WeTried Translations

Translator/Editor: Malfoid

Discord: https://dsc.gg/wetried

◈ The Dynamics of Pure Love and Overprotection ◈

Chapter 6

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My gaze, fixed on Kang Uihyeon, met his eyes in midair. After remaining still for a moment, he slid his hand over and gently cupped my cheek. His thumb rubbed circles around my cheekbone, lingering as though he wanted to leave his fingerprints behind.

“Why did you throw up?”

Kang Uihyeon asked. The medical reason was that I had wolfed down sundae-gukbap, but the real reason was that seeing him with another woman had turned my stomach.

“Because I was upset.”

I laid my feelings bare instead of beating around the bush.

“Every time you're with Jeong Sujin, oppa, it makes me sick.”

Kang Uihyeon immediately dropped the hand that had been caressing my cheek. I had been letting my face go slack to win his sympathy, but just as I was about to narrow my eyes at him, his hand moved to the bag of medicine.

He took out a bottle of digestive medicine first. The aluminum cap came off with a bright little pop. With his support, I got up and gulped down the strangely flavored, carbonated liquid.

“It tastes awful.”

A faint laugh slipped out at my childish complaint.

“Medicine is supposed to taste awful.”

He took out the medicines filling the plastic bag and lined them up across my desk as if displaying them. Instead of looking at me, he checked the names of the medicines, his back turned as though he did not care.

“Take one of these after you eat, with this one. If you get indigestion again, don't force yourself to throw up. Take this first.”

I listened to Kang Uihyeon's explanation with half an ear and rested my chin on his shoulder. Even without touching him, I could feel the back of his neck stiffen. The stubborn sight of him rigidly staring at the medicine boxes made his resolve clear.

As if he would not give me even an inch.

Did he hate it that much? I pouted as I looked down at the tiny printed instructions with Kang Uihyeon. He used to carry me on his back all the time when I was little. Even until last year, he would stay beside me until I fell asleep.

“Are you mad at me about something?”

From this position, almost like I was hugging him from behind, I could clearly see the straight line of his nose. His dark lips did not need lip balm, either.

“Why would I be mad at you?”

See? I knew he would say that.

“Anyone could see you're making it obvious that you hate me, oppa.”

Kang Uihyeon shifted and looked directly at me. Naturally, my chin had to fall away from his shoulder.

“There's no reason for me to hate you. I talked to Dogyeom on my way here, and he said he'll stop by the house soon, so...”

“Okay. Stop already.”

Kang Uihyeon had clearly been uncomfortable with the question I brought up. So he unfairly dragged Yu Dogyeom into the conversation to make me just as uncomfortable. Thinking of my biological brother, who ignored every one of his sister's texts but immediately answered a call from his damn best friend, sent my mood plunging below rock bottom.

“I'm going to sleep now. Thanks for the medicine.”

After summoning Kang Uihyeon only to send him away, I irresponsibly lay down on the bed. I wanted to turn over under the covers, but I wanted to keep looking at my guest until the very end even more.

When I looked up at him with wide-open eyes, Kang Uihyeon naturally placed his hand over my forehead. His warm palm slid down to cover my eyes like a sleep mask.

Telling me to close my eyes and sleep.

Even with my vision blocked, I could clearly feel his gaze on my face. I wondered what I looked like to him, but I wanted to keep him there as long as possible, so I lay still without twitching. I tried not to so much as stir a single eyelash.

Kang Uihyeon waited until I began breathing evenly. I had one foot in shallow sleep, but I noticed the instant he lifted himself off the bed. I registered every detail, from the mattress rising slightly to the sound of him moving away.

Only after I heard the faint sound of the elevator arriving beyond the tightly shut front door did I open my eyes.

My mother was now sitting where Kang Uihyeon had been perched, her back to me.

It was not surprising. But there was something I wanted to know. Even as I pulled the blanket higher against the chill coming from beside me, I could not look away.

“Where were you?”

It had been a long time since I had spoken to my mother. Conversation was impossible with her to begin with, so asking now was pointless.

“Where did you go before coming back?”

While Kang Uihyeon was here, I had not felt a trace of my mother. Even if I was in my room and she was in the living room, her presence should have constantly seeped into the room. But while I whined to Kang Uihyeon and clung to him, my mother had vanished as though she were not in this house at all.

It was the first time that had happened. Even when Kang Uihyeon stayed over to keep me company because I was scared of her, my mother would always linger outside my bedroom door. But today, for some reason, she had hidden herself perfectly, only approaching me after my guest had left.

“Did you give us some privacy? Were you afraid you might see something you shouldn't?”

I even put on a show of bravado. But my mother did not answer and simply stayed seated beside me. I stared at the woman's bob, which had not grown in three years, then turned onto my side.

I had not taken any drowsy medicine, but my head felt heavy. Heavy enough that I wanted to sleep whether my mother was beside me or not. Just as Kang Uihyeon had done, I raised a hand and covered my eyes.

* * *

Han Jio came all the way to the Management Building. In front of my close classmates, he handed me an armful of trendy cookies and energy drinks, then left without saying much. As if that had been his only purpose.

“The Department of Mathematics? Wow, I thought he was a student athlete.”

“He's cute. How old is he?”

“Where did you meet him? A blind date?”

Whispers gathered around us. Anyone could see that it looked like a boyfriend taking care of his girlfriend.

“What about Uihyeon hyung, then?”

Then a name that grated on my nerves came up. Baek Jungyeong was grinning.

“Have you given up on him?”

“Who said anything about giving up?”

I asked indifferently as I handed out cookies and chocolate to my classmates. Why would I give up for anyone else's sake? Jeong Sujin would be happy, of course. Maybe Kang Uihyeon himself would feel relieved to finally shake off the leech. But either way, I had no intention whatsoever of kindly doing something that would make everyone happy except me.

“No, if things are going well with that guy, then obviously you have to give up on one of them.”

Baek Jungyeong raised his voice as though he were asking something obvious.

“If you're going to keep obsessing over Uihyeon hyung, why accept these cookies? You should've turned him down from the start.”

But Han Jio could not replace Kang Uihyeon. He could be bait, though. I could dangle Han Jio from the end of a fishing line before Kang Uihyeon's eyes as he drifted leisurely through the water, drawing his interest. That was the extent of Han Jio's usefulness.

“I vote for the math major. They say a woman has an easier life if she dates someone who likes her.”

“Right. He's good-looking too.”

“Doesn't he seem like he'd start dating you right away if you asked? Chaewon, try changing the way you think.”

A handsome face, a tall height, plenty of money, and a kind personality toward everyone. Kang Uihyeon had everything needed to become popular anywhere. So naturally, everyone had known about my feelings for him since I started trailing him around at the beginning of college.

People easily gossiped when they saw me persistently throwing myself at Kang Uihyeon without being intimidated by his indifferent reactions. They believed that because Kang Uihyeon did not hurt me, their pathetic advice would not affect me either. They looked down on me while offering one piece of unsolicited advice after another, feeding their own self-esteem.

And as they thought, I was not shaken by that kind of idle talk. My heart had been weighted down for a long time. If such contempt could make me lose my balance, I would not have spent my whole life nurturing this devotion. Though sometimes, it irritated me enough to turn my stomach.

“I guess you guys don't understand.”

I looked around at my classmates chewing cookies and smiled sweetly.

“Kang Uihyeon is a high-risk asset, and that math major is a safe asset.”

A beat later, once my classmates understood what I meant, their expressions gradually soured. It was probably obnoxious of me to talk about people's hearts as assets. But Kang Uihyeon was the only person whose opinion I cared about, and he would not even scoff at a comment like that.

“Instead of trying to coach my love life, go study.”

The classmates sick of my blunt words shook their heads and went back to their own places. But one person still burned with the will to fight me to the end.

“I heard Uihyeon hyung got a girlfriend too.”

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