Chapter 11
The three of them left the mall as soon as they finished playing the haunted house game there. Yi Hyun's condition wasn't good, and neither was So Hyun's-though she pretended to be strong as if she didn't feel anything.
"Yi Hyun, let me take you home," Tae Hoon said, and Yi Hyun just nodded slowly in response. She was too tired to give another response.
In a few moments, Tae Hoon realized that So Hyun was still next to him. The woman's condition was no worse since she came out of the room. Along the way, Tae Hoon could feel So Hyun's hands trembling although it was not that noticeable. Tae Hoon was sure that So Hyun's condition wasn't good enough to go home by herself. He was also confused about who to help.
The worried look that Tae Hoon showed was captured well by So Hyun. She knew what the man was thinking about her—so she couldn't help but make both corners of her lips elongate even though it wasn't that noticeable.
"I'm fine," So Hyun said as if to answer the confused feeling that was going through Tae Hoon's mind.
"No, I'm going to call Hyun Woo. Just wait a bit."
"No, I'm fine." So Hyun immediately replied to Tae Hoon's words by giving him a disinterested look. As if she wanted to get out of there immediately without wanting to linger with Tae Hoon.
Honestly it made Tae Hoon a little surprised. The flat, meaningless gaze that the woman gave him was enough to make him wonder. Perhaps before deciding to leave, So Hyun would have said at least one or two parting words to him. But she didn't, and didn't even seem to want to do so at all.
"O-okay." Tae Hoon replied without any argument. He could only stare at So Hyun's figure that was slowly moving away from them.
Many questions arose in his head, but Tae Hoon felt that those questions were not appropriate for him to ask So Hyun—remembering how he had acted towards her all this time. Tae Hoon tried to forget everything that happened today, including the awkward feeling he also felt not long ago.
"Yi Hyun, let's go." Tae Hoon then stepped away—taking Yi Hyun by the hand and leading her away.
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Tae Hoon was sitting in a chair and turned on the computer on his desk. He intended to search for something on the internet before entering his sleep phase.
After opening Google, he typed 'Influencer Han So Hyun' into the search bar. And right after that, a lot of news about a person named Han So Hyun appeared there. Tae Hoon read the headlines one by one, and searched for information that he found useful.
It didn't take long for him to find something that caught his attention. The website was titled, 'The Queen of Influencer, Han So Hyun suddenly broke up with actor Go Min Hyuk? What's the cause?!'.
It didn't take long for Tae Hoon to think—he immediately clicked on the site and read all the information listed there.
-On August 5th, the agency announced that the famous actor Go Min Hyuk had officially broken up with the famous Influencer queen Han So Hyun. Reported from...-
-I knew they would break up. I was relieved because I didn't think they were right for each other.
-Actually, I'm really sad because I thought they looked really good together. A few days ago, they posted their togetherness on So Hyun's Instagram account.
-I was shocked to see that she deleted all their photos on social media.
-I wonder what they went through to break up.
-Thankfully, they broke up. I think Min Hyuk is a bit weird. Do you remember the podcast show with So Hyun three months ago? He seemed a little weird.
-I see. I did have my suspicions, but afterward I completely forgot.
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Tae Hoon's eyes deepened and became very focused. On August 5th, that day was about a week before he met So Hyun at the bar. Looking back, it was strange to think that So Hyun knew him so well while she was in a relationship with another man.
Even within a week of their breakup, Tae Hoon felt like he never met So Hyun to the point where she fell in love with him. It felt like something was off.
At first he just assumed that So Hyun was just a fickle woman who always bothered him under the pretense of liking him. But after looking around again, it turned out that she had many mysterious sides hidden behind her sweet smile.
Again inexplicably, the odd feeling he had felt earlier suddenly reappeared.
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"Thank you very much," said Ji Hye—smiling kindly as she handed the customer a bottle of drink. As soon as the customer left the cafe, Ji Hye let out a long breath. Her eyes were closed as if to imply how tired she was today.
"Ji Hye, you look tired. Rest for a while," a man said as he arrived next to Ji Hye. The girl then shook her head lightly before replying, "No. I'm not. Now we should really close up."
"You can rest, I'll take care of the rest."
Ji Hye quickly turned her body around to scold the man who seemed worried about her. Both hands rested on her waist, her gaze sharp but still friendly. "Hey, Ga Min, I'm an employee here. It's obvious that I have to work hard, right?"
The man with the name tag Oh Ga Min—bowed his head listlessly. His face turned crumpled as well as the look in his eyes that looked sad. "But your condition hasn't looked good since earlier."
"Hey, hey! I don't want to listen to your ramblings! Just go and take care of the warehouse. Understand?" Ji Hye interrupted before Ga Min could finish his sentence. Sometimes that man did exaggerate things related to her.
Ga Min still wanted to interject for some reason. He couldn't stand the feeling of anxiety that was building up in his heart anymore. But Ji Hye always acted normally as if nothing had happened.
"Okay." Ga Min had no other words as a form of resistance. As a result, he could only obey—turning around and returning to the warehouse to take care of his pending work. Another long sigh escaped Ji Hye's mouth as soon as her two nets no longer saw Ga Min's figure. That man really troubled her in many ways.
To be honest, Ji Hye also realized that she was in a bad state lately. She was trying to figure out what strange feelings were lodged in her heart. Moreover, lately she often thought of Tae Hoon since the last time they met at the hospital.
Lately, they rarely met because she was busy with her part-time job. But usually, Tae Hoon used to come visit her when he had the chance. But now the man has never visited her once. More precisely since a woman named Han So Hyun suddenly appeared and continued to approach Tae Hoon.
Ji Hye was eager to ask Tae Hoon what kind of relationship he had with So Hyun, and why Tae Hoon never contacted her since she appeared. This feeling of sadness, disappointment and annoyance, Ji Hye didn't understand at all.
Even though Ji Hye thought that Tae Hoon liked her all this time. In fact, she was absolutely sure that Tae Hoon liked her, considering Tae Hoon's treatment of her which was fairly sweet and caring.
But why did Tae Hoon's attitude towards her start to change now?
At first Ji Hye still thought that Tae Hoon's attentive attitude towards her was a form of caring for fellow friends. Over time, Ji Hye began to like him. When she found out that Tae Hoon actually had feelings for her, she didn't know how to react—all this time she only considered Tae Hoon as a close friend, nothing more.
But why did she feel sad now that she knew Tae Hoon was changing?
"Do you have a problem?"
That one short question managed to interrupt Ji Hye's long—lasting reverie. Ji Hye immediately lifted her face, then looked at the man standing in front of her who was also looking at her with a flat, and disinterested gaze. Ji Hye immediately gave a sober smile as a form of customer hospitality. The man standing in the customer line was her senior from the same department.
"Do Hwa, would you like to order as usual?"
Do Hwa was silent for a while, thinking about what he should order before finally opening his voice, "Yes."
"Alright, hold on." Ji Hye turned to the computer screen to record the order. "The total is twelve thousand won."
Without much delay, Do Hwa handed Ji Hye the money. After that, Ji Hye went to another place to prepare the order. The process took about five minutes, before Ji Hye returned to the cash register to give Do Hwa the items he had ordered.
"This is for you," Do Hwa said as he handed Ji Hye an umbrella.
Ji Hye's eyebrows shot up—looking at the umbrella lying on the table with bulging eyes. She turned her gaze back to Do Hwa before asking in surprise. "What's this?"
"Don't you see? It's an umbrella."
That puzzled expression suddenly fell flat after hearing Do Hwa's answer. Anyone would know what it was. The problem was that that wasn't the point of Ji Hye's question. Ji Hye simply couldn't understand Do Hwa just by looking at his expression that always seemed flat and disinterested.
"I mean, why did you give me an umbrella?"
Do Hwa paused to search for the right words to answer. "It's raining outside."
Okay, Ji Hye gave up. She took the umbrella and gave a long, meaningless smile. "Okay, thank you very much!" she said reluctantly. In the next second, her expression fell flat again as she remembered something.
"Then what will you wear?"
"I'm fine." Do Hwa immediately turned around and walked away.
"Huh? Wait—!" Ji Hye ran as fast as she could to catch up with Do Hwa, but he had already disappeared from sight by the time Ji Hye made it out of the cafe. The rain wasn't that heavy. But she was quite worried that Do Hwa would catch a cold from the rain.