face distort into a mess, she felt that her anxious premonition was right on the mark.
“Don’t do stalker-like things like deliberately bumping into people passing by, tricking them into your house with lies that you can’t believe, and slyly setting the apartment password to someone else’s birthday. Ask them out on a date like a man. If I were you I’d rather be honest and ask them out.”
Ji-hoon, whose face turned pale, looked at her and breathed heavily.
“Ha. What the… Wow, you… Seriously… .”
“Why? You have nothing to say since I hit the nail on the head?”
When Sejeong laughed at him, Jihoon wiped his wet face with his large hand. Then, with a distorted face, he opened his mouth in a hoarse voice towards her.
“That will work.”
“What?”
“… That, that thing called date. Let’s do that, damn it.”
Ji-hoon’s expression as he spoke, as if he was drinking poison, was not even funny. She snorted and hit his shoulder hard with her bag.
“You’re late, you idiot.”
As she was about to push him away and open the front door, a large hand wrapped around her waist.
“Ahn Se-jeong.”
Sejeong’s heart was pounding so fast it felt like it was going to burst.
“Hey, what are you doing?”
Ji-hoon hugged Se-jeong’s body with one hand and held her face tightly with the other, making her look at him.
“Let me go, you psycho!”
Ji-hoon trembled as he looked at Se-jeong who was opening her eyes.
“I told you to go on a date with me.”
“Yeah I heard you. And I said no.”
“I don’t know about you, but I’ve never been rejected in my life.”
Sejeong replied with a laugh.
“Oh, really? I’ve been rejected so many times that I don’t really feel anything. So just let me go quickly.”
“This is my first time holding someone back. Don’t even think about stepping on me and just say yes.”
Ji-hoon’s gaze, who was spouting nonsense that neither of them understood, was firmly fixed on Se-jeong. The hot body temperature she felt from his hand made her cheeks, still fluffy, flush.
“… Stop talking nonsense and let me go.”
“You said your type of man is a guy who speaks honestly.”
What on earth are you trying to say?
“Ahn Se-jeong.”
Sejeong shut her mouth tightly again as an uneasy feeling slowly began to creep up on her body. And then he finally pulled out a voice that sounded like it had been scratched by sandpaper from the depths of his stomach.
“If you don’t like dating, then have sex with me.”
