Don't wait for me

Episode 20 - His Circumstances (3)

-From Choi Beomgyu's point of view-

 

"Hey, Kangk Taehyun apparently got a girlfriend!"

"Huh? Him?"

"For real…"

"That ex?"

"No, another one."

The Kang Taehyun I know? A girlfriend?

It really sounds made up.

Kang Taehyun went to the same middle school as me, and we went to the same high school too.

Same class for all six years of middle school and high school…

What a nasty fate.

He'd been famous around the area since middle school.

He was insanely handsome, but he acted like his face was worth something.

 

Yeah, he'd already been such a jerk back then.

"Hey, you. Are you Kang Taehyun? I'm Choi Beomgyu—let's get along!~"

On the first day of first year of middle school, I talked to Kang Taehyun.

I was pretty popular in my own way, and the type who got along with everyone…

"No. And move. I can't see the blackboard."

Kang Taehyun was on another level.

"Hey, no way!! Kang Taehyun's in our class!!"

"Whoa, nice for you…"

"The ice prince has arrived."

"Choi Beomgyu got rejected too, hahaha"

After that, I started wanting to beat Kang Taehyun.

But there was no way I could.

Popularity, studies, sports—pick one!

It wasn't actually the first time Kang Taehyun had gotten a girlfriend.

He'd had a girlfriend he dated back in middle school.

Annoying bastard.

The girlfriend he was dating then was named Seolhwa… or was it?

She was famous throughout the whole school too.

The kids were sorry, but since the two of them looked so perfect together, they cheered them on from behind their backs.

Not me, though.

I was thinking, Hurry up and break up already, and then as soon as they got into high school, they really did break up.

Kang Taehyun got ghosted?

Serves him right.

Or so I thought.

Then a few years later, another girlfriend already.

He really looks like he won't date anyone, but somehow he's actually good at seeing people behind the scenes…

Around that time—no, when second semester of senior year of high school started—he started dating some girl named Lee Yujeong.

…That girl seems pitiful too. Lee Yujeong… right.

Is Kang Taehyun cycling through girls who are all similar?

Lee Yujeong and Seolhwa…

They're too alike.

But whenever Kang Taehyun and Lee Yujeong were together, I kept finding my eyes drawn to them.

Lee Yujeong was both different from and the same as Seolhwa.

That uniquely cold, chilly vibe was similar, but…

She looked incredibly… cute.

 

After that, without even realizing it, I kept circling around her.

So even when Lee Yujeong was in danger late at night, I was able to save her by chance.

By chance.

Yeah, just by chance. Just…

No matter how hard I tried to think that, it wasn't not true.

Then what about when I followed her, using the excuse that we were going the same way home?

What about now, when I couldn't just pass by something I should've ignored?

Hey, wait—could this mean I like her?