Date, Date (3)
In the cramped little booth, a clear, pure voice brought the song to its close.
The gently rippling sound settled into silence.
Only the karaoke machine hummed quietly as it waited for the next reserved track.
"Aren't you going to sing?"
"Y-yeah… I should."
Jeong Ayeong's brain had completely lost its function. The thought circuits that normally spun at high speed and excelled in the technical realm of coding had ground to a halt.
She picked a song she at least somewhat knew from the popular charts. The intro began to play, yet she couldn't focus on anything but the warmth she felt beside her.
Han Sein's body had drawn closer and closer. Even while the intro played and she sang, he showed no particular action.
"……."
He simply rested his head on Jeong Ayeong's shoulder and quietly listened to the song reaching his ears. He wasn't even responding. Far from clapping, he only let out soft, quiet breaths—yet Jeong Ayeong's cheeks seemed to grow hotter by the second.
The first verse ended. The second verse ended. As the gentle outro softly resounded, Jeong Ayeong flinched.
"Euk."
"Hehe."
A nuzzling sound tickled her ear. The sensation on her right shoulder shifted. The head that had simply been resting there began to move slowly. Nuzzling was the precise word for it—as if digging into soft flesh, like a cat showing affection to its beloved owner. At the very least it felt like a sign that he was feeling good, and because of Han Sein's skinship, Jeong Ayeong couldn't keep her wits about her.
"Your voice is nice."
"Euk…"
Two songs remained. Since it was coin-operated, there was no need to reserve right away, yet she found it hard to stay still. Should she sing again? Or should she say something to Han Sein? As all sorts of words and actions floated through her mind, a hand stretched out from between the head fixed forward and pointed somewhere.
"Look at that."
"U-ung?"
Below the machine. It was a direction others rarely checked, a phrase easy to miss. Fire and emergency escape routes, that sort of thing. But Han Sein's meaning was pointing a little lower still. And it was a fact one could instinctively understand.
She quietly swallowed once. Jeong Ayeong's eyes spun so hard they nearly rolled, and she was busy registering the combination of letters that had entered her mind.
NO AFFECTIONATE ACTS!
Kissing, Exposure. Caught = Expulsion!! CCTV Present.
The meaning was extremely simple. It was a social contract, something no person with common sense would do. And yet there were always people who went beyond common sense. Whatever thoughts and feelings they had, there must have been precedents—otherwise the rule would never have been made.
A small silence fell. It was a topic hard to bring up lightly, and all the more confusing inside a first love that was still clumsy and immature, not even a full week old.
"Looks like people kiss in here."
"Y-yeah…"
It was Han Sein's voice that broke the silence. With his head still resting on Jeong Ayeong's shoulder, that low, lingering sweet tone began to coil around her. A sound that slipped into her ear like a whisper over her shoulder—sticky, binding her tighter, making her tremble even more. A sweet and captivating voice.
"Exposure? What's exposure?"
"W-weird people. Th-there are people like that…"
"I seee…"
His voice stretched out softly. Jeong Ayeong's ear burned hot, and through her heightened senses the coquettish tip of Han Sein's words continued. Her eyes could not tear themselves from the front. Her body, stiffened by tension, could not even turn her head, and a heated atmosphere rose inside the quiet karaoke booth.
The sticky mood lit a fire in her heart. The burning feeling pumped steam into her chest. Her heart danced wildly amid the trembling emotions, and the blood racing through her veins made her body even hotter.
In that tense moment, a sound pierced her senses that had grown as sharp as they could get.
Rustle.
Rustle, rustle.
The sound of fabric brushing. In other words, a change had come to the shoulder Han Sein had been leaning on. The head pressed tightly against her had not pulled away. Only its position shifted, and the sensation of resting became the sensation of pressing down.
It was new, and it stirred curiosity—more than enough to make Jeong Ayeong move.
Through the pounding of her heart came the sound of cloth brushing. Jeong Ayeong's head slowly turned. The visual that entered her gaze was nothing short of devastating. Enough to paralyze a heart already racing madly. Enough to stop the breathing she had been doing unconsciously.
A chin pressing down on her shoulder. Han Sein's expression, fully climbed up onto her shoulder, was calm—so calm one would never imagine he had just dropped a boulder into Jeong Ayeong's heart. Soft and quiet.
Yet in the distance so close that not even a finger could fit between them, the gaze meeting hers held unmistakable love. Affectionate, heated love of that kind.
"Kissing's forbidden, it says."
"Ah…"
A faint gasp. From afar, Han Sein had been cute and lovable. But up close, Han Sein was even more lovable. More than the song she had just heard. More than anything she had faced until now. Mischievous corners of his mouth curved up languidly; playfulness mixed into eyes full of love and affection; and the way Han Sein slowly lifted his head, drawing nearer to her—was more fatal than anything else in the world.
"B-bathroom!"
Jeong Ayeong's voice rang through the karaoke room at the top of her lungs. Her actions were just as frantic as the urgency in her cry. She rose as if sliding away, excuses already on her lips, and opened the karaoke door.
—Bang!!
She didn't even have the composure left to see the expression remaining on Han Sein's face. Her heart pounded so hard it hurt. The karaoke door, slammed shut with force, let out a groan. Whether it did or not, Jeong Ayeong—armed with the excuse of the bathroom—couldn't take a single step after closing the door.
Slump.
She collapsed in place as if her legs had given out. A deep breath echoed through the nearly empty karaoke hallway.
"Haaa…"
A trembling sigh broke and spilled out. Her quivering hands clenched into fists and then opened again. Beneath the heart that wouldn't stop pounding, countless thoughts scrambled through her mind.
"Aaaah…"
Why did I do that. I was supposed to look like a cool woman. It was our first date—I was supposed to show reverse-charm by taking the lead. Like the videos I'd watched on YouTube. I was supposed to dress up nicely and show a confident side…
She had failed. Jeong Ayeong had failed. The plan she had carefully prepared with a heart full of excitement, mapping out the first date course, had all turned to foam. Not because of the situation itself, but because of her own handling, her actions, her heart.
Within the self-reproach, love bloomed. Excitement bloomed. Recalling the past brought the close face back to mind—from the first meeting when he had only been the seat beside hers, all the way to the present, pressed tight against her in the karaoke booth. The face that had drawn near, the breath that felt hot. Lips that had almost touched, and his lovely eyes.
Any woman would have welcomed it rather than refused—yet Jeong Ayeong had run away. First experiences were always clumsy and full of mistakes, yet at the very least she had not wanted to be like that. She had never even seen the first letter of the word "man," yet she had wanted to look like the wannabe she dreamed of.
It was ironic. Even as this regret washed over her, her heart was still racing, and the ticklish feeling raised its head again. Amid self-blame and confusion, a tingling thrill ran through her body, and at the thought that they had gone right up to the brink of a kiss, her lower belly grew hotter and hotter. As if electricity were flowing. A sharp sensation pulsed again and again.
—Knock knock knock.
"A-aah!"
"What are you doing there."
Jeong Ayeong had fallen over, and through the carefully opened door Han Sein's laughter rang out.
"Pffft."
"Auuu…"
Belated worry surged, then quickly settled. Han Sein's bright expression was exactly the face of a boy who had just seen his girlfriend in a ridiculous state. The kind of face you saw in the media she always envied, got jealous of, and tried so hard to ignore. So Jeong Ayeong pressed her lips tightly shut.
"…You didn't pee yourself, right?"
"N-no!"
Half lie, half truth. Jeong Ayeong's shrill denial rang out, but the flush already blooming on her face spoke for the precious place between her legs. Not a full accident, but wet was wet.
"Guess I should buy you some clothes~"
"I said nooo…!!"
Of course, Han Sein's teasing continued—until her heart felt at ease. It was the same as the way he looked at school. Thanks to that, perhaps, Jeong Ayeong began to wear a soft smile just like Han Sein's, as if nothing had happened.
Meanwhile.
A tinkling bell rang out in this place—a hair salon somewhere in Seoul.
"Welcome…"
A man who appeared to be the stylist pressed his lips shut. Kang Hyeona, who had walked in with an impassive expression, was attractive even by the standards of an ordinary man. She was the classic alpha female type people talked about.
"Can you do dye?"
"Y-yes! Of course, of course!"
A smile bloomed wide on the man's face. It had been a long time since he'd seen a beauty like this. Getting to work on such a woman's hair was happiness itself in a dreary daily life.
"What color would you like?"
"Yellow…"
"That's pretty standard, but these days violet or blue tones are popular too."
"Blonde, please."
Kang Hyeona sat in the seat she was guided to. Even against the man's suggestions, her firm voice rang out softly.