My Ex-Girlfriend Regrets Dumping Me

23 – Impatient heart (5)

“……You’re so charming even without this kind of gift.”

After uttering these words, I felt a bit uncomfortable. But I didn’t have a skillful way to convey my sincerity without being too straightforward.

I was just honestly expressing my thoughts to Jia.

“What? What do you mean…”

“Exactly. Well, you know. I think love shouldn’t be a race.”

Wanting to quickly get closer to the other person. Or fearing that someone else might take them away. For whatever reason, excessively doing good things for the other person will wear you out.

And it will also create abnormal expectations and fantasies in the other person.

So, after running for a while, you will then hear that you’ve changed.

“And Jia, you are cute.”

“…What? Why are you saying this all of sudden?”

“I felt it from the first time we met. Your face, your brightness, your purity, it makes me happy to be with you.”

“……Oppa, wait a minute.”

As my serious compliments continued, Jia blushed and looked around with embarrassment.

She seemed unexpectedly weak to compliments.

She seemed worried that someone might be listening to our conversation.

What’s wrong with hearing a little praise? I’m not lying.

“You also dress with good taste, and you have a kind personality, you speak so beautifully. And your voice, it’s so sweet.”

“……Oppa, please. Stop. Enough now.”

As the compliments continued, her cheeks turned even redder.

It was as if she was receiving compliments for the first time in her life.

I continued, thinking that I could even cook a steak on her blushing cheeks.

“So, I guess you must be popular with guys, right? In reality?”

“…To a certain extent…yes.”

Well, it was probably natural after all.

If a charming girl like Jia doesn’t have popularity, then other girls won’t be able to date either.

“And no matter what you think, I’m the one who’s unpopular with girls?”

“…”

“Jia, if you think about it, shouldn’t I be the one who’s impatient, not you?”

Jia pursed her lips tightly and muttered softly in response to my words.

“…Big brother might not like me that much. As much as I like him.”

Sigh. What should I do with this girl?

With such cluelessness, do I really have to explain everything verbally?

“If I didn’t like you, would I be sitting here with you? Acting like a couple, feeding each other food?”

“…Of course not.”

Maybe I remembered the incident from before, but my face is starting to heat up.

But soon, I regain my composure and continue speaking to Jia.

“Ahem. Anyway, so you’re disappointed in me? Because I didn’t pursue you with gifts like you did, impatiently approaching?”

“Huh? No. There’s no reason to be disappointed.”

“Then did you want to leave me and meet someone else because you don’t like me anymore?”

She tilted her head slightly and said to me.

“No. It’s not like that. If anything, my feelings have grown stronger…”

“Yeah. I feel the same way about you, Jia.”

“…”

“You don’t have to force yourself like that. I won’t stop liking you or run away. So don’t burden yourself with me.”

I looked straight into her eyes.

So that she can feel that my words aren’t just empty, but sincere.

So that she knows that every word I say is not mere talk.

“…If anything, my feelings have grown stronger. Understand?”

“…Yes. I understand.”

Jia’s wavering pupils regained their calmness in an instant.

And then, with her head lowered, she faintly smiled.

I couldn’t tell how much my words affected her.

Because thoughts are not easily changed by someone’s words.

However, I could only believe that she understood my words.

“Then, the story ends here. I’ll give you back your wallet, so let’s go return it.”

“Ah, yes.”

Finally, she looked at the black box in front of her.

Her eyes still contained a hint of lingering regret, but soon the box disappeared into her bag.

Seeing her effort to listen to my words, I felt strangely touched.

“…”

And so, the meal continued in an even more awkward atmosphere than before.

I felt a bit embarrassed as if I had lectured her for no reason.

I wondered if I had ruined the mood because of me.

“Oppa.”

“Yes?”

“Thank you. Thank you for saying those things thinking of me.”

“No, it’s nothing. Now that I think about it, I feel like I was being unnecessarily nosy. You must have had your own thoughts too.”

“Oh no, you said those things for me.”

Taking a forkful of pasta into her mouth, Jia swallowed what was in her mouth.

And then, naturally, she said something to me.

“…Oppa, you’re really a good person.”

That was our last conversation at the restaurant.

*

Splash!

The sound of warm water pouring from the shower abruptly ceases.

Jia steps out of the bathroom, drying her body, and quickly changes into her pajamas.

She then makes her way to her familiar bedroom and lays down on the bed.

“…How cute.”

Returning home after parting ways with Gunyul, Jia feels that the stories she heard from him today are lingering in her mind.

Why he finds her cute, why her cheerful personality makes him feel good.

Words of praise like that.

“hehehe. hehehehe.”

Unknowingly, a light-hearted laugh escapes her lips.

Jia flipped her body over and buried her face in the pillow, letting out a scream.

“Ah! How could you do that? Oppa. If you speak so kindly to me, how am I supposed to sleep tonight! Take responsibility. That’s what taking responsibility means.”

It wasn’t because she had just finished showering.

The reason her face was burning hot and her heart pounding.

She thought she could distinguish things like this too.

This was a phenomenon that occurred to her every time she thought of Geonyul.

“This is crazy. This is crazy. How can someone be so cool?”

Like a fangirl happily imagining her favorite male idol.

By pounding on the pillow with her fist, she expressively revealed the overwhelming emotions welling up inside her.

This was a side of her that could never be shown in front of Geonyul.

How could she show him such a frivolous side?

– …You’re attractive enough even without such gifts.

He said it was okay not to try so hard.

If his words were true, then she was a being who was deserving of love just as she is.

His warm words seemed to fill a corner of Jia’s empty heart.

She always believed that love must be constantly worked for in order to be obtained.

She lived thinking that it was only natural and right.

Today, through Geonyul, she realized that she was wrong.

But still, she didn’t feel bad at all. On the contrary, her heart fluttered.

Now, there was nothing left but to be loved by him.

And she looked at the black box sitting on her desk.

Even his consideration, telling her to return the wallet out of concern for Jia’s life, added to his charm.

…Is this what it means to fall in love again?

She already liked Geonyul, but the more they met, the more she wanted to have him.

To the point where she was scared of what would happen if it got any better.

His personality, appearance, hobbies—there wasn’t a single thing about him that Jia didn’t like.

“…I want to see him again.”

As Jia thought about him, she longed to see Geonyul’s face.

But come to think of it, she didn’t have a single photo with Geonyul.

Jia made up her mind to take a picture with him next time, and thought of a good way to do it by rolling her head.

“Yeah. KakaoTalk profile.”

Usually, people put their own photos on their profiles.

With the thought that Geon-yul would have done the same, she opened her phone.

She scrolled through her friends list to find Geon-yul’s name.

“…Oh. Why did you not upload any pictures? Oppa.”

Geon-yul’s profile picture was blank.

No pictures were uploaded.

But she didn’t give up.

In the past, her recorded profile pictures often remained.

Jia also didn’t bother to delete them one by one, and often forgot to.

She pressed on Geon-yul’s profile and tried to drag it sideways.

“Oh. It’s there.”

As her liking for him grew, Jia’s curiosity about Geon-yul also grew stronger.

She wanted to know more about him.

What he liked and what friends he hung out with.

Perhaps, the pictures were a good way to pry into his private life.

“Wow. This is cute. This one is good too.”

As she continued to slide, his past photos kept appearing.

Pictures of him drinking at a bar with friends, taking pictures somewhere on a trip.

And even a photo of him with a military cut, maybe taken when he was on vacation from the army.

And then, after a few minutes.

As Jia looked through his pictures with interest, she came across one picture at the very end.

A picture of his face, which she didn’t really want to see.

“Oppa. Did you have a girlfriend before?”

It was a picture of him standing next to a woman, locking lips with her.

Geon-yul looked so happy.

Looking at that, Jia felt a strange sense of discomfort.

He said he’s single now, so she’s probably his ex-girlfriend.

Just seeing him look happy with another woman made her heart ache.

Irritation suddenly filled her.

“…Ah.”

The good mood that had been there instantly vanished.

She had been feeling great until now, why was this picture suddenly showing up?

As she had been thinking about deleting her profile, the face of the woman next to her caught her attention.

“…I feel like I’ve seen this person somewhere before.”

Where could she have seen her?

She began to ponder deeply.

And after a long time and much contemplation, she realized who it was.

“It’s that person. From before.”

The woman was the one she had encountered at the crosswalk with Gunyul last time.

The one who had begged her to tell her brother once.

…That woman was her brother’s ex-girlfriend?

A feeling of unease passed through her spine.