Chapter 2

I thought, ‘This person is truly kind…’ and said bluntly, “That’s enough, just go.”

I didn’t know what else to say.

Anyway, getting entangled is tiring.

The only person I’m okay being entangled with is Gi In-hwa.

“Yoon Yoo-seon, she’s telling you to get lost. Stop and come back, you brat.”

I heard the ill-mannered guy who had been badmouthing me earlier shouting from the end of the table.

The bespectacled man called Yoon Yoo-seon merely set the tissues near the battered soju glass in front of me and showed no sign of getting up.

He’s more clueless than he looks.

I was sighing internally when the surroundings suddenly became noisy and the air stirred enough to feel on my skin.

I turned around and saw No Joo-eun entering like a queen, wearing a fluttery violet dress and drawing everyone’s attention.

And a few seconds later, Gi In-hwa appeared.

A plain black T-shirt and plain jeans.

A shadow of ennui on his expressionless face.

Nevertheless, I can say with certainty: every eye in this restaurant is on Gi In-hwa.

Not a single person is looking at No Joo-eun anymore.

Gi In-hwa is that kind of being, and that is precisely why No Joo-eun hates him so much yet can never let him go.

*

But there is a separate reason Gi In-hwa is special to me.

“Is In-hwa your goal too?”

The bespectacled man across from me—no, Yoon Yoo-seon—asked, but I didn’t answer and focused all my attention on the table across the way.

There’s an empty seat next to me too, but No Joo-eun sat at the table in front, not here, and Gi In-hwa naturally took the seat beside No Joo-eun.

Because of that, the person forced to give up their seat ended up at the corner of the table, constantly getting in the server’s way.

There’s a perfectly good empty seat next to me.

So she means she doesn’t want to sit here.

I don’t either.

“Are you not answering because I keep calling you ‘you’?”

Yoon Yoo-seon persistently asked, holding out a small plate with a few pieces of well-cooked meat.

I didn’t answer, and I only glanced at the meat he offered before not even touching my chopsticks to it.

“You’re like a cat.

A really ugly cat.”

Funny.

If I were an animal, I’d be a turtle.

A symbol of longevity.

And a topi antelope.

A stately female topi antelope fiercely competing with other females to claim the best male.

“I know your name.

Can I call you by your name?”

“No.”

“Selective answering is fun.

Feels like a game.”

I thought ‘Oops’ inwardly but didn’t show it.

I had answered absentmindedly because I was paying attention to the table across the way, but that wasn’t what mattered now.

No Joo-eun was pretending to be drunk, leaning on Gi In-hwa and whispering something in his ear.

No Joo-eun has a boyfriend she’s currently dating.

Of course, that boyfriend is not Gi In-hwa.

No Joo-eun acts like that even though she has a boyfriend.

She deliberately dates only bad guys and enjoys using Gi In-hwa to give them shame and a sense of inferiority.

No Joo-eun is a man-hater with a history of men.

The reason she can do that ceaselessly and still be fine without ever getting properly hurt is because Gi In-hwa is beside her.

Because he always protects her.

I recently learned that things weren’t necessarily quiet while Gi In-hwa was serving in the military—or rather, they weren’t quiet at all.

It was information I obtained through an accidental incident, and the more horrifying that information was, the more I judged it would be useful to me.

“……Excuse me, Jo Yoon. I said I’d speak casually since I’m your senior, so why aren’t you answering?

I could take your silence as a yes……”

Scrape.

Whether Yoon Yoo-seon was talking or not, I had been watching only the front table the whole time, and the moment I caught Gi In-hwa’s unusual movement, I bolted up from my seat.

Because I stood so suddenly, the sound of the chair scraping echoed loudly around us.

I felt Yoon Yoo-seon, who had stopped talking, looking at me in surprise, but I began walking toward the entrance without delay.

Gi In-hwa, having left the table, was already going out of the restaurant.

Even though I hurried, I ended up losing Gi In-hwa.

He’s tall, so his stride is long and his walking speed is fast.

Gi In-hwa is like that with everything.

He never seems hurried about anything and is relaxed, yet he finishes everything faster and more surely than anyone.

When eating, when drinking, when walking, when talking.

Where did he go?

He wouldn’t have gone far, would he?

I remembered what No Joo-eun had whispered.

It was probably about that.

She must have ordered him to do something.

Buy this, bring that, go and come back.

“Bitch.”

I muttered softly and squatted near the entrance of the meat restaurant.

Waiting is my specialty.

It’s been almost four years since I started stalking Gi In-hwa.

And so secretly that Gi In-hwa himself would never even dream of it.

Stalking someone without getting caught requires considerable skill and patience.

Though it also means that, to Gi In-hwa, I am someone who doesn’t even register.

The wind blowing was chilly, so I instinctively hunched my shoulders.

It had seemed reasonably warm during the day, but as the sun went down, the temperature dropped sharply.

Today is the last Friday of March.

It wouldn’t be strange for the temperature difference to be big, but I thought I should have worn thicker clothes if I’d known it would be like this.

Still squatting, I wrapped my arms around my knees.

I buried my chin and lips against my arms and watched the people passing by.

After staring blankly at people, I looked up at the sky with not a single star.

After repeating that a few times, I felt gloomy.

I couldn’t tell how much time had passed.

About twenty minutes?

Or maybe thirty?

I regretted leaving my phone inside the restaurant because I was anxious.

While I stood up for a moment because my legs had gone numb, a man wearing a snapback pushed open the glass door and came out.

Judging by the atmosphere, he seemed to be from the same club.

He glanced at me once, then took a pack of cigarettes and a lighter from his pocket and started smoking.

The wind blew this way, and the cigarette smoke drifted over here as well.

I hesitated for a moment, then went and stood on the opposite side of the man.

Now the wind blows from me toward the man.

Even so, the acrid smoke drifting through the air irritated my sense of smell.

I hate smokers.

I hate secondhand smoke even more.

My goal is to live to at least one hundred and twenty, and spraying carcinogens around is unacceptable.

But too many unacceptable things happen in the world.

“Where did you go and why are you only coming back now?

What’s that in your hands?”

I had been covering my nose and mouth with both arms, and at the man’s voice I sharply turned my head.

Sure enough, Gi In-hwa was walking this way.

Carrying large boxes in both hands.

“Wow, what is all this?

Did you buy all this?”

The man who had approached Gi In-hwa checked what was inside the boxes and visibly brightened.

“A guy who just joined the club buys all this?

There were rumors you were rich—guess they’re true.”

Then he bit down on his cigarette insolently, inhaled deeply, and exhaled.

I watched anxiously, then steeled myself and walked toward them.

My first thought was that I had to liberate Gi In-hwa from the secondhand smoke zone.

And along with that, I was determined to carry out the once-in-a-lifetime plan that was the reason I had come here today.

“Excuse me.”

When I spoke, both their gazes flew to me at once.

Even though I had steeled myself, blood raced through my body and my heart began pounding terrifyingly.

I didn’t know how many years it had been since Gi In-hwa looked at me.

Had he ever really taken me in with his eyes since that day in early winter of our first year of high school?

I didn’t think so.

No, he hadn’t.

Unable to meet his eyes, I looked only around the edge of Gi In-hwa’s chin and steadied my breathing, and the man’s voice came carried on cigarette smoke.

“Seeing the way you look, I guess you didn’t call me.”

The man exhaled smoke long once more, dropped his cigarette on the ground, and crushed it with his toe.

“You’ve got a lot of work.

Keep it up.”

He muttered in a tone that was somehow mocking and tapped Gi In-hwa on the shoulder.

This man, unlike Yoon Yoo-seon, seems to have some sense.

I was thinking that when Gi In-hwa lightly called after the man turning away, “Senior.”

“Take this and share it with the others.

Give the one strawberry to No Joo-eun.

And I’d be grateful if you could ask the owner’s permission too.”

He held out the box, and when I glanced inside, it was packed densely with various cafe drinks.

He must have gone all the way to a nearby cafe to buy those.

It was obvious.

No Joo-eun must have said she wanted to drink something.

But he couldn’t have bought only one drink for No Joo-eun.

There were many eyes watching and many mouths eating.

If he had done that, No Joo-eun might have been hated by the club members.

“Share only with the others?

What about me?”

When the man asked glibly as he took the box, Gi In-hwa answered in a dry voice, “I bought plenty.”

“But why is there only one strawberry?

I like strawberries too.”

The man grumbled as he turned away, but Gi In-hwa didn’t reply anymore.

Instead, he took a cigarette pack from his back pocket and said, “I’ll smoke one and go in.”

I knew.

I’m a stalker in name, so of course I knew.

Gi In-hwa is a smoker.

But even if he’s a smoker, it’s better to avoid secondhand smoke as much as possible.

And one more thing.

I also know the answer to the question the man had grumbled about.

Why there is only one strawberry.

It’s because it’s the drink No Joo-eun ordered.

He can’t buy several of those and let several people enjoy the same thing.

It’s a special pleasure only No Joo-eun should taste.

“If you have something to say, say it.”

Standing right in front of me and turning his head askew, he exhaled smoke long.