My Unrequited Love Is an Absolute Secret - Chapter 15

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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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Chapter 15

Harry was going to watch a hockey match?
And she was turning down a meeting with him to do it?
Jessie stubbornly kept his gaze fixed forward, trying to conceal his surprise as he asked the question.
“You’re going alone?”
He asked for confirmation even though he knew perfectly well that Harry had no friends besides him.
“I could go with Robin….”
“So you’re going alone.”
Given Robin’s personality, it was obvious he wouldn’t set foot in a stadium packed with strangers.
Which meant Harry was essentially going to watch the match by herself.
“Will you be okay?”
“I’ll be fine. I’ll just treat it like going to an aquarium and enjoy watching the guys.”
At her words, Jessie let out a hollow laugh.
“A boy aquarium?”
“Yeah, that.”
For a while, it had been trending on social media to call the hockey rink a “boy aquarium.”
It was a term that compared the hockey players moving beyond the transparent barrier to fish in a tank.
As a former hockey player himself, Jessie was familiar with the term.
“Come to think of it, I don’t even know which team is playing. I’ll have to ask Aemerus when I see him on Monday.”
Jessie, who had been quietly listening to Harry’s murmur, called out to her.
“Liri.”
“Hmm?”
“Can’t you watch the hockey match later?”
As far as Jessie knew, Harry wasn’t particularly interested in hockey as a sport itself.
Yet she had never missed a single match he participated in, always coming to cheer him on.
“It’s not like I’m the one competing anyway.”
He was questioning why she needed to go to a match he wasn’t even playing in.
Usually, when he pressed like this, Harry would reluctantly give in.
But today, for some reason, she only wore an apologetic expression and didn’t back down.
“I already promised Aemerus first. How could I do that? Wouldn’t you feel upset if I cancelled our plans and went out with Aemerus instead?”
“…I suppose you’re right.”
Jessie maintained his smile, fell silent for a moment, then made another suggestion.
“What about Wednesday?”
“That works for me. Are you sure you’re free?”
“I cleared my schedule specifically to match Friday. Wednesday should work too.”
At Jessie’s words about adjusting his schedule to spend time with her, Harry felt a pang of guilt.
His careful consideration had come to nothing.
She smiled apologetically, hoping to shift the mood with a touch of levity.
“What do you say we do something on Wednesday? It’s been ages since we’ve had a picnic in Central Park.”
“Sounds good.”
“Oh, should we bring Robin along?”
“Robin can come next time. It’s been a while since it was just the two of us.”
“I guess… but…”
I parted my lips as if to say something more, then thought better of it and closed my mouth.
‘Robin misses you too.’
No matter how much Jessie cared for Robin, he wasn’t really his sibling.
So I couldn’t force him to spend time with Robin against his will.
‘At least we’re spending Halloween together.’
I could have more fun with Robin then.
I nodded to myself with that thought.
“Got it. Next Wednesday, Central Park.”
“Just you and me, no one else.”
Jessie spoke as though he were making a date proposal.
Yet there was one thing nagging at me like a thorn lodged beneath my skin, preventing me from being entirely happy.
“Your girlfriend knows about this, right? What if there’s a misunderstanding?”
“My girlfriend?”
Jessie tilted his head in confusion.
“Do I have a girlfriend?”
So he wasn’t dating that woman named Julia after all.
It must have just been a casual acquaintance from work.
I fought to suppress the corners of my mouth from rising and forced myself to appear indifferent.
“That woman you took photos with on your SNS. I naturally assumed she was your girlfriend.”
“That’s unfair, Riri.”
Jessie drooped his eyebrows and mouth into an exaggerated pout.
“If taking photos together makes us a couple, then you and I would’ve been married long ago.”
But it wasn’t just photos. He had his arm around her waist. They even called each other separately.
The rebuttal tickled my tongue, but I swallowed it down.
I was merely Jessie’s friend, not his girlfriend.
I had no right to be jealous as though I were.
If I did, he would discover the feelings I harbored for him,
‘I’m sorry, but I’ve never thought of you as anything more than a friend.’
and those words of rejection would surely drive a wedge between us.
I didn’t want that.
Even if it meant being called pathetic, I wanted to remain by Jessie’s side as his friend.
Jessie pulled me from my grave reverie.
“Riri?”
“Hmm?”
“What’s on your mind?”
“Oh, it’s nothing. Really.”
Here I was, lost in thought while standing right in front of Jessie.
Harry laughed awkwardly and shook off the pointless musings.
“I wish Wednesday would hurry up and come.”
“Me too.”
The two exchanged warm smiles with each other.

***

After what felt like an eternity of waiting, Wednesday—the day I’d promised to meet Jessie—finally arrived.
The moment school ended, Harry rushed home and prepared a lunch box to share with Jessie.
Ever since Jessie’s circumstances had become difficult, the two of us had taken to packing lunch boxes like this whenever we spent time together.
In New York, with its outrageous cost of living, eating out even once could drain your wallet.
‘Thank goodness Jessie loves Korean food.’
Long before kimbap became trendy in the United States, Jessie had enjoyed Korean cuisine.
So today I was planning to bring kimbap and japchae.
“The japchae is already taken care of.”
Conveniently, Harry’s Mother had made japchae that very morning.
“Mom really does make generous portions.”
There was the japchae sold at the Restaurant, and then there was this—a side dish for the family to share at home—yet it was piled up like a mountain.
“Should I pack some for Aemerus too?”
With the new season’s first match approaching, Aemerus had been swamped with training all week.
So much so that the time he spent trailing after Harry had dropped significantly.
“He’ll need proper nutrition to build strength.”
Harry stared at the leftover japchae for a long moment before shaking her head.
“Never mind. I don’t even know if Aemerus likes Korean food or not.”
Besides, as an athlete, he probably had a strict diet to maintain.
Having brushed aside thoughts of Aemerus, she quickly began rolling the kimbap.
As a finishing touch, she was drizzling sesame oil and sprinkling sesame seeds when the doorbell rang.
It seemed Jessie had arrived right on cue.
“The door’s unlocked!”
She called out toward the entrance, and the sound of the door opening followed.
“You shouldn’t tell people to come in without even checking who it is.”
Jessie scolded her as he walked into the kitchen, drawn by the delicious aroma.
“Did you pack a lunch box? I was planning to treat us to dinner tonight.”
“A picnic atmosphere is nice when you have a lunch box, don’t you think? Besides, did you want something else instead?”
Harry asked belatedly with a sheepish expression, and Jessie shook his head.
“It’s not that. You know how much I love kimbap.”
“Then I know it very well.”
A memory from the past surfaced, and Harry let out a soft giggle.
When Jessie was young, he had loved kimbap so much that Jessie’s Mother had even learned how to make it directly from Harry’s Mother.
“Is there anything I can help with?”
“No. I’ve got it all done. I’ll just wash my hands and grab my jacket.”
“Okay. What about Robin?”
“He’s at the Restaurant with his parents.”
Michelle, their babysitter, had said she wouldn’t be able to watch Robin today, so there was no choice in the matter.
A short while later, the two of them stepped outside and climbed into the car.
Listening to Jessie recount stories from his filming, they arrived at Central Park before I knew it.
“Should we sit here?”
“Yeah.”
They spread out a picnic mat on the Lawn, bathed in the warm autumn sunlight of the afternoon.
People jogging, people strolling with strollers, travelers absorbed in capturing the perfect shot of their lives, people lying on the Lawn wearing sunglasses and sleeping.
Simply sitting quietly among this diverse crowd filled me with a profound sense of ease.
“It feels good to rest like this with you after so long.”
Jessie, leaning back on his hands with his eyes closed and face turned toward the sun, spoke in a drowsy voice.
“Me too.”
Harry, who had been gazing blankly at the towering buildings rising high into the sky between the autumn leaves painted red and gold, turned to look at him.
“I’m getting hungry. Should we eat the lunch box?”
“Yeah. It’d be nice to eat before the sun sets.”
Harry pulled out chopsticks, while Jessie pulled out a fork.
He knew how to use chopsticks, but he preferred the fork a bit more.
Jessie, eating the japchae like pasta with his fork, let out an exclamation.
“Your mother made this japchae, didn’t she?”
“How did you know?”
Seeing Harry’s surprised reaction, Jessie shrugged his shoulders with self-satisfied pride.
“I’ve said I want to become your family’s son-in-law just for this.”
At Jessie’s lighthearted remark, Harry’s heart began to race.
‘If you really married me, my mom would only make japchae for you….’
Swallowing the words I couldn’t bring myself to say aloud, Harry laughed awkwardly.
Jessie, unaware of Harry’s turbulent inner thoughts, chattered away cheerfully.
“Don’t you think japchae would taste good stuffed between bread like a hot dog?”
“There’s something similar in Korea. It’s called japchae croquette. But it’s basically a carbohydrate bomb….”
“So what.”
After all, this was a country that deep-fried Oreos and pizza.
Harry shrugged her shoulders.
“Actually, Dad’s been developing a takeout-only menu lately. I’ll bring it up with him. But don’t get your hopes too high.”
“Got it.”
“Try the kimbap too.”
Harry held out the kimbap in front of Jessie, then gazed at him intently.
Was it because I hadn’t seen him in such bright daylight for so long?
Or was it because I now had Aemerus as a point of comparison?
For some reason, he looked far leaner than before.
“Jessie, have you lost even more weight?”

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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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