Chapter 62: I Wanna...
Translator: RaidenTL
Chapter 62: I Wanna...
An eventful week had passed.
And after all that, Saturday morning finally arrived.
Despite having no classes, an alarm woke me up. I groggily fumbled around on my bed, searching for my phone with half-open eyes.
I could hear it, but I just couldn't seem to grab it.
Finally, I hurriedly rubbed my eyes, sat up, and managed to silence the noise.
“Ah...”
[08:45]
It was a shame to be up this early on a Saturday.
Ah. I wanted to sleep in a little longer.
But my eyes, now forced wide open, showed no signs of closing again.
I started tidying up, picking up the trash.
This was something I never would have done before I started dating.
But the thought that Doah could come over at any moment motivated me to clean properly.
The snack crumbs scattered in front of my computer. The stray hairs lying all over the place.
After meticulously using the mini-vacuum I'd bought but barely used, I nodded with a satisfied expression.
Nice.
If she came over now, it wouldn't be messy enough for her to complain.
I tossed the rest of the laundry into the hamper, then lay back down on the bed and picked up my phone.
There were no messages from the person I was waiting for.
She was probably still sleeping since it was early.
Instead, a message from a much less welcome person made me frown instinctively.
[Hey. Taemin. Is the rumor about you true?]
A message from past 2 a.m. that I hadn't seen. It was from Yoonje.
[What rumor.]
I had a good idea what it was about, but rumors aren't vessels for the truth. They're things that get distorted and grow, like malignant tumors.
For some reason, Yoonje replied immediately, even though it was a Saturday morning.
[Heard you went off on Park Jihee and revealed you're dating Doah?]
As expected, the rumor didn't disappoint.
[...I didn't curse her out.]
[Really? That's what everyone's saying.]
[I just called her an ugly bitch.]
[Lmaooooooooooooo Han Taemin, you're on another level, holy shit.]
[Who's saying it this time?]
I knew Yoonje was up-to-date on school gossip, but wasn't this spreading a little too fast?
[Our class group chat is blowing up with the 'Han Taemin's girlfriend' story right now, dude lolololololol]
It was a cyber space forbidden to me, an outcast, even though we were in the same year.
[Man. You acted so uninterested in Doah, but I guess you finally confessed, huh? lol]
...I wanted to argue, but my fingers wouldn't move.
No, to be precise, they couldn't.
Because what Yoonje said was, in fact, the truth.
[Yeah.]
A curt reply born of embarrassment.
[Lmaooooooooo Park Jihee seemed pissed as hell. You good?]
[...She started it with Doah first.]
[Ooh~ Han Taemin~ Look at you, defending your girlfriend.]
This bastard must have nothing better to do on a Saturday morning, expertly pissing me off with his instant replies.
[Anyway, congrats on the relationship. I thought you were gonna keep up that prince cosplay forever until you graduated.]
...A prince?
Do princes these days munch on snacks while watching VTubers?
[Yeah, yeah. Thanks. I'm going back to sleep now.]
[Alright lololol see you at school.]
With that, my conversation with Yoonje ended, and I let out a deep sigh.
...So the rumor's all over the place again.
Having a vague suspicion confirmed by someone else always felt different. It was like a kill confirmation. Not a pleasant feeling.
Park Jihee.
Ever since I returned to school, she had a habit of showing up right when I was about to forget her.
She was the exact type of person I can't stand. I really hated that fake, saccharine smile of hers.
I mean, if you get rejected once, you should just accept it and move on, but she tirelessly kept appearing before me.
Asking if I still wasn't interested in dating. Saying she'd been feeling a little lonely lately.
She showed no signs of giving up, even when I gave her short replies or just left her on read.
One might think her persistence was admirable enough to sway my heart, but not with her. She was really not it.
I had no intention of satisfying her vanity. I knew that if we started dating with such flimsy intentions, a happy ending wouldn't be waiting for us.
To be blunt, if she found out I spend 60 hours a month watching VTubers, she'd faint and run for the hills.
“Aish.”
Thinking about Park Jihee first thing in the morning had soured my mood, so I opened my phone and called Doah.
She did say I could call her anytime.
Normally, I would have decided against waking her, but with Doah's permission, I gave in to my desire and called her.
[Hello?]
[Umm... hello.]
Her voice was husky, as if she'd just woken up. It seemed Doah had indeed been fast asleep.
[Ah. Sorry for waking you.]
Feeling bad, I acted like I was about to hang up, but Doah immediately protested.
[N-no, no. It's okay... Don't hang up...]
Her sweet, sleepy, informal words melted away my foul mood.
Her informal speech was so cute that a mischievous urge started to creep up on me.
[Doah.]
[Yeah.]
[Talk to me informally again.]
[I don't want to...]
[If you don't, I'm gonna hang up.]
[Ahh... Don't hang up...]
Even in her sleepy state, she really didn't want me to hang up, so she still dutifully rejected my request.
[Are we going to karaoke today?]
I continued the conversation we hadn't finished yesterday.
We had fallen asleep while talking about what song she'd sing for 5,000 won, and had only agreed to go later, without setting a specific time.
[Yeah.]
[With who?]
Ah. That's a little cringey.
I felt a bit disgusted with myself for asking a question like that, but who cares? I'm allowed to dote on my own girlfriend.
[...With Oppa.]
[And who's Oppa?]
[My boyfriend...]
The corners of my mouth danced upwards.
I wanted to be right there next to her, watching her sleep.
[Then should we go together later?]
[Okay...]
[Doah. Do you want to sing with Oppa?]
[Yeah... I wanna...]
That was enough teasing her while she was dozing off.
[Alright, I'll leave you a message. Get some more sleep and text me when you're up.]
[Mhm.]
After a moment, instead of another answer, all I could hear was the sound of her steady breathing.
Confirming that Doah had fallen back asleep, I stretched out widely.
So this is why everyone goes on and on about being in a relationship.
*
Whoa. What just happened?
I opened my eyes, and after confirming no one was beside me, I let out a sigh of relief.
Right? It was just a dream, wasn't it?
The dream had been so vivid that a bead of sweat was trickling down my forehead.
It was such an indecent dream. The first of its kind I'd ever had.
I raised a finger and traced my bottom lip.
Oppa was... me...
In the dream, Taemin Oppa, his eyes hazy, was ravenously devouring my lips.
Like a beast starved for affection, he licked my upper and lower lips in turn before thrusting his tongue into my mouth without hesitation.
Our saliva mingled more and more. A silver thread connecting us couldn't defy gravity, leaving a trace on my clothes.
It felt not just sensual, but almost vulgar... Even knowing it was all a dream, I was mortified just by the fact that I'd had such a dream.
Are you a pervert, Kim Doah? Why would you dream of something like that?
I remembered hearing somewhere that dreams are a reflection of the subconscious, and I shook my head frantically.
Right. If I just text the real Oppa, this feeling will disappear.
He was a boyfriend with absolutely no desire for physical affection.
It was so bad that Hanbit unnie, who I'd talked to about it, even asked if he was impotent.
Right. I decided to give him a morning call, but when I opened my call history, a question mark popped into my head.
...I made a call this morning?
I had no memory of it at all.
It clearly said I'd been on a call for 11 minutes and 27 seconds, but I couldn't remember a single thing about the conversation.
I was happy that Oppa had called me first, but... still.
...I didn't say anything weird, did I?
Since the dream was what it was, my imagination kept drifting in a strange direction.
No. I think... in my dream, I said something like, 'Not there...'
The more I racked my brain, the more my anxiety grew, so I just impulsively called him.
Right. All I had to do was check.
The ringing tone felt especially long today.
After about ten seconds, Oppa finally answered my call.
[Hello.]
[Hello?]
[Oh. You're up?]
His calm voice made me feel a wave of relief. He sounded no different than usual.
[Yes. A little while ago.]
[Good. Did you see my message?]
[...A message?]
Oppa sent me a message?
When I raised the end of my sentence as if I had no idea, Oppa laughed awkwardly and replied.
[Yeah. You said you wanted to do it more earlier.]
Do... do what more?
[You seemed to really like it.]
A sensation of my body going numb from the tips of my toes.
...What on earth did you say, Kim Doah?
I was terrified to ask what 'it' was.