Even though he spoke rather rudely first to Na Eun, who looked quite young at first glance, Na Eun did not show any signs of displeasure.

It was a common misunderstanding she often received when involved with Hee Won at school, so Na Eun shook her head with a somewhat familiar but awkward smile.

“He’s just someone I know.”

“Someone you know?”

The woman laughed in disbelief.

“That bastard can’t classify women like that. For Seo Hee Won, women are divided into just two categories. Women he’s slept with, and women he hasn’t slept with yet.”

“Hey.”

The woman emphasized by bending her thumb and index finger in turn as if counting, and twisted the corners of her mouth.

Hee Won, who had been quietly listening, called out to her, but the woman mocked him while swinging the bag she was holding.

“You seem to be in the latter category still, so it’d be best to get out quickly before becoming the former. That son of a bitch is real trash.”

Na Eun, who had unintentionally heard their entire conversation earlier, smiled awkwardly but didn’t particularly deny the other person’s words.

Only Hee Won swallowed his curses and averted his gaze.

The woman glared at Hee Won with eyes of contempt as if she didn’t want to associate with him anymore, then quickly left, leaving only Na Eun and Hee Won in front of the empty alley convenience store.

“……”

Na Eun stares blankly at Hee Won.

Feeling a strange desire to sink into the ground under the gaze of someone so much smaller than himself for the first time, Hee Won avoided eye contact.

“Do you get annoyed first when someone cries in front of you?”

“……”

“I guess I shouldn’t cry in front of you from now on.”

Even I felt hurt just listening.

Na Eun, who had heard every word Hee Won had whispered to the woman earlier without missing a single detail, expressed her honest impression.

Hee Won could only watch as she shook her head with an expression of looking at a pathetic elder brother, and he closed his mouth.

……He just wanted to sink into the ground and disappear forever.

Watch your step. Stop looking at your phone. There was a stairway that had to be climbed to get to the rented room.

Seeing Na Eun’s steps looking quite precarious as she kept staring at her phone while walking along that bumpy path, Hee Won, following behind, advised in a small voice.

Instead of the ice cream that had melted completely earlier while watching the love quarrel in real-time and couldn’t be eaten, Na Eun’s left hand now held a new melon-flavored ice cream that Hee Won had bought for her.

Hee Won, who had been anxiously watching Na Eun holding an ice cream in her left hand and a phone in her right hand, continuously staring at the phone screen without even looking ahead, finally grabbed Na Eun’s arm when she stumbled once, preventing her from falling.

Egogo, a groan escaped from Na Eun’s mouth.

Hee Won furrowed his brow.

“I told you to stop looking at your phone.”

It’s dangerous. Na Eun apologized obediently, saying sorry to Hee Won’s scolding, but still unable to let go of her attachment to the phone, she tapped the screen with her finger, then glanced at him briefly before putting it back in her bag.

She mumbled as if making an excuse.

“Sorry. There was an important message.”

“From whom?”

Recalling the face of Seok Hoon, who seemed quite handsome and friendly, whom he had seen at the bar today, Hee Won asked in an unintentionally sharp tone, but his expectation was completely off the mark.

Na Eun shook her head.

“No. Seung Joo.”

“You’ve raised your team member poorly. I just asked her to clean up some trash, and she’s busy contacting a friend.”

“Seung Joo said she’d set me up on a blind date next week. We were deciding on the date and time.”

Since I have a lot of part-time jobs, we need to plan ahead to set a time on the weekend. That’s why I did that.

She meant to explain the situation, but she had no idea that the content would hit the other person harder.

Having not wasted his years, Hee Won, who was used to hiding his emotional turmoil, asked.

“So when did you decide to do it?”

“Next Saturday!”

This time I’ll definitely succeed! Hee Won looked at her pretty eyes sparkling as she said she would do well this time, learning from the failed blind date last time, with a burning feeling in his stomach.

“Don’t you have tutoring that day?”

Are you going to ditch Seo Jae Won? Na Eun smiled at him asking jokingly.

“I’ll go right after tutoring ends! Ah, but parking might be a problem. The study cafe there is all good, but there aren’t many places to park. But I think I need to go by car to make it on time to the meeting place……”

Na Eun rolled her eyes for a moment and then spoke carefully.

If it was difficult to take the car, she could use public transportation even if it took a bit longer.

If she just adjusted the tutoring time, she could make time for travel.

“Maybe, could we move the tutoring time an hour earlier?”

“……I’ll take you there.”

“What?”

Na Eun opened her eyes wide.

Hee Won put his hands in his pockets and said as if it was no big deal.

“I was planning to pick up Seo Jae Won after tutoring anyway. I’ll drop you off while giving him a ride.”

“Ah….. I’m really grateful, but aren’t you going out of your way because of me? I feel like I’m being a burden.”

Towards her with apologetic eyes, Hee Won swallowed his burning feelings and calmly said.

“Where did you agree to meet?”

Na Eun hesitated for a moment before saying the location. Hee Won nodded.

“It’s not far by car. I’ll do it for you.”

“Really?”

Thinking that his offer of kindness was sincere, a happy smile spread across her face.

Na Eun, who always knew how to express gratitude for the consideration shown by others, stamped her feet excitedly as the problem she had been worried about disappeared.

“Thank you, really, really! If things go well, I’ll treat you to a meal!”

“……I thought you said you don’t eat meals unless you’re dating.”

“I’ll treat Jae Won too!”

Her brightly smiling face looked pretty even in this situation, so Hee Won averted his gaze.

He slowly climbed the stairs and deliberately changed the topic lightly.

“Want me to give you some advice on how to succeed in a blind date? I’m an expert in dating.”

“No thanks. What kind of advice from someone who just got slapped in the back of the head while passing by.”

Her nonchalant retort while eating ice cream was lovably unobjectionable.

Hee Won laughed softly. Yes, this distance is enough. ……It had to be enough.

“And I don’t want to be with just anyone like you, I want to find someone I can truly like for a long time.”

She said as she finished eating the remaining part of the almost finished ice cream.

“You don’t know about that, right? Feeling excited and happy just by holding hands.”

“……”

“The feeling of being happy just by being together.”

Finally, Na Eun wiped the remaining ice cream stick clean with a tissue she took out of her bag and smiled softly.

“……I want to like someone like that again. This time with a really good person.”

Hee Won couldn’t say anything in response.

Having watched by her side until she could speak with such a nonchalant face, knowing what time she had endured.

Realizing anew that he could never be included in the ‘good person’ she was talking about, Hee Won folded his own heart that he had left neglected in his mind and sealed it at the bottom of the box again.

If it wouldn’t reach or bring joy to the other person even if he took it out, it was better to treat it as if it never existed from the beginning.

Even if it hurt the person folding it away, that was right.

Hee Won, who was prioritizing the other person’s feelings over his own for the first time in his life, was quite clumsy at this, but he acknowledged that there was no other way.

Meanwhile, Na Eun, who was looking for a trash can nearby to throw away the finished ice cream stick, spotted a blue plastic container in the corner behind Hee Won.

Already knowing it was for throwing away miscellaneous general trash, she went down one step and bent her waist.

Although the distance between her and Hee Won, who was standing three or four steps below her, narrowed because of this, she didn’t mind much.

It wasn’t like they would touch anyway, and she just needed to throw away the trash and quickly straighten up.

But it was Na Eun who was rather surprised by the other person’s sudden action that followed.

Startled. There was no other appropriate word to describe Seo Hee Won just now.

As soon as Na Eun took a step towards where he was and bent her waist, Hee Won twisted his body in surprise as if he was about to be assaulted.

In the meantime, worried that Na Eun might fall down the stairs, he didn’t completely avoid his upper body, but turned his face towards the stair railing that was right next to him.

It looked as if he was surprised and avoiding a kiss that might happen if someone saw.

“……”

“……”

Na Eun’s face became blank as if dumbfounded by Hee Won’s excessively flustered reaction.

Hee Won’s face wasn’t much different from hers.

Damn, what did I do. At the point when Hee Won was about to curse inwardly, it was Na Eun who broke the awkward silence between them.

“……Ha, this is ridiculous.”

She, not being a fool, quickly noticed what Hee Won’s reaction meant and made an expression of disbelief.

Hee Won awkwardly raised his upper body while gripping the railing.

Na Eun, standing a few steps above him as he avoided her gaze, raised her left hand.

She was still holding the ice cream stick that she hadn’t thrown away yet.

“I was trying to throw this away, you know?”

Hee Won finally confirmed the blue trash can behind him with a glance.

His good brain, after analyzing the recent situation, was yelling at his self to just go out and die cleanly.

Hee Won squeezed his eyes shut.

Na Eun, perhaps interpreting Hee Won’s reaction differently, fanned herself with her right hand that wasn’t holding the stick.

It meant she was very dumbfounded and felt wronged enough for her face to heat up.

She explained, fully expressing her sense of injustice.

“Back then! I just did it because I was really grateful, I’m not interested in you either!”

She outright says she’s not interested. Even amidst this, the lips that kept saying only words that pierced his heart still looked pretty, and Hee Won felt like he was going crazy.

He thought he wasn’t in his right mind even by his own standards right now.

“When did I ever ask you to do it!”

Geez! Na Eun, who had been fanning her face for a while, climbed up the stairs quickly with the ice cream stick still in her left hand.

The way she put force into each step she took showed that she was quite angry.

How can even her temper tantrum be this cute.

Hee Won, who was bent over while gripping the railing, stared at Na Eun’s back as she climbed the stairs, then banged his forehead against the railing he was holding at the thought that had unconsciously crossed his mind.

His head was losing logical thinking more and more, his emotions were running wild on their own, and his body wouldn’t move as he wanted.

Isn’t this just being an idiot?

This was the result of a man who had never fallen in love before objectively evaluating himself after falling in love.