The Night Before Enrollment (1)
After the awkward tension caused by Han Sora accidentally glimpsing my naked body had finally dissipated, one more round of conflict broke out between us — this time over who would take which bed.
"Sora, you sleep in the bed. I'll spread a blanket out on the living room couch."
"No way, you're the host, Seonho. You should take the bed. It's your room's bed to begin with."
"I don't give guests an uncomfortable place to sleep. Just get in the bed, Sora."
"I-I never sleep in a better spot than my host when I'm visiting someone, either. You take the bed and I'll sleep on the couch."
"No means no. You're sleeping in the bed, Sora."
"And I'm telling you, the bed belongs to the host."
The room count was two, but the bed was exactly one. And when it came to sleeping arrangements, the bed was, naturally, the seat of honor — which meant a clash of opinions was inevitable. It was a slightly absurd argument, admittedly: not two people fighting over who got to sleep somewhere, but two people fighting over who got to put the other to bed.
"A-anyway, if you're seriously going to sleep on the couch, then I'll sleep on the floor. So use the bed."
"If you're a guest, then listen to your host for once, Sora. Besides, how could I make a girl sleep on the floor?"
"Now you treat me like a girl? You're weaker than me, you know."
"That's not the point. And even if you weren't a girl, my principle is to give any guest the bed."
"W-well, when I stay over at a friend's place, my principle is to sleep on the couch or the floor!"
How hilarious. This was literally the first time she'd ever even stayed overnight at a friend's house.
That said, in that sense at least, I hadn't told a single lie. Every guest who had ever slept over at my place — without exception — had been put to bed on the bed itself and sent off in the morning.
Granted, that guest list currently consisted of exactly one person, Cha Eunju. But one out of one still made for a flawless 100% record, didn't it?
"It's late, so go to sleep, Sora. Stop arguing over something pointless."
"B-but…."
"If I put you in an uncomfortable bed, my own conscience would keep me up instead. So just do as I say."
"……"
She probably wouldn't let it go. Knowing Han Sora's personality, that much was a given.
The kind of girl who worried about racking up debts over even the tiniest things simply could not tolerate sleeping in the better spot while her host got the short end of the stick. Hence this pointless stubborn standoff, each of us trying to yield the bed to the other.
Honestly, if I'd wanted to, I could have ended it on the spot — pulled rank with a firm 'I'm the host, so listen to your host' and shut her mouth for good. I deliberately didn't. Because I was waiting for a third proposal to come out of Han Sora's mouth, one way or another.
"The blanket's already spread out on the bed, so just use that. I'll be fine on the couch — call me if you need anything. So then…"
"…Hey. Lee Seonho."
"Yeah?"
"…Th-this is just me throwing it out there, but. Wh-what about… something like this?"
"What now?"
"From what I saw earlier, the bed isn't like, ridiculously small or anything…. S-so, if we slept with a little space between us, couldn't we both fit on it?"
…There it is. That was the line I'd been waiting for. Or more precisely, the moment when Han Sora herself would say it out loud.
Naturally, jumping on it too eagerly would raise questions about my sincerity, so I did throw her one bewildered, searching look first.
"……"
"I-I'm not saying it in any weird way, okay?! I-I just… you kept insisting on putting me in the bed, so I was just… floating the idea…."
"Sora, come on. That's not something you say so lightly. You're a girl and I'm a guy — how can you bring up sharing a bed that casually?"
"Wh-what's that supposed to mean? Wh-who said anything about doing anything weird?! We'd just be sleeping, that's all. You're the one being so stubborn."
"The stubborn one here is you. And fine, maybe you mean nothing by it — but what if I got some funny ideas, huh?"
"You? Pfft, that's hilarious. As if you'd have the guts."
Yes. That's exactly the reaction I needed.
After the glimpse of me naked earlier, she vaguely registered me as a man now — but she still couldn't imagine, not for a second, that I might harbor anything improper toward her.
Given the spineless, doormat attitude I'd shown her until now, that perception was only natural. Han Sora was physically stronger than me, after all.
Even if I truly did get some crooked notion in my head and tried to pounce on her, she'd have me pinned down in a heartbeat.
But then — physical intimacy between a man and a woman has never once been governed by brute strength alone.
"Well, whatever. That's where I stand. Either share the bed with me, or I sleep on the couch. I'm not budging another inch."
My deliberately half-hearted resistance seemed to have given her a boost of confidence, because Han Sora restated her original demand with a far bolder expression than before.
She probably figured I'd take the out and retreat at those words. In reality, this was precisely the answer I'd been angling for — so without further ado, I drove straight through the opening.
"Fine. Let's do that."
"See? I knew it. Hand me the blanket, I'll take the cou—"
"Not the couch part."
"Huh?"
"We'll share the bed, like you said. Under one blanket."
"……Huh?"
At my answer, the color drained into Han Sora's cheeks, tinting them a faint pink.
…What do I do?
It's not like I said that with this situation in mind. How on earth did I end up sharing a bed with Lee Seonho of all people?
"I-I'll turn off the light."
"Ah, yeah…."
She'd assumed that if she threw down the gauntlet of sharing a bed, he'd simply flee the scene.
And honestly, wasn't that obvious? Judging purely by everything he'd shown her so far, the guy was a certified pushover. Surely he didn't have it in him to agree to sleeping in the same bed as her.
Backing out now, taking it all back and insisting she'd sleep alone in the bed after all — that would sting her pride just a little too much.
'Still… this feels more like the Seonho I know, somehow.'
He seemed so meek on the surface, yet at the decisive moment he'd commit without hesitation. That was the kind of person he was.
…Definitely not like that wishy-washy bastard Seo Woojin.
—Click.
"……"
"……"
—Swish.
The lamp switch clicked off, and darkness settled over the room.
Then came the sound of Lee Seonho's body carefully climbing into the bed where she already lay. Lying side by side with barely a handspan of space between them, the soft rhythm of his breathing tickled her ears.
"G-good night, Sora."
"Yeah… s-sleep well, Seonho…."
It should be fine, probably.
Even if he tried to pull something under cover of the dark, I could subdue him easily enough. He's a mental-type buffer; I'm a Physical Enhancement Type.
More than that, the very idea of Lee Seonho assaulting a woman was hard to picture. If anything, he'd probably cover his eyes and blush if he saw me naked right in front of him.
…Come to think of it, if he actually did that, it would kind of piss me off — but I suppose it also meant I was that safe.
'With a guy next to me, falling asleep is somehow… a little difficult.'
It wasn't that Lee Seonho was strikingly handsome the way Seo Woojin was, but he was still a man. And that body she'd glimpsed earlier had been… surprisingly well-built.
Enough that a stray thought crossed her mind — was he secretly a Physical Enhancement Type too? A Support Department student with no business having a body like that.
She'd seen it by accident, but… lower down, too….
'N-no…. Why do I keep thinking about that….'
She'd never once let her mind wander in that direction before. What was wrong with her? Get it together, Han Sora.
But once something reached about halfway down the thigh, big was big, right? And she'd heard men got even bigger when they were, you know, aroused….
…Well, curiosity was curiosity. She'd have to look it up later. It wasn't a weird thought — just curiosity. Purely curiosity.
'Somehow this feels more exhausting than just renting a motel room would have.'
Still, it beat tens of thousands of won in cash bleeding out of her wallet for a single night. This was better, marginally.
And she'd gotten to learn a little more about how Lee Seonho actually lived, what kind of person he really was….
…Though she'd also learned parts she'd never wanted to know, which left her heart feeling oddly unsettled.
'Just sleep already.'
The best thing to do with stuff like this was to sleep it off and forget it. Besides, the way Seonho had breezed right past it had kept things from getting too mortifying.
Of course, it must have embarrassed him too. She was the one who'd seen, and even she felt like this — and he was the one who'd been seen.
He was probably just as flustered as she was, so there was no way he'd fall asleep right away—
—Snore. Snore.
"……"
…Seriously? He's already asleep?
She was lying here wide awake, tension coiled in her chest because of him, and he was just peacefully conked out?
Even with her lying right next to him?
'Somehow… that stings my pride.'
No, of course she wasn't hoping he'd sneakily grope at her in the dark or pounce on her — but she'd at least expected him to be too tense to sleep immediately, same as her. Like this, it felt like she was the only one worked up over nothing.
She might not look it, but she'd grown up hearing nothing but 'you're pretty' and 'you look like an idol' her whole life. Wasn't this composure a bit excessive?
…Or was it true what they said — that a flat-chested girl just doesn't register as a woman at all?
'Whatever. I'm not going to dwell on a guy like Seonho. I'm just going to sleep.'
All that worry for nothing. It wasn't as if something weird was guaranteed to happen just because a man and a woman shared a bed.
And the man in question was Lee Seonho, of all people. Silly her.
Roughly an hour and a half after Han Sora, relieved to see Lee Seonho had drifted off without his own knowledge, had forced her eyes shut and begun to fall asleep herself.
—Squeeze.
"Nnn… mmmh…."
At some point, a strange pressure against her body had gently coaxed her awake, and she carefully took stock of her surroundings.
"Mmm…?"
An arm draped over her sternum.
And a leg settled across her upper hip.
Even groggy with sleep, it didn't take her long to work out whose they were — the limbs of Lee Seonho, lying in the spot beside her.
"Se… onho?"
—Snore. Snore….
"……"
Could it be a sleep habit of his?
Or had he just been tossing and turning, and somehow ended up in this position by pure chance?
Either way, one thing was certain: at some point in the night, her body had ended up nestled in his arms. And as far as she knew, she was currently the only person aware of that fact.
'There's no way Seonho fell asleep holding me with some kind of ulterior motive.'
They had all that trust built up between them by now. If anyone knew Lee Seonho wasn't that kind of person, it was her.
This was just an accident from sharing a bed, nothing more. And since she'd been the one to suggest sleeping together in the first place, she couldn't exactly hold him responsible.
'What do I do? If I shove him off too obviously, it'll wake him up.'
It was all the worse because his limbs were wrapped snugly around her body, top and bottom. She had no idea how they'd ended up tangled like this.
Come to think of it, her own body had drifted slightly toward the center of the bed — maybe, when he'd spread his arm open at some point, she'd simply rolled right into it.
If she tried to wrench herself free, she'd only wake him, and then the two of them would be right back in mortification territory. After a brief internal debate, the judgment Han Sora finally reached was: 'stay still.'
'If I just go back to sleep like this, Seonho will untangle himself on his own come morning….'
He'd be so embarrassed at having accidentally wrapped himself around her that he'd surely extract his limbs in a hurry.
Given the personality he'd shown her all this time, that was a certainty. The Lee Seonho she knew was nowhere near sleazy enough to feign sleep just to keep holding a woman's body.
So with that thought settling her nerves, Han Sora was carefully trying to drift off once more when—
—Flop.
"Hah…?!"
The sudden sensation of a hand settling near her chest forced her eyes open all over again.