WeTried Translations

Translator/Editor: Malfoid

Discord: https://dsc.gg/wetried

◈ The Dynamics of Pure Love and Overprotection ◈

Chapter 4

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A few hours before the funeral procession, once the visitors had stopped coming in the early dawn, Kang Uihyeon took me to a bench behind the funeral hall. He held out a chocolate milk with a straw in it. When I only stared at it without taking it, he pulled a macaron from his pocket instead.

I couldn't help noticing his intention when he kept offering me sweets sweet enough to make my teeth ache. I put the straw between my lips and drank the chocolate milk. Its sweetness slid coolly down my throat.

Kang Uihyeon lightly touched the side of my head. His large hand, which had carefully adjusted the white hairpin made from cotton cloth, soon covered the crown of my head. His warmth was enough to chase away the chill of dawn.

“You can cry now.”

That must have been why Kang Uihyeon had separated me from Yu Dogyeom and fed me sweets. To give me time to grieve when I kept choosing short naps over mourning my parents whenever I had a moment to catch my breath.

I pulled my lips away from the half-finished chocolate milk and looked at Kang Uihyeon. A faint smile settled on my lips. If I had looked in a mirror then, I would have been startled to discover that I could make an expression like this.

“I can't cry.”

At that moment, I thought I was very grown-up. I had handled my parents' funeral in place of my brother, who was five years older than me. I had stood calmly before people trying to comfort me in different ways and nodded along. Instead of whining and crying, I had gently turned down Kang Uihyeon's kindness.

It felt as though I had suddenly grown up over the past few days.

“I think it hasn't sunk in yet. You don't have to worry about me either. Go and...”

But before I could even finish the sentence, tears spilled through my lashes. Startled, I blinked quickly, but the more I blinked, the thicker the streams became as they ran down my cheeks.

Kang Uihyeon, who had been quietly watching me, turned toward me. He lowered the hand covering my head and pulled me close by the shoulder. My face sank into his chest.

His shirt was deeply wrinkled from staying up all night, and it carried a scent. The scent of someone who had faced death. Proof that he had spent three days and nights beside Yu Dogyeom and me.

Choked sobs slipped through my clenched lips. Even as sorrow scraped its way up my throat, I drew in a deep breath and swallowed Kang Uihyeon's scent. I liked knowing that he was beside me, even when I had been dragged into hell.

After Yu Dogyeom left to study in the United States, I had no reason to meet Kang Uihyeon alone. But a thought suddenly crossed my mind. Maybe I would have more chances to see him now. I had more than enough excuses to stir his sympathy.

When the sun rose, my parents' bodies would be burned in flames hundreds of degrees hot. Even with my final moments to say goodbye to Mom and Dad approaching, I was thinking of clinging to Kang Uihyeon.

It was shameless and cruel, the kind of unfilial behavior that made me a terrible daughter. If Kang Uihyeon realized what dark thoughts were inside me, he would never hold me like this again.

Looking back now, I think I vaguely understood why my dead mother had not left the house. It was probably because of her selfish daughter, selfish enough to make her shudder. Her daughter was struggling for the attention of a man she had a crush on when her parents had just died. Perhaps she found me disgusting and stayed beside me because she wanted to punish me.

After I left my parents' ashes at the columbarium and returned home, I found Mom occupying the center of the living room, and my whole body froze.

At the same time, the realization that I had a reason to call Kang Uihyeon, whom I had just said goodbye to, sent chills down my spine.

Every thought floating through my head always ended with Kang Uihyeon. I felt horrible in that moment, but in the end, I was the only one who could understand someone like me.

I pressed Kang Uihyeon's contact and gained another chance to bury my face in his chest.

* * *

It was a strange setup.

I sat across from Kang Uihyeon, while Jeong Sujin sat beside him. As we women kept darting glances around, Kang Uihyeon alone calmly focused on studying for his exams. I felt like a concubine plotting against another over one king.

My wandering eyes met Jeong Sujin's. I immediately lowered my head and pretended to look at my tablet. The exams were only days away, and at this rate, I would be walking into the lecture hall with an empty head. I had worked so hard to get into this university because I wanted to attend the same school as Kang Uihyeon, yet I would have nothing to say for myself if I got a D on my first exam.

It was entirely Kang Uihyeon's fault that the three of us, who could not have been less suited to one another, were studying together.

Han Jio had contacted me over the weekend and asked to meet briefly, but I turned him down flat and went to the cafe near my house. I would be wandering around outside anyway, but I didn't meet him because I didn't want to keep up the act on weekends, when Kang Uihyeon was not around to see it. There was no need to make an effort to smile sweetly at Han Jio on days I didn't go to school.

So I sat down alone at the cafe that had been my hideout for the past three years when I got a message from Kang Uihyeon.

[Where are you?]

I read it and replied within a second.

[Cafe]

That one word was enough for him. He knew exactly where I would be and what I would be doing when I didn't want to stay inside the house. There were no more messages, but I knew Kang Uihyeon would soon appear at this cafe.

The woman beside him, however, was unexpected.

Jeong Sujin quietly stood up, perhaps to go to the restroom. The moment she disappeared from view, I firmly stomped on Kang Uihyeon's foot with the sole of my sneaker. Only then did he look up.

“Why?”

“Are you having fun?”

I gritted my teeth and glared at Kang Uihyeon.

“Is it fun, having women on both sides of you?”

Kang Uihyeon gave an incredulous laugh and started taking notes again. Even as I was getting angry, I was annoyed at myself for noticing his clean nails and neat handwriting.

“We're only studying. What's wrong with that?”

Kang Uihyeon's low voice was gentle, but the words in it were completely indifferent.

“It's not like I dragged you along on a date.”

Kang Uihyeon had known since I was young whom I liked. Once Jeong Sujin entered his life, he must have easily guessed that I had been biting my lips and holding back tears every day.

And yet, he showed me himself sitting across from me with the woman he was seeing, studying together. He made me witness every little thing with my own eyes: pulling out a chair for Jeong Sujin, looking at their tablets together as they laughed and whispered quietly.

I had never properly confessed to Kang Uihyeon, but it was practically the same as being dumped.

“Chaewon, have some of this.”

Jeong Sujin returned to her seat and held out a plate of cheesecake to me. It seemed she had not gone to the restroom but to buy dessert. I mumbled my thanks and picked up my fork. I didn't feel like leisurely eating cake in front of them, but I knew basic manners.

“We're going to get dinner later. Is there anything you want to eat?”

Jeong Sujin looked at me rather than Kang Uihyeon as she asked. She must have made dinner plans with the man seated beside her, yet I found it strange that she naturally handed the choice over to me.

“I'll be studying here until late, so I'm fine.”

Like Kang Uihyeon said, studying at a cafe was not a date, but their dinner would clearly be time for just the two of them. I absolutely didn't want to intrude. I wasn't that much of an idiot.

“Still, you should eat before you study. Oppa said he'd buy us something good today.”

Jeong Sujin's elbow touched Kang Uihyeon before moving away. I didn't want to pay attention to how close they were, so I only scraped together the crumbs from my cheesecake with my fork.

“Chaewon studies really hard. When I was a freshman, all I did was play around.”

I didn't know how Kang Uihyeon had introduced me to her, but Jeong Sujin seemed to want to be close to me. Like a deskmate on the first day of school who offers candy and compliments your pretty hair tie to win you over.

But I didn't want to know Jeong Sujin. Just imagining exchanging contact information and becoming close enough to chatter about Kang Uihyeon as a shared topic made my stomach turn.

That was the only way I could avoid hating Jeong Sujin. I had to keep my distance like this so that misplaced arrows wouldn't be aimed at her. I had no intention of taking on the role of a petty, jealous villain.

There was nothing I could do about my unrequited feelings for Kang Uihyeon, but I wanted to protect my pride until the end.

“Then let's get blood sausage soup.”

I reluctantly chose the dinner menu. Something that would come out quickly, let us eat and part ways quickly afterward, and wouldn't require conversation while we ate.

“You like blood sausage soup, Chaewon? You have such a baby face, but such grown-up tastes. You're so cute.”

Jeong Sujin smiled brightly, without a trace of ulterior motive. I copied her and pulled up the corners of my mouth, but there were probably sharp traces of my own dark intentions showing in my smile.

Kang Uihyeon, who had stayed one step removed from the conversation, reached his fork toward my slice of cheesecake. A large piece went into his mouth. The man pretending to be an unrelated observer was so irritating that I mashed all the remaining cake with my fork.

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