Sunshine Shower Chapter 79

Moon Seoyoon glanced toward the window as he took a shot of his drink. He could see Woo Yeonjae typing away on his laptop. It seemed he was telling the truth about dropping by because of an assignment, as he appeared to be working on a report.

“Your friend comes here often,” Song Jua said quietly as she set the last order on the counter. It was a relatively slow time, and she had noticed how frequently Woo Yeonjae had been visiting the café recently.

“Must be because he has a lot of assignments.”

“Did he completely break up with his girlfriend? He’s always coming alone now.”

Song Jua asked cautiously, trying to gauge the situation.

Completely. Moon Seoyoon silently repeated the word to himself.

“I think so…”

“I thought they might just be taking a break, but they really broke up, huh? You know how some couples break up and get back together all the time. They seemed so happy whenever they came to the café, so I thought they’d get back together.”

“Yeah, you’re right.”

Moon Seoyoon forced a smile onto his face.

Perhaps because he was bored after breaking up with his girlfriend, Woo Yeonjae had been visiting the café often. Sometimes he came alone to work on assignments, and other times he came with Kim Hyunseung or other friends. It wasn’t every day, but they had several classes together, so they ended up seeing each other almost daily.

‘And on the weekends, too.’

It had been two weeks since he had started spending weekends at Woo Yeonjae’s apartment. Without even realizing it, Seoyoon had fallen into Yeonjae’s trap and was now spending his weekends there. It all started after they had visited Yeonjae’s family home.

If Taeun found out, he’d probably have something to say about it. The thought crossed his mind, but it was a needless worry. Nam Taeun usually left the dorm on Friday evenings and didn’t return until the weekend was over. This routine had been established since the start of the semester, so there was no way he would suddenly notice that Seoyoon was also leaving the dorm on weekends.

Even if Taeun did find out that Seoyoon was spending weekends at Woo Yeonjae’s apartment, he’d probably just give him a concerned lecture rather than scold him.

Most people would react similarly if they heard that Seoyoon was spending every weekend at his childhood friend’s—who also happened to be his unrequited crush—apartment. They’d probably think, “Is he stupid or something?”

‘But it’s not so bad…’

Maybe he had already gotten used to it. Although he still tensed up whenever the atmosphere between them grew awkward, everything else was genuinely fine. Sometimes, he even felt like he was back in their school days, enjoying those moments.

Moon Seoyoon found himself thinking that this situation wasn’t so bad. It was more like self-consolation, really.

He had already lost the chance to live his life avoiding Woo Yeonjae, so the best he could do now was get used to it. As time passed and they spent more time together, he’d eventually adapt to being alone with him, and as those moments became familiar, it would also become easier to hide his feelings.

He wouldn’t act foolishly like he had at Yeonjae’s family home, flinching away at a casual touch. Once he got used to it, he’d learn to endure it too.

If he had to see Yeonjae for the rest of his life, it was better to get used to it.

If Taeun heard this pathetic attempt at rationalization, he’d probably scold him for saying something so ridiculous. But Seoyoon figured it was better to slowly get better at hiding his feelings than to be nervous all the time.

‘We’ve been getting along well since that fight, anyway. If things hadn’t turned out this way, it probably would’ve been even more awkward.’

Though calling their argument in the car a “fight” might be an exaggeration, it seemed that the topic that had caused tension between him and Woo Yeonjae over the past couple of months had completely dissipated after they had slept together.

So this must be the right path.

“Guys like him often disappear when they get a new girlfriend. Oh, I wasn’t talking about Yeonjae.”

Song Jua muttered to herself, then quickly waved her hands apologetically. Seoyoon chuckled as he handed her the latte he had just made.

“I didn’t think much of it.”

“It might have sounded like I was criticizing your friend. I was just reminded of one of my friends. I don’t know about guys, but lots of people ditch their friends once they start dating. Then they end up losing their real friends too.”

“Guys are the same. Life’s pretty much the same for everyone…”

Seoyoon gave a noncommittal answer, not knowing much about the topic. While he had many acquaintances, the only ones he saw regularly were Woo Yeonjae and Kim Hyunseung, so it was hard to generalize based on just the two of them.

Kim Hyunseung often met up with him even when he was dating someone, and there hadn’t been time to see if Yeonjae was the type to ditch his friends once he got a girlfriend. As soon as he heard that Yeonjae was dating someone, he had fled to the military, so it made sense that he didn’t know.

‘Now that I think about it, Hyunseung said he didn’t see much of Yeonjae while I was in the military either.’

That thought made Seoyoon wonder if Yeonjae might indeed be the type of person Song Jua was talking about.

Even so, it wasn’t something Seoyoon could interfere with. If Yeonjae eventually got a new girlfriend and stopped visiting his apartment on weekends, there was nothing Seoyoon could do about it. That’s why it was better to get used to things now—whether it was spending time alone with Yeonjae or getting used to his absence.

At that moment, Seoyoon glanced toward the window just as Yeonjae stood up. Their eyes met directly. He approached the counter, still looking at his phone as if he had been messaging someone.

“Seoyoon.”

“What? Do you want to order something else?”

“Can I step out for a bit?”

Judging by the way he gestured toward the table, he was asking if it was okay to leave his belongings there for a while.

“Uh… will you be long?”

“At most 20 minutes?”

“That’s fine. There aren’t many customers anyway. But why all of a sudden?”

“I need to meet someone.”

Should I ask who? Seoyoon hesitated for a moment. It should be okay to ask this much between friends.

“Who?”

“Well…”

Woo Yeonjae didn’t respond immediately. He just slightly furrowed his eyebrows, as if debating whether to speak or not. Is he meeting his girlfriend again? It had only been a few minutes since Seoyoon had reminded himself to get used to this, yet his heart sank over something so trivial. It was ridiculous, really.

“There is.”

His long eyes slowly narrowed, as did his smile.

“Someone you don’t need to know about.”

* * *

Woo Yeonjae mulled over the location that Kang Suha had mentioned. It was a smoking area not far from the café where Moon Seoyoon worked. He pulled up the message thread to double-check.

[Kang Suha: You know the café where Seoyoon-hyung works? There’s a bar on the way to school from there, and if you go down the alley, there’s a smoking area. I often see him there.]

[Woo Yeonjae: Got it. Thanks.]

[Kang Suha: But why are you asking about Han Cheolmin? Hyung, just don’t get involved with that jerk—nothing good will come of it.]

[Woo Yeonjae: I need to talk to him.]

[Kang Suha: You??? He’s probably still there; I saw him a little while ago when I was heading back to my place.]

The last message had been sent three minutes ago. Woo Yeonjae had a gut feeling that Han Cheolmin would still be there. He didn’t seem like the type to quickly finish a cigarette and leave.

Woo Yeonjae changed direction and headed down the dirty alleyway he normally wouldn’t even consider entering. His hunch was spot-on—Han Cheolmin was there, smoking. As he heard someone approaching, Han Cheolmin glanced up and blinked in surprise when he recognized Woo Yeonjae. He looked like an ugly turtle.

“Sunbae. It’s been a while.”

“Oh… Yeonjae, I didn’t expect to see you here, haha.”

Woo Yeonjae’s cold gaze briefly flickered to the cigarette between the man’s fingers. The stench of discarded trash mixed with the smoke made his stomach churn, but instead of wrinkling his nose, Yeonjae put on a practiced, friendly smile.

“Everyone seems to smoke here.”

“You used to smoke too?”

Woo Yeonjae just shrugged.

“I saw you, so I thought I’d stop by and say hello.”

“Oh, right. But I’m almost done here…”

Han Cheolmin quickly dropped his cigarette to the ground and stomped it out with his shoe. As Woo Yeonjae watched, he slowly raised his eyelids. When he took a step closer, Han Cheolmin flinched, as if expecting to be hit.

He wasn’t some clueless kid anymore, and he had no intention of throwing punches like he did in middle school.

“At that drinking party last time, I think I was a bit too rude to you, Sunbae. I wanted to apologize, but I haven’t seen you around.”

“Oh, uh, really?”

Han Cheolmin blinked again, as if trying to assess the situation. He even wiped his cigarette-stained fingers on his pants.

“I think I was just in a bad mood that day and took it out on you since I felt more comfortable with you than with the other seniors. I’m really sorry.”

“Oh, no, it’s fine. That can happen.”

Han Cheolmin let out a nervous laugh and scratched the back of his neck. Woo Yeonjae looked down at him with an exaggeratedly apologetic expression.

He knew this type of person well. Someone who would tremble with humiliation but quickly grovel when treated kindly and offered an apology.

“I thought you said those things because of your friend…”

“My friend?”

Woo Yeonjae tilted his head slowly, questioning him.

“Moon Seoyoon?”