31. I Want to Eat Your XX (1)
31. I Want to Eat Your XX (1)
"Whewww~ It's. Fin.ished!"
It was a time when the sunny morning light was filling every corner of the alley.
Ha-na, who had finished the final cleanup and handover, raised both arms high like a hiker conquering a mountain peak and shouted.
"Good work, Ha-na."
"You worked really hard too, unnie. You must be tired, right? Should I call you a taxi?"
"No. I got some sleep earlier at dawn. Actually, I feel a bit sorry for not being able to keep you company."
"Not at all! I'm actually glad I got to see your precious sleeping face...... Oh, I mean, not that."
Ha-na quickly covered her mouth with a "hup" to stop the words that had slipped out unconsciously.
"Ah, anyway, thank you so much today, unnie. Next time if there's anything I can help with, just let me know! I'll do anything I can."
"Yeah. You should go home and rest, Ha-na. You must be tired.
"Yep! You get home safely, unnie! Text me when you arrive!"
So-jeong waved gently at Ha-na, who was leaving with energetic waves that made it hard to believe she'd pulled an all-nighter, and let out an "ahaha" laugh.
"No matter how I think about it, you probably would've been fine without me......"
Anyway, Ha-na's part-time job had ended safely, and thanks to Ha-na, she had gotten some good advice too.
"Just ask honestly......"
After hearing Ha-na's story, that indeed seemed like the best approach.
But honest conversations are surprisingly difficult to initiate once you actually decide to have them.
And given that the topic of the 'honest conversation' So-jeong wanted to have was what it was, she couldn't help but fall into another dilemma.
"How do I bring this up naturally?"
So-jeong muttered to herself on the bus home and let out a big yawn.
Perhaps she was tired from staying up all night, as So-jeong began rubbing her weary eyes slowly.
"Yawn...... I should get some sleep first and then think about it."
There must be some way.
With the somewhat relaxed thought that it's just asking if it's okay to repay someone—how hard could that really be—So-jeong leaned against the bus window and closed her eyes slightly.
And then one week from that day,
"Sighhh......"
A full week had passed without her being able to say anything.
Was she really this bad at speaking up?
Sitting in class, a sudden sense of self-reproach made So-jeong clutch her head.
Of course, it wasn't that So-jeong hadn't tried.
Over the past week, whether before class, between classes, on the way to catch the bus, or even while on the phone at home, she had been constantly looking for the right moment to bring up this topic.
'But what exactly is a good timing to say "I want to touch your body and make you feel good"?!'
In the end, she hadn't managed to say anything and had just been agonizing over it alone, which seemed to have made her head hurt more rather than solving the problem.
"Sigh......"
So-jeong let out a deep sigh to soothe her frustrated feelings.
"Hoo."
And just then, Baek-seol, who was sitting next to her, also let out a deep sigh as if trying to sink the ground.
"Huh?"
The two of them, who had sighed almost simultaneously, looked at each other and tilted their heads curiously.
"So-jeong, is something wrong?"
"Huh? Oh, I'm just... finals, because of finals!"
As the end of May approached, the great ordeal of final exams could no longer be ignored or pretended not to exist.
So-jeong hadn't prepared at all for finals because she had so many other things on her mind, but it served as a good excuse to hide her true thoughts.
"Right, it's getting dangerous if we don't start preparing soon."
"Yeah. What about you, Baek-seol?"
Baek-seol had a sharper and more sensitive look in her eyes than usual.
"Ah, I......"
Baek-seol swept her hair back with an irritated expression and let out another rough sigh.
"I got a call from my younger sister yesterday."
"Ah."
So-jeong made a sound of instant understanding and scratched her cheek with a weak laugh.
"Ahaha... That must have been tough."
So-jeong had encountered Baek-seol's family a few times before. While she couldn't exactly say she had a good family herself, Baek-seol's family wasn't good in a different way.
Especially Baek-seol's younger sister Ryu Baek-hwa was so unsettling that sometimes it made So-jeong's skin crawl without her realizing it, as she couldn't tell what she was thinking. So with just that one comment from Baek-seol, So-jeong understood why she was in such a low mood.
"I clearly told her not to contact me......"
If it were anyone else, Baek-seol would have cut ties with them long ago, but family relationships have a stubborn stickiness that makes them difficult to sever, no matter how weakly they're connected.
"Hmm......"
Seeing Baek-seol's rare display of raw negative emotions, the worries that had been occupying So-jeong's mind just moments ago had already disappeared.
From experience, So-jeong knew exactly how to lift Baek-seol's mood when she was in this state.
"Hey, Baek-seol."
"Yeah."
"Want to go drinking with me today?"
Baek-seol raised one eyebrow slightly at So-jeong.
"What's this about? You're the one suggesting we go drinking. You hate alcohol so much."
"W-well, that's true."
So-jeong barely suppressed the memory of that dark history when she turned twenty and drank just one shot of soju with Baek-seol in her studio apartment, then suffered from headaches and nausea for three days.
Since that day, So-jeong had absolutely refused to touch alcohol.
But now there was a more important issue at hand.
"But it's okay sometimes, right? To get into that kind of mood."
Baek-seol wasn't exactly a heavy drinker either, but whenever she made that frustrated expression like today, she would always go drinking alone.
So-jeong had learned that this was her habit for relieving stress after seeing Baek-seol—who usually knew how to restrain herself—appear several times the next day in a state where she could barely stand up straight.
Normally, So-jeong would get slightly dizzy just from smelling alcohol, so she would have just bought her hangover remedies the next day rather than going along. But today she felt differently.
Because Baek-seol's expression looked more severe than usual, she thought she should comfort her by being with her, even if just a little.
"Huh? I can just drink water. Let's go tonight."
"Hmm......"
Baek-seol made a thoughtful sound, but So-jeong saw her unconsciously smack her lips.
After a moment, Baek-seol nodded.
"Okay. Then let's meet tonight."
"Yeah."
So-jeong smiled brightly and nodded along with their made plans.
***
"Uh, hey Baek-seol......?"
"What?"
"Um, we didn't come to the wrong place, did we?"
So-jeong had assumed that the places Baek-seol went drinking would be street food tents or convenience store parasols like those often seen in dramas.
'Well, this is also a place often seen in dramas......'
Unlike the noisy and lively atmosphere of regular bars, this place had a calm and sophisticated ambiance.
At the sparsely placed tables that matched this atmosphere, people were quietly drinking unfamiliar liquors under the soft lighting.
So-jeong looked around nervously at the bar scene with slow jazz playing in the background, like someone who had come to a place they shouldn't be.
"This is the right place."
Unlike So-jeong, Baek-seol spoke in her usual tone and gently pulled So-jeong's arm—who was still looking around dazedly—as she walked familiarly toward where the bartender was.
The bartender, who had been wiping glasses, looked up at the sound of their approach.
"The usual for me... and one non-alcoholic something that's good."
At Baek-seol's order, the bartender nodded and immediately began pulling out various bottles from behind.
"Hoo."
Baek-seol plopped down onto the seat and let out another deep sigh. So-jeong, still seemingly somewhat overwhelmed by the atmosphere, carefully sat down next to her.
"Do you come here often?"
"Yeah. There aren't many people here. It's a place where you just quietly drink and leave, so there aren't any drunk people causing trouble."
"It looks really expensive though......"
So-jeong once again realized just how wealthy Baek-seol was.
Baek-seol shrugged as if it were nothing.
"I don't come here that often. Anyway,"
Baek-seol crossed her legs and, leaning her head on one hand, gave So-jeong a weak smile.
"The reason you suddenly suggested going drinking today was because you were worried about me, right?"
"Ah... did I get caught?"
So-jeong gave an "ehehe" laugh.
"The person who always hated alcohol suddenly suggests going drinking. I'm the one who got caught going drinking whenever I'm stressed. I was deliberately going alone because I thought you'd insist on coming along even though you can't drink."
"I've known you for a long time, you know?"
So-jeong pretended to be slightly offended and puffed out her cheeks.
"After seeing you walking around with worries all over your face and then suffering from hangovers the next day several times, even I would figure it out."
"Hah, that's true."
Baek-seol's slight chuckle made her look more mature and alluring than usual, perhaps because of the bar's lighting and slow music.
"But it's nice being with you. Hehe, just being here with you like this, So-jeong, already makes me feel a bit better."
"......"
Seeing Baek-seol's unguarded appearance in this unusual setting, So-jeong felt her heart beating unnecessarily louder.
'C-calm down.'
So-jeong told that to her heart, along with the other part of her body that was trying to make its presence known.
'Right now I'm here to listen to Baek-seol. I just need to keep her company until she feels better and then go home.'
But So-jeong, who had never been to a bar in her life, had no idea.
That in bars, unplanned accidents happen more often than things going according to plan.