Love for love's sake [ENG TRANS]

Chapter 27

[Tae Myeongha's POV]

What expression should I make at times like this? I was happy that Cha Yeowoon ran well. Seriously. After he ran up to me and held my hand, I almost burst into tears. If it was a long distance rather than a short distance event, I might have shouted and cheered from the excitement. So, the reason I was flustered wasn't because of his race...

"...Is it delicious?"

[ Calculating Cha Yeowoon's fondness. ]

[ Fondness: 5 ]

It was because of the food. Cha Yeowoon, who was diligently eating the dak-galbi, nodded as he looked at me. Maybe it was because he had cried a lot, but his eyes were a bit swollen, making him look even more adorable.

"Yeah. I'm glad it's delicious."

It was great that his fondness had increased. Finally entering the positive territory I had been hoping for was really great.

"Why aren't you eating, sunbae?"

"...I'll eat."

[ Calculating Cha Yeowoon's fondness. ]

[ Fondness: 8 ]

Diing–

The now familiar sound effect rang out cheerfully. My fondness would go up every time I did something. To the point it was really embarrassing. Just by saying something. No, even without saying anything.

Cha Yeowoon, who had been watching me with a fixed gaze, picked up his chopsticks and carefully distributed the cooked meat and cabbages onto the plate in front of me. It was a meticulous arrangement to ensure everything was included. Accompanying the stacked dak-galbi plate was Cha Yeowoon's attentive gaze. At the silent urging from him, I held up my chopsticks. The dak-galbi was spicy, salty, and delicious, but I couldn't savor it properly because my thoughts were elsewhere. Cha Yeowoon stopped eating and watched how much I ate.

"Y-Yeowoon?"

"Yes?"

"You should eat too."

"I'm eating."

"Well, okay...Even so, eat more. You need a full stomach for your workouts. You ran so hard today."

[ Calculating Cha Yeowoon's fondness. ]

[ Fondness: 11 ]

What did I do to make it increase again? It was absurdly easy. I questioned the purpose of all the effort and struggle I had been putting in until now. I knew when it had started. Earlier, when Cha Yeowoon was running, I also felt an overwhelming emotion. He had even cried, so it was strange that my fondness had increased. I hadn't expected it to rise steadily like this. Was it really great that I had come to cheer him on? I gave up quickly after thinking about it. In any case, it was good that he liked it.

"I'll have fried rice."

"Sunbae, if you want to eat, go ahead. I'll pay for it."

"I can't accept a meal from a child. After all, we're eating this as a post-match celebration."

"But track spikes are expensive."

Cha Yeowoon's cheeks flushed red as he said that. No matter how he blushed, he blushed beautifully. Was that what people meant by natural beauty?

"I heard that you bought it with your part-time salary."

"How do you know that?!"

"Cheong Sangwon said so."