Unexpected Ch 2 part 2

“It’s over there.”

She watched as he walked in front of her and gestured to where her sedan was parked. However, instead of stopping, he began to walk towards a luxury car. The car’s side mirrors unfolded and its headlights flashed like a dog perking up its ears at the arrival of its master.

“Now that the junk car has left, you should ride in a Benz¹.”

His ridiculous joke made her burst into laughter.

“I must look incredibly pathetic to you.”

So much so that he made a joke that was so unlike him.

“Most people would call it being considerate.”

He opened the passenger side door for her and shrugged. Instead of replying, she obediently got inside.

She slowly buckled her seatbelt. Meanwhile, he walked around the car and got into the driver’s seat. He then asked for her address. As she told him, he entered it into the navigation system, and the car promptly departed.

“Should I have your car sent to this address as well?”

She finally remembered that he still had her car keys in his possession.

“Give me my keys.”

“If I was going to do that, I wouldn’t have asked you for them in the first place.”

While she was searching for what to say, he turned to her and asked.

“Do you have anything important tomorrow that will require your car?”

It would be a Saturday, so she wouldn’t have to go to work. Therefore, she wouldn’t need to have her car with her.

“Not really, but…”

“Then what’s the problem?”

“There isn’t any reason for you to have it either.”

“It’s a precaution so that I can prevent a dine and dash. Because if you just leave like this, I won’t have a way to receive my compensation.”

When she heard him say this, she recalled how he had asked her ‘How are you going to compensate me?’ at the cafe. She was suddenly overcome with a wave of exhaustion.

“I’m not really in the mood to joke around right now.”

“I’m not joking. But it doesn’t look like you’d believe me either way.”

When she remained silent, his lips stretched into a crooked smile as he continued.

“I’m sure you’re wondering why I’m behaving this way. We’re not close enough to be sharing a car like this.”

Right? His eyes seemed to ask as he glanced at her. It seems that you are very well aware of it. She wanted to answer back, but she held back the words and merely drew in a silent breath.

“But you’re not the only one. I’m also very bewildered by what’s happening, you see.”

“Why? Are you going to say something like, ‘This is the first time I’ve ever seen a woman show a side of herself that others shouldn’t have seen’, or something like that?”

Unlike her prickly mood, he merely kept his hands on the steering wheel as his eyes crinkled in laughter. The passing streetlights repeatedly flashed against his high nose and his gently curved lips, casting a shadow.

In her memories, he had always been a cool, cold-hearted figure. This was the first time she’d seen him so defenseless and disheveled, and it made her feel like she was looking at an innocent young boy.

Her classmates had whispered about him whenever they saw him, and they were right. His looks were like a pictorial in and of themselves.

 

“He always looks like he jumped out of a magazine pictorial, and he comes from a wealthy family. I wonder what you’re supposed to do to date a man like that.”

“If I knew that, I’d be dating him already.”

“Does Sunbae have his eyes on anyone?”

“What?”

“That’s enough, you guys. There’s no point in letting your imaginations run wild like this. Instead of wasting your time on such nonsense, why don’t you focus more on studying for the exam.”

“Other than being reborn into a different life, is there really no other way?”

“Either way, it would never work out for me. I just hope he never dates anyone and remains as public property.”

 

“You’re not wrong.”

His voice broke her out of her thoughts, and she returned to her senses. She was confused for a moment and thought he was agreeing with her classmates. She felt like he had read her mind.

She had just broken up with her cheating boyfriend, but now she was checking out another man. How ridiculous. Her cheeks flushed as if she’d been caught doing something wrong.

Afraid that he’d catch her blushing face, she quickly turned her face away and innocently pressed down on her eyes.

“Because it’s true that you’re the first.”

When she heard him confirm this in a warm voice, she was so flustered that her mouth remained tightly shut. He murmured as if he were talking to himself before chuckling.

Her eyes sharpened as if she didn’t care or sympathize with him, but her shoulders promptly drooped as if it didn’t matter. Although it probably wasn’t intentional on his part, because of his behavior and how he was getting on her nerves, she felt that the trauma she had just endured from discovering her boyfriend cheating on her was slowly fading away. 

Was she supposed to be grateful for this? She looked out the window and let out a sigh. Unlike her tangled feelings, the city nightscape was brilliant.

* * *

“Because of you, I got home safe. Either way, thank you.”

When the car came to a stop in the apartment parking lot, ChaYoung unfastened her seatbelt and opened her mouth. She had gotten into his car for some unknown reason, but either way, it was true that she had made it safely home thanks to him.

All the tension she had been holding in seemed to pour out once she realized she was home. She felt like her body was made of wet cotton.

“What time should I come tomorrow?”

Wanting to hurry upstairs and lay down, ChaYoung was preparing to leave when she heard his inquiry. Her head whipped around.

Ah, my car!

Realizing this a beat too late, she remembered that he still had her car keys. She frowned.

Just what was he thinking? He obviously knew how uncomfortable she was, but he still insisted on getting her car for her. She couldn’t figure out why he was acting like this.

“If you’re going to tell me to give you the keys now, then don’t even bother.”

“I don’t know why I have to listen to you. We weren’t that close for you to be doing all this for a heartbroken hoobae.”

“You’re right. We weren’t close.”

He nodded and murmured as if he were talking about someone else.

“It doesn’t make sense to you either, does it?”

“That’s why I’m trying to figure it out.”

He slightly tilted his head as he spoke. His expression looked so sincere that ChaYoung’s mouth closed shut. Various frustrating thoughts floated through her head.

“So what time should I come here tomorrow?”

He asked with an earnest face. ChaYoung realized that no matter how much she protested, it would only end up tiring her out even more. Her lips twitched, and she tossed out an answer.

“Around 1 PM.”

“Then that means you want to have lunch together, right?”

She was uncomfortable enough having to see his face again, but now he was saying they should have lunch together? Startled, she quickly changed her answer.

“3 PM.”

He nodded calmly and quietly replied back.

“I’ll endure it, why not? I’ll probably be a bit hungry, but that’s okay.”

That meant he still wanted to have lunch with her even if she gave him a later time. In the end, the one who gave up first was her.

“…Just come at 1 PM.”

Yeah. I’ll just consider this as the equivalent of paying a taxi fare or a driver.

“They say the first answer is usually the right one.”

“I’m leaving.”

She wondered what else he was going to say to hold her back, so she lowered her head in a quick bow and hurriedly got out of the car. However, despite her worries, he merely nodded back.

She sheepishly shut the car door and ran into her apartment complex as if she were making an escape. Therefore, she wasn’t aware of the fact that his eyes lingered on her back for a long time.

* * *

“Huu.”

She flung her purse down and flopped down on the sofa. She was so exhausted that she didn’t even think to wash.

Ultimately, her slightly bent body slowly leaned to the side before collapsing down. Splayed on her back, she stared up at the ceiling. She raised her arm and covered her eyes.

Thankfully, she wasn’t crying, but her unexpected meeting with her sunbae had drained her of all her energy.

Because of this, her seething anger had shriveled up. Did she need to thank him properly for this? The thought popped into her head, and she let out a weak laugh.

Yeah. It might be better this way.

Thank goodness. She tried to console herself by telling herself that it was good that she found out now before it was too late. However, she couldn’t go back to feeling the way she did before this all happened.

Because of all the time they had spent together, because of all the trust she had put in him, she thought that their foundation was solid. She had never imagined that he could betray her. Therefore, the wound she received was a lot bigger and deeper than she could describe.

“It’s not… an affair.”

His voice was so calm that it caused a shiver to run down her spine. The memory of his tone brought her back to that moment.

She wanted to do her best to forget, but the terrifying memory shook her with such clarity. She spit out a resentful sigh, and the memories of that bastard continued to plague her.

“You were like a reigning queen to me. I felt like I was always withering in front of you. Whenever I saw you, I felt like I was suffocating.”

When she recalled his excuse, her fists clenched.

“Think about it. The reason why you did your best.”

Just like that moment when she had been flustered into silence, she still could not find the answer even now. You’re right. Why did I try so hard? For what?

Suddenly, the voice she didn’t want to remember lodged itself into her head once again.

“You didn’t want this relationship to fail. That’s all.” 

So what?

Her lips stiffened as she asked out into the air. However, all that came back was hollow silence. Her apartment that was too big for one person seemed even more empty today.

Why did she have to pass down such a large place to me?

When her resentment honed in on her grandmother, she gave up pondering over this any longer.

She thought about filling up on liquor until she got black-out drunk, but she shook her head. Just like Sunbae said, she didn’t want to go on a drinking spree over ‘a punk like him’. In the twenty-nine years of her life, that man had only taken up two. That was all.

She consoled herself and sat up before running to the bathroom. She wanted to erase all the dirty memories from her mind as soon as possible.