Chapter 1 Part 7 It showed. I hated to admit it, but my older sister was right.
The elevator doors closed slowly. I barely pressed the button for the first floor and leaned against the wall. My hands were full because I was carrying a huge box.
Anyone who saw me would think I was moving out. My arms were about to fall off because the box was overflowing with stuff. I had even switched to a bigger box halfway through, but it still looked like it might burst.
"Ha, shit. Isn't throwing everything away a little excessive?" In the end, I set the box down on the elevator floor. Plastic, electronics, clothes. Sorting it all before throwing it out would be a job in itself. "No. Giha, get a grip."
Just then, the elevator doors opened.
Steeling myself, I dragged the box out with both arms.
Enough was enough. There had been plenty of times when I had fought with Yeo Saebyeok because we were friends, and plenty of times when I had wanted to cut ties every time Yeo Saebyeok pissed me off. This time, though, was when the final end had really come.
Just look at the fact that he still hadn't contacted me.
Once I graduated and went to college, I probably would not even see Yeo Saebyeok anymore, so this was better.
As I grumbled and stepped past the apartment entrance, the cold air hit me. My stinging eyes opened wider. I had stiffened because it felt like I should not stay standing there.
In front of the trash area, he was there.
The ill-fated enemy of my entire life, with neither conscience nor luck to his name.
Yeo Saebyeok, wearing a baseball cap pulled low, lifted his head toward me. The face that had been hidden in shadow came into view. It was that ridiculously handsome face stamped across the magazine cover.
The real thing was better-looking than the photo. The thought rose naturally, and my face twisted at once.
Giha, had you lost my mind? No. In the sense that a photo could not throw a punch, a photo was far better than the real thing.
"Are you breaking up with me?" Yeo Saebyeok asked while glancing over the things stuffed inside the box.
The box packed with the things Yeo Saebyeok had given me was annoyingly obvious.
Still, I did not want to show it, so I answered stubbornly. "Yeah. It's really over between you and me now."
"Isn't that T-shirt you're wearing one I bought for you too?"
"What you gave me is already in the box, and this one was bought with my money, okay? If you're sorry, then say you're sorry."
If he had come all the way to my house and was waiting there, then obviously he must have been waiting to apologize to me. Something close to relief rose up.
Of course, it was the relief of, So Yeo Saebyeok is human after all. So all the time we spent together wasn't completely worthless. It was relief over the fact that Yeo Saebyeok was not absolute trash after all. We would see just how well he groveled. I had no intention of forgiving him easily.
"What do I have to be sorry for?"
Even the resolve I had just made crumbled uselessly, and Yeo Saebyeok, far from apologizing, only looked back at me calmly and shamelessly.
Right. This was Yeo Saebyeok.
"Fine. Forget it. Let's not talk."
What exactly had I been expecting? Had Yeo Saebyeok ever apologized to me before? Thinking about it, not even once.
The box full of things dropped heavily onto the ground by the trash area. They had to be sorted for disposal, but I did not want to spend time picking things out in front of Yeo Saebyeok while he watched.
First, I should go back inside. I would come back out later and sort everything neatly before throwing it away.
If he was not even going to apologize, then why had he come all the way to my house?
Feeling like asking would mean losing, I deliberately did not even glance at Yeo Saebyeok and turned back toward home.
"I have something to say to you." Before I had even taken a few steps, Yeo Saebyeok blocked my way. When I tried to pass, he went so far as to grab my arm. "I have nothing to say to you."
The moment I shook off the arm holding me, he caught my wrist again. His grip was so strong that I could not break free by force.
"Hey. Look at me. I don't like Seong Jiyeong."
I could not believe what I had just heard.
There was no way I could have misheard. Even while staring blankly at Yeo Saebyeok, my head could not process it. None of it made sense.
"Are you seriously crazy?" I could not hold back any longer. I grabbed Yeo Saebyeok by the collar and shoved him. "Then why the hell are you dating Jiyeong? Are you messing with her or something?"
As I demanded an answer, Yeo Saebyeok's face twisted. His expression darkened in a way I could not read. I had no idea why Yeo Saebyeok looked so wounded.
"Or are you messing with me?" A bitter laugh escaped me. Without that, there was no way to explain what Yeo Saebyeok was doing right now.
Yeo Saebyeok ground his molars hard. I heard a small grinding sound.
"The moment you open your mouth, it's always Seong Jiyeong, Seong Jiyeong. Is she really that important?"
"Because she's my first." Even when I snapped and raised my voice, it did nothing to ease what was inside me.
That first relationship had mattered to me that much. Maybe to Yeo Saebyeok, dating was something commonplace and worn-out.
"Do you really like Seong Jiyeong?" Yeo Saebyeok asked me again.
So this was when words like absurd and ridiculous were supposed to be used.
"Of course I do. Why else would I date her? She's my first girlfriend."
"What do you like about her? What is it you like so much?"
"What does that have to do with anything right now?"
I could not understand why I was being interrogated by Yeo Saebyeok over whether I truly liked Seong Jiyeong. What exactly was he trying to say to me?
Had I looked like I was not sincere toward Jiyeong or something? He had just said himself that he did not like her, so why was he asking with such a serious expression?
Yeo Saebyeok, who had been staring at me with all kinds of thoughts in his eyes, gave a twisted smile.
"She likes me more than you."
Would it be okay if I hit him just once?
Even when I clenched my fist, Yeo Saebyeok did not so much as blink and only sneered.
"You like a girl who came to you because she liked another guy?"
"Jiyeong can do that. But you can't do that to me."
"Why can't I?" Yeo Saebyeok asked while staring straight at me. Unlike when he was sneering, his face looked strangely tense.
Why couldn't Yeo Saebyeok? Why was it only Yeo Saebyeok that made me angry?
Because Yeo Saebyeok was Yeo Saebyeok.
"You're... because you're my friend. She's your friend's girlfriend. Shouldn't you have rejected her?"
Yeo Saebyeok violently shoved away the hand I had been gripping his collar with. It was so rough that I staggered.
"Stop with that friend crap."
"What?"
"I never wanted to be friends with you. Not for a long time."
The blow from a blunt weapon came crashing down from all directions. It was an attack that could neither be blocked nor dodged.
This was a shock I truly had never imagined. For a moment my ears rang, and aside from the sound of my own heart pounding, I could not hear anything.
It felt like Yeo Saebyeok called my name and said something more, but none of it reached my ears.
"Wow, you son of a... Saebyeok, are you seriously insane? Do you hate me that much?"
As I backed two more steps away from Yeo Saebyeok, I choked and swallowed dryly. Suddenly, my eyes stung.
I couldn't cry. If I cried here, it would be so humiliating I would never be able to walk around with my head up again.
I had no idea why things had gone this far. Whatever Yeo Saebyeok said, throughout the nineteen years since I was born and spent time with him, he had never once been of any help to my life.
Then again, that was true. We had spent years together like family.
Before I knew it, I ended up glaring at Yeo Saebyeok with all the strength in my eyes. It definitely wasn't that I felt so sad I was about to cry right now. I was acting like this because I was furious.
"Fine. Then fine. Now I'm not going to be friends with you either, so that works out great, you fucking bastard. Did you think I liked hanging around with you? I only stuck to you because of Mom and my sister."
Even when I shouted because I couldn't bear the surging bitterness, Yeo Saebyeok said nothing. If that was how he felt, then why had he come all the way to my house? What a fucking irritating bastard.
"You're not even my friend, you don't even like me, but you dated her anyway? What the hell are you?"
No matter how much we had fought our whole lives, what did it mean that he didn't even want to be friends? If that was the case, he should have said it the moment he started hating it.
Yeo Saebyeok opened his mouth as if to say something, but I cut him off first because I didn't want to hear it.
"You can't do that to Jiyeong. I think Jiyeong really likes you."
And you can't do this to me either.
"She has no eye for people. How could she like trash like you?"
Yeo Saebyeok gave no response. He only frowned and stared at me.
If he was going to look at me like that, who would get scared?
After glaring at Yeo Saebyeok the same way, I turned around and walked off just like that.
"Don't show up in front of me again."
This time, Yeo Saebyeok didn't grab me.
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