WeTried Translations
Translator/Editor: Malfoid
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◈ The Dynamics of Pure Love and Overprotection ◈
Chapter 9
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For someone with a knife between his teeth, Kang Uihyeon wore a faint smile. Judging by his expression alone, he looked like a very kind person.
“If you're going to eat pizza, why not eat it somewhere else? Why make things uncomfortable by doing it here?”
Kang Uihyeon turned the conversation back to me.
“You give your home address to just anyone. Don't you watch the news these days?”
The rest was obviously aimed at Han Jio. Han Jio, who had instantly been reduced to just anyone and a potential criminal, took several large gulps of cola.
“I'm not some weirdo. Being misunderstood like that makes me feel really bad.”
Han Jio didn't touch his pizza again. I was the only one still chewing. I kept eating because I had no idea what might come out of my mouth if I didn't keep it full of pizza.
It was only natural for Kang Uihyeon to go on high alert and scrutinize any man who showed interest in me. What Han Jio was going through now didn't even qualify as a pressure interview. Back when I was in high school, a college student working part-time grading papers at the academy I attended had been overly kind to me. Kang Uihyeon had hurled far harsher words at him.
I had always known Kang Uihyeon did that to protect me. But today, I had the urge to rebel. Enough that I wanted to openly take Han Jio's side in front of him.
The reason was probably Kang Uihyeon's recent dating history. He went around seeing every woman he wanted, yet he tried to control even me having a meal with a man. Of course that irritated me.
The only reason I was quietly eating pizza and swallowing my barbs was because I couldn't let things go wrong between Kang Uihyeon and me after I had just had such a huge fight with Yu Dogyeom.
“Isn't it just as dangerous for you to keep going in and out of a woman's home?”
Han Jio didn't shrink back from the power struggle Kang Uihyeon had started. He fired back.
“I'm different.”
Kang Uihyeon smiled as he tore open a packet of wet wipes.
“I've known this kid since before she was out of diapers.”
He placed a wet wipe in my hand. It was a signal to stop eating. He knew I would get indigestion if he let me keep going, so he stepped in at just the right moment.
I obediently cleaned my hands and rinsed my mouth with cola. When I glanced at Han Jio, he was looking down at the pizza, half of it still left. He looked so dispirited that I wanted to say something.
But what was there to say? That he shouldn't mind what Kang Uihyeon said? That Kang Uihyeon was just like a real older brother to me? They were all lies anyway.
“It's already midnight.”
Kang Uihyeon checked his watch and stood up.
“You should head home. I'll make sure she gets in.”
Then he carefully folded the blanket covering my knees and personally handed it back to Han Jio. Han Jio, his usual smile gone, looked up at Kang Uihyeon with an uncomfortable expression.
Han Jio was perceptive enough to know that we couldn't leave until he went first. He roughly shoved the pizza box into its bag and stood. He glanced at me once, but no farewell followed. Then he turned and crossed the apartment complex.
As I watched Han Jio's retreating back, I thought there was nothing I could do if he stopped contacting me from tomorrow on. After some close oppa had crushed his pride like this, he'd be a fool if he still kept pursuing me because he liked me.
I didn't feel sorry for Han Jio. How pure could my reason for calling him over have been when I had only not wanted to be alone? If I was going to feel sorry over something this trivial, I wouldn't have used him as Kang Uihyeon's bait in the first place.
Still, I was annoyed at Kang Uihyeon for ending this meeting as he pleased. I had long forgotten the thrill that had surged through me when I saw the man running around looking for me. I only enjoyed making him fret. I didn't want to be treated like some reckless child.
I used to believe that Kang Uihyeon taking care of every little thing was his way of looking after me. But after seeing Jeong Sujin beside him, I realized I had been badly mistaken. What I truly wanted was to be treated as a grown woman too. Like Jeong Sujin, who could order a children's pork cutlet at a gukbap restaurant and still remain an adult with a picky palate.
“Were you always this thoughtless?”
Kang Uihyeon began scolding me as we headed toward Building 207.
“How long have you known him to invite him over so late? You practically live alone. What if something happened?”
“Then you should've contacted me before Han Jio did, oppa.”
I replied flatly without looking back at him.
“You knew Yu Dogyeom came by today. Then wasn't it obvious what would happen? You knew all that, so you could've called me first and comforted me. Why are you scolding me instead?”
Perhaps he had nothing to say, because no rebuttal came from beside me. I walked quickly past Kang Uihyeon and reached the building entrance. Whenever we parted here, I always wished he would follow me inside. But not today. I wanted to yell at him to stop worrying about me and go see Jeong Sujin instead. Of course, if he really did that, I would cry until I soaked my pillowcase.
As I entered the password to go inside, Kang Uihyeon caught my wrist. The warmth wrapping around it made my cheese-filled stomach churn. How cool would I look if I shook off his hand right in front of him and went inside? But that was impossible for me.
“If you're going to keep seeing just any man, you should've gone to Baegyeong Women's University.”
Before applying to college, Kang Uihyeon and I had once had a huge fight. I had only applied to Sangheon University, where he attended. I had no intention of applying anywhere else. If it wasn't his school, it had no meaning for me. I stubbornly declared that if I didn't get into Sangheon University, I would take another year to prepare for college.
But Kang Uihyeon had held onto me for days, trying to persuade me to apply to Baegyeong Women's University. It was more than a simple recommendation. He had insisted on it. He even threatened that if I kept being so stubborn, I shouldn't expect to see him again. I wasn't the only one acting as if there were only one university in the world.
In the end, I applied to both Sangheon University and Baegyeong Women's University. I got into both, and naturally chose the former.
“Do you like that school that much?”
I shook my arm free from Kang Uihyeon's grip.
“Is that why you're seeing Jeong Sujin?”
Kang Uihyeon looked stunned. He seemed unable to understand why her name had suddenly come up. After blinking for a long moment, he appeared to remember that Jeong Sujin attended Baegyeong Women's University.
“I'm not seeing her because of her university.”
“Then why do you keep bringing up Baegyeong Women's University out of nowhere when I'm already attending college just fine?”
“If you had gone there, guys like Han Jio would have...”
Kang Uihyeon stopped speaking and closed his mouth. A resident coming out from inside glanced at us arguing in the middle of the passage as they walked by. A beat later, I came to my senses.
“You did well not to invite him right up to your doorstep.”
Perhaps he intended to stop fighting at this point, because he lowered his voice calmly.
“But be careful when you come home for a while. Watch your surroundings, and call me right away if anything seems strange.”
Han Jio would feel terribly wronged if he heard that. I was the one who suggested eating pizza together, and I was the one who picked the spot in front of my home. Yet he was already a suspect.
“What did Dogyeom say?”
Only then did Kang Uihyeon finally say why he had come looking for me tonight.
“He said not to keep hounding him through you.”
As I repeated Yu Dogyeom's harsh words, the sorrow I had been holding down threatened to surface. I fixed my gaze on someone else's mailbox and composed my expression.
“He also said we're grown up now, so we should each live our own lives.”
“Ha. That bastard.”
Kang Uihyeon looked down at his phone as if he might call him immediately. The hard look in his eyes shifted back to me and softened at once.
“I'm sorry you had to hear that. I'll apologize for him.”
Helplessness weighed down on my shoulders again. The problem was Yu Dogyeom, but I had to get through this miserable night by accepting an apology from his friend instead. I was exhausted because I knew the tenderness Kang Uihyeon was showing me wasn't wholly mine to receive.
“You know it's not something you need to apologize for.”
It was fine for me to feel as gloomy as I wanted when I was alone. As long as I had enough sense not to turn my blame on the wrong person.
“Forget Yu Dogyeom. Whether he comes home or not doesn't matter. We only need to see each other on the death anniversary.”
I entered the password again and passed through the building entrance. The thick glass door hung between Kang Uihyeon and me for a moment before slowly gliding shut. The man standing on the other side only looked at me quietly, showing no sign that he would follow.
I knew well that this was the boundary Kang Uihyeon had drawn after I became an adult.
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