Summer Festival (7)
I had been asleep for quite a while. I was only tired when I got behind the wheel, but I never expected to sleep this long. Even though fragments of various noises lingered in my memory, I had been out so deeply that waking up never crossed my mind. As a result, I had no clear idea what exactly had happened while I was unconscious. Still, I could sense that it hadn't been entirely uneventful.
“...Thanks for your hard work.”
“Huh? ...Yeah.”
Seo Jia, who almost never bothered with farewells toward me, was now looking straight at me instead of her sister and giving a small bow inside the elevator. Of course, I knew the sisters weren't close, but even so, she had always seemed to hate me far more than she hated her own sibling. Watching Haeun stare at her with a blank expression and Hinami looking utterly uninterested made the gesture seem meaningless, but from my perspective, it was a pretty significant change.
...Because Seo Jia's eyes hadn't trembled when they met mine.
“Let's head in, Juhyuk.”
“Let's go inside, oppa.”
Even as we got off the elevator a floor early and walked home together, my thoughts lingered on Seo Jia, who had continued up to the higher floor alone. Up until now, I believed I'd handled her quite skillfully. I'd only crossed lines when the timing made refusal impossible, and during safer periods, I'd stayed just close enough to the edge to toy with her. Easy to say, but it was tightrope walking. No need to sugarcoat it—my actions clearly fell into criminal territory.
The moment Seo Jia's mind shifted from fearing a potential scandal to simply despising the human being known as Kang Juhyuk, I would fall off that rope and plummet to ruin alongside her. On the other hand, if she stopped seeing me as particularly frightening, her personality would lead her to casually stir up trouble between me and Hinami again, just like last time. Maintaining balance on this finicky line was incredibly difficult. If her manager hadn't pulled that idiotic stunt, I probably never would have gotten on it in the first place.
“Oppa, what are you thinking about so hard?”
“Huh? Oh. Just work stuff for a second.”
“Hmm....”
I gave a vague reply to Hinami as we entered the apartment, then continued my train of thought. Since Seo Jia's boundaries seemed to have loosened a bit, I needed to adjust my approach accordingly. Of course, she was still desperately resisting anything that resembled outright rape, so it appeared her line in the sand remained the loss of her virginity. But conversely, that also meant she wouldn't openly defy me for the time being as long as I didn't do anything that came close to crossing that particular threshold.
What Seo Jia feared was Kang Juhyuk—the man who might step over the line at any moment. So, ironically, if I never even pretended to approach that line, she wouldn't fear me either. That was why I had to periodically test her boundaries. I needed to act like I was about to cross it without ever actually doing so. ...What a troublesome woman. With her sister, I could just fuck her and be done with it.
“Oppa, what do you want to drink? Beer? Soju?”
“I'll have that vodka I bought mixed with cola... Oh. Right. I have to drive tomorrow.”
“It's still early evening. Won't you be fine if you sleep it off?”
“I'd be fine, but a breathalyzer might disagree.”
“Then couldn't you just drive slowly? There's no need to leave early.”
“...That won't work. I'll just have one can of beer instead.”
As I chatted with Hinami—who had once thrown a tantrum demanding I fuck her—I glanced at Haeun, who had remained completely silent since we got home. ...Looking closely, she was utterly transformed from when I first met her. It wasn't that she'd lost weight from working out or that her face had changed. Purely from experiencing a man, her expressions and style had shifted to match my tastes. On top of that, after everything that happened today, her makeup was heavier than usual, making her twice as beautiful as normal. And yet, I felt almost no lustful thoughts or desire to have her.
Why was that? Here I was with this stunning woman by my side, yet all I could think about was that troublesome one.
“Juhyuk, I'll drink the vodka for you. I'm not driving.”
“Hey, are you crazy? You have work tomorrow...”
“I'm not crazy. I'll mix it weak. You used to pour it with cola for me sometimes.”
“No, it's just that you made it sound like you were going to drink it straight.”
It definitely wasn't because she'd suddenly thrown that out so casually. If Seo Jia had said the same thing, I would have immediately started calculating what proof to mix the vodka at, how many glasses to feed her, and how drunk she'd need to be before I could go how far. It made me feel like trash that I was this attentive to a woman I didn't even like much, while only offering these half-assed responses to women who actually cared about me.
...But what could I do? If I fell off that tightrope, I wouldn't be able to take care of either of them.
“Anyway, I feel like it, so I'm drinking. ...If you're worried, you can at least make me some hangover soup.”
“Got it.”
No matter how comfortable things had become, it wasn't that I didn't value her. It was simply that Seo Jia was such a dangerous presence that I had to account for her first in every scenario. After all, we'd gone at it pretty intensely just this morning. She probably wouldn't get sulky with me over something like this. If she'd been the type to get jealous, Hinami would have already...
“Ah, I want hangover soup too, oppa! Make some for me tomorrow too!”
“Hey, you're an idol. Are you even allowed to eat that?”
“Why not, sis? It's way better than drinking with a man.”
“...Crazy bitch.”
“Hehe.”
Just being called a crazy bitch in that casual way clearly wasn't the end of it. ...As expected, the problem wasn't me. The two of them had always had a terrible relationship.
My head wasn't spinning, and I didn't feel even slightly buzzed. There was only the faintest trace of alcohol on my breath and a mild carbonation filling my stomach. One can of beer could only have that much effect. But.
“Kang Juhyuuuuk...”
Forty-proof vodka was potent enough that even half of half a bottle could get someone this thoroughly drunk. It was roughly equivalent to one bottle of soju, but Haeun had been gulping it down mixed with cola like it was a regular beverage, so the alcohol had hit her hard. She'd stripped off her top and was clinging to me. I didn't exactly hate it, but I wouldn't say I particularly liked it either.
“Yeah.”
“You fucking son of a bitch...”
She was swearing a lot more than usual. I liked it when she cursed during sex and I liked filthy, vulgar dirty talk with some style to it, but random curses with no context didn't do much for me. That said, her flushed cheeks and the feverish heat of her body were undeniably my type.
I roughly stroked Haeun, who had climbed fully onto my lap, then spoke to Hinami, who had just come out of the bathroom.
“Hey, your sister's drunk.”
“She's not my sister, though?”
“You, Hinami. You thieving bitch...”
“I'm not a thief, though?”
I couldn't quite understand how a girl who could usually handle a whole bottle of soju while staying pleasantly tipsy had ended up this completely wasted and throwing a fit. When I'd openly plied her with alcohol before, I'd given her even more than this, yet she hadn't been this far gone, right? Then again, when I thought about it, a woman getting drunk and clinging to her live-in boyfriend seemed less pathetic than one getting drunk and letting a man she hated fuck her.
Since she didn't seem to need scolding and wouldn't be unable to work tomorrow, I gently stroked her hair and lower belly to improve her mood.
“Ah, seriously.... Those bastards, they should all just die...”
“Why are you this drunk, sis? You weren't this much of a lightweight before.”
“...What. Am I not allowed to be weak with alcohol?”
Hinami, who seemed completely sober compared to Haeun, looked mildly annoyed with her sister but also approached with affectionate eyes. She lifted Haeun's limp hand and let it drop repeatedly. Finding it somewhat amusing, I grabbed Haeun's wrist and shook it side to side, making various gestures toward Hinami.
Hinami grinned brightly at the sight, then stepped closer with even more enthusiasm. She completely ignored Haeun, whose head had whipped around, and looked only at me with a face full of mischief, giggling.
“Let's check if she's really drunk, oppa.”
“...What are you going to do?”
“...Are you stupid?”
“Ah....”
“Mmph...”
Before I could even say “no,” she stole my lips. Chuckling between kisses, she sucked on my tongue with surprising intensity. Thanks to the strong mint scent filling her mouth from just brushing her teeth, the deep kiss felt refreshingly fragrant. She was sucking my tongue so persistently that it was starting to turn me on, but the thought of Haeun glaring at us sharply kept me from fully enjoying it.
After mixing tongues until Hinami was satisfied, I pulled back far enough that a long string of saliva connected us, then tried to soothe Haeun, who was still in my arms.
“....”
...But.
Strangely, she simply watched us without any reaction. Her expression suggested she couldn't care less. Her wide, vacant eyes looked utterly indifferent, which actually made Hinami more flustered. She blinked rapidly and spoke to Haeun.
“...You're not mad?”
“Why would I be? ...You're the one hugging him anyway.”
“....”
Her pronunciation was so crisp and precise that it was impossible to detect any trace of the drunkenness I'd felt earlier. The answer, delivered as if she were reading from a textbook, sent chills down my spine. Hinami swallowed hard, touched her own neck, and took a step back from me.
“Ah, um.... I'm, I'm sleepy, so I'm going to bed now...”
“...Yeah. Sleep well. See you tomorrow.”
“...Yes, sis.”
Then, before she even heard my response, Hinami fled to her room after only catching Haeun's reply. ...She didn't need to be that scared, did she? With that thought, I carefully brushed through Haeun's hair as she rubbed her body against me, breathing heavily.
“You're not actually drunk.”
“I am drunk, though?”
“Your pronunciation suddenly became way too clear.”
“...I always speak properly even when I'm drunk.”
“Don't lie.”
“It's true.”
As expected. There was no way I wouldn't know her tolerance level. At this point, she'd need to drink half a bottle of soju more to actually get there. She was just in that pleasantly tipsy state.
“Then since you're drunk, let's go to bed. We can clean up tomorrow.”
“No.”
“Why not?”
“If we go to bed, you'll stop hugging me. ...I want to stay in your arms longer.”
“I'll keep hugging you. So...”
“Will you hold me the whole time I'm sleeping?”
“Yeah, I'll hold you.”
“...Promise?”
“Promise.”
“Okay. ...Then let's go to bed.”
Pretending to be drunk, pretending not to be. I hooked my pinky around Haeun's as she acted spoiled with me, soothing her appropriately. I finally returned to the bedroom, thinking that I could at last release all the fatigue that had built up throughout the week.