Burdened by Concern
After that incident—which could be considered an event in its own right—Chae-yeon's attitude toward me had changed a little.
Actually, it had changed a lot. Not just a lot. An enormous amount.
At some point, she started checking every detail of my daily routine.
My mom already paid quite a bit of attention to my habits, but compared to Chae-yeon, it felt like nothing at all.
She sent messages like this every single day, monitoring my routine.
The way Chae-yeon checked on my habits reminded me of my mom. Thanks to that, I now got scolded about meals from two people. And Chae-yeon's nagging was even harsher than Mom's.
Vrrr!! Vrrr!! Vrrr!!
Why is she calling? She's terrifying.
Whenever I showed any sign of skipping a meal, these threatening calls would come through. If I ignored them, she'd call two or three times in a row, so it was easier to just answer.
Even my mom wasn't this bad!!
“Why did you call—”
“Eat. Right now.”
Wow, listen to that tone. It was the same sharp voice from our school days, and I found myself shrinking back as I tried to explain my side.
“I really don't feel like eating if I'm not hungry.”
“Buying a single roll of kimbap isn't that hard, is it?”
“Well… Chae-yeon, there are people in this world for whom eating is the hardest thing.”
“Go buy something and send me a photo. Don't even think about eating snacks or anything like that.”
With that, the call ended. Now I was going to have to report my meals to Chae-yeon—something I never even did for my own mom.
I could just ignore her and do whatever I wanted, but that wouldn't end quietly. If I didn't want to hear even more nagging than from Mom, I'd better do as she said.
I left Mom's lab and bought a roll of kimbap and a zero-calorie soda from the school convenience store.
Click!!
If Mom had asked, I might have tried to understand this change a little, but that didn't seem to be the case. Was she this worried because I collapsed that time?
But that had nothing to do with my poor eating habits. It was because of a trauma. Chae-yeon probably thought that if I got healthier, something like that wouldn't happen again. That moment must have really shaken her.
Having someone look out for me was something I could see in a positive light. Especially if that someone was Chae-yeon. Even so, this was too much. It felt like there was a CCTV camera on me.
Well, I couldn't argue with that. There had been more than one or two times when a strong gust had nearly knocked me over.
She had a point. If I had to choose between only looking healthy or actually being healthy inside and out, I'd obviously pick the latter. Health was that important.
Oh, so she was trying to provoke me with that? If it had been the old me, that one line would've set me off, and I'd have gritted my teeth and done everything I could to beat her. But now, it didn't really bother me.
Mountains are mountains, and seas are seas. I'm me, and Chae-yeon is Chae-yeon. How was I ever supposed to beat someone who'd been training through sports since we were kids?
How could she repeat Mom's words word for word without missing a single syllable? Hearing the same nagging from both of them was mentally damaging, no matter who I was. Why did they always have to pick on my soda?
What kind of double standard was this? She didn't even go to bed early herself, so why was she only telling me to?
After that, Chae-yeon's worried nagging continued for a full hour. Once the hour passed, she sent a message saying she was finally free, probably because class had ended.
I arrived at the lecture hall while looking at the cat emoticon she'd sent to greet me as I headed to class.
Vrrr!! Vrrr!!
What now? Why is she calling again?
“Why? What are you calling about this time?”
“I'm going to Gwangju this weekend. Want to meet?”
“You could've just texted that. Why call?”
“Anyway, are we meeting or not?”
“Fine. Let's meet. Is there anything you want to do?”
“I want to go bowling. How about we bet on lunch?”
“Why are you trying to massacre my wallet? That's a crime.”
“I'm not good at bowling either. It's fine.”
Classic goinmul move—claiming to be bad to lower the newbie's guard. Even if Chae-yeon said she wasn't good, with her athletic sense, she'd still be above average. My bowling skills, on the other hand, were absolutely pathetic, so there was almost a 100% chance she'd win. There was no way I'd beat her at anything that involved physical movement.
“I'm not going. I don't want my wallet to suffer.”
“I really am bad. Bowling is the one thing I'm worst at.”
“Even if you're bad, you'll still be better than me, right?”
“I'm really not.”
“You seem to be coming to Gwangju a lot lately. Is it because there isn't much to do at the beginning of the semester?”
“Yeah, something like that. See you this weekend.”
“The way you say it makes it sound like you won't contact me until then, but you'll probably text me nonstop.”
“If I don't, you'll skip meals and stay up late again.”
“I sleep fine. It's the meals I don't eat properly.”
“Pfft!! Got it. Pay attention in class. Don't mess around.”
She was the one who'd been messing around with me the entire lecture, yet she was telling me not to. As the professor entered the lecture hall, class began. And the moment it started, an overwhelming wave of sleepiness hit me.
I usually took a nap in Mom's lab right before class to prepare for this, but I'd been too busy texting Chae-yeon to do that. Ah, this was a major class—if I couldn't focus properly, I'd be in trouble.
Vrrr!!
Her tone was so infuriating I could've flicked her forehead if she'd been next to me. How had I managed to hold back until now? Was it because things had been awkward before that I couldn't react like this? Either way, it meant we were getting closer, so I didn't think it was a bad thing. It was a hundred times better than awkwardness.