Chapter 6
Chapter 6
Lie
After barely calming my flushed face, I returned to my seat.
Of all things, that seat was right next to her, which somehow felt pitiful today.
To be honest, I didn’t want to face her again right now.
…This is embarrassing.
As I awkwardly sat back down, Seorin, who had been looking at her phone, turned her gaze toward me.
“Did you get back alright?”
“…Yes. Well.”
She was suppressing a laugh, her lips twitching slightly.
Perhaps out of her usual consideration, she seemed to be holding back her laughter so I wouldn’t feel embarrassed.
“You must’ve washed your face a lot. Your face is still damp, and your hair’s a bit wet too?”
She said that while smiling cutely.
Scratch that. Forget the consideration.
No matter how you look at it, she’s teasing me.
“I have oily skin, so if I don’t wash my face often, things build up on my skin.”
“Oh~ I see. Heh. Though for someone like that, you don’t seem to go to the bathroom that often normally~?”
“No, I do go often. You probably just didn’t notice because you were studying, Seorin.”
As I continued my weak excuse while silently sending her a “please stop teasing me” signal with my eyes, Seorin smiled and nodded.
“Sorry. I was joking. Your reactions are fun, so I couldn’t help teasing you.”
“You sound exactly like my friends.”
“They must know you well if your reactions are that good.”
“Seorin.”
“Alright, alright. I’ll stop for real. Sorry.”
When I said her name with a straight face, she finally stopped messing with me.
From the outside, she seemed like a kind and gentle person.
But now I was starting to think she might be more mischievous than I had expected.
Not that I particularly disliked that either.
As I quietly revised my impression of her, she glanced at her phone to check the time and said,
“Shall we get back to it? We’ve played around quite a bit.”
“Ah, right. Yeah, let’s get back to it.”
I wanted to keep talking with her since it was enjoyable.
But I couldn’t just abandon my job search and spend all my time chatting with her.
That would only be a distraction for both of us.
So I nodded, feeling a slight sense of regret to myself.
Seeing her reach for her earphones to put them in, I also picked up mine.
Just as I was about to put them on—
“Oh, right.”
Seorin suddenly spoke as if she had just remembered something.
I stopped and turned to look at her.
“You rushed off to the bathroom earlier, so I couldn’t say what I wanted to say.”
“Really? What is it?”
Was there something else she wanted to say?
After that “cute” remark that had already made me feel embarrassed?
“You remember what Lee Joon said earlier, right?”
“What I said?”
“That you were really glad your debut song was Raindrops.”
“Oh. That. Yeah. But why?”
“If Raviel had heard that, she would’ve been really happy. I’m sure of it.”
As she said that, Seorin looked at me with warm eyes.
At her words and gaze, I instinctively turned my head slightly, feeling embarrassed.
“R-really?”
I answered in a somewhat uncertain tone.
And she—
“Yes. I’m sure she would have been.”
Nodded as if she was absolutely certain.
…If that’s the case, I hope so too.
Even though my words won’t reach Raviel now,
I found myself hoping her words were true.
Our shared seating continued for quite some time after that.
Even after the closing time approached and people began leaving the café.
Even when the usual window seat I sat in became empty.
I didn’t feel the need to separate from her and move to another table.
Or rather, it might be more accurate to say I didn’t want to.
“….”
And perhaps she felt the same.
At no point did she suggest that I move to the newly available seat or tell me to go study somewhere more comfortable.
It was as if we had silently agreed not to bring it up.
Having a study companion wasn’t bad at all.
During breaks, just chatting about trivial things beside her was enjoyable.
And that alone gave me enough energy to focus again.
It felt different from lying alone with earphones plugged in.
And the anticipation of being able to talk with her again after a short while seemed to help my concentration as well.
I didn’t know if Seorin felt the same,
but at least for me, it was far better than repeating the dull routine of studying alone.
Time passed through lunch and dinner, and the sky grew dark.
Before long, a closing staff member came up and loudly announced to the second floor,
“Ten minutes until closing~”
At that, Seorin and I removed our earphones and looked in that direction.
After the staff left down the stairs, the remaining people rustled as they stood up from their seats.
“It’s about time to leave.”
“Yeah. Time really flew by.”
I checked the time on my laptop and was surprised.
Had I ever lost track of time like this while working?
Usually I kept glancing at the clock every few dozen minutes, wondering when to eat lunch or when to go home.
But today, that hadn’t happened even once.
And perhaps the reason for that was—
“Why? Do you have something to say?”
This person in front of me.
Without realizing it, I looked at her while thinking that, and she tilted her head slightly.
Is that one of her habits? Cute.
Thinking that, I replied,
“No, I was just wondering if we should start packing up.”
“Yes. We should get up now. Me too.”
And so Seorin and I began packing our things.
There wasn’t much to pack.
She simply organized her books and laptop into her bag, and I only packed the laptop I had brought.
After finishing the simple act of packing, we put on our outerwear and finally stood up from our seats.
“Good work today, Lee Joon.”
She greeted me as she stood up.
“No, you worked harder, Seorin. You had to study in a cramped space because of me.”
“Is that so? I actually liked it. Honestly, studying alone felt a bit lonely.”
“Really?”
“Yeah. You know how it feels when you keep doing the same studying over and over? It starts to feel like you’re the only one stuck like this in the world.”
“….”
“But chatting with you during breaks made it more fun. Even studying felt better.”
Watching her smile like that, I felt a sense of relief.
I wasn’t the only one who felt that way.
An inexplicable relief.
“And we used to sit about two seats apart, right?”
“Yeah.”
A distance that was neither far nor close.
We had been seated far enough apart to only vaguely see each other.
“At that time, it didn’t really feel real. That we were job hunting together.”
“Right.”
“But seeing each other up close like this, both working hard at something… it feels more motivating and better. Watching your serious expression made me think I should work harder too.”
How could she think so similarly to me?
It almost felt like our thoughts were connected by telepathy.
It felt like she had read exactly what I had been thinking.
Feeling that we were on the same wavelength made me smile slightly and reply,
“Me too. Looks like you and I had the same thoughts.”
“Really? But honestly, your expression was so funny that I almost burst out laughing a few times trying to hold it in.”
“Me? What kind of face was I making?”
“Hmm, like a bird of prey before it hunts. Something like that.”
Saying that, she giggled.
Looking at her, I also laughed along.
Talking with her felt comfortable.
Like talking with a childhood friend I’d known for over ten years.
It was so natural that I never once felt awkward or stuck for words.
It was surprising that I could talk so freely with someone I had only met two days ago.
Was it her communication skills?
Or did our chemistry just match well?
Whether it was conversations about Raviel or everyday topics, it all flowed easily.
Perhaps that was why—
…I wanted to talk with Seorin a little longer.
As that thought crossed my mind, the entrance of the café was already in front of us.
If we said goodbye here, it would be clean.
No lingering feelings, just a neat ending to a pleasant day.
It’s not like we wouldn’t see each other again tomorrow.
She would probably come back to this café to study again.
There was no need to rush.
But ignoring all that rational thinking and calculation,
in that moment, I felt it was too much to part ways like this, and without thinking—
“Which direction are you heading?”
Just as I stepped out the door, I asked her that.
At my question, Seorin widened her eyes slightly.
“Me? I’m going this way. I have to head toward the station.”
She pointed in one direction and looked at me as if asking why.
“Oh? Really? I’m going that way too. Can I walk with you?”
…and that day, for the first time, I told her a lie.