The Girl Next Door's Proposal
“…What is this?”
I rubbed my eyes for a moment.
But no matter how many times I looked, no matter which way I turned it, the person standing in front of my door was unmistakably Kim Hyewon.
I sneaked a glance at my smartphone and saw a text waiting — sent from the same number I'd called earlier to reach Kim Hyeseong's guardian. Kim Hyewon's number.
She wanted me to open the door?
Why…?
While I stood there puzzling over the reason, Kim Hyewon tilted her head beyond the intercom and pressed the doorbell again.
Watching that, I realized I couldn't just keep standing here debating. I couldn't exactly leave a person stranded at my doorstep.
So in the end, without having any idea what was going on, I opened the door for her.
“Hi.”
She greeted me with a small wave of her hand.
Or maybe it was her outfit?
There was nowhere safe for my eyes to land.
A white short-sleeved tee that clung to her body and bared a hint of cleavage, showing off every line of her figure — and dolphin pants so short they left nothing to the imagination. Her long, toned thighs stretched out beneath them, and it was frankly dizzying.
I stood there staring at her for a moment, and she gave her head a slight tilt. I asked her.
“What are you here for?”
The moment the words left my mouth, I winced. Had that come out too stiff?
Fortunately, she didn't seem to care.
She held out a hand she'd been hiding behind her back.
In it was a small container of side dishes, food tucked inside.
“This. For you.”
“…This?”
“Yeah.”
…Why?
“It's thanks for helping me find my little brother today.”
“This is?”
“…You don't want it?”
“No, no.”
I waved my hands quickly.
It wasn't that I didn't want it. Honestly, I was touched she'd brought food at all.
But.
“I just don't think I've done enough to deserve something like this.”
“Take it anyway. When I told my mom about what happened today, she was so grateful she sent me over with this.”
“Your mother did?”
“Yeah. She said she's glad you moved in next door, too. That you seem like a solid young man, and to take good care of us going forward.”
Apparently I'd earned a reputation as a “solid young man” with Kim Hyewon's parents, whom I'd never even met.
“A solid young man, huh…”
“Why?”
“Nothing. Then I'll gladly take the food. Could you pass my thanks along to your mother?”
“Yeah.”
And so I accepted the container from her hands.
But then.
Bzzzt—
“……”
“……?”
…Why isn't she leaving?
There was no sign of her turning to go. She'd handed over the food, so the natural thing would be for her to head back to her place and for me to head into mine — yet somehow she just kept standing there.
Following her gaze, she seemed to be peering into the interior of my apartment.
“Hey.”
And then it came.
“Can I come in?”
“…Huh? Inside here?”
“Yeah.”
She pointed past me, into my apartment.
Dressed with her cleavage completely on display, wearing that blunt, unreadable expression of hers, thinking who knew what.
“…Isn't that a bad idea? I live here alone, you know. Having a girl come into a place where a guy lives by himself is… a little much, isn't it?”
Granted, Chaeeun had come over a few times at my old place.
But that was Chaeeun — we'd known each other since we were kids and were extremely close. Letting in a girl I wasn't close with, though? That just wasn't the done thing.
Apparently, Kim Hyewon disagreed.
She tilted her head, then spoke slowly.
“Are you worried I'll pounce on you?”
“?”
??
“…Excuse me?”
“Is the only reason you won't let me in because you're scared I'll jump you?”
No — that was absolutely not it.
“That's not it.”
“Then come on, let me in.”
“…Why do you even want to come in?”
“Hmm…”
She closed her eyes briefly.
And then—
“I just… wanted to see what a friend's place looks like?”
There was no real reason behind it. She simply wanted to come inside once, and that was the whole of it. Under normal circumstances, I would have refused.
Under normal circumstances, I would have refused…
“…Fine. Want to come in for a bit, look around, and head back?”
I decided to indulge a whim for once.
Somehow, I wanted to.
She slipped off her shoes at the entryway.
The moment she moved to step into the apartment—
“Ah, hold on.”
I stopped her for a second.
To her questioning look, I tore the plastic off a pair of indoor slippers and handed them over — the one spare pair I happened to have left.
“I don't have much stuff yet, but I haven't finished cleaning. Just to be safe, wear these inside.”
“Got it.”
She put on the slippers and came in.
Before long she was craning her head around, taking everything in like it was something out of the ordinary. Watching her, I couldn't hold back my curiosity.
“Isn't the layout exactly the same as your place? What's so fascinating to look at?”
“It actually is fascinating.”
“In what way?”
“The fact that your place is this empty.”
“Hmm…”
Well, the emptiness couldn't be helped.
After all, I was living alone in an apartment normally sized for an entire family.
Besides, guys on average tend to own less stuff than girls do. Plenty of men don't fit that mold, but I wasn't one of the exceptions.
I'm the kind of human who can get by with a blanket, a pillow, a bed, a computer, a fridge, and some dishes — that's about it.
When I explained that, Hyewon nodded along slowly.
“I see… So guys really don't have much stuff.”
“Pretty much.”
“I wonder if my little brother will be like this someday.”
“Your little brother… you mean Hyeseong from earlier?”
“Yeah.”
“Hyeseong, huh…”
Hmm.
“Hard to say? I don't think he'll be like me, though.”
“Why not?”
“They say guys with older sisters tend to be way more meticulous. Thinking about it that way, even if Hyeseong ends up living on his own someday, I doubt he'll be quite like me.”
“Ah. Okay.”
Not that I picked that up from anywhere reliable.
It wasn't like we were having some serious conversation, so it hardly mattered.
As she wandered through the apartment, she suddenly stopped in front of one particular door.
“Is this your room, Baek Seojun?”
“That's right.”
“Can I take a look in here too?”
“That room?”
A guy's room — did she really need to?
“You already came into a guy's apartment, didn't you?”
“That's beside the point… There's nothing worth seeing in there anyway. I only moved in today, so it's not even organized.”
“Sounds like a yes to me, then.”
Was that how that worked?
I can't get a read on this girl at all.
The way she'd asked me at school whether I'd fought with Chaeeun, and now this — I'd never once seen her chat comfortably with anyone else in class, let alone with me, so maybe that's why she caught me so off guard.
Kind of like a cat overflowing with curiosity?
Be that as it may, she opened the door and stepped inside.
“Wow, there really is nothing here.”
“Told you?”
“Yeah.”
Somehow, she looked a little disappointed.
What on earth had she been expecting?
“Can you sit somewhere for a minute? I'll bring you something to drink.”
“Yeah, okay.”
Wouldn't most people decline at a time like this? Shaking off the thought, I headed out to the living room and grabbed a drink I'd picked up from the convenience store.
But when I came back—
“……?”
She was supposed to be sitting on the bed. Instead, she was standing at my desk, looking at some kind of photograph.
That's…
…An old photo of me and Chaeeun taken together when we were little.
I should have put it away.
I'd brought it along when I moved, but I should've covered it up ages ago. No — I should've stashed it in some corner where nobody would see it.
She studied the photo for a moment, then looked up at me.
“Is this you and Kim Chaeeun, Baek Seojun?”
“…Yeah.”
“Sounds like you two have been close since you were kids.”
“That's right.”
It didn't seem to be well known at school, but the “couple” everyone imagined us to be, me and Kim Chaeeun, were in fact childhood friends. We'd grown up side by side ever since kindergarten.
“I see. So do you like Chaeeun?”
…
“…What?”
Today seemed determined to be an unbroken chain of moments that threw me off balance.
What had she just said?
“I asked if you like Chaeeun, Baek Seojun.”
She was staring straight at me. That trademark deadpan expression of hers somehow felt like pressure — like she was demanding an immediate answer.
But I didn't actually have to answer. Sure, we were talking today, but we weren't close enough for me to owe her answers to that kind of question.
Truthfully, this was the first real conversation the two of us had ever had.
I should have deflected, dodged, changed the subject… but instead, I reflexively answered honestly.
That made twice today already.
Giving in to whims, that is.
“I used to like her.”
Still facing her, I flipped the photo back over as I answered. She lost interest in it immediately.
“Does that mean you don't like her now?”
“No. I still do like her.”
I used to like her.
And I still do.
At those two contradictory answers, she tilted her head in clear confusion.
“…What does that mean?”
“It means I've given up.”
Because I'd worn myself out loving her in silence.
Because my feelings would never reach her.
Because even while I still liked her, I'd decided somehow, any way I could, to stop.
I'd decided to drift away and let go.
That was all there was to it.
“Why?”
“Because I like that girl, and she doesn't like me.”
If anything, she likes another guy.
Even as I said it, doubt crept in.
We weren't close. She could repeat any of this to the whole class tomorrow, for all I knew — so why was I being this honest with her?
Why was that?
Forcing a smile, I looked at her.
“Why are you even asking about this?”
“Just… you helped me a lot today, so I wanted to help you too.”
“…Help me? With what?”
“With your love, Baek Seojun.”
“…My love?”
She was going to help with that?
Why?
No.
No, wait.
“How?”
She leaned her face in close, close enough that I could have counted her lashes. A girl's faint, sweet scent teased my nose.
Strands of her hair brushed against my cheek, and the glimpse of her cleavage below dragged my gaze down by pure instinct.
And then—
“If you pretend to date me, wouldn't that make Kim Chaeeun look your way again?”
Kim Hyewon.
She was—
a girl I couldn't begin to figure out, making a proposal that made absolutely no sense at all.