A Place to Lie Down
I kept stealing glances at her without meaning to.
Her hair was dry, but a soft sheen still clung to her damp skin. And then there were the pajamas—completely different from her usual clothes. The loose neckline kept slipping just enough to reveal the clean line of her collarbone, and I found myself noticing it before I could stop.
"What's with the pajamas, though?"
"Oh, these? Well, beer always fills me up, so I wanted something more comfortable. And besides, all that's left today is eating and sleeping anyway…?"
She had a point.
Part of me wondered if it wasn't a little too unguarded, showing an outside man an outfit like that. But the fact that she was comfortable enough to let me see her in pajamas felt like proof of how close we'd become, and that made me quietly happy.
Seorin, though, seemed to take my question another way. She looked down at her pajamas and asked,
"What? Do they look bad?"
"No. That's not it."
The moment I answered, a sly grin spread across her face, as if a brilliant idea had just struck her.
"…Or is it that you prefer something a little sexier, Ijun? Like a negligee?"
Ugh.
She was teasing me again.
"Sorry, but I never said a single word about the pajamas looking bad."
The second the words left my mouth, an image of her in a black negligee flashed through my mind, and heat rose to my face before I could stop it.
…I might actually want to see that once.
"Heh. I know. I just wanted to mess with you. Ah, your face is red again."
"…Why does it feel like the closer we get, the more you mess with me?"
"What are you talking about? Mess with you? Someone might get the wrong idea~"
How was that even open to misinterpretation?
I'd already been on the receiving end multiple times today alone.
Watching Seorin sit there playing with me like she owned the place, I cracked open a beer can, determined not to get pulled into her pace any further.
"Fine. Let's just drink."
"Sounds good."
Pssht.
The successive sounds of us opening our beers filled her studio apartment.
Pepperoni pizza and the snacks Seorin had already laid out. I took a bite of pizza, chased it with a cold swig of beer, and decided there was no greater paradise on earth.
"Ahh. Perfect."
"What's with that middle-aged-man reaction?"
Seorin snorted with laughter, and I answered,
"You'll start doing it automatically once you hit my age. I used to wonder why my dad did that, too."
"Tch. Acting all grown-up. How much older are you even?"
As we talked, a thought suddenly hit me.
I'd told her my age, but I'd never actually heard hers. Curiosity got the better of me.
"How old are you, Seorin?"
"Me?"
"Yeah. You never told me. Just that you're younger."
"How old do I look? Just by appearance?"
I pretended to think it over, then smiled and said,
"Hmm… roughly nineteen?"
"Aish. Don't say ridiculous things."
My absurd answer made Seorin burst out laughing. But compliments about being pretty or looking young always land well with women, and even though my lie was ridiculous, she didn't look the least bit displeased.
"What? Put you in a school uniform and you wouldn't even stand out from the high-schoolers."
"Ah~ stop it. That's a lie and you know it. The difference is obvious."
"Okay. High school might be pushing it, but you do look like a college student. Honestly."
Her face put her at early twenties at most—fresh, still carrying a trace of innocence that hadn't been worn down by the working world. She was far prettier than any of the girls I'd seen back in college.
"Hmm. Really?"
"Yeah. If we'd been in the same department, I probably would've fallen for you at first sight, confessed on the spot, and gotten rejected."
She gave a little cough and her cheeks pinked, so I figured the compliment had landed. It wasn't forced praise anyway, so I had no reason to take it back.
"Why is getting rejected the premise?"
"Because a girl like you would've been the department goddess. A regular guy like me confesses, he gets turned down."
"You never know, do you? How things turn out? Maybe a guy like you is exactly my type?"
She said it with a provocative little smile, as if daring me to confess right then and there.
…Should I just go for it? For real?
The alcohol was stirring up reckless competitive spirit, and for a second I almost tossed out a confession like a joke—then stopped myself cold, sensing the black history that would create. I'd also heard that few things are worse than confessing while drunk. Things between us were good right now; I didn't want to rush ahead and ruin everything. If we just kept getting closer like this, the right moment would come. We'd known each other less than a month. It still felt too soon.
I took another swallow of beer to soothe my suddenly dry throat. The sharp, cool sensation slid down, and I set the can back on the table.
"Anyway, Seorin, you run really well."
"Huh?"
"We ran together today. I had no idea you were that good."
I'd caught her once before when she bolted after a misunderstanding, so I'd assumed she wasn't much of a runner. Today I realized that had just been the height difference talking.
"I'm bad at sprints, but I can go forever. I even ran relays in elementary and middle school."
"As an athlete?"
"No, not that far. You know how at sports days they always pick the kids who are good at relays? That was me. Skinny, not much weight, but good endurance—so I just ran well, you know?"
As she spoke, my eyes drifted to her legs. They looked almost too slender for someone who used to run relays, but maybe that was exactly why. Even before today's run I'd noticed it—the proportions and the clean line of her legs were excellent.
"Ah, so that's why."
"So that's why…?"
"Never mind. Ahem."
"The look you just gave my legs felt a little strange… Am I imagining things?"
"You must be."
"Really?"
She fixed her eyes on mine, and suddenly lying felt impossible. This much was just a compliment anyway.
"Just… I was thinking the proportions are nice, or that the line is really clean. Earlier, too."
"More specifically?"
"Why do I have to get that specific?"
"Because I want to know?"
She laughed softly, eyes curving into crescents.
Just because she smiles like that, does she think I'll spill every thought in my head?
I was starting to suspect Seorin thought I was the simplest fool on the planet.
"Especially the part where the thighs meet the hips…"
"Pfft. Puh-heh-heh. Heheheh."
This was definitely the alcohol's fault.
In my right mind I never would have been this honest. Without meaning to, I'd just laid out the exact points I'd found so attractive.
Seorin laughed for a long time at my answer, even tearing up a little.
"Ah, my stomach hurts. Stop being so funny, Ijun. I think I'm going to die. Hic."
She looked so delighted I couldn't decide whether I should feel happy or mortified.
As if wanting to watch my reaction, she finally managed to stop laughing, then traced a finger slowly up the side of her thigh, following the line I'd just described.
"So you mean this line right here?"
…I never should have said anything.
I dropped my head under her blatant teasing.
This woman was completely toying with me.
She had clearly gotten addicted to watching me squirm. There was no other explanation for how much fun she was having with my reactions.
"Ah, so cute… How are you this adorable when you're older than me, Ijun?"
Then she picked up her beer and sidled closer, as if making sure I couldn't escape. She pressed right up against my side and quietly studied my flushed face.
My throat went dry all over again.
I gulped down more beer and forced a change of subject.
"Anyway, Seorin."
"Yeees."
"Thank you. Really. For today."
I wanted to say it while we were both still sober enough—before the alcohol took over completely.
There was a reason she was teasing me harder than usual. Sure, she found my reactions funny, but she was also trying to keep my mind from wandering elsewhere. Dragging me out for a run, bringing me home to drink once I was worn out, and now pestering me nonstop—all of it was consideration for me. I could feel that, quietly.
"For what?"
"Everything. Noticing I was in a bad mood, pulling me outside to run, drinking with me so I couldn't think about anything else. All of that was for my sake."
In a way, Seorin had thrown away her entire day over something that had nothing to do with her. And yet she looked happier than I did—sitting right next to me, hehe-ing as she sipped her beer.
"It's nothing."
"…"
"Compared to what you've done for me, this is nothing."
What was she talking about?
I didn't feel like I'd done a single thing for her. At most I'd helped out in front of a fish-bun shop. But the gratitude in her voice was so genuine it almost sounded as if I'd saved her life without knowing it.
"What have I ever done for you?"
"A lot. Tons."
"Like what? Walking up and telling you you're pretty?"
"Heh. That too, but… how should I put it. Yeah. You saved me in a past life."
"Huh? Past life?"
The sudden turn made me ask again without thinking.
Seorin… is she the type who actually believes in that stuff?
Then again, plenty of girls liked fortune-telling and superstitions.
"I was an unpopular idol in my past life. But because of you, Ijun, I was able to keep going."
"What do you mean…"
"Something like that. The only fan of an underground idol? Anyway, you liked me so much that I survived."
She spoke as if she were simply recounting something that had really happened. The emotion in her expression and voice was too clear, too tender, for it to feel like a made-up story. For a moment I almost wondered if she was acting.
While I was still sitting with that strange sense of dissonance,
"—is the premise. How does a romance like that sound?"
"Huh?"
"I've been watching too many dramas lately, I guess. The idea just popped into my head."
Seorin laughed as if it had all been a joke. Her cheeks were flushed and her words were starting to slur, so I realized she was drunk and let it slide. People say all kinds of things when they're tipsy.
"It actually sounds pretty good. Romantic, even."
"Right? But more than that, Ijun."
"Yeah."
"You said you were really grateful to me today?"
"Yeah. Extremely."
"Then can you grant me one favor? As repayment?"
"Of course. Just say it."
If it was something I could do, why would I ever begrudge her anything? I already knew Seorin wasn't the shameless type to ask for something unreasonable.
"Well… I'm starting to feel a little tired, so…"
"Yeah."
"Will you let me lie down?"
Lie down.
Did she really need to ask me for that? She could just lie down anywhere—on the bed, for instance.
I was about to say exactly that and meet her eyes when Seorin simply toppled sideways and collapsed onto my lap.
"Here. Ah, I already lay down. Sorry."
She looked up at me from my thighs, laughing cutely, hehe.