Please Be Quiet And Take Off Your “Something”

Nothing could countervail that. Now that all affection was gone and no longer blinded her sight, she could see Lee Sang-Hoon’s true face. His dull eyes, his pointed nose ‒ reflection of his stubbornness to always stand tall with no will to bend in ‒, and the stupid smile on his face when he was acting kind without knowing what kindness itself is… Overwhelmed by all sorts of feelings, Na-Yool inwardly trampled over Sang-Hoon with no mercy.

“Let go before I push you again. I know you’re scared of me.”

“…Fuck, then just tell me if you dated him right after leaving me, okay?”

She thought that after the shock of losing his life he would come to his senses, yet the subject he so eagerly brought back on the table was this one.

Na-Yool put her free hand on her forehead with a weary look. She could feel the gaze of a certain conceited pervert from far away, and the ugly reality closer to her…

“Earlier, you said I just had to admit it. Then, that you can’t let go even if you died. Why are your conditions always changing so pathetically?”

Even the timing of the vibrations just then in her pocket was perfect. Na-Yool suddenly remembered about Seung-Jae and picked up her phone, ignoring Sang-Hoon’s words. [Lee Seung-Jae]. Indeed, it was him. The possibility that the three men were in it together and out on a full-scale offensive anxiously clouded her mind.

As she pondered whether she should not pick up the call or immediately hung up, Sang-Hoon’s hand seized the chance to quickly snatch her phone.

“Is it you, you bastard!”

“You crazy‒!”

Na-Yool’s shoe kicked Sang-Hoon’s shin again. On the exact same spot as before. While Sang-Hoon screamed and grabbed his shin, Na-Yool took the phone and immediately ended the call. Then, with her now freed hands, she grabbed Sang-Hoon’s wrists in a cross shape and started dragging him around. Anger had granted her superhuman strength.

“Where are you going!”

“…”

“Kim Na-Yool, where-…!” Sang-Hoon, who was staggering as he lost balance in his attempt to care for his shin, shouted like a damsel in distress. What was so hard about loosening a woman’s grip? Surely, he was simply enjoying the fact that Na-Yool had grabbed him first voluntarily to take him somewhere, with her own hands.

Na-Yool endured the discomfort and dragged him into the coffee shop of a building two blocks away. As soon as they entered, she also let go of his hands with a disgusted look and coldly cut right into business.

“Order.”

“It’s cold, how about a hot americano? Or a cold one, like you had every time?”

For someone who always grumbled behind her when she was ordering that nothing was more extravagant than coffee and that it was a scandal a cup was more expensive than a bowl of kimchi stew, he sure was being docile.

“Just order the most expensive one.”

Sang-Hoon obediently nodded and went to the counter. Black forest… ice… ble… blended… As he muttered, struggling to read the menu correctly, Na-Yool ordered an americano for herself at another counter next to this one. Sang-Hoon’s dumbfounded gaze turned to her.

“What?” Na-Yool snapped at him.

“……You…”

“I told you to order it, not that I would drink it.”

“I don’t even like this…”

“Why should I care? About your taste.”

“…No, I just wonder why you buy your own drink with your own money. I would of course buy anything for you, and this one too, I thought you would drink it.”

“I know. You will buy it for me but then drink it all by yourself, so you expected to put it in the middle of the table like a candle and sip on it together, wasn’t it? One order per person is common sense, you know.”

“When did I ever steal yours…”

Na-Yool snorted as it was not worth answering. Just then, her phone vibrated again in her pocket. Thinking it was Seung-Jae, she took it out with a sorry expression while adding: “And why would you buy mine? You never did even when we were dating.”

[President Kwon Si-Jin]. With just one glance at the name, Na-Yool this time immediately hit the “reject call” button and raised her head.

“Ahh, fuck… you’re driving me crazy again. When did I not buy you something?”

“I bought you meals too. But you sure sound like only you did…”

“Who said you didn’t? You’re a woman of virtue.”

Damn virtue. Na-Yool scowled at Sang-Hoon’s dull face in displeasure, wondering if he meant it, and said: “Not when we just started dating but later on, do you remember how many times we went to a coffee shop like this?”

“We often did.”

“Not even five times.”

“That, well, I like this kind of place, but you don’t really like coffee so…”

If Sang-Hoon so much wanted to discuss with her, Na-Yool was determined to say everything she had to one last time, even if it might prick him to the point of wanting to run away.

“I do like coffee. I just couldn’t go to this kind of place because you were an embarrassment.”

“…What?” asked Sang-Hoon with a shocked expression. Na-Yool continued calmly.

“Because I thought you were a nice person, but after sitting down with you, I felt so embarrassed about you.”

“……”

“As soon as we came in you would always complain that this is a waste of money, that only women come to this kind of place, wondering where they got the money to spend on such trivial stuff, saying it’s probably their husband’s or boyfriend’s, judging them for “playing around” while the men are busy earning it… And while lashing on them, saying that it is a relief that I am not like them.”

“… Well, you’re not wrong, but…”

“Do you think I don’t know you backed off despite feeling ‘relieved I was not like them’?”

“You seem to be misunderstanding something here.”

“To see you panic if your girlfriend would ask you to buy her a drink… you were so pathetic I couldn’t bear to look at you.” spat Na-Yool. A crack appeared in Sang-Hoon’s frozen face as she continued. “What did you say when I offered you a drink after you had paid for our meal?”

“……”

“To pay for our meal next time. Why, because there is too much of a difference between the price of a coffee and a meal? If you are with the person you like, do you calculate like this?”

“…” All the drunkenness vanished from Sang-Hoon’s face, paler than ever.

“I didn’t even do that with my friends. If you can forget it to the point you think I never paid for anything, you really are a player. Half on you, half on me. That’s how we dealt with it. And yet, you would always act as if you had paid it all, flaunting your wealth ‒ if it can be called so.”

“When did I ever flaunt my wealth…”

“Don’t you remember complaining in front of your friends about my food expenses? Despite stuffing yourself with 4 out of 5 servings of meat, how bold of you.”

“You’re saying I stuffed myself but—”

“—Anyway.” She cut him off, clearly uninterested in what he had to say. “When I realized you were calculating everything, so did I. Because you looked so stressed about losing money that I really wondered how much it could be. But then, the more I did the math, the more you looked like a moocher, Oppa.”

“……”

For someone like Sang-Hoon for whom ‘oppa’ embodied their ego, to associate it with such belittling words made it even harder to hear.

“I know you’ve got a rule too. Whenever you pay for a meal after I do, its price will never go over the one I previously paid for.”

“Na-Yool, it’s a misunderstanding. You’re just forcefully piecing stuff together out of anger…”

“And you would subtly give me the eye if I ever forgot to offer to buy you a meal.”

“I never did. Ahh, for real…”

“As if you never pretended to be full just to not have to order coffee, then casually slip two straws in the cup. Such thriftiness, really… It was you who always said he is not hungry so I should order for myself only to end up drinking it all by himself.”

“—Hold on, the more I listen to it, aren’t you the stingy one here Kim Na-Yool? Whining over a cup of coffee…”

“Didn’t you say I had to pay for the next meal instead of buying you coffee when I offered to!”

As Sang-Hoon grabbed his muddled head, the two order bells placed on the table vibrated at the same time.

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