Her Secret Proposal (4)
Apartment 102.
I stood at her door and let myself drift for a moment. How long had it been since I'd walked into anyone's home but my own? Even at school, I had never had a friend close enough to visit.
Someone whose house I was allowed to enter...
Didn't that mean she and I already belonged, quite clearly, inside the category of friends?
I pressed the doorbell without a second thought. From inside, there was no answer at all.
What the hell. She was the one who invited me.
Then I remembered what she'd said on her way downstairs.
"I'll be in the shower, okay?"
Don't tell me she's still washing up.
I checked my watch. We were already past the time we'd agreed on.
The lock clicked, and her front door swung open.
"Ah—"
She stood in the entryway with a towel wound around her wet hair. A loose sky-blue camisole fluttered against her body, paired with a pair of dolphin pants, and in one hand she held the bundled-up leggings and clothes she'd been wearing earlier.
"Did I keep you waiting? I was in the shower..."
So this was what people meant by porcelain skin. Her face, so flawless it was impossible to guess her age, stood out in sharp, luminous detail.
"Did you rush out because of me?"
"No, I was already done. I sweated a lot more than I expected."
She lifted her arms to unwrap the towel from her hair. For a moment my eyes locked onto the smooth hollow of her underarm. However many times I looked, it seemed like it would smell sweet, and I wanted to bury my nose in it right then and there.
"Want to come in?"
Whether she'd noticed where I was looking or not, she ushered me inside in a hurry. She tossed the clothes in her hand into the laundry hamper beside the bathroom.
In the falling bundle, I caught a glimpse of her panties. A pair of black silk ones she'd been wearing under the leggings disappeared into the hamper.
Panties still carrying the smell of her sweat. I wanted to touch them while they were still damp. I felt my cock surge, thickening all at once. I want those so fucking badly...
"Pardon the intrusion."
I was finally inside her home. The thought that I was allowed into the place where she lived made me feel as if the two of us had drawn that much closer.
The apartment was clean and quiet. It was the same floor plan as ours, so the layout was already familiar, but her touch had reached every corner, and the whole space seemed to glow for it.
The living room had a cozy, settled warmth to it—a beige sofa, a wood table, and, against the white walls, the kind of hip little paintings you'd find in a boutique shop. There was no chance any of it belonged to the tastes of her husband, that balding middle-aged man, or to a guy like Seongdae. This was a space that held her preferences and nothing else.
"Your house is so pretty."
"Oh my, do you think so?"
Her bright, fresh-eyed smile came straight at me. Praising her taste, her interests—there was no better way to win her over than that.
"Yes. You could open a café right now."
"Hehe. Dongho, you really are a smooth talker."
In visibly better spirits, she headed for the kitchen.
"Go sit on the sofa and rest a minute. I'll get your food started first."
"Please, take your time."
I sat on the sofa and watched her in that neat little kitchen. It was a far cry from the seductive woman who, only minutes earlier, had been teaching me yoga in her own living room half-undressed.
In the kitchen she was a child's mother, a household's wife. She focused on the cooking, trimming side dishes with practiced hands and setting a pot of stew on the stove. Maybe it was that double image that made her even sexier.
The view of her from behind as she prepped ingredients was genuinely beautiful. The full, rounded swell of her ass sat heavy over the dolphin pants and gave a little jiggle every time she moved. Below that, firm thighs ran down into smooth, sleek calves.
It was a body that pulled a sound of awe right out of you. Her bare legs, freed from the leggings, only made my cock harder.
That sky-blue camisole was the same one she'd worn when we went to the valley. I remembered the line of her breasts taking shape through the wet fabric. Imagining the lush tits hidden inside that thin little top, I ran my eyes over her body like a pair of hands.
"I think this is about done. Dongho, come eat."
In what felt like no time at all, she set out steaming rice and a pot of stew. The seasoned greens and side dishes her hands had made stirred up an appetite all on their own.
"Wow, ma'am. This looks incredible."
"You're embarrassing me. I didn't put out all that much..."
"What are you talking about? This looks like a birthday spread."
"Does it? Then eat up."
She and I sat across from each other at the table and started the meal. The food she'd made was outstanding, but what really moved me was the simple fact of sitting here eating with her, just the two of us.
If I could eat with her like this every day. If we could fall asleep together and wake up together, and I could sit down to a breakfast she'd made—just picturing it put a satisfied look on my face all by itself.
"Is it good?"
She asked when she saw the corner of my mouth lift.
"Of course! I started smiling the second I took a bite. You could open a restaurant."
I laid the gestures on thick, fully intending to put her in a good mood.
"Well, that's a relief. Dongho, you're really good at puffing me up."
I can puff you up just fine. Ma'am, I can make you feel good in other ways too.
"Anyway... what was that important thing you wanted to tell me about Seongdae?"
At last she'd arrived at the real reason.
"Well... I'm not sure I should say."
"It's all right. It'll stay between the two of us. You and I trust each other, don't we? We rely on each other."
"Mm..."
Trust each other. Rely on each other. Her words made my shoulders square up a little, whether I wanted them to or not.
The longer I dragged it out, the more her bright, shining eyes looked ready to well over. Hold out a little longer and she might have grabbed me by the pant leg.
"Can you tell me?"
"I'm not completely sure, but... I think Seongdae has been hanging around with a bad crowd."
"Oh my."
Her eyes went wide, as if the surprise were genuine.
"Really?"
"Yes. The kids he runs with seem to pick on other students at school, take their money, things like that."
"Oh my... even our sweet Seongdae?"
Our sweet one?
Ma'am, Seongdae is the ringleader of those kids. I wanted to spit it out plain, but I thought of the shock it would land on her and took a step back.
"He isn't the one being picked on, is he? Is that why he took that money...? Then what should I do?"
Her face had gone grave.
"I don't know. He didn't look like someone being bullied. He'll probably have to cut those friends off, something like that."
"Oh no... what am I going to do... my Seongdae."
A brilliant idea surfaced in my head.
"There is one thing we could try..."
"What?"
"The truth is, Seongdae is always the first one to disappear after school. I have no idea what he does once the day ends..."
"The first one to disappear? Then why isn't he home yet..."
Color began to rise in her face. She looked ready to cry at any second, and I wanted to go over and put my arms around her.
"So I was thinking..."
I let the pause hang.
"What if you and I tailed Seongdae?"
"Tailed him? Seongdae?"
"Yes. After school, you and I follow him and see where he goes. How does that sound?"
She seemed to weigh it for a moment. Then her expression brightened.
"Hmm... I think that's a good idea. Better than me going alone, anyway. But you'd come with me?"
"Of course. It's a favor from you. How could I not?"
I gave her a bright, open smile, as if I hadn't a single ulterior motive. She didn't seem to read any of what was sitting inside it.
"Then I feel so much better."
"What if we took your car?"
"My car?"
"Yes. I thought it might be a safer way to follow him."
She tilted her head, sinking into thought. One strap of the camisole slipped off her shoulder, baring a sliver of her left underarm and the curve of her breast. She didn't seem to notice.
"What if Seongdae recognizes it...?"
"We just follow at a distance."
"All right, let's do it. I'll drive."
The truth was, I had a different reason for wanting her car. I wanted to take this woman who spent every day shut up in the house and go for a drive with her. In a space that belonged to just the two of us, we could talk honestly, and I could pull us that much closer together.
And yet—to think she had a heart that soft. The way she went completely weak the moment Seongdae came up only made me more jealous. What if she poured that feeling into me instead of him? I found myself hating Seongdae for not even knowing any of this.
"All right. I'll text you tomorrow. I should head back upstairs."
"You should? Seongdae's Dad ought to be getting home around now anyway."
As she rose from the table after me, the camisole slipped a little further. The smooth skin all the way to her collarbone lay bare.
Well, damn... that makes it hard to leave. I stole a look down the line of her cleavage and decided that once I got upstairs, I was going to need some time alone with the thought of her.
The front door chimed and swung open. I wasn't thrilled about Seongdae's Dad cutting into my time, but I prepared a polite greeting all the same.
"The fuck are you doing here?"
Ah. I'm fucked.
Standing there in the doorway, wearing a look of pure distaste, was Seongdae.