Junyoung had once run out of the house in the middle of the night, escaping her mother's violent fits, only to find herself standing in the dark corner of the neighborhood, like a ghost. Hours later, she would return to find her mother buried under a blanket, sound asleep.
Her mother was the type of person who never worried about her daughter’s well-being. Yet, it was strange that she was making such a fuss now that Junyoung had stayed out all night. It was clear that her mother was furious because she thought Junyoung had spent the night with a man.
Junyoung had once seen her mother's ID card. Over ti, her mother had aged rapidly, and it hadn't seed strange, but the truth was, there was only a seventeen-year age gap between them.
Her mother had long since given up wondering about her father. She had concluded he couldn’t be a normal human being after all—especially considering he had left her, a girl much younger than Junyoung, pregnant without any responsibility.
If he had died in so unfortunate accident, it would be an annoying stroke of bad luck, but nothing more.
Whether it was love or sothing else, the mother who had given birth to her at seventeen had gone mad when she saw her daughter co back from spending the night with a man. Perhaps she had seen herself in Junyoung.
Soone like her wouldn’t have sold her body to a man for money.
Oh, Hye Soo. You idiot.
Junyoung clicked her tongue, and her ears perked up for a mont. She thought she heard footsteps crunching on the grass, and quickly grabbed her pen, jotting down words in her notebook. Not long after, the door opened.
"..."
The scent of Beomjin wafted in with the breeze, and Junyoung, pretending not to hear anything, didn’t even lift her head.
Beomjin, who had been quietly watching her scribble, yawned and nonchalantly walked over to the sink.
"Ran?"
"I’m not eating."
"Two eggs?"
"I said I’m not eating."
Junyoung bit back her words, but Beomjin ignored her protests and began unpacking the ran. As he reached for a fourth pack, Junyoung finally turned around, shouting.
"Hey, I said I’m not eating! You can eat it all yourself!"
Beomjin slowly turned to look at her, his eyes cold, but Junyoung wasn’t the type to back down. She t his gaze, and Beomjin raised an eyebrow with a smirk.
"Are you mad?"
"Yes, I am. What’s it to you?"
Junyoung's words were sharp and deliberate. Beomjin, montarily caught off guard, shook his head with a quiet chuckle.
"You’ve really grown. Taking your anger out on
now?"
"Anger?" Junyoung repeated, narrowing her eyes. "What do you an?"
"You’re mad because of the argunt on the rooftop, right?"
He got one thing right, but missed the bigger picture.
Junyoung crossed her arms and turned to face him directly.
"That’s not why, but since we’re talking about it, tell —what did you have to say to Hye Soo?"
"Say?"
Beomjin looked up, pouring water into a pot. His calm, nonchalant attitude made Junyoung even more irritated. She glared at him and coldly responded.
"You dragged her away for so ‘conversation,’ didn’t you?"
Beomjin raised an eyebrow at her and glanced back. Junyoung, narrowing her eyes further, didn’t back down.
"So now you’re interrogating
like a cheating spouse?"
"What? Cheating? Do you really think that word fits us?"
Junyoung shot up from her seat, outraged, and Beomjin furrowed his brow.
"What exactly... Ah."
Beomjin seed to realize sothing, and Junyoung stared at him with wide eyes. Beomjin pointed toward the cabinet.
"There are still so painkillers left. Take them if you need them. Eat sothing first."
"I’m not on my period."
"Then why don’t you just keep that mouth of yours shut?"
"You’re the one who brought up period pain. Why can’t I talk about it too?"
Junyoung smirked, and Beomjin's eyes narrowed, as if his patience was running out. Still, Junyoung didn’t retreat.
The tension between them was palpable. Finally, Beomjin sighed, rubbing his face with his hand, his voice low and murmuring.
"I couldn’t act like I knew you there."
Junyoung’s eyes flickered for a mont, her gaze softening. She blinked a couple of tis before asking, her voice quieter now.
"Why couldn’t you?"
"Do you not know?"
"Why would I ask if I already knew?"
Junyoung’s heart pounded as she shot back at Beomjin’s cryptic words. His eyes narrowed slightly, and with a click of his tongue, he turned away.
“Then stay ignorant.”
Junyoung, watching him as he placed the pot on the burner and filled it with water, felt the puzzle pieces in her mind click together. Her lips curled into a slight smirk as she slowly approached him, stretching her neck.
“I really hate it when people start talking but don’t finish. What’s up? Are you calling Hye Soo out just to make sure no one finds out about us? Like a smoke screen?”
Beomjin muttered under his breath, What’s up with us? The frustration that had been boiling in Junyoung’s mind seed to lt away as she stood next to him, smirking.
“Why? What’s wrong with us? The mont you threw that basketball, everyone’s already speculating. Hye Soo even asked what we were to each other, and then...”
Junyoung hesitated as the thought of Seungwoon crossed her mind. She bit her lip and fell silent. Seungwoon was different from Hye Soo. While Hye Soo had just thrown a random comnt, Seungwoon seed to have a certain conviction about it.
At the sudden break in her words, Beomjin, who had been tearing open the ran packet, looked at her. Junyoung quickly shrugged her shoulders.
“If you’re worried about it, you shouldn’t have gotten involved in my business.”
“Didn’t I tell you about your sleeping habits?”
“Even in your dreams, you shouldn’t have ddled.”
Beomjin gave her a sideways glance, as though he wanted to shut her up. He sighed and turned away, resuming his routine.
He always added the soup powder first. Junyoung glanced at his face while he shook the packet empty.
“But why? Why is it such a problem if we know each other?”
“I’m just curious…”
Beomjin stopped mid-sentence, realizing what she might say next. Junyoung grinned, tilting her head slightly, waiting for him to say sothing else.
She already knew the answer. Their connection was inseparable from this house, and if soone outside started taking an interest in them, it could expose this place too.
Losing this house was sothing that couldn’t happen.
“You won’t gain anything by being close to .”
Junyoung, expecting that kind of response, blinked at Beomjin’s nonchalant tone. His eyes were focused on the reddish broth in the pot.
That wasn’t what she had expected. Junyoung leaned in, trying to get a better look at his face.
“Why? Because of the rumors? I don’t really care about them.”
“I’ll care. And so will everyone else.”
Beomjin, turning the heat up, narrowed his eyes and reached for Junyoung’s head, gently pushing her away.
“And get out of the way. You’re standing too close, your hair’s going to burn.”
Junyoung, pushed back a bit, pouted and turned away. Her face, already flushed from the heat, felt even warr as she stood too close to the stove.
Why was this happening? She had just co to terms with things and could have sat quietly, reading a book, but she didn’t want to move away from Beomjin. Her chest tingled, and for so reason, she felt unsettled. After clearing her throat, she glanced at him from behind.
“Still, what if you just leave
here alone? What if those guys won’t let
go without a fight?”
Beomjin, chuckling at her words, shook his head.
“You think I can’t get you out of there? You’ve kicked
around enough.”
“You’re different. You don’t do weird things to .”
Junyoung, who had spoken casually, quickly realized sothing was off by the way Beomjin looked at her. There was sothing strange in the air.
“Weird things?”
Beomjin’s gaze, which had been fixed on the pot, slowly shifted to her. His brows, once calm, now furrowed in a sharp line. His low voice, rough like it was scraping against his throat, sent a chill down her spine.
“What kind of ‘weird things’?”
Junyoung froze. She had never seen Beomjin’s eyes like this before. His intense, sharp eyes were different from the usual, and it made her body tense instinctively.
For a mont, she found herself wondering how she had been bantering with soone like him just monts ago.
“Did they do sothing to you?”
Beomjin’s steady, unblinking gaze locked with hers, his voice carrying an undertone that felt like a hook waiting to drag her under.
Despite his usual careless deanor, his rough words had a way of making anyone uneasy.
Junyoung swallowed dryly, instinctively stepping back. Her lips parted awkwardly as she stamred out an answer.
“They called
‘pretty.’”
Beomjin paused, silent for a mont, before a frown creased his brow.
“…What?”
“I’ll eat just one egg. Make it spicy.”
Junyoung spoke quickly, like it was nothing, then calmly walked to her chair. She felt Beomjin’s gaze follow her, but as she grabbed her pen and flipped through the pages of her book, she noticed that his focus had returned to the pot.
Her heart. Why was it pounding like this?
Her heart raced as if she had just sprinted across a field. She could feel the heat crawling up her neck. Her face must be red.
What’s going on? Calm down, Yoon Junyoung.
Taking a quiet deep breath so Beomjin wouldn’t hear, Junyoung focused on the words in her notebook, but for once, her usual quick wit failed her, and her mind was blank.
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