Chapter 50: Uh, that’s new

Chapter 50 - Uh, that's new My hands on Ki-hoon's shoulders gradually tightened. As much as I wanted to hold my rage, he was making it so difficult with every word he said but I learned to let go and took my hands off his shoulder. "Of course, it's not my job, but I'm not doing this because I think of it as a chore," I said, placing my hands on his shoulders again and dropping my head on his shoulder, our eyes meeting very closely. "I'm doing this because you seem upset. Did I do something to upset you, Hyung?" The soft whisper of my voice caused him to look away. Sure enough, he couldn't handle me. But I was pretty shameless asking such a question as if I didn't already know what I did. But oh well, I was already pretty shameless when I decided to take these guys on when I knew who they were. You can't shame the shameless. "Jo-Pil," he called and I wrapped my arms around his neck warmly. "Yes, Hyung?" I answered warmly. How's that? How's that? You can't get mad at me now that I'm acting so affectionate with you, right? Does this bring out memories of your past? I hope it does because that's how I'm going to hold you by the collar and make you do my bidding. He held my arms around his neck tenderly, his mind drifting a little far off. Ki-hoon was conflicted, I could tell. He was mad when he sat there and knew he should stay mad till he got a proper apology from me, but he couldn't do that now that his heart was softening with my actions. I hadn't come up with an excuse yet so I couldn't apologize yet. If I could just convince him to forget about it, I would just worry about petting Min-Cheol a bit and he would forget about it. The only one left would then be Jin-Yeok, the main culprit. "Are you really mad at me?" I asked, softly. "You won't say anything anymore. I was going to thank you for getting me so many instant ramyeon when I left the kitchen but then I got startled by the dark gaze you were looking at me with. I thought... I had done something wrong. Hyung, did I really do something to make you mad?" Ki-hoon sighed. He couldn't stay mad no matter how hard he tried. "It's nothing, Jo-Pil," he said and turned me around. "Will you sit here?" He asked and I blinked. Uh, that's new. But, there was no harm there. I turned around and sat on Ki-hoon's lap. He wrapped his arms around me and buried his face in my back. I nearly flinched because it felt a little weird but I got comfortable in about half a minute. I could feel his hot breath against the fabric of my shirt. His breath was rough. How do I interpret this? "Please stay like this for a while," he whispered and I nodded. I take it that he's no longer mad at me but what to make of this situation? Was he lonely? Homesick? Me-sick? Well, he was definitely sick of something I just didn't know what it was. I had no idea what he had in his thoughts but with how he tightened his grip around my waist, I felt he was scared. I don't know if I misinterpreted it or something. I probably did, but that was how his actions came off to me. So, I thought about whether to reassure him to make him feel better. I had no plans to run away anyway, but what if I jumped to the wrong conclusion and he started to wonder if I had that thought that was why I was trying to assure him to get him off my tail. As much of a brute as he was, he was still incredibly smart. I couldn't underestimate his level of intelligence. He felt relaxed and eased his guard soon enough, and then I saw April with a tray of my ramyeon. As soon as she saw us, she paused where she was and I started crying inwardly. Ah, my ramyeon. My babies. I need you in my belly soon. But I couldn't tell Ki-hoon to get off me. What if he got mad and decided to throw out the rest of the instant ramyeon including the refrigerator? I could definitely see him doing that. Oh, I have an idea. "Hyung," I called and he raised his head. "Would you like to have ramyeon with me?" I asked and he looked at me surprised. Wait, what was this? Was there a plot I didn't know about? That sparkle in his eyes... Wasn't that when he got too emotional or something? Was Instant Ramyeon in our past, too? Well, I'll just pretend I didn't know about it. In fact, I absolutely don't know about it. I smiled and got up from his arms. I was prepared to have him tighten his grip but surprisingly, he released his grip. I beaconed April forward and she approached with the tray. She dropped it in front of me after I had taken a seat next to Ki-hoon. "Thank you," I said and saw that she had brought silver chopsticks. No, no, no, ramyeon definitely tasted better with wooden chopsticks. "Um, do we have wooden chopsticks?" I asked. "I feel it'll taste better if we use wooden chopsticks." At that point, I noticed Ki-hoon drop his elbows on the table and then bowed his head, his forehead resting on the back of his hands. What was this? What happened to him all of a sudden? "Hyung, are you okay?" I asked but he did not respond. Rather, he stayed like that. If he doesn't want to eat ramyeon, he can just let me know. I have no problem eating them all up. There's enough room in my belly. But something about his reaction was bugging me. Let's try this first. "Is it something about the chopsticks?" I asked and he slightly flinched. Ah, so it is about the chopsticks. "If you don't want to eat with wooden chopsticks, it's fine. It doesn't exactly change the taste. I just like to think so." I said but he shook his head and finally raised his head. "Jo-Pil, you're driving me mad, do you know?" Huh? Me? What did 'I' do? I only wanted to eat some instant ramyeon.