I am not a Yandere chapter 83

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When Seonwoo began playing again, a serene yet soft melody filled the room.

It had an uplifting quality, and, just like in the past, Yeongdeok reluctantly let the music sink into his ears.

Whether Seonwoo had improved, or Yeongdeok had become more tolerant, he wasn’t sure, but he found that the performance wasn’t bad.

In the past, it had been nothing more than noise that disrupted his reading.

As Seonwoo, who had been focused on the piano, suddenly stopped mid-performance, an idea seemed to spark in his mind.

He grabbed the sides of the bench and leaned toward Yeongdeok.

“Cha Yeongdeok, do you still know how to play the piano?”

Seeing the eager gleam in Seonwoo’s eyes, Yeongdeok realized that admitting to anything would only lead to trouble.

“I don’t.”

“Oh, come on. Don’t lie.”

If you’re going to dismiss my honesty as a lie, why ask in the first place?

Seonwoo seemed oblivious to the glare he was receiving and made a suggestion.

“Can you play a song for me? I’m curious.”

As expected, this bothersome request from Seonwoo was exactly what Yeongdeok had feared.

His annoyance must have shown on his face, as Seonwoo tugged on his sleeve.

“Just one song. Please?”

Despite his inner grumbling about how nothing was ever easy when it came to this guy, Yeongdeok reached out toward the keys.

It had been well over a decade since he’d last played.

Yet, as his fingers touched the familiar weight of the keys, memories of his piano lessons from childhood resurfaced.

Just as he placed both hands on the piano, before even playing a note, advice started pouring in from the side.

“Relax your wrists, and curve your hands.”

“I know that much.”

“No, not like that.”

Seonwoo kept nudging his hands, adjusting their position.

All the while, Yeongdeok thought to himself how irritating it was to have even something like this micromanaged.

Recalling his lessons from the past, Yeongdeok pressed the keys a few times before launching into a full performance.

A somewhat peculiar melody floated in the air, born from the movements of his fingers.

Throughout the performance, Seonwoo’s gaze was fixed entirely on Yeongdeok’s face.

That face, lost in concentration, focusing so intently on one thing.

At one time, Seonwoo had been quite fond of that face.

He had imagined that, if Yeongdeok’s focus could be directed at him, those deep black eyes would forever hold his image.

When the song ended, Seonwoo teased with a grin.

“You should’ve wooed Eungyeol with a piano piece, Cha Yeongdeok. You’d have won him over ages ago.”

“You think Eungyeol is like you?”

“I was actually going to laugh at you for being bad at this, but… looks like you’ve still got it, even if you’re rusty.”

“There’s nothing I can’t do.”

“There’s plenty.”

At Seonwoo’s cheeky remark, a subtle irritation flared within Yeongdeok, prompting him to ask,

“What exactly can’t I do?”

“Well, for one, driving.”

“I never said I couldn’t drive…”

“And anything that requires communicating with people.”

Seonwoo’s jab hit a sore spot, causing the corner of Yeongdeok’s mouth to twitch upward in frustration.

“So, you’re saying I’m socially inept?”

“You said it, not me!”

With a snap of his fingers, Seonwoo laughed, relieved that Yeongdeok had such self-awareness.

Between Seo Jihoon’s taunts and now Seonwoo’s, everyone seemed to enjoy pointing out his flaws.

Determined not to give them the satisfaction, Yeongdeok resolved to make more friends just out of spite.

Though he had changed his hairstyle, name, and even started a chicken restaurant in an effort to escape his past image, making friends—and getting closer to family—remained a challenge for him.

Of course, everything had started to go wrong from his very first outing with the ‘Beautiful Life’group.

“How rude.”

“I was just telling the truth.”

When Seonwoo suggested they try playing another song together, this time the duet ‘Liebeslied’, Yeongdeok grimaced and stood up.

He tried to walk away, but Seonwoo, insisting it was something he’d dreamed of doing since they were kids, managed to drag him back.

ꔚ

“Thanks for today. I feel much better now.”

After spending hours indulging Seonwoo, being dragged around wherever he wanted, Yeongdeok grumbled and nodded as he slipped his arms into his coat.

“I’ll get in touch again.”

At the words implying another meet-up, Yeongdeok cursed himself for making plans with this guy and regretted it for the first time in his life.

But it was too late to undo what had been done.

As he was about to leave the stifling, humid practice room, Seonwoo grabbed the hem of his coat.

“What?”

“Should I take you home?”

“Alright.”

Seonwoo did not hold onto Yeongdeok, who was rejecting him, any further.

He simply let go of his sleeve, saying he understood.

Yet, until Yeongdeok disappeared completely down the stairs, Seonwoo stood at the end of the hallway, keeping him in his line of sight.

Once Yeongdeok stepped out of the building and escaped Seonwoo’s gaze, he inhaled the crisp winter air, refreshing his lungs that had been stifled by the dry heater’s warmth.

Taking out his phone, he opened the search bar.

[How to Make Friends]

Looking back, he had always acted vaguely as if he should make friends, but it seemed he had never seriously committed to it.

Right, this was all just a result of his lack of effort, not an issue with communication.

Determined to crush the arrogance of Seo Jihoon and Baek Seonwoo, Yeongdeok resolved to start earnestly working on making friends.

ꔚ

[As we get older, it becomes harder to meet new people since we’re stuck in a routine of going between work and home. So, today, I’ve brought some tips on how to make new friends.]

[First, I recommend joining groups or clubs where you can meet lots of new people! The more shared hobbies or common interests you have, the easier it is to get close to someone, right? These kinds of clubs are easy to join through open chat rooms….]

“Open chat rooms, huh….”

Since the day he met Seonwoo at the practice room, Yeongdeok had been constantly searching for ways to make new friends.

That’s how much Seonwoo’s careless remark from that day had gotten under his skin.

‘What? You’re socially underdeveloped? Poor communication skills?’

He was determined to prove to that arrogant Seo Jihoon and Baek Seonwoo that the only issue was a lack of effort, not a problem with his communication.

The second method of making friends was through volunteer work, and the third was through religion…

He opened his notebook and diligently took notes as if attending a university lecture.

[The most important thing when making friends is the charm that comes from familiarity! Instead of a blank expression, try to maintain a smiling face, and even small talk can help to keep the conversation going. You need to show a willingness to develop and maintain the relationship.]

A smiling face?

‘How am I supposed to maintain a smiling face when I was born with a face like this? And small talk?’

That’s just a waste of time.

It doesn’t help at all in life. Still, despite the annoyance, Yeongdeok kept searching through various blogs.

ꔚ

After spending the whole day studying how to make friends, Yeongdeok showed up for his shift at the shop as usual.

As he finished ringing up a group of university students who had just devoured two chickens, he heard a familiar voice.

“Hello, Yeongdeok.”

Wonjin, who had just walked into the shop with a light jingle, greeted him with a bow.

Since the day they met at Cha Heeseok’s party, Wonjin had been visiting Yeongdeok’s shop at least three times a week.

He came so often that Yeongdeok suspected he might consider this place his job.

“You really do come here a lot.”

If Yeongdeok had known that Wonjin would visit so frequently, he would never have allowed him into the shop back on the rooftop.

But there was no point in bringing up the past now.

“Don’t you get tired of eating chicken so often?”

Jihoon, who had just finished serving and come up to the counter, also grimaced at the sight of Wonjin, but Wonjin just smiled innocently.

“It’s fine. I really like chicken.”

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