My Brother's Friend Wasn't a Guy - Chapter 56

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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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56.

The next morning, Lee Jin arrived at the workshop and moved her hands mechanically, lost in thought. Then came a gentle chime—the door bell—and she started, her mind snapping back to the present.
When she glanced toward the entrance, Kang Hyun sat in his wheelchair, offering her a lazy smile and a greeting.
“Hey there.”
The scene overlapped with how he’d stopped by the workshop the day after they decided to date, greeting her then too.
Even her own heart seemed to confuse the two moments, pounding hard enough to frighten her.
So he’d decided to show up brazenly now, without warning, dropping in whenever he pleased. Well, she thought—this man had never been anything but shameless.
Watching her waver between acceptance and resignation, Kang Hyun pouted slightly as he spoke.
“I thought you’d at least tell me to come in.”
“You came in anyway, didn’t you?”
Even when Lee Jin replied coolly, he continued to smile, clearly pleased with himself.
“Yeah, well, thanks for not throwing me out.”
“Would you leave if I did?”
“No.”
Kang Hyun answered without hesitation, leaving no room for argument, and Lee Jin shot him a glare. Amused by her petulant expression, he chuckled and wheeled himself closer.
His skill with the wheelchair had improved noticeably since she’d last seen him. As Lee Jin studied his injured leg, she couldn’t resist asking what had been nagging at her.
“How much longer do you have to stay like this?”
“Are you worried about me?”
He deflected with a sly smile, and Lee Jin glared at him again. Before she could regret the question, Kang Hyun laughed and answered.
“The doctor gave me a 12-week medical leave. It’s been two weeks now, so I’ve got about ten left. You want to see me walking around healthy and whole, don’t you?”
She exhaled sharply. She shouldn’t have asked.
Kang Hyun was the kind of man who commanded a space simply by being in it. To resist getting swept up in his rhythm, she had to stay sharp.
Honestly, she doubted anyone else could project such an unhurried, commanding presence while confined to a wheelchair.
Lee Jin studied him intently, as if plotting how to drive off a peddler.
“You’re staring at me with such intensity—it’s unsettling, you know.”
He smiled and let out a light laugh, which prompted Lee Jin to sigh once more before asking, “Want some coffee?”
“Coffee?”
“Drink it and then get out—that what you think I’m saying?”
“Exactly right.”
She snorted and headed off to fetch the coffee.
As he watched her retreating back, Kang Hyun’s gaze deepened. The way she was so adorably stubborn about it all—no wonder he couldn’t stay away from her.
He found himself almost laughable, circling around her like a dog desperate for attention, whimpering for her to notice him.
Right now, he was caught between heaven and hell, swinging on every glance she’d deign to give him, every word from her lips.
When she smiled at something he said, he felt like he’d won the entire world. When she turned on him with that cold, blank stare of hers, the ground beneath him crumbled to nothing.
Whatever it was, he’d become the kind of pitiful creature who danced to Lee Jin’s every gesture and whim. Of course, if she ever realized this and felt even a shred of pity for him, he’d consider himself the happiest man alive.

They drank their coffee with minimal conversation, yet strangely, neither found it awkward nor did the silence feel suffocating.
Lee Jin watched Kang Hyun as he sipped his coffee with leisure, as if the workshop had transformed into a hotel sky lounge.
Then, unexpectedly, the things Jin Ae-ran had said and what Go Myung-suk had mentioned yesterday tangled messily in her mind.
“Why do you like me?”
The question tumbled out of her mouth before she could stop it.
She’d been wondering about it for so long.
She couldn’t understand why someone so complete, so without lack, would care for her.
“You’re not actually expecting a short answer to that question, are you?”
“No, I guess not.”
As Lee Jin trailed off, Kang Hyun set down his coffee cup and spoke.
“Then one cup of coffee probably won’t be enough time.”
In other words, he intended to stay at the workshop a while longer. It was a masterful negotiation—a plea not to be chased out even after he finished his drink.
“Fine.”
Though Lee Jin shook her head at his shameless persistence, her curiosity wouldn’t let her refuse, so she reluctantly nodded.
Then, as though reaching back into the past, yearning pooled in Kang Hyun’s eyes.
“When I first met you, you must have been about ten years old.”
“Yeah, that’s right.”
“You were ridiculously cute back then.”
Kang Hyun chuckled, and Lee Jin’s face filled with displeasure. This seemed far removed from an actual answer to her question.
“Your face was incredibly cute, but somehow your eyes held a kind of ferocity that didn’t fit.”
“My eyes?”
It was a fact Lee Jin had never realized.
“Right, it was ridiculous—a ten-year-old acting like she’d already grown up.”
Back then, Lee Jin had developed a habit of trying to handle everything on her own.
Her mother was always busy, and when she did have time, she was preoccupied with taking care of her brother. So Lee Jin learned to solve most things by herself.
“She was so small but so determined, and it broke my heart. That’s why I kept watching her.”
“But you were just a kid too, weren’t you?”
“The fact that I noticed such things probably means I wasn’t exactly an ordinary child myself.”
Kang Hyun spent more time with his grandfather than with his mother, Jin Ae-ran.
From him, he learned how to treat people and how to make long-term plans for the future.
And at that time, Kang Hyun was in the throes of adolescence, so he held an extremely idealistic yet perpetually critical view of everything.
“I didn’t like you as a woman from the start. It’s hard to develop feelings for a child.”
“Like I said before, you were a kid too, weren’t you?”
“Yes, yes. Anyway.”
Kang Hyun stared at Lee Jin’s slightly protruding lips and swallowed a sigh. His hand kept wanting to reach out as if it had become a habit, and he struggled against it.
Tearing his gaze away from her lips, Kang Hyun spoke.
“As time passed, you remained steadfast. No matter how hard or difficult things became, you never let yourself break.”
Lee Jin’s expression shifted subtly upon hearing those words.
She waited, expecting him to continue his explanation, but instead he picked up his coffee cup and took a graceful sip.
“That’s it?”
Unable to wait any longer, she asked, and Kang Hyun let out a soft laugh.
“What, you thought I had some incredibly grand reason? Did you think I fell for you because Lee Jin is such a breathtaking beauty?”
“Who, who says that?”
As Lee Jin shook her head in confusion, Kang Hyun met her eyes with a deepened gaze and spoke.
“Well, you are beautiful—that much is true. I’d like to wrap you up so completely that other men can’t even look at you.”
Shocked that he could say such a thing so bluntly, Lee Jin opened her mouth in a daze. Seeing her expression, Kang Hyun laughed once before continuing.
“But even now, you’re still so spirited. I’ve never met anyone with an inner strength like yours.”
There were times he pitied her, and times he was in awe of her.
Then at some point, the moment he realized he kept seeking out Lee Jin, all the feelings he’d been carefully accumulating came flooding over.
Kang Hyun accepted his emotions plainly instead of needlessly denying or turning away from them. He simply didn’t show it.
Lee Jin had never expected Kang Hyun to praise her so earnestly with such a serious expression, so she suddenly felt self-conscious and looked away.
“But I don’t like it when you’re not around and I’m still like that.”
Seeing him frown as if horrified, Lee Jin let out a strained breath.
Truthfully, she hadn’t thought deeply about his words that he’d seen her as a woman for a long time. She’d taken it as a light interest, the kind that could come and go easily.
But hearing his words now, she realized it wasn’t a light interest. It was heavy and deep—the kind of affection that was frightening to dig into.
A somewhat persistent and clingy devotion that didn’t seem easy to sever.
Lee Jin recalled the faces of men who had pursued her over the years.
Cha Ji-hoon was among them. After receiving his confession, Lee Jin had felt bewilderment and a faint sense of guilt.
Even during his confession, she’d been preoccupied with how to reject him without hurting him, which bred that guilt.
But after hearing all of Kang Hyun’s words, she didn’t feel that way at all. Rather, it was the complete opposite of any emotion she’d felt before.
Joy.
Yes, it was joy. Because it made her happy that he had liked her for so long.
She raised her eyes, wondering how to put this into words, and her gaze met his. He smiled as if he could see right through her.
“You like me too.”
…….
Hit directly, her eyelashes trembled without her realizing it.
“Whether you like my face, my wealth, my body……”
When Lee Jin flinched at the word body, Kang Hyun smirked and continued.
“Just like me for whatever reason. I’m fine as long as you like me.”
Lee Jin felt trapped by the heat burning in his eyes. She couldn’t turn her gaze away.
Then he reached out and dragged her chair closer to him with a sharp scrape.
Lee Jin, suddenly brought before Kang Hyun, blinked rapidly in surprise.
“Push me away if you hate it. Though you won’t, I’m sure.”
He consumed her lips in an instant.

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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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