Chapter 3
Chapter 3
Childhood Friend’s Dating Advice
“Huh? Sihyeon, what are you doing there?”
The brown-haired woman carried her food over and sat across from Sihyeon.
She brushed her hair behind her ear and smiled brightly, making Sihyeon’s eyes widen in shock.
“Yerin…?”
The woman sitting across from him, Han Yerin, was Sihyeon’s childhood female friend of fifteen years. They had known each other since kindergarten, ever since Sihyeon moved to Daegu.
The two had attended the same schools their entire lives, and even now they were enrolled in the same university and same department.
They used to stick together everywhere on campus, but after he started dating Chaeyeon, things had become awkward between them. It had been a very long time since the two of them were alone together like this.
Slosh—
As she poured soy sauce into a small dish for the fish cake, Yerin asked,
“What’s going on? You hate alcohol, so why are you sitting here drinking alone?”
Caught in an encounter he hadn’t wanted, Sihyeon lowered his head to hide how worn out he looked.
“It’s just… something. I’m not in a good mood today, so just eat and go.”
Normally playful, Yerin waved off his reaction with a grin.
“We finally meet after so long, why are you acting so serious? Anyone would think you broke up with your girlfriend.”
The moment he heard that, Sihyeon’s expression twisted.
He didn’t know what kind of face he was making, but judging by how Yerin’s smile slowly disappeared, it probably looked pretty awful.
“…Don’t tell me. You really broke up?”
“Yeah. So stop talking to me and just go.”
“Ah… sorry.”
Yerin awkwardly scratched the back of her head. Finding that frustrating, Sihyeon reached for the soju bottle.
“Stop drinking. You’re gonna ruin your stomach.”
Yerin snatched the bottle away from him, seeing how drunk he already looked. Then, as if to stop him from drinking more, she tilted the bottle back herself.
“Keuh… bitter.”
Wiping her lips with her sleeve, she smiled lazily and continued.
“Stop bottling everything up by yourself and spill it already. How did you two end up breaking up?”
“You seriously…”
Sihyeon was about to tell her to stop meddling and go home, but suddenly the earlier messages came to mind.
[AloeFlavorTeaBag: Huh? Why would that be bothering them? Usually after a breakup, people meet friends, get comforted, and talk shit about their exes.]
Would he really feel better if he let everything out like the dating counselor said?
With mixed feelings, Sihyeon looked at Yerin, whose face had already turned red after barely half a bottle.
She leaned her head forward like she was ready to listen to anything he said.
“Since we already met… should I just tell her everything?”
Sihyeon let out a deep sigh and rubbed his face with both hands.
After a long internal struggle, he finally opened his mouth, staring regretfully at the empty soju bottle.
“The truth is…”
Sihyeon began explaining everything that happened today.
How he’d rushed to the place of Chaeyeon’s blind date after getting a message from his friend.
How she blatantly ignored his calls and even shamelessly lied to him.
How it all led to an argument, and Chaeyeon insisted she’d done nothing wrong while acting completely self-righteous.
How he eventually accepted the breakup, and ended up drinking alone at the food stall where he ran into Yerin.
The longer his story went on, the more horrified Yerin’s expression became.
Her eyes widened, and she covered her mouth in disbelief before finally slamming her fist onto the table.
“That Im Chaeyeon bitch is completely insane!”
At the end, Yerin exploded in anger.
Her face red like a tomato, she angrily ordered another bottle of soju.
“That crazy bitch… just let me run into her in class. I swear I’ll smash her head open with this.”
Muttering drunken threats about cracking Chaeyeon’s skull with the bottle, Yerin raised the soju again.
Seeing her get angry on his behalf felt strangely refreshing.
But if she drank any more, she’d become impossible to handle, so Sihyeon snatched the bottle from her hand.
“Why’d you take it? Give it back.”
Her face was completely flushed red. Yerin reached out at him with unfocused eyes.
“You’re more drunk than I am. Stop drinking.”
“Jeez…”
For some reason, Yerin looked genuinely upset. Her fists trembled, and tears gathered in her eyes.
She looked like a sulking child, making Sihyeon burst out laughing without realizing it.
Seeing that, Yerin frowned.
“You can still laugh after going through something like that? Get a grip. You’re gonna run into those two again soon.”
Sihyeon, Chaeyeon, Yerin, and Sohee were all in the same department. No matter how much he wanted to avoid them, they were bound to meet again somehow.
“Now that you mention it…”
He’d been so consumed by thoughts of the breakup that he’d forgotten they’d see each other again at university.
The thought alone already gave him a headache.
Tap tap.
Sihyeon tapped the soju bottle he’d taken from Yerin and muttered,
“I seriously don’t want to get involved with them again… should I just take a leave from school?”
Yerin pointed a fish cake skewer at him.
“Why should you take a leave when you didn’t do anything wrong? If anyone should, it’s them.”
“It’s just awkward to face them.”
Yerin clicked her tongue like she found him pathetic. Then she patted her chest confidently.
“Don’t worry. I’ll stand by you and stop them from bothering you.”
She said it while hiccuping, which made her sound completely unreliable…
But just hearing that a friend would stay by his side made Sihyeon feel reassured.
“You sound dependable.”
“Hehe… right?”
Yerin smiled proudly and blinked her droopy eyes repeatedly.
Sihyeon checked the time and realized it was already past midnight. Seeing how sleepy Yerin looked, he stood up.
“Let’s go.”
“Huh? I wanna talk more…”
“I’m sleepy.”
“Really…? Then I guess it can’t be helped.”
After paying the bill, Sihyeon supported Yerin’s staggering body as they left the stall.
Thankfully, the rain had stopped, so they didn’t need umbrellas.
“This isn’t why I let you…”
Yerin mumbled something incomprehensible while leaning against his shoulder.
At first she followed his pace properly, but before long she fell asleep while clinging to his arm.
As a result, every time Sihyeon walked forward, her shoes dragged noisily across the ground.
“You’re unbelievable…”
She acted like she’d comfort him, only to get drunk and pass out instead. Sihyeon laughed in disbelief.
Yerin had nearly slid down enough for her shin to scrape the pavement, so Sihyeon finally lifted her legs and carried her on his back.
“And now you’re making an injured person do this…”
She was light, but every step sent a sharp sting through the wound on his shin.
At least Yerin’s house was only five minutes away.
Deciding to endure it a little longer, Sihyeon limped forward.
“Mm… haa…”
The smell of alcohol from Yerin’s breath.
The familiar warmth and weight of her body against his back suddenly reminded him of Chaeyeon.
“When Chaeyeon got blackout drunk, I always carried her home like this too.”
Whenever Chaeyeon drank herself unconscious, Sihyeon would rush over after hearing the news. Then, after Sohee told him to take care of her, he’d carry the passed-out Chaeyeon home on his back.
“She didn’t even like alcohol, so why did she always drink until she passed out…”
Shaking his head, Sihyeon muttered that she’d always been impossible to understand.
“Well… not like I’ll ever carry her home again.”
Thinking bitterly about Chaeyeon as he walked, they arrived at Yerin’s house in no time.
Turning his head slightly, he spoke to the girl on his back.
“Hey. We’re here, okay? I’m opening the door.”
“Mmkay… Sihyeon can do whatever he wants…”
Even half-asleep, she answered properly.
Sihyeon adjusted the nearly slipping Yerin again and entered the passcode.
“1017. In times like these, she seriously uses her birthday as a password?”
Sighing at Yerin’s lack of caution, he opened the door.
Unlike what you’d expect from a woman’s home, the interior looked dull and plain.
There were no fancy decorations, only the furniture she absolutely needed.
The one thing that stood out was the huge refrigerator plastered with delivery menus.
“Even after all this time, nothing’s changed.”
After looking around, Sihyeon entered Yerin’s room and turned on the light.
Then, breathing in the faint scent of cosmetics, he tossed Yerin onto the sky-blue bed.
Roll… thunk!
But maybe he used too much force.
Yerin rolled and smacked her head against the bed frame, groaning as she woke up.
“You okay?”
Sitting up on the bed, Yerin rubbed the top of her head and answered,
“Ow… why’d you throw me?”
“My bad.”
Maybe it hurt a lot, because tears welled in her eyes as she kept rubbing her head.
Then her gaze lowered, and she pointed shakily at his leg.
“What the hell? Why’s your leg like that…?”
“Hm?”
Following her finger, Sihyeon looked down and noticed his shin dyed red.
“Now that I’m seeing it in bright light… it’s pretty bad.”
Between the ripped jeans, the wound looked awful enough to make someone turn away.
Sihyeon already knew about the injury, so he was fine, but Yerin, seeing it for the first time, froze with her hand over her mouth.
Trying to reassure her, he brushed it off casually.
“This? I just fell while walking…”
“Was it because of Im Chaeyeon?”
His words were cut off midway.
When he looked back at Yerin, her expressionless face came into view.
“Did you end up like this because of her?”
At Yerin’s repeated question, Sihyeon scratched the back of his head.
“Would it really be fair to blame Chaeyeon for this?”
She was technically the reason it happened, but since he’d tripped on his own, he wasn’t sure he could blame her completely.
The silence while he thought about it was interpreted by Yerin as confirmation.
Running a hand through her bangs in disbelief, she muttered,
“So it really was because of her. What the hell was that crazy bitch doing while her boyfriend ended up like this?”
Yerin abruptly stood up and stomped away to grab the first aid kit.
“Just give me the medicine. I’ll do it myself.”
Ignoring his request, Yerin bit her lower lip.
“Shut up and stay still.”
Sihyeon instinctively shrank back. He quietly nodded, and Yerin carefully dabbed red disinfectant onto the wound with a cotton swab.
“Tss…”
“It’ll be over soon, just endure it.”
Sihyeon clenched his fists to suppress the groan threatening to escape.
After disinfecting it, Yerin applied ointment with a new cotton swab and muttered sadly,
“What if this leaves a scar…”
Her treatment finally ended after placing a large square bandage over the wound.
Staring at it silently for a while, she let out a deep sigh and sat on the edge of the bed.
“This won’t do. You’re sleeping here tonight.”
“It’s fine. My house is close, I can just walk…”
“Absolutely not. Stop overworking your injured leg. Tomorrow morning we’ll go to the hospital together before class.”
Seeing how firm Yerin had become, Sihyeon felt a headache coming on.
He knew very well from experience how stubborn she was.
“If I ignore her and leave now, she’ll definitely make my life miserable later…”
Hovering around him while acting upset, or becoming hysterical every single day.
Sihyeon knew exactly how negatively his choice would affect his future.
“Fine… I’ll stay.”
So he reluctantly agreed.
Honestly, he wanted to lie down as soon as possible anyway. Besides, Sihyeon saw Yerin more as family than a woman, so sharing the same space didn’t bother him much.
“I’ll get you some clothes to change into.”
Smiling brightly, Yerin hummed as she rummaged through her closet.
One by one, men’s clothes appeared.
All of them belonged to Sihyeon.
“I thought I lost all those clothes. They were here?”
“Yeah. You left them at my house.”
“Really?”
Sihyeon tilted his head.
“When did I ever come here wearing those?”
After trying to remember for a while, he quickly gave up.
“Guess I left them here a long time ago.”
Not thinking much of it, Sihyeon showered and changed into the clothes she handed him.
When he returned to the room, Yerin lifted half the blanket she was under and said,
“Come here. Let’s sleep together for old times’ sake.”
“No thanks. Seriously, how are you still like this even after growing up?”
Sihyeon shook his head at her complete lack of caution.
Good thing she’d said that to him. If it were another guy, something serious could’ve happened already.
Thinking that, he spread a new blanket on the floor.
“I’m sleeping down here, so you go to sleep too. You looked really tired earlier.”
Yerin stared at him with dissatisfied eyes.
“Hah.”
Scoffing, she pulled the blanket over her head.
“I’m turning off the light. Goodnight.”
“…You too.”
The moment Sihyeon lay down, he passed out before he even had time to dwell on the pain of the breakup.
Mentally and physically exhausted, he soon started snoring softly.
Rustle.
Only Yerin, who peeked her head out from under the blanket, remained awake, staring at his defenseless with a meaningful gaze.