Chapter 1 Part 5 There was no need to explain how completely useless Saebyeok was to my life.
Right. Like that kindergarten play.
"I don't want Haneul. I want to be paired with Saebyeok!" I still vividly remembered the day a girl who I had thought was the closest to me in our class abandoned me and ran to Saebyeok.
Saebyeok was already so used to girls like that that he did not even seem bothered.
"Why are you partnering with Saebyeok instead of me?"
This was the answer I got back when I worked up the courage to ask.
"But Saebyeok is the prince."
"But in the end, didn't you and Saebyeok get paired together that time?" My older sister's triumphant voice cut in.
That was true. There were many girls who wanted to be paired with Saebyeok, but there was only one Saebyeok. While the princesses raised their little fists like fern shoots and cried in search of the prince, Saebyeok quietly blocked the princesses' path.
Leaving the girls behind, Saebyeok walked straight over to me, took my hand, and declared, "I'm going to partner with Haneul."
My older sister grabbed my hand and lowered her voice as she said, "Saebyeok said that."
"And you only remember things like this?"
"It's something Mom says all the time, so how could I not remember? It's seriously funny. The girls were crying, you and Saebyeok were practicing the couple dance together, and some prince was dancing with Tree Number One."
"Do you know how much those girls hated me afterward because I got paired with Saebyeok?"
"Kids are so cute."
"They were cute to you. I was terrified. That was when I learned how scary girls could be."
Let's say kindergarten was just a cute memory.
But as Saebyeok and I grew up, the problem grew in proportion to Saebyeok's popularity. There was nothing cute about it. Not one thing.
For example, my first heartbreak in middle school.
"I like you." I confessed while handing over the flower, but I got rejected after only a month.
"I'm sorry, Haneul. I want us to stay friends. There's already someone I like."
And the reason was that she liked someone else.
"So you didn't like me...?"
"Not really."
"Then why did you ask me for my number, contact me every day, and ask what I was doing on weekends...?" I had grounds to protest too.
In the end, it wasn't as if I had gotten ahead of myself all on my own and confessed out of some delusion. She took my number first and contacted me every day, so wasn't it even stranger to think she had no interest in me?
No, if she really had no interest in me, then why?
"Well, that's..." After hesitating for a moment, she soon dropped the cold truth. "Actually, I was curious about what Saebyeok was doing. Saebyeok only hangs out with you. Even on weekends he's always with you."
It felt like a gigantic sledgehammer had crashed down on my head.
So the reason she asked where I was going and what I was doing was all because of Saebyeok? She wasn't curious about me, but about Saebyeok?
"It's the same as when you were in kindergarten. Well, Saebyeok's just popular. Isn't this the sort of thing that happens every day or two?" My older sister cut me off again without a shred of sympathy.
"I'm talking right now. Your little brother got dumped because of Saebyeok. Don't you feel bad for me?"
"Men with lots of admirers are the worst. What can you do if she likes Saebyeok? Handsome guys are treated like treasures."
"Listen to me. This isn't the end of it."
There had been three or four similar incidents after that, but I'll boldly omit them. They all followed the same pattern anyway, so there was nothing worth saying. The only fool was me, steadily misunderstanding things every time.
So my first girlfriend was the first person who confirmed for me that there were girls who liked me, not Yeo Saebyeok.
And now, at long last, high school.
"Haneul, I'm sorry, but we should break up."
This was the fresh, still-warm heartbreak my first girlfriend, Seong Jiyeong, dealt me on the way home yesterday.
"Suddenly? This is a joke, right?"
I truly didn't want to believe it. I kept waiting for Jiyeong to burst into laughter and say, Of course it's a joke. You actually believed that?
But there wasn't even the slightest trace of a smile on Jiyeong's face.
"Why?"
Was it because I replied late since I was exercising? But I always told her exactly how long training would last. Was it because I wore that fluorescent hoodie on our date, the one Jiyeong said was a bit much? I threw that hoodie away that very day. Was it because my spelling was wrong? That was why I'd been reading books diligently these days.
"I ended up liking someone else instead of you." Jiyeong looked straight at me and spoke as if she felt sorry.
For some reason, I felt like I had been through a similar situation before. Consistently, about four times.
I barely managed to part my trembling lips.
"Who is it?"
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