Chapter 40: Morning Mate
Translator: RaidenTL
Chapter 40: Morning Mate
“Why… Why on earth did you confess to me…?”
I had never wanted her affection.
Not even a shred of love.
Unable to understand, I grabbed her shoulders in desperation.
“Hey… Why are you getting so angry…?”
Seeing her slightly frightened face only made me angrier.
It’s me.
I’m the one who’s broken because of you, so why are you making that face?
“Just answer me! For what reason did you confess to me…!”
I desperately searched for a reason.
“That’s because…”
At her answer, all I could do was let out a hollow laugh.
“…Fucking hell.”
It had been a long time since I’d had that dream.
I don’t think I’d had it at all since becoming an adult.
I got up and went to the bathroom to wash my face, trying to get rid of the sticky, unpleasant feeling that clung to me.
Washing my face with cold water seemed to help a little.
Looking at my reflection in the mirror, my face still wet, I gave a bitter smile.
What the hell is so special about this face?
It’s just eyes, a nose, and a mouth, same as everyone else. What’s so special about it?
I still couldn’t shake the doubt about whether my face was really worth all that.
Still, I figured there was an upside to waking up early because of a nightmare.
After all, today was the day I’d actually asked Doah to have lunch with me first.
Waking up early was much better than oversleeping.
I remembered Luka's stream from yesterday.
At a viewer's suggestion, Luka-tan had done "The Annoying, Off-Putting Type of Lover Bracket Fight."
I didn't think streamers were always completely honest about their thoughts on stream, but I still felt Luka's answers would be helpful in how I dealt with Doah from now on.
She said she hated liars so much…
Watching the stream, I felt like I was sitting on pins and needles the whole time.
I think I felt that way even more because I'd just texted her saying we should take things slow and get to know each other.
But it would be ridiculous for me to just go up to Doah and be like, ‘Haha~ I knew you were Luka-tan all along~’
Her reaction aside, I figured she would probably tell me herself when the time was right.
When we got a little closer.
It seemed better to talk about it when we reached a point where we could be more honest with each other.
I threw on a bomber jacket over a pair of jeans, left my apartment, and walked down the stairs.
Five minutes before our meeting time.
If I were a smoker, it would've been the perfect amount of time for a cigarette, but since I'm not, I just stood quietly in front of Doah's building and waited for her.
“Hello.”
I was browsing the internet on my phone and looked up at the sound of Doah's voice.
A light purple cardigan.
Beige slacks.
With a white shirt underneath, Doah looked particularly lovely today.
“Hey.”
As I greeted her, I noticed the corners of her mouth twitch into a suppressed smile.
“Ah. Um. I was a bit busy yesterday, so I couldn't really text…”
Using your phone while streaming is the worst kind of bad manners.
I completely understood her situation.
And honestly, if she hadn't streamed properly because she was texting me, I think I would've hated that.
“Tonight, if it's a bit late, I’ll be free to text…”
Today was Saturday. She was probably saying that because it was the day of the regular Closer collab stream.
The regular collabs were usually scheduled for two to three hours, so they were shorter than her usual solo streams.
“Ahh~ Don't worry about it. I stay up late anyway.”
Normally, I might have asked what she was doing until then, but I played dumb and ignored the logical question.
“Really?”
“Yeah. I usually go to bed in the early morning.”
How could I go to sleep before you when your stream goes until 4 a.m.?
On days when Luka streamed late into the night, I was the type to watch until the very end.
The late-night crew had its own special vibe.
The people who needed to sleep went to sleep. The kids dropped off.
Usually, only the true fans or longtime viewers were left at that hour, so I preferred the chat during the late-night streams.
It was pathetic, but it seemed a sense of privilege as a ‘pro’ viewer had been ingrained in my mind.
“So, where are we going to eat?”
“I was thinking of going to the brunch cafe just up ahead.”
It was a brunch cafe you'd find by going down the alley toward the bus stop and turning left.
It was quite large and had a nice atmosphere, which didn't quite match the slightly shabby vibe of the alley.
Of course, being a guy, I'd never been there alone.
“The one next to the bus stop?”
“Why? Is it bad?”
“No? I haven't been there either.”
Walking side-by-side with Doah, we went down the slope and straight into the cafe.
Maybe because it was Saturday morning, it was more crowded than I expected.
“Welcome~ A table for two?”
We nodded at the staff member's question and were led to a corner table by the window.
“It's my treat today.”
“Huh? No, it's okay! Let's split it!”
Doah hurriedly tried to refuse my offer, but I had no intention of backing down.
“No, no. You brought a gift when you came to my place, but I don't think I got you anything when I went to yours.”
“…Then can't you just give me a gift instead?”
Clutching the menu tightly, Doah looked at me with a coy expression.
I couldn't tell if she didn't want me to just ‘pay her back’ with a meal, or if she was determined to get a real gift from me, but my answer was already decided.
“Nope~ Don't have one~”
Doah frowned at my firm response.
Luka-tan. I've already donated so much to you. Cut me some slack.
Besides, I wanted to get her a proper gift for her birthday next week.
“But you can order anything you want here.”
“You don't know how much I can eat, do you, Oppa?”
Yeah, right.
Anyone who watches her streams would know that Luka is a small eater.
“In that case, I'll have…”
Having finally decided to listen to me, Doah picked up the menu and started staring at it intently again.
“Still haven't decided?”
I think I'd been waiting for like two minutes.
“I want to try the kaya toast, but I also want to try this one with bacon and eggs.”
“Then order both.”
“What about you, Oppa?”
“I'll just have some of yours.”
If I wanted to eat something I liked, I wouldn't have come here in the first place.
I would've gone to the place next door for a hot bowl of gukbap, and I would've upsized it, too.
The drinks came out first, and they told us we'd have to wait a bit for the food because they were backed up with orders.
“Oppa.”
“Yeah?”
“About yesterday… what you said…”
I immediately understood the context and nodded.
“But there's something I don't want you to misunderstand…”
“Yeah? What is it?”
“It's not that I wanted to… you know… that day. An unnie I know told me I had to bring… that.”
For a moment, I wasn't sure what ‘that’ was, but Doah's bright red ears told me exactly why she was trying to communicate with pronouns.
“Ah. So you're saying you didn't actually have any intention of… doing that with me? Is that… it?”
I understood what she meant, but I wasn't sure how to respond, so I asked for clarification. Doah's eyes darted around.
“That's not it… Ah… Anyway! Please don't misunderstand!”
The firefighter for our burning conversation arrived in the form of the server bringing our food.
“Here's your toast and the brunch set you ordered.”
“Yes, thank you~”
Perhaps because she was nervous, Doah thanked the server in a voice that sounded a lot like Luka's.
“Oppa, thank you for the food.”
“Yeah. Let's eat.”
To be brutally honest, the food was just okay.
It wasn't worth the price.
But I guess you're paying for the atmosphere.
“Is it good?”
“It's delicious!”
As expected, Doah's tastes were a bit different from mine; she happily munched on the greens.
“Hey.”
As I spoke, Doah's eyes widened.
“Wanna exchange schedules?”
“Schedules?”
“Yeah.”
Since we were in the same year and major, we probably had a lot of overlapping classes, but there were bound to be some different ones too.
Having decided to get to know Doah, I thought this would be a good place to start.
“Just a second.”
Doah took out her phone, unlocked it, and after a few taps, she looked up.
“I sent it!”
“I'll send you mine, too.”
Our schedules were exchanged in the messenger chat.
Doah had six classes. I had eight. Four of them overlapped.
“Wow, you're taking 22 credits, Oppa.”
“I just got back from the military, so I felt this pressure to work really hard.”
“Don't you have a lot of assignments?”
“If I could go back in time, I would never make a schedule like this.”
I sighed, looking at my class schedule, which was packed like a game of Tetris.
I wasn't even going to study that hard anyway. I should've just taken six classes like a normal person. Or at least seven.
I thought Doah had made the right choice by keeping her schedule light.
It must be tough juggling her streaming with school, and if she had a lot of classes on top of that, she probably wouldn't get any sleep.
Staring at her phone, Doah started counting something in a small voice.
“It looks like we have to go to school at the same time on Mondays, Thursdays, and Fridays…”
Her eyes still fixed on her phone, Doah glanced up at me.
Seeing her face, like a cat begging for a treat, I rolled my eyes.
“Uh… then on those days, should we… go together in the morning…?”
Wondering if I'd read the situation correctly, I let my sentence trail off with a slight question. Doah nodded her head up and down vigorously.