The First Kiss Tastes Like French Banana Milk
"Wait, seriously? Yu-ri sunbae actually said that? She told you to come over to her house?" Choi Su-yeon asked while restocking the convenience store shelves. Her face was filled with pure shock.
"That's unexpected. I figured she was nothing but prim and proper, but dragging a guy into her own room? Guess she has a bold streak after all."
"You're taking this way calmer than I expected. Aren't you going to ask why I'm going or try to stop me?"
Su-yeon let out a little snort. "Why would I? I already get to be right next to you like this every single day♥ Four times a week, six whole hours at a time. Call it the winner's grace? If I don't give Yu-ri sunbae at least this much of a handicap, it'd be too pathetic for her, wouldn't it?"
"Aren't you being a little too complacent? She packs me lunch every morning because she wants me to eat properly. Like a wife."
The moment I casually dropped the mention of Lee Yu-ri's lunches, a flicker of panic crossed Su-yeon's face.
"L-lunch boxes...? Yu-ri sunbae makes you lunch? In the morning? And she cooks it herself?"
"Yep. Had one today, actually."
"Senior... no matter what, isn't that a little shameless? You should at least handle breakfast on your own."
"I'd love to, but I don't have the money. Yu-ri heard about my situation and offered to make them for me."
"...You can't even afford breakfast? What does that even mean?"
Su-yeon stepped right up into my face and started pressing me for answers. I ended up telling her the same story I'd shared with Yu-ri. After listening, she pulled out her phone with a flustered expression and checked the date. About two weeks until payday.
"...Senior, are you really living that 'ten-thousand-won happiness' life?"
"You think I want to live like this?"
"Then why did you turn down the tuition support program Yu-ri sunbae mentioned?"
"With the kind of reputation I've built, there's no way I'd pass the screening. And even if I somehow did, I don't want to be known as the academy's resident bottom-feeder. Besides, if it went through, the whole school would hear about it."
"What's wrong with that?"
"If word gets out that Han Seong-jin is so broke he's surviving on tuition assistance, I'll be labeled a total fucking loser."
Su-yeon sighed, looking utterly dumbfounded. "So you're saying... you turned it down just to protect your pride? You'd rather starve to death than swallow your ego? I mean, given all the crap you've pulled, I figured you'd get rejected anyway, but still!"
"You've got a real talent for verbally destroying people, you know that?"
"Wait, hold on. Then when you said you'd just show your face at that weekend meeting... was it because of the all-you-can-eat meat at that barbecue place...?"
The suspicion on Su-yeon's face had already hardened into certainty. I scratched the back of my head.
"I know it's trash money, but it was too tempting to turn down."
"......"
"Look, that wasn't the main reason. I really was planning to tell them I'm quitting for good—"
"I'm losing my mind! You don't even have money for food, but you were out skipping class with me, throwing cash around everywhere, and then going to that dumpster-fire meeting just for free meat? Do you even have a brain?"
At the end, Su-yeon slipped into casual speech without realizing it. She marched over to the display shelves, rummaged around, and came back with a few items: a six-pack of galbi dumplings, a 1+1 triangle kimbap set, and a bottle of banana milk.
"Eat this. It's on me. After midnight they mark it down as discard and it's basically free, but we close at ten so we can't wait that long."
"Hey, you don't have to do this. I don't need—"
"Shut up and eat."
Her voice was colder than usual. I didn't bother refusing again and started eating what she'd brought. Truth was, I was pretty hungry.
"Have you even thought about how it feels for me? The guy who said he likes me—the guy I ended up falling for—watching him struggle to even eat properly?"
"I wasn't struggling."
"Getting homemade lunches from Yu-ri sunbae every morning is already peak struggling, Senior."
"You're really not leaving me any room to argue, huh."
While I inhaled the dumplings and kimbap, Su-yeon sat beside me, quietly watching. Eventually she let out a soft laugh.
"What are you laughing at?"
"Put yourself in my position. It's hilarious."
She scooted even closer and began gently stroking my thigh with her hand while I ate.
"Up until last year, the rumors about you were so insane that no one knew where the truth ended and the lies began. You were this terrifying figure. And now here you are, too broke for breakfast, eating a lunch another girl made you and convenience store food from your junior."
"This is already humiliating enough. Knock it off."
"There was a time one of my friends got punched in the face because she supposedly bothered you. She came to school with a huge bruise. But now... for some reason, I don't feel like you'd ever lay a hand on me no matter how much I mess with you."
Su-yeon leaned forward until our eyes met.
"From a distance you seemed impossibly scary, like someone I should never make eye contact with. But now that we're looking at each other like this, my heart feels at ease. Even though I wear a mask around my own friends, in front of you I don't have to care about any of that."
She slipped her arm around my left one, pressing her impressive chest against my forearm and rubbing it teasingly.
"We weren't even dating. We hadn't even kissed. Yet you groped my breasts like it was nothing... and I didn't hate it."
Su-yeon blushed shyly, smiling brightly.
"No matter what happens with Yu-ri sunbae, I just want to stay by your side. Doesn't that sound ridiculous?"
"...Su-yeon."
By then I'd finished eating. The moment I did, she stuck a straw in the banana milk and handed it to me. I took a sip and continued.
"As you already know, I'm the kind of bastard who makes the term 'human trash' feel like an understatement."
"I've heard the general idea."
"And like I told you before, I have an insane appetite for women. Shameless about it, too."
"I know."
"You heard the rumors about me and Yu-ri, right? They're not completely made up. I even confessed to her that I liked her."
"I know."
"I don't know how this sounds... actually, I know it sounds like I'm a total asshole, but I like you too. Even so, I might not be able to give you all my time. This weekend, for example, I'm going to Yu-ri's house."
"That does piss me off a little... but I know."
"Instead."
I placed my hand over hers where it rested on my thigh. Su-yeon's cheeks flushed even deeper as she looked up shyly. Our eyes met in the space between us.
"I'll make one thing crystal clear."
"...What is it?"
"I will never play with your heart or make you cry."
At those words, Su-yeon swallowed hard. Her face grew hot, so she fanned herself with her hand before leaning in to sip from the same banana milk straw I'd been using.
"Ahaha... that's exactly what I needed to hear."
Then she seemed to realize her hand was still on my thigh and tried to pull it back. I pressed down gently, not letting her escape.
"S... Senior?"
She swallowed again. Her wandering hand reached for the banana milk once more, but the carton was already empty. Her trembling eyes met mine.
Our faces were barely a handspan apart. It was afternoon, and after the usual delinquents who came by to smoke had left, the store grew quiet until the evening rush. No customers. No convenient rom-com interrupters to ruin the moment.
There was only the two of us inside the convenience store. The only sound was our breathing.
Without needing to decide who would move first, we slowly, carefully drew closer. A handspan became two-thirds, then half, until our noses were nearly touching and we stared into each other's eyes.
I lifted the hand that had been covering hers and gently brushed her cheek. Su-yeon raised her own hand from my thigh and laid it against my face. Her eyes drifted shut ever so slowly. Taking that as my signal, I closed the final distance.
"Hah..."
Su-yeon drew in a sharp little breath the instant our lips met. Hers were incredibly soft, with a slight stickiness from her lip balm. I could feel the tension in her left hand where it gripped my cheek, fingers digging in hard.
To help her relax, I slowly moved my left hand from her cheek to take her right one. Her fingers fumbled for mine like she was grasping for a lifeline, and then we laced them together tenderly.
"Huu..."
The moment our lips touched, Su-yeon had been holding her breath from nerves. She finally let it out in a slow, trembling exhale. The warm puff tickled my upper lip. I slid my hand around her slim waist and pulled her closer. As the tension melted from her body, she slowly wrapped both arms around the back of my neck.
With my hands on her waist and hers around my neck, we continued the kiss. I gently sucked on her upper lip; she responded by sucking on my lower one. When her mouth parted slightly, I slipped my tongue inside.
"Mmph?!"
Startled, Su-yeon tightened her arms around my neck for a second. But when I softly stroked her back, she gradually relaxed and accepted my tongue. Her own tongue stayed still at first, but she didn't pull away. I savored the wet, silky feel of it, slowly exploring every inch.
The kiss felt like it lasted ten seconds or ten minutes. When I finally withdrew my tongue and pulled my lips away, she was breathless.
"Haaah...♥"
Su-yeon exhaled shakily, gazing up at me with half-lidded, dazed eyes. Our first kiss had tasted like the banana milk we'd just shared.