I've Been Possessed, But What If I Get Pregnant First? - C25
#25
“Goodness… did you remove all the seeds?”
“Hic.”
That startled me. For a moment, I thought grandma had cursed. But she said the seeds were all removed… huh…?
At grandma’s exasperated sigh, I raised my head and saw the strawberries with all the seeds removed… the truly de-seeded strawberries revealing their white flesh. However, the surface where the seeds were had been completely cut off, so the once large strawberries were now the size of a finger. Moreover, the watermelon seeds had also been removed, leaving holes everywhere.
“You did it… very thoroughly.”
As expected, he was skilled with a knife. Just too excessively so. I was amazed that watermelon seeds could be removed like this too. I should have just lent him tweezers.
And the mangoes next to it, as if he had seen it somewhere before, were cut into neat square checkered patterns and flipped over, looking delicious. I first picked up a mango with a fork and gave it to grandma.
“Grandma, try this. It’s super sweet and delicious.”
It was perfect for grandma, whose teeth weren’t strong. It seemed to suit grandma’s taste too, as she ate the mango several more times after I fed her the first one. Seeing grandma like that, I picked up another fork and held it out to Kwon Taebeom as well.
“Taebeom, you should eat too.”
Surely he’s not going to ask me to feed him again this time. Fortunately, Kwon Taebeom took the fork from my hand and put the watermelon in his mouth. After feeding one to everyone, I quickly popped the watermelon that Kwon Taebeom had personally de-seeded into my mouth.
“Gasp, it’s so delicious!”
‘The watermelon is so sweet and delicious. Did he spread honey on it, how is it so tasty? Moreover, it’s not even watermelon season yet!’
Ever since I possessed Cha Yuwon’s body, it seemed I had only been eating really good things. I even had the trivial worry that if I only ate fancy foods, what would I do? The fruit that Kwon Taebeom had prepared for an hour quickly entered my stomach in less than ten minutes.
“Eat slowly. You’ll overeat.”
Kwon Taebeom wiped the juice flowing down my chin and said. At his words, I came to my senses and saw that my mouth was full of strawberries, with juice dripping down.
“Okay….”
I nodded, but it was too embarrassing. It must have looked like I was stuffing my mouth in case someone snatched it away.
Ah, so embarrassing….
“Taebeom, by the way-“
My pronunciation kept slipping, so I hurriedly mumbled and swallowed all the strawberries I had greedily put in my mouth. And this time, I picked a watermelon again and asked.
“How on earth did you remove the seeds?”
When I asked carefully, he suddenly looked at me as if he didn’t understand my question. As if confirming that he looked at me in that sense, the words that came out of his mouth surprised me.
“Just with a knife.”
“……”
“It works if you do it well.”
“……”
Surely he didn’t use a kitchen knife…. If he removed these tiny watermelon seeds with a kitchen knife, not even a fruit knife, this factory worker should go out into the world for this kind of thing. Even though he pretended not to, grandma’s gaze turned to Kwon Taebeom as if she had heard our conversation.
“…Ahem. You eat too.”
Grandma’s attitude, who had been calling Kwon Taebeom this guy and that guy, changed. And for some reason, my cheeks felt hot under grandma’s gaze that alternated between me and him. As I put down the fork and turned my head, pretending to watch TV, Kwon Taebeom picked up a mango and put it in my mouth.
“Eat the mango too.”
“Yes….”
He gave me the largest middle part of the mango pieces on the plate. This was no different from giving me the tail of a fish-shaped bun, the chicken leg, and the front part of the pizza with lots of toppings.
Oh no…. Kwon Taebeom must really like me a lot….
I was going to subtly stick to grandma’s side today and try not to go…. When I furtively glanced at Kwon Taebeom, this time he picked up a strawberry and held it out to me.
Even as I ate the fruit he handed me, I avoided his gaze with a sense of needless guilt. Eating fruit, watching a rerun of a TV series, and even watching grandma knit beside me, time passed by in a flash.
“Yuwon, aren’t you going?”
“Huh?”
At grandma’s words, I looked out the window and saw that the sun was half-set and it was getting dark.
“Can a kid who says he’s studying play all day like this?”
Well, grandma… I do-, don’t want to go. If I go like this, I might not be able to come back again…. As I glanced at Kwon Taebeom and mumbled, grandma slapped my back first and said,
“Now go and study right away! Granny will come down next week, so you can see me again before then!”
“Still….”
Even if she said next week, today was already Saturday, so at most, it was only a week. When I looked at grandma with my eyes drooping as if I was disappointed, grandma pushed my face away as if I was being clingy and got up from her seat.
“Granny made plans to see the old lady at Bokgil’s tailor shop for a bit, so you guys should go now too. Doesn’t he even go to work? A young fella, tsk tsk.”
“Grandma, are you really going?”
“Then am I going for real or fake? Anyway, our puppy, study hard, and since it’s late today, go in and sleep well~”
Grandma greeted me and Kwon Taebeom as if she wasn’t even sad to see me after a long time and left the house in an instant. I followed grandma’s back with a dumbfounded face, but grandma really disappeared without even looking back once, without any lingering feelings.
“Uh….”
As I was just blinking in the situation where we were left alone again, Kwon Taebeom, who had been sitting next to me and looking at documents, laughed and said to me,
“Let’s go now too.”
“…Yes.”
In the end, I threw my grandiose plan that had failed again into the trash can as I walked back the path I had come with him.
I failed to go back home like this. The only thing left now was to connect Yoon Seolah and Kwon Taebeom.
***
After failing Plan A, I returned to Kwon Taebeom’s house. Sitting at the desk, I held my aching head and thought. Yoon Seolah first appears in the novel in April when she works as Kwon Taebeom’s interpreter in Macau. Given the timeline, it seems to be this business trip.
Therefore, as a hindrance, I shouldn’t follow him on this business trip no matter what. Then how can I stay in Korea? Using my maximum imagination, I wrote down methods one by one in my notebook.
Method 1. Say I’m sick.
Then he’ll immediately call Dr. Choi or someone to check, so this is an X.
Method 2. Head-on battle! Say I won’t go.
But can I handle Kwon Taebeom? He’s really scary when he’s determined, even if he doesn’t pick up a knife. This is also an X.
Method 3. Run away…?
Running away when he’s on a business trip might work, but it’s premature now. If I unintentionally provoke his obsession, I might end up tied up in the basement instead of Yoon Seolah.
This is a total X X!!
Sigh… If not this and not that, then what excuse should I make!!
As I was agonizing over it for a while, squeezing my head, a notebook I received as a freebie while buying workbooks caught my eye.
[Lucky Retakers Academy]
The name “Retakers Academy” was written in a small advertisement on the front of the notebook.
“Uh… could it be?”
***
As soon as I woke up, when I saw Kwon Taebeom’s sleeping face as usual, I pressed my lips together and waited. Today, I’ll only pretend to sleep and endure without falling asleep!
Although my eyes closed a bit, each time I dug my nails into my palms to shake off the sleepiness. And before long, Kwon Taebeom’s eyelids fluttered and he woke up. As soon as our eyes met, I shouted loudly.
“Taebeom! I’m going to attend a retakers academy!”
“Retakers academy?”
Kwon Taebeom sat up on the bed and asked what I was talking about.
“I have to take the college entrance exam in November! So even though it’s quite late now, I think I need to enroll in the opening class.”
“From when.”
“I’m in such a rush that I’m going to register and attend starting today. I also made a promise with grandma yesterday.”
As expected. For Koreans, the studying excuse is the best. When I nodded with a triumphant face, Kwon Taebeom said,
“Okay. Do as you wish.”
Okay. I silently clenched both fists and cheered. A joyful smile kept trying to burst out, but I managed my expression as much as possible to hide it and brought out the words I had prepared.
“So I’m very very sad, but I think I have no choice but to cancel going on the business trip with you, Taebeom. You alone-“
“Why?”
Huh. Well… I said I’m attending an academy?
However, I couldn’t say it so bluntly and answered in a roundabout way, saying that I don’t think I’ll have time once I officially start attending the academy. Then Kwon Taebeom said to me with a face that showed no problem at all.
“I’ll personally teach you the lessons you can’t learn that day.”
“Pardon…?”
“What. Is there a problem?”
“Not that, but how can you…?”
“Although it’s been over 10 years, I also graduated from Korea University, so I can teach you that much.”
This person…. He’s really amazing, amazing. He even graduated from Korea University in the meantime? Hah, really. And even I, who graduated not many years ago, get confused when trying to study for the college entrance exam again, but he says it so confidently. No matter how much he’s the novel’s protagonist, isn’t this too unrealistic?
“S-, still, the academy fee-“
“That’s even less of a concern, don’t you think?”
Ah… I see. You have a lot of money, so good for you. Anyway, I let out a long sigh at the fact that things didn’t go my way this time either.