By Zephyria 
I moved my feet. Kwon Yi-tae subtly moved his head to match my movements. Seriously, what’s his problem now? It’s not like I woke him up. Or is it? Is my walking so cool that he can’t take his eyes off me? It would be a problem if he fell for me. Because I’m going to break up with you now.
“…Why. It’s not like I’m a paper door, it won’t break just because you’re glaring at me like that.”
“You’re late.”
“Uh-huh. I don’t have anything urgent. If I did, I would have come yesterday.”
I answered, lifting the blanket. The fact that Yi-tae has changed doesn’t mean much to me anymore, but that doesn’t mean I’m not disappointed. Even old friends feel sad if they don’t keep in touch. How could anyone be okay when a romantic relationship has deteriorated to this point? I need to make it clear that I’m in a bad mood.
Yi-tae closed his mouth again. He’s still not asking where I was or what I did. If it were the old days… No, if it were the old days, he would have contacted me as soon as his work hours were over. Until last year, he was even sad about me meeting friends. Yi-tae was the one who first suggested living together because he liked me so much. But not anymore.
I was still sleepy.
I was just getting ready for bed, but it was already past 12:30. Honestly, I wish he would stop talking to me now. He never usually asks, so why is he talking to me now when I’m tired? Is he just trying to mess with me by bringing up things I’m not really curious about and continuing the conversation?
I curled up under the blanket. I didn’t care whether Yi-tae was lying down or sitting there. The most important thing to me was sleep. My eyes were already half-closed, and I had to pull all the muscles in my forehead to keep them open.
‘Shit, no! Stop the wrinkles!’
I muttered curses unsuitable for my age under my breath and just closed my eyes. Just in case, I gently rubbed my forehead to smooth out the wrinkles. No matter how tired I am, taking care of my appearance is important.
I still felt like his gaze was pouring down on my face, but my mind was already half on the train to dreamland to care about that. No, one foot was already on board.
If I tell him in the morning, we won’t even see each other anyway…
I moved the muscles around my mouth, which had stopped working, while trying to use my sleepy brain.
“Text me if you have something to say.”
“……”
Yeah. This is right. Even a phone call is uncomfortable. I have to time it right. A text message seems simple and clean. The sharp gaze disappeared for a moment. I felt like my senses were dulled by sleep. Yi-tae seemed to understand the meaning of my words and didn’t say anything more.
I should go to that officetel one more time. Of course, I’ll contact a different place than Mr. Sparkle’s bald real estate tomorrow. Ah, but was that guy’s real estate called ‘Sparkle Real Estate’ because he was bald? Or did his forehead recede after he started using ‘Sparkle’?
Would it be rude to ask him next time? I should put it another way. ‘You look so handsome, just like the name of your real estate. Did you get it from your appearance?’ Hmm, that sounds good. It sounded like a very polite compliment. The stream of consciousness continued.
At some point, the thin stream of thought stopped and I fell into a deep sleep.
In my dream, the day Yi-tae and I first met was replayed. The old, worn-out tape with lots of stretched-out spots only projected a black screen as if the content had been erased at a certain point. I watched that boring movie, whose ending I knew, until just before sunrise. Today’s movie in the theater was a complete failure. Not even worth 1 star. Of course.
Even watching that scene didn’t make me flutter anymore.
Sunlight poured in through the window and my eyes popped open. The sun is up when I woke up? Hmm. Guess I missed my morning workout.
I stretched my arms and legs while still lying down. A cracking sound came from my waist. This is crazy. Goosebumps ran all over my body. I slowly tried to get up, but suddenly felt a gaze from the side. That can’t be? It was a similar feeling to last night. Very annoying.
“Oh.”
When I turned my head, I met Yi-tae’s eyes, who was staring at me. The short exclamation that came out of me in surprise seemed to have reached Yi-tae as well. Because Yi-tae’s eyes were shaking subtly. Did he get my bewilderment? What are you so embarrassed about? You were watching me stretch after I woke up.
“Hi.”
“……Oh.”
“Did your face change a little?”
“……No.”
“I mean it’s been a while.”
I lightly threw the words out and continued to stretch. Yi-tae’s face still hadn’t lost its embarrassment. It’s unnecessarily awkward. This is why I didn’t want to meet before breaking up.
I stared blankly at the second hand of the clock on the wall as it ticked. If I wash up and get ready, I definitely won’t have time to eat breakfast. Should I buy a sandwich from the company cafe on the way to work? I’ll have to get ready a little faster if I want to do that. I was about to get up, leaving Yi-tae sitting on the bed, when Yi-tae suddenly spoke to me.
“Do you have time to eat breakfast?”
“No. I didn’t know, but the company is quite far. I should have left yesterday.”
“You… Why are you talking in circles again when you haven’t been doing that lately.”
“Oh, really? I didn’t know. I thought I was always like this these days. It’s amazing that you, who I talk to after a few days, know me better than I do, who I’m with every day. I’m so unfamiliar with you that I thought this was an escape room cafe. To add in case you don’t understand, it means I want to escape this room right now.”
“……”
I didn’t put any emotion into that long sentence. Since you told me not to talk in circles, I have no choice but to speak directly. I wasn’t the type to speak nicely in the first place. I wasn’t someone who could be considerate of others or speak gently, thinking about the hurt that person might receive.
Sometimes those words stabbed the other person very sharply, and I apologized as soon as I realized that I had hurt them. But if Yi-tae is hurt by my words now… That means you’re the one who feels guilty, it’s not my fault.
“You eat slowly by yourself.”
I said without looking back at him. I didn’t have any urgent tasks to handle today, so it seemed like I could have a relaxing day. Okay, let’s see. This knit is cute and cheerful. I took out the clothes and underwear I would wear today and left the room.
Until then, Yi-tae hadn’t moved at all. I couldn’t even hear the sound of the blanket rustling. Ugh, uncomfortable. As expected, it’s best to have the company and home close. I felt sad that I couldn’t eat breakfast.
I closed the door. Leaving only Yi-tae there.
Next week, Yi-tae will be the only one left in this house. If I’m going to have a lover as a tenant, I should at least get rent. It was a perfectly 50/50 co-owned house. Even if I tried to sell the house without my knowledge, it would be close to impossible. Because I need a seal to sell it.
Still, I should write a contract to prevent any possible fraud. I should take all my things out and write it at the end. I should also get it notarized by a Hyung I know.
Of course, selling this house to Yi-tae would be the cleanest option, but why would I give up a house that lays golden eggs now! Who would I want to please? I’ll hold on as much as possible. The price could still go up here. Because the location is the best. It was a complete prime location.
Thinking about it again, I was definitely in a relationship where I was losing out. Of course, it wasn’t a loss at the time, but it is now. I could feel that fact to the bone now that I had to waste more than an hour commuting without even eating breakfast.
I should break up.
Like a small decision in an unremarkable daily life, a gently flowing thought filled my heart. There was no hesitation in that resolution. Putting an end to our relationship was such an obvious conclusion.
∗ ∗ ∗
Today, I didn’t stop by the house and went to see properties from other real estate agencies. I’m going to sign a contract for at least 2 years, so I didn’t want to choose a mediocre house. Of course, I was extra careful. I looked into it more thoroughly than I did my work.
Even while looking at the houses, I often thought about Yi-tae. He was really weird this morning. I asked him if he had anything to say because he was following me around while I was washing up and getting ready for work. He only did that when we were really lovey-dovey. I wasn’t uncomfortable because I was used to this situation, but it was still new. Yi-tae was frustrated for a long time, but eventually closed his mouth.
Ah.
Could it be that he was going to talk about wanting to break up?
Well, it’s not an easy topic to talk about. It’s really time for Yi-tae to transfer now. If he’s been in the Dating phase for that long, he should start dating soon. Of course, it’s an immoral Dating phase during a relationship.
Originally, you’re not in your right mind when you fall in love. I was like that too. I was so blinded that I gave up everything I had and chose Yi-tae. It took us 7 years to go from knowing each other to dating. We didn’t just have a Dating phase during that time, but anyway, I wanted Yi-tae to make a decision quickly. Before I say it first.
My mood drew a subtle curve.
“Sigh.”
I didn’t get anything out of today than yesterday.
I arrived home early because I went to see the properties right after work. Mr. Sparkle seemed to have good properties for sure. All the houses I saw today were in worse condition and more expensive than yesterday.
In fact, not a single house met the conditions I presented. I’m never going to contact them again. There’s a limit to how much you can rip someone off. It was right to look around to find out the market price even if it was a bad property, but I couldn’t help but feel like I had wasted my time.
I checked my phone on the way up to the house. There were no urgent matters, and even if there were, they would have contacted me like crazy, so I wasn’t particularly worried. Besides, Yi-tae, who used to be obsessed with contacting me, was gone, so there was nothing to worry about. I wanted to spend my time looking at the houses completely. Not a past lover.
…Huh?
When did he text me?
I had a message from Yi-tae. And it was at a pretty early hour. I blinked in confusion. It was so unexpected that it even felt fresh. He was so weird since this morning, so he must have had something to say.
[When are you coming?] Kwon Yi-tae 20:12