My Female Friend Came Over (2)
Kim Hyewon was thinking.
"That was dangerous!"
She was remembering how, at that dangerous moment, Baek Seojun had saved her.
How, in saving her, he'd pulled her into his arms.
"Kim Hyewon, are you okay?" — what had she even answered when he asked her that?
She was pretty sure it had been a short, quiet "...Yeah." But the truth was, despite her answer, she hadn't been okay at all.
He was probably asking whether she was hurt, or whether she'd been frightened — and in the latter sense, she was anything but fine.
Because—
Ba-dump.
Ba-dump.
Ba-dump.
Her heart had pounded harder than it ever had before.
Was it the dizzying thrill of nearly getting into an accident?
Or was it the pounding that came from Baek Seojun — who'd only meant to save her — wrapping her up in his arms?
For her, it was a first either way.
Both nearly getting clipped by a car, and being held like that by a man.
Since both were firsts, she couldn't tell which one it was.
And she remembered something else, too.
"By the way, is the student who came with you your boyfriend, perhaps?"
The fact that her heart had fluttered — just a little — when the kindergarten teacher mistook her and Baek Seojun for a couple.
"I'm sorry. You two just looked like such a well-matched pair that I couldn't help it."
The fact that being told they looked good together had made her feel strange.
It hadn't been a bad feeling, she thought.
If anything—
"I approve if it's Handsome Hyung! He matches Noona so well!"
The fact that when her little brother had said that, she'd wavered for a moment, wondering, '...Is that so?'
How she'd felt oddly embarrassed, her face flushing warm, and how hard it had become to meet Baek Seojun's eyes.
She found the whole thing baffling.
Why on earth?
What was this feeling supposed to be?
Could she actually have developed feelings for him?
But that hardly made sense — she'd known Baek Seojun for far too short a time. And it wasn't as if anything had happened in that brief window that could reasonably spark feelings.
Which was exactly why it puzzled her so.
But then, who was she?
The kind of person who couldn't rest easy until every curiosity was satisfied — wasn't that just who she was?
So she decided to find out.
"Hey. Baek Seojun, I came to hang out."
What on earth that racing heartbeat had been.
Whether that embarrassment had just been simple awkwardness.
She meant to check for herself.
And so this marked the second time Kim Hyewon had set foot in my place... my apartment.
Barely her second visit, yet she settled onto my bed as if she'd done it a hundred times.
"What did you order?"
"Chicken."
"Chicken? All for yourself?"
She tilted her head.
"Yeah."
"...Isn't that a lot for one person?"
Ah-ha.
So that's what this was.
Since it was too much for one person, she'd eat some with me — that sort of thing.
So the girl wanted chicken and was making excuses. I figured the reason she'd come over in the first place was probably just to freeload some delivery food.
Except.
"...It's not like that. In my family, even one whole chicken barely covers us."
"Huh? One chicken barely feeds you? All three of you?"
Is that even possible?
"Doesn't everyone usually eat a whole one alone?"
"Not my family. Kim Hyeseong's a kindergartner with a tiny mouth, and Mom and I just aren't big eaters."
Well, looking at her figure, that did track.
Aside from certain parts that stood out rather prominently, she was fundamentally on the slender side.
"...You're being way too obvious about staring."
"Ah. Sorry."
"It's fine. I know I have a good body."
Kim Hyewon thrust her chest out proudly.
They really were huge— wait, no.
"A-hem. Did you eat dinner before you came?"
"Dinner? Nope."
"What about your family?"
"Mom and Kim Hyeseong are probably eating right now."
"...? So you're the only one who hasn't eaten?"
"Yep."
"...Why?"
"I told her I was going out to hang out, so she said I'd figure out food on my own."
Hyewon's mother, it seemed, was a firm believer in hands-off parenting.
"Then want to split the chicken?"
"Can I?"
A hint of light came into her face.
No — excitement, maybe.
"Yeah, let's eat together. Honestly, having company means it won't be boring, so I'm glad."
"Mm."
I could tell Kim Hyewon was visibly pleased.
Claims she barely eats, but chicken's apparently another matter.
Then again, when we stopped by the corner store earlier she'd bought an absurd pile of Chocobars — so whatever her actual appetite, the girl clearly had a sweet tooth.
I'd only been waiting a short while when the doorbell rang.
The chicken delivery.
"Wait in the living room. I'll grab it."
"Okay."
When I came back from the door with the chicken, she was sitting primly in the living room.
With little plates and chopsticks already laid out — how on earth she knew where I kept them, I had no idea.
...This kind of thing made it feel like we were living together. All the more so because, just like yesterday, she was dressed incredibly light.
"S-sorry, I have to ask — how did you know where the plates and chopsticks were? I stashed them at the back of the shelf."
"Just intuition."
What a truly remarkable intuition.
Is this what they call a woman's instincts?
I set the chicken out, occupied with these idle thoughts.
"Want to watch something while we eat?"
Chicken was a dish meant to be eaten in front of a screen — that was practically a law of nature. She seemed to know it too, nodding readily.
"I'll give you the remote. Pick whatever you want."
Curious what she'd choose, I watched the TV with interest.
At first it was horror. Thrillers.
So she liked that genre, I thought. It oddly suited her image, too.
But then...
"...?"
Things got stranger and stranger.
Romance. Romantic comedies... adult films?
At first I thought it was a slip of the thumb, but now she was browsing exclusively within the adult section. And the unfortunate news was that my account was already age-verified, fully capable of playing any of it.
"...Hyewon?"
"Hm?"
"You... you want to watch that?"
Nod.
"...Seriously?"
Nod.
"......"
...No, but why?
Didn't it embarrass her to watch that kind of thing with a friend?
And okay, if it were the same gender, fine — but we were a guy friend and girl friend who'd barely gotten to know each other? Of course, if she genuinely didn't register me as a man at all, watching together wasn't exactly unreasonable...
'Is that really it?'
She wasn't seeing me as a man at all, so she just picked whatever?
My mood turned slightly strange.
Taken optimistically, it meant that although we'd known each other only a short while, we'd become close, dependable friends.
Taken pessimistically, it meant I lacked so much charm as a man that I didn't even register as one.
Refusing at this point seemed weirder than going along with it, so with a tangle of complicated feelings, I watched her press play on the adult film.
And then—
"Aaah~!"
It opened with an embarrassing scene from the very first minutes.
"......"
"......"
Freeze.
'...Is this really happening?'
I could barely bring myself to take a bite of chicken.
Wondering if it was just me, I stole a glance to the side.
Just checking what Hyewon was doing.
And.
"...Hmm."
...She was watching with astonishing composure. Neatly eating her chicken on top of it.
Which meant that if I was the only one being awkward here, I was the weird one — so I resigned myself to eating and watching like she was.
Embarrassing scenes where the actors tangled their bodies together still popped up here and there, but by then we were both fully absorbed, and it hardly mattered anymore.
Me, and Kim Hyewon both.
By the time the movie reached its final stretch, the chicken was long gone.
"I love you."
"I love you too."
"Then... will you kiss me?"
"As much as you like."
On screen, the heroine climbed into the hero's lap and kissed him.
And that was when it happened.
Swish—
"Hey, Baek Seojun."
Kim Hyewon glanced over at me, her eyes drifting from the screen.
"Hm?"
"Have you ever kissed someone like that?"
"...Huh?"
...What did she say?
A kiss?
"A kiss. Have you ever had one?"
"......"
I hadn't misheard.
She had even turned her body toward me, staring dead ahead as if to say, answer me already.
That gaze made it hard to breathe.
Hypnotized by her eyes, I opened my mouth.
"...No. Never."
"Not even once?"
"No."
Not a single time.
Not in this life, anyway.
"I see."
"What about you, then?"
So I asked, on impulse.
"Have you ever kissed anyone?"
Whether it was because I hated being the only one answering while she stayed quiet, or because I genuinely wanted to know.
And.
"Never."
"Not even once?"
"Nope."
The answer came back: never.
Only after hearing her reply did my senses fully return. What on earth had I asked on impulse like that?
This was all the movie's fault. The movie's.
All those embarrassing scenes had made the atmosphere weird, that was all.
"But you know."
And that was when it happened.
Swish—
Kim Hyewon suddenly climbed onto my lap and wrapped her arms around my neck.
"......?!"
"I'm a little curious about something."
Her face began to drift closer and closer.
Just like the actress and actor I'd watched on screen minutes ago.
"What would a kiss actually feel like? Is it really as good as they make it look?"
The right thing to do was to push her off.
To make her climb down from my lap and ask what the hell she thought she was doing — that was what the moment demanded.
But.
"Baek Seojun, aren't you curious too?"
My throat closed up.
"......"
"......"
The distance where one tiny lean forward would make our lips touch.
We stopped dead at that exact distance, gazes locked on each other, neither of us moving.
At some point, the embarrassing sounds from the movie faded into mere background noise, and all I could see was Kim Hyewon's eyes.
Five seconds.
Ten seconds.
Thirty seconds.
A minute.
How much time had passed?
"...I checked."
"......?"
Murmuring those words in a whisper, she bowed her head low and climbed down from my lap.
And then.
"...I should head home now. I had fun, Seojun."
Kim Hyewon went home to her own apartment.
"???"
No, what was that.
Checked what, exactly?
Suddenly left all alone, I was swallowed whole by the question.