The World’s Greatest Friend
I exchanged messages with her, my face flushed with excitement.
She teased me every chance she got about how shy I was, yet a foolish, goofy grin never left my face.
I imagine this is what it feels like to date when you’re a student.
I’ve only had two relationships in my entire life, but even when I texted my first love, I didn’t feel this nervous.
Ever since that accidental act of kindness, every day has felt like a trip to an amusement park.
Even just exchanging light messages made my heart race, and no matter what she said, I couldn't help but blush.
“Assistant Manager Son.”
“Oh! Team Leader Han.”
“By any chance, the documents I asked for—”
“Yes, I have them ready right here!”
I handed over the file before she could even finish her sentence.
It was a bit rude to a superior, but the momentum from the pleasant texting I’d been doing just moments ago carried over.
“……?”
Team Leader Han looked slightly surprised.
She opened the file to check the contents, and finding nothing to complain about, she whispered, “…Good work.”
She didn’t leave immediately, though. She scrutinized my face for a moment before asking,
“Is something going on lately?”
“Pardon?”
“No, it’s just that your vibe seems so different lately… It’s like you finally have some human vitality for the first time since you joined the company. Should I say you’re like dried kelp that’s absorbed water and plumped back up?”
I suppose it’s obvious to the people around me.
Even looking at myself, I have so much excess energy that I feel like I need to exercise just to burn it off.
Since our trip to the amusement park, even the work I’d been struggling with has been going strangely well.
In truth, I’ve been finishing my work quickly, wondering if something else might happen later. I’ve been rushing through it, hoping for more good fortune.
I’d only just started seeing someone, yet so much of my daily life was changing in an instant.
“Well… I just thought I’d changed a bit, and a proactive attitude isn’t a bad thing.”
“Ah, yes. I understand.”
“…….”
Team Leader Han, who had glanced at me two or three times for some reason, walked away clutching the file.
I had been praised, but there was a lingering sense of unease. However,
‘! She sent another one.’
The messenger was my priority for now.
I quickly opened the notification sound to see,
This single sentence gave me the strength to run a 42.195km marathon.
She had sent a selfie, likely taken just moments ago, wearing her Pilates instructor outfit and zoomed in on her face and chest.
I instinctively zoomed in to see her looking like she’d been working hard and sweating, and then,
‘Save.’
I hit the save button without a second’s hesitation.
Today, we went to a Japanese restaurant with a local vibe where you could clearly see the chef at work.
We could have sat at the counter to enjoy the atmosphere, but I was worried about the stares of passersby, so we met Yeoeun in a spot with small partitions.
“Chicken skewers are good, right?”
“Yeah, I think I’m going to become a regular here too♡”
We met at a place I had chosen today.
It was a popular spot nearby that we often used for company dinners.
We didn’t share any drinks today, just chatted as we ate.
In fact, it seemed like alcohol was just a special tool for Yeoeun to get close to people quickly, and she didn’t seem to enjoy it that often.
After finishing my third skewer of chicken heart, which was garnished with tasty vegetables like bell peppers,
“By the way, honey, can I ask you something important now?”
“What is it?”
“So, when are we going to have sex?”
“Cough!? *Cough, cough, cough!*”
I nearly had a real accident.
While biting into a seasoned chicken skewer, my hand slipped, and the sharp skewer nearly pierced my cheek.
After rinsing my mouth with the bottled water on the table,
“No, that—that’s—it’s too early to talk about that!”
“Is it really?”
Her eyes were serious.
She stared at me as if to say she wasn’t just joking around,
“………We aren’t even officially dating yet, you’re crossing the line too much.”
I played defensively.
I knew she was pushing forward aggressively, and whenever she got close to crossing the line, I instinctively hit the brakes.
Of course, I wanted to do it too.
I was still a man in my prime, and above all, the woman in front of me, Joo Yeoeun, was a bundle of pure estrogen.
But for the reasons I’d mentioned before, in my common sense, sleeping together after only knowing each other for a week was nonsense.
Even if Yeoeun wanted a fast pace, if I just followed her lead, I felt like I’d end up tearing myself apart.
If we started, I would definitely just be played by her pace until the very end.
“Hehe♡”
Yeoeun just tilted her head slightly, as if she had predicted my answer.
She marveled at me like I was some strange creature,
“But my dad, who introduced us, already thinks we’re dating, right?”
“…It’s only been a week since he set us up.”
“That’s because his intention from the start wasn’t for us to be ‘friends’ like you wanted, Seungwoo honey, but to start as a ‘couple’.”
She seemed to like the taste, so she pulled another heart off the skewer,
“He probably thinks we’ve already had sex by now, too.”
“Pfft!”
This time, I actually spat the water I was holding in my mouth onto the table.
When the nearby server asked if I was okay, I hurriedly wiped it up with a wet tissue, feeling embarrassed, and shot her a resentful look.
“…Is it okay for you to say such outrageous things?”
“Well, wouldn’t it be funnier if a woman over 30 who knows everything there is to know about the world was still a virgin? I think it would be sadder if it were the other way around.”
“Hmm… I guess you’ve dated a lot of men?”
I let it slip.
I put that issue, which I was somewhat curious about, on the table.
I wanted to pass it off naturally like ‘adults,’ just like eating the common snacks on the table, but
Smirk♥
This fox wouldn’t allow that.
As if she’d been waiting for me to take the bait, she smiled brightly and rested her chin on her hand.
“Fufufu, I guess men are curious about that part?”
“…….”
“Do you want to know? About my ex-boyfriends or my sensitive past?”
“…No, I don’t want to dig into it too deeply.”
After clearing my throat,
“Because if it’s Yeoeun, you must have been popular. I figured as much.”
I meant it.
I really didn’t care that much about the past.
Opening Pandora’s box wouldn’t do any good, and I wasn’t without experience myself, so I didn’t want to pick it apart piece by piece.
I just wanted to know more about each other.
“Three months.”
Then, Yeoeun mentioned it briefly.
She held up three fingers and whispered,
“Hmm~ I’ve dated a few men, but I’ve never gone past three months with any of them.”
“? Why?”
“Because I broke things off before then. I got bored of seeing them♡”
She said it with a sweet smile, a cruel remark.
Bored.
She dismissed it simply, not like a lie she was making up on the spot.
I didn’t want to dig deep, but that seemed to be Yeoeun’s nature.
A personality that runs fast and then swaps things out when she gets bored.
Just as she’d shown me, she was a free-spirited, mysterious fairy that no one could ever truly possess.
‘In other words, if I get boring, I’ll get dumped too, right?’
My position felt a little unstable.
It was a moment where I could finally sympathize with why Mr. Young-cheol had sighed when talking about his daughter.
“How much have you dated, honey?”
While I was re-evaluating what kind of character she was, the question flew at me.
“You look like the type who would have been in a long, serious relationship. How long was your longest?”
“Uh… about two and a half years before I started working?”
“Hek!? That, that long!?”
She let out a metallic gasp of surprise, a sound I’d never heard before.
‘…She’s the special case. Isn’t that normal for a relationship?’
I thought to myself, but I didn’t say anything more.
It wasn’t a past I wanted to brag about, and it didn’t seem like it would be interesting, so I kept my mouth shut.
“I see. At that speed… I can understand your attitude now.”
“…What does that mean?”
“It doesn’t mean much? Fufufu♥”
She brushed it off with that smile that lures men in, the kind that’s easy to use to gloss over things.
Slide.
Then, she moved across the table.
She sat down next to me, making space for us to sit side-by-side.
She leaned her shoulder against mine and whispered,
“It just means I’ll try to respect your style, even if it’s a bit frustrating.”
Squeeze♥
And then she held my hand from underneath.
I flinched a little late, but she interlaced her fingers with mine.
Sharing the scent of that strong perfume she always wore, which bloomed from her chest, she whispered in my ear,
‘You held my hand first, so there’s no problem, right?’
“…….”
‘Your hands are surprisingly big, honey? Hehe♥’
As expected, she had been conscious of it when I’d tentatively held her hand at the amusement park.
She had known, and she brought it up as if she’d been hiding it for this very moment.
I’m nervous.
No matter how much I try to keep my wits about me while being dragged into the tiger’s den, I have to wonder if I can really handle this gumiho.
We had decided to have two meals together this week.
The reaction at the chicken skewer place had been good, so I’d called her out, wanting to treat her with my own money, but
“Right, locking up!”
Yeoeun, who had arrived and eaten two skewers, shouted that and quickly put her coat back on.
I wondered what was going on, and she said she hadn’t given the key to the part-timer working the counter, so they couldn’t lock up.
She said she had to go take care of it quickly, but the round trip was quite long.
It was rush hour, so I expected the traffic to be bad, and sure enough,
As I thought.
When she said it would be hard to come back over the messenger, she didn’t dwell on it and moved on, implying we should spend time together next time.
‘Sigh… then I guess I have to head back for today.’
There had been events happening without a break lately, but I guess good things can’t happen every single time.
Feeling a bit disappointed, I stood up from my seat, grabbed my coat, and walked out—
Thump!
I had a collision with someone.
As soon as I came out of the small room, I bumped into a woman holding a takeout coffee.
“Ah, I’m so sorry!”
The apology came out reflexively.
Thankfully, the coffee didn’t spill, and there was no incident where I’d have to pay for her clothes.
However,
“…Seungwoo oppa?”
“………Gaeun.”
The person was my ex-girlfriend.
Her name slipped out at the sight of that face, which was still just as I remembered it.
They say it’s a small world, but this was ridiculously small.