Falling for Them (6)
I never expected that even while completely hammered and slurring her words, Lee Yu-ri would still remember everything that happened that night. It caught me off guard, but I didn’t panic. By my calculations, she was already more than ninety percent mine. All that remained was one final nail to make her completely, undeniably my woman.
So I confessed to her outright.
People talk about “sex first, confession later,” and yeah, the old Han Seong-jin had been the king of that move. But Yu-ri wasn’t the type you could pull that on. She needed the old-school, traditional approach.
The moment I confessed, her face flushed redder than I’d ever seen it. She was so flustered her eyes couldn’t stay still, and all she could manage was a stuttering “Uh… uh…” like she’d suddenly gone mute.
Part of me wanted an answer right then and there, but I knew a girl like Yu-ri needed time. Besides, I still had one more target to work on.
“I… I-I… I…”
“It’s hard to say yes or no right this second, huh?”
Yu-ri gave a slow nod.
“You don’t have to force yourself to answer right now. You used to hate guys like me, after all. You can’t just flip a switch and decide overnight.”
Nod. Nod.
“And if I keep sticking around, you’ll just overthink everything and get even more confused. So how about we call today’s date here? I’ve got somewhere I need to be soon anyway.”
Nod. Nod.
“I can wait. But promise me this—if you make up your mind, you’ll tell me. Preferably sooner rather than later. Okay?”
Nod. Nod.
I felt like I was talking to a mute.
“Alright, let’s head out. Oh, right—judging by how you remember everything from last week, you probably remember how we got home that night too, don’t you?”
“……”
This time she dropped her gaze and took a long moment before finally nodding.
“Then can I take that as permission?”
As I spoke, I slipped my fingers between hers, lacing them together. It was one of the most basic ways couples showed affection. Yu-ri flinched in surprise, but instead of pulling away, she quietly relaxed her hand and let me hold it.
She still hadn’t said a single word and refused to meet my eyes out of sheer embarrassment, but that was as good as consent. Even stone-cold sober, she was letting me hold her hand like we were a real couple.
With one hand intertwined with Yu-ri’s, I picked up the tray holding our empty coffee cups with the other and carried it over to the return counter. On the way, our eyes met Gong Yeong-bae’s and Choi Su-yeon’s for the briefest moment.
Gong Yeong-bae’s heart plummeted the moment he saw them.
The dyed blond hair, the tall frame, the muscular build, that familiar terrifying face—it was unmistakably Han Seong-jin. Luckily the guy didn’t seem to notice him and quickly looked away.
But when his gaze landed on the girl standing beside Seong-jin, Yeong-bae’s heart began hammering so violently he thought it might explode.
Long, glossy black hair. A body far too voluptuous for a twenty-year-old. That charming mole beneath her eye.
‘Yu…ri…?’
It was Lee Yu-ri—his childhood friend of over ten years.
The sight of her with Han Seong-jin had become terrifyingly familiar by now. But there was one thing he absolutely could not overlook.
‘Why… why are they holding hands?’
Seong-jin and Yu-ri were gripping each other’s hands tightly. And not just holding hands—they were interlacing their fingers like lovers. Even though their fingers were completely intertwined, Yu-ri wasn’t pulling away. Instead her face had turned bright red with embarrassment as she accepted Seong-jin’s hand.
Yeong-bae felt like he was experiencing cognitive dissonance. Choi Su-yeon was saying something beside him, but none of it registered.
‘You said you hated bastards like Han Seong-jin more than anyone…! So why are you acting like that? Why are you holding hands with him like a couple? Why are you making that shy face instead of getting angry?!’
Rage and jealousy threatened to drive him insane.
Seong-jin and Yu-ri left the café still holding hands like a couple. They exchanged a few words, then Seong-jin left first.
Meanwhile, the instant her eyes met Han Seong-jin’s—even for a split second—Choi Su-yeon almost let out a squeal of pure joy. She wasn’t sure whether he’d actually seen her or not, but that didn’t matter. What mattered was that Seong-jin and Yu-ri looked close enough to be a real couple.
Once Yu-ri was completely Seong-jin’s, Gong Yeong-bae’s side would be wide open. And she fully intended to fill that spot.
‘Nice work, Senior Seong-jin! Keep it up!’
While she silently cheered for the man she loved in order to secure her own love, the two couples left the café. A short while later, Gong Yeong-bae stood up.
“Su-yeon, I’m going to run to the bathroom real quick.”
“Okay~”
He grabbed an umbrella and stepped out through the café entrance. Choi Su-yeon hummed cheerfully as she scrolled through the photos she’d taken that day. Eventually she felt the call of nature herself and approached a part-timer.
“Excuse me, where’s the restroom?”
“Go through that door toward the back of the building and turn right.”
“Thank you… hmm?”
Something felt off. Su-yeon tilted her head.
“The restroom is inside the building… so why did he go out that way?”
An inexplicable sense of unease began to creep through her.
After Seong-jin left, Lee Yu-ri stood there for a long time, still feeling the warmth of his large hand lingering on hers. Last week she’d been too drunk to really feel it, but now she realized a man’s hand was surprisingly big and warm.
‘He really does like me…’
Even as confusion swirled inside her, remembering his confession made her heart flutter nonstop. If she had to label the feeling, it was far closer to happiness than dislike.
‘D-do we… really start dating just like this? But he’s still a delinquent… I definitely used to hate guys like that… so why am I this happy?’
She clutched her pounding heart, stood in place until she finally calmed down, then opened her umbrella and stepped into the rain while pondering how to answer his confession.
But she’d barely walked for a minute before someone called out from behind her.
“Yu-ri!”
Her heart fluttered for a second thinking it was Seong-jin, but it quickly turned ice-cold. The voice was higher and thinner than his, and it belonged to someone she’d known far longer than Seong-jin’s low, husky tone.
When she turned around, the excited girl’s face from a moment ago had transformed into a cold, indifferent mask. She snapped back icily.
“What are you doing here?”
“Just… just talk to me for a second.”
“I have nothing to say to you.”
Lee Yu-ri could not forgive Gong Yeong-bae. His words from that day—treating her like some cheap slut who flirted with delinquents after she’d only exchanged a few sentences with Seong-jin—were still lodged deep in her chest.
“I saw everything just now. Are you… dating that bastard Han Seong-jin?”
“Don’t tell me… you’ve been stalking me?”
Yu-ri looked at him in disbelief. If that was true, she would never treat him as a human being again.
“No! I came here on a ‘café date’ with Su-yeon and saw you!”
He deliberately emphasized “café date” to provoke her jealousy, but Yu-ri’s expression didn’t change at all.
“Su-yeon? Oh~ that second-year who’s always coming to see you? You’re on a date? Congratulations.”
“Huh…?”
Instead of getting angry or jealous, she calmly offered congratulations. Yeong-bae was completely stunned.
“Why are you so surprised? I’m just congratulating you for finding a new girl the moment the one who was chasing after Seong-jin disappeared.”
“You… you’re only doing this with Han Seong-jin because of that? Even holding hands and acting like a couple? All because of one thing I said? To get back at me?”
“Ha.”
Yu-ri let out a scornful snort.
“Anyone listening would think I’m only with Seong-jin to spite you.”
“Then you’re not?”
“Don’t flatter yourself. You have nothing to do with this. Actually… maybe you do. Thanks to the way you treated me that day, I was able to sort out my feelings for you and start spending time with Seong-jin instead.”
“You… and you’re saying what I said was wrong? After seeing how you’re acting with him?”
“It was wrong. I didn’t go to Seong-jin because I was chasing him first. I went to him because of what you said to me.”
Then Yu-ri dropped the bomb that would tear Gong Yeong-bae’s heart to shreds.
“Seong-jin confessed to me.”
“W-what… did you just…?”
“He said he likes me. Seong-jin did.”
“Y-you turned him down, right? You did, didn’t you?”
“……”
“It’s a lie…! Yeah! You’re lying! You’re just trying to make me jealous, right?! After what I did last week, you’re pretending to get closer to Su-yeon on purpose to mess with me, aren’t you?!”
“You think I’m only spending time with him to make you jealous? You really are the worst, aren’t you?”
“What kind of guy is Han Seong-jin?! You’ve heard the rumors! He sleeps with any girl he wants, and ever since middle school he’s done nothing but drink, smoke, ride motorcycles—there’s nothing that bastard hasn’t done! How many kids got shaken down by his gang?!”
“Maybe he used to be like that. He admitted it himself. But… he’s changed.”
“What…?”
Gong Yeong-bae was having trouble breathing. Even after everything he’d said, Yu-ri was still defending Seong-jin.
“Since the semester started, he hasn’t hung out with his old crew once. He’s working part-time jobs to earn money, and even though he only has eighty thousand won left for living expenses, he refused financial aid for tuition because he wants to handle it himself. He quit smoking and drinking completely. He’s genuinely trying to live like a normal person now.”
“Why are you protecting a guy like—”
“And most importantly, he truly cares about me.”
“What the hell does that—”
“We’ve known each other for over ten years. Think about it—have you ever done anything for me first? Every Valentine’s Day I made chocolate for you, but you just bought something from the convenience store. I made you lunchboxes, but I’ve never once eaten one you made. And even then you always left most of it. When I suggested we go somewhere together, you never had any opinions. When I was eleven and almost got bitten by a dog on the street, I was crying and you abandoned me and ran away first. Remember how we didn’t speak for days after that fight? Looking back, I was the idiot for still liking you after all that.”
“Y-Yu-ri, I’m sorry. I’ll apologize for everything back then—”
“Seong-jin took me to arcades and escape rooms and all kinds of places even though he doesn’t have much money, just to make me happy. Instead of running away like you, he stood in front of me and protected me. He never said anything that hurt me like you did. He thought about what I was feeling, how hurt I was because of you, and comforted me. Those are things I’ve never once received from you.”
After pouring everything out, Yu-ri let out a long sigh—whether to control her anger or to shake off the last of her lingering feelings, even she wasn’t sure.
“Let’s just end this.”
“!!!!!”
They had liked each other for over ten years. The moment those words left Yu-ri’s mouth, tears flooded Gong Yeong-bae’s eyes.
“Actually, that wording is wrong too. We never even started. Whatever happens between me and Seong-jin from now on has nothing to do with you. So stop suddenly appearing like this, acting like it’s only natural or like I owe you something.”
With those final words, Yu-ri walked away under her umbrella, growing smaller and smaller in the distance.
“Yu-ri! Yu-ri!!”
He called out desperately, but she never looked back. She disappeared into the crowd.
Gong Yeong-bae stood there for a long time, listening only to the sound of rain, before he finally swallowed his tears and staggered back to the café, head spinning.
‘I-it’s fine… I still have Su-yeon… and Eun-ji…’
When he entered the café, he immediately noticed something strange. Choi Su-yeon wasn’t at their table.
‘Did she go to the bathroom…?’
He turned on his phone to ask where she was. Several messages from Choi Su-yeon were waiting for him.
……
The rain continued to fall.