Leave the Hero's Ex-Girlfriend Alone! - Chapter 24

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This chapter was translated by Lunox Novels. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com
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Leave Hero’s ex-girlfriend alone!
EP24
Today is finally discharge day.
The IV drip I’d been hooked up to like a second limb was gone, and so were the nurse’s cheerful visits.
“It’s really over now!”
I stepped out of the room and walked slowly down the hallway.
Every checkup, every physical therapy session, every test, and even all the pointless things that guy had insisted on bringing over, drifted through my mind one by one.
The elevator doors slid open, and the first-floor lobby came into view.
Maybe it was because I’d finally settled a worry that had been weighing on me for so long.
The moment I stepped out through the main entrance, my toes felt strangely light.
It’s now or never!
“Alright, my mind’s made up! Now it’s just a matter of doing it!”
I clenched my fist and shouted.
Passersby probably thought I’d lost my mind, but who cares.
I’d just made the most important decision of my life, after all.
“First, I’ll go home and drop off my things-”
“Why are you out already?”
I turned around, and Alpha was standing right behind me.
He was squinting a little against the sunlight.
“Wait, when did you get here?”
Alpha closed the distance in long strides, his hands shoved into his pockets.
“Did you think I wouldn’t come?”
“No, it’s just… nothing.”
I scratched my cheek and looked away.
The sudden closeness made my breath catch.
“Congratulations on getting discharged.”
“Uh… yeah, thanks.”
Now that I’d made up my mind, I felt even more awkward.
They say a thief’s guilty conscience gives him away, don’t they?
And that’s exactly what I looked like right now.
“Give it here.”
Alpha swiped the bag I was carrying from my shoulder, almost as if he were snatching it.
“I’m fine, you know.”
I said it, but I didn’t put up much of a fight.
Alpha strode ahead with my bag in hand.
I lagged a step behind for no good reason and watched his back.
Deep down, I was pleased by how effortlessly he looked after me.
It was a short walk from the hospital’s front entrance to the parking lot.
My heart grew as warm as the scorching sunlight pouring down on me.
‘Calm down. Seriously, calm down!’
I chanted it to myself dozens of times and quickened my steps.
Alpha stopped in front of the car, opened the back door, and tossed the bag inside with a light thump.
Then he walked back around to the passenger side and opened the door for me as naturally as anything.
“Get in.”
“O-okay.”
I answered awkwardly and was about to sit down, but when he saw me fumbling, he snickered.
“You need to buckle up.”
Then he leaned over, intending to fasten my seatbelt himself.
“No, no, it’s fine. I can do it myself!”
I waved my hands frantically, but his fingers had already snapped the buckle into place with a click.
“Hup!”
The scent of him rushed in all at once, and my breath caught in my throat.
When the door shut with a thud, something else in my chest gave a thud of its own.
I sat in the passenger seat and gave my cheek a sharp slap.
“Don’t get carried away. Unless you want to end up back in the hospital with your heart overheating.”
Click.
The driver’s door opened, and Alpha got in.
I hurriedly lowered my hand.
I could feel the heat still lingering on my face.
Alpha said nothing, settled into the driver’s seat, fastened his belt in one smooth motion, and then turned his head toward me.
“What’s wrong? Why are you acting like that?”
“Oh, it’s nothing. Just… well, it’s hot today.”
For some reason, I couldn’t treat him the way I usually did.
Maybe it was because I’d caught a glimpse of Alpha’s heart.
Because I’d realized he was worrying about me more than I’d thought?
No…
Maybe it was because I no longer had to lie to myself, telling myself I didn’t like Alpha anymore.
“Really…?”
I could feel him giving me a strange look, but I forced myself not to meet his eyes.
Still, my reflection in the window had already flushed red all the way to the tips of my ears.
The car eased out of the hospital parking lot.
As the scenery slid past outside, my mind was in a clamor.
I stole a glance at him, reflected in the window.
Sunlight settled over his wrist and warmed the inside of the car, and Alpha turned the steering wheel lightly with one hand.
Watching him, I made a decision.
‘…Okay. I’m going to say it.’
My heart was pounding.
‘Say it now. Don’t go and miss the timing for no reason.’
For no reason, I fidgeted my fingers on my knees.
‘I can do this. It’s not a big deal, right? Just act normal, just like always.’
I drew a deep breath.
To speak or not to speak.
I swallowed the words that had crept up to the tip of my tongue again and again, until at last I let them out.
“If you’re not busy, want to stay and eat with me…?”
* * *
What?
Why am I at home right now?
I dropped onto the sofa and stared blankly up at the ceiling.
My bag sat forlornly in the middle of the living room.
So, let’s see…
The atmosphere?
It wasn’t bad.
The lines I’d rehearsed?
Passable.
So what’s with this result?
Question marks kept sprouting above my head, and I kept tilting my head in confusion.
“Ah, today’s just… sorry.”
His answer kept circling around in my head.
I smoothed my forehead with my hand and let out a short sigh.
“What? Did I just get turned down?”
The moment I said it to myself, I burst out laughing.
What? Seriously? Me? Was I even in a position to feel like this?
Sinking into the sofa, I hugged a pillow to my chest.
I buried my face in it, groaning “Mmmgh,” my lips trembling.
“Hmm, is he really that busy?”
Thump. I turned my head to the side.
I really wanted to believe that.
* * *
No.
This is strange.
Even thinking about it simply, it was strange.
A few days ago, when I’d asked to meet, that guy had said:
‘Ah, today I’ve got my puppy’s vaccination appointment.’
‘Since when have you had a dog?’
‘Since yesterday. Her name’s Ppojji. Cute, right?’
…Not Ppokki?
The next day was the same.
‘I’ve got plans today, so I can’t.’
‘With who?’
‘Ah, well… with the owner of the laundry shop down the street.’
‘…You have plans with the dry cleaner’s owner?’
‘I dropped off my washing machine for repair.’
The utter nonsense left me speechless, and all I could do was laugh.
And the next day, too.
‘Ah, today I’ve already booked a table at a new restaurant…’
‘Then why not just come with me?’
‘That place is for dining alone.’
Seriously, I’m going out of my mind.
And the day after that.
‘The air conditioner repairman is coming. He said he’d come in the afternoon, so…’
‘…Why not just say the washing machine broke too?’
‘Right. The wa…shing machine needs fixing too.’
Didn’t you say you already had it fixed?
Now it’s crystal clear.
Alpha is avoiding me.
But why all of a sudden?
He’s the one who chased after me and pestered me from the very start, isn’t he?
Is this what they call playing hard to get…?
“…How cute, aren’t you?”
I sat on the sofa with my legs crossed in a relaxed sprawl and fell into thought.
What am I going to do with this…
I’m not in the mood to just back off like this.
There’s one thing that guy overlooked.
Who it was that started the two of us in the first place.
I’m the one who once took ten shots and knocked him flat.
Back then?
We started when the chance of it working was zero percent.
And now?
The chance is a hundred percent (?).
While I was dating that guy, I kept my head down against the world’s storms, its contempt, and its mockery, but I’m not really that kind of person.
Once I’ve made up my mind, I hang on to it until the very end.
That’s who I am, Eun Haesoo.
I slapped the sofa with a thump and got to my feet.
“Fine.”
I grabbed my wallet off the dining table at random and slipped on my sneakers.
When I opened the door, the sunlight beat down hard.
Ha! Good. Even the weather’s perfect.
“Let’s see where you’re hiding.”
I took out my phone and opened a map app.
In my head, his daily routine, his haunts, his regular shops, and his workout route fell into place in a hurry.
My pent-up competitive streak was rising right up to the top of my head.
From now on, I’m the one coming to catch you.
* * *
“Alright, first stop is the café.”
I rushed into Alpha’s favorite café with my heart racing.
The bell above the door jingled.
I quickly scanned the inside of the café.
“Excuse me. Has a guy come in today? Black hair, lots of eye-smiles, the kind who gets under your skin a little?”
The barista blinked and smiled.
“Ah, you must mean Alpha. He hasn’t come in today, though.”
“…Ha-ha, I see.”
I forced out a deflated laugh and stepped back outside the café.
It’s fine. Coming up empty on the first try is only natural.
Next up, the comic bookstore.
The moment I opened the door, the smell of paper and sweet snacks wafted over me.
Surprisingly, the place was quiet, with a few people lying on floor cushions here and there, reading comics.
I hurried through the aisles between the bookshelves, looking around.
“Hmm… I don’t see him.”
I couldn’t bring myself to search even the burrow, so I headed for the counter.
“Excuse me, hi. I have a question. Did that guy who always asks whether new shoujo manga has come out stop by today?”
The shop clerk hesitated for a moment, then let out a snicker.
“You mean Alpha? He didn’t come in today.”
“Ah… thank you.”
I left the comic bookstore empty-handed.
“Seriously, he’s not here either. Where is he hiding?”
Is that the last place left?
The regular tteokbokki shop along the street near our old high school, the one we always used to go to.
I peered through the window and scanned the inside of the shop.
The smell of tteokbokki stung my nose, but the face I was looking for wasn’t there.
“No, seriously, where did he go?”
I squeezed my eyes shut, then opened them again.
My stomach let out a growl.
“Are you seriously hungry right now?”
Another dead end. Another dead end. Yet another.
In the end I pulled out my phone and pressed that guy’s name, but I lifted my finger from the screen and smiled bitterly.
All the strength drained from my shoulders, and my head drooped limply.
Then, just as I lifted my eyes a little.
“Huh? Isn’t that him over there?”

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This chapter was translated by Lunox Novels. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com
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