WeTried Translations
Translator/Editor: Malfoid
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◈ The Dynamics of Pure Love and Overprotection ◈
Chapter 25
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“Yeah. Enjoy.”
Chaewon reluctantly looked down at Uihyeon and curved her lips into a smile. The worse her mood was, the better she was at pretending to be nice, so he could tell just how low she was feeling right now.
Still, he could not understand why she was upset just because he had sat beside her and spoken to her. She had eaten with Han Jio to show him. Shouldn't she be happy that the person she wanted to see it had watched from right beside her?
“Whoa, they'll be dating soon at this rate.”
“Is Uihyeon finally enjoying his independence? Isn't this practically Independence Day?”
The moment Chaewon and Han Jio left, his friends began chattering. Uihyeon continued eating with an indifferent expression. But the word independence lodged itself firmly in his ears. Instead of his food, he chewed over its meaning with his molars.
Yu Chaewon becoming independent. No longer welcoming his nagging, insisting she was a full-fledged adult and doing whatever she wanted. And seriously dating Han Jio. Kissing like adults did, offering up various parts of her body, eventually even pressing bare skin together...
Uihyeon deliberately let his chopsticks fall to the floor. Then his spoon dropped after them. He bent beneath the table, giving himself a moment to compose his expression.
“I'll get new ones.”
As he stood, Uihyeon glanced at the place where Chaewon had been sitting. Her empty seat, after she had left with another man, seemed to be thoroughly ignoring him. It seemed to be scraping at his chest and asking whether he finally felt frustrated.
The hot sensation surging up from beneath his sternum was probably because he had swallowed several spoonfuls of hot soup in this warm weather. Not because he was having such childish thoughts.
* * *
The area in front of the student association room was crowded. They were handing out chocolate and energy drinks to students lacking caffeine, calling it a finals snack event. His friends went inside, saying they would get some for the group. Uihyeon, who had decided to wait outside, ran into Baek Jungyeong as he came out of the room.
“Why do you have two of each?”
Uihyeon asked without greeting him. Jungyeong held two chocolates and two drinks. He stopped Jungyeong as soon as he saw them because someone came to mind.
“Ah...”
Jungyeong muttered, avoiding Uihyeon's gaze.
“I was going to bring some to Yu Chaewon.”
Just as he thought.
“Did Chaewon ask you to bring them?”
Uihyeon asked, blocking Jungyeong's way. Though a faint smile rested on his lips, Jungyeong hunched his shoulders as if he were frightened by something.
“No. I just got here first, so I thought I'd get some for Yu Chaewon too... Since we're in the same year.”
“Jungyeong, you really take good care of Chaewon.”
He tried to keep his voice gentle, but this time, a sharp edge clearly slipped into his tone. Jungyeong anxiously ran his tongue over his lower lip. An awkward standoff followed, with neither of them able to move.
“Huh?”
Then Jungyeong looked past Uihyeon, his eyes widening. Speak of the tiger, and there she was. Chaewon was walking toward them. She seemed to have come for snacks.
Chaewon's eyes landed on Uihyeon, then quickly turned elsewhere. He could tell she was trying hard to maintain an indifferent attitude. She could have simply run over as usual, calling, “Oppa, oppa,” and he would have welcomed her just fine. He had no idea what sort of resolve she had made on her own last night.
“Hey, yours is here.”
With a gesture that said he wanted to get this over with quickly, Jungyeong hurriedly shoved the snacks at Chaewon. Caught off guard, Chaewon accepted the chocolate and drink. She raised her eyes for a moment, then turned away without even thanking him. She seemed to want to escape this place that badly.
“Give me that.”
But Uihyeon took the energy drink from Chaewon's hand.
“Too much caffeine.”
After giving his own reason, he handed it back to Jungyeong. It was practically like dumping unwanted leftovers on him. Embarrassed, Jungyeong only moved his lips without saying anything, while Chaewon, her face stiff, snatched the drink back from his hand.
“Stop interfering with everything I do.”
“That's nothing new.”
At Uihyeon's calm reply, Chaewon's glare turned fierce. But instead of snapping at him, she walked away, her footsteps going thud, thud. Her heavy-looking backpack weighed down her narrow shoulders. The doll key rings he had bought her long ago dangled from it, adding to the weight.
Uihyeon quickly caught up with her. Her classes must have ended already, so her next stop would be the library. There were only ten days left until exams.
“Where are you going?”
Chaewon pressed her lips into a straight line. But as if she quickly changed her mind, she answered obediently.
“The College of Natural Sciences.”
“Why there?”
“Jio oppa said there are lots of empty classrooms there.”
With competition for seats fierce at the library, it would be hard to find somewhere to sit and study together, so Han Jio must be planning to call her to a quiet, empty classroom to spend time alone. They had eaten lunch together today too. Had she decided to start sticking to him in earnest?
“Oppa will come too.”
Chaewon stopped short. Her suspicious gaze rose toward Uihyeon.
“Why would you go there?”
“I couldn't get a seat at the library either.”
Uihyeon gave a simple reason, then started walking ahead instead. He felt her steady glare on the back of his head, and soon Chaewon passed him, radiating a cold air.
“Why are you so mad at oppa today?”
Ever since she had gotten into college, Chaewon had become especially temperamental. Some days she was sweet and obedient, while on others she snapped at him irritably. It was nothing new. He had grown so used to it that there was nothing more to say.
Still, beneath all of that behavior was a desire to have her special place confirmed. Chaewon knew well the position she held as someone Uihyeon had been close to all her life, someone he took particular care to look after. Sometimes, she treated him carelessly because she wanted other people to notice it.
Just as everyone knew of Chaewon's pure devotion, no one was unaware that Uihyeon took care of her out of some strange sense of responsibility.
But today, Chaewon was different from usual, when she would get angry with him to satisfy her pride. Now, she was rejecting being with him altogether. Instead of a house cat that snapped at him while failing to hide the way her eyes followed him around, she had become a stray cat that avoided people and ran far away.
And Han Jio made a good shield for her.
“I'm always mad at you, oppa.”
Still at the bottom of her mood, Chaewon curved her eyes prettily again.
“That's nothing new.”
She even threw back the exact words Uihyeon had said earlier, dripping with sarcasm. Something inside her had clearly become twisted overnight. There could only be one reason.
“Is it because of Sujin?”
Even after he brought up the name at the heart of the problem, Chaewon did not turn pale and face Uihyeon, nor did she stop walking in a burst of anger. Without answering, she only continued toward the College of Natural Sciences with a stiff expression.
“Because I took you to eat with Sujin?”
Chaewon remained silent. Perhaps taking someone upset over her parents' death anniversary to a birthday dinner had been too much.
“If I'd left you alone yesterday, you wouldn't have eaten.”
Uihyeon had genuinely been worried about Chaewon. That was all.
“It was Sujin's birthday, so I couldn't cancel our plans. I only wanted to make sure you ate something while you were in front of me.”
When they reached the building for the College of Natural Sciences, Chaewon stopped and turned around. The corners of her lips stretched softly upward. It was not a forced smile to hide her feelings. She was genuinely laughing because she found it funny.
“You really love handling things efficiently, don't you, oppa?”
Chaewon even let out a laugh. The clear sound struck sharply against Uihyeon's eardrums.
“You go on dates with Ms. Jeong Sujin while also keeping an eye on Jio oppa and me spending time together. You celebrate Ms. Jeong Sujin's birthday while also making sure I eat. How can someone handle everything so conveniently?”
“What's the problem with that?”
Uihyeon could not understand. Yu Chaewon took pride in his nagging and interfering in every little thing: the person she liked cared about her this much.
“Whether I see Sujin or not, I'm still taking care of you exactly the same way. So why is that a problem?”
Even with variables like Jeong Sujin and Han Jio, the formula of their exchange would not change. If he treated her well, Chaewon obediently listened to him. If Chaewon listened to him well, he doted on her enough.
“Is it because I take care of Sujin too, not just you? I can't do that? Nothing has changed for you.”
“How is that not a problem? Why do you take care of your girlfriend and me the same way? Ask anyone how insane what you're doing is right now!”
Chaewon's voice gradually rose. Passersby sensed that the atmosphere was unusual and looked over.
“Stop caring about me! Please, just leave me alone and go take care of your girlfriend!”
“She isn't my girlfriend.”
From the anger Chaewon was pouring out, Uihyeon corrected the one thing that bothered him most. Jeong Sujin was simply Jeong Sujin, nothing of his. Giving Sujin the significant status of girlfriend irritated him more than Chaewon calling him insane.
Ha. Chaewon let out a laugh that resembled a sigh. Exhaustion was plain on her small face. The way she shook her head conveyed how fed up she was. She seemed unwilling to say another word to him.
Yu Chaewon is fed up with me?
As the thought reached that point, something heavy dropped in his chest. Uihyeon closely studied the expression on Chaewon's face, one he had never seen before. Her drained face, eyes looking elsewhere, lips touched by a hollow smile. Yu Chaewon, who had always laid her feelings bare whenever she looked at him, laughing, crying, and getting angry, was nowhere to be found now.
“Fine, she's not your girlfriend.”
Chaewon loosely nodded, accepting Uihyeon's correction.
“Then when will she become your girlfriend? Tomorrow?”
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