“No, it’s just… I’m having fun being out here with you. The scenery’s pretty too. But it seems like you’re not really feeling the same.”
“……”
“Your face is stiff like ice. So I started wondering if I dragged you out here for no reason.”
“That’s a pointless worry.”
Do Jihoon answered clearly. He squeezed my hand tightly and used his other hand to stroke my hair. His pretty smile filled my vision.
“I’m having a great time right now.”
“…Really?”
“Yeah. If I were bored, I would’ve gone back a long time ago.”
“Well… knowing your personality, that’s true.”
Do Jihoon’s touch was warm. I closed my eyes slightly. The gentle sunlight felt cozy against my skin.
“Ah!”
“What, Yuri?”
A sudden idea flashed through my mind, and I opened my eyes wide and shouted confidently.
“Then let’s take pictures!”
“…I have absolutely no idea how you arrived at that conclusion, but okay.”
“Nice!”
So I immediately asked a passerby nearby to take some photos for us. After handing them my phone, I stood with Do Jihoon in front of Gyeonghoeru.
“I’ll take the photo on three!”
“Yes!”
I gripped Do Jihoon’s hand tightly.
“One.”
Do Jihoon wrapped his cool hand firmly around mine.
“Two.”
I smiled brightly. I hoped the image of me and Do Jihoon would blend well with the dazzling scenery of Gyeonghoeru.
“Three!”
Click—
The sound of the camera shutter rang out.
Besides the first photo, the passerby kindly took several more pictures for us. I stood on my tiptoes and kissed Do Jihoon on the cheek, climbed onto his back around the neck, and tried every kind of cute and bizarre pose imaginable.
“Ahh, this is it.”
The results were extremely satisfying. Looking through the photos on Do Jihoon’s phone, I let out a proud exclamation.
I looked at Do Jihoon.
This time, he was smiling brightly.
And that smile was far warmer and more beautiful than the sunlight reflecting on the lake of Gyeonghoeru.
***
Today was July 15th.
The weather was so scorching that even birds flying in the sky might fall from the heat.
For the first time in a while, I’d come back to my family home and was sprawled across the bed like a frog. Cool air flowed from the air conditioner, chilling the blanket nicely. I waved my arms and legs around, enjoying the refreshing coolness.
“Yeon Yuri.”
Just then, breaking the silence, my older sister walked into the room. My simple, peaceful rest shattered instantly. Still lying face-down on the bed, I buried my face into the pillow and mumbled.
“Whaaat.”
“There’s a gathering you need to attend.”
“…What?”
That was like throwing a rock into a perfectly calm day. I quickly lifted my body and sat up on the bed.
“Noona. I’m only twenty.”
“Right. You’re an adult.”
“…Well, when you say it like that…”
She didn’t seem particularly thrilled about my attendance either. My sister let out a deep sigh and continued.
“It couldn’t be helped. There were various circumstances. Honestly, I don’t really think you needed to come too, but…”
It sounded like there were complicated adult circumstances tangled up behind it. Even if I heard the details, I probably wouldn’t understand and would just end up with a headache. So I kept my mouth shut.
But I couldn’t hide the pout on my lips. My sister grabbed my lips and stretched them out with her fingers.
“Noona! You’re tearing my lips!”
“They’re not tearing. What am I supposed to do with these lips? They’re so cute I could die.”
After her hand let go, I moved my hand to check if my lips were still properly attached. I seriously thought they’d been ripped off.
“Anyway, just know that for now. It’ll be around the end of this month. I’ll send you the time and place on KakaoTalk.”
“Okaaay.”
“Good. Now go back to lying down and resting.”
“Mm.”
I heard the door close as my sister left the room. Rolling around on the bed, I started thinking.
If it’s some kind of gathering party where chaebol families meet… would Do Jihoon be there too?
The thought suddenly made me curious.
“When I’m curious, I can’t just ignore it.”
I immediately called Do Jihoon.
After the ringtone sounded two or three times, his voice came through the phone.
“What?”
“Hey. When you answer the phone, do you only know how to say ‘what’?”
“…What kind of answer are you expecting?”
“In a cool and cute voice: ‘Hello, baby?’ Something like that.”
“Let’s compromise with ‘hello.’”
He answered stubbornly. I decided to accept that much.
“So why did you call?”
Only after he asked did I remember the reason I’d called him.
“They said there’s some party at the end of this month. Are you going too?”
“Ah, that.”
Do Jihoon said he would be attending as well. He started explaining the party’s surface-level purpose and its actual purpose one by one.
I had absolutely no idea what the hell he was talking about, so I just let it go in one ear and out the other.
“Yeah… okay.”
“Yuri. You didn’t understand any of that, did you?”
“Yeah.”
“……”
“Anyway, forget the complicated stuff. What was our Doji doing?”
“Reading.”
“You’re seriously ridiculous.”
We chatted for quite a while. Eventually the housekeeper called me downstairs for dinner, so I had no choice but to hang up.
“Sniff. Then Yuri will go now. I’ll miss you.”
“Yuri. We’re seeing each other again in a little while.”
“Still. Won’t Doji miss Yuri?”
“I will. And I told you to stop referring to yourself in the third person.”
“Yeah, I’ll miss you too. I’m hanging up now. See you soon!”
I let his scolding go in one ear and out the other. Even after ending the call, the grin on my lips wouldn’t go away.
We hadn’t even talked about anything special, but somehow I felt happy and ticklish inside.
“So this is why people date.”
I murmured quietly.
“Yeah, yeah. I can clearly see your love life is going great.”
“Ah! What the—!”
I had been lost in my sentimental mood when suddenly I heard my sister laughing behind me.
When I turned around, sure enough, she was leaning against the doorway watching me.
Damn it, that’s embarrassing.
I snapped at her angrily.
“Ah, noona! Seriously, knock before coming in! I’m a grown adult—how do you just fling the door open like that without knowing what I might be doing in my room?”
“Why? Watching porn?”
“What kind of porn joke is that! And I am an adult, you know? I could watch it if I wanted to.”
“So you were watching porn? Our Yuri’s all grown up.”
“Ugh. I’m not talking to you anymore.”
Annoyed, I sharply turned my head away.
My sister apologized, saying she was sorry. I really didn’t want to accept it, but she was my financial lifeline. So while swallowing my anger and grinding my teeth, I forced myself to say it was fine.
“So why did you come back in here anyway?”
“To tell you to come eat. The soup’s getting cold.”
“Oh! If the soup gets cold, that’s serious.”
I quickly jumped off the bed and headed to the dining room.
Today’s main dish was bulgogi set meal.
Ugh…
My face immediately twisted.
“I don’t like bulgogi.”
At my whining, my sister sat down at the table and shot back bluntly.
“Eat what you’re given. You’re still tiny and not even 180 cm yet.”
“How tall are you then…!”
At my remark, she looked at me with a victor’s smile.
She was 173 cm.
Which meant she was pretty damn tall for a woman.
“Just tall like a lamppost.”
“Looks like our Yuri wants to struggle these days. Should I cancel your card?”
“No, ma’am. Who said that? I was just saying you’re beautiful and wise.”
“Exactly, right?”
Fuck.
A tear nearly slipped out.
Humans were destined to be bound by money. I could never talk back to the owner of my credit card—my sister.
The emotional state of a citizen deprived of freedom in the free democratic Republic of Korea was truly indescribably miserable.
Sniff.
My sister quickly finished eating and stood up. It seemed like she had something urgent to do.
As I stared at her, she reached out and ruffled my hair.
“Aww. You’re so cute.”
“I know.”
“…Try living with your mouth shut once in a while.”
I feel like I heard that not too long ago.
“Try living with your mouth shut.”
Couples really must be of one mind.
I’d lost count of the number of times I’d wished Do Jihoon would just shut his mouth for once too, since that bastard was as much of a mouth fighter as I was.
And now I was hearing the same thing.
After saying goodbye to my sister as she left, I stood up as well. I thanked the housekeeper for the meal and went back to my room, diving onto the bed.
Ah. They say lying down after eating turns you into a cow.
But cows have four stomachs, so maybe it’s not such a bad deal.
“I wonder what the others are doing.”
Suddenly I got curious about the few friends I had. I opened my phone and pulled up KakaoTalk.
And then I saw the messy 999+ chat notification.
“…I really want to delete that 999.”
But there was no way to do it.
Sighing, I sent a message to Kim Bo-jin and my classmates.
[What are you doing]
The reply came first from my classmates.
[21 Lee Daeju: Stuck to the house like scorched rice]
That bastard Kim Bo-jin was probably doing lovey-dovey stuff with his alpha right now anyway.
I suddenly missed Do Jihoon like crazy.
