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Translator: Vine
Chapter: 27
Chapter Title: Fan Meeting
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On the way home from school, A-jin had come out first and was waiting for Cho-hee.
“A-jin.”
She turned her head at the sound of someone calling her.
Cho-hee was hurrying toward her.
She was wearing gym clothes.
A-jin found it odd, since Cho-hee had sworn she would never wear gym clothes outside because they were tacky and unflattering.
“Going home in gym clothes?”
“Yeah.”
“Why?”
“My uniform got completely soaked. Because of Choi Jong-min.”
“Why Jong-min?”
“He splashed water on me as I was passing by.”
Thinking back on it made her irritation flare up again.
Cho-hee said with a scowl.
“They were cleaning the hallway. Was that when it happened? He should’ve been more careful.”
“That’s what I’m saying! No matter how I think about it, it feels like he did it on purpose.”
A-jin didn’t really agree with Cho-hee’s take—Jong-min wasn’t the type to do something like that deliberately.
“But this isn’t yours, right? It’s kind of big.”
The top looked baggy, the sleeves were long enough that they’d been folded up, and the pants had been rolled into puffy cuffs.
It looked awkward, like a kid wearing her dad’s suit.
“Mine’s at home, so I borrowed this.”
“Looks like a boy’s. You should’ve just told me.”
“It’s a hassle going all the way to your classroom.”
It was a roundabout way of putting it, but A-jin got it right away and nodded.
That was when she spotted the name written on the gym top.
“Huh?”
“What?”
“Is this Jun-woo’s?”
‘How did she know?’
Cho-hee panicked for a second.
A-jin pointed to the bottom of the right pocket.
“It says Park Jun-woo right here?”
Hee-jin had written his name on every single item when he first bought them after starting school.
Looking back, Jun-woo had grumbled about how embarrassing all those names were.
Name stickers could just be peeled off, but gym clothes with embroidered names were hard to get rid of.
So he’d bought a second set, using the excuse that he’d grown.
“Ah… well…”
“You said you borrowed it from someone in class.”
“Yeah, actually, last time I went to Jun-woo’s house, he lent it to me along with the battery. I meant to wash it and give it back, but I forgot.”
‘Battery? Didn’t Jun-woo say he’d thrown it away? But she says he gave it?’
A-jin sensed something off in Cho-hee’s words and asked,
“Jun-woo gave you the battery?”
“Huh?”
That was when Cho-hee realized she’d slipped up.
“You just said Jun-woo gave you the battery. But last time, you said he threw it away.”
She had to cover her slip-up properly.
Cho-hee racked her brain to get out of it.
“Ah, yeah. He did say he threw it away.”
“But you just…”
“It slipped out. I was talking about him giving me the gym clothes, and the battery part came out with it.”
‘Please just let it go.’
She was usually so scatterbrained—why was she acting sharp today of all days?
Cho-hee hoped A-jin would drop it there.
“Really?”
A-jin made a face like she half-believed it—Cho-hee wouldn’t lie to her, after all.
Seeing that A-jin wasn’t quite buying it, Cho-hee added another excuse.
“He felt guilty about throwing away the battery, so he lent me the gym clothes and an umbrella.”
“I see.”
A-jin finally seemed convinced once she heard the full explanation.
A-jin nodded, and Cho-hee inwardly thanked her friend’s straightforward personality.
* * *
Butter, heavy cream, flour, milk…
A-jin glanced at the Post-it note listing today’s ingredients and stepped into the baking supply shop.
“Hello.”
“Hey, A-jin. Come on in.”
She came so often that the owner lady knew her well.
On top of that, A-jin had promoted the shop’s online store on her blog, more than doubling their sales.
The grateful owner lady always gave her free samples of new products for promotion or hefty discounts.
“A-jin, this is a new one. You said last time you wished you had a puppy-shaped cookie mold, right?”
“Oh, it’s adorable! Are there other animals too?”
“Yeah, over here.”
A-jin added the cookie mold to her basket and started hunting for the other ingredients.
“Strawberry roll cake today, so…”
Unlike her peers who shopped for cosmetics and clothes, her simple joys came from buying baking ingredients and making things with them.
The year she started middle school, her parents’ shop had to close due to the jokbal scandal.
They must have been heartbroken, but instead they suggested a family trip, saying it was for the best.
They’d always felt guilty for never taking their kids on vacation—aside from when they were very little—because of the shop.
They couldn’t go far and ended up in Gangwon-do, but A-jin still remembered that happiness vividly.
Especially on the last day of the trip, her family had stopped in a small rural village while driving.
They went for a walk and ended up in a very rundown coffee shop.
It looked like it might collapse from the outside, but the inside was charmingly decorated with cute knick-knacks.
They baked and sold bread there too. The shapes were rough and unpolished, but the taste made her eyes widen.
The deep, rich flavor on her tongue,
Even without seeing it, she could feel all the care poured into making each loaf.
Even on the trip, her parents’ worries about the shop’s future had seeped through subtly.
Her brother hadn’t let go of his study notes the whole time, fretting over the college entrance exam.
But in that café, they’d set all their worries aside.
Sitting there eating bread, chatting away and encouraging each other—that memory was etched deep in her mind.
That was when A-jin first thought about learning to bake.
Just imagining people happy eating her bread lifted her spirits.
She’d been picking out ingredients for a while when she started rummaging through the shelves.
Too short to reach the back, she stood on her tiptoes and dug through the box.
Finally, she found one.
‘But I need more.’
A-jin set the powdered sugar box back down and asked the owner lady,
“Is this the only powdered sugar you have?”
“Huh? None? Oh no, I must’ve forgotten to reorder.”
“No helping it. Guess I’ll just take this one…”
While A-jin chatted with the owner lady, someone else reached for the powdered sugar.
She’d had the last one snatched away.
Flustered, A-jin said timidly,
“Um? I was about to buy that first…”
“Huh?”
The person who’d taken the powdered sugar turned around.
It was Jun-woo’s mom, Hee-jin.
‘She’s so pretty…’
A-jin lost herself in Hee-jin’s beauty for a moment.
Then she remembered the powdered sugar.
“Sorry, but I was planning to buy it first.”
“I grabbed it first, though…”
It wasn’t even paid for yet—who’s to say what’s yours or mine?
Finders keepers.
A-jin looked crestfallen.
Still, maybe the woman really needed it, so she mustered her courage.
“Yeah, sorry. I really need powdered sugar today, though.”
“Sorry, but I need it too. It’s for class supplies.”
“Ah… okay.”
No helping it.
A-jin started worrying about where else to get powdered sugar.
Going to the big supermarket would mean taking the bus there and back, and she was calculating if she had time.
Just then, the owner lady finished checking stock and approached apologetically.
“A-jin, sorry about that. My bad for not checking. You have a shoot today, right? Don’t think you can make it back by closing.”
“It’s fine. No helping it. I’ll go to the mart if I have time.”
“The nearby marts won’t have it.”
“Yeah. Planning to take the bus.”
Seeing A-jin so downcast made Hee-jin feel like she’d stolen candy from a child, and she felt bad for no reason.
After some thought, Hee-jin brightened up with an idea.
“Hey, kiddo? How about we split it? You’re sprinkling it on a roll cake, right? You probably don’t need a whole bag.”
“Really? I’m sprinkling it on a cake too, so I don’t need that much right now.”
Never mind decorations for now—at least she could cover the top.
“Then perfect. Here, I’ll give you half since I feel bad.”
With the owner lady chiming in, it all wrapped up on a warm note.
“But what kind of shoot?”
“Ah, well…”
“Food stylist maybe?”
A-jin hesitated at Hee-jin’s question.
She was embarrassed to admit she was just an amateur without skills running a blog, so she didn’t tell most people.
“That kid’s a super famous blogger. She promotes our stuff so much—I can’t thank her enough.”
“Ow, owner lady.”
A-jin panicked, but the owner lady clapped a hand over her own mouth.
“Ah! Sorry. Was that not for sharing?”
“Why? Is it a secret?”
After splitting the sugar and chatting a bit, some kind of bond had formed—Hee-jin felt a little left out that everyone else knew but her.
Hee-jin’s eyes sparkled with curiosity as she asked.
Her gaze was so pure that A-jin couldn’t bring herself to lie.
“Ah… well, on my blog, no one knows I’m a student. I don’t want any preconceptions. People might dismiss me like ‘what does a high schooler know?’”
“People still like that these days? Anyway, what’s the blog? Now I’m even more curious since it’s a secret.”
“Well…”
“I’m a member of a baking blog too, actually. Saw they’re updating with a roll cake tonight, so I bought this to try it myself.”
“Huh? I’m making a roll cake today too.”
“No way… Sweet Honey?”
“You know Sweet Honey?”
“Of course!”
A-jin’s eyes sparkled in amazement at how she knew her handle.
Hee-jin, meanwhile, lit up like she’d met a celebrity.
“Wow!! I must be so lucky today. I’m a huge fan of Sweet Honey.”
“Really?”
“Never dreamed I’d meet Sweet Honey here.”
A-jin felt flustered by her first fan’s over-the-top reaction.
She just managed an awkward smile when Hee-jin grabbed her hand and made a suggestion.
“Would it be rude if I asked to grab some tea outside?”
“Huh? Oh, it’s not that I can’t…”
“I know a café with the most delicious cakes. Let’s go there.”
“Ah…”
“Come on. The interior’s gorgeous too.”
“Okay.”
It felt like she’d become a celebrity.
Excited but dazed, she awkwardly followed Hee-jin out.
* * *
“This is the place.”
Cho-hee entered the library and checked her phone.
Other people had sneakily photographed Jun-woo and posted them on Stargram.
Photos were up with hashtags like #SeowonHighHandsome #LibraryHottie #WithJunwoo #BoyfriendMaterial and more.
She’d searched Stargram, found Jun-woo’s pictures, and come straight to the library.
Entering the reading room, she scanned the partitioned desks.
She spotted him seated at the one farthest back.
A faint smile tugged at her lips.
“Drink this while you study.”
She approached him and carefully set the canned coffee she’d prepared ahead of time on his desk.
When the can suddenly appeared in front of him, Jun-woo turned his head.
His eyebrow twitched.
His eyes were asking what she was doing here.
Reading that, she shaped the words with her red-tinted lips.
“Here to study.”
Jun-woo read her lips, glanced at the canned coffee she offered, then turned away again.
Cho-hee shaped more words with her lips.
“Brought it for you to drink.”
He picked up the can and handed it back to her.
She gave him a what’s-this look.
Jun-woo nodded toward the inside of his partition.
Various drinks were lined up there.
She wasn’t the only one throwing looks his way—it had happened plenty before.
A surge of annoyance hit her.
With wary eyes full of edge, she swept her gaze across the entire reading room.
‘They should be studying…’
A good while passed after she sat in the seat next to him.
Bored, Cho-hee raised both arms and stretched out.
Even with her right there, he paid no attention and kept studying for hours.
She’d studied before too, but his focus was beyond her understanding.
She stared at him blankly.
Suddenly, he turned his head.
Their eyes met at a distance of less than a handspan.
Flustered, she couldn’t look away.
She just blinked.
He made a face saying he’d be right back and left the reading room.
A pink flush slowly spread across her cheeks, which had frozen in place.
