“Has he, has he left… huh?”
Last night, Park Ha-eun almost faced a serious incident. For her, usually timid and faint-hearted, this event was bound to be a huge shock.
A massive truck was bearing down on her, and at that moment, she was powerless. She couldn’t do anything. Not even blink or move her legs.
Park Ha-eun’s defense mechanism was merely to switch off mentally, leaving her tragically vulnerable to sacrificing her legs.
“Eventually… I was saved… by a stranger, no less.”
Thanks to the miraculous timing of a man with a bread bag over his head, Park Ha-eun was able to escape from the truck.
Through her half-closed eyes, she could see herself being carried out of the crosswalk in the arms of the man with the bread bag.
And after everything was over, she saw him hastily leaving the scene.
“Why did he do that…?”
Despite the lingering fear, Park Ha-eun couldn’t stop thinking about the bread bag man. She wondered why he helped her and why he ran away without revealing his identity.
The man, familiar in scent and silhouette, matched strangely well with someone she knew. Park Ha-eun couldn’t forget him.
As the night that could have been hellish passed, Park Ha-eun hurried to get ready for school. Her parents suggested she take a day off for her well-being, but it was Park Ha-eun herself who insisted on going to school.
There wasn’t much reason to explain why. Her mind was already at ease, and for some reason, she had a strong intuition that she had to go to school today.
And still, the thought of the man who saved her lingered in her mind.
“Who could it be… that person…”
Even as she casually greeted her friends upon arriving at class, Park Ha-eun’s mind was filled with one thing: who was the person who saved her. She wanted to know why he saved her.
She wanted to repay him in any way she could, and just as she was feeling frustrated about not being able to, she heard Lee Ye-ji’s voice from the side.
“It must hurt… How did you get injured like this?”
Without realizing it, Park Ha-eun quickly turned her head, her brown bob hair swinging like a curtain.
Her hair became a mess, but still, she couldn’t take her eyes off Lee Ji-woon, or more precisely, his wrist area.
“I almost tripped while walking. It’s nothing.”
“Still, you’re just going to leave it like this? Look at the pus coming out of the wound… I can’t just leave it!”
The wound on the wrist. An abrasion that seemed to have scraped against the asphalt. It was identical to what she had seen on the bread bag man.
Late memories passing by. A body that seemed familiar. Skin that wasn’t exactly white, as she couldn’t see clearly in the dark. The amazing agility that saved her. And the scent that felt strangely familiar.
It didn’t take long for Park Ha-eun to realize the truth of the incident.
And then.
Thump-
“…Ah.”
At the same time, the dandelion in Park Ha-eun’s heart began to secretly scatter its seeds.
A tiny seed that would soon sprout from the ground under the name of love and affection.
Although the girl didn’t yet know the identity of this tiny seed that would one day become a great tree and take root in her heart.
Swoosh-
Without realizing it, she approached Lee Ji-woon and carefully wrapped a bandage around him, which was certainly no coincidence.
***
“I hate vegetables…”
“Don’t be picky, just eat.”
“What are you talking about, you don’t eat vegetables either. Who do you think you are, a teacher… Wait!?”
Lunchtime.
It was the golden lunchtime, a fitting prefix for such a precious break, and Lee Ye-ji and I were eating at the same table.
At the same time, Lee Ye-ji couldn’t hide her surprise upon seeing that my tray was devoid of vegetables.
“Wait… there are no vegetables on Lee Ji-woon’s plate…?”
“That salad? It’s not just to eat as is, they even gave us dressing to make it palatable, right?”
“No… This isn’t the Lee Ji-woon I know…! Who are you really? Give me back my Lee Ji-woon!!”
She began to shake me by the collar, as if she couldn’t believe it.
Your Lee Ji-woon has been replaced by me. And now, never again! Absolutely! No matter what happens! He’s not coming back, okay!!
…For some reason, I felt even more pitiful in that moment.
“Stop complaining and eat. Once you’re out in society, you won’t be able to eat this kind of food.”
“…You sound especially like an old man today, you know.”
Well… that’s because I am an old man. Of course, not by age yet, but anyway.
Even so, Lee Ye-ji sneakily pushed the salad to the side. When I blocked it with my chopsticks, she struggled for a while and then, as if a good idea had struck her, she lifted her chopsticks.
“Here. Ahh~”
“Physical force didn’t work, so you’re changing strategies?”
“My arm hurts! Open your mouth quickly!!”
“No, that won’t do. You have to meet your quota yourself.”
“Eek…! Why did you start eating vegetables well, you fool…!”
Lee Ye-ji, who had been trembling while I held her wrist, reluctantly placed the salad on her own tray. To think she tried to overpower this golden sun with force. She should have switched to fierce Ye-ji mode first.
“Ugh… It’s not tasty…”
“Are you okay? You don’t have to force yourself that much.”
“Eek… No. Since you ate it, I will too! I must eat it…”
She was setting her pride in strange places. Was she so unwilling to fall behind me? Or maybe, she just wanted to follow my lead.
Come to think of it, Lee Ji-woon and Lee Ye-ji had quite a few things in common. From hair color (of course, Lee Ji-woon’s was naturally blonde) to skin tone. It wasn’t easy to dismiss it all as mere coincidence, it felt like something was hidden.
“Could it be you…”
“Hmm?”
Lee Ye-ji, who was stuffing salad into her scrunched-up face. Her cheeks were puffed up, not like a cat’s, but more like a hamster’s.
Anyway, that wasn’t important. With so many similarities, and even the same last name?
That means… could it be! Really!
“Could you possibly be my younger sibling… or something?”
“…What nonsense.”
“No, think about it. We both have the same last name…”
“Just because we’re both Lees, does that make all the Lees in the world family? And you’re definitely not my family! Even if we were really related! You absolutely can’t be family, got it!?”
She kept grumbling even while chewing on the vegetables. I wondered if this was really something to get angry about, but I guess it would make anyone mad to hear nonsense while eating something they dislike.
So you really don’t want to be family with me… This brother is deeply hurt, Ye-ji Ye-ji…
“Just kidding. Don’t get too angry.”
“…Did I do something wrong?”
“Yeah, yeah, it’s my fault. So hurry up and finish the salad you were eating… Huh?”
Lee Ye-ji’s salad was completely empty. Could it be that she actually finished the whole salad she claimed to dislike?
Just a moment ago, she wouldn’t even touch it, but after seeing me eat, she quickly finished it off. Did I unintentionally motivate her? I even began to wonder if she would follow me to Seoul National University if I decided to go there.
“I finished the salad too? Did I do well?”
“Uh… Yeah, you did good.”
“Then I can ask for a favor, right? Hmm?”
Lee Ye-ji leaned forward, closing the distance between us. As a result, a deep valley began to show between the buttons of her loosened shirt. Was I really into tanned girls? This was news to me after living for over twenty years.
Anyway, if I kept looking at that mesmerizing view, I felt like I might bleed out, so I pushed Lee Ye-ji back to her original position and answered.
“Well, if it’s something minor.”
“Yay! Then, wait a sec.”
She picked up a meatball from the menu with her chopsticks. Then, with a sly smile, she supported the bottom with her hand and started to approach me.
“Ahh~”
“…Is this really what you wanted to do?”
“Yep! Since you said ‘is this all’, there’s no reason I can’t do it, right? Come on, ahh~”
Was she holding a grudge because she couldn’t feed me the salad earlier? Lee Ye-ji seemed excited as she half stood up and pushed the meatball towards my mouth.
I wondered how we ended up in such an embarrassing situation. Lee Ye-ji was mysterious. She seemed simple, yet sometimes she did things that were beyond understanding.
It wasn’t hard to eat the meatball, but the problem was the surrounding eyes. Surely, this situation wouldn’t be well-received by those around us. But on the other hand, the longer I hesitated, the more stares we would attract.
“Mm.”
“Right, right~ Hehehe…”
Lee Ye-ji’s chopsticks, offering the meatball like a mother bird, and I, biting into it, turned my gaze away to the distant mountains, unable to look at her directly.
Even then, she kept giggling for some reason. As I was about to laugh at the absurdity of the situation, an unexpected guest arrived.
“…May I sit here?”
The voice belonged to Park Ha-eun. For some reason, she was wearing a forced smile with a face that seemed slightly stiffer than usual.
…Why is she acting like this all of a sudden?
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