Think You'll Even See the Play?

"Aigoo. Isn't it about time you got used to this?"

With that, she cupped Hyunji's flushed cheeks in both hands and stroked them gently, a smile spreading over her face. It was a warm one.

"No, but today is a little... embarrassing."

"You keep reacting like that, so of course I tease you more. Still, my granddaughter is doing well."

"Huh?"

"Is this my granddaughter's boyfriend? Have the two of you grown close?"

"Grandma!"

"Not yet. Hyunji gets so shy even holding hands that I'm still thinking it over."

"O-Oppa!"

"I suppose so. Well, that daughter of mine was so mad for her work that I must have spoiled the child too much. So our girl has a side that isn't very ladylike, though she has a charm of her own."

"I can tell. You've raised her to be truly kind and innocent. That's remarkable."

I offered the words with careful respect to the woman called Grandma. I hoped my choice of them suited the moment. It struck me, then, that I had never once considered how a person was supposed to treat an elder in this changed world. I was a little tense, but from the look on her face I didn't seem to have made any great mistake yet.

"He's a good man. You know how rare that is? Hold on tight."

"I told you, we're not like that yet."

"Hesitate, and you'll be too late, Hyunji. Our Hyunji, your face is a mess. Won't you go look in a mirror? You ought to be presentable. We have a guest."

"...Yes. Oppa, just a moment."

I watched her back as she headed deeper into the waiting room, then turned my eyes to Hyunji's grandmother. Whatever else, that look said she had something to say to me.

"A pleasure. I'm Lee Soonjung. I lead this little troupe."

She laid a hand over her heart and bowed from the waist with such smooth grace that it almost felt like too much courtesy. I hurried to bow in return.

"How do you do. My name is Lee Shinwoo."

"Yes. What I wanted a moment to discuss isn't about anything else."

"You mean Hyunji?"

"No. That, from here on, is for Hyunji and young Shinwoo to manage yourselves. Whether she is hurt by a man, given his affection, or bears a child. That is how Hyunji, too, will come to know the world."

"You're remarkably frank."

"What I wanted to speak of, just for a moment, was simply this."

She stopped, and the troupe leader gazed quietly into my eyes.

For an instant my breath caught hard in my throat.

"I do get told I seem a bit like a woman."

"Not your manner, or your voice. Hmm. How should I put it. I keep thinking the core of you is like a woman. I have some eye for people, and I've never seen a gaze like yours, so I wanted to talk."

I wanted to tell her what extraordinary insight that was, but I couldn't. While I was still searching for what to say, she waved the thought off and went on.

"Ah, I didn't mean to make you uncomfortable. I only wanted to ask whether you had any interest in acting. There's a certain demand for actors like that. Almost no supply."

"...Acting, you mean?"

"Yes. And your age, if I may?"

"I'm thirty now."

"Ah. So you already have a position, I take it."

I considered for a moment, then answered.

"There was trouble at the company. I'm unemployed at present."

"Oh dear. That must have weighed on you."

"Not at all. I can finally breathe, so these days are more livable, if anything."

"It must have been a hard place to work."

"Where isn't it hard? Still, the workload was on the heavy side."

From the handbag she was holding, she drew out a small card and offered it to me.

"Don't feel burdened. Think it over slowly. Plenty of people start even at that age."

"Thank you for the offer. I'll consider it."

"That's all I ask. Call me anytime, whenever it's easy."

Just then the door opened, and Hyunji came back with her usual face. Now that I'd heard what I'd heard, I could see it: her step was on the light side, and her shoes were flats. Even in flats, her proportions were good enough that nothing about them felt off.

"Then, Grandma, we'll be going."

"All right. No one's in the house seats today, so watch in comfort."

"Okay. Oppa, let's go."

"Yes. I'll pay my respects again next time."

The troupe director smiled softly and nodded at my words. We left her behind, opened the door, and stepped out, and Hyunji and I sighed at the same time. I caught her cheek between my fingers and gave it a light tug.

"Ow ow ow."

"You. If your grandmother is here, you say she's here. You startled me."

"Ow ow ow, leggo."

I looked at her tapping my hand and making a fuss of it, sighed, and let the soft cheek go.

"Such a fuss. Do this again and you're really in trouble. Understood?"

"Okay. Hehe."

As if she'd been waiting for it, she hugged my arm and clasped my hand tight. She was cute, I'll give her that. Pretty, and quietly affectionate besides. I sighed again and climbed the stairs the way she led me, up toward the floors above. But she didn't stop at the level with the stage. She went up one more.

"Not here?"

"Right. That floor is tied directly to the troupe's revenue, so they can't leave it empty except in special cases."

"Ah. Fair enough."

The house I could see past the stairs held about two hundred seats. A small, old theater. Worn, yes, but the facilities were clean, so someone was looking after it well. What waited at the top was two rows of seats, fewer than ten in all. It seemed to sit directly above where the lighting and sound console were run. Perhaps it had originally been designed as standing room with no seats at all; the wall screening the view toward the stage was rather high. Once I actually sat in the back row, though, only the audience seats were cut cleanly from sight, and it didn't much interfere with watching. The front row would have been uncomfortable.

"What's the play about?"

"It's a romance."

"You like romance?"

"I think most people would, don't you? It's so hard to meet a man. Dating is even harder."

"Ah."

Hearing that, I thought it might well be so. I also wondered whether tastes in genre had carried over unchanged, but it was too early to judge. I listened to an actor onstage tossing out jokes and little bits of business to lift the mood, and then, slowly, the play began.

The play that opened on narration was unremarkable. Popular fare, a little comedy stirred into a romance. Only the sexes were reversed, and a woman was playing the man's part. I wondered if male actors were scarce, but that didn't seem likely. I wasn't sure. While I was watching, warmth spread over the back of the hand I'd left on the armrest. I turned my head. Snow-white, slender fingers lay across my hand, twitching as they drew away, while she pinned her gaze to the stage as if forcing it not to come to me. Under my eyes she had gone timid again. I took that hand and laced my fingers through hers.

"...Hehe."

"You like it?"

"Yes. It's warm."

I watched her smile for a moment, then fell into thought. If we were caught, that would be one more scene added to the ways they could tease Hyunji. I looked at the wall cutting off the stage in front of us, tilted my head, and whispered to her.

"Will this do?"

"...What?"

"Is this really all you want? Just this, holding hands?"

"...W-what are you..."

"Tell me honestly. I already know."

At my words her pupils trembled, as if she had no idea where to put her eyes. Then the lips that had been hesitating parted softly.

"...I want you to kiss me."

"All right."

And at those words I set my lips lightly to hers and drew away. Her face was already burning red, her eyes gone round. She truly hadn't thought I would do it.

"Ah..."

I watched her touch her lips as if she regretted the loss, and I asked.

"You said you wanted a kiss."

"...Yes."

"Then why do you look so unsatisfied?"

"...I-it's not that."

Hm. Even this wasn't enough. Setting timidity aside, she seemed strangely unable to say what she wanted.

"All right. Then we're done?"

"...What?"

I let go of the hand I'd been holding, propped my chin on it, and turned my eyes to the stage. Beside me I could feel her gaze fixed on me. I didn't look back. She squirmed, and the hem of her coat rustled. Under the seat, her flats were fidgeting.

"...Oppa."

"Hm?"

"...I want to kiss."

At that I held her eyes and slowly tilted my face. Our lips met again, and her moist mouth took mine in as if it had been waiting. But the moment my tongue softly licked her lips, she flinched as if she'd been shocked and hurriedly caught the coat at my forearm.

"Mm... nnh. Haah."

Even breathing seemed awkward to her. The instant my tongue touched her, she handed the lead to me. Whether that was her passive, timid nature, I couldn't say, but for me this was easier.

"Nnh... mm, mmm..."

It went on for a long while, a slow, gentle kiss. She had been struggling to breathe, but little by little she began to breathe through the kiss, and I moved slowly over her lips and through her mouth, as if I meant to leave my trace everywhere inside it.

"Mm... nnh, haah, haah... Oppa..."

She held my cheek and stared at me with dazed, unfocused eyes. I looked back at her, then whispered lightly, as if it were nothing at all.

"Then now I do what I want?"

"...What? Mmph?!"

I covered her lips again as if taking them, and unlike the gentle kiss, my hand traveled toward a waist that wasn't even a handful. She jerked as if she'd been struck by a harpoon, but my arm around her neck kept her from getting away. Under the hand rising softly along her, an abdomen slender enough to be astonishing twitched back and forth. Then, as my hand closed over her breast, her arms wrapped around my neck all at once.

"Mm, nnh... haah, mm..."

As expected, there wasn't much volume to feel. It wasn't that there was none at all. It didn't feel as if it left a B, but on a figure like this, ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠that much was excellent. I liked large breasts well enough, but small ones had a flavor of their own. Just past the soft give of her breast, especially, the clear lines of muscle met my fingertips. Through the thin blouse, Hyunji's body was as sharply defined as an athlete's right before a competition. I could have known it without looking. How hard she must have worked.

It's almost moving.

The feel ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠of it was extremely strange. It wasn't hard the way a man's muscle is. Firm, yes, but that oddly soft give was a pleasure. It felt like well-marbled ribeye. And yet the moment my hand brushed it, strength went into it and it firmed again. The fine grooves between the muscles, too — fresh was the word, if any word fit. How much effort would it take to have definition like this? I couldn't even begin to imagine.

"...It's gross, isn't it...? I-it's because of the performance.... I'm not usually like this...."

I'd been so caught by the feel of her body that I'd forgotten, for a moment, to keep my mouth moving. Her brow was pinched ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠with worry as she whispered it to me like an excuse. I shook my head at her and whispered back.

"It's proof of how hard you've worked. Why would that be gross?"

"...Oppa."

This time she was the one who brought her mouth to mine. It wasn't a movement that tried to lead. Only the will to keep going. I knew well that even this much was an effort for her. Before I noticed, her body had slid in the seat until she was half reclined. I looked down. Her skirt had ridden up, and her snow-white thighs and knees showed.

"Nnh, mm... mmm. Hah?!"

My hand, already past her abdomen, came slowly to her thigh. The muscle went rigid the instant I brushed it, and the arm wrapped around my neck filled with strength. I pushed gently at her knee, but she showed no intention of letting the tension go.

"...Ah, w-wait.... Not here.... Mm, nnh...."

I shook my ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠head, sought her lips again, and began to caress her thigh. She gave herself back to the kiss, but as my hand started, little by little, to slip beneath her skirt, she pulled hard at my neck once more and shook her head.