WeTried Translations

Translator/Editor: Malfoid

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◈ The Dynamics of Pure Love and Overprotection ◈

Chapter 2

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I kept up a fairly composed front all the way home. I didn't think about Kang Uihyeon too much, and I didn't keep glancing at my phone or nervously worrying at my lips. For someone who was always on edge over every little reaction from him, I was making a real effort to be strong.

I passed by my mother, sitting primly on the living room sofa, pretending not to see her. She only stared at the dark TV and didn't speak to me either. The silence layered throughout the house had been there for three years, so it wasn't strange. If anything, even the smallest noise made my spine stiffen.

Even while I washed up and changed into pajamas, Mom sat there like a still life without making a sound. Her outline was blurry, as though painted with a light hand. As if she would disappear if I squeezed my eyes shut and opened them again. But Mom had never left this house since that day three years ago.

That person was my mother, but at the same time, she wasn't my mother.

She was a phantom I had begun seeing three years ago. An afterimage of Mom I first encountered after returning home from my parents' funeral, on a day when the sunlight beat down brilliantly.

My dead mother stayed in the house as she had when she was alive. She passed time in her own world as though she had no awareness of her daughter, sometimes dropping things in the kitchen one by one as if to make me recognize her presence. There were also many times when she stared at me as I slept, as though she had something to say.

Whenever I suddenly woke up and met the eyes of the ghost wearing my mother's face, I burst into hysterical tears. When my frayed mind reached its limit, I would even fall to my knees before her and beg her to please leave this house.

But Mom guarded this house like a stone statue. Neither shamanic rites nor talismans worked. Even after accepting the carefully prepared memorial offerings, my dead mother had no intention of moving a single step.

And three years was enough time for me to grow used to this chilling cohabitation.

I left Mom in the living room and lay down on my bed. The phone by my pillow vibrated briefly, but I pulled the blanket over my head and ignored it. I didn't want the sender to be Kang Uihyeon, and I wanted it even less if it wasn't him.

This time, though, my phone began ringing too long and insistently to ignore. When I poked only my eyes out from beneath the blanket, the screen glowed in the dark. The name "Uihyeon Oppa♥" floated there.

I opened my eyes wide and glared at the vibrating phone. Let's see who gives in first. Only now did I gather up the pride I always threw far away whenever I was in front of Kang Uihyeon.

At last, the vibration stopped. Kang Uihyeon's name remained as a missed call. Before I even had time to regret not answering, the phone buzzed again. This time, I accepted his call right away instead of playing a battle of wills. Around Kang Uihyeon, I always volunteered to be the loser.

"Did you get home?"

Kang Uihyeon's calm voice came through the speaker. My eyes stung, and soon my vision rippled with tears. I nodded before realizing it was a voice call, then forced my mouth open.

"…Yeah."

"Is your stomach okay?"

I had clearly told him to stop caring about me and get lost. He was about to get a girlfriend, too. What was I supposed to do with my feelings when he stayed so consistently caring even after hearing such harsh words from me?

"Yeah. I'm okay."

"What about your eye mask?"

Kang Uihyeon was the only outsider who knew this house's secret. He was the only visitor who could come running here when I called him in the middle of the night, crying like I was having a seizure. He was also the person who gave me an eye mask, telling me to wear it to sleep so I wouldn't open my eyes and find Mom staring back at me.

"I haven't put it on yet."

"Put it on and go to sleep."

That was all the tenderness he showed.

"Thanks for the gift and letter."

The call ended with those words. Even so, I curled onto my side and kept holding the phone to my ear. I clutched the phone that was doing nothing but giving off radiation and wallowed miserably.

Pathetic Yu Chaewon. Idiot Yu Chaewon. Yu Chaewon, who didn't know her place.

After blaming myself, I put on my eye mask and burrowed beneath the blanket. Even with the black fabric covering my eyes, the afterimage of Kang Uihyeon and Jeong Sujin sitting side by side occupied the insides of my eyelids.

Even if Mom didn't come into my room tonight, I would surely be tormented by a terrible nightmare. I would wake up gasping for breath, but I still wouldn't call Kang Uihyeon. Feeling around with my hand, I completely turned off my phone.

* * *

Fallen pink petals rolled messily along the roadside. The cherry blossoms falling meant that midterms were right around the corner. It also meant that whether my seventeen-year-old unrequited love was at risk of being forcibly shut down or not, I had to sit myself down at a desk first.

I had forced myself into the university's central library when a faint woody scent drifted to my nose. I had smelled that perfume enough to get sick of it while choosing the gift, so there was no way I wouldn't know who it belonged to.

Soon, a heavy bag was placed beside my desk. Though I felt the familiar presence, I didn't look up. I desperately fixed my gaze on my tablet so I wouldn't make the mistake of glancing over.

Kang Uihyeon didn't acknowledge me either. The man was wearing the perfume I gave him, yet acted like I was a stranger who had nothing to do with him. My already gloomy mood sank even lower.

I liked that he sat beside me, but I hated it too. Still, if he moved to another seat, I would hate that even more. I had long since grown used to the dizzying swings of my emotions when it came to Kang Uihyeon.

It suddenly occurred to me that it was fortunate Jeong Sujin didn't attend this university. At least I wouldn't have to watch the two of them sticking together and flirting in front of me. Within this school's walls, I could probably spend time with Kang Uihyeon as I had before, as long as I thoroughly hid my sense of defeat around Jeong Sujin.

I was diligently drawing meaningless lines beneath my textbook when a canned coffee and chocolate suddenly entered my view. I hoped Kang Uihyeon had given them to me, but when I looked up, an unfamiliar man was looking down at me.

When our eyes met, he gave an awkward smile. His lightly creased eyelids curved around his eyes, giving him a bright, innocent impression. In contrast, his thick neck and broad chest looked rather sturdy.

The man put down a square-folded piece of paper and left. When I unfolded the note, a cliché message was written in messy handwriting.

[Hello :)

I'm Han Jio from the Department of Mathematics.

Please have these and study hard! You can do it, hehe.

010-XXXX-XXXX]

My standards had been set entirely by Kang Uihyeon since I was young, leaving my eyes fixed far too high. Even so, I judged Han Jio to be fairly decent. Maybe it was because I had become anxious after Kang Uihyeon started seeing someone. The pressure to pull myself together quickly might have raised Han Jio several notches in my estimation.

I was imagining myself appearing before Kang Uihyeon while holding another man's hand when a hand stretched out from beside me and swiftly snatched the note away. Without saying a word, Kang Uihyeon read through its contents. Then he began copying the man's name and phone number from the note into his own notebook.

I watched Kang Uihyeon do it. This was our unspoken procedure. Whenever a man showed interest in me, Kang Uihyeon would first find out what kind of person he was. Sometimes he would ask mutual acquaintances about the man's reputation, look through his social media, or even meet him directly and talk to him.

But not one man had ever passed Kang Uihyeon's review. And I had never met a man I wanted to date badly enough to defy him either. Kang Uihyeon was the only man I pined after, so I had never felt excited just because someone else showed interest in me.

Maybe I could date Kang Uihyeon once I turned twenty. That was my only concern. Kang Uihyeon had never dated anyone either, so I desperately hoped we could become each other's first love.

But Kang Uihyeon had blatantly appeared at a birthday party with another woman. He had cruelly crushed my one and only wish, yet he wore the perfume I gave him and continued to be wary of the man who had given me his number. He had to know how unfair that was.

I took the note back. Then, right in front of Kang Uihyeon, I saved Han Jio's phone number. I had followed the procedure, so now it was time to do as I wanted.

A piercing gaze flew at me from the seat beside mine. I innocently smiled as I mouthed, "Why?"

Kang Uihyeon didn't answer. He only looked at me quietly.

Whether Han Jio passed Kang Uihyeon's review or not, I decided to form some kind of relationship with him. Just as Kang Uihyeon and Jeong Sujin had.

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