Chapter 234 (1/2)

Yoojin ate a portion of her tomato caprese. She wished she could eat the nicely sizzling ribs, some fried pork, or some steak that the chef was cooking, but she couldn’t do so when she thought about the aftermath.

‘Calories, calories.’

The logic that girls of her age should eat because it was their growth period only applied to others of her age. As her dream was to become an actress, high-calorie food was like a poisonous goblet. It would bring her bliss one she drank it, but not long later she would regret it.

“Aren’t you eating too much vegetables?”

Next to her, the guy named Yoo Jiseok spoke. Yoojin had never suspected her own sociability until now. She was confident that she would make friends even in a place full of strangers. Even to her though, Jiseok’s sociability was something else. Although people of their age would become friends easily, Jiseok’s attitude of asking the embarrassing questions straight to their faces made her admit defeat. He didn’t seem like a bad guy, but he was a little uncomfortable to deal with since he asked personal questions.

“Oh! You’re on a diet? You don’t look like you need one though.”

Jiseok smiled as he spoke. Yoojin smiled slightly. Although it might have been empty flattery, it was still good to hear nonetheless

“Were you close with Maru?”

“Were we?”

Yoojin redirected the question to Maru.

“We were close enough to prepare for a drama together.”

“And how close is that?”

“Then I’ll correct myself and say that we’re close enough to not care about a few months of not contacting each other.”

“Your way of speaking really hasn’t changed. You and I might not have been in contact, but I called up your girlfriend several times, you know? We even talked behind your back.”

“....”

“Pfft. Look at you frown. You act so sweet in front of her but you’re always so cold against others.”

“What, you want me to treat you sweetly too?”

“Forget it! I might puke what I just ate. Your girlfriend can have all of it.”

A suitable distance. Yoojin believed that the reason she could talk to Maru with ease was because of that. They could feel glad to meet each other again, and they could just as easily part ways without feeling disappointed. Their relationship was lighter than that of a friend’s, but little heavier than that of just acquaintances. It was hard to form such a suitable distance with other males of her age. Most of them either tried to close that distance, and some just distanced themselves after confessing to her.

“You two look like good friends,” Jiseok interrupted and spoke. Yoojin snorted at that remark.

“What good friends? Hey, you shouldn’t get close to that guy either. You just saw, didn’t you? I’ve never seen this guy act nice at all.”

“Isn’t that what’s good about him?”

“Ah. I wonder if there’s anything exciting. It’s a party after all.”

Jiseok stood up from his seat, disappointed.

“Who the hell is he?” She asked Maru while Jiseok was away. Maru kept on chewing or a while before speaking in a low voice.

“We just saw each other twice during the audition. Oh, I guess we saw a play together.”

“You saw a play together? Isn’t that a little strange? I thought you two weren’t close.”

“Why don’t you try having him next to you? You’ll find yourself thinking that it’s much better to just have him do what he wants rather than refusing him all the time. Hey, why don’t you take him at this opportunity? I’ll yield him to you.”

“Hell no.”

“That’s a pity.”

Yoojin watched Jiseok who was walking around the hall by himself. He was greeting everyone he came across. Some smiled and accepted his greeting, but most people usually just scanned him from top to bottom before just walking away. Despite that, he did not relent and walked around to the table to strike up a conversation. Seeing that, Yoojin was flabbergasted. She didn’t know if that guy just had no shame or that he had a good personality. Even so, he didn’t seem like a bad guy from how he ended the conversations on a good note. He was an overly cheerful guy. Yoojin was satisfied with her evaluation of him and nodded her head.

“Looks like he wants attention.”

“I don’t think that’s the whole story. If he really wanted attention, he would have kept going.”

“Really?”

“Maybe he just likes people a lot, like, really a lot.”

Maru picked up his plate and stood up. Yoojin, not wanting to be left behind alone on the table, also stood up. Maru headed towards the desserts section as though he was about to finish his meal. There were cakes, ricecakes and fruits all nicely displayed. Yoojin gulped. She could hold herself in against the temptation of meat, but the temptation of chocolate and bread was hard to resist. She especially couldn’t take her eyes off the chocolate fondue in a bowl, as well as the cute cookies and marshmallows next to it.

“One dip with that cookie is a hundred calories at least, right?”

Maru spoke heartlessly from the side. All this while, he was dipping cookies into the fondue.

“I’m not eating it.”

“It’ll melt in your mouth. Though, it will also go straight to your weight.”

“You’re picking a fight, aren’t you?”

When she glared at Maru with a frown, Maru suddenly held out the cookie sticks with chocolate sauce all over it.

“Wh, what?”

“One is fine. It says here that they didn’t use flour to make this cookie. And they say chocolate is good for satiety. A little is good for the health, and the skin too.”

“....”

“Appetite is something like a balloon, so it will burst if it’s pent up too much. You should at least give yourself a reward. Also, you’re too skinny.”

“How am I skinny?”

Although that was her answer, her hands were already holding the cookie sticks. Her eyes were fixed on the shiny chocolate. It had been a month since she started her diet since she passed her audition. She had endured that much so perhaps just one was fine?

“It, it’s good for the skin?”