My Stalking Diary

Chapter 27

“They look alike. The facial features are similar.”

In fact, the photo frame on the table and desk was quite far from where I was sitting, so I couldn’t see it clearly, but the people in the photo definitely had features similar to Joo Kwon-oh’s.

“Ah, I don’t really want to look like Joo Kwon-young,” Joo Kwon-oh joked in response.

“Is that your brother’s name?”

“Yeah.”

“How many years apart are you?”

“Five years.”

“Are you close?”

“Pretty much.”

“I heard siblings with a big age gap are usually awkward with each other…”

“When we were young, dad and my brother were so busy trying to make money that we didn’t have a chance to fight.”

“Is that when you learned to cook too?”

“Yeah. I was always alone at home. I had to learn how to take care of myself.”

He casually talked about his childhood while picking up side dishes with his chopsticks. I found it fascinating how the hazy, unknown areas of his early years were slowly being filled in my mind.

By the way, I had heard his family was well-off, so I thought they’d be far from doing household chores. It was unexpected in many ways.

“It’s rare for sons to be good at cooking. Your mother must be very pleased.”

“I don’t live with my mom.”

“Huh?”

“My parents divorced when I was young, so I lived with my dad and brother.”

“…”

“I hardly ever see my mom.”

His tone was indifferent, and I found it difficult to come up with an appropriate response, so I just rolled my eyes.

“…I’m sorry.”

“Why? I wanted to tell you.”

“Still…”

I awkwardly moved my lips.

“It’s not like she passed away or anything, so what’s the big deal?”

“Do you keep in touch with your mother often?”

“No. After the divorce, she started a new life with another man, so it’s difficult to contact her.”

“…”

“My brother and I can’t meet mom because we have to be considerate of that family.”

Then there must have been almost no contact. From Joo Kwon-oh’s mother’s perspective, she would have had to hide her sons.

Suddenly, I learned too much about him. The information I had been collecting was just about his preferences and personality.

“…I heard you used to paint. Kyung-won mentioned it last time.”

I carefully brought up the subject while watching his reaction.

“That’s right. It’s not really a secret, so you don’t need to make that face.”

“Mmm.”

“My mom was like a princess, but after marrying my dad, she went through all sorts of hardships before getting divorced. When I was in elementary school, our family went completely bankrupt.”

“If, if they divorced when you were that young, you must have missed your mother terribly.”

“Yeah. The timing was terrible too. I was suffering from a severe cold, so it was even more painful.”

Joo Kwon-oh’s expression was calm as he said he was sad. As if he no longer felt the emotions from that time.

“Well. From my mom’s perspective, with the family bankrupt and no money for hospital bills, she might have thought it was better to just give up and run away.”

“How… bankrupt were you?”

“Enough that the three of us lived in a small semi-basement room. That’s why I’ve done every part-time job possible until my first year of high school.”

“Ah.”

I recalled Joo Kwon-oh skillfully moving around the hall and serving customers at the brunch cafe. So that’s why.

But is it okay for him to tell me these things? I felt uncomfortable, like sitting on pins and needles, hearing such personal details about Joo Kwon-oh’s family history when we weren’t even that close yet.

At the same time, I was grateful that he seemed to trust me.

“Do, do you still work part-time jobs now?”

“Except for occasionally filling in for friends, I don’t need to. Since the winter of my second year in high school, dad’s factory started running properly again, so our finances recovered and we became comfortable.”

“I see. So even though your family was struggling, you studied and got into Hanguk University? The competition for the Business Administration department is really high, isn’t it?”

“I took a ton of private lessons in my third year of high school and barely made it in. Dad and my brother wanted me to study since they were working at the factory. I’m not really good at making furniture or things like that anyway.”

“You must be smart. That’s impressive.”

“What about you?”

From his tone of asking me in return, I got the feeling that the reason he had been explaining his family history in such detail was for this question.

If Joo Kwon-oh wanted, I could tell him about my personal history as much as he liked.

“I have my mom, dad, and an older sister.”

“How many years apart are you and your sister?”

“Two years.”

“You must be like friends.”

“With my sister…? Not at all.”

Siblings can never be like friends. Joo Kwon-oh seemed to know nothing about having a female sibling.

“I’m actually envious that you have an older brother. My sister and I just fight whenever we meet.”

“Kids with siblings always say that. I think if I had an older sister or younger sister, I would have taken good care of them.”

How did he come to think that…

“Wouldn’t it be different if you actually had one?”

“No. If you grew up with only guys around, went to all-boys middle and high schools, you’d definitely treat a female sibling well.”

“…Is that why you’re always kind to girls?”

“Me? Am I?”

Joo Kwon-oh shrugged with an expression that showed he had no idea. He didn’t seem to realize how differently he treated men and women in his daily life.

“Yes. Your voice even changes. Ahem. ‘Ji-ye, hello? Yu-rim, let me do that for you. I’ll buy you food. I’ll carry your luggage. I’ll do everything for you.’ …Like that.”

I cleared my throat and lowered my voice, imitating Joo Kwon-oh.

“When did I ever talk so sleazily? Do you want to die?”

Joo Kwon-oh warned jokingly, raising his eyebrows. I admit, I might have exaggerated a bit. But I didn’t want to admit it easily.

“It’s true though.”

“But do you even know how to fight with your sister? I feel like you’d always lose.”

“Ah, well. Actually, I haven’t won many times…”

As I muttered dejectedly, Joo Kwon-oh stopped eating and chuckled. I didn’t understand why this was so funny, so I just stared at him silently.

After that, we had some more small talk. When we finished eating and I offered to do the dishes, Joo Kwon-oh adamantly refused.

He insisted on making me sit at the table while he cleaned up himself. Then he approached me holding something.

“Here, take it.”

What Joo Kwon-oh was holding was my notebook.

“Ah.”

“I promised to give it to you, remember? In exchange for drinking together yesterday.”

“…”

Right. I had completely forgotten. Come to think of it, Joo Kwon-oh had my notebook, and he suggested drinking together in exchange for returning it. That’s how we ended up here today.

In exchange. It was a provocative word to use after spending a night together.

It felt like he was drawing a line. Let’s settle yesterday’s events with this notebook.

Am I overthinking this? Or have I unknowingly set myself up for too many expectations again?

Still, I didn’t make the mistake of looking upset or showing disappointment. I had kept some tension in a corner of my mind for situations like this.

As expected. I’m glad I didn’t expect too much. I nodded and accepted the notebook.

“You… saw everything inside, right?”

“Yes.”

“…”

“What are you going to do now? Will you continue writing?”

“No.”

Although I was already secretly continuing to write in the back, I obviously lied.

“There’s some incorrect information too. You’re not going to fix that either?”

Joo Kwon-oh asked in a light tone. I didn’t know how to answer, so I just smiled awkwardly.

“Um, well… I should get going now. Thanks for the meal.”

And the only excuse I could come up with was saying I needed to go home.

“I’ll take you home.”

“No, it’s okay. My place isn’t that far from here…”

“Where is it?”

“…”

When I hesitated and fumbled for words, Joo Kwon-oh nodded.

“If you’re not comfortable, you don’t have to tell me.”

“Sorry. I’ll be going.”

I grabbed my clothes from the coat rack and hastily stuffed them into my bag.

“I’ll return the borrowed clothes next time at the liberal arts class.”

Even though I was flustered and hurrying, I moved quickly towards the entrance without delay. I think Joo Kwon-oh said a few words, but I was so out of it that I don’t remember clearly.

The moment I left Joo Kwon-oh’s studio apartment felt like watching the ending credits of a movie.

The magical story had come to an end. It was time to return to reality and go home.

*

I had never looked forward to the Culture and Arts Industry Business Model class this much before. If I didn’t have to return the clothes to Joo Kwon-oh, I might have even skipped class.

I tried to sneak in through the back door when the classroom atmosphere was bustling before the start of class.

“Jeong-ha, why are you going that way? Come over here.”

Just as I was about to sit down inconspicuously in the back row, I heard Joo Kwon-oh’s voice.

As always, he was sitting in the middle section and was looking directly at me.

…Did a bug just fly by my ear? Why does it feel so tingly?

I fiddled with my earlobe while looking at the seat next to him. As I was wondering what to say, Choi Kyung-won also called out to me loudly.

“Yeah, sitting too far apart looks cold. We’re not strangers avoiding each other in the same group.”

In the end, I went and sat in the spot they had designated for me between Joo Kwon-oh and Choi Kyung-won.

“Where’s Ji-ye? Tell Ji-ye to come sit over here too. She might feel left out if it’s just the three of us.”

Choi Kyung-won looked around calling for Ji-ye.

“Ah, right.”

Joo Kwon-oh nodded in agreement. Soon after, Shin Ji-ye moved her seat too. I couldn’t understand why we had to sit so closely together, but except for me, the other three seemed to completely agree with this arrangement.

Joo Kwon-oh, sitting next to me, took the tanghulu pen from my pencil case without asking.

“You use this?”

Glancing at it, Choi Kyung-won seemed to remember something and slapped his palm on the desk.

“I heard you two drank together.”

“…”

Startled as if caught doing something wrong, I stiffened my back.

It seems Joo Kwon-oh had mentioned it. There was no reason to keep it a secret, but if it were me, I wouldn’t have gone around telling others.

“Jealous?”

Joo Kwon-oh grinned, poking his chin with the tip of the tanghulu pen.