〈Chapter 21〉

The Ex-Boyfriend and Childhood Friend’s Countryside Life!

* * *

To get to the West Sea, Si-hyeon and Yerin were traveling by express bus.

Yerin hummed happily, saying it had been a long time since she’d gone to her grandmother’s house. She tried to rest her head on Sihyeon’s shoulder, but the armrest got in the way.

“Tch… If I’d known this would happen, I should’ve booked the premium seats.”

“What’s wrong with premium? It’s nothing but comfortable.”

Yerin watched Si-hyeon with a dissatisfied look as he sat half-reclined, having even taken off his shoes.

“Honestly, you have zero sense of romance. Zero.”

Si-hyeon tilted his head, wondering what he’d done wrong to get scolded when he was just sitting there quietly.

Yerin stared out the window with a pouting face, but before long, her eyes flashed with a thought.

“Come to think of it, Si-hyeon, you saw my grandma a few times back in the day. Do you remember her?”

“Of course. She never missed a sports day or a parent-teacher observation day.”

Even though his memories from childhood were hazy, the image of her kind-looking face remained etched in his mind.

‘Though I never understood why her parents never came, and it was always her grandmother…’

Even though Si-hyeon had known Yerin for a long time, he had never seen her parents. Whenever he asked, the only answer he got was that they were busy with work. Later on, she would unnaturally try to change the subject, so he only knew that there must be some sort of “circumstance.”

‘Just what kind of work do her parents do…?’

He had his doubts, but he couldn’t exactly pry when she was so reluctant to answer. Everyone has things they want to keep secret, after all.

“Si-hyeon, want a bite?”

“Sure.”

He absentmindedly took a bite of the triangular kimbap she held out. The spiciness of the stir-fried pork lingered in his mouth as he chewed and swallowed.

Watching this closely, Yerin spoke with a smirk.

“Oh… you ate that without a second thought.”

“Ate what?”

“The part you just bit into. That’s exactly where my mouth was.”

Chuckling, she lightly tapped Si-hyeon’s lips with her index finger.

“I guess an indirect kiss is no big deal to you now, huh?”

As Yerin entered Gumiho mode, Si-hyeon’s face turned red at an alarming speed. When he touched his cheek, it felt burning hot—and his reaction was so cute she felt like she might go crazy.

‘I could just gobble him up right now.’

Yerin looked at Si-hyeon and licked her lips. She had said she’d wait, but her true feeling was that she wanted to start dating him as soon as possible.

“Want another bite?”

“I’m good, you eat it.”

“Geez… look at you blushing.”

Back on the train, he’d talked as if he could conquer her whenever he wanted, but it seemed he couldn’t manage that right now.

The fact that Si-hyeon was becoming conscious of her—Yerin loved it more every time she noticed.

“I can’t take it anymore!”

She suddenly pulled Si-hyeon’s head into a tight embrace. A fruity scent wafted from her chest. It was certainly sweet, but perhaps due to her overwhelming ‘size’, he found himself struggling to breathe.

* * *

After somehow enduring all kinds of temptation, Si-hyeon got off the bus, exhausted.

He gave the taxi driver the name of the village, and after several dozen minutes of travel, they arrived near their destination.

“If we walk for about ten minutes from here, we’ll arrive at my grandma’s house.”

“It’s pretty far out…”

The two walked along with the sea right beside them, taking in the salty scent. It was hot, but thanks to the sea breeze, they weren’t sweating.

“I heard the water in the West Sea is dirty, but looking at it now, it’s not really like that.”

“Of course not! That’s just a prejudice—total prejudice.”

A pouting Yerin tried to talk up the merits of the West Sea, but Si-hyeon, lost in thought, wasn’t really listening.

‘So this is the place Yerin said she visited every vacation.’

When they were kids, Yerin would disappear every time vacation started, only to reappear when school was about to head back into session. The image of her coming back with a very dark tanned skin, telling him with a bright face that she’d been to her grandma’s house, was still vivid in his mind.

As Sihyeon walked, immersed in those memories—In the distance, an elderly woman waved at them.

“Oh my, has our Yerin arrived!”

“Yep!”

Getting closer, he realized it wasn’t actually Yerin’s maternal grandmother. It seemed she was a village resident who had known her for a long time.

“Who’s that next to ya? Is he your boyfriend, by any chance?”

“That’s right!”

Yerin answered without a hint of hesitation, clinging to Si-hyeon’s arm. Si-hyeon, who was about to deny it, just sighed and gave the elderly woman a polite greeting.

“Ah, you’re at that wonderful age… Our Yerin is a good girl, so take good care of her. Ya hear?”

“Yes…”

As Si-hyeon replied while scratching the back of his head, the grandmother nodded with a satisfied face. Yerin, who had been watching quietly, tilted her head and asked.

“By the way, do you know where my grandma is?”

“She said she was headin home early cause you were comin. Go on in and see her.”

“Thank you~!”

After saying their goodbyes, they followed the path until they reached a weathered, traditional-style house. Yerin picked up her pace, opened the door immediately, and shouted in a voice full of cheerful affection.

“Grandma~!”

“You’re here.”

She was clearly overjoyed. Yerin clung to her maternal grandmother, her feet pattering with excitement. Like calming an overexcited puppy, her grandmother patted her back—then finally noticed Si-hyeon, who had been standing there awkwardly.

“Aren’t you… Si-hyeon?”

“Yes, that’s me.”

“Goodness… you’ve grown so tall!”

“You’re hungry, right? I just need to scoop the rice, so go on in and sit down.”

“Yep!”

Before long, the table was loaded with food. Si-hyeon stared at the spread with a meaningful glint in his eyes.

‘Eel, oysters, abalone, octopus, shrimp… I guess it’s because we’re by the sea, but there’s so much seafood.’

Si-hyeon flinched the moment he saw the eel, but surely a meal prepared by a grandmother couldn’t have such “impure intentions.”

“This old lady doesn’t ask for much… I’ll be satisfied if I can just see a great-grandchild who looks like a sturdy little toad before I die.”

“Kyaaa! Grandma, seriously…!”

Impure intentions… there were probably none.

While Si-hyeon broke out into a cold sweat, Yerin placed a large piece of eel on top of his rice bowl.

“Eat up, Si-hyeon. You’ll need to save up your stamina… so eat your fill.”

Just what kind of “stamina” was she talking about? Si-hyeon nodded with a dubious expression and began his meal.

Watching them with satisfaction, the grandmother handed a piece of eel to Yerin as well.

“You know a baby grows by eating the mother’s nutrients, right? You have to eat a lot so your child comes out nice and plump.”

“Okay!”

That day, Yerin polished off every single bit of food on the table.

* * *

Meanwhile, at the same time—

Wearing panda pajamas, Chaeyeon had just woken up and was flipping through a red album.

Flip.

The plastic sleeves of the album were covered in fingerprint smudges from how often she had handled them.

If the photos inside had one thing in common, it was that Si-hyeon was in every single one of them. Chae-yeon gazed at them, her face overflowing with happiness.

“This is the photo we took when we went to the aquarium. Back then, Si-hyeon had such a cute smile while watching the dolphin show…”

Next was the amusement park.

“Wearing animal ear headbands, taken with the red sunset as a backdrop… the lady who took it for us complimented us, saying we were such a well-matched couple.”

At the university festival.

“This is the photo of us dancing together with the campfire in the center… Both of us were so clumsy at dancing, it was a total mess with us stepping on each other’s feet.”

This was an album she had already looked through and used to reminisce hundreds of times. Perhaps because she felt so lonely after breaking up with Si-hyeon, Chae-yeon had spent the entire vacation doing nothing but staring at it.

“…I wonder what Si-hyeon is doing right now?”

The more she looked at the photos, the more she missed the real person. Chae-yeon found herself wishing that Si-hyeon was just getting plenty of rest at home. Without meeting anyone—all the way until the start of the new semester.

“He wouldn’t… be with Yerin right now, would he?”

When they disbanded after the MT, the atmosphere between those two was somehow strange. Should she say the way they looked at each other had changed? At that time, Chae-yeon had been seized by a strange sense of anxiety while watching them.

“It’ll be a disaster if those two actually start dating…”

Chae-yeon quickly shook her head. With every turn of her face, her jet-black hair fluttered and disarrayed.

‘Get it together… there’s no way Si-hyeon would do that.’

To avoid having these anxieties, she needed to hurry up and shake off her trauma, but despite receiving regular psychological therapy, there seemed to be no sign of improvement.

“It’s still a long time until the next therapy session… How am I supposed to kill time?”

Was summer vacation always this boring? Constantly feeling Si-hyeon’s absence, Chae-yeon clutched her head while flipping through the calendar. Then, she discovered a family photo sitting on her desk.

‘Mom…’

After she started dating Si-hyeon, Chae-yeon had begun to minimize contact with her mother. It was because, deep down, she resented Suyeon for planting that trauma within her.

However, she never poured that resentment out directly; as her daughter, Chae-yeon knew better than anyone what kind of past Suyeon had lived through.

Chae-yeon didn’t want to add any unnecessary burdens to her mother, who was already struggling.

‘Come to think of it, I’ve barely even been in touch lately…’

How were they both doing? Her last visit home had been during the previous winter vacation, so Chae-yeon decided it was time to show her face again.

‘And… I should try to have a real talk with Mom.’

A conversation with her mother might just be the key to resolving her trauma. Since her mother was the one who had indoctrinated her with those twisted values in the first place, Chae-yeon figured that if she could successfully convince her otherwise, there was a chance her own psychological issues could be cured.

“If I can just fix this… then, and only then, will I truly confess to Si-hyeon.”

For the sake of the man she loved, Chae-yeon resolved to shake off her trauma before the start of the new semester. Now that she had a goal, waiting was a luxury she couldn’t afford. After quickly packing her bags, Chae-yeon called a taxi and headed toward her family home.

* * *

TNote:

The Stamina Food Subtext

In Korea, Eel and Oysters are widely considered the ultimate “Power Foods” for men. By serving this specific menu and immediately talking about great-grandchildren, the grandmother is basically skipping the “dating” phase and going straight to the wedding.

💝 Support the Team

possible odoabuchi

📝 Editor

☕ Buy Me a Coffee