The Eyes That Fell in Love
“Haa… haa…”
Kana finally reached the forest clearing and stopped running. She stood there for a moment, then muttered under her breath, “……Idiot.” After that, she suddenly shouted at the top of her lungs.
“Roen, you big idiot!!”
Only after letting out that long yell did she plop down onto an old tree stump. She hung her head low and finally let out all the ragged breaths she’d been holding back.
“Good work. Here, drink some water.”
“Thanks… Huh?”
Kana reached for the water bottle being offered beside her, then jerked her head up in surprise.
“R-Roen?”
“I figured you’d come here.”
It hadn’t taken long to find her. There were clear footprints leading in the direction she’d run, and even after all these years, I recognized the path immediately. At first I’d planned to chase after her, but I changed my mind. I already knew where she was headed, and I was faster anyway. Instead of grabbing her on the spot, I decided to come here first and wait. She must have been exhausted from suddenly sprinting like that, so I brought a cool bottle of water too.
“You actually remembered this place.”
“Of course I remember. You used to play here with the other kids ever since you were a baby.”
It really was a nostalgic clearing. A secret base where the village children would sneak away from the adults’ watchful eyes to play together. It was deep enough in the woods to feel hidden, but not so deep that it was dangerous, and it wasn’t too far from the village either. Safety was a nice bonus.
“Still, it’s not good. Coming here this late at night.”
“What’s the problem? I’m an adult now too, you know.”
“Wild animals don’t care if you’re an adult or a child.”
“Hmph, nagging…”
Kana whipped her head away. But since I had no intention of leaving her alone, I sat down beside her and asked in a teasing tone.
“Not gonna drink?”
“……I will.”
She kept her face turned away but held out her hand. I placed the bottle in it, and she gulped the water down in big swallows. Then she held the bottle out again, still refusing to look at me.
“Thanks.”
At least she still said thank you properly.
“Must be the moonlight. You look really pretty tonight, Kana.”
“I don’t want fake compliments.”
“I don’t think I’m that good at lying. Look at my face. Does it look like I’m lying?”
At those words, Kana slowly turned her head to look at me. My sneaky attempt to get her to face me had worked.
“You’re not lying.”
Even though she only confirmed I wasn’t lying before turning away again.
“Hehe…”
Still, it seemed she couldn’t help the little laugh that slipped out at being called pretty. Even though she’d turned twenty this year, she still looked young and adorable.
“A lot has changed. You, Malcolm, even our village.”
“Well, it’s been twelve years. Of course it has. You too, oppa…”
Kana stumbled over her words.
“You’ve gotten really handsome too.”
“I don’t want fake compliments either.”
“It’s not a lie! Look at yourself!”
When I gave her a little nudge, she turned back to me with an utterly indignant expression. She was still so easy to read, just like before. That part of her was honestly pretty cute.
“So you’re not lying either? Thanks.”
“Tch… We finally meet after so long and all you do is tease me.”
“Ahaha, I can’t help it when your reactions are so good.”
Kana glared at me for a second, then gave a small smile and said,
“I was actually planning to leave for the city this year too.”
“The city? You missed your chance if you were going to leave. It’s already autumn.”
“No, I was originally going to leave in the spring, but I changed my mind.”
“What made you change your mind?”
“……Because Ilena unnie came to the village.”
Now that she mentioned it, I remembered Mother saying Ilena had first shown up about six months ago. Since it was autumn now, spring would have been the perfect time.
“What does Ilena coming to the village have to do with you deciding not to leave for the city?”
“Because she told me stories about you.”
Kana shifted her gaze from me to the distant sky.
“I wanted to leave for the city partly because life in the village felt boring, but the biggest reason was to look for you.”
“To look for me?”
“Yeah. But then Ilena unnie showed up and told me all sorts of stories about you. She also said that one day, you’d probably come back. So I changed my mind.”
Suddenly Kana reached out, pinched my cheek between her thumb and forefinger, and gave it a tug.
“Ow, ow, ow…!”
“Instead of blindly searching for an oppa who could be anywhere in the world, I decided it’d be better to wait for you with Ilena unnie.”
“Smart choice. The outside world is dangerous and brutal. Especially for a pretty girl like you to wander around alone.”
“Hehe…”
Kana pulled her knees up and buried her face between them.
“It feels nice. Hearing you say I’m pretty.”
Instead of answering, I gently patted her back. After some time had passed, she let out a heavy huff and said,
“Ugh, I’m so jealous!”
“Jealous?”
“I was separated from you for twelve whole years, but Ilena unnie knows all about the twelve years I missed! She knows what you were like during that time!”
“Haha, is that really something to be jealous about?”
“But I can’t help being jealous! I thought I was the only one who liked you, but then this amazing, beautiful unnie shows up and makes it so obvious that she likes you too!”
She’d always been like this, but Kana’s lack of filter was honestly one of her charms. It was still a little hard to get used to after so long apart, though.
“By the way, Kana.”
“What!”
“Whoa…”
She must have been really angry, because her reaction was extremely sharp.
“In your eyes, does it really look like Ilena likes me?”
“Haa…?”
My question made Kana’s eyes fill with something that looked a lot like contempt.
“Are you seriously pouring oil on a fire right now?”
“Absolutely not. I’m asking because I genuinely don’t know. Whether Ilena likes me or not.”
“Oh my god. There’s a limit to how dense someone can be… You blockhead. You piece of wood! I feel so bad for Ilena unnie!”
Thanks to Kana’s merciless scolding, I’d somehow ended up as an emotionless block of wood. But unlike what she saw, I really was uncertain. Ilena had said she wanted to have me, but no matter how I thought about it, it didn’t sound like she wanted me as a romantic partner. It seemed more like she wanted to possess me as a person. I did feel like we were attracted to each other, but when it came to exactly what those feelings were, there were too many vague and unclear parts.
“Ilena told me she wanted to have me.”
“You said it wasn’t bragging! You said it wasn’t bragging!!”
Kana raised her hand without hesitation. It was obvious she was about to slap my cheek, so I quickly put some distance between us.
“Listen to me until the end!”
“There’s no need to listen to the end, you villain! You cold-blooded jerk!”
Now I’d gone from emotionless to an actual villain and a cold-blooded jerk.
“Wanting to have someone and loving someone are different things. Ilena said she wanted to have me, but she’s never once said she loves me or even likes me.”
“Never once? Really…?”
Kana made a strange face, then slowly lowered her raised hand.
“Actually… I asked her about it once.”
“What did you ask?”
“I asked if Ilena unnie… liked you, Roen oppa.”
Last summer. Ilena and Kana were the only two young women in the village. Thanks to that, they got along well and became quite close while working together. The conversation had started with talk about farm work, but at some point it naturally shifted to the topic of Roen.
After hearing so many stories about Roen from Ilena, Kana had suddenly asked without thinking.
“Ilena unnie, do you like Roen oppa?”
The moment she asked, Kana regretted it, thinking she’d crossed a line. But Ilena’s reaction to the question was anything but ordinary.
“Do I like him? Hmm…”
Ilena thought for a moment, then smiled softly and said,
“I’m not sure.”
“You’re not sure? Close your eyes right now.”
“M-My eyes?”
“Hurry!”
Ilena was flustered by Kana’s sudden pressure, but she eventually squeezed her eyes shut as instructed.
“Now picture Roen oppa’s face.”
“That person’s face? O-Okay.”
“Got it? Then what do you feel? What thoughts come to mind?”
“Even if you ask me what I feel…”
Ilena pondered for a moment, then opened her eyes.
“Nothing really comes to mind?”
“Really? Not even that he’s handsome or cool? No tingling feelings at all?”
“He is handsome and reliable, but tingling feelings…”
After thinking a little longer, Ilena eventually shook her head.
“I don’t have that kind of feeling.”
“Ehh…?”
Kana felt drained by the strangely unsatisfying response.
“Then why do you want to meet Roen oppa?”
“I want to know. About his strength, and how he was able to become that strong.”
“Ilena unnie. Isn’t that less like love and more like…”
“Love?”
The word “love” made Ilena shake her head almost instantly.
“It’s not that. If I had to say, it’s closer to admiration.”
Kana’s expression brightened.
“Admiration…!”
“So that’s what Ilena said?”
“Yeah, she said it clearly. That it wasn’t love.”
“As expected…”
Just as I thought. The reason Ilena had come looking for me was to study the person who had taught her to live her own life. She wanted to possess me as a specimen, not as a man…
“Roen oppa.”
“What?”
“You like her, don’t you? Ilena unnie.”
“How can you tell?”
“Just look at your face right now.”
Kana grabbed my face with both hands and stared straight into my eyes.
“You look totally downcast.”
“Me?”
“Yeah, completely!”
Kana nodded vigorously, insisting that my face was making a completely gloomy expression. Then she slowly let go, only to grab my cheeks again so hard they made a loud smack.
“Ouch!”
“Get a grip, oppa. What Ilena unnie said was from last summer. Before you came back.”
“Last summer…?”
“Yeah. And a woman’s intuition is telling me that Ilena unnie has feelings for you too.”
“But she clearly said it wasn’t love, right? She called it admiration.”
“Aish! That was last summer, before you returned!”
Kana pounded her fist against her knee in frustration.
“I saw it earlier. The way unnie looked at you. Those were eyes that liked someone. I’m absolutely sure of it!”
“How can you tell just from someone’s eyes?”
“Because…”
Kana looked down at the tree stump we were sitting on with a meaningful gaze and asked,
“Do you remember Hilda unnie and Nathan oppa?”
“Of course I remember. I haven’t seen those two around.”
“Yeah. They fell in love, got married, and moved to the city.”
“So that’s what happened… But what about them?”
“I saw it.”
Kana tapped the stump with her hand and smiled slyly.
“The two of them doing it here, sweating and everything.”
“Ugh… You spied on them, Kana?”
“So what? It’s their fault for doing it in a place everyone uses!”
Twenty-year-old Kana really had no filter. I wondered just how far that boldness of hers went…
“The way Hilda unnie looked at Nathan oppa back then, and the way Ilena unnie looked at you, Roen oppa.”
Kana nodded with certainty.
“They were exactly the same. The eyes of someone in love! That’s proof that Ilena unnie likes you too!”