Due to the warm temperature touching the back of her hand or perhaps because of the sincere words uttered with a quiet tone, Kyung-suk, whose hand was held by Kwon-yul, stiffened like ice.

“Mother, all I have right now is feelings for Seo-yeon.”

Kwon-yul didn’t embellish himself with flashy words, nor did he make grand promises. During the short time he closed his eyes and pondered earlier, both of them realized that what they wanted was solely Seo-yeon’s happiness.

“But no matter what difficulties come our way, my feelings won’t change.”

“…….”

“Please give Seo-yeon and me a chance to love each other.”

As Kwon-yul’s breath trembled, Kyung-suk’s pupils also shook. After several attempts to speak, she finally managed to open her mouth.

“We, uh, go to the swimming pool on Monday, Wednesday, and Friday mornings. Just so you know… or you could come.”

“Uh, yes. That’s right. We’re usually at home on Tuesday and Thursday unless something special comes up.”

“We won’t deliberately make time for you. If you want to come, come, and if you want to study, study.”

When Kyung-suk said this, Kwon-yul’s head slowly lifted.

“But that doesn’t mean I’m giving my permission. I wonder if it’s something I can’t refuse when you ask for an opportunity.”

“Thank you. Truly, thank you. I’ll do my best.”

“No. Well. We should be thankful to you too. Oh, and.”

When Kyung-suk looked at Taeseok and cleared her throat a couple of times, he unexpectedly stepped forward.

“Our Seo-yeon is great. If someone tries to stop her for no reason, she becomes stubborn.”

“Is she a bit rebellious?”

At the first mention of this, Kwon-yul’s eyes widened. In response, the two exchanged meaningful glances and brought up stories from Seo-yeon’s school days.

“When our Seo-yeon participated in the art competition as the school representative, she had worked hard on her idea, but the teacher opposed it without even hearing about it.”

“She almost quit art altogether. Probably?”

In the stories about Seo-yeon told by the two, there was a common trigger – baseless opposition, rude notifications, one-sided communication without consideration. If ignored, disrespect added to it, and Seo-yeon inevitably became an unstoppable runaway train.

‘I should be careful about actions Seo-yeon doesn’t like.’

Kwon-yul deeply engraved in his heart the ‘Manual for Handling Han Seo-yeon’ that Seo-yeon’s parents shared.

“We shouldn’t meddle, but if anyone from the Yul family says something rude to Seo-yeon…”

“She might lose her temper.”

“We tried everything to break that stubbornness since she was young. But it didn’t work. So keep that in mind.”

With valuable advice pouring in, Kwon-yul felt closer to Seo-yeon’s parents.

“I’ll make sure such things don’t happen.”

“That’s right! Exactly that.”

“Then, shall we say it was a good meeting today?”

“Uh-uh. We’ll say something similar. Let’s keep our next meeting a secret for a while.”

After the three secretly made an appointment for the next meeting, Kwon-yul’s phone vibrated loudly.

“It’s Seo-yeon.”

“As if there weren’t enough calls already.”

“She says she left our house. She’s going to cook some soup, so eat and go. Hmm?”

As Kwon-yul nodded, Kyung-suk and Taeseok exchanged glances and started to bring up stories from Seo-yeon’s school days.

“Sorry. It’s fine now since the call ended.”

Seo-yeon sent a purple heart to Kwon-yul’s grandfather and called him back.

The anxious feelings vanished momentarily, and as soon as she heard Kwon-yul’s voice, how glad and comforting it was. Her heart softened in an instant as if she hadn’t worried at all.

Moreover, his voice and atmosphere weren’t bad at all. Rather than being problematic, it was undoubtedly thanks to Kyung-suk’s good care.

Seo-yeon, who had become as relaxed as walking on clouds, listened attentively to Kwon-yul’s post-visit story.

Whether he resembled his parents, which piece among the artworks at their ancestral home he liked the most. What conversations took place, what they ate, and so on.

Her mouth twitched up more than she expected at the heartwarming news, different from what she had thought.
“Are you going to the library? Then, after studying, should I call Mr. Yul?”

Even though it was just a casual phone call, Seo-yeon uttered various expressions of admiration and laughter.

“Yeah. Me too. I love you a lot. Yul. Uh, I got it.”

Seo-yeon looked down at her blackened phone screen and thoroughly enjoyed the lingering feelings from the call with Kwon-yul.

Now, as if everything about Seo-yeon had been reprogrammed, whenever she felt stressed, Kwon-yul automatically came to mind.

Then, her tangled emotions would slowly subside, and the unbearable anger would fade away.

Suddenly, Kwon-yul’s words came to her mind.

“Do you really want to go public with our relationship? What do you think, Seo-yeon?”

Even though he wasn’t a famous celebrity, publicly declaring, “I’m in a relationship now,” felt somewhat strange.

Some might say he had caught the celebrity bug. Or he might face criticism for seeking attention.