Love for love's sake [ENG TRANS]

Chapter 13

[Tae Myeongha's POV]

Cha Yeowoon's back was trembling sharply as he gazed down at the ground with his hands on his knees. It was as if the number he carried was heavy.

"Gyeonghun."

"Yeah?" After seeing the world of Cha Yeowoon, which was overflowing with negatives, I turned to Ahn Gyeonghun.

"Do you happen to need a friend?" I ask subtly, like a snake oil salesman.

Ahn Gyeonghun didn't seem to understand what I meant and only blinked his eyes.

"How about the three of us have dinner together tonight?"

In Ahn Gyeonghun's thick glasses, my sly smile was reflected.

"I don't want to." Cha Yeowoon, dressed in gym clothes, shook his head.

"What do you mean you don't want to? Let's go eat."

"I'll just go home and eat."

"Hey. You said you wanted to have lunch with me."

"Sunbae, that was only about lunch."

This brat. It had been hours.

I waited for track and field practice to end, only to have my dinner invitation immediately rejected. Cha Yeowoon had insisted on having lunch together and had questioned why I had avoided him. Now, he was behaving as if it was an inconvenience.

"You're on your way home anyway. We're going home too. Go to school together, eat together, and go home together. Isn't that school life?"

"You talk like someone who's been to school for 10 years."

"Uhm, Yeowoon..." Ahn Gyeonghun, who had been silent behind us, spoke up.

When Cha Yeowoon and I turned around simultaneously, he stiffened and curled his lips.

"...Mister."

"Haha." I burst into laughter at the honorific Ahn Gyeonghun had used.

"No, what's with calling Yeowoon mister? It's not a matchmaking session."

Cha Yeowoon's already unsettled expression turned even more sour as he stood beside me. It was becoming funnier.

"Just speak casually if you want. You're my sunbae."

"I-If it's okay, let's go eat together... As a thank you for what happened during lunch."

"Right. Yeowoon did great during lunch."

"I only brought the teacher."

"That's an active role. The real hero always shows up at the end."

With the momentum, I squeezed Cha Yeowoon between me and Ahn Gyeonghun. Caught between us, he looked like he wanted to do something about it but was carried along nonetheless.

"Okay, let's go. Mister Yeowoon."

"Making a big deal out of nothing. Sunbae, you are really childish."

"Since we're having dinner, how about going to karaoke afterward?"

"I don't want to."

"But I do."

Cha Yeowoon turned into ice again. This time, even Ahn Gyeonghun was astonished and froze.

"Gyeonghun do too."

At my next words, Cha Yeowoon's face crumpled, and Ahn Gyeonghun's eyes behind his glasses seemed to bulge out. I revised my judgment that putting the two of them together would be disastrous. It was cuter than I thought. Before Cha Yeowoon could explode, the three of us had already crossed the school gate, and now only the real problem remained.