The Safest Place in the World
"If today is your day off, do you mind if I go over to your place to talk about the details?"
"Huh?! Oh, yeah! Sure! I get it!"
"Send me your address and I'll be right over. I should be there in about thirty minutes, so see you soon."
With that, the call abruptly cut off.
And as the line went dead, Yoon Siwoo stood there dazed, only fully grasping the situation after a few moments had passed.
Wait. Scarlet is coming to my house? In thirty minutes?
"Argh?! Thirty minutes?! Sh-should I clean first? No, I just woke up, so I haven't even washed yet. Is a shower more urgent? Ugh, this is driving me crazy... There isn't a weird smell in the house, is there?"
Only thirty minutes remained until Scarlet's arrival. Yoon Siwoo was panicking so hard he wondered if he had ever been this flustered in his entire life.
If he had to recall a time he was this shaken, perhaps it was only when he had ended up at a somewhat questionable motel with Scarlet.
Anyway, that was then, and this was now.
It wasn't just anyone; the girl he held in his heart was coming to the place where he lived.
Since it was an entirely unexpected situation, he stood frozen in panic for a moment, unsure of where to start, before frantically throwing himself into cleaning.
He flung open the windows to air out the place, then swept and tidied the cluttered living room.
Fortunately, he wasn't the type to leave his place in a complete mess, so it seemed he could barely make the deadline.
In times like this, he felt incredibly grateful that Lucy was always with him.
Though Lucy had claimed it was only natural for a healthy young man and thus didn't matter, he couldn't help but be self-conscious. Thanks to her presence, his home was free of the typical body odor that usually clung to the rooms of teenage boys.
Still, just in case, he hastily unboxed and set up several diffusers around the house that he had bought but never opened.
If Scarlet frowned and complained of a strange smell when she arrived, he felt like he would want to die of embarrassment...
Watching Yoon Siwoo put more effort into cleaning his house than ever before, Lucy muttered in an utterly exasperated tone.
"Siwoo, watching thee fuss about over such trivialities brings me nothing but embarrassment. To think such a man is my master and family... it is truly lamentable..."
Yoon Siwoo stiffened, momentarily flushed with embarrassment at Lucy's words, but he quickly shook it off. There was no time to waste. He moved swiftly to finish cleaning and grooming himself.
After a frantic thirty minutes that felt like a war zone, the doorbell rang. Yoon Siwoo plastered on the most natural smile he could muster and opened the door to greet Scarlet.
"Y-you're here? Come on in."
He had been so focused on maintaining a natural smile that he ended up biting his tongue mid-greeting.
Though his face flushed red with embarrassment, Scarlet fortunately didn't seem to mind. With a calm, expressionless face, she slipped off her shoes and stepped through the entryway.
Scarlet... Scarlet is in my house...
Before he knew it, his heart was pounding so loudly he could barely compose himself. Meanwhile, Scarlet lightly scanned the interior and murmured softly, almost to herself.
"...It's cleaner than I thought. I figured you'd be the type to live in a bit of a mess."
...Thank goodness he cleaned. It was the glorious moment where his desperate efforts not to look like an untidy man paid off.
As Yoon Siwoo breathed a silent sigh of relief, his eyes fell upon the large bag Scarlet had brought with her.
Come to think of it, she hadn't come to his house just to hang out.
Guiding Scarlet to the dining table, Yoon Siwoo sat across from her, swallowed hard, and asked, "Um, so... about what you said on the phone earlier... about living together... what did you mean by that?"
When she had asked over the phone if she could live with him, his heart had genuinely stopped.
An offer to move in together, of all things.
He had heard of couples living together before marriage. If so, wasn't this practically equivalent to a confession, a declaration that she wanted to take their relationship to the next level?
But Yoon Siwoo reasoned that while he certainly hoped to develop such a relationship with her, there had to be proper steps to these things.
It might be a slightly conservative way of thinking, but asking to move in together before he had even confessed his feelings felt a bit too sudden.
Of course, Scarlet had her eccentricities, so he asked the question to clarify her true intentions.
If she really meant it in that way, he resolved to give her a proper, formal confession right then and there.
As Yoon Siwoo waited with bated breath, Scarlet replied, "What do you mean, 'what did I mean?' Exactly what I said."
"Which means..."
"Yeah. I want to live here with you. As roommates."
Yoon Siwoo, who had been imagining a million different ways to confess his love, froze. He blinked, then asked in a thoroughly blank voice, "...Huh? Roommates?"
"Yeah, roommates. You don't know the word? Students usually live together to split the rent and ease the financial burden. Finding a place around here is pretty expensive, so living with you would take the pressure off both of us. Plus, this place fits the exact conditions I was looking for."
Seeing her speak so casually, Yoon Siwoo realized she had approached him solely for the practical purpose of finding a place to stay.
He had been getting incredibly worked up all by himself over nothing.
His face burned with embarrassment, but he felt she was also partly to blame for making him misunderstand.
What kind of girl chose a guy as a roommate? Unless she was completely clueless about the world...
The moment that thought crossed his mind, Yoon Siwoo had a sudden realization.
This girl was Scarlet Evande.
She was the very same girl who had casually chosen a motel as a quiet place for them to talk in private.
Considering her unusual background, it was actually more natural for her to have a completely unconventional grasp of social boundaries.
Yoon Siwoo hung his head in a mix of self-pity and dejection, but Scarlet went on explaining her reasoning without a care in the world.
"You have to leave the house often for work anyway, right? Wouldn't it be nice to have someone house-sitting while you're gone? Besides, this place is a bit too spacious for one person. Letting me use one room shouldn't be much of a burden on you."
"...Yeah. I suppose so."
"...Um, do you not want to live with me?"
"...No, it's not that."
Because of his lingering dejection, his response had sounded a bit half-hearted. Scarlet seemed to take it as a sign of rejection and began to watch his expression anxiously.
That wasn't it at all. He was more than happy to live with her. But still, he felt a bit... complicated.
Sensing Yoon Siwoo's ambiguous reaction, Scarlet panicked, thinking she was about to be turned away, and blurted out:
"L-look! Since I'll basically have this great place to myself most of the time, I'll pay a larger share of the rent! And I'll do the cleaning, the laundry, and I'll even cook for you when you're home!"
"No, you don't have to go that far..."
"No! Don't worry about it! I want to do it! I-I already asked a huge favor of you, so I want to repay that debt even a little bit...! Besides that, I'll do whatever else you ask of me... okay?"
"......Don't feel so burdened by it. Instead of doing this, let's go look for another place where you can live comfortably on your own. I'll help you search..."
For a split second, he had been tempted by her offer to do "whatever he asked," but Yoon Siwoo quickly snapped out of it. Steeling his resolve, he gently shook his head at the pleading Scarlet.
At this rate, living with him would only make her feel more indebted. For her sake, it seemed better to help her find her own place.
However, at his words, Scarlet hung her head as if struck by a heavy blow. Her shoulders trembled. Then, with a shaking hand, she gently grasped his sleeve and whispered:
"...I don't want to go anywhere else. I want to stay here."
"...Why do you want to stay at my place so badly?"
At his question, Scarlet lifted her bowed head and looked up at him with wide, vulnerable eyes.
"...Because being by your side makes me feel the most safe."
"Ah...?!"
His heart hammered so violently against his ribs that a strange, choked sound escaped his throat.
Beyond the notification confirming her words as absolute truth, Yoon Siwoo looked at the girl. A girl who had always seemed so incredibly strong, now looking utterly fragile as she pleaded with him.
He couldn't possibly refuse her.
Yoon Siwoo nodded.
"Oh, thank goodness..."
Seeing her bright, relieved smile, Yoon Siwoo could only pray fervently that his heart would survive the days to come.