The April Test (3)
Lee Yu-ri woke up early that Saturday morning. After washing up, she stood in front of the living room mirror and piled clothes into a small mountain, agonizing over what to wear. She muttered to herself again and again.
“This one… ugh, the color looks weird. This one… the size is a bit small. And this…”
“Hey, Lee Yu-ri. Have you seen my clothes? I can’t find them anywhere— Hey!!!”
Her older sister, Lee Yu-min, stepped out of her room and let out a sharp scream the moment she saw the towering pile of clothes in front of her little sister.
“Half of those are mine!”
“I tried waking you up, but you wouldn’t get out of bed.”
“This brat keeps stealing the snacks and desserts I buy, and now she’s even touching my clothes? Do you really want to die? Give them back!”
“Unnie, just look for a second. Help me coordinate something. I’m really bad at this.”
“Y-you’ve got some nerve… Don’t mess around with other people’s clothes!”
Lee Yu-min smacked her sister on the head and quickly gathered up all the clothes that originally belonged to her from the pile at Yu-ri’s feet. Even so, Yu-ri refused to leave the mirror. When Yu-min finally came back out after getting dressed in the living room, Yu-ri called out to her again.
“Unnie, please look at my outfit.”
“Ugh, I don’t know, you idiot! I have plans and I need to leave, but you keep asking me weird stuff! Just throw on anything white!”
Yu-min snapped at her fashion-thief sister and hurriedly sat down at the vanity to start her makeup.
“Going out to meet another guy again?”
“You little— I just got ghosted and I’m pissed as hell, so can you please stop talking about guys!?”
“Then maybe you should’ve behaved better in the first place.”
Yu-ri smirked at her sister, and just like that, the two siblings grabbed each other’s hair and started fighting.
“Ah, my hair! I told you I have to go out, you crazy bitch!”
“You ruined my hair too! Someone’s coming over to study soon!”
After mutually destroying each other’s hairstyles, the sisters stood in front of the bathroom mirror, cursing at one another while fixing their hair. If there was one person in the entire world Lee Yu-ri allowed herself to be rude to, it was her two-years-older sister, Lee Yu-min.
After lunch, I headed over to Lee Yu-ri’s house. We always met and parted ways right in front of her place whenever we went to the academy together or after school, so this was actually my first time stepping inside her home.
[Lee Yu-ri]: It’s apartment 401.
Since I already knew the address, she only sent the unit number and nothing else. When I arrived at her door and pressed the bell, I heard a beep from behind the door as the electronic lock clicked open. Then Yu-ri appeared, looking even more dressed up and made-up than usual.
Her eyelashes were curled, and whatever she’d put on her face made her complexion look radiant. Dressed in a pure white dress, Lee Yu-ri was breathtakingly beautiful—so stunning it actually took my breath away.
“Going somewhere?”
“…Is that seriously all you have to say?”
Yu-ri narrowed her eyes, still gripping the doorknob and blocking the entrance. I smiled and gently stroked her cheek.
“It means you look pretty.”
“Come in.”
Yu-ri gave a small smile and finally stepped aside to let me through.
Her family seemed fairly well-off; the apartment interior was quite spacious. After taking off my shoes and stepping inside, her mother came out from the kitchen to greet me.
“Are your friends already here? Oh my…”
The moment Yu-ri’s mother saw me, a flash of surprise crossed her face.
“You’re not Yeong-bae? I’ve never seen you before. Who is this boy?”
“Hello, ma’am. My name is Han Seong-jin. I’m in the same class as Yu-ri. I’m sorry for barging in on your weekend to study at your house. I must be causing you trouble.”
“Goodness, you’re so tall and intimidating I got a little startled, but you’re very polite. Don’t worry about it, dear. Have you eaten lunch?”
“Ah, lunch—”
I was in a situation where I had to stretch a single lunchbox across three days, and since it was the weekend, I couldn’t count on Yu-ri’s lunchbox either. There was no way I’d eaten breakfast or lunch. I was about to lie and say I had, but my stomach chose that exact moment to roar loudly enough for her mother to hear.
“You haven’t eaten, have you?”
“Well… it’s kind of unavoidable…”
“Your stomach is thundering. You haven’t eaten? If not, I’ll fix you something.”
“No, you really don’t have to go that far…”
“You can’t study on an empty stomach. Don’t be shy, just eat. My older daughter said she’d eat before leaving but ran out without touching anything, so there’s plenty left over anyway.”
So she had an older sister. The original story never described Yu-ri’s family at all, so I didn’t know anything about her household situation. Her mother sat me down at the table, reheated the doenjang jjigae she’d made earlier, and stir-fried some spicy pork to serve me. There was lettuce, stir-fried pork, doenjang stew, spinach, anchovies, and all kinds of side dishes. For someone who ate Yu-ri’s lunchbox for breakfast, school lunch for lunch, and either starved or split a convenience store lunchbox for dinner, this meal felt like a five-star Michelin feast.
Even thinking back on my previous life, it had probably been close to ten years since I last sat down to a proper home-cooked meal prepared by an adult. I tried to refuse out of embarrassment, but the moment I took one spoonful of the stew, my arm refused to stop. I couldn’t control it.
“Hey, slow down. I’m not going to steal it from you.”
Yu-ri, sitting beside me, lightly scolded me as I practically inhaled the food, but she couldn’t stop me.
“Ugh… This is… too delicious…!”
After starving for so long, a proper home-cooked meal—and one made by someone else’s parents, even if they weren’t really mine—hit me so hard that my throat tightened with emotion. I was so moved that tears actually welled up as I ate.
“Oh dear, why is he crying while eating?”
“Ah… Mom, I’ll explain later.”
Yu-ri, who knew a bit about my circumstances, gave a vague excuse. In the meantime, I cleaned out every last grain of rice and every side dish on the table.
“Thank you for the meal.”
“Goodness, he eats so well. Even my husband doesn’t eat with such a healthy appetite. It’s wonderful to see.”
“It was incredibly delicious. This is the best meal I’ve ever had in my life.”
“My, you’re surprisingly good at flattery, aren’t you? Thank you, dear.”
I meant every word. While her mother cleared the empty bowls, Yu-ri stood up and gestured for me to follow. I followed her straight into her room.
Yu-ri’s room was surprisingly plain. There wasn’t a single trace of the usual pink, girly aesthetic, stuffed animals, accessories, or decorations you’d expect from a girl’s room. The only things there were a built-in desk and bookshelf crammed full of workbooks, plus another separate bookshelf in the corner packed with liberal arts books and general knowledge volumes.
“Your room is… should I say it suits you?”
“I’ll take that as a compliment.”
With those words, Yu-ri unfolded a large folding desk she had prepared in the middle of the room. Then she turned to me with a very firm, determined expression.
“As you know, we’re actually here to study today. The other two will be here soon anyway, and… I know we have that kind of atmosphere, but I’m not like that all the time, okay? So today, don’t do anything weird. Once we start studying, we’re only going to—”
“So that means it’s okay before we start studying, right?”
“Huh? No, that’s not what I— Eep!”
I sat on the floor, leaned my back against her bed, grabbed her arm, and pulled her toward me. Startled by the sudden move, Yu-ri stumbled forward. I caught her as she fell, sat her down in front of me, and wrapped my arms around her waist from behind. I could feel the soft, slightly plump flesh of her belly—evidence that she didn’t exercise much—pressing against my arms.
“W-w-what are you doing?!”
“The other two aren’t here yet, so our group study hasn’t officially started, right? That means this is still allowed.”
“That’s not what I meant! What if Mom sees us? L-let go right now!”
Yu-ri struggled, but since I had her waist locked firmly in my arms, she couldn’t break free with strength alone. Meanwhile, I leaned my nose close to her hair and took a gentle sniff. A sweet floral scent rose from the crown of her head.
“Sniff sniff. You smell really good. Is that rose?”
“Hiiik! Why are you smelling my hair, you pervert!”
“We haven’t started studying yet, so let’s spend a little time together, just the two of us. How often do I get to be alone with the girl I like in her own room?”
“Like—!”
Even though I had already told her I liked her multiple times, Yu-ri’s reaction every time she heard it was still priceless. If this were a manga, steam would’ve been shooting out of her head. She stopped resisting in my arms, and I simply sat there holding her from behind in silence.
“…I clearly said we were only going to study.”
“Then why did you tell me to come earlier than the others?”
“……”
“You were secretly hoping for this kind of mood before the study session started, weren’t you? Dressing up like you were going on a date, even putting on makeup.”
“I wasn’t.”
I slipped the hand around her waist up to her side and tickled her lightly.
“Really?”
“Ahahaha! I wasn’t! S-stop, it tickles!”
“If you don’t tell the truth, I’ll keep tickling.”
“Kyaaahahaha! S-stop! It tickles! Hiiik!”
“Answer?”
“F-fine! I did! I was looking forward to it! So stop—”
I immediately stopped tickling her. Yu-ri, eyes wet with tears from laughing so hard, glared at me with resentment while panting.
“You really are the worst.”
“I know.”
I wrapped my arms around her waist from behind again, and this time Yu-ri leaned her back against my chest. Our rather sticky skinship continued until Jeong Eun-ji and Choi Su-yeon arrived and rang the doorbell.