“What, did I just ask something awkward? You’re hiding something, aren’t you? Don’t tell me that car is actually your brother’s?”
“…No, it’s not that.”
I curled up one corner of my lips playfully to lighten the mood. I couldn’t exactly mess with someone while he was driving, so I was just trying to tease him a little with words.
But it’s not his brother’s car? I’d only brought it up as a joke, but it really did seem to be his. To be honest, there were a lot of things I hadn’t asked because it felt rude to pry into his family matters.
I only found out later that he’d lived in the U.S. too. Min Siheon really was a mystery through and through.
Considering how many rumors surrounded him during the semester, there were surprisingly few things actually confirmed as truth. It was hard to tell what was real and what was fake.
So I decided to at least ask something simple this time. He’d seemed troubled by my previous question, so I brought up something else for his sake.
“Then what about the house? You said your parents are in the States. And you only told me recently that you even have a brother, you know? Why does my boyfriend have so many secrets?”
“So you don’t like that?”
“No way. There’s never a dull moment. It’s refreshing, actually.”
As if that answer worked, Min Siheon let out a small laugh.
The steering wheel spun sharply, and my body swayed side to side. In that instant, Min Siheon stretched out his right arm and pressed against my chest.
Had I fastened my seatbelt too loosely? My wobbling body was pushed firmly back against the seat.
“Shi—….”
For a moment, I wondered if I’d heard that right. From between his clenched teeth came a rough, savage voice.
I followed his gaze and saw another car in our lane. It must’ve cut into his path.
“Sorry. That startled you, didn’t it?”
“No, but they say the personality that comes out when you’re driving is your real one. That’s not you too, is it? Like, what if all that’s just an act?”
I’d been startled, sure, but nothing serious had happened, so I tossed the comment out casually. But Min Siheon’s expression stiffened.
Why was he acting like this since earlier? Something about him felt off.
Nothing in this conversation was flowing easily, and I furrowed my brows. Then Min Siheon spoke first, as if beating me to it.
“…Jungwoo, I lied about something. If I tell you the truth, will you let it slide?”
He smiled gently, as if embarrassed, but his eyes looked barren.
“A lie? I mean, how bad could it be? Just tell me.”
“Mm. First of all, that house being under my brother’s name—that was a lie. There is one under his name, but the one we’re at is mine.”
“…What?”
At Min Siheon’s confession, I peeled myself off the backrest. I’d known he’d grown up in a well-off family, but I hadn’t realized it was to that extent.
His parents living in the U.S., him spending his leave of absence overseas… Min Siheon was like an onion—the more you peeled, the more there was. How long would I have to stay by his side to reach the very core?
I’d been about to ask about the “first of all” part he’d mentioned, but instead, I bombarded him with questions.
“What money do you have to buy a place? …Are you rich? No, wait, the way I’m asking makes me sound like such a gold digger. I don’t mean it like that—I’m just surprised, that’s all. …Now that I think about it, I don’t really know anything about you. I only just found out about your family. And the car, too.”
By the end, I was practically muttering to myself.
When I lowered my head, Min Siheon reached over with his right hand and tugged at my shirt.
The fabric stretched taut. When I looked up, he spoke firmly, telling me not to look away from him.
“Jungwoo. Look at me.”
“……”
Though his face still carried a trace of a smile, there was an undeniable firmness I couldn’t refuse. As I stared at him blankly, he let go of my shirt and increased the car’s speed.
“Let’s not talk about that. Let’s talk about something else. Like…”
“…Like what?”
“Like what we’ll do all vacation. Where we’ll travel. What classes we’ll take before the semester starts. …How we can stay together all the time.”
“……”
For some reason, his words felt heavy.
I’d never once felt this way since I started seeing Min Siheon, but for the first time, I sensed an invisible wall from him.
Separate from loving him, it felt like there were still things about him I didn’t know—things hidden deeper.
Even knowing I shouldn’t, anxiety began to well up inside me.
***
We arrived safely at Min Siheon’s house.
As if trying to break the slightly awkward atmosphere, he set down the luggage near the shoe cabinet and suddenly grabbed my waist.
He hugged me from behind, wrapping his arms around my stomach and lowering his head to press his body close against my shoulder.
“…Are you mad because I didn’t tell you?”
“No, it’s not that….”
Between his gentle tone, I could sense an underlying urgency. Suddenly, I wondered what I’d been thinking just now.
This guy was looking at me like he was shouting I love you, and yet I was the one making him uneasy out of jealousy.
Feeling sorry, I placed my hand over his where it rested across my stomach.
I thanked him for coming to pick me up and told him to take care of me from now on. At that, Min Siheon trembled slightly and turned my face toward him with his hand on my cheek.
Lifting his face from where it had been buried against my shoulder, he looked at me and slowly lowered his head.
We were still standing in front of the entrance, shoes not even off yet. But after everything we’d already done, what was a kiss?
Just as I was about to close my trembling eyelids at the slowly approaching face—
Min Siheon gently placed his upper lip against mine and whispered softly.
“…If we do it now, I don’t think I’ll be able to stop. And your back will hurt. So let’s save it for later.”
My eyes snapped open.
“Ha. Were you expecting it?”
Seeming immensely amused, Min Siheon pulled his tilted head back. Then he turned my body around and hugged me from the front.
My upper body, which had been moving at his whim, was bound against his chest. Feeling his arms cross behind my back, I burst out in frustration.
“You’re dead! Let go of me!”
“If I let go, you’ll hit me. Why would I? If you’re planning to hit me with your lips, I’m fine with that. You promised earlier—ten pecks, one kiss. But if we start now, we’re organizing the luggage later.”
I raised my fist and shoved lightly against his chest. As his body rocked back, Min Siheon slipped off his shoes and headed inside playfully.
Like a couple of five-year-olds, we ran all the way to the living room. I decided to ignore the two pairs of shoes left scattered messily by the entrance.
By the time I came to my senses, we’d gone from dating to living together without even a moment to catch our breath.
***
Days passed where it felt natural to see my clothes hanging inside Min Siheon’s closet. Toothbrushes and rice bowls had already been in pairs; now the personal belongings from my family home gradually found their places.
It wasn’t a proper move. I’d just been bringing over what I needed, bit by bit. I went back home several times and returned again.
When it was just a few outfits, it felt like preparing for a trip. But once I started bringing my laptop and major textbooks, the weight of cohabitation hit differently with each passing day.
Today was one of those ordinary days.
It had been nearly a month since vacation started, and both my body and mind were slack with ease.
After oversleeping for romantic reasons, Min Siheon and I ate a very late lunch. He told me to go rest in the living room; I hugged him and said I’d handle dinner cleanup instead, then sat down on the sofa.
Hearing the distant sound of running water, I peeked my head over the back of the sofa and saw Min Siheon’s broad frame cheerfully washing dishes.
Maybe I’ll sort this out in the meantime.
While we’d been deep in dreamland earlier, a package had arrived.
It was my personal belongings sent over with my parents’ help. I’d asked them to ship some early winter clothes and items that seemed necessary but were too bulky to carry myself.
Since some furniture had been removed from my old room to make space for Cha Seung-ah’s things, it felt like I’d been sent my belongings as if I’d been kicked out. I scratched my head.
“What did they send that’s this heavy?”
I dragged the box Min Siheon had moved into the living room. It was heavy even for me—I wondered how it had been carried to the post office.
Winter clothes were bulky, sure, but not this heavy. Once I cut the tape and opened the box, the mystery was solved.
“Cha Seung-ah, that brat.”
After removing a few winter coats from the top, it looked like my entire bookshelf had been uprooted and stuffed inside.
“These are books I read as a student, and… she still hasn’t thrown this away? She’s the one at the age to read this now—why send it to me?”
From humanities books I’d read as a hobby to problem sets from my senior year of high school. I clicked my tongue at the parade of items that weren’t immediately necessary.
I muttered that I’d scold her later, but my hands were busy sifting through the old belongings.
Maybe it was a trip down memory lane. As I looked through various items, I found something at the very bottom.
“Wow, she even sent this?”
It was my high school graduation album. In one corner of the cover, I saw my younger self in a familiar uniform, staring quietly at the camera.
Remembering my twenty-nine-year-old face, I thought I didn’t look much different now at twenty-three.
Setting aside organizing for the moment, curiosity got the better of me, and I opened the album.
“These are from senior year…”
Flipping through the pages, I smiled at the sight of familiar faces.
“What, I was going to open it with you, but you already took it out. An album? Jungwoo, is this from high school?”
At the hands wrapping around my shoulders from behind, my head automatically turned. Though he’d dried off somewhat, his hands were still cool and slightly damp as they rested over mine, which was flipping through the album.
“Yeah, my high school graduation album. Cha Seung-ah said she wanted to use my old room for her stuff and sent over a bunch of useless things too. Looks like I’ll be taking out the recycling later.”
“Still, this is nice. It’s time of yours I didn’t know.”
He must’ve been searching for my face. Min Siheon’s eyes didn’t leave the pages.
“It’s not that different from now. If you’re really curious, I’ll show you. Let’s see, what class was I in senior year….”
I searched my memory and opened to the page where I’d likely appear. I flipped to the middle section and found what looked like my class page.
Instead of a formal group photo, it was filled with candid shots of small groups and individual pictures.
Spotting myself messing around in the classroom during what must’ve been break time, I pointed it out to Min Siheon.
“There I am.”
“…Ah.”
But his reaction felt off.
Since he was leaning against me from behind, I couldn’t see his face. But in that short exclamation, I caught a strange irritation.
Was I ugly? I just looked a bit younger—otherwise, there wasn’t much difference.
“…Looks like you were in the same class as this friend in senior year?”
Before I could figure out why he sounded that way, I followed the tip of his finger—and saw another familiar face.
“Min-hyuk?”
“…Yeah.”
Kim Min-hyuk was clinging to me in the photo, in a pose oddly similar to how Min Siheon was holding me now.
“Ah, him—we were in the same class from first year onward. Sung-kyun and Jae-han got shuffled around sometimes, but he and I were always in the same class. I guess that’s why we stuck together the most. You could say we were best friends.”
The only difference was that in the photo, I was complaining that Kim Min-hyuk was heavy while he laughed brightly beside me.
