Even If It’s Not Love - Chapter 48-1

Plod, plod.

When the wind stopped, she heard footsteps that she hadn’t heard until now. She got goosebumps in the back of her neck at the sound that seemed to have been made deliberately as if to make her notice it. While all her nerves were on edge, Yoo-hwa slowly turned her head.

A man slowly walked out of the alley that was dark like a mire. Yoo-hwa was noticeably tense, like a person who encountered an animal coming out of a cave.

A black coat, black leather gloves, and black hair covering his forehead. The only bright area was his cold face. The pupils in his coldly frowning eyes were colored black.

Woo-hyun’s gaze went from Yoo-hwa to Dong-min. As their eyes met, Dong-min’s lips moved slightly.

The man in front of him clearly gave off a dangerous and complicated atmosphere, but he had a refined elegance that went beyond the label of gangster or scoundrel.

He didn’t do anything so it was weird to run away, but it felt dangerous to stand watching. Overwhelmed by the feeling of being at a loss that he was experiencing for the first time, Dong-min hardened like a stone.

“M-Miss Yoo-hwa.”

Amid that, Dong-min reached out his hands as he barely called Yoo-hwa. He pathetically reached out his fingers as if to grab Yoo-hwa.

“Yoo-hwa.”

At the same time, Woo-hyun called. Yoo-hwa’s eyes, which had been looking at the approaching Dong-min’s hands, became blurred. It was the voice that she heard in her dreams, that lingered around her ears every now and then.

Yoo-hwa’s gaze turned to Woo-hyun. At the same time, Dong-min’s hands that were heading towards her stopped. Dong-min looked puzzled at the fact that Yoo-hwa and the man knew each other.

“Is something wrong?”

It was only after Yoo-hwa asked that Woo-hyun’s gaze fell from Dong-min. Woo-hyun’s head was still facing forward, and only his eyes moved gently. Even after their eyes met, Woo-hyun didn’t say a word. Yoo-hwa, who let out a small sigh, looked at Dong-min.

“Go back first.”

“Excuse me, Miss Yoo-hwa. Is he…”

Dong-min carefully said, briefly glancing at Woo-hyun’s face. After mustering up all the courage he had, and the courage he didn’t have, and speaking, Dong-min’s body was slightly arched as if he had already been beaten.

Yoo-hwa shook her head.

“… He’s someone I know.”

Yoo-hwa said briefly, after thinking for a long time about what to call Woo-hyun.

Someone she knows. Belatedly realizing that she had no choice but to introduce Woo-hyun as ‘someone she knows’, no matter what complicated meaning he has to her, Yoo-hwa held back the fake laugh that was about to come out. At the same time, Woo-hyun’s eyes hardened slightly.

“Really?”

Dong-min asked, as if he couldn’t believe it. Dong-min asked with his eyes how on earth she knew someone who gave off such a dangerous atmosphere.

“Yes, he’s really someone I know. So you should go. It’s late.”

When Yoo-hwa said goodbye as if drawing a line, Dong-min reluctantly took a step back.

“Miss Yoo-hwa, do you…”

Dong-min looked at Woo-hyun’s face and asked furtively.

“It’s my business.”

“…”

“I hope you don’t concern yourself with it anymore.”

When Yoo-hwa spoke decisively as if telling him not to speak anymore, Dong-min stiffened.

“… I understand. I’m sorry. See you tomorrow.”

After emphasizing the words ‘see you tomorrow’, Dong-min looked at Woo-hyun. The look on his face didn’t change from before, but his gaze looking at him was even sharper.

Dong-min glanced at him nonstop until just before he turned the corner. When he finally disappeared completely, a heavy silence flowed into the dark alley.

The moment their eyes met felt like an eternity. The air that was flowing, the ground they were standing on, and the dark sky felt different than before, even though they were clearly the same.

Through the silence, she could hear a noise that she hadn’t heard before. It was a dull sound that seemed to be screams and weapons. Realizing that the sound was not irrelevant to the reason why he had come all the way here, Yoo-hwa faced Woo-hyun.

“… Is something wrong?”

Yoo-hwa stared in the direction of the sound and asked calmly.

“Hide for a while.”

Yoo-hwa’s head tilted to the side when he gave her an unexpected answer. Yoo-hwa, who was scanning Woo-hyun’s face as if trying to figure out what he meant, finally opened her mouth.

“So, you want me to move?”

When she asked if she had heard correctly, Woo-hyun nodded his head lightly.

“Yeah. I prepared a house for you in advance. You can stay there until things calm down.”

Hearing that Woo-hyun had gotten a house for her, Yoo-hwa let out a fake laugh.

“Why should I do that?”

Yoo-hwa calmly asked.

“There was a misunderstanding.”

“What kind of misunderstanding happened for people to be making this fuss and asking me to move out?”

“…”

“Is it a misunderstanding that’s difficult to say?”

“… They think of you as my person. That’s why they pushed in.”

Yoo-hwa understood what that meant at once. Someone who didn’t like Woo-hyun was trying to attack her, thinking she was his woman. And Woo-hyun called it a misunderstanding.

He was right. She was nothing to Woo-hyun now. Maybe she was nothing from the beginning.