In the end, Abel, whose face turned pale, made excuses by saying that he had something urgent to do, and the meeting ended. However, I was in a bad mood the whole way home. After all, Abel was suspicious, and Chase was worried, like a child left alone in the water, so I couldn’t feel at ease.

Even though Chase looked like that, he had never been in a relationship, so he had a naive side. That’s why I didn’t know that he fell for Abel so quickly in the original. I made up my mind while glancing at Chase’s slender profile while he was driving. This time, I’m going to be strict with Chase.

“I gave it some thought…”

“Why do you keep thinking about it these days?”

“No, I think about it a lot too.”

“You’re not thinking of anything useful. You’re just trying to say something stupid again.”

“No! It’s really useful, so listen up!”

Chase shrugged his shoulders and gave him an expression that said, “Say something.”

For a moment, he wanted to just ignore whatever happened to him because he got entangled with the suspicious main character, but he couldn’t ignore Yeon-tan’s father, so he had no choice but to open his mouth.

“That’s what I mean, I don’t think Blake… That, I don’t think Senior Abel and Chase get along very well. That’s why you shouldn’t like Senior Abel.”

“…Does that ‘thought’ sound useful to you?”

“Let’s find someone else. Chase is still young and has a bright future ahead of him…”

“Did I go to the matchmaking market? When did you send me out without me knowing?”

“Listen seriously! Senior Abel doesn’t seem to be the real deal. So, it’s unfortunate, but you have to give up…”

“Write a scenario? Is it the concept of me having a crush on that guy? That’s not really my style.”

“Then why did you ask Senior Abel to drink coffee? Isn’t that all flirting? For example, ‘Let’s drink coffee’ or ‘Do you want to eat noodles before you go?’”

“Hey, that’s…”

Chase stared straight ahead as if he was speechless, then sighed. Then he responded indifferently as if he didn’t care.

“Why would I drink coffee with someone I don’t know? I said it because I knew the other person would reject it. If I hadn’t intervened, you would have blindly followed him.”

“What is it? I guess I’ll just follow you!”

Why do you keep swearing at me? In the original, who gave Abel all his liver and gallbladder after he fell for someone? You were the one who was causing more trouble. Chase was acting angry, even slamming the steering wheel.

“Where am I following him? Don’t you know that you’re just trying to trick me? Are you going to take out my liver and gallbladder and all? My life is shortened because of you. Just disappear out of my sight!”

“What are you talking about, who cares about whom? Chase, watch out for the gallbladder!”

“Does it make sense for you to be worried about me? You’re the bigger problem. Go out on the street and ask a hundred people passing by!”

“Why do you keep going out on the streets to do surveys? Even if you worry about me, it’s a mess. If you fall for Abel and struggle, get beaten up and kicked, and come back crying, I won’t care!”

“You don’t come back crying!”

In the end, we ended up fighting again.

Then we turned our heads away from each other and didn’t say a word. I felt annoyed that he was raising his voice at me after giving me the time to think about it, so I decided a hundred times that I didn’t care whether Chase’s future went as planned or not, and while I was doing that, the car pulled up in front of the house. I slammed the car door open without even looking at Chase.

“Ugh…”

“Oh my, what should I do? Does it hurt? Does it hurt a lot?”

But the weak black panther covered his mouth again and started to whine, so I had no choice but to run over and hug him. That black panther really needs a lot of care.

*

*

*

“What do you want to eat?”

“no…”

“If you don’t tell me quickly, I really won’t do it.”

“I told you, it’s okay. Go and do it for Senior Abel”

“Why are you always talking about Senior Abel? Is there something you have a weakness for that guy?”

“I’m telling you this out of concern, so listen carefully so you don’t end up beating yourself up over the head and regretting it later!”

“If you don’t speak by the count of three, there’s no dinner. Three… Two…”

“Tangsuyuk!”

“…What is it?”

“It’s made by cutting pork into thin slices, adding salt and pepper, coating it in flour, coating it in batter, and deep-frying it. Oh, the sauce is important, and I like a refreshing and sweet sauce with lemon. How about you make it?”

Leoruka had been sticking his mouth out ever since he returned home from the production company meeting, wondering what he was complaining about. So I thought he was going to eat by himself today, but that was impossible. He’s not a dog if he eats his own food just because he’s upset. Chase grumbled inside, but he diligently wrote down the recipe that Leoruka explained with excitement and enthusiasm.

“Where on earth do you always find these strange dishes and ask me to make them for you?”

“But if you actually cook it, it’ll taste good.”

“Are you talking to the mirror? I’m the one who cooks, and you’re the one who eats well.”

“So… I eat well…”

“Just do this.”

Chase turned around, resisting the urge to smack Leoruka on the round head. Most of the recipes Leoruka told him were either missing something important, had a haphazard process, or had the wrong ingredients thrown in, requiring a lot of experimentation to get it right. Lately, I’ve been so busy cooking as soon as I open my eyes that I’ve had to cut down on my part-time jobs. Because of that, my income has also decreased, so I’m a little worried about my living expenses.