Is this a dream?

Unable to believe what was happening, Yoonseul blinked slowly.

But as if to assure her that this was real, Wooyoung stood there smiling at her.

It was the exact same smile as the one in the photograph from fifteen years ago that still hung beside her vanity.

She had imagined countless times what he might look like now.

And yet somehow, he was exactly the same.

The absurdity of it drew a breathless laugh from between her lips.

“I always wondered how you’d grow up. But you haven’t changed at all.”

Wooyoung’s eyes moved busily over her face, taking in every detail.

Up close, Yoonseul looked exactly as he had imagined.

A face barely bigger than his fist. Small, delicate features. A round forehead.

Even those guileless eyes staring back at him were the same.

“Have you been well?”

Unlike Yoonseul, who was still reeling from shock, Wooyoung seemed completely at ease.

He had come back after fifteen years, only to ask if she had been well.

Part of her was overwhelmingly glad to see him.

Another part was furious.

It’s supposed to rain later. I’ll be waiting by the front gate with an umbrella before you get out. So listen to your teacher, okay?

Because he had said that, Yoonseul had waited for him in their usual place.

And waited.

Even after hours passed.

Even after evening came.

He never showed.

She had stood there until she was soaked through by the rain.

That was how she had lost Wooyoung overnight.

Without a single explanation.

Now that he was standing in front of her again, the hurt she had felt back then returned with such clarity that it might have happened yesterday.

“When did you grow into such a lady? You got even prettier.”

Wooyoung’s eyes curved gently as he gazed at her.

His soft voice.

The tenderness in his eyes.

Yoonseul could only stare.

“I’m way too late, aren’t I? I’m sorry.”

That one sentence was enough to tighten her throat.

After Go Wooyoung disappeared, Yoonseul hadn’t cried.

No.

There had been one time.

When her grandmother died.

Other than that, she hadn’t shed a tear.

Yet a single sentence from him was enough to make her eyes burn.

She wasn’t Pavlov’s dog.

And still, it had always been like this.

Whenever he tried to comfort her, she only cried harder. Her emotions always became more difficult to contain.

If she stayed here any longer, she knew she would end up sobbing her heart out.

Yoonseul turned her head away sharply, took a steadying breath, and twisted her hand free of his.

“I think you’ve mistaken me for someone else. Goodbye.”

She shot to her feet, grabbed her bag, and hurried out of the lounge.

She had barely made it into the lobby with her quick, hurried steps before Wooyoung caught up.

With those long legs and enormous strides, it hardly took him any effort.

He strode in front of her and blocked her path.

Yoonseul still refused to so much as look at him.

“I don’t think I’ve mistaken you for anyone. You really think Go Wooyoung wouldn’t recognize Na Yoonseul?”

Every time he said her name, her chest tightened painfully.

But she absolutely refused to cry in front of him.

Yoonseul clenched her teeth and endured it.

When she walked past him without answering, Wooyoung followed and caught her by the wrist.

“Let go of me.”

Yoonseul glared up at him.

Wooyoung met her gaze without the slightest hesitation.

“Why are you acting like this? You’re hurting my feelings.”

“I should be asking you that. I already told you, I don’t know who you are.”

“You’re not happy to see me? I’m thrilled to see you. Who would’ve thought we’d run into each other here?”

Exactly.

She hadn’t dreamed she would see him here today either.

Especially not while her so-called boyfriend was sitting there saying those things to her.

Of all times.

Why did it have to be then?

Wooyoung’s sudden appearance had driven Hong Jicheol completely out of her mind.

Should she be thanking him for that?

When Yoonseul did nothing but glare, Wooyoung bent at the waist until his eyes were level with hers.

A fresh, familiar scent washed over her.

The scent that had always clung to Go Wooyoung.

Watching him bend down like this to meet the eyes of someone so much shorter than him made her feel, for one disorienting moment, as though she had gone back fifteen years.

“I told you to be careful around men. Where did you even find trash like that?”

Yoonseul let out an incredulous laugh.

Seriously.

He was scolding her, yet his voice was unbearably gentle.

She glared at him from the corner of her eye, but eventually the words that had been rolling around inside her mouth spilled out.

“What does any of that have to do with you?”

Even at the resentment in her voice, Wooyoung’s eyes curved into a smile.

“How could it have nothing to do with me?”

His gaze deepened as he looked at her.

Softer.

More aching.

“I practically raised you myself, Na Yoonseul.”

“You bastard.”

At last, the tears pooled along her lashes spilled over, rolling down her pale cheeks one after another.

A large hand rose to wipe them away with infinite gentleness.

Just as it always had.

******

After coaxing and soothing her, Wooyoung managed to bring Yoonseul back into the hotel lounge.

But seated across from him, she continued to cry as though fifteen years of grief had finally found its way out.

Wooyoung simply sat there and waited for her to stop.

After some time, he lowered his gaze and checked the watch on his wrist.

Thirty minutes already.

Leaning back in his chair, Wooyoung looked at her and let out a quiet laugh.

At last, unable to hold himself back, he spoke.

“How long are you planning to cry?”

Her once-pale face was mottled pink from crying so much. Her swollen eyelids and round little nose were bright red.

At the unmistakable amusement in his voice, Yoonseul widened her eyes and glared at him.

Wooyoung only kept smiling.

As she scrubbed roughly at her face, he murmured again,

“Crybaby. You still cry exactly the same way. Do I need to give you a lollipop?”

Whenever she had bawled like this as a child, Wooyoung would come over and press a strawberry lollipop into her hand.

Hearing him say that now made it finally feel as though he really had come back.

Even with him sitting right in front of her, everything still felt like a dream.

Yoonseul blinked.

“Want me to go buy you one? Hmm?”

He kept trying to coax her, but Yoonseul pressed her lips tightly together and refused to answer.

As he watched her, the bag resting on her lap began vibrating over and over.

Yoonseul pulled out her phone.

That pathetic bastard.

Messages from Hong Jicheol were pouring in.

Jicheol

Na Yoonseul, you actually had the nerve to cheat on me? I felt guilty for nothing when you were sneaking around behind my back the whole time.

Who the hell is that bastard? How long have you been cheating on me?!

Just you wait. I’ll pay you back for making a fool out of me. Every bit of it.

If there was ever an appropriate time to use the phrase the pot calling the kettle black, this was probably it.

Judging from his messages, anyone would think she was the one who had cheated.

He hadn’t been able to say a word in front of Wooyoung and had practically fled with his tail between his legs.

Now he was throwing a tantrum through text messages.

It was almost laughable.

“How long were you with him?”

Wooyoung must have realized who was messaging her.

Yoonseul looked up.

“A year?”

“…”

“…”

“Two years?”

“Two years?”

He frowned as he asked, but Yoonseul still refused to answer.

She had no desire to explain every last detail of her relationship to Go Wooyoung.

Nor did she owe him an explanation.

After all, he had abandoned her too.

For the first month after he disappeared, waiting outside his empty house became part of her daily routine.

She would go there after school and remain until it was time to go home and sleep.

She spent the next month denying that he was really gone.

Then one year passed.

Two.

And by the third year, she finally understood.

Go Wooyoung had truly left her behind.

She had missed him desperately.

But she had resented him just as much.

Seeing him sit there shamelessly questioning her now made all that anger surge back to the surface.

Without answering, Yoonseul rose from her seat.

Wooyoung’s gaze followed her upward.

“Na Yoonseul.”

“It was nice seeing you again after so long.”

“You’re not going to see me again?”

“No. I’ve managed perfectly well without seeing you for a very long time. I don’t see any reason that needs to change.”

Wooyoung gave a low laugh.

She looked genuinely furious.

And yet she was so adorable that he couldn’t stop smiling.

“My Seul is really angry with me, huh? You’re even speaking formally to me now. You never used to do that.”

“No. Why would I be angry? We’re nothing to each other.”

Wooyoung stood.

He had always been tall, but now he seemed another head taller than he had been back then.

Maybe several.

Yoonseul had to tilt her head back just to see his face.

“I’ll take you home.”

“There’s no need. I don’t want to see you, and I don’t want to be around you.”

“Even if you don’t want to see me, you’re going to be seeing a lot of me from now on.”

His voice was firm.

As though it were already decided.

Perhaps some part of her felt relieved by those words.

Her unresolved feelings for Go Wooyoung were still swinging wildly from one extreme to another.

Na Yoonseul, you really have no pride at all.

She clicked her tongue at herself inwardly.

“I’m not leaving you behind again. Not like before.”

“…”

What was he even talking about?

Wooyoung’s dark, intense gaze poured over her.

Unable to bear meeting his eyes any longer, Yoonseul turned away and started walking.

“Seul.”

Wooyoung watched her grow farther away, the corner of his mouth lifting into a smile.

“See you the day after tomorrow.”

Chapter 2

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