Chapter 13.02

Here it was again, the other person’s way of turning someone into trash. Jihye was the quiet type, and she wasn’t stupid enough to make herself miserable by going around and spreading rumors such as she had been poorly treated by an oppa that liked the same oppa she did.

“It looks like I have a good personality, right?” Jaeyoung sarcastically asked.

Jihye frowned and shook her head.

“No, not at all.”

“Correct. I have a bad temper. If things don’t go my way, I’m good at getting nasty like that.”

“So?”

“I don’t mind people talking about me.”

Jaeyoung pulled his chair forward and sat close to the table. His calm gaze changed.

“I won’t let go if you avoid Sangwoo even one bit.”

Jihye was scared by the gaze that stared at her as if a screw were missing or as if he could destroy anything. She had been frozen for a while before she came to her senses.

‘I  have to pull myself together! I haven’t done anything wrong!’

Was it wrong to want to date an oppa who was taking the same class as her? She didn’t know if those two were dating, but Chu Sangwoo hadn’t given off any vibes like that at all. So the way she was being treated now was too unjust. Jihye tapped her cheeks with her hands and pulled herself together.

“I’ll keep it a secret, so don’t speak in such a scary way”

Calm down the wild beast who was in a hurry.

“And I had no idea. If the two of you are dating, then I should obviously give up.”

He was hit with a counter punch. It didn’t escape Jihye’s notice that the other person’s eyes were slightly narrowed. If they were dating, they could implicitly just convey a message through Sangwoo not to flirt with him, and she guessed that they wouldn’t bother to separately call her out to have to talk. Jihye concluded that they didn’t have any kind of relationship.

“No matter what, I think the reason you’re irritated is because you’re too smart.” Jaeyoung said while smiling, but it didn’t sound like a compliment at all.

“Hahaha.”

Jihye made a humorless laugh. She wiped the sweat on her palms on her jeans and sat up straight so that she wouldn’t look like a pushover. After a moment of silence, Jaeyoung spoke.

“We’re not dating. It’s a one-sided crush.”

It was something unfavorable to himself, but he said it with a casual attitude. Jaeyoung looked up and they made eye contact.

“But, what difference does it make?”

Obviously, that changed everything. If they were together, Jihye would become a nasty obstacle, but if Jang Jaeyoung was crushing on him like she was, then she became an equal competitor.

“If we’re in the same boat, oppa, then I have no reason to give up, don’t I?”

“No. You’re mistaken.”

Jihye stopped talking. No matter how hard she thought about it, she couldn’t tell what part she was mistaken about. Jaeyoung drank his soda and she saw his nails. When he lowered his eyes, his face looked as beautiful as one of those on photo shoots in feature magazines. Jihye wondered how a person with this type of character could have such a fine shell.

“You don’t think you and I are fighting over Sangwoo, are you? Ey, no way.”

“Then we’re not?”

Jihye couldn’t think of another plot. If he wasn’t trying to separate himself from her, why did he bother to cross the line and ask for her number? Jaeyoung leaned back against the chair and slightly smiled.

“I’m talking about you. You’re not a threat to me at all.”

“What?”

“Between Sangwoo and me, you’re not even an obstacle. The obstacle in this relationship is Chu Sangwoo himself, and nothing else.”

Jihye looked at the changing expression in his eyes that went from arrogant to playful, to  sharp, while waiting for his next words.

“You’re planning on confessing to him while grabbing dinner, aren’t you? Let’s date. Let’s say that you said that. Can’t you guess the response?”

“…”

“It’s impossible. This semester, I haven’t scheduled time for dating since I’m concentrating on studying for my major and producing a game.”

Jaeyoung said with a sullen look after slightly lifting his chin. It was a perfect impersonation of stiff speech. Jihye almost burst into laughter even though it wasn’t a moment like that.

“He might just answer in a simple way. ‘I have no time to waste for things like that.’”

Jaeyoung, who had finished his method acting of Chu Sangwoo, returned to his normal form. Even if Jihye had had fun for a moment, she was brought back to the position of dealing with Jaeyoung. There was no way for her to feel good. The line he had chosen was so plausible, it seemed as if he had taken it out of Chu Sangwoo’s head, so even if she hadn’t confessed yet, she felt as if she had been dumped.

She had been prepared to be dumped anyway. She didn’t even expect them to be able to date this time. Nevertheless, she was planning on confessing to Chu Sangwoo in order to imprint herself on him. After doing so, she thought that there might be a chance if she kept building good impressions of herself step by step. Even if it wasn’t this semester, then one day. That was Jihye’s strategy.

“I understand what you’re saying. But if I’m not a threat, then why did you call me?”

Jihye couldn’t control her expressions anymore. She could stare at her sunbae, with whom was six years apart from, with a blank expression, but she couldn’t afford to pretend to be kind. Jaeyoung vacantly stared at Jihye, and then answered.

“It’s because I’m annoyed.”

Those words weren’t too serious. She strongly felt like Jaeyoung didn’t view her as an equal opponent, so Jihye took a big hit.

“I’ve been very sensitive lately, so I get upset when I think about Sangwoo taking classes, talking, eating, and going on walks with other people, in places where I don’t see him.”

She got a headache. It reminded her of a movie about a mother-in-law who was obsessed with her son, and she also remembered the story of a morbidly jealous husband who stopped all the relationships his wife had. She had definitely heard that he was a cool guy. Yet, seeing this, she had no idea how such words had come out.

“A confession in such a situation? Even if I know it’s pointless, I don’t like it. What I’m saying is you saying such words to Sangwoo, Sangwoo listening to such words, I don’t like it, Jihye. You get what I’m saying, right?” Jaeyoung softly said.

She thought that she understood what he was saying, but it didn’t really make sense. If he was so confident, why would he be so jealous of her, who didn’t even have a sliver of hope of continuing with Chu Sangwoo? Moreover, Jihye thought it was strange for a person who was chosen by the most pretty and well-off unnis at school to date, to ignore them in order to have a crush on the indifferent Chu Sangwoo.

‘What the hell is wrong with him?’

She sensed something else after reflecting on the petty and ridiculous words Jaeyoung had poured out. Even while devoted to her major in Literature, it had been Jihye who never understood Jullien’s attraction towards Raynal or Quasimodo’s desperation for Esmeralda. She had never felt such passion before, so she thought it was just a thing found in novels. However, after dining and going on walks with Chu Sangwoo and hearing him growl, she could feel the heat.

‘I guess he really loves him…’

She felt lost. Not only that, but…

‘I hate that bas… no, that person that I don’t know what to do.’

‘That… Jang… Jaeyoung sunbae. He seems to have  a girlfriend.’

‘If you agree, then see you at ‘Olive Tree’ by six.’

She quickly racked through her brain to figure out the situation she was facing. Why hadn’t she figured it out earlier? No matter what way it was through, whether it was under the mask of a gaming console or begging her to explain cultural theory to him, Chu Sangwoo was the one who took initiative, and it was all related to Jang Jaeyoung.

‘It might not be a one-sided crush.’