Caramel Popcorn

56

Caramel popcorn [Caramel popcorn]

56.

...

From Myung Jaehyun’s point of view

...

In the auditorium.

"You... you were dating Yewon, right."

For a moment, I couldn’t even understand what she was saying.

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"What?"

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오여주

"Yewon. I heard you used to date..."

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"No, we didn’t."

At my response, the heroine’s eyes went round.

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오여주

"...You didn’t?"

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"Yeah. I’ve never dated Yewon."

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"Not even once?"

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"Yeah."

The heroine kept staring at my face for a while.

I never even imagined I’d have to explain this to the heroine...

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"I did have a little interest in Yewon for a bit. So it’s true I acted in a way that could’ve caused that misunderstanding."

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"Then..."

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"But it didn’t last long. Yewon ended up liking someone else too."

After that, actually, Yewon and I got even more comfortable being friends.

When I’d roughly finished explaining, the heroine, who had been listening to me, frowned and asked.

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오여주

"Then what about that movie ticket?"

Hearing her question, memories of what had happened before suddenly clicked into place like a puzzle.

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"Yewon gave it to me, yeah."

Now it all seemed to explain why the heroine had so firmly refused the moment she heard Yewon had given it to me.

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"Why did Yewon give that to you?"

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"So you’d watch it with me."

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"...What?"

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"She gave it to me so I’d watch it with you."

Seeing the heroine freeze stiffly as if she’d never imagined that story, a feeling of relief settled somewhere in my chest instead.

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오여주

"You and me?"

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"Yeah."

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"...Yewon did?"

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"Yeah."

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"Why?"

For a moment, the auditorium went quiet.

As I couldn’t say anything and just stood there, the heroine, who’d been moving only her lips for a long time, spoke first.

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"I... I thought Yewon still had feelings for you, so she gave it to you."

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"..."

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"Because I knew you two had dated."

After hearing everything the heroine said, I actually had something I wanted to ask.

I thought you were just uncomfortable around me.

Because you’d misunderstood my relationship with Yewon...

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"So that’s why you said you wouldn’t watch the movie?"

The heroine, who had been stiff for a moment, slowly relaxed her shoulders, and her voice softened a little too.

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오여주

"It wasn’t just because of that..."

She hesitated for a moment, then struggled to go on.

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"There were a lot of complicated things back then."

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"..."

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"But misunderstanding the two of you was the biggest part..."

Pfft-

By all logic the mood should’ve been serious and tense, but a laugh slipped out before I knew it.

At my laugh, the heroine narrowed her eyes and looked at me..

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"Why are you laughing?"

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"Just because."

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"Because I’m relieved."

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오여주

"Relieved about what?"

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"That..."

I was about to answer, swept up by the mood, but stopped.

I nearly answered based on my own guess.

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"Camera"

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"We found it."

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"...What."

At my answer, the heroine let out a hollow laugh.

I laughed along too.

Still, I learned one thing.

That the reason the heroine had pushed me away that day wasn’t entirely because she hated me.

That alone made it feel like the distance I’d forced open for days had closed a little.

...

From Oh Yeoju’s point of view

...

In the club room.

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"No, I can’t do it!"

I shook my head firmly.

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"I like taking pictures. I don’t like being in them."

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"Why? You seem like you’d be good at it."

When Jaehyun said that with a laugh, I averted my gaze for no reason.

The words I’d heard in the auditorium came back to me again.

'I’ve never dated Yewon.'

'I gave it to you so you’d watch it with me.'

The more I thought about it, the more embarrassing it got.

What on earth had I been making so complicated all by myself until now?

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"Then you do it"

I pouted at Jaehyun, and Jaehyun pouted right back and answered.

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"I don’t really like being in pictures either."

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"What is with you..."

When I narrowed my eyes and glared, there was Jaehyun, smiling beautifully.

I ended up smiling a little too.

Until a few days ago, even this kind of conversation had felt awkward...

It felt like things were slowly going back to how they used to be.

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"But do we really have to keep one person in every shot?"

Yewon said, looking down at the proposal.

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"If we just keep the story going and change who’s in each location, it’s fine."

After hearing Yewon’s words, Jiwoo immediately wrote it down on paper.

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"That would be easier for filming too."

I quietly nodded and set the camera on top of the desk.

Taking the paper, I started organizing the needed scenes around the places we’d looked at today: the field, the main building hallway, the back stairs, the auditorium.

Then

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"Yeoju."

Jaehyun pushed the proposal toward me.

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"Show me the one you shot on the back stairs earlier."

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"Wait a sec."

I turned the camera on and flipped through, one photo at a time, to find it.

Then Jaehyun naturally came closer to my side and looked down at the camera screen.

As I flipped one image after another, Jaehyun, who had been watching closely, suddenly caught the screen I was scrolling with those long fingers of his.

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"Here."

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"This one?"

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"Yeah. The light coming in is pretty."

I leaned in closer to see the screen too.

Then Jaehyun’s shoulder lightly brushed mine.

At that instant, what had happened in the field earlier came back to me.

Back then, if Jaehyun even bumped into me a little, he’d startle first and pull away...

But this time was different.

Jaehyun didn’t move, and I didn’t bother avoiding him either.

We were aware of it, but just didn’t show it.

Instead, we both stared even harder at the camera screen.

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"This could work as the first scene."

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"You like this more than the field?"

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"Yeah. Take a look."

Maybe trying to check the screen more closely, Jaehyun kept adjusting it, and his fingertips brushed over my hand holding the camera.

At that moment, both of us stopped moving at the same time.

It was only for an instant, but like when you stop in a game of Red Light, Green Light, we soon moved again naturally.

This time too, Jaehyun brushed against me, but he didn’t startle, didn’t pull away, and didn’t even say sorry.

Instead, he carefully manipulated the screen while avoiding my hand as much as possible...

Weirdly, that made me even more aware of it.

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"Yeoju."

When I lifted my head at the voice from across from me, Yeonjun was staring straight at me.

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"Hm?"

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최연준

"Show me some photos too."

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"Which ones?"

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"The ones you took in the auditorium earlier"

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"Oh..."

I picked up the camera and tried to get up from my seat.

Then Jaehyun said,

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"Jiwoo was the one taking most of the auditorium shots, wasn’t she?"

At Jaehyun’s words, Yeonjun’s gaze turned to Jiwoo.

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"Ah... I did take some, want to see?"

At Jiwoo’s words, Yeonjun shook his head once left and right, then looked back at Jaehyun.

"I saw Yeoju taking pictures too."

"That’s what I’m curious about."

A firm answer

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"I see..."

Suddenly Jaehyun took the camera from my hands and moved to Yeonjun’s side.

Their eyes collided, and when I spotted the two of them like that, I shrugged with my empty hands clasped together.

...Here we go again.

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자까

Yeonjun or Jaehyun.. what’s your choice?

"I guess I’ll..."

"Me, right?"

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