CHAPTER 15
♚ forget all the reasons why it won't work... ♚
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“You look dead.”

Ren posed and winked at me. “But still gorgeous, right?”

I resisted the urge to shut the door in his face… but I made no statement to deny his claim. “Seriously, what’s with the bags?” I asked.

He held up a large duffle bag. “It’s only one! And it’s full of-“

“I meant the bags under your eyes. If you were busy last night, you could’ve just rested today.”

“… I was so excited that I ended up staying late… and I wasn’t confident I could get up if I slept, so I pulled an all-nighter,” he admitted with a sheepish laugh.

“What are you? A kid?”

“But I was excited!”

“It’s just a date.”

“With you!”

I narrowed my eyes at him, suspicious. “… Have you been talking with Minhyun?”

“No way!” he denied, aghast at my claim. “All the corny lines I’m going to use to win you over are 100% from me!”

“So you admit they’re corny?”

His lips turned downward slightly. I quickly looked up at the cloudy sky before I could see his pout. “… Weren’t you excited? Even just a little?” he asked.

“I slept on time, thank you very much,” I said, looking back at him.

Ren sighed.

“… I did wake up three hours earlier though.”

He quickly brightened up… This simple-minded… I laughed as I stepped forward. But before I could shut the door closed behind me, Ren reached a hand out to hold it in place. I frowned at him. “What? Did I dress wrong? You didn’t tell me where we-“

He pushed open the door further and took a step into my house.

“No. We are not hanging out at my house.”

But he already removed his shoes by the entrance and walked into my living room.

“Listen to me, will you?!” I said, following after him. I quickly looked around, just making sure everything was in place.

I hadn’t cleaned at all!

“Whoah! Your house looks so neat,” he said in appreciation.

I adjusted a pillow on the couch that was an inch off. “You just have low standards,” I said.

He set the duffle bag on the floor beside the coffee table. “No, I’m pretty sure you just have really, really high ones,” he said, staring at my brother’s game collection by the television that was arranged alphabetically.

“… Maybe,” I said, kind of agreeing… but then I glared at him. “Like I said, we are not hanging out here!”

“But it’s raining! I had initially wanted to go to the park and have a picnic where we’d stare into each other eyes and feed each other-“

“Stop!” I said, covering my eyes. “I don’t want to imagine such disgusting things!”

“Is it that bad?!”

“Atrocious!”

“Then it’s good that we’re just hanging out here!”

“Yes, way better than that-…” I lowered my hands and looked at his grinning and triumphant look. “… That was a trick, wasn’t it?”

Ren laughed and poked me lightly on the forehead. I glared at him. You’re acting all superior now, huh?! How about we go back to when you did whatever to get my attention?!

“You’ve gotten ridiculously slow nowadays,” he noted with a grin.

I was about to deny his insult, but kept quiet… I was acting so pathetic lately. “… Well, with everything that happened, my mind’s just a jumbled mess now. I haven’t sorted it out properly…” was the excuse I gave both him and myself.

Ren sat down cross-legged by the small table and opened his duffle bag. I sat across him. He pulled out several boxes. “Then this will be sure to bring back your concentration!”

I saw a Janggi set and one for Yut Nori, but his other games were Western-styled: battleship, chess and checkers. He even had a deck of cards. I found it… odd that the games he brought were none that relied solely on luck and the classic roll-dice system.

“… We’re going to play all this?” I asked.

He smiled at me. “Yes! You love competing, after all!”

“No. I just like winning,” I corrected.

“So you think you can’t win against me?” he goaded.

I fell for his taunt easily. “Of course, I can.” I had lost against Aron several times in Janggi before – but he was a certified genius. Well… Ren was too… but…

“Come back!”

I looked back at him. “What?”

“You looked so determined, but then you suddenly went all… unsure,” Ren explained. “Your overflowing confidence didn’t waver like that before. So I was just reminding you to bring it back while it was there just a second ago!”

I reached for the western chess and opened it, not bothering to look at him with what he said. He was right. “… You’ve gotten good at reading me,” I muttered.

Ren shook his head but the huge smile told me he was happy at my words. “I still get a lot wrong! But when it comes to how you feel… Well, I watch you a lot… so it’s just really easy to read the emotions on your face.”

“… You watch me a lot, huh?” I echoed.

“…! Uh… well…” He looked away, laughing softly.

My eyes widened. He looked a million times more adorable when he was flustered… I grit my teeth and looked back down at the chess board.

“Keep that up and I’m going to play blindfold!” I threatened.

“What? Keep what up?!”

I looked up briefly to see his grinning face. “What?”

Ren just shook his head and laughed, amused. What in the world was he finding so entertaining? “Nothing!”

“Which clearly means something.”

“You’ve been staring at the board for an entire two minutes already.” Despite his observance of my very slow playing style, he was still smiling as if he were having complete fun.

I finally moved my pawn. “… You’ve been timing me?”

He nodded, not ashamed to admit such a thing. “As the game progressed, you take longer by around five seconds.” He moved his knight to the place I least expected him to place it at. “And when I make a completely random move like this, the expected time doubles.”

“What am I? An animal you’re observing?” I asked, focusing back at the game.

He laughed and I allowed it to distract me for a few seconds. “Yes!” At least deny that, will you?! “I’m just glad to see you’re old self. Always overthinking the most simple of things. Reading into stuff too much. Trying to predict everything. Stopping everything just to think of something, completely unaware of the time-“

I moved my rook to interrupt his words about me. “Are you insulting or complimenting me?”

Ren smiled. “I like all your faults!”

“… So you are insulting me?”

“Two hours… Two games game took us two hours…” Ren leaned back on the couch and rested his elbows on the backrest, lettings his arms dangle in front. “You take things way too seriously…”

I looked at the battleship board that showed my victory. “You could’ve stopped if you got bored-“

“Well, I got to stare at you every time it was your turn. So no, I never got bored during it,” he said with an impish grin.

“Don’t… Don’t go blatantly staring at me and admitting it!” I said, suddenly embarrassed. Every time it was my turn? Ninety percent of the time it was my turn!

“But I like looking at you.” He suddenly smirked and I grew suspicious. “Feel free to stare at me whenever and for as long as it pleases you!”

I did… for two seconds until I looked back down and rested my head on the table. “Too bright…”

“My hair?”

“Everything… Leave me to hide in the shadows of my narcissism and impudence. Go and stay in your light of benevolence and goodness and perfection and gorgeous facial structures,” I said in a monotone voice.

“… Gorgeous?” I ignored the smug tone in his voice. I then heard him sigh. “Are you still thinking about that?”

“Thinking about what? The great disparity in how we act and how people perceive us?” I asked, looking back up at him.

“There is no great disparity­-“

“I guess we do have similarities,” I dryly said. “Like how I’m a perfectionist and how you’re perfect… Oh wait, those two are completely different concepts-“

“I’m not perfect.”

“Yes, well, every other student thinks otherwise.”

“Do you?”

I snorted at the mere motion. “No.” The world may think he’s some golden boy, but his real character was a lot worse than I had thought.

He smiled at me. “That’s all that matters then.”

Before I could tell him off – or approve him – of how he thinks of my opinion so highly, a sudden vibration and light unconsciously made my gaze shift to it. On the table by the board was Ren’s cellphone… My eyes went wide in shock.

1 New Message from Park Dongjin was read on the screen of Ren’s phone.

He saw my gaze and quickly went across the table again to grab his phone. “You-“

“You know my brother?” I asked glaring at him. “Wait, were you why he suddenly had a ‘group project’ out of the blue today?!”

Ren slouched his shoulders and nodded, admitting his plan. “Uh… yes.”

“Why do you even know him?”

“I just met him a few weeks ago at L.O.V.E. café…. We should go back there soon!”

I ignored his invite. “You had him leave the house so that we’d have our date here? Really? We could play games anywhere.”

“I want to eat cook food you’ve made.”

“You could just ask me to make you food on some other day.”

“I want to see you cook.”

“We have home economics, don’t we?”

Ren suddenly frowned and regarded me seriously.

“I want to walk in from the door and say ‘I’m home, honey!’ while you’d be at the kitchen and reply ‘Welcome home!’-“

“Don’t turn us into newlyweds!”

“And then you’d ask ‘What do you want for dinner, love? Rice? Noodles?... Or me~?’”

Ren rested the bump on his head to the cold kitchen counter. “You didn’t have to hit me that hard.”

“You’re still conscious. I should’ve hit harder,” I said, getting ingredients from the refrigerator.

I heard the chair suddenly screech back. I turned to glare at him. His grinning face was unfazed. “It’s set! I’ll go in from outside then and-“

“We are not acting like some new married couple.”

“But I’ve always wanted to try it!”

“Try it with one of your other friends!”

Ren frowned, hurt clear on his face… I quickly went back to my business, but then he approached me. He tugged lightly on my sleeve. “Jinah…” he muttered.

I sighed in exasperation and turned to face him. “What now?”

He pulled out his lower lip slightly.

Ren used Pout! You are now paralyzed!

“Don’t think I’ll give in so eas-“

His brows furrowed and his eyes went slightly wider, a clear sheen over them.

Ren used Puppy Eyes! 143 DAMAGE!

“Th-This is stupid! Don’t come so close-“

He raised up a hand to his chest and tilted his head. “I’m sorry for such a selfish request, but I really, really want to do it…” His face was now only inches from mine. “You won’t?”

CRITICAL HIT! 99999 DAMAGE!

Ren’s Aegyo was super effective!

“I will! I will!”

I placed my hand to the wall and lamented over my life. “I’m so weak…”

The sudden opening of the entrance door to my home made me look up. I sighed and ran a hand through my hair, going back to washing the vegetables I had removed.

“I’m home, honey~!” I heard him call out.

I want to punch him so bad right now.

I turned around and saw him entering the kitchen with a grin. “Wel… Welcome home!” I said with a clearly forced smile. “How… was… your day?” I asked through gritted teeth before turning my back to him again.

“Oh, it was so boring and horrible since you weren’t there!” he said in a cheery voice.

I want to vomit blood.

“What’s for dinner, dear?” he asked. I turned to him… and practically saw the words Say it Say it now Say iiiiit! all over his happy face.

I want to kill him.

“It… depends on what you want for dinner, love,” I said, using all my willpower to keep eye contact with him. “Rice? Noodles?...” I gulped and met his steady gaze with one full of hesitation. “… Or… me?”

There was a long pause.

I went down and hugged my knees, covering my face. “I'm never leaving this house again.”

I heard his airy laugh draw closer. He bent down next to him and patted me on the head. “I was shocked! It really pulled at my heartstrings!”

“Why? You enjoy role-play that much, do you?! Or do you like it if your future wife always said innuendos?!”

“A little of both, really,” he said with a laugh.

I looked up and glared at me. “And a lot of what then?”

“Seeing your troubled face,” Ren said with a grin. “To think the proud and mighty Jinah would do that for me… You should’ve seen your face! You were so adorable! It was like you wanted to kill me yet satisfy me at the same time.”

I was at a loss for words… except for one. “You sadist!”

Ren laughed, not at all bothered my glare… Was he ever going to be affected by it? “You’ll forgive me,” he stated as if it were a fact.

I looked away and didn’t reply. We both knew he was right, this total control freak-

“Do you forgive me?”

“Didn’t you already say I always…” When I saw his serious face, I stopped. We weren’t talking about this anymore. “... For that whole detention and mission thing?” He nodded. “… No.”

The dejection was clear on his face.

I sighed and looked down at my tiled floor – I’d have to wax the floor soon, looking at it now. “Because if I forgive you, wouldn’t that mean you made a mistake? It wasn’t wrong. Us becoming friends… isn’t something you should be sorry for or something I should forgive.”

Ren suddenly hugged me from the side. “Jinah~!” he merely said, obviously pleased with my words.

Hoping to get back at him, I carefully chose my next words. “Actually… I really only came to that realization because of JR.”

I felt the arms around me suddenly stiffen. “… Really? You came to accept my friendship because of him?” he asked, tone clearly showing his annoyance.

I nodded. “Something wrong with that?” I said with a hint of amusement.

“No… It’s fine. He can help out with our friendship however he likes. I’ll take care of the other aspect wholly,” Ren said, letting go of me and meeting my eyes.

“... Other aspect?”

He took hold of my chin and tilted my face up, his own face now so dangerously close. I held my breath… Was he going to…? Be still, heart!

“This one…” he whispered, his lips about to touch my own-

The sudden ringing of my phone made us both quickly pull away. I looked at my text and saw it was just from my local network. Horrible timing, this thing! I sighed and looked back at…

Ren was leaning back against the fridge, a hand over his mouth and his face red.

Now it was I who really wanted to kiss him.

“I’m sorry!” he quickly said before I could begin to approach him and take advantage- I mean, help him.

“… Sorry?” I repeated in a monotone voice. I was… I was happy at what he was about to do, and now he’s apologizing for it?

“Hearing you say that about JR irritated me, and I wanted to tease you so… I’m sorry it got too far,” he muttered.

I tried to keep my anger in check. Tease me? What he was about to do was just to tease me?! “Oh? So I guess the idea of actually kissing me must be horrible-“

“No!” he quickly denied. “It’s just… You don’t like me anymore, right? Forcing myself on you would be wrong then.”

I don’t like him anymore? Where did he get that absolutely stupid assumption?! … I recalled the past few days where I constantly ignored him.

…. Oh. I suppose I did make it clear on how I wanted to have nothing to do with him.

“If I said I still liked you, what would you do?” I asked, trying to resist the smirk behind my lips. Being troubled and losing composure always happened to me, I might as well take advantage of the rare chance that it happens to him.

A hint of pink touched his cheeks and he began stuttering.

I stared at him, hoping the cute scene would be ingrained in my mind forever.

“Uh… I… might…” He let out a deep breath before finally saying, “I’d kiss you.”

It felt like my heart exploded at his words… Wait. No. I can’t be too happy. Knowing how simple-minded he is, he’d probably only kiss me to satisfy me, not because he himself actually had the same feelings. It’s about time I accepted how things with him worked rather than delude myself.

“And if I said I didn’t like you?” I asked instead.

Ren was still blushing, but his hesitant face was replaced with his usual, bright smile.

“I’ll make you like me again and then kiss you.”

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END CHAPTER 15
♚ ... and believe the one reason why it will ♚

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PREVIEW

Chapter 16

“You’ve actually helped out for the school festival, so you have to go!”

“Do you smell that? It’s the scent of class unity, creation of school memories, budding new romances and… kimchi.”
“I just smell kimchi.”

“The council worked hard for this festival.”
“Which will give me more satisfaction when I ruin it.”