Love You More Love Iced Tea - Chapter 3

It was Valentine’s Day.

While other couples were walking hand in hand, keeping warm in romantic candlelit cafés, getting lost in soft melodies, or indulging in the intoxicating sweetness of rich chocolate, Selina and another complete idiot—Brian—were sitting huddled together at a little iced-tea stall at the end of a narrow alley.

Selina sat unusually quietly.

She wasn’t being her usual talkative, lively self, nor was she bickering with Brian or fighting him for a chance to speak.

Brian immediately noticed that something was different.

“Really going for iced tea again?” Selina asked cautiously.

“Yeah.”

“Are we just going to sit here and then go home?” Selina asked again.

“Yeah.”

After that incredibly enthusiastic “Yeah,” Selina didn’t ask anything else.

The glass of iced tea in her hands was lifted, then put back down.

“Why are you sitting there so quietly?”

“Nothing.” Selina answered, but her face remained sadly pouty, making her look rather pitiful.

“Clearly something’s wrong… What is it?”

“Tell me!” Brian snapped. His voice wasn’t loud, but it was enough to make Selina jump.

“I feel hurt…”

After managing to get those two words out, Selina’s throat tightened. Her cheeks began to grow wet, and suddenly she let out a small, choked sob.

“Oh, come on! I thought it was something serious! You’re still hopelessly single, and nobody loves you, so that’s why you’re feeling sorry for yourself?”

Brian casually popped a sunflower seed into his mouth and cracked it between his teeth as he answered without the slightest concern.

His words were like the final drop that made the cup overflow.

Selina lowered her head and began crying bitterly.

Then, suddenly, she stood up and turned around, intending to run away.

But before she could, Brian’s hand suddenly grabbed her arm.

“Where are you going?” Brian shouted.

This time, even louder than before.

“Home!”

Selina wiped away her tears and cried out:

“It’s always iced tea with you! You always treat me like some little kid! You’re always making fun of me! Fine, I’m single! Fine, nobody wants to love me! That’s why I have to be standing in the middle of the street at this hour with some idiot like you!”

Selina thought her words would hurt Brian’s pride.

But instead, the guy simply narrowed his eyes and burst into loud laughter.

“Who says nobody loves you?”

Still grinning, Brian let go of Selina’s arm and pointed at himself.

“What do you think I’m doing here, then? Who am I supposed to be for?”

“But…”

“No buts!” Brian shouted again.

His chin was raised proudly, his face wearing an unbearably smug expression, like a turtle showing off while eating roasted sweet potatoes.

Then he continued:

“Stay right there!… I haven’t even finished confessing my love to you yet, and you’re already trying to leave!”

“Uh… uh…”

Brian turned around, ran back toward the tea stall, and cheerfully called out to the shop owner, who had been staring wide-eyed at the two idiots dragging each other into the middle of the street:

“Auntie! Can I have the bouquet of flowers and the gift box I left here earlier?”

Two years later…

Brian and Selina had spent two sweet Valentine’s Days together.

But every Valentine’s Day, Selina stubbornly insisted that Brian take her to the same little tea stall.

Two glasses of iced tea.

Two bags of sunflower seeds.

The only music was the constant crack, crack of sunflower seed shells, mixed with the soft whispers Brian murmured into Selina’s ear whenever he pulled her into his arms:

“I love you.”

“Do you love me, or do you love iced tea?”

“I love you as much as I love iced tea!”