“Just kidding.”

Won was frozen. When the adults around her used to say they were scared of children, she didn’t understand what they meant, but now she thinks she does. She doesn’t think she’ll be able to handle kids even now that she is an adult.

“If I had a smartphone, I would’ve taken a picture. A specimen of stupidity? That’s exactly what I felt like.”

There is nothing a kid can’t say.

Won was baffled, but she let it go. Kids are cheeky by nature. If there was ever a time for adult tolerance, this was it.

When Won didn’t say anything, Ju-hee softly asked.

“Aren’t you angry?”

She thought she might’ve gone too far.

“Why would I be angry?”

Won calmly replied, implying Ju-hee didn’t need to worry. Won thought she would be happy, but she seemed offended instead.

“You’re going to be mad at him.”

Ju-hee left the room feeling sick. Won thought about how she didn’t understand kids nowadays.

Later that evening, Won’s second problem came.

“I think you should go out with me.”

Black Cat confessed to her in the main hall with a microphone.

The patients were ready to celebrate the exciting turn of events; it was clearly written all over their faces. If it weren’t for her job, Won would have reached for the popcorn, feeling like she was in a movie.

Won recalled how she found herself in this situation.

She could feel Black Cat’s eyes on her as she ate dinner and she felt frustrated.

Later, the nurses’ told her to gather the snacks because they would have karaoke tonight, so she went to the main hall.

The irregular karaoke night was popular among the patients. Naturally, the participation rate is high. Some patients enjoy shaking their tambourines while singing, others just like the atmosphere, and some are more interested in sharing the snacks. In short, it was like a little festival in the closed ward.

Won was soullessly shaking her tambourine in the corner. Top Dog and Ju-hee were absent. Black Cat was present, but doing nothing, sitting by himself as if he were alone with all the world’s troubles. It was clear that the events that had transpired earlier didn’t make sense to him.

‘I wish I could explain myself, but…’

She blankly stared at Black Cat for a long time as she thought about it, too, but she didn’t see any signals from him.

Even when Black Cat’s eyes widened a little at the moment of eye contact, and suddenly became determined, Won just assumed he was surprised.

“There’s someone I’d like to share this song with.”

When he grabbed the microphone and said that, she should have run away without looking back. She sat there with complacency, believing it would never happen, while a shiver of foreboding ran down her spine. It was the beginning of her misfortune.

No, it was an accident that could have been avoided if she had left the room when he was fidgeting and pondering after a song.

His euphemism for a ballad made him a little nervous for some reason. His fists clenched and unclenched, his lower lip quivered, and his eyes squeezed shut and opened. Then, he fumbled out his confession.

She can’t say he did it. It was nothing short of a slap to the face with the surprise timing.

Won squeezed her eyes shut.

‘Why are these bastards doing this to me?’

Being publicly called out and confessed to, twice in one day, made her head spin. She could consider it a mental attack.

Pulling herself together, Won tried to deduce Black Cat’s motives. He is a clever man, so he must have a good reason.

‘To naturally get close to me?’

Since he didn’t know what was going on, this would give him a reason to approach. It wasn’t a bad choice, except for the fact it was Won’s second public confession.

‘Why do I have to be the center of a soap opera-like love triangle?’

She felt like a monkey in a zoo, getting stared at everywhere she went.

Now, when Ju-hee asked her who her favorite man is, she could confidently choose Target. At least he didn’t embarrass her like this in public.

With the crowd waiting to see what she said, Won reluctantly opened her mouth.

“… I’ll think about it.”

***

“I heard the other one confessed last night.”

Top Dog whirled around the next day and said that. From the way he was smiling, she could deduce he knew how much she hated being the receiver of a public confession.

It would be hard not to know unless there were some mitigating circumstances, but since he did, he was beyond redemption.

Won seriously considered how long it had been since she wanted to punch someone so much.

“But I’m better, right? You didn’t sing, did you?”

Top Dog felt like he secretly beat Black Cat. Won didn’t know what would make him think he was so superior.

“He just sang some other song, instead.”

“Was he pretty good?”

Black Cat’s singing ability was mediocre. Top Dog’s comments were worse than his singing, but Won had no inclination to explain it to the man in front of her, so she let it slide. Verbal sparring was not her cup of tea.

“So,” Top Dog began, taking the wrapper off the lollipop, “you’re not going out with that asshole? Ditching me for him?”

“I never chose you in the first place, so there is no ditching. You keep saying ‘oppa, oppa, oppa,’ but how old are you? What if I’m older?”

That was highly unlikely. Won is more familiar with wikis than the Encyclopedia Britannica, but she was tired of listening to his “oppa” tirades, so she decided to pretend to be older.

If Top Dog revealed his age first, Won would say she was that age. She wouldn’t be able to seem like she was older than him. If he said he was some ridiculous age because he didn’t want to lose, she would do the same.

‘If he says he’s 50, then I’m 50. If he says he’s 70, I’m 70.’

Won patiently waited for an answer. Whether he realized there was no way to win or not, he said nothing. Inside, Won was sure she won.

“That’s good.”

“What’s good?”

“I think there’s a little haze in front of my sweetheart’s eyes.”

“What…”

“I have been told I look like a foreigner.”

Won couldn’t understand what he was saying.

“My face, which you said you didn’t really like, will look incredibly handsome soon, right?”

He was a force to be reckoned with.¹ im going to be honest because i still dont really understand what these past few lines meant

Won furrowed her brow as she watched him wrestle with the plastic wrapper from the lollipop.

“… You don’t think I could be older?”

“Um, no.”

“Why?”

“Because I thought you were like a baby, so I was going to teach you and gently eat you. Now that you say you’re all grown up, I’ll eat it as I like.”

Won’s eyes twitched at his brazenness. Gently eat who? Teach her what?

“What did I need to learn?”

Won blurted in disbelief, and Top Dog stood up and popped the lollipop into her mouth without asking. A fresh, sweet, orange flavor exploded in her mouth. She blinked in surprise, and then he started to speak.

“Eat this to calm your temper, sweetheart.”

As he eagerly tried to peel off the wrapper, Won wondered if Top Dog actually craved candy.

Sometimes cans do not open, bottle caps won’t budge, or a milk carton won’t crack. As he struggled to unwrap the part of it that was stuck to the end of the lollipop, Won wondered if he really needed to eat it. If she was him, she would just throw it away because it was annoying.

‘I can’t believe you’re giving me something that you tried so hard to get rid of.’

Won felt weird.

“Why did you give this to me? Weren’t you going to eat it?”

“It’s the taste I wanted to feed you.”

“Not because it’s a flavor you don’t like?”

Won asked, feeling suspicious at his unexpected generosity. Top Dog’s reply was nonchalant.

“It’s my favorite flavor.”

“Then why give me this one?”

“Because you’re pretty?”

It’s been a while since she had such a context-free conversation. Without a second thought, Won rolled the orange-flavored candy around in her mouth.

It’s been a while since she ate candy. Maybe around ten years?

It wasn’t that she didn’t like it, but she didn’t feel the need to buy it, so she never ate it. If she had to eat something sweet, she preferred chocolate. She had been under a lot of stress since she entered the ward, so the sweetness of the candy wasn’t bad.

She felt alive, or should she say, like water seeping into the ground of a drought-parched earth.

‘It’s good.’

Won can’t help but smile with satisfaction.

Top Dog spoke up.

“Do you like it?”

His voice was a little slurred. Won, who was in an unusually good mood, agreed.

“Yeah, it’s good.”

“What can I say? You’re smiling so pretty while sucking on that thing, it’s making me want to taste it.”

Top Dog turned back into his usual character, and Won shrugged. It was too late for him to regret giving her the candy since it was in her mouth.

“You shouldn’t have given it to me, because I’ll just ea-”

A slightly excited Won was halfway into her sentence when Top Dog took advantage of the momentary gap in her mouth to grab the candy and pull it out.

She panicked and was about to say something when it was taken away from her. He coldly shoved the candy into his own mouth. He smirked as he tasted the candy, covered in her saliva.

“Delicious.”

 Kofi 

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  im going to be honest because i still dont really understand what these past few lines meant