Chapter 87.2

Chapter 87.2

But in the middle of the night, a strange sensation woke her up. Miran found André’s face buried between her legs. Tormented until dawn, she finally fell asleep.

In the morning, Miran could barely open her eyes, groaning with exhaustion. André, eyes fierce, threatened her to stay home and rest. But she insisted on not missing class and dragged herself out, though she soon regretted it.

Her n#ppl.3s chafed against her br,@, the swelling between her legs made walking awkward, red kiss marks dotted her embarrassing places, and her knees, bruised from hitting the marble floor, were blue.

She quickened her pace, desperate to get home and lie down. Just before entering the subway station, her phone rang in her bag. André had said he’d be busy with late nights for the next two weeks, so she was surprised he’d call now.

‘If he offers to pick me up, I won’t say no today.’

She flipped open her phone.

“Hello?”

A familiar voice warmly called out to her from the other end of the receiver.

― Kang-gun!

“…Seunghyuk-oppa?”

Wondering how he got her number, she remembered exchanging numbers with Hyunjung yesterday.

― How’ve you been? Heard you went to D.C. Nam Hyunjung was singing about your boyfriend picking you up in a sports car like it’s a jingle.

“Huh? Yeah, haha…”

Miran laughed awkwardly, trailing off, and Seunghyuk continued.

“I heard you had a cellphone, so I got your number from Nam Hyunjung. I need to ask you something.”

“I was going to call you first anyway…”

Truthfully, she’d forgotten about Seunghyuk. Every time she saw her Supreme T-shirt, she thought about treating him to a meal but kept missing the chance. She felt a little guilty.

― When? Were you planning on doing it after you returned to Korea?

“No. What should I do? It’s not really like that…”

When Miran was flustered and didn’t know what to do, he burst out laughing.

― Kidding. Where are you now?

“Just finished class and was on my way to catch the subway.”

― Really? Then, can you spare me a minute right now?”

“Right now?”

She stepped slightly aside at the subway entrance, with a hand pressing on her sore back.

― Is it too sudden? If today’s a tough day, when is a good time for you?”

Miran thought it over. She hadn’t made any plans because she planned to rest today, and André would be too busy to even have dinner with her for about two weeks. If she owed Seunghyuk a meal, today wasn’t a bad day to settle it.

“… Today’s fine. Where should I go?”

― I’ll be there. It’s near Koreatown, so it won’t take long. Let’s grab coffee.

—

Seunghyuk led Miran to a new Starbucks near the Empire State Building. Lately, Starbucks seemed to pop up everywhere in Manhattan, like some endlessly multiplying alien lifeform.

Miran insisted on buying Seunghyuk coffee. He opened the plastic lid, gulping down half the iced black coffee, and grinned mischievously.

“Are you trying to make up for it with this?”

“No! I’ll buy you food too, though I can’t afford anything too fancy…”

Miran trailed off with an embarrassed smile and Seunghyuk shook his head.

“I’m just kidding. This is enough.”

“It’s already cold inside because of the air conditioning, but isn’t that coffee too cold? I was going to buy you something delicious…”

“I drink this even in winter. And I don’t really like adding anything to my coffee.”

What a weird taste.

Sipping her warm, syrupy latte, Miran glanced at the icy black coffee in front of Seunghyuk.

Traditionally, the best way to enjoy iced coffee was in the peak of summer, after the rainy season in August, pouring sweet instant coffee and hot water into a large bowl, letting it cool in the fridge, and then drinking it with ice cubes floating.

She couldn’t understand what it was like to drink pitch-black coffee with ice.

Then again, André’s coffee taste was even stranger than Seunghyuk. He drank concentrated coffee, brewed as bitter as herbal medicine, filling a small shot glass to the brim. What was it called? Espesso….?

Seunghyuk’s question snapped her out of her thoughts.

“Last year at Julia’s, you said you were in Director Jung Byung-jin’s new film, right? How did it all go?”

Caught off guard, Miran opened her mouth then lowered her head.