First Kiss in the Secret Space (Part 2)
"Next paragraph. Number twenty-six, stand up and read it."
Silence.
"No number twenty-six?"
It was English class with the homeroom teacher of third-year class three. At the teacher's words, everyone started whispering among themselves, trying to figure out who number twenty-six was. Soon, once they all realized who it was, the chatter died down and every pair of eyes turned toward the desk at the very front of the classroom.
The person at the center of that attention was a girl with long, silky black hair. She was famous throughout Jinsu High for her beauty, and her figure was nothing short of lethal. Being pretty with a body like that was already cheat-level, but on top of it all, her grades were even more insane. She'd held the top spot in the entire school for all three years without fail—a genius and the ultimate pride of the Jinsu High faculty, the perfect daughter everyone envied.
"Lee Yu-ri, isn't she number twenty-six?"
"Hah?! Y-yes!"
Lee Yu-ri had been staring blankly ahead with unfocused eyes. Only when the teacher called her name directly did she snap out of it and stand up from her seat.
"Do you know where we left off?" the teacher asked.
Yu-ri hurriedly grabbed her English textbook and scanned it. But the page she opened to was still the exact one from the start of class. More than twenty minutes had passed, so the lesson had obviously moved on. She had no idea which page or paragraph they were even on.
"N-no..."
In the end, Yu-ri hung her head in shame.
The teacher let out a light sigh and pointed out her attitude.
"Yu-ri, what's been going on with you lately? First you leave school without permission, and now—only a week after that punishment ends—you're zoning out in class again? Is something wrong, or are you acting like this because exams are over?"
"I'm sorry..."
"Go stand at the back of the classroom. Number twenty-seven, stand up and read the next paragraph."
Yu-ri picked up her textbook, stood from her seat, and trudged to the back of the class like a criminal.
She'd never once lost focus during class before, but right now none of the material would stick in her head.
'I... I had my first kiss... didn't I?'
The first kiss in the student council room. After kissing Han Seong-jin, Yu-ri's mind floated on clouds, a dizzy haze of pounding heartbeat and a strange pleasure she'd never felt before all mixed together.
After the kiss ended, Seong-jin had lightly sucked on her upper lip before giving her another soft peck. Once her senses returned, the embarrassment had been too much. Yu-ri had bolted from the student council room without saying a word.
'In the student council room... That's a place for nothing but council work, and I...'
She felt like an idiot for failing to maintain even the basic dignity expected of the student council president. But if someone asked whether she'd hated the kiss with Han Seong-jin...
'It was... softer than I expected...'
She'd assumed a kiss from someone like him would be incredibly rough and aggressive, but it had been far gentler and quieter than anything she'd imagined. The entire time he'd held her hand as if to reassure her, gently wrapped an arm around her waist, or stroked her hair. Every single touch had been filled with careful consideration.
It wasn't the greedy, violent kind of kiss you'd see in porn. It was warm, like something out of a drama. For a moment Yu-ri had felt like the heroine of some story, and she hadn't disliked kissing Han Seong-jin at all. No—it wasn't simply that she didn't dislike it. She'd liked it so much that the feeling left her completely flustered.
She clearly hated delinquent thugs with a passion. Someone like Han Seong-jin shouldn't have been her type at all. Yet the moment their lips met, the kiss had been so good that some part of her heart felt completely filled. She'd been lost in that happy, ecstatic sensation and couldn't pull herself out.
The hands holding hers were incredibly large yet warm. The arms that embraced her were firm and strong. His upper body, which she'd unconsciously touched during the kiss, felt big and solid—something she could truly rely on. That soft kiss, the complete opposite of his wild, beastly body, had pierced straight into her chest and completely messed up her heart.
The fact that she'd kissed Han Seong-jin—the one she hated so much—and the realization, once she'd come to her senses, that she'd been straddling his leg in an extremely embarrassing position... that was why she'd run away in shame. But the sensation of her first kiss still lingered on her lips.
Even after being sent to the back of the classroom, Yu-ri would occasionally zone out, remembering lunchtime, unconsciously tracing her lips with her fingers.
'Oh right... I said I'd give him a reward.'
While touching her lips, Yu-ri remembered how she'd promised to reward him if he passed the failing cutoff. She'd already started liking him by then and had worked up the courage to give him a kiss. But Han Seong-jin had made the first move and stolen her lips, so she had nothing left to give.
Her thoughts chained together, leading to the fact that they were supposed to go grocery shopping together after school today.
'W-we're lovers now... right? Going grocery shopping as lovers... Wouldn't that look weird to other people?'
And how she was supposed to go to his house tomorrow.
'If I go tomorrow... We'll have plenty of time and no one will come looking... So what will happen between us? Another kiss? Or... or, or even more... No way it'll go that far, right? I just had my first kiss today, and tomorrow? But then again, people say these days they do it first and decide if they're dating afterward... I've heard that if you've known each other a week, you've done everything. We've known each other for over a month, so is this... slow? But it's not like we've been dating until now... Still, it's been way more than two weeks since he told me he liked me... Aaaah!'
"Lee Yu-ri!"
At the teacher's sharp rebuke, Yu-ri snapped out of her thoughts again and lifted her head with a jolt.
"Y-yes?!"
"Where are we right now?"
"Th-that is..."
Yu-ri looked around in panic, scanning her textbook, but with her head full of nothing but the kiss with Han Seong-jin, there was no way she would know.
"I-I don't... know."
"You really won't get it together? Get out in the hallway. When class ends, follow me to the teachers' office!"
After about half the break had passed, Lee Yu-ri returned to the classroom with a completely deflated expression.
"Yu-ri, you haven't been able to focus at all since lunchtime. Did something hap—"
Gong Yeong-bae tried to comfort her and say something, but Yu-ri walked right past him with a blank look on her face. She sat down next to me and collapsed onto the desk with a thud.
I patted her back lightly, making sure Gong Yeong-bae could see it clearly.
"I'm dying of embarrassment..."
"What's this? Our president zoning out during class and getting punished twice? That's a first."
At that, Yu-ri jerked her head up and glared at me, her eyes full of resentment.
"It's all your fault!"
"Why is it my fault? Did I hypnotize you to zone out in class or something?"
"You... you... during lunch... you did that to me..."
"Hmm? What did I do to you during lunch?"
"Th-that kind of... that kind of thing..."
"What kind of thing? If you don't say it specifically, I won't know."
"Ugh..."
Yu-ri's lips trembled. Then she punched me in the chest with her fist and flopped back down onto the desk.
I leaned in close to her ear and whispered so only she could hear.
"Was it that good?"
"!!!!!"
Yu-ri shot upright again. She couldn't even deny it. Her eyes just trembled as she stammered incoherently.
"If you want, I can do more."
"W-who said it was good?! It's not because of that..."
"Then why can't you focus and keep spacing out with that dreamy look? You weren't like this before lunch."
I whispered into her ear again. My low, deep voice drilled directly into her eardrums. To her, who still couldn't shake off the sensation of our first kiss, it was like sweet poison spreading throughout her entire body through her ears. Too sweet to resist.
"Did you like our kiss?"
"Ugh... auu..."
"I liked it so much I thought I'd go crazy."
"I... that is..."
"Don't be shy. Tell me honestly. How was it? Did you like it?"
"N-no..."
"Then did you hate it?"
When I deliberately darkened my expression and asked, Yu-ri's face crumpled like she was about to cry.
"No..."
"Then what is it? Did you like it or hate it?"
"I-I... I... that is..."
The usually sharp and articulate Yu-ri seemed to have turned into a complete fool. After stuttering for a long while like a broken machine, she finally mumbled in a tiny mosquito-like voice that only I could hear.
"I... liked it."
"If I ask you to do it again, will you?"
"Wh-what are you asking?! I can't say that!"
"We're that kind of relationship now, so why can't you say it?"
"I don't want to. I still can't say it!"
"You have to say it, right?"
As I spoke, I tickled her side.
"Ahahaha! N-no! I can't say it!"
"Say it?"
"Heek! I c-can't!"
"Looks like I have no choice but to keep tickling this naughty president who keeps trying to hide things."
"Hiiiiaaang! O-okay! I'll do it! If you ask me to, I'll do it again! S-so stop... ahahahaha!"
Only then did I pull my hand away from her side. Yu-ri breathed heavily, her eyes full of tears.
"Our president, always this thirsty for love. Guess I'll have to fill you up every single day."
I moved as if I were about to kiss her again right then and there, but she widened her eyes and gave me a look that clearly said 'Not here!' so I stopped.
Yu-ri pinched my cheek hard with one hand and spoke in a voice mixed with both resentment and affection.
"You're such a bad guy."
"I know."
We spent a brief moment simply looking at each other, enjoying the time until the next class started.
And then another day passed. It was Saturday—the day Yu-ri was coming over to my house. What I didn't know at the time was that it was also the day Jeong Eun-ji heard the truth from her friend.