Tell Me You Like It [R19]

Chapter 1.1: The Trigger

Cover

 ᴛʀᴀɴꜱʟᴀᴛᴇᴅ ʙʏ ᴅʀᴇᴀᴍ ᴛᴇᴀᴍ: ʙʀᴇᴇ

One year ago.

“My left ear is ringing, and I can’t hear well from it. When someone talks to me from the left, I can’t hear properly.”

It felt like being in mute mode all day at work, and Anna couldn’t hear conversations properly. The sensation in her left ear also felt unusual compared to usual. Troubled by these strange symptoms, Anna went to the nearest ENT clinic from her small studio apartment.

“Let’s take a look.”

The doctor examined her ear with a light, making a hmm sound. A middle-aged female doctor in a white coat clicked her tongue and examined Anna’s tongue while making a tsk sound.

“Oh, your eardrum is torn. It’s not something that easily happens.”

“What? My eardrum?”

It was like a bolt from the blue.

It seemed like the cause was the slap she received from her younger brother, Min-seok, yesterday.

Min-seok, who had gotten drunk and started a fight at a bar, demanded money from Anna as compensation.

Already, most of her monthly salary was going toward living expenses for her parents. Her parents ran a small grocery store in the neighborhood, but their income was meager, and even that was stretched thin due to Min-seok’s education expenses.

Min-seok was the fourth-generation successor and had been treated like a king among the family members since he was young.

Anna had never been given private lessons before. But Min-seok had been receiving them since elementary school. However, Min-seok had never shown any remarkable academic achievements. It was always Anna who ranked first, not Min-seok, who received private lessons.

‘Anna, it should have been Min-seok who ranked first, not you…’

Anna had never received praise from her parents, no matter how good her grades or achievements were. Instead, they felt sorry for her because of her brother Min-seok, who didn’t do well in his studies. Anna, who was thirsty for her parents’ love and affection, always did her best in everything to be a good daughter, but it was in vain.

The scales of the balance, which had been leaning heavily toward her brother since she was born, just because he was a son, never became level no matter how hard Anna struggled. She wanted to go to college in Seoul, but she couldn’t leave home, so she had to enroll in a nearby public university with affordable tuition fees.

‘What should I do… We should at least avoid Min-seok getting punished… Anna, do you have any savings?’

Tears welled up in her eyes as her mother spoke, unable to contain her distress.

Whenever Min-seok got into minor accidents due to his reckless behavior, Anna always had to pay money to resolve the issues. When they were young, the New Year’s money she received was taken by Min-seok, and the coins she had saved in her piggy bank were freely spent by him as well.

Whenever Anna voiced her dissatisfaction to Min-seok, her parents scolded her instead.

‘You’re just greedy! How much do you think the money in the piggy bank is? How can you, as his older sister, not share it with your younger brother? You should know how to share with your younger sibling!’

When her grandmother was alive, it was even worse. When there was delicious food like braised short ribs or grilled Korean beef, Min-seok was the first to eat, followed by her father. In their tight financial situation, there was never enough to go around for Anna. Min-seok, who had a good appetite, never thought about sharing what was supposed to be Anna’s share and would eat everything.

Whenever Anna’s chopsticks reached for something delicious, her mother scolded her.

‘You need to fix your gluttony. Who on earth do you take after with such behavior?’

Even so, despite her family’s complaints, after graduating from college and finding a job, Anna couldn’t refuse her parents when they asked for money for living expenses. The money she had secretly saved over the past few years, scrimping on transportation and meal expenses, amounted to around 500,000 won.

That 500,000 won was saved to go on her first trip during the upcoming vacation season. Anna had never even dreamed of going on overseas trips like her friends did during their college years. She envied her friends who went backpacking during their vacation breaks.

During her vacations, Anna always had to tutor or work part-time jobs to earn money for tuition. She studied hard, but getting a full scholarship was never an easy task. Even if she received a scholarship, she still needed to work part-time to cover her daily expenses, such as meals, phone bills, and transportation costs.

Anna had never spent money on herself properly, and this time, she was saving money to fulfill her dream of traveling abroad. She was secretly planning a trip without her family’s knowledge, using the excuse of a business trip. That’s why she firmly denied having any money.

Even as a college student, Anna was fed up with her younger brother Min-seok, who constantly got into accidents. And despite always thirsting for her parents’ love and affection, Anna had reached a point where she no longer felt that thirst but rather resentment.

In her pursuit of her precious savings, Min-seok managed to discover Anna’s bankbook by searching her room. Anna tried to prevent him from taking it, and in response, Min-seok cursed at her and slapped her cheek with a hand like a pot lid. The blow was so severe that it felt like sparks flew from her eyes. The moment her eardrum was torn due to the pain was not something she remembered well.

“Do I have to wear an artificial eardrum forever?”

“Uh, for how long? Is it a lifetime thing? Please tell me I’m not becoming disabled, am I?”

An anxious Anna desperately questioned the doctor with a trembling voice.

“The eardrum will regenerate. If you attach a thin piece of paper to it, it should regenerate well. Don’t worry; the paper will fall off by itself when it’s done.”

The doctor kindly explained the eardrum patch procedure.

Perhaps it was because she was hit too hard on her cheek. When the eardrum was torn, she didn’t know how painful it was, but attaching an artificial eardrum was excruciating. It was as painful as accidentally pushing a cotton swab too far into her ear when cleaning it. It hurt so much that her body involuntarily recoiled.

“Now, can you hear well?”

After attaching the artificial eardrum, Anna could clearly hear the confident voice of the doctor. It felt as if not being able to hear had been a dream because she could hear so well now.

“It will naturally fall off in a month or two. You can remove it then, so please don’t drink alcohol during this time. Also, be careful not to apply pressure or lift heavy objects, as the eardrum might detach again. And be cautious not to let water get into your ears because the attached patch may fall off.”

The doctor kindly explained and said they would see Anna again in a week.

Anna left the hospital with a prescription. She had to take the medication for three days. She felt dizzy, and the treatment process was painful, but the most upsetting thing was the doctor’s assurance that her eardrum would not be torn again.

Her throat felt as hot as if she had swallowed something scalding. Whom could she talk to about this? The fact that her eardrum was torn due to a slap from her younger brother. It wasn’t even her fault, but she felt embarrassed to tell anyone. She couldn’t even tell her close friends because it felt like a shame to have a family like this.

Yesterday, her parents had seen Anna being robbed of her bankbook and getting beaten by Min-seok, yet they merely clicked their tongues. Even after seeing Anna’s reddened cheek, her mother didn’t take her side.

‘Something’s really wrong with you. You claim to have no money. When you were young, you were so greedy for money, and now that you’re grown up, you haven’t fixed that habit?’

‘You say you have no money and also cheat people outside like this?’

Her mother even accused her of being a liar.

Anna was deeply shocked by those words. Why had she been working so hard at her job all this time? How did she manage to save that relatively small amount of 500,000 won? It was money she had saved by walking for an hour, enduring hot summers and cold winters, after getting off work. It was money she had saved by suppressing her desire for a proper lunch and instead eating triangle kimbap or sandwiches from the convenience store, saving a few thousand won each day.

On days when she worked late into the night, she was so tired and the subway was the only option due to the late hour and darkness. On those days, she could rest her body by taking the subway, but she couldn’t save money, and it saddened her.

Anna had always worked hard.

‘You’ve done well, Anna. Great job.’

When Anna received her first paycheck after getting a job, her mother smiled brightly and her father patted her on the shoulder. On that day, Anna could taste the chicken leg, which had always been reserved for Min-seok and her father. Her father’s share of the chicken leg was given to Anna.

As the differences between her and Min-seok grew, Anna longed for her parents’ affection more and more. She worked diligently for her family, always giving her salary without complaining, in the hope of receiving praise. She didn’t even think of it as a sacrifice.

‘If I do well, maybe Mom will compliment me, find me beautiful, like Min-seok. Someday…’

Driven by the desire to be recognized and loved by her family, Anna was blinded by her longing for their affection.

In reality, Anna wanted to major in vocal music. She loved singing and was genuinely good at it. However, vocal music was a luxurious dream that would cost Anna a lot of money.

Her family, who had their hands full with Min-seok as the fourth-generation heir, had no interest in Anna’s dreams. They just wanted her to graduate from college as soon as possible, thirsting for the money she would earn. In fact, her parents weren’t even thrilled about Anna going to college.

‘How do you expect Min-seok to study if you go to college? We can’t support both of you. Anna, don’t you know our family’s financial situation?’

After pleading with her parents to allow her to go to college right after high school graduation, Anna received only the first semester’s tuition. Even then, it wasn’t support; she had to work to pay it off as a condition for receiving it.

Anna had felt jealousy since her early childhood because Min-seok had always monopolized the love of the family and was treated as the precious son. However, on the other hand, she had given up, believing it was unavoidable.

But yesterday, after receiving a slap from Min-seok, something clicked in her mind. The criticism from her mother and the neglect from her father were a huge shock to her.

Until now, she had never realized how submissive she had been. Even when Min-seok hit her, her parents would always side with him.

Anna was shocked by her mother, who treated her like a liar; she was exhausted by her father, who remained indifferent even when his daughter was slapped by her younger brother. It was a moment when she painfully realized the harsh reality.

No matter how hard she tried, it was futile. No matter how much effort she put in, her mother’s love belonged only to Min-seok. After being slapped by Min-seok, Anna realized something that was more painful than the rest. The affection given to Anna was worse than the leftover meat on the bone compared to what Min-seok received.

The 500,000 won was a glimmer of hope for Anna, who had been dreaming of an overseas trip. It was money that was solely for herself, without thinking about her family.

“I can’t live like this anymore.”

Anna, who had not slept a wink all night, left her house in the morning on her way to work. She first went to the bank. Although Min-seok had stolen her bank book, it was a savings account, and it was past the bank’s working hours, so neither Min-seok nor her parents could withdraw money.

For the first time in her life, she took a sick leave from work. She had been crying all night, so it was easy to feign illness over the phone.

“Are you terminating the account?”

“Yes.”

At the bank, Anna closed her savings account. Then, she hurriedly went to find a real estate agent and rented a small one-room apartment in a place far away from her family’s home. Anna had used up the entire 500,000 won as a deposit, and she had no plans to go back to her house.

She hadn’t brought any clothes from home, but it didn’t matter. Anna didn’t have many clothes anyway. Clothes, shoes, watches…nice and new things were all Min-seok’s possessions.

After leaving the hospital, Anna walked weakly toward her small one-room apartment.

It was evening, but she had no appetite. Her small one-room apartment was completely empty, and there was nothing to eat. Anna lay down on the small single bed. The bed didn’t even have a proper cover, and there was just a mattress, a meager sleeping arrangement.

“It feels empty. Really…”

Now, to her, there was no family. People worse than the dead. That’s what Anna’s family was. She had decided to cut ties with her family and live alone.

“I should probably change jobs too…”

Without her salary, her family would practically have no means to cover their expenses. The thought of Min-seok or her parents coming to her workplace to demand money was a horrifying nightmare. She had to quit her current job as soon as possible and find a new one.

After lying there for a while, staring blankly at the ceiling, Anna finally forced herself to get up and leave the one-room apartment. She bought a small pot and some instant noodles and mechanically ate them, followed by taking her medication. Then, she fell into a deep sleep, almost like death.

And a year passed.

Anna didn’t arrive at Madrid Airport until well past 10 PM.

She was so excited about her first overseas trip that she felt like she was floating in the sky. It was dark and cold outside, being winter, but she was still overjoyed. Even receiving her first entry stamp in her passport made her nervous and thrilled.

She had quit her previous job. While it wasn’t a substantial severance package, it was enough for Anna to sustain herself for a while. After working various part-time jobs for a bit, she found a new job and steadily saved up her salary.

It was a small advertising company, but Anna’s life became much more comfortable when she was able to use her entire salary for herself instead of having to give it to her parents and Min-seok.

“Anna! Have you had any good news lately?”

Anna’s friends noticed that she seemed happier. She might not have been aware of it, but as she gained some financial freedom, her mood naturally improved.

She could afford better clothes and cosmetics, unlike before. She could even indulge in buying coffee and desserts outside without worrying about running out of money.

However, Anna didn’t spend her entire salary recklessly. She only postponed her dream of traveling abroad, which she had cherished for a long time. She didn’t give up on it. It took her a year to save up enough money for a more comfortable trip.

Trying to take a week off from her new job was a bit tricky. She had to accumulate vacation days, and it wasn’t until the winter season, when most people didn’t take vacations, that Anna could finally use them.

In her late twenties, Anna’s first destination was Spain. Her dream destination was Italy, but the issue was the cost. Among Western European countries, Spain seemed relatively affordable. She also wanted to see the remnants of Roman influence in the archaeological sites.

At the airport, Anna collected her luggage and took the subway, changing buses along the way, until she finally reached the guesthouse she had booked. It was a dark night, and being on an unfamiliar route, Anna couldn’t help but stay alert, fearing pickpockets at every turn.

It was almost midnight when she arrived at the hostel. She was about to push open the door with a blue handle when someone beside her opened it instead.

Startled by the sudden appearance of a hand, Anna turned her head and found herself looking at a man. He was exceptionally tall, towering over her like a mountain.

Anna had heard comments about her height before, but this man was notably imposing. His broad shoulders were as wide as a mountain, making him seem even larger.

Because of the overwhelmingly large stature of the man, Anna had to lift her gaze to meet his eyes. She was used to meeting people who were about her height or slightly taller or shorter, so it was fascinating for her to have to look up.

As Anna’s head lifted, her gaze finally stopped at the highest point, where the stranger’s face awaited her. When their eyes met, it felt like time had stopped.

Anna’s mind went blank as if it were a blank canvas. He was a foreigner with a surreal appearance, with blonde hair and deep blue eyes.

The word “handsome” seemed to have been created solely to describe this man. Even the streetlights and building lights seemed to exist to illuminate him.

Anna unconsciously began to scrutinize the man’s appearance. He seemed like a moving sculpture with a sharp line from his high forehead to his sharp nose, thick double eyelids, deep-set eyes, perfectly shaped lips of just the right thickness… Adjectives to describe him continuously appeared and disappeared in her mind.

However, the most mysterious aspect of him was his bright blue eyes. His azure irises contained a magical force that captivated anyone who gazed into them. In that moment when she looked into those eyes, she forgot about the cold and the unfamiliar surroundings. She couldn’t have known that blue could be such a bewitching color.

Suddenly, Anna was overwhelmed by the strong scent of a mature male. In reality, the man emitted a refreshing and cool fragrance, but perhaps due to his imposing figure, it felt as if invisible pheromones were filling the air.

In the presence of this giant of a man, Anna was acutely aware of her own gender, that she was smaller and slighter. Although it felt like their eyes had met for a long time, in reality, it was just a fleeting moment.

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The chapter’s split into 3000 words each. Let us know if you’d prefer 2000 words instead.