Like Water and Oil
Kwon Hyun-jin casually pulled out his wallet and held out a yellow banknote. The waiter, just as used to the gesture, smiled as he accepted the tip.
I was the only one who felt awkward in that seat.
I had never thought this boy resembled the rest of Chairman Kwon’s family, yet the way he tipped the staff was pure Kwon through and through. Spending money came as naturally to him as water flowing downhill.
I forgot for a second. Fourth-generation chaebol. Right.
Just because we had watched a movie together and sat side by side in a taxi did not make us equals. I had almost started to believe we were.
When had he reserved this place, and how? Had he prepared it for me? I almost asked—then every last curious thought vanished. What was the point of knowing those little details?
If I knew… what would change?
The fact that he was the grandson Chairman Kwon cherished above all else, a fourth-generation chaebol heir, would never change. Just as I would always be the daughter of the woman I loved most in the world—Manager Lee.
“Good?” he asked. “You’re really putting it away.”
“Yeah. It’s insanely good. You should eat too.”
I kept my eyes on my plate. The sushi was so exquisite it was almost rapturous on the tongue.
So he put up with all those bland meals I made for him. This is what he eats when he’s out.
“Must’ve been torture choking down my cooking all this time.”
“What, the ketchup stew?”
“……It was kimchi jjigae.”
He’d even given it his own name. Ketchup stew—kimchi would be offended if it could hear that.
“It was good.”
“…….”
“Everything you made for me was good, Lee Na-hee.”
Remembering the way he had cleaned every last drop of that grotesque kimchi jjigae I had boiled suddenly made my nose sting.
I should never cook for Kwon Hyun-jin again.
He noticed me freeze mid-bite and asked,
“What?”
“I don’t know. The wasabi must’ve been too spicy.”
It was the only excuse I could invent. And somehow Kwon Hyun-jin believed my clumsy lie at face value.
“I’ll tell them to remake it.”
“No! Don’t. It’s fine as is.”
He stared at me for a long moment while I desperately waved him off, then suddenly picked up his chopsticks. One by one he scraped every speck of wasabi from the pieces of sushi he had not even touched yet. Then he switched our plates.
“…….”
I went blank. His unexpected tenderness hit me square in the solar plexus; for a second I could not breathe.
Isn’t this a little cheating?
That prickly boy being this gentle out of nowhere……
“What are you doing. Eat the damn thing.”
“…….”
He gave me no room to stay moved. Couldn’t he at least say it nicely? Pretty actions meant nothing when the words that came with them were pure garbage. The fact that his kindness only appeared in intermittent bursts was probably a blessing for me.
Just then a strong vibration shuddered up from the floor. Our eyes dropped to the tatami at the same time.
[Chang-jin]
Hyun-jin chewed his abalone slowly while staring at my phone screen as it blared.
“You’ve got a call.”
Something about the sudden drop in his tone felt off. I flipped the phone over and the vibration went quiet.
“I don’t have to answer.”
“Why.”
He picked up a piece of sushi as if nothing were wrong.
“Answer it.”
“I’m good.”
“Then I’ll answer it?”
The way his eyes snapped up told me the indifference had been a complete act. In moments like that he looked exactly like a low-rent thug.
“……Why would you answer my phone.”
“It’s that bastard, right. Your boyfriend.”
“What the hell are you even saying. Hello?”
I pressed the phone to my ear and turned my body away. Hyun-jin’s furious gaze clung stubbornly to my back.
“Na-hee!”
Kim Chang-jin’s excited voice rang through the quiet private room.
“Why’ve you gone quiet in the group chat? What are you doing on the 31st?”
“The 31st?”
“It’s the day we turn twenty! We’ve gotta make some history!”
My flustered fingers jabbed the volume buttons and only managed to make the sound louder.
“We’re bowling all night. You in? They even serve beer there.”
December 31st. The second the clock struck midnight I would legally be an adult. I remembered how Kim Chang-jin had spent the entire day leading the class chatter about where and how we should spend the last hours of nineteen.
“Bowling alley stays open till six a.m. We go hard till closing, catch the first train home—perfect, right?”
“…….”
The burning gaze from beside me made my face feel like it might catch fire. I covered my mouth and answered quietly.
“……I’ll ask Ji-yul first.”
“Park Ji-yul’s definitely coming! When has she ever sat anything out? With you that makes exactly eight.”
I had used Ji-yul as an excuse because outright refusing felt too mean. The fact that she had already wrangled permission from her strict parents meant she was dead set on going. Well—the CSAT was over. There was no real reason to say no.
“You’re coming, right?”
“I’ll think about it. But I can’t stay that late.”
“So how late can you stay?”
“I’ll call you back later. Right now……”
Without meaning to I glanced at Kwon Hyun-jin. He was glaring at my phone like he wanted to set it on fire. I flinched and turned my head just as a wheedling, cutesy voice poured into my ear.
“Come on, Lee Na-hee. Huh? Let’s plaaay~”
“Chang-jin, the thing is I’m in a bad spot to talk right now……”
“Let’s go, let’s go, let’s goooo~!”
Kim Chang-jin’s disgusting nasal whine hit its peak.
I let out a helpless little snort of laughter—and that was the exact moment Kwon Hyun-jin snatched the phone right out of my hand across the table. I had no chance to stop him.
“She said hang up, you fucking psycho.”
“Kwon Hyun-jin!”
I lunged for my phone, but it was useless.
“You call her again and I swear to god you’re dead.”
He held me off with one easy hand, finished saying exactly what he wanted, and ended the call.
“You…… you just……”
“What.”
My head was spinning. Kim Chang-jin was an easygoing guy, but there was no one on earth who would just sit still after being insulted like that.
How am I even supposed to apologize for this? I was still staring blankly at the sudden disaster when Hyun-jin tossed my phone back onto the table.
“Just try going, Lee Na-hee.”
He fixed me with burning eyes. Who exactly was the one who should be angry right now……
“Don’t go.”
“I can’t go anyway. Overnight stays aren’t allowed, and that late is……”
“Stay with me. The day you turn twenty.”
He bit the words out like he was chewing glass.
Did he even hear a word I said? A sigh escaped on its own. My reaction only seemed to stoke his temper further; his dark brows shot up at a sharp angle.
“That fucking bastard Kim Chang-jin or whatever is fine, but not me?”
“What are you even talking about…… Say something that makes sense. I already told you I can’t stay out that late. And don’t talk about my friend like that.”
“Friend?”
A cold laugh twisted across his mouth.
“Friend, my ass, Lee Na-hee.”
He drained the cold green tea in several harsh gulps. I was the one who felt absurd.
“I don’t know what you’re thinking, but Chang-jin and I really are just friends.”
“Don’t you fucking start with that shit.”
Eyes pure stubborn spite locked dead onto mine.
“To that bastard, you’re not just a friend.”
“…….”
Why do I even have to sit here listening to this?
In that moment I was nothing more than a target for the arrows of his rage. Something inside me crumbled and collapsed. I had thought today hadn’t been so bad.
It had almost felt like a date. Like I was being treated well. For a little while, at least.
All of it had been my own delusion.
“I’m leaving.”
I dropped my eyes and slid the tatami door open.
“Hey. You haven’t finished.”
“Count it as finished.”
“You said you were hungry, Na-hee……”
“If I sit here any longer I’ll just get indigestion.”
I walked straight out of the restaurant without waiting for his answer.
It was late evening and the air had turned chilly. Wind slipped easily through my thin knit sweater.
The air was cold, yet heat flooded my forehead. Tears pricked at my eyes.
Why is it always like this.
Like water and oil. Like fire and ice.