Peninsula: It all started with the breakup

Chapter 14 Barbecue

Park Jiyeon opened her eyes. It was pitch black all around, but she felt exceptionally energetic. She had slept very well; it was a deep sleep that was rare and precious.

Normally, sleep is light sleep, and you still feel a bit tired when you wake up. But deep sleep is different; one hour of deep sleep is equivalent to eight hours of light sleep.

It had been a long time since Park Jiyeon had felt so relaxed, as evidenced by the wet pillow she was wearing.

Long-term cyberbullying and family pressure gradually turned her from an initially cheerful and optimistic, even somewhat lawless, person into a repressed individual. She became a homebody, disliking going out and finding nights particularly difficult to endure; insomnia and irritability were common occurrences for her.

Park Jiyeon stretched, feeling incredibly relaxed and refreshed. She was so full of energy that she momentarily forgot where she was, thinking she was still in her dorm. She was about to call out to Eunjung unnie.

But when she looked ahead, she saw a huge TV in the dormitory. Coming to her senses, she realized that she had fallen asleep while waiting for Xie Mingmu. In such a short time, Park Jiyeon couldn't help but giggle.

Looking around at the complete darkness and listening to the sound of the air conditioner running, Park Jiyeon felt completely at ease.

Hearing the noise from the living room while in his bedroom, Xie Mingmu, who was video chatting with his family, hung up and came out: "Awake?"

"I fell asleep, why didn't you wake me up?" Park Jiyeon said sleepily, her voice still nasal, giving off the feeling of an old married couple.

"Don't think I don't know you're grumpy in the morning. I don't want to get yelled at." Xie Mingmu glanced at his phone again: "You've slept for almost three hours. It's almost midnight now. Looks like your moving plans have changed. Let's talk about it another day."

"No, today!" Park Jiyeon said firmly.

"Wow, you sound so energetic after waking up! I was worried you'd wake up hot, so I turned on the air conditioner and turned off the lights to create such a good sleeping environment for you." Xie Mingmu glanced at the pillow again: "Wow, you're sleeping, why are you drooling?"

At this moment, Park Jiyeon realized that she had been sleeping so soundly that she was drooling. She felt a pang of shame and wanted to disappear. Park Jiyeon frantically searched for the reason for her drooling and quickly found it: it was all Eunjung unnie's fault! She must have passed on her bad habit of drooling in her sleep to her!

"Okay, I'll send you a new one. I'll take this one back with me!"

Although he brought the pillow himself, and it even had his favorite Faiz image printed on it, there was nothing he could do. It was covered in Park Jiyeon's saliva, so Xie Mingmu had no choice but to reluctantly give it up.

"Alright then, but I really can't help you move today. It's too late, and moving can easily disturb other people's rest. Plus, with us going in and out at night, people might mistake us for thieves!"

Park Jiyeon thought for a moment and found Xie Mingmu's logic impeccable: "That makes sense, it could indeed cause misunderstandings." But women, you know, can always be unreasonable: "It's all your fault!"

"You fell asleep on your own, why are you blaming me?" Xie Mingmu was shocked by her train of thought.

"It's all your fault!" Park Jiyeon said defiantly, though she was in the wrong.

"Okay, okay, it's my fault, it's all my fault, alright? If you get pregnant in the future, it's my fault too, alright~~" Xie Mingmu was infuriated by this kind of unreasonable behavior.

"You...you...you~~" Park Jiyeon began to stammer, "Disgusting, disgusting, despicable!"

"Haha, hit me then~~" Xie Mingmu looked at Park Jiyeon's cute appearance and had the idea of ​​teasing her.

Park Ji-yeon saw through Xie Mingmu's intentions; he was clearly teasing her. She wasn't going to fall for it. In this situation, she decided to ignore him and instead sat down: "I'm afraid there are no ribs left. It's so late; there's definitely no delivery. You cook for me."

"Do you want to hear what you're saying?" Xie Mingmu was speechless. "I'm hungry too. It's all because you're sleeping here that I'm worried about you, so I haven't gone out for dinner."

"What does this have to do with me sleeping here?"

"What if someone comes to steal something? Aren't you afraid they'll see you sleeping here?"

"Don't worry, I'm a black belt!!"

"Yes, yes, right, third-degree black belt?" Xie Mingmu said somewhat perfunctorily. What third-degree black belt? I think it's just a thug's excitement punch. "I'm not arguing with you anymore. Anyway, it's not really a good day to move. Talk to me again when you have time. I've already promised you."

"Do you dare to go back on your word?"

After teasing Park Jiyeon, Xie Mingmu had a sudden thought, "I bought some groceries at the supermarket before I came here and put them in the fridge. Want to eat together?"

"Aren't you saying you won't do it?"

"So, are you going to eat it or not?"

"eat!"

Park Ji-yeon's cooking skills can't be described as outstanding; in fact, she can't cook at all. She had eaten Xie Mingmu's cooking before, and it tasted quite good. She was very happy to be able to eat his food again.

Xie Mingmu went to the refrigerator, took out the beef and vegetables, chopped them, washed the vegetables, and then took out a baking tray. He didn't plan to cook any stir-fries right now, just a roast meat; the rice was already cooked.

......

Park Jiyeon watched Xie Mingmu pick up meat with chopsticks, taking a bite of meat and a bite of rice, and even playing music on his phone, completely ignoring her presence. Really, am I that unattractive? He won't even chat with me.

Anger welled up inside her, and Park Jiyeon grew angrier the more she thought about it. "What kind of song is this?" She thought. "Our group has so many great songs, and you don't listen to any of them. Instead, you listen to other groups, especially girl groups."

"Twice, haven't you heard of them?"

"You like this group? Do you have a favorite girl group too? Didn't you say you didn't care about this kind of thing?"

For the first time, Park Jiyeon felt that Xie Mingmu was a stranger. When they first met, he knew absolutely nothing about this kind of information, at least he didn't know her.

"Now that I'm working here, of course I have to adapt to local customs. Otherwise, I won't have anything to talk about with my colleagues. Also, since I'm now working for JYP, of course I have to keep an eye on the girl groups under their banner."

Xie Mingmu made up a reason on the spot, and it was quite reasonable, since he couldn't possibly reveal his real reason.

Are you alright?

Park Ji-yeon found it hard to believe that Xie Mingmu, who seemed a bit old-fashioned, would go to such lengths for a job. Actually, she had misunderstood. Xie Mingmu was actually a little shy, or rather, he was rather aloof with strangers.

When they first met, Xie Mingmu only treated her as a stranger. They only became close later, which led to Park Jiyeon's understanding of him still being stuck in the past.

Xie Mingmu rolled his eyes: "I kindly gave you food, and you're complaining, huh?" Seeing that Park Jiyeon didn't touch her chopsticks, he asked with some confusion: "Why aren't you eating? You were the one saying you were hungry just now, and now you're not eating. What are you trying to do?"