Strawberry Milk

“The madam is giving you this so you won’t take the bus. You’re lugging heavy side dishes back and forth.”

“No, it’s all right. I already take taxis. She even gave me a separate card.”

I was living rent-free under their roof. As far as I was concerned, I already owed them more than enough.

“Na-hee, just take it. You’re embarrassing Auntie.”

“…….”

The moment I accepted the envelope, the strength drained straight out of me. Salary? Compensation? I didn’t know what name to put on it. All I knew was that refusing had become completely impossible.

How long was Kwon Hyun-jin going to stay in Korea?

A sudden fear seized me. What if I ended up waiting on him even after I started university?

Defenders 2 opened in theaters. The film that had already racked up top ratings shot to number one at the box office in no time. The whole school wouldn’t shut up about it, so there was no way not to know. Even the group chat with my friends was nothing but Defenders talk from morning to night.

The second I got out of school on Friday, I went by Kwon Hyun-jin’s apartment. I left the bundle of side dishes outside the door, rang the bell, and bolted. Thankfully, Kwon Hyun-jin hadn’t snitched on my awful behavior to Mrs. Jang. Not yet, at least.

Saturday wasn’t pure play either. From morning on I sterilized the household tools and helped prep the kimchi ingredients.

Tomorrow they were making kimchi with five hundred heads of cabbage. There were so many people to share with that the scale of kimchi-making at Chairman Kwon’s main house was always absurd.

Then, around six in the evening, a text suddenly came through.

It was a number I didn’t know, so I didn’t bother replying.

My stamina was poor; I went into my room early and passed out cold. I was dozing lightly when the vibration by my pillow made me grab my phone.

“Hel…lo…….”

Half-asleep, I answered without even properly checking who it was.

“Hello……. Yeah, who…….”

A low voice that sounded like it was echoing out of a cave.

It was Kwon Hyun-jin. Eyes still shut, I answered the boy on the other end of the line.

“Mmm…….”

I replied on pure reflex while remaining half-asleep.

“How did you… get my number…….”

I rolled over with a drawn-out groan, and a shallow sigh came from the other side.

The sudden curse snapped me wide awake. I finally managed to gather my wits and frowned at the phone glowing alone in the dark room.

For some reason Kwon Hyun-jin ground the words out in pure rage.

He seethed by himself, then hung up without another word.

Running after ringing the apartment bell. The text asking what I was doing tomorrow. The phone call whose purpose I still didn’t understand.

All of it together left me drowning in guilt for days. Even while I sat through Defenders with Kim Chang-jin badgering me the whole time, my head was full of nothing but Kwon Hyun-jin.

In the end I headed for his apartment with two movie tickets in hand.

“You really graduated high school?”

“Yeah. One last exam and I’m done.”

As if it were the most natural thing in the world, Kwon Hyun-jin took the side-dish package from my hands and strode inside. I followed after him without thinking.

“So you’re going to university……? Are you attending in Korea?”

“They say I can’t go to college.”

“Why?”

“Dunno. Me neither.”

“Who told you that?”

“Mrs. Jang.”

Kwon Hyun-jin answered half-heartedly as he untied the cloth. Had it been a full two weeks? It felt like a long time since I’d last seen him.

“Did she actually look into it properly? You finished high school. Why wouldn’t you be able to go to college?”

“Dunno. She said she checked everything.”

In the time I hadn’t seen him, Kwon Hyun-jin had gotten a clean haircut. With his forehead, brows, and bridge of his nose fully exposed, he looked far more masculine.

Taken one by one, his features were still pretty. When he was little, if you ignored his behavior he could easily have been mistaken for a girl.

I’d heard his mother had been one of the greatest beauties of her generation, a famous actress who defined the era as part of a legendary trio. As her son, Kwon Hyun-jin really did have beautiful eyes, nose, and mouth.

Strangely, though, once he grew up his T-zone sharpened like a Westerner’s, so “handsome” fit him far better now than “pretty.”

“What even is all this?”

Every time he opened a lid, only red food came out, and he looked thoroughly thrown.

“Kimchi stew, spicy stir-fried pork, and squid kimchi pancakes. The stew was made with a clam broth.”

Chairman Kwon liked things spicy and salty, so the food at the main house tended to be heavily seasoned overall. Even the kimchi the chairman ate used such hot chili powder that I couldn’t touch it myself. His personal physician had nagged about it, but after the chairman blew up once, no one dared stop him again.

“The madam goes to that charity kimchi-making event every year. This was made with the kimchi she brought back from there, so they say it isn’t spicy at all.”

“Tch…….”

The moment Cha Mi-young’s name came up, Kwon Hyun-jin shoved the food aside as if he couldn’t stand the sight of it and glared at me sideways.

“Hey, Lee Na-hee.”

Just the way he said my name sounded ominous. Petty spite clung thickly to every syllable.

“You’re looking well.”

“…….”

“Coming here must be a pain in the ass. Must piss you off like hell.”

Kwon Hyun-jin stared straight at me and sneered.

“Been counting the days till that bastard packs up and fucks off back to England, huh?”

“…….”

I felt like my face was about to be drilled clean through. I kept my gaze lowered and avoided his eyes as hard as I could.

“This is handmade tofu. I thought you might be able to eat it…….”

“You fucking hate me. Feeling better after a few days without me?”

“If you keep talking like that, I’m never coming back.”

I couldn’t hold it in and snapped. I doubted a warning like that would work on a kid who ignored even the chairman, but I couldn’t listen to any more of it either.

“You weren’t going to come anyway. You didn’t want to see me, Lee Na-hee.”

“I was busy too! I spent the whole weekend making kimchi with five hundred heads of cabbage and scrubbing the jar stand until I thought I was going to die! Do you even know how many of those there are?”

The excuses poured out on their own. As I spoke, something welled up hot in my chest.

“Shit…… they’re heavy…… you have no idea how hard it is…… you don’t even know…….”

Tears even pricked at my eyes. I wiped them away before they could run down my cheeks. But Kwon Hyun-jin seemed to have already seen.

Whether the tears startled him or not, he froze as if he’d just touched a corpse.

Mortified, I stood up under the pretense of putting the side dishes away. I opened the fridge door and crouched in front of it for a moment, sorting out my feelings.

This wasn’t what I’d come for. The movie tickets in my wallet flashed through my mind.

Honestly, it wasn’t because my body was tired that I’d neglected Kwon Hyun-jin. And the part about helping with the kimchi the whole time wasn’t entirely true either.

He was angry that I hadn’t come, so guilt made me lash out for no good reason.

Once my emotions settled, I became hyper-aware of Kwon Hyun-jin behind me. He was strangely quiet. Given his personality, he should have been turning it around and yelling at me for crying and throwing a fit……. The silence only made me more uneasy, like the calm before a storm.

I should be the one to make peace first. Good thing I’d bought tickets for Defenders 2.

I planned to casually start talking while bragging about how expensive movie tickets were these days.

Watching his reaction carefully, I slowly turned around. And there, on the table, was something I hadn’t seen before.

A carton of strawberry milk. It was placed exactly on my side, so his intention was clear.

“What…… is this for me……?”

I deliberately asked again, but instead of answering he just stared at me fixedly.

A strange feeling came over me as I fidgeted with the carton. Then Kwon Hyun-jin’s large hand suddenly took the milk away.

What, is he teasing me? Why give it and snatch it back? I was about to glare up at him when he neatly opened the spout and held it out to me again.

I was always bad at opening milk cartons; they usually ended up messily torn. It had been the same last time.

Had he seen that? Was that why he was doing this……?

The unexpected kindness was so startling that I suddenly got the hiccups.