Friends? Lovers? That's Way Too Equal a Relationship (3)
“……Hehe.”
Propped up on her elbows on the bed, she watched Hajun sleep.
He was so adorable.
Yesterday she had lost her temper all over again at that word — friend — and made a scene, but in the end everything had worked out.
Posting that worry thread online for no good reason had been the root of the whole mess.
The last time she and Hajun had run into Dongjun together, Hajun had called her his friend right in front of him. She had stormed home in a rage, and a few days later she had posted on a community board.
She had written the post ready to take the heat — after all, she had been the one who did something wrong to Hajun while he was asleep — just wanting to ask people what she should do.
But every single reply said the same thing: now that he had slept with her, he was getting ready to throw her away. Terror started to set in.
After reading the comments, white as a sheet, she had rushed straight to Hajun's place.
But Hajun wasn't home.
She had been crouched outside his door waiting when she saw him step out of the elevator with another woman.
The girl next door.
The bitch who had been eyeing Hajun up and down with that filthy look for ages.
The second she saw them, every comment about Hajun dumping her came flooding back.
And everything after that had gone much the same way. Even in the middle of sex, Hajun would drop the neighbor girl's name and talk about fucking her instead, winding Seoyeon up until she was frantic — and she had believed it was real, desperately working her hips, praying he would be satisfied with her alone.
Days had passed like that. She never went home; she stuck to Hajun's side like glue.
But yesterday she had finally gotten her answer.
When Hajun told her to spend her whole life underneath him, every knot of feeling that had been festering inside her felt like it had been washed clean away.
Hajun was not going to throw her away.
That one fact alone had changed the entire world.
“……I want to do it.”
The moment she woke up and looked at his face, she wanted him all over again.
She had almost gone ahead and done it while he was still asleep — but she held herself back, barely.
Sex happened when Hajun wanted it. That was the rule now.
When he said he wanted it, all she had to do was spread her legs.
“……Ah. Right.”
Something she needed to do came back to her.
She picked up the phone that had fallen on the floor and opened the community app where she had posted her question.
Her finger moved across the screen. Delete.
People who didn't know the first thing about relationships had nearly wrecked what she and Hajun had.
She was never setting foot in a community like that again.
After deleting the app called Women's Era, she stroked Hajun's hair, kissed him, and got up from the bed.
Today she felt like she had been born all over again.
“Hajun! I'm heading out!”
“Uh — yeah, okay……”
“Have a good workout today!”
“Yeah……”
— Bang.
Seoyeon left the house more cheerfully than she ever had before.
One day after everything that had happened yesterday.
Seoyeon was almost aggressively upbeat.
When I woke up this morning she was humming under her breath while cleaning the place. While we ate she fed me every single bite. Then she announced she was going to a café to study for her exams and wouldn't be back until evening, got ready, and took off.
I asked why she needed to study at a café when she had a perfectly good house, and the answer that came back was a little startling.
If I stay here I can smell you…… and all I can think about is sex……
Her face flushed red, her voice shy — I nearly stripped her right there and fucked her on the spot. I barely held it in.
I couldn't afford to mess up her exams for no reason.
“But…… ‘have a good workout’……?”
This was the same Seoyeon who had always hated me going to the gym, now telling me to have a good workout.
Was there something I didn't know?
If it were just me working out alone, maybe. But ever since she found out I exercised with Jeong-a, it had been nothing but don't go and at least change the time. And now this?
I tried to figure out what kind of change of heart could produce that, and came up empty.
Seoyeon turning into a different person overnight left me vaguely unsettled.
“Ah, whatever…… I'm just going to work out.”
Thanks to rolling around in bed with Seoyeon all day yesterday starting from broad daylight, I hadn't made it to the gym at all.
Skip one day, then another, and suddenly you don't want to go anymore — that was how exercise worked.
While the thought was fresh, I got up and started getting ready.
“Oh, Hajun. You're here?”
“Yes, sir. It's been a while since I've seen you around, though, Owner.”
“Ah — I threw my back out working out the other day.”
“Maybe keep your age in mind a little?”
“That's exactly why I work out — to beat my age.”
“Ugh…… Well, I'll get going then.”
I exchanged a few words with the gym owner, who had finally shown his face again after a long absence, then headed straight into the locker room, changed, and came back out.
I glanced around looking for Jeong-a, but she was nowhere in sight.
At some point, checking whether Jeong-a was there the moment I walked into the gym had become a habit.
Once you get used to having a workout partner, their absence leaves a weird empty feeling.
“……Hajun.”
“……?”
I had finished stretching on my own and was already mid-set when someone called my name from behind.
I turned my head. Jeong-a was standing there staring at me — I had no idea when she had come in.
“Ah, Jeong-a. You made it?”
“……Yes. But why didn't you come yesterday, Hajun?”
“Yesterday? Ah — something came up……”
“……Is that so?”
Something was off compared to her usual self.
Her expression was dark.
Did something happen……?
Seeing the woman who was always so energetic looking this drained made me a little worried.
91
Same number I had checked not long ago.
I wanted to live without being conscious of that number anymore, but people being people, my eyes went to it on their own.
“Is something going on with you, Jeong-a……?”
“……No. Nothing.”
“……”
No matter how I looked at it, something was clearly wrong.
I could feel it even as we worked out together afterward.
The woman who always took the lead was moving like a screw had come loose somewhere.
We kept going like that for a long time — me watching her carefully, neither of us saying a word — until it was finally time to wrap up.
“Uh…… maybe we should call it here.”
“……Okay.”
I couldn't keep going with her looking like that. It was too awkward.
The same woman who always used to laugh brightly and lead the whole session now wore an expression like she had lived through the end of the world, and the gloom was starting to rub off on me.
After we finished, I did what I always did after working out with her: sat on the chairs by the front desk and waited.
Jeong-a came out of the locker room in her street clothes and walked over.
“Shall we?”
“……Okay.”
What was going on with her?
It kept bothering me.
Last time I had asked what she did for a living, the number over her head had changed and the question had slipped out of my mouth before I could stop it — but prying into someone else's private life felt wrong, so I was holding back as hard as I could.
— Ding-dong.
Just like during the workout, we rode the elevator in total silence once it arrived.
“……”
“……”
I felt like I was going to suffocate.
I just wanted to get home, think about nothing, and rest.
Her lifeless look kept nagging at me, so I closed my eyes instead — and before I knew it the elevator doors were opening.
“Well, I'll head in, then……”
“Hajun.”
“……Yes?”
I had been turning away to say goodbye when her hand caught my arm and stopped me.
Halfway through the turn, I looked back over my shoulder at Jeong-a.
“……Want to grab a drink with me?”
“……What?”
The unexpected question stopped me cold.
“I guess…… that was a little out of line……”
At my blank echo, she gave an awkward smile and let go of my arm.
“I'm sorry. I just…… wanted a drink, and I don't have any friends to drink with…… That was rude of me……”
She bowed her head in apology and started walking toward her own place with heavy steps.
Seeing the woman who usually smiled brighter than anyone I knew looking like this — I couldn't just ignore it.
“Hey…… Jeong-a. Uh…… let's get that drink?”
She just looked like she needed someone to listen.
I didn't have anything to do at home anyway, and Seoyeon had said she was studying and heading back to her own place tonight, so it didn't really matter.
And more than anything — we hadn't known each other that long, and she could be a bit exhausting, but we worked out together every day. I could at least sit through a conversation.
“……Really?”
“Yeah, sure……”
She stopped mid-step and turned around. On her face was that pure, familiar smile I always saw on her.
Something about how brightly she lit up sent a little chill down my spine.
Maybe I've been under the weather lately……