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Translator: Vine
Chapter: 48
Chapter Title: The Battle of Nerves Between Two Men
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"Have some more."
A-jin placed a slice of pizza on Kwang-hyun's plate.
"Eat up."
Kwang-hyun smiled gratefully, looking pleased.
"I'm eating plenty already."
"You need to gain some weight. You look even skinnier than last year."
"Oh, come on, I'm not skinny. But ajusshi, I'm not small enough to wear kids' clothes, right?"
"Kids' clothes?"
Kwang-hyun asked what she meant, and A-jin pouted as she complained.
"There's this one kid who always teases me about looking like I could wear kids' clothes whenever he sees me. Says I'm pint-sized."
"You're petite, not small. And even if you were, so what? It's cute."
"Cute? I just look like a kid."
Up until last year, she had looked a bit childish, but not anymore.
Kwang-hyun shook his head, about to say otherwise, when someone appeared between them.
"Why aren't you picking up your phone?"
It was Jun-woo.
He had turned to leave but came back into the restaurant.
There was no way he was backing off for someone else.
Jun-woo plopped down in the seat next to A-jin.
"I thought you weren't coming."
Startled by his sudden appearance, A-jin froze with her fork holding a slice of pizza suspended in midair.
"Did you see my text?"
"No, but you weren't coming, so I figured something was up."
"You kept ignoring my calls, so I came. Why do you never pick up?"
Jun-woo asked irritably.
She felt bad for missing his calls, but she had her own grievances.
A-jin pouted sadly and placed her phone on the table.
"Here. The screen's all cracked."
Jun-woo let out a disbelieving chuckle at the shattered display.
She really was careless.
"How do you even do your baking?"
"What?"
"Don't you forget things or break stuff all the time? How do you make bread?"
"What are you talking about... I'm the one who's upset here."
Her eyebrows drooped like a sad puppy's, and her lips stuck out like a duck's beak.
He wanted to tease her more for that adorable expression, but Kwang-hyun's sudden fake cough, as if he'd turned invisible until now, stopped him.
*Ahem.*
"Hello."
Jun-woo finally greeted Kwang-hyun.
Deep down, he didn't want to acknowledge him at all.
But at least it wasn't because she was spending time with her student teacher instead of answering calls, so this was his begrudging mercy.
"Want to try some, A-jin?"
Kwang-hyun picked up some salad and offered it to her plate.
Jun-woo quickly shoved his own plate under Kwang-hyun's tongs.
"Thanks."
"Uh. Sure."
Jun-woo knew he'd snatched the salad on purpose.
Kwang-hyun smirked subtly, as if to say, "Look at you."
Kwang-hyun picked up the bottle of aide and reached for A-jin's glass.
Jun-woo slid his glass under the bottle.
"Pour some for me too."
"Uh. Sure."
To Kwang-hyun, Jun-woo seemed pretty bold.
He could guess what was going through Jun-woo's mind.
After pouring the aide, Kwang-hyun brought the bottle back to A-jin's glass.
"I'll pour it for her."
Jun-woo reached out his hand.
Their eyes met, sparks flying in a subtle battle of wills.
"Hand it over. I'll do it."
The tension eased only after A-jin took the bottle.
"Put your glass here."
Jun-woo pulled her aide glass toward him.
"Why?"
"You're gonna spill it again."
"I won't. It's uncomfortable over there. Give it back."
"No. If you want some, just say so."
"Hey!"
A-jin reached for it, but Jun-woo pushed her hand away.
It was clearly a scuffle, but it looked like playful bickering between lovers.
Kwang-hyun's expression hardened as he watched.
"A-jin, want to visit my school sometime?"
Kwang-hyun quickly changed the subject.
"Your school? When?"
"Whenever you want. We can eat cafeteria food like old times and have coffee in the garden."
"That sounds fun. I've actually wanted to go back to your school, ajusshi. It hurt too much before, so I couldn't even go near it."
A-jin pouted, her lips drooping.
Kwang-hyun mirrored her, his eyebrows sagging.
He regretted pushing her away back then, acting all mature.
Jun-woo was floored by their tender exchange.
Jealousy boiled over into outright annoyance.
"Ajusshi? Why call a teacher 'ajusshi'?"
"I've called him that before."
"Even so, he's a teach-er now. You shouldn't call him that."
Jun-woo emphasized each syllable of "teacher."
Kwang-hyun fired back on her behalf.
"A teacher is still just a member of society. Outside school, they can have other roles. We were never teacher and student to begin with."
"You're shorter-sighted than you look. What would people say? Especially at a school full of gossip. If the other kids find out you're treating A-jin special, it'll spread in a bad way. You might leave after your practice teaching ends, but she has to keep going to that school."
A-jin panicked at Jun-woo's tone.
She thought he was being rude and tried to stop him.
"Hey... why are you like this?"
"Does it show that A-jin is special to me?"
Kwang-hyun's smile looked relaxed.
The idea that Jun-woo could tell how much he cared for her made him feel superior.
Teasing him like that brought a natural smile to his face.
Sure enough, Jun-woo took the bait, losing control of his expression.
Seeing A-jin's face flush at Kwang-hyun's words only made Jun-woo more exasperated.
"I'm going to the bathroom."
Kwang-hyun stood up.
Once she confirmed he'd gone into the bathroom, A-jin confronted Jun-woo.
"Why are you being like that to him?"
"What did I do?"
He was annoyed with Kwang-hyun, but also with her for blushing at being called special.
"You're being so rude."
"It's not rude—it's just facts. If he's a student teacher, he should act like one."
"I get that, but he's not singling me out or anything."
That damn "ajusshi."
The word kept grating on him.
Jun-woo scowled deeply.
"Who's an ajusshi? You gonna call him that at school too?"
"No, of course not."
"Then watch your mouth."
He was irritated the whole time.
Right.
She'd forgotten for a moment—he liked her.
A-jin looked apologetic as she asked.
"Are you... jealous right now, by any chance?"
Jun-woo scoffed in disbelief at her question.
The laugh felt a bit overdone.
"What? Jealous? You think I'm a kid? That's childish."
"No, you're just keep getting annoyed."
"I don't do petty stuff like that. But I don't want you calling him ajusshi."
Jun-woo bit into a big piece of pizza, signaling he was done talking, and A-jin watched him closely.
* * *
"I'll take you home. Hop in."
"No. We have somewhere to go."
Before A-jin could even speak, Jun-woo flatly refused Kwang-hyun.
Kwang-hyun was grateful Jun-woo was backing off on his own.
"Alright. See you at school. A-jin, hop in."
Kwang-hyun politely bid Jun-woo farewell and opened the passenger door, waiting for A-jin.
But Jun-woo blocked her.
"No. A-jin's coming with me."
Kwang-hyun frowned at the unexpected turn.
A-jin looked apologetic as she explained.
"I need to get my phone fixed."
"I'll drop you at the service center then."
"Really?"
A-jin lit up, but Jun-woo inserted himself again.
"No. We'll go together. You already bought us food—we can't keep imposing. See you later. Let's go."
Worried he'd be stopped again, Jun-woo grabbed A-jin's wrist and hurried out of the parking lot.
As she was pulled along, A-jin bowed to Kwang-hyun.
"Drive safe," he said, waving.
Then he smacked his own hand, annoyed at himself for waving like an idiot.
Left alone, he looked somehow lonely.
On the way back, he wondered if it was too late.
* * *
A-jin gaped in shock.
"140,000 won? It's just the screen—it's that expensive?"
The repair cost was higher than expected.
Even combining her remaining allowance and emptying her piggy bank, it was barely enough.
"Can't help it since you don't have insurance, miss."
"And the oven's not even that old..."
Her parents had bought her a brand-new oven, not used.
It had cost over a million won, and now asking them to fix the screen felt guilty.
As she fretted, Jun-woo stepped up.
"I'll pay. Fix it please."
But A-jin wasn't about to let him.
"Hey! Why would you pay for mine? No. I need to think about it."
A-jin took back her broken phone from the technician and dragged Jun-woo out of the service center.
"Why? How are you gonna use it like that?"
It wasn't a huge amount for him.
Not a waste if he thought of it as a gift.
But somehow, his offer seemed to hurt her pride.
"Why should you pay for it?"
"So what? I can cover it."
"It's mine. No..."
She seemed more hurt than he'd realized.
That wasn't his intention.
He crouched down to meet her sulky eyes.
She blinked her round eyes, flustered by his gentle gaze.
"W-Why?"
"Want me to fix it?"
"You?"
"Yeah. Just the screen, right? I can handle that."
"Even you—how would you fix this?"
A-jin waved it off as impossible.
He grabbed her phone with exaggerated confidence.
"You know there's not much I can't do."
"You're really gonna fix it?"
"It's the same model my mom used before. I'll have it ready by Monday."
"You're not planning to pay behind my back, are you?"
"What do you take me for? Using tricks like that?"
"I don't do that stuff either."
A-jin still didn't fully trust him, but the steep repair cost made her decide to give it a shot.
* * *
Cho-hee didn't come to school.
No surprise— the school was buzzing with her video.
She'd probably skipped anticipating this.
Jung-hwa shoved her phone at A-jin.
"You saw it, right?"
"..."
A-jin couldn't respond.
Friends had already shared the video titled "Delusional Power-Trip Mother-Daughter Duo" with her.
Everyone in it was people she knew.
Cho-hee was there, her mom whom she called auntie, and even Jun-woo's mom, Hee-jin.
Fortunately or not, the tattooed guy wasn't in it.
"You've never seen Cho-hee's mom before?"
Jung-hwa was thrilled.
Not just her—all the kids were buzzing with gossip.
"Auntie?"
"You call her auntie?"
"Yeah."
"Is Cho-hee's mom always like that?"
She was fiery, but A-jin had never seen her this over-the-top.
Nor had she seen Cho-hee act so rudely to Hee-jin.
A-jin felt dazed by it all.
Was there something she didn't know?
Why hadn't she come to school?
Jung-hwa's questions barely registered.
