Episode 4
When Yoonjae was about to turn around again, just wanting to go back to her room.
“I don’t need a family either.”
“What?”
Today, Jeong Su-hyeok really surprised her several times.
“What did you just say?”
“I don’t need a family either. I’ve never thought of you as family either. Regardless of things like family registers, I’ve never thought of you, Seo Yoon-jae, as my family from the beginning. I’ve never once thought of you as a member of this household.”
“But then why did you talk about family?”
“I just tried it. I was curious what you thought.”
“Are you kidding me?”
“No. I just wanted to know the truth.”
“What are you going to do about it?”
How can there be such a crazy person?
You were the first to say that you are my family, but now you’re saying that you never thought of me as your family? That you were just trying to show off?
“If you think of me as family, then there’s nothing I can do to you. Because we’re family.”
“What?”
The corners of Yoonjae’s eyes went up.
This is the most amazing nonsense I’ve heard today.
What can’t be done? What do you mean by that? What do you want to do?
“I want to do something to you that I cannot do with my family.”
“What is that?”
What can’t be done with a family member?
“Forming a Romantic relationship.”
“Me.. what? What did you say?”
Yoonjae screamed in shock.
What on earth did this crazy kid just say? What? Dating?
“Why? Can’t you have a romantic relationship or even dating and stuff like that?”
“Why should I date you? Do you have to date anyone who isn’t your family? If I go out now, not all the people I meet are my family. So, does that mean I can date all of them? Because they’re not my family? Are you crazy?”
No, what kind of love relationship is he talking about?
We’ve never even had a conversation before bringing up dating, so what kind of dating is it when we’ve never even made eye contact?
Before family, this was a story without context.
Since when did Jeong Soo-hyeok started talking about love and knowing about her?
“Have you ever thought that I knew you before I came into this house?”
“What?”
“Have you ever thought that I might know you like you knew me before I came into this house? We went to the same school for over a year. I was first, you were second. So it would be strange if I didn’t know you.”
“Is knowing and dating the same?”
Anyone who knows can know.
Knowing who the student body president is right now is different from having romantic feelings for that person.
When you are in the same grade and competing for class rank, knowing each other’s names and faces and feeling good about each other are completely different things.
Above all, if he had such affection for her, why didn’t he ever speak to her even once during the five months we lived together?
In Yoonjae’s memory, there was never a single instance of this.
Jeong Soo-hyeok never spoke to her first or anything.
Today is the first time.
“I kept looking at you, but you didn’t notice.”
“Don’t make me laugh.”
“You’re so dull, Seo Yoon-jae.”
“Stop being so funny.”
“I don’t find it funny at all. I’m speaking properly right now, and you think it’s funny?”
“It’s funny. It’s really funny. It sounds like a funny joke.”
I have no intention of exchanging words like this any longer.
Yoonjae turned around and closed the bathroom door, not wanting to continue this pathetic conversation any longer.
bang-!
Yoonjae slammed the bathroom door so loudly that it echoed throughout the second floor, then returned to her room and sat down on a chair.
‘Are you crazy?’
No matter how I think about it, it’s not normal.
I knew that Jeong Soo-hyeok was a little strange, but I didn’t know he was that crazy.
Love out of nowhere?
We’ve never considered ourselves family, but legally we are.
Even though she doesn’t consider Jeong Soo-hyeok as family, they seem like a family to others.
But love?
This is nonsense unless you’re determined to do something absolutely crazy.
‘You’re crazy, Jeong Soo-hyeok.’
Yoonjae quickly put on her earphones to calm her heart that was still pounding.
Only after loud music took over her ears did Yoonjae’s excitement subside a little.
It subsided a little. Just a little.
*
“It’s crazy!”
Yoonjae ran out the front door carrying her bag.
I ended up oversleeping because of the commotion at dawn.
My alarm is always set for 5am.
But today I didn’t hear the alarm.
When I opened my eyes, it was already 8 o’clock.
8 o’clock.
It’s a crazy time.
It took me 20 minutes just to splash water on my face, put on my school uniform, and run out with my bag on.
If you do not enter the classroom within 50 minutes, you will be marked as late.
It is like leaving a stain of tardiness on a life that has never left a stain.
Yoonjae’s face turned pale at the thought of how important the resume is for college admission.
The bus I always took would have already passed.
There’s no guarantee that you’ll be able to catch the next bus, and the subway doesn’t go all the way to school.
It’s not even easy to catch a taxi at this time.
“Please.”
If you’re lucky, you might be able to catch a taxi.
As Yoonjae ran down the alley leading to the main street, hoping that heaven would help her and an empty taxi would pass by.
Squeak-!
The motorcycle stopped right next to Yoon-Jae.
“Are you late?”
Jeong Soo-hyeok snickered as he lifted his helmet.
I wanted to punch that smiling face.
I am late because of whom?
If you hadn’t embarrassed me like that in the middle of the night, I would never have been late.
Because of that, I barely managed to fall asleep when it was past 3am and close to 4am, and I fell asleep so late that I didn’t hear the alarm.
What you want now?
“Should I give you a ride?”
“It’s okay.”
“Get on. I’ll give you a ride.”
“I said I don’t want to.”
Even if I have to be late, I don’t want to ride on the back of Jeong Su-hyeok’s motorcycle.
If anyone sees that, it will instantly become the subject of gossip at school.
It’s better to be late and have your vitality damaged.
As I walked out to the main road and stamped my feet to catch a taxi, Jeong Soo-hyeok was waiting right beside me without even going.
Yoonjae, who wasted about 10 minutes trying to catch a taxi, looked at her phone.
8:35.
Even if you catch a taxi, it is already wrong to think that it will take up to 50 minutes.
But what was more concerning was the fact that Jeong Soo hyeok was still by my side and had not left.
Doesn’t he know that he’s late too?
“Seo Yoon-jae. Just get on.”
It was when I wasn’t even answering.
“Whoa!”
Soo-hyeok grabbed Yoon-jae’s hand and pulled her towards him, then put the helmet on Yoon-jae’s head.
Then he made her sit behind him and glanced back.
“Hold on tight.”
“Ugh… … . Gyaak!”
She was about to say that she wasn’t going to ride and that she was going to get off, but the motorcycle suddenly started moving and Yoonjae hugged Soo hyeok’s waist tightly.
Otherwise I felt like I would fall.
The loud engine noise, the sound of the wind, the horns of cars honking everywhere. And the back of Jeong Soo-hyeok, on which she who was burying her face in. All of it enveloped Yoon Jae so much that she couldn’t think of anything.
I was just waiting for this moment to pass quickly.
* * *
