"The rain fell, so you don't have to worry." /Youjin/

Chapter 20

Eunbin stared into her phone for so long till she didn't realise a single tear escaped her eyes. She quickly wiped her face.

"Do you want to go home now?" Youjin asked in concerns.

She smiled at him. "Let's have a drink. A real drink. Just let me pass this once."

He felt sorry for her. 'That jerk. What a time to ask her to break up.'

"Okay?"

He nodded. "Fine. Just this once."

[at another bar]

Youjin sat nervously as he poured a soju for her. He measured the liquid precisely right under the 2/3 part of the small shot so she wouldn't be too drunk.

She quickly grabbed the shot. "Here I go."

"Drink slowly!" He watched her carefully as she drank, occasionally peeped his eyes in case she passed out immediately.

Eunbin took the shot and gulped it down. She was still sober and awake making Youjin's nervousness slightly disappear. As his internal problems slowly going away, she started to stare blankly.

"Hey, you're okay?"

"I was six that time." She said.

Youjin was confused and poured another shot for him. "What are you saying?"

"I was six when I first met Inhae oppa. We were in a same art school for kids. Both our parents were busy so it felt like a daycare, not an extra school."

"What kind of school is that? You didn't go to a regular school?"

"We did. That school was like an atelier. The owner was my mother's friend. We taught various activities to introduce art for kids." She scoffed. "It's just a daycare with so many things to do. And mostly I was there until I was asleep at night, that's when my parents picked me up." She stared at the shot. "So did Inhae oppa."

"We spent time together since then. And we went to the same school, he was my senior and always looked after me. We somehow kept stumbling our paths into each other. Now that I think about it, it was just a stumble, in our different paths. I thought that we're in the same paths. Turns out we're not. It's just happened to cross for a long while.."

He paused a while and asked her. "Your parents? Where are they?"

"I don't know. Maybe across the ocean. They're obsessed with cultures, they want to study people. At times they stay in one village to another. Occasionally send me letters. It's just like that since I was little. I got used to with it. Inhae oppa's mother has always been the one who took my report cards, or when I graduated..."

Youjin saw her lips tremble. "It's okay if you don't want to tell me."

Eunbin nodded. She started to cry. "It's just....it doesn't feel like a breakup with a boyfriend."

He patted her back to stop crying. "Then what does it feel like?"

"Like I'm losing a best friend..."

She cried more and more. Youjin took the tissue and gave it to her. She quickly wiped her leaked face.

"I thought you love him as a guy."

"I did. But long after we became a couple, it doesn't feel that way anymore. Like I'm attached to him, but it's not right." Out of the blue she recalled Yeeun's mumbling about mismatched socks. And cried again. She realised that Yeeun was talking about her.

Youjin sighed and pulled his chair closer to her. He extended his arm to hug her, but he hesitated. He just patted her hair, tucked a few loose strands on her face. "We're going home after you cry as much as you need, okay?"

Eunbin looked up at him and asked for another shot.

"No more drinking. You'll pass out if you drink one more."

"I don't want to go home." She tried to take the bottle but Youjin took the bottle back. He finished the remaining soju in one gulp. She stared at him. "I know it's funny that I'm weak in drinking, but I like the taste. Like it can momentarily melt your pain away."

He stared back at her. "You really just want to taste it? So you've never intended to get drunk?" She nodded and checked if there was a drop of soju left for her to taste. "There's nothing left. Let's go home, okay?"

She pursed her lips and deep sighed. "Okay. I guess I have nothing to do but going home."

Youjin paid the bill and both of them started walking since the last bus was already left. He occasionally checked Eunbin in case she got tired. They walked for ten minutes and barely halfway her place. He wanted to call a cab but Eunbin didn't want to reach home that fast. So they ended up walking again. They passed a wealthy neighbourhood. It was where Youjin lived. He walked nervously as if someone would notice him.

"Come, let's walk quickly." He grabbed her wrist to walk faster. She couldn't help but got dragged by him.

"Why? Is it scary here?"

Youjin just comprehended with her. "What? Y..y..yes, it's very scary here."

"Is it because your father's name is written there?"

He froze and let go of her wrist. "What?"

She walked to a notice board. "It says about Kim Sunghwan's election here." It was just a notice board with lots of random posters. One of the poster had Youjin's father face. It was an old poster. "Hmm you have his eyes."

Youjin sighed in relieve and walked to her. "Tsk. What eyes. Come on, let's walk again."

Eunbin was still checking the poster as Youjin started to walk again. To his surprise, he saw his house butler in his direction. He turned back to Eunbin. 'Why is he here? I can't leave her if I get caught.' He thought a lot while she stared at him.

"Why? You're not walking?" She walked past him but he grabbed her arm, pulling her under his tall built. "W-what are you doing? Is there a ghost here?"

He could hear his butler walking closer to them. He looked at her and couldn't think of anything. But one.

He kissed her on the lips.

It was a long deep kiss and made his butler uncomfortable so he took another route to walk, furrowing his brows. It was dark so he couldn't see the faces. The butler was already gone but he was still into the kiss. She pushed him after coming into her senses.

"What was that about?"

"I thought you want to taste soju." He tapped her head. "Did it melt your pain away?"