02. Yeah, I Was Walking on Eggshells
02. Yeah, I Was Walking on Eggshells
I slowly opened my eyes and stared blankly at the ceiling.
Waking up from sleep, I habitually picked up my phone to send a message, but soon realized something and weakly set the phone down on the bed.
"......Haah."
Right.
We broke up.
A faint sigh leaked out.
The moment I realized it, yesterday's events began to come back vividly. As the events that felt like a blurry dream flooded into my head once again, I closed my eyes for a moment to calm my mind.
Doing that wouldn't settle my churning stomach, but at least I could organize my thoughts.
'What a pain.'
Strangely, I felt too lazy to get up.
Rather than drowsiness, helplessness wrapped around my body.
Yesterday, when I was with my friends, I was able to act comfortably and think as if I had forgotten everything.
But now that I was alone again, complex emotions that couldn't be easily shaken off began to grip me.
She was the one who asked to break up, and I accepted it.
She asked to stay friends, but I was the one who completely cut ties.
Our two years, and our connection.
Were severed just like that, with a few words.
Woong.
After tossing and turning on the bed for a while, I felt the vibration from my phone and slowly lifted it up.
It would be a lie to say I didn't hope. Even though my head knew it would never come, my heart inadvertently ended up expecting it.
[Kim Ahyoung]
Exhaling a small breath at the name that popped up, I entered the chatroom.
Jihoon-ah, is it for real?
This was a message that had arrived yesterday.
Even after checking it late yesterday, I hadn't replied separately.
Reply already! Hurry, hurry, it's urgent!!
<< Just woke up.
Kim Ahyoung.
We met as Baek Seolah's friend, but perhaps because her personality was surprisingly easygoing, she was a friend who easily got close to me as well.
Besides that, she had a knack for making people feel comfortable.
She had probably contacted me after hearing about us from Baek Seolah.
'Why are you asking me that?'
When she could just ask Baek Seolah.
Exhaling a deep breath, I pulled myself up, shook my head once to shake off my thoughts, and walked out the door.
After checking the empty living room, I turned my steps toward the kitchen.
To complain that I was "used to it" would feel like a lie, considering this was already my second life.
It was just normal.
I was an only child, and my parents were busy with their dual-income jobs. On top of that, today was a weekday, and I was still on vacation before starting high school.
Heading into the kitchen, I looked around and blinked slowly.
It was time for a meal, but I didn't really have much of an appetite, so I just intended to quench my thirst.
No, so is it for real?
Woong.
Even in that split moment, the phone buzzed incessantly.
She wasn't usually like this, so seeing Kim Ahyoung act strangely obsessed today made me exhale a long breath as I sent a reply.
<< It's real.
<< Would it be fake?
Then wanna come out for now?
"......?"
Why is the conversation suddenly flowing like this?
As I frowned and stared at my phone, another message flew in.
You've got nothing to do anyway.
Hurry, hurry.
I wanted to refuse so badly.
I was too lazy to go out, and both my mind and body were disturbed, so I didn't particularly want to meet up with Baek Seolah's friend.
But on the other hand...
I'll buy you food!
<< OK
I also felt like clearing my head.
After all, staying home would only mean thinking about yesterday over and over.
And...
'I wonder if she knows what happened with Baek Seolah too.'
Even though it's only been a day, how she took it as well.
Because I was curious.
@
Zing.
As I stepped into the dak-galbi place in the bustling downtown area where we had agreed to meet, a familiar back of the head greeted me.
Round, silvery hair.
Sure enough, since this was a rom-com world, everyone's hair color was quite wild and free.
It was just amazing that the most normal person among them was Baek Seolah, who had light brown hair.
Standing at the entrance and looking at her for a moment, I soon walked slowly toward her.
"You're here?"
Kim Ahyoung greeted me with a nonchalant face... No, a person just arrived, but she couldn't tear her eyes away from the dak-galbi that was sizzling on the grill.
That sight was identical to the Kim Ahyoung I usually saw, so I involuntarily let out a chuckle, sat down across from her, and took off my thin outerwear.
"How long has it been since it came out?"
"Just now! They told us to wait a bit before eating."
"I figured."
Staring blankly at Kim Ahyoung, who couldn't take her eyes off the dak-galbi while swallowing dry saliva repeatedly as if drool was already trickling from her mouth, I swallowed my breath internally.
She really hasn't changed at all when it comes to not being able to look away from food.
Well, it's those kinds of vibes gathering one by one...
...and acting normally like nothing happened that makes a person feel comfortable.
"Let's eat!"
"......Is it okay to eat now?"
"Yup, I timed it precisely!"
At the sight of Kim Ahyoung answering with a spoon in her mouth, I burst into a quiet laugh and raised my chopsticks.
As the saying goes, even Mount Geumgang is best seen after eating.
Shall I eat first then?
@
Slurp.
"......Incredible."
I was sincerely admiring Kim Ahyoung.
Eating 2 servings of dak-galbi... though it was practically an amount fit for 3 people, plus two fried rices on top of that.
And then coming to a café and polishing off a drink, a slice of cake, and cookies—I couldn't help but marvel at her appetite.
"De-li-cious."
Watching her eat cake with a happy expression, I also took a sip of the coffee sitting in front of me.
"Why are you drinking that today?"
"......Huh?"
"You always used to drink Americanos."
At Kim Ahyoung's question, I looked at the coffee in front of me.
Caffe Mocha.
"Just because. I craved something sweet."
Honestly.
The reason I only drank iced Americanos whenever I came to a café was that I didn't actually like bitter things that much.
My principle was that if I was going to drink something, it was better to have something sweet, but in Kim Ahyoung's eyes, it must have looked like I only ever drank Americanos.
That was because Baek Seolah always drank sweet things. And yet, she would always covet my Americano at least once.
This wasn't something specifically mentioned in the original novel either. It was just things I naturally observed and felt at her side.
So before I knew it, I found myself naturally ordering only Americanos whenever I went to a café.
Since I couldn't explain all those details to Kim Ahyoung, I laughed softly and brushed it off.
For a brief moment, Kim Ahyoung stared intently at me with lowered eyes, then smirked in response and leaned her upper body toward me.
"Give me a sip too."
"......You're drinking more?"
A sigh escaped me at the sight of Kim Ahyoung, who had already emptied her own drink, eyeing mine, but soon I nodded, swapped the straw in her cup with mine, and pushed my coffee toward her.
"Drink it."
"Hehe, thankss."
Kim Ahyoung's gaze flickered over to her straw, then to mine...
...and back to the coffee.
Tacitly watching her slurp the coffee, I slowly opened my mouth.
"So?"
"......Mm?"
"Why did you call me out?"
We finished the meal.
And we're almost done with dessert.
I thought it was the right time to bring it up.
Because I knew very well that even though Kim Ahyoung looked thoughtless and simple on the surface, she was definitely not that kind of person.
Resting her elbows on the table and propping her chin on her hand, she looked at me sideways and spoke.
"Seolah. Did Seolah really say that?"
"......Say what?"
I already knew Baek Seolah's name would come up.
But since I didn't know exactly what she was trying to say, I had no choice but to ask back.
Breaking up?
Not seeing me as a man?
Or else...
"Did she really ask if you couldn't just stay friends?"
"Yeah."
"Haaah."
The previous lively atmosphere vanished, and a deep shadow fell across Kim Ahyoung's face as she let out a heavy sigh.
Shaking her head side to side, Kim Ahyoung raised her eyes, looked at me, and continued speaking.
"I'm sorry. I should have stopped her."
"No, it's not something you need to be sorry for."
Honestly.
Even while dating Baek Seolah, I had always thought like that.
I had thought that if this relationship eventually reached its end, Baek Seolah might talk like that.
Since it had turned into reality, it might not have been particularly strange. It was just that my inability to accept it remained the same.
"Are you okay, Jihoon?"
"......More or less. It still doesn't feel real."
Two years.
Being in a relationship as lovers with Baek Seolah was two years, and knowing her went back much further than that.
Since we had spent almost all our time together whenever nothing special was going on, not having Baek Seolah by my side felt a bit awkward.
But.
"I'll have to get used to it."
Clinging to such lingering attachments to a relationship that had already ended would only gnaw away at myself.
As I murmured that while staring blankly out the window, Kim Ahyoung silently took me in.
"As expected, you're so mature, Jihoon."
"......I wonder."
I always think this, but...
...I still think I'm just a kid.
"Still! Now we can see each other often, right?"
"......Huh?"
"After all, before this, I was walking on eggshells around Seolah, so we couldn't meet up just the two of us like this!"
"Is that so?"
If it were Baek Seolah, I don't think she would've thought much of it.
No, rather, if we got close, wouldn't she have liked it even more?
Because her friend getting close with her other friend was something she would've preferred even more.
"Yeah, I was walking on eggshells a lot."
But even at my words, Kim Ahyoung merely gave a subtle, smiling eye look and replied like that.