The Cat of the Fish Shop (4)
“You said every time I write a chapter… so I’ve earned the right to my reward by now, haven’t I…?”
Seolhwa’s demand was fair enough.
It had been my own mouth, after all, that had promised her ten minutes of touching for every chapter of Girlfriend TA she wrote.
…Should I really have made that promise?
I’d been in such a hurry back then—afraid that if I didn’t say something, anything, she might never write another word—that I’d just spat it out. Looking back, I should have thought it through a little more carefully.
A flicker of regret crossed my mind, but the water was already spilled; we had come too far to scoop it back up now.
If I tried to call it off at this point, Seolhwa’s backlash would be no joke, and she’d start playing games with the serial again, yanking the hearts of everyone involved—myself included—up and down like a yo-yo.
Worse still, barely half an hour ago I’d told the director to leave everything to me. If news of a second hiatus reached him before the day was even out…
…Just imagining the fallout was enough to make my blood run cold.
So I rose slowly from my seat and looked down at Seolhwa’s face without a word.
She tilted her chin up and met my gaze.
Long lashes, cheeks without a single blemish, pale skin, and the faint tremor along the edge of her red lips.
She said nothing, but Seolhwa was clearly as tense as I was.
Or perhaps it wasn’t tension at all—perhaps it was anticipation.
“…….”
“…….”
Maybe both.
I had no way of knowing which way her feelings leaned, but as it had been since time immemorial, there was only one reliable method for a man to learn a woman’s heart.
Not with words—with the body. With action.
How Seolhwa was feeling right now, whether I was allowed to touch her, and if so, how far… I would ask her all of it with my body.
“Seolhwa.”
“……Yes?”
First, a bit of reconnaissance.
I spoke to draw her attention, then casually reached out and took her wrist in a light hold.
Seolhwa flinched the moment my left hand closed around hers, but almost at once her expression softened into something shy as she looked up at me.
The wrist was fine. Permission granted.
I brought her left hand closer, pressed my lips to the back of it, and gently kneaded the tips of her fingers.
“……Hmph.”
“What is it?”
“No, it’s just…….”
Next, the shoulder. She might not like the forearm, so I skipped it and laid my hand on her right shoulder.
Through the thin fabric of her T-shirt I could feel the soft line of her shoulder.
I tilted my head just enough to catch her eyes.
“Just what?”
“……It’s a lot different from what I was imagining.”
“What were you imagining?”
I asked the question lazily and took one step closer.
The already narrow distance between us shrank even further, yet Seolhwa showed no sign of discomfort.
She looked embarrassed, yes—but her eyes held a quiet, unmistakable expectancy as they met mine.
This far was still all right.
“I’ve done some things to you already, Oppa, so…… honestly…….”
“Mm, honestly?”
“……I thought you might start with my… my chest.”
Her voice was so small I almost missed it.
I kept stroking her shoulder and waited quietly until she repeated herself in a whisper that barely escaped her throat.
“I… I thought you might touch my chest first.”
“…….”
So the quiet cat really does climb onto the stove first.
Even allowing for everything that had already happened between us, wasn’t she trying to skip too many bases in one go?
…Well.
Seolhwa had never been a quiet cat to begin with. From our very first meeting she had gotten me drunk and dragged me to a motel; she had even been caught masturbating in my studio apartment.
She was a thoroughly shameless little cat, the kind the word “lewd” fit like a second skin. It wasn’t strange at all that she would assume I’d go straight for her breasts.
“So you don’t like it because it’s different from what you imagined?”
“N-no. This is… this is good in its own way…….”
“Sorry, what was that?”
“……Th-this is good in its own way. I… I like it.”
Yet for all the lewd faces she had shown me before, Seolhwa now looked thoroughly flustered and averted her eyes.
It was a slightly arrogant guess on my part, but I found myself wondering whether she might not have as much romantic experience as I’d assumed.
“Seolhwa.”
“……Y-yes?”
“About an hour ago you said this was the first time you’d ever been to a guy’s place.”
“Ah, yes……. I-I did, didn’t I?”
“Is that true? No lies?”
A girl this pretty, this cute—there was no way men would have simply left her alone. They must have tried every trick in the book to get her somewhere private.
I looked straight into her eyes from close range. Seolhwa’s face flushed scarlet and she nodded hard.
“I-I’ve never been to a guy’s place even once. ……I’ve never even had a boyfriend.”
“Liar. How do you write novels like that if you’ve never dated a guy?”
“I-imagination……. I told you I wrote them from imagination, didn’t I?”
“……Is that so?”
Her eyes didn’t look like they were lying. Still, there was always the chance she was a once-in-a-generation acting genius, so I slid my hand to the small of her back and gently pulled her closer.
……Squelch.
Given their size, the soft swell of her breasts—floating free under the T-shirt—bumped lightly against the muscle of my chest. Seolhwa seemed startled by the sudden contact; her gaze darted left and right before she swallowed hard.
“Then how do you explain all of that?”
“Th-that……?”
“What you did this morning, what you did at the café, what you did in the alley. ……You looked like you were dying to try something. Was I wrong?”
I put the demand for honesty into my touch, lightly stroking the erector spinae that peeked out beneath her T-shirt.
The calluses at my fingertips brushed bare skin; Seolhwa seemed to find it ticklish and sucked in a sharp little breath—“Hh…….”
“……I-I don’t know if you’ll believe me, but…….”
Her breathing had grown uneven. She let out a tiny sigh and forced the words out with difficulty.
“I’ve never acted that way with anyone except you, Oppa. ……I’ve never even felt like I wanted to.”
“And you expect me to believe that?”
“I-it’s true. Oppa, I was… I was a really well-behaved girl…….”
“……Hard to buy.”
I didn’t know what Seolhwa had been like in the past, but after witnessing the thoroughly lewd creature she was now, I simply couldn’t accept the claim at face value.
I’d sooner believe beans could make soy sauce than believe that the girl who’d been caught masturbating in someone else’s apartment was, in truth, a pure maiden who knew nothing of men.
I pressed my meaning into her body, pushing firmly against the modest curve of her ilium just below the muscle.
“Ah, euh……. Hh, hng……!”
“Tell me the truth. It’s a lie, isn’t it? ……If you’re honest I’ll let it slide.”
“N-nooo……. Ah, ahng……. I-it’s reeeally true…….”
Still the transparent lie.
It was so brazen that I moved my hand lower still—onto the swell of her ass, hidden only by the dolphin shorts.
Just as she herself had once said, her generous rear was plump enough to knead perfectly. Before I started in earnest I met her eyes again.
“……Really not a lie?”
“I-it’s true, I’m not lying……. I’ve never lied to you even once, Oppa…….”
“You’re doing it right now.”
I put strength into my palm and squeezed her right cheek hard.
My thick fingers sank deep into the soft flesh; Seolhwa’s face went scarlet and she let out a high, startled cry.
“Aeut……! A-aah, hhk…….”
“……If you don’t speak honestly I’ll squeeze it again.”
I held her ass hostage as I questioned her, but Seolhwa only shook her head wildly, as if she were the one being grievously wronged.
I slipped my free hand under her arm so she couldn’t escape and kneaded the firm mound once more.
Squelch—.
“Aht, hheuh……!”
I didn’t stop at kneading; I opened my palm and gave her a light smack. Through the dolphin shorts I felt an incredible elasticity, and her ass rippled like a wave under the impact.
The sight carried a potent sense of taboo; I swallowed hard without meaning to.
……This feels a little strange.
How to put it? I couldn’t quite explain the feeling, but part of me almost hoped she would keep lying a little longer.
A curious afterglow still hummed in my left palm. I looked down at her gently swaying rear as if it were begging for another strike.
“…….”
“……Euh, hhk.”
Then I heard a half-sobbing sound and lifted my gaze.
Seolhwa’s cheeks, ears, and even the nape of her neck were bright red; she stared up at me with glistening eyes.
“……Oppa.”
Her voice cracked.
“I really……. I’ve never done anything like that with any other man. Today really is the first time I’ve ever been to a guy’s place, and my family is so strict I’ve never even held a boy’s hand before. ……Dating, kissing, sex—the things everyone else does—I’ve never, ever done any of them even once.”
“Ah, that’s…….”
“But you don’t even know that……. You don’t understand, and I-I’m really, really upset, so upset……. You just keep treating me like a liar, like a pervert, and all you do is spank my ass, hheuh, ……hheuk.”
“S-Seolhwa……?”
“I did… I did do awful things to you, Oppa……. I’m truly sorry for that……. But I never once lied, not even once, I was always honest with you, and you don’t believe a single word, ……you’re mean, hhk, ……hheueuk.”
Her confession came in a rush of emotion, the words tumbling over one another; only then did my mind snap back into place.
……What the hell have I been doing?
I’d pushed her too hard under the excuse of asking questions, of pressing for the truth—a girl who claimed she had never even held a man’s hand.
The realization that I had gone too far hit me at the same moment Seolhwa buried her reddened eyes against my chest and began to sniffle.
Only then did I understand what a complete bastard I’d been. At a loss, I simply wrapped my arms around her.
“S-Seolhwa. I’m sorry, I’m sorry. I was wrong. Don’t cry—I really messed up, so please don’t cry…….”
“……Hhk, *sniff*. Hheuk, hh, ……hhk, hheuk.”
Whatever else, stopping the tears seemed like the priority, but it wasn’t as if I had any experience comforting women.
Having a girl sob desolately in my arms was itself a first; I had no idea what the right move was supposed to be.
For the moment I held her tightly, gently patted her back, and whispered against her ear.
“I’m sorry, Seolhwa. I really was wrong. I won’t hit you again, I promise. Can’t you stop crying……?”
“Hheuk. *Sniff*. ……Hhk.”
Ah, this is driving me crazy…….
“Seolhwa, if you stop crying I’ll grant you one wish, okay?”
“Hh, really……. Hheuk, really……?”
“Huh? Ah, yeah. I’ll really grant you one wish, so just calm down first and stop the tears…….”
“……Then take off your pants, Oppa, and show me your cock.”
“Uhh, just a second. Right away…….”
In my haste I reached for my waistband—then froze solid.
“……?”
I must have misheard.
Thinking I hadn’t properly understood her in the confusion, I simply stared at her.
When I looked down with blank eyes, Seolhwa lifted only her head and met my gaze.
“……Oppa.”
……Her tears had already dried completely.
“You promised…….”
“…….”
“……You’ll show me your cock, right?”