Chapter 8
Chapter 8
A Childhood Friend of Fifteen Years Doesn’t Lose
“Sihyeon, get me the usual.”
“Got it.”
Just how often had the two of them gone to cafés together for Sihyeon to understand immediately?
At Yerin’s order that openly flaunted their closeness, Chaeyeon and Sohee’s eyes widened.
But only for a moment.
Not long after, Chaeyeon cleared her throat a few times before resting her chin on her hand and speaking.
“Get me the usual too. You know what it is, right?”
“…I know.”
Sihyeon reluctantly nodded and added the order to the memo app on his phone.
After writing down Sohee’s drink as well, he returned carrying all the desserts and coffee to the table.
For Yerin, cappuccino and Oreo cake.
For Chaeyeon, iced Americano and cheesecake.
And after handing Sohee a grapefruit ade, Sihyeon sat down holding a caramel macchiato.
Once everyone started eating, the atmosphere eased somewhat.
Taking advantage of the calmer mood, Sihyeon spoke first to move the project along.
“This assignment is introducing tourist destinations you’d recommend to others. So let’s each find decent places and send them to Chaeyeon.”
““Okay.””
All four of them began working on their assigned tasks.
While researching, Sihyeon took a sip of coffee after getting thirsty and happened to glance toward Yerin.
Then he immediately sighed.
“Hey, how are you doing this even here…”
“Hm?”
Cream from the Oreo cake was smeared around Yerin’s mouth.
How did this happen every single time she ate?
Sihyeon pulled out a tissue to hand it to her, then paused.
“If I just tell her where it is, she probably still won’t find it…”
Instead, he directly wiped the cream from the corner of Yerin’s mouth himself.
“Hehe… thanks.”
Yerin smiled softly at his caring gesture.
Unlike her, Sohee looked almost horrified.
“What kind of relationship do they even have to be this close…?”
Yerin’s existence felt like a serious obstacle to getting Sihyeon and Chaeyeon back together, causing Sohee’s sense of caution to rise sharply.
Information was a weapon.
Leaning closer, Sohee directly asked,
“Yerin, you and Sihyeon seem really close… what exactly is your relationship?”
While chewing on Oreo cake, Yerin smirked and answered,
“It’s nothing special. We’ve just been friends for fifteen years since kindergarten.”
Fifteen years.
That meant they’d spent over half their lives together.
Even Chaeyeon, who already knew they were longtime friends, parted her lips slightly at the unimaginable number.
“Wow… relationships like that really exist.”
Sohee smiled calmly on the outside, but cold sweat was running down her back.
Lately, the two of them had been spending more and more time together.
If they actually started dating, it would become a complete disaster.
“For reference, Sihyeon and I used to bathe together until second grade.”
“Hey! Why are you saying pointless stuff like that?!”
“But it’s true.”
Yerin proudly flaunted her relationship with Sihyeon while spilling TMI nobody wanted to know.
As Sohee’s danger alert reached maximum level—
“Stop chatting and focus on the research, will you?”
Chaeyeon’s irritated voice abruptly cut through the tense atmosphere.
Yerin wore a victorious smile, while Sohee awkwardly returned to her research.
“If this keeps going, things are seriously bad…”
To judge things objectively, Sohee compared Chaeyeon and Yerin in her head.
Looks-wise, both of them were overwhelmingly beautiful, so it was even.
For body shape, Yerin had a slight advantage. Chaeyeon wasn’t exactly glamorous, just attractively proportioned.
And personality-wise, from Sihyeon’s perspective, Chaeyeon’s image had already become terrible.
Meanwhile, Yerin had the bonus points of being a longtime friend and someone he was comfortable around.
“This is way too disadvantageous…”
The only thing Chaeyeon really had going for her now was the memories they shared as lovers.
But to even use those memories, reconciliation had to happen first.
And the problem was that Chaeyeon showed no intention of doing that.
“This is strange… Chaeyeon definitely likes Sihyeon too…”
Sohee knew Chaeyeon constantly looked through photos of Sihyeon whenever she had the chance.
And even if she disguised it as complaining, she still proudly talked about the things they did together.
So why did someone like that keep hiding her feelings inside instead of being honest?
Even as Chaeyeon’s longtime friend, Sohee couldn’t understand.
She didn’t understand.
But for the sake of Chaeyeon, who couldn’t be honest, Sohee had to help them reconcile somehow.
“Let’s do our best!”
While Sohee silently rooted for her friend’s relationship—
Yerin showed Sihyeon her phone and said,
“Sihyeon, should we go with somewhere nearby like Japan? Since it’s festival season, introducing it together might work well.”
“That’s not bad. Since it’s summer, let’s look into fireworks festivals too.”
How could the two of them match each other so perfectly?
She hated to admit it, but the fact that they looked good together was impossible to deny.
“Chaeyeon…”
Sohee glanced at Chaeyeon worriedly.
Chaeyeon was typing on her laptop, but the screen was filled with meaningless sentences and typos.
“She’s really bothered by this…”
For the sake of her friend who couldn’t be honest, Sohee decided to step in herself.
“Sihyeon. Speaking of Japan, didn’t you and Chaeyeon go to Hokkaido together before?”
It had been during winter.
Sohee still vividly remembered Chaeyeon returning from the snow festival with a satisfied expression while handing out souvenirs.
“…Yeah.”
Why bring up old memories now?
Discomfort clearly appeared on Sihyeon’s face.
But Sohee had already decided to shamelessly push forward.
“Then how about writing based on that experience? Chaeyeon, you still have the pictures, right?”
“I do. Hold on.”
Chaeyeon opened the photos and placed her phone on the table.
Seeing that, Sohee clapped her hands together and asked,
“You’re both wearing swimsuits?”
“Yeah. We went to a mixed bath together.”
“Wow… guess that’s what being lovers means, huh?”
There were plenty of other photos they could’ve chosen.
Yet Chaeyeon deliberately picked that one.
It was an obvious provocation aimed at Yerin.
“You think bathing together as kids means anything?”
Bathing together before puberty was basically no different from going to a public bath with family.
But mixed bathing as fully grown adults?
Even with swimsuits on, it was still undeniably intimate.
“So they even did mixed bathing…”
Yerin looked at Sihyeon with annoyance before speaking.
“Sihyeon, I wanna go to a hot spring too. Wanna go together next time?”
“Are there even any good hot spring places in Korea?”
Why was he this oblivious today?
Yerin shook her head.
“There really aren’t any good ones in Korea.”
“Then wait… are you saying overseas?”
“Yep. Let’s go to Japan together too.”
Smile.
Unlike Yerin, who grinned brightly, the other three wore expressions close to shock.
Finally unable to hold back anymore, Chaeyeon, who had been biting down on her straw, spoke.
“You’re not even dating. Isn’t it weird for a guy and girl to go to a hot spring together?”
“Eh… we’ve already seen everything anyway, so what’s the problem?”
“That was when you were kids. You’re adults now. You should know how to keep boundaries between men and women.”
At Chaeyeon’s continued interference, Yerin smiled with her eyes and answered,
“I don’t think that’s something a third party should be saying.”
“……….”
You and Sihyeon don’t have any relationship anymore. If you broke up, shouldn’t you quietly stay out of it?
Chaeyeon perfectly understood the meaning hidden in Yerin’s words.
As a result, the cheerful atmosphere that had barely been maintained grew heavy again.
A quiet battle of nerves began between the two women.
“You really know how to twist someone’s sincere advice into something unpleasant.”
“That was advice? I thought you were desperately trying to stop me for some other reason.”
The smiles vanished from both women’s faces.
Faced with the clash between someone trying to protect one man and someone trying to claim him, Sohee shrank back nervously.
In the end, it fell to Sihyeon to mediate.
“Can both of you stop already? We came here to work on the project, not fight.”
“Sihyeon, stay out of this. This is a battle fought over a woman’s pride…?”
Yerin tried replying seriously, only for Sihyeon to stop her by pulling her cheek.
“Forget your cheap pride and hurry up with the research already.”
“Okaaay…”
A fierce wolf instantly turned into a gentle sheep.
While rubbing her cheek tearfully, Yerin resumed researching, and Chaeyeon sighed like she found everything pathetic before returning to the PPT design.
“Sihyeon really is a sinful man…”
Watching them, Sohee instinctively realized just how long and difficult the road to reconciliation would be.
Maybe everyone’s desire to finish quickly accelerated the project work.
The PPT structure came together rapidly, and the researched information filled the slides in no time.
“I think this is pretty much done.”
Sihyeon nodded in satisfaction while looking at the PPT Chaeyeon created.
“Yeah. Looks like it.”
Meanwhile, Yerin agreed without even looking at the PPT.
Instead, she bounced her legs with eyes full of anticipation.
Just as Sihyeon was about to question her—
Yerin tugged on his sleeve and spoke.
“Sihyeon, wanna go watch a movie together for the first time in a while?”
“A movie? Out of nowhere?”
“Yeah. There’s a new one I really wanna watch.”
Sihyeon fell into thought.
The group project was practically finished anyway, so spending time with Yerin for once didn’t sound bad.
“Sure. Why not?”
“Really?”
Yerin smiled brightly and pulled Sihyeon to his feet.
Then she wrapped herself around his arm and started walking toward the exit before glancing back.
Grin.
It was an unmistakable smirk aimed at the women left behind.
Crunch!
Seeing that, Chaeyeon viciously stabbed her fork into the cake.