5 years ago, 5 years later

Ep.14 You're Always That Kid

write. Uhwari

최수빈[19]

"under....."

Subin's head was boiling.

최수빈[19]

“Did it rain for too long yesterday.. ha...”

Subin barely managed to hold on to consciousness, as if it were about to slip away. Since she was living alone, there was no one at home, and she couldn't even call her mother for fear she would be worried.

Is there anything lonelier than suffering alone?

I feel like I'm going to lose consciousness and collapse at any moment.

Soobin was calling out the most useless names at this moment.

최수빈[19]

“Lady.....”

Instead of calling the doctor's name, I called Yeoju's name. Why? I was sick, so I wanted to see you.

What a strange relationship

To sum it up in one word

You could say that Subin has a love-hate relationship with Yeoju.

And then suddenly the phone rang

최수빈[19]

‘Do-hwan hyung...? No, but he wouldn’t have known I was sick...’

Soobin had cut off all human relationships five years ago, so no one would call her.

Subin barely managed to answer the phone, her hands shivering from the cold caused by the fever.

최수빈[19]

"hello..."

{I am Yeoju Lee}

The words "I miss you" almost came out.

Just hearing your voice calmed me down, but I wish you hadn't come to my house.

If I saw you in this state right now, I had a flash of thought that I might hug you tightly.

{You probably didn't eat anything, so I'll just give you some porridge and leave}

Yeah, I just want to get some food. I definitely don't want to see your face.

우도환[21]

"don't go"

The heroine stared intently at Do-hwan's face.

The female protagonist's face was written with embarrassment. This was not the usual Do-hwan who was clinging to him.

이여주[19]

“Are you sick too..?”

우도환[21]

“No..no..just don’t go..stay with me.”

Do-hwan pulled Yeo-ju closer and wrapped his arms around her waist.

The female protagonist couldn't hide her embarrassment.

But the heroine resolutely pushed for Dohwan.

이여주[19]

"I have to go. I'll see you later."

우도환[21]

“Next... next time?”

Do-hwan persistently asked the female protagonist

Yeoju was taken aback by Dohwan's antics, but she remained firm this time as well.

이여주[19]

"I have to go someday. Subin is waiting."

Yeoju shook off Dohwan's hand.

Do-hwan couldn't catch Yeo-ju.

The female protagonist gradually moved away from Do-hwan. Slowly, more and more

이여주[19]

“Is this it..”

The heroine firmly rejected Do-hwan, but on the other hand, she felt very uneasy.

By this point, there's no way the quick-witted heroine wouldn't have noticed.

이여주[19]

Woo Do-hwan...do you like me...?

But because it's been such a long friendship, I couldn't decide if I liked it.

이여주[19]

“I don’t know”

Even though she was nervous, Soobin was the top priority for Yeoju.

Ding dong-

As the doorbell rang, Subin opened the door slightly and peeked out with only her face still wearing a mask.

이여주[19]

“Are you okay?”

최수빈[19]

“Uh...but isn’t school over yet..?”

이여주[19]

“I left school early because I was worried about you.”

최수빈[19]

“.......He’s a thug”

이여주[19]

"losing"

최수빈[19]

"Just kill me or give me my life"

Soobin waved his hand.

이여주[19]

"ruler"

최수빈[19]

“..what are you doing?”

The female protagonist raised her hand instead of killing him, and Suban looked at her as if he had no strength to be surprised.

이여주[19]

"If you play around with me one more time, I'll hit you."

The heroine took her hand away from the serious Soobin and handed him the food.

이여주[19]

“I don’t want to say anything about wanting to come home because I think you’re in a lot of pain. Next time, invite me formally.”

Yeoju waved her hand and walked away from Soobin's house.

Subin stared intently at Yeoju's back as she walked away.

Then the heroine let go of the hand she was holding and looked at her hand.

최수빈[19]

"under....."

Subin folded his hands tightly again and went inside the house.

The next day

우도환[21]

“......”

Do-hwan swung his bar stool around with a serious expression.

여성 손님

“Why are you so serious today?”

우도환[21]

"That's right. Why is it so serious? It's a very simple problem, and I know the answer, but I can't solve it."

여성 손님

“Is it a woman’s problem?”

우도환[21]

“Not just any woman, but the woman I’ve had a crush on for five years.”

여성 손님

“You seem secretly innocent?”

우도환[21]

“Only for that child.”

우도환[21]

“It seems like I’ve only dated women for five years to forget you...”

우도환[21]

“I finally found that kid.”

여성 손님

"Then let's date. I think I can easily seduce someone like Do-hwan."

우도환[21]

"......That kid likes another guy. There's no room for me to get involved."

우도환[21]

“The moment you ask me out, our relationship as brothers and friends crumbles in an instant.”

우도환[21]

“I can’t get closer, but I can’t get away either.”

우도환[21]

"But one thing is certain: You can't get any closer."

Dohwan stopped the chair that was spinning around.

여성 손님

“Then date me. If you date me, you’ll completely forget about him, right?”

Do-hwan looked at the female customer and looked her up and down.

Anyone could see that she was a beautiful and sophisticated woman, with nothing lacking.

우도환[21]

"I'm sorry, but that's enough. Whenever I see other women, I think of that kid, and I always hear them called bad guys."

우도환[21]

“And unfortunately, that one isn’t my style.”

Do-hwan got up from his seat and tried to leave the bar.

여성 손님

“Wait a minute! What are your tastes, Do-hwan?”

The female customer raised her head in disbelief and asked,

우도환[21]

“My taste is.....”

Do-hwan said with a hollow laugh

우도환[21]

“Please, Lord.”

Do-hwan's eyes looked sad.

I like him, but now I have to let him go

이여주[19]

"hmm...."

The heroine tapped her feet.

이여주[19]

"I haven't heard from Woo Do-hwan in days."

Then Subin entered the classroom.

이여주[19]

“Huh? Subin, are you at school now?”

Do-hwan's thoughts were put on the back burner again.

이여주[19]

“If you go this way, you might meet Woo Do-hwan...”

As expected, the heroine's intuition was right.

우도환[21]

"ah....,"

Do-hwan quickly took the unlit cigarette out of his mouth, then sighed and put it back in his mouth.

Because the female protagonist disliked smoking, I tried my best to avoid smoking in front of her. But now, I no longer needed to.

우도환[21]

“Are you done with school?”

Do-hwan pretended to be calm and carried on with everyday conversation. He didn't even look at Yeo-ju's eyes.

이여주[19]

"Yeah, it's over."

우도환[21]

“Oh... okay.”

우도환[21]

‘Aren’t you coming with Choi Soo-bin today?’

Do-hwan wanted to ask, but he swallowed it. He was afraid that his jealousy would be revealed.

우도환[21]

"Okay, have a nice trip home."

Do-hwan got up from his seat and tried to enter the bar.

I avoided the heroine's eyes until the end

이여주[19]

"Hey, wait a minute, Woo Do-hwan."

우도환[21]

"why"

Do-hwan said without looking back.

이여주[19]

“Why haven’t you contacted me for a few days?”

우도환[21]

“Well... I was just a little busy.”

이여주[19]

“Even if you’re busy, you still contact me once a day.”

우도환[21]

“Just... you don’t have to do it, right?”

이여주[19]

"Do you really need to do this? Since when do you care about that?"

우도환[21]

“Ha... What do you want to do with me now?”

Do-hwan turned around and said

이여주[19]

“Huh? No, it just suddenly changed.”

Do-hwan had reached his limit. His feelings for Yeo-ju were uncontrollable.

I was so out of it, like I was drunk, with a mix of longing for Yeoju and unbearable emotions from not seeing her for several days.

우도환[21]

“Do you know I like you?”

Oh, I said it. I said something I can't take back.

But I felt more relieved than regretful about those words.

이여주[19]

"what?"

Oh, I heard that. It's a word I hope won't come out of your mouth.

The female protagonist just blinked

우도환[21]

“I thought about you for five years because I said I liked you. I thought I was going crazy. I couldn’t go see you, but I kept thinking about you.”

우도환[21]

"I'm dying to see you. I heard a guy I know is opening a shop around here? I wanted to see you, even if it meant using work as an excuse."

우도환[21]

“Lady,”

Do-hwan took a step closer to Yeo-ju and took her hand.

우도환[21]

“I’ve only had you for five years, can you not look at me now?”

Once I started talking, the words came out uncontrollably, like paint mixed in water.

But the heroine's answer was always the same.

이여주[19]

"...sorry"

Yeoju said, pulling away Dohwan's hand.

Do-hwan moved closer to Yeo-ju, her back touching the cold cement wall.

우도환[21]

“Choi Soo-bin again?”

이여주[19]

“.......”

우도환[21]

“Why… why is it always Choi Soo-bin?”

Yeoju avoided Dohwan's eyes.

우도환[21]

“Five years ago, Choi Soobin made you laugh the most, so Choi Soobin liked you too, so it was okay if you didn’t look at me.”

우도환[21]

“Even if it’s Choi Soo-bin, I’ll make you happy.”

우도환[21]

“But now you know that’s not the case.”

우도환[21]

“Choi Soo-bin doesn’t like you.”

이여주[14]

“I told you before, I hated you from the start.”

이여주[14]

"You think I've become something because I'm just sitting here? You're nothing to me. Don't try to make things meaningful to yourself."

최수빈[14]

“But still.. you said you cared for me too.. you.. liked me too.”

이여주[14]

"That's funny. Are you really the only one who likes and dates? Are you crazy? Are we even related?"

이여주[14]

“Stop being clingy, it’s annoying.”

최수빈[14]

“I’m transferring schools”

이여주[14]

"Okay, bye."

최수빈[14]

"That means you won't see me anymore. I changed my phone number."

최수빈[14]

“Still... if you ask, I can tell you the address and phone number of the house I’m moving into.”

이여주[14]

“No need, just go.”

우도환[21]

“He can’t like you, just come to me, heroine.”

우도환[21]

“I’ll make you happier, okay?”

Yeoju looked straight into Dohwan's eyes.

이여주[19]

“That’s right.. You said that I can’t like Soobin even if I have love and hate for him. I’m Soobin’s trauma.”

이여주[19]

“But even so, Subin is good, so how?”

우도환[21]

“You’ll forget when you meet me.”

Yeoju lowered her head at Dohwan's answer and looked at him again.

이여주[19]

“You haven’t forgotten me even after meeting many other women in the past five years.”

이여주[19]

"I still love Subin as much as you love me. Even after five years."

우도환[21]

“Why can’t I…? I’ve been by your side just like Choi Soo-bin.”

우도환[21]

“Only I can understand you”

Do-hwan grabbed Yeo-ju's shoulder with trembling hands.

Yeo-ju took Do-hwan's hand off her shoulder and held it.

이여주[19]

“Oppa Do-hwan”

It was the first time that the female protagonist called Do-hwan by the title of oppa.

Do-hwan's eyes widened as he looked at Yeo-ju, who smiled faintly.

이여주[19]

"I was socially awkward five years ago. You can tell just by looking at the fact that my only friends were Oppa and Subin."

이여주[19]

“But you know that”

이여주[19]

“The reason I spoke to my brother in that alley that day was”

이여주[19]

“It was because of Subin.”

이여주[19]

"Subin helped me open my heart, and because of that, I found my brother."

I've always waited for you in this alley

The place we always talked about five years ago

I waited to see you here five years ago, and I'm still waiting for you now.

I came back to this neighborhood and there was no phone number and no trace of you.

So I waited for you in this alley, hoping you would come.

But you weren't in this alley, you were with Subin. Five years ago, or now.

I was the only one waiting for you in this alley, and you were never here.

Our relationship started with that kid you liked.

I guess it's time to let you go

Summary of information in case you don't know

Remember how Soobin taught Yeoju how to make friends five years ago? Because of that, Yeoju mustered up the courage to talk to Dohwan. Therefore, strictly speaking, Dohwan and Yeoju's relationship was formed because of Soobin.

우화리

I have two weeks off because I have exams.

우화리

I'll try to write from time to time

우화리

Last time I asked for some popcorn and they actually gave it to me. Wow, I was touched.

우화리

Then, today too, if there is anything you don't understand or something strange, please leave a comment and I will correct it or explain it right away.

I've been so busy these days because of exams that I haven't been able to write much. There's a lot of overlap with the last episode...;;

I like all the comment popcorns. Just feed them to me.