DPLO Chapter 12

“But Jio oppa is paying?” I countered, my eyes widening.

However, Kang Euihyun refused to take the money I tried to give back.

“You pay today.”

For a moment, I felt suspicious. Had the logic of splitting the bill, the kind championed by losers like Baek Jungyung, infected Kang Euihyun too? Was he trying to teach me that kind of calculation during my first ever one on one meeting with a man?

Kang Euihyun shifted his posture, blocking my path. Because of that, the gaze of other people passing by was completely cut off. I could clearly see the movement of his deep colored lips.

“If you keep letting him treat you, you’ll end up owing him.” 

Kang Euihyun’s voice was low enough to be buried by the surrounding noise. 

“There are plenty of guys who bill you for everything when you break up, so keep your accounts straight in advance.”

In other words, it was advice not to unilaterally receive things, just in case things went south with Han Jio later. We had only eaten together a few times, yet Kang Euihyun was already racing far ahead of me.

But considering his planned and precise nature, it wasn’t surprising that he would say such a thing to me. In Kang Euihyun’s eyes, both calling Han Jio to my house late at night and constantly letting him pay for things probably just seemed immature.

“Fine.”

I stuffed the bundle of yellow bills into my bag and walked over to Han Jio. Han Jio was composing his expression, conscious of the scene he had just witnessed. Honestly, I didn’t know what kind of face he should make while looking at a woman who had just received pocket money from another man right in front of him to go eat with him.

That concluded my time with Kang Euihyun for the day. I bought Indian food for Han Jio, and after refusing his suggestion to go to an escape room because I was tired, I went home. Around 5 PM, I received a message from Kang Euihyun asking when I was going home, and I replied that I had been home for three hours. To that, Kang Euihyun praised me, saying I did well.

I stared intently at the white speech bubble, wondering. What exactly did I do well? Was Kang Euihyun still seeing Jeong Sujin? If so, by what right was he praising me?

After packing my things into my backpack, I approached my mother, who was sitting alone on the sofa. Ever since she once stayed by my side while I was vomiting sundae gukbap, there were moments when she felt strangely like a real mother.

“I’m going on a school trip today, to Daeseongri.”

While I explained diligently, my mother, as always, stared only at the blank, turned off TV.

“I’ll be sleeping there for the night, so don’t wait for me. I’ll be back tomorrow.”

It suddenly occurred to me that if Yoo Dokyeom saw this, he would be even less likely to even turn his head toward the house. A younger sister who claims her dead mother has stayed in the house for three years and now even says goodbye to the ghost before leaving, I would find it creepy too.

Until I closed the front door and left, my mother continued to blankly trace the empty air with her eyes.

When I went down to the underground parking lot, Kang Euihyun’s car was idling, waiting for me. A sticker indicating that he was a resident of our apartment complex was attached to the bottom of the windshield. I had personally picked it up from the management office and stuck it on his car three years ago.

The passenger seat, which should have been my spot, was already occupied. When I opened the door without warning, Baek Jungyung flinched. For someone who had shamelessly taken another person’s seat, his attitude was remarkably lacking in confidence.

“Move.”

“Ah, why do you keep telling me to move? Just sit in the back.”

“I said move.”

From the driver’s seat, he neither stopped me nor helped Baek Jungyung. Overwhelmed by the car owner’s complete indifference, Baek Jungyung grumbled and climbed out of the passenger seat. I frowned at the lukewarm temperature of the seat as I fastened my seatbelt.

“You live in a nice place, huh? Suddenly I’m feeling a class difference.”

Having moved to the back, Baek Jungyung peeked his head through the gap between the driver and passenger seats. Kang Euihyun started the car smoothly, resting his elbow diagonally on the center console. Thanks to that, Baek Jungyung’s face, which had been oppressively close, retreated.

“Why, did you think I was some easy target of a female head of household?” 

It was a widely known fact that I didn’t have parents. That was why my classmates, who were sometimes offended by my rude way of speaking, would whisper behind my back and reach a single conclusion: it was because she grew up alone without parents.

“Wake up from your dream; I have no intention of sharing my assets with you. I am not some unfortunate woman who attracts worthless men because she has no parents and no money.”

“Where did you learn to say things like that?”

After I got into the car, Kang Euihyun spoke for the first time. His question was clearly bewildered, but the corners of his mouth were subtly curled up as if satisfied by something.

“Who else? Yoo Dokyeom.”

My brother had advised me not to pretend to be a pitiful girl without parents wherever I went. He said that showing I had no adult to protect me would only attract men who would treat me recklessly, and that those bastards would only covet the insurance money I received. It was one of the few precious pieces of advice Yoo Dokyeom, who did absolutely nothing to act like an older brother, had given me.

“Hey, when did I ever look at you as easy? Do you know what guys say? That they get so intimidated just looking at you that they can’t even say anything…”

“Jungyung, is there anything else to buy?” Kang Euihyun shifted the direction of the conversation so clearly that anyone could tell.

“No. If we buy any more food to eat here, the trunk will burst.”

“Check if anyone is running late. We can fit two more people in our car.”

“Ah, right now is actually perfect…”

Kang Euihyun drove slowly, pretending not to hear Baek Jungyung’s ulterior motive. Just because he was a senior with a nice car, he had done the grocery shopping at the mart and was now trying to pick up the kids who missed the subway. I wondered just how many people could fit into that vast generosity of his. Of course, I was also parasitizing it.

Thanks to Baek Jungyung glossing over it by saying everyone had departed on time, we arrived at the pension comfortably and pleasantly. The people who had arrived first spotted Kang Euihyun’s car and ran toward him happily. To be precise, they ran toward the food stored in the trunk.

I mixed in with the crowd to carry the luggage. Normally, I would have just followed Kang Euihyun around, but since that unpleasant art museum date, I was practicing how to distance myself from him psychologically.

Because I had clung to him so blindly for so long, Kang Euihyun seemed to believe that my heart was made of steel, that my pure devotion would remain unshaken even if he hurt me. That was probably why he had the audacity to show up at the art museum with Jeong Sujin.

It would have been fine if Kang Euihyun had come to the art museum silently just to keep an eye on me. If he had been alone, I would have been very happy, mistakenly believing that he cared for me that much.

The problem started when he tried to handle both the surveillance of me and the date with Jeong Sujin at once. I hated his method of thoroughly trampling on someone’s heart in the name of pursuing efficiency.

So, for now, I was trying not to strike up trivial conversations with Kang Euihyun or linger by his side. Additionally, I decided to seriously explore Han Jio not as bait to attract Kang Euihyun’s attention, but as a candidate to move my heart to.

“Why are you here?” Baek Jungyung, who was rinsing salad greens in water, looked me up and down as I stood there blankly. “You should be over there, staring with wide eyes and monitoring.”

Where Baek Jungyung pointed with his chin, Kang Euihyun was heading out of the pension, surrounded by first year girls. An instinctive jealousy surged, but I forced myself to look away.

“Oh? Seo Minji is hitting Euihyun hyung’s arm. Isn’t she flirting?”

“Shut up and just wash. You’re spitting.” I scolded Baek Jungyung and held out the colander. Baek Jungyung obediently pursed his lips as I told him to and shook the water off the vegetables.

When I went out to the yard where the tent was set up, Kang Euihyun was lighting the charcoal to the cheers of the girls. My heart pounded with anxiety. I wondered if I had made a useless resolution while Kang Euihyun didn’t care at all, or if he had completely forgotten my existence in the meantime; my tongue felt dry with nervousness.

After finishing the salad greens, I joined the group wrapping sweet potatoes in foil. Then, I took charge of sorting the snacks to be used for games. Because I moved diligently to stay away from the grill, I had suddenly become a cooperative errand runner for the student council.

“Did you fight with Euihyun hyung?” 

After the meat was all grilled, I sat apart and picked at some pork neck. It was to the point that Baek Jungyung, who came over to pour me some cola, hardened his expression and asked seriously.

“Do you want me to say something? Should I tell Euihyun hyung to pay more attention to you?”

Baek Jungyung was overstepping his bounds. After babbling about how he was too intimidated to even talk to me, he clearly thought I looked easy now that I was discouraged and isolated. I gripped the greasy wooden chopsticks and made a motion as if to poke his face.

“What did I say earlier? I told you to shut up. Just eat your meat and stop messing around.”

Just as a frustrated Baek Jungyung was about to argue with a furrowed brow, a disposable plate was suddenly placed in front of me. A mountain of grilled pork belly in the center was surrounded by appetizingly cooked sausages.

“Eat this too.” 

Kang Euihyun, having taken off his work gloves, plopped down in the empty seat next to me. In a place that smelled only of meat, the faint scent of the woody fragrance I knew wafted over.

 Despite the glistening, greasy meat right before my eyes, I suddenly lost my appetite.