The Textbook of a Lover - Chapter 55

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

55.
Na Hee watched, yet couldn’t believe what she was seeing.
A kiss.
There was no room for doubt—it was real.
Lit mercilessly by the streetlamp, there was nothing left to deny.
‘You said it was a contract relationship!’
Her fingernails dug into her palms.
‘I heard it clearly!’
But what was that?
The way he held Seong Do-ah against him, persistently pursuing her lips—it wasn’t something one could manufacture without genuine feeling.
Information began to rearrange itself in Na Hee’s mind.
All those moments that had struck her as strange.
How Cha Kyung kept seeking Do-ah even when he was with her, how he looked after her, how he threw himself in front of danger each time she was threatened—
It all made sense now.
How on earth had Seong Do-ah—such an ordinary, unremarkable woman—become that close to Cha Kyung?
The more she thought about it, the hotter the anger burned inside her. But Na Hee quickly clenched her teeth.
‘…So, you’re just going to give up like this? No. You started this thinking they were a real couple anyway, didn’t you? Then what’s different from the beginning?’
Na Hee steeled her resolve.
The chances of meeting a man with Cha Kyung’s caliber came around maybe once in a lifetime.
If the odds were as slim as a camel passing through the eye of a needle, then she’d shatter that needle and force her way through.
‘Even if what was fake becomes real, it doesn’t matter. I just need to tear the real relationship apart.’
That was precisely her specialty.
‘I’m never giving up.’
Na Hee turned quietly in the darkness.
* * *
Do-ah dragged her body—heavy as water-soaked cotton—back to the Pension with difficulty.
After showering in hopes that everything would wash away, she lay in bed, but Cha Kyung’s voice echoed in her ears like a phantom.
“Let’s try for real. A real relationship without fear of being discovered.”
“I… I’ll think about it!”
She already knew she was teetering precariously on the surface of a lake that was him.
So when she left behind words that were neither answer nor scream and fled, she was aware of his lingering gaze but couldn’t turn back.
Terrified that she’d be swept away by the rough waves.
“Ahhhhh, what am I supposed to do!”
After thrashing about at the empty air for a long while, Do-ah finally settled down and pulled the blanket over her head.
“I like him too. I do like him.”
At first, she’d thought of him as a blackmailer, a jerk—handsome, yes, but utterly unbearable. Yet somewhere along the way, he’d burrowed deeper and deeper into her heart.
The growth had been remarkably swift, settling firmly in a corner of her chest.
“But not like this. You know it. Whether he and I are suited for each other or not.”
A third-generation chaebol heir from a conglomerate everyone knew by name, and a ordinary employee at an Advertising Agency.
They weren’t suited. Neither their backgrounds nor their way of life matched. Even the side dishes on their tables would be different.
Even if it felt good now, there was no certainty how long it would last.
And Do-ah still carried the open wound of being abandoned on the eve of marriage.
“Don’t think about it. There’s nothing to think about. He’s not the person for you.”
Yet the memories kept returning.
His warmth against her body, the rough sensation lingering on her lips, the heat of his breath—all of it kept pulling Do-ah back to that moment.
“This won’t do. Instead of agonizing over whether to reject him, I should be thinking about how to reject him.”
Strategic retreat. Do-ah brought her Mobile Phone from the shelf above her bed and opened the Memo App.
[Point 1. Even if your feelings are sincere, we’ve grown up in completely different worlds. That’s not something love alone can bridge.]
Didn’t that sound more like resignation than a rejection? Do-ah frowned and moved to the next line.
[Point 2. Even if it feels good now, will it feel the same in five years? At some point, how different we are might become a burden to you.]
Wasn’t that like saying he’d definitely change? Was there something stronger that blamed herself instead?
[Point 3. Because of my ex, I’m sick of men. That’s why I don’t want to be in a relationship with anyone right now.]
After continuing to rack her brain that way, she’d compiled a five-point rejection script.
Before she knew it, it was four in the morning.
‘At least one of these five should work.’
Only after she’d memorized the lines well enough that tapping them would make them spill out did Do-ah finally fall asleep.
* * *
“Wow, Do-ah, what’s wrong with your face? Your dark circles are practically touching the floor.”
The moment Do-ah came into the living room, Su-jin spoke up in alarm. Do-ah answered in a voice heavy with exhaustion.
“I didn’t get much sleep.”
“You were running around so much yesterday, and you didn’t sleep at all? You must have been tired, but how did that happen? Wait… don’t tell me you were excited?”
“What? Excited about what?”
“Don’t play dumb. Everyone already knows you and Manager Yoon kissed last night. So come on, be honest. Didn’t you stay up all night thinking about the kiss?”
“Don’t say such ridiculous things!”
“So romantic though. A kiss instead of a hike, on the mountain trail and all.”
Afraid Su-jin would keep pressing if she said anything more, Do-ah decided it was better to stay silent.
But the real trial came when she grabbed her luggage and stepped out into the Pension Front Yard. Do-ah suddenly realized that Su-jin’s fuss had been nothing compared to what awaited her.
A burning gaze pricked the back of her head.
No one was staring at her openly, but there were more than a few who kept stealing glances, only to suddenly turn their heads toward the sky or their Mobile Phones the moment their eyes might meet hers.
“Sigh…”
A breath escaped unbidden. She felt like a celebrity who’d just started dating.
But this too would be forgotten someday.
Once the contract relationship ended and word spread that she’d broken up with Cha Kyung, everyone would likely lose interest immediately, shrugging and saying they’d seen it coming all along.
As she waited for the tour bus to arrive, contemplating the future that lay ahead, a sleek black sedan entered the yard first.
Cha Kyung stepped out of it as naturally as if he’d planned it.
Accustomed to being the center of attention, he didn’t spare a glance for the stares as he approached Do-ah with measured strides and spoke.
“Ride with me. I’ll give you a lift.”
Do-ah found herself hesitating.
She was already worried about when to deploy her five-point rejection script. His car would give her plenty of time.
‘But I’m not mentally ready yet…’
It was difficult either way—to part ways today and reject his confession a few days later, or to get in the car as if last night hadn’t happened.
‘I will reject him. But not today. I’ll give myself a few more days to prepare mentally.’
“No, I’m fine. I get carsick.”
Cha Kyung’s eyebrow twitched slightly as he asked incredulously.
“You don’t get carsick on a bus?”
“Oh, I’m just someone with a sensitive stomach for cars.”
Even as she said it, her answer struck her as absurd.
Every time she rode the bus long distances, she’d press her forehead against the window and fight off nausea, yet here she was claiming to have a bus-stomach.
In fact, she never got carsick no matter how far she traveled in a car.
Aware that her lie was transparent to anyone watching, Do-ah calmly averted her gaze.
“Quite an unusual constitution.”
Cha Kyung looked as though he wanted to say something, but in the end, he didn’t.
“Then.”
He didn’t press her further, simply got in his car and left the Pension.
* * *
“You come all the way to give us a ride, and now you won’t take it even though you get so carsick? Did you fight with Manager Yoon?”
Do-ah shook her head at Su-jin’s words.
Less than ten minutes after the bus started, Do-ah’s stomach began to turn. With each curve the bus took along the Mountain Road, regret washed over her.
‘I should have just taken his car.’
No, absolutely not. What would the two of them even talk about in that cramped car?
She’d already received a confession—what if he demanded an answer? Was she planning to rattle off her rejection lines in the middle of the Highway?
‘This nausea is better than that.’
As she was trying to soothe her churning stomach, Na Hee’s voice came through clearly from the front seat, chatting with a few classmates.
“Because wealthy men see so many beautiful women, sometimes they actually do fall for someone unique. It’s like how, after eating nothing but meat side dishes, you sometimes crave seasoned greens instead.”

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