Betty... Are You Masturbating?
“Oppa, are you feeling okay?”
“Mmm… yeah.”
“It’s almost lunchtime, so I’ll whip up something to eat.”
“I-I’ll cook for you…!”
“Huh…? You really will?”
“Yeah…! I’m actually a really good cook.”
Betty shook her head firmly, refusing to budge.
“No way! Oppa, you need to rest. I’ll take care of everything. I’ll have it ready soon, so come out in about twenty minutes.”
“Okay…”
I wanted to cook for her… But Betty was so kind-hearted that she would never let me lift a finger in the kitchen. After she left, a delicious aroma soon began drifting in from the kitchen.
About twenty minutes later, I cautiously stepped outside. There was Betty in the kitchen, wearing an apron and humming a cheerful tune as she cooked. She looked like she was having the time of her life.
“Oppa, you’re out? Go sit at the table. I’ll bring everything over.”
“Sure… Thanks.”
Betty carried over plates filled with food.
“This is premium cheese, this is a hearty soup made with various grains and corn, and this is pork stew.”
Whoa…
“Betty… You didn’t have to prepare this much…”
“Hehe… I worked really hard to make a lot so you could eat plenty, Oppa. There’s a baby growing in your belly, after all?”
“Th-thank you… I’m really touched.”
I took a spoonful of the corn soup.
“Mmm… It’s delicious…”
“Hehe… I’m so glad you like it. Hurry and try the rest!”
I tore off a piece of the rich, gooey cheese and chewed.
“Wow… This cheese… It must’ve been really expensive…”
“Ehehe… Oppa, I have a lot of money, you know?”
Finally, the meat stew. I scooped up a spoonful of the reddish-brown broth with floating potato chunks and brought it to my mouth.
!!!
A delightful burst of savory flavor exploded across my tongue.
“Whoa… This is… so good…”
I followed it up by scooping a big chunk of meat along with the broth and shoving it into my mouth.
“Mmm… It’s seriously delicious…”
“Fufu… Oppa, you’re so cute…♡”
Betty said that while gently stroking my head.
“Ah, sorry. Did that bother you?”
“Huh? N-no! Not at all!”
“Hehe…”
Hadn’t I already eaten two whole bowls of chicken soup earlier? Why was I still so hungry? Was it because of the baby growing inside me?
I started devouring the food like I was possessed.
“Ugh… Ah, s-sorry…”
After polishing off every last bite, I let out a loud burp.
“I’m glad you ate so well, Oppa. The baby’s growing, so you need to eat plenty.”
“Thanks… for understanding…”
“Oppa, what have you been doing lately? Didn’t you miss me??”
Betty’s eyes sparkled as she asked.
“Ah…? Yeah… I missed you. I was really happy when I saw you last time.”
“Hehe… I missed you so much too, Oppa. Whenever things got hard… I kept going by thinking of you.”
“R-really?”
“Yes! I like you so much, Oppa.”
“D-do you… not think it’s weird that I turned into a girl?”
“It is super weird… but I like the girl version of you too. Hehe…”
Betty’s cheeks flushed as she spoke, looking a little shy.
“By the way, Betty, where are your parents?”
The light in Betty’s eyes instantly darkened.
“They passed away. Both of them.”
“W-what…? Oh…”
For a moment, I couldn’t find any words. The last time I’d seen Betty’s parents was seven years ago… and now she was telling me they were gone…?
“I-I’m so sorry, Betty…”
“Oppa.”
“Y-yeah?”
“Can… can I hug you really tight? Just once?”
Tears welled up in her eyes. There was no way I could refuse.
“O-of course…”
I stood up from the dining chair. Betty was taller than I expected. I was briefly startled by how she looked down at me, but then—
She pulled me into a gentle embrace. A pleasant, comforting scent wrapped around me. Betty buried her nose in the crown of my head and sniffled.
“Oppa… hic… I… I actually… tried to kill myself…”
My heart sank with a heavy thud.
“It was… too hard… There was a fire at my parents’ office… and… sob… sob…”
“B-Betty…”
“My parents… ugh… hic…”
Betty wrapped her arms around my shoulders and squeezed so tightly it almost hurt. Her body twitched and trembled as she poured out her grief to me.
“I-I’m sorry, Oppa… sob… This must be so burdensome for you…”
“It’s not! Let it all out… I’m right here…”
“I… I really was going to die… I even had a rope around my neck… but I didn’t do it because of you, Oppa.”
I held her tightly without saying a word.
“After I moved to the capital… there wasn’t a single day I didn’t think about you… I wanted to see you so badly, but with everything that happened to my parents… I liked you so much that just thinking about you helped me endure it. But… after my parents died… you were the only one I had left. If I couldn’t see you, it felt like my heart would burst. There were times I couldn’t even breathe. It felt like my whole world was collapsing. So I moved back here just to see you again.”
Betty took a deep breath and continued.
“But then.”
Her voice suddenly turned ice-cold.
“You went and married someone else. Did you completely forget the promise we made to get married?”
The terrifying shift in Betty’s aura made me shiver involuntarily.
“Betty… that’s…”
“It’s okay, Oppa. I understand.”
Her voice returned to normal.
“Actually, I’m really sorry about what happened last time. When we saw each other again after seven years… I was so rude to your girlfriend—no, your wife. I was just… really shocked… and jealous… I couldn’t control myself. I’m sorry.”
“It’s okay…”
“I… I was so excited to see you after so long. My heart was fluttering… but then I saw you were dating someone else… I lost my mind for a second…”
“I’m sorry, but—”
“I know. There was nothing you could do. And now it looks like you even got married in that short time…”
Her voice caught when she said the word “married.”
“Did you know… how much I loved you? After I moved to the capital, I cried every day because I missed you… I fell asleep imagining going on dates with you, imagining our wedding… For years… Even after I became an adult, I still loved you so much… After my parents died, I felt like I would die if I couldn’t see you right away… So I came back to see you… sob…”
Betty started crying again.
“No… Betty… I’m the one who’s sorry…”
I finally understood just how heavy her heart must have been.
“I’m sorry… okay? Don’t cry. Shh.”
“Sob… hic… I’m s-sorry… sob…”
Betty kept apologizing through her tears for a long time. I kept patting her back. I wrapped my arms around her slender, trembling waist and matched the rhythm of her heavy, shuddering heartbeat. Pat… pat…
Her parents had died, and then she saw that I already had a girlfriend. How devastating must that have been? And now I was even married.
Had I been too irresponsible?
A heavy wave of guilt pressed down on my heart.
“Betty… are you okay…?”
“Yes… hic… yes…”
Betty finally calmed down.
“I-I’m sorry… for crying like that…”
“It’s fine. If you want to cry more, you can. Okay?”
“N-no! I… I’ll stop crying now…”
Betty wiped her tears and said,
“I know. I won’t throw a tantrum, Oppa. I know our love can never come true. You already have someone, right?”
I nodded. Even though I had stormed out of the house because I was furious with Serwen, I knew I’d have to go back after about a week. I’d give her enough time to reflect. A week was already a huge concession. Forcing me to get pregnant was something I could never forgive.
“Still… please stay here and rest comfortably. I’ll always keep you in my heart.”
Keeping me in her heart… That felt like a very heavy thing to say.
“But Betty… there are so many people out there who are prettier and more amazing than me… You don’t have to settle for a married woman like—”
“No, Oppa. It’s only you for me.”
Betty’s eyes were clear and resolute.
“I… I see. Thank you, Betty.”
I reached up and stroked her hair. Since she was taller than me, I had to stretch my arm a little. Her cherry-blossom pink hair fluttered under my touch. Betty shivered slightly and smiled like it felt good.
“It still feels so nice when you pat my head, Oppa.”
Betty smiled brightly as she spoke.
…I was relieved to see her smiling again.
*
The dinner Betty made was incredibly delicious. My conscience wouldn’t let me mooch three meals in a row, but Betty was so kind that she practically forced me to accept her generosity. So I ended up devouring dinner with gusto. I ate so much that I felt bad for her. I’d never eaten this much before. Was it because I was pregnant…?
Come to think of it, didn’t pregnant people usually get morning sickness? I ate while pondering that, then lay down in bed.
“Sleep well, Oppa.”
“Yeah… You too, Betty.”
She blew out the candle, closed the door, and left the room. As I lay quietly in the pitch-black bedroom, I thought of my sister.
She… she wasn’t crying alone at home, was she…? No… She had done something terribly wrong.
I gently stroked my lower belly. It felt warmer than usual.
Thump—
Thud! Thud!
I flinched hard, my whole body jerking in surprise.
“W-what was that?”
A wave had rippled out from my lower belly. Could it be…?
“D-did you just kick, baby…?”
Thump… Thud…!
Another wave echoed from inside, as if in answer.
“N-no way…”
Overjoyed, I jumped out of bed and ran out of the room calling for Betty.
“Betty! Betty! This is amazing! The baby just kicked my belly…!”
…
“…Betty?”
She wasn’t there. There were fresh logs in the living room fireplace, but no sign of her. I crossed the living room and knocked on the door to the master bedroom where she should have been.
The wooden door creaked open.
A thick, fishy smell immediately hit my nose.
Inside the softly lit room, where the candlelight still flickered—
“Haaah… Oppa… Oppa…♡”
Between her spread legs rose a massive, glistening thing, dripping with thick, transparent fluid. She was frantically stroking it, completely unaware that I had entered.
“Betty…?”
“Hngh… Ah, o-oppa…?”
There she was.