The Loner's Dream Date (1)
"Ah, Seonho!"
There was Cha Eunju, waving at me with a bright, beaming expression in front of the movie theater.
It had only been three days since the incident at the amusement park, but even after just three days, Cha Eunju was still very much Cha Eunju.
And she's changed up her outfit again.
A black sweater and a gray pleated skirt. Honestly.
She was Cha Eunju, sure, but her actual fashion sense was beyond hopeless. Then again, once she entered the Academy she'd basically be living in uniform or training gear, so things could only improve from there.
But clothes aside, with that petite frame that seemed like it would fit perfectly in my arms and those enormous breasts, I couldn't help picturing her already—panting beneath me a few hours from now.
"Did you wait long?"
"N-no?! I-I just got here too!"
She was still hopeless at lying. Which, of course, made her all the cuter.
"My morning workout ran a little long. After taking a break for the past few days, starting up again left me pretty sore."
"B-but you're already plenty handsome, Seonho…."
"I don't work out to be handsome. If you want to survive in a dungeon, you have to keep training."
"R-right! Yes, yes…."
-Malkkak.*
Somehow, in the middle of that casual back-and-forth, Cha Eunju had ended up hanging off my left arm, her whole body wrapped around mine.
The position had her arm wedged squarely into the valley of her chest—whether that was intentional, or whether she was just innocently thinking about hugging my arm and it happened to land there, I couldn't say.
Only ten days ago, I would have assumed the latter whenever she pulled this, but lately the odds of the former had climbed considerably.
…Not that a little boob-to-arm friction counts for much when we've already done fellatio and full-on sex.
"Let's watch a movie, grab dinner on the tenth floor, then head back to my place. Anywhere you want to stop along the way?"
"N-no! I-I think that plan's perfect!"
"Good. Any genre you like for the movie?"
"I-I like anything you like, Seonho!"
"Sure, sure. Then I'll just pick something."
Her total lack of opinion was almost excessive—but that was exactly what made her my favorite of the girls. It meant I could steer her wherever I wanted while keeping her affection for me fully intact.
Whether I brought another woman into the mix or made some strange, perverted request, she was the only one who would simply nod and accept it.
-Malkkak.
"Hyah—?!"
"S-sorry. I was trying to press the elevator button and my hand slipped…."
"I-it's fine…! I-I don't really mind this much anyway…."
So I rode up to the ninth floor of the theater building alongside Cha Eunju, who just kept smiling even as I blatantly rubbed her chest under the pretense of a mistake.
Even though it was a weekday afternoon, the theater was fairly bustling.
It was the middle of winter break, and the final round of admissions for high schoolers hoping to enter the Hunter Academy was just wrapping up—that had to be it.
Unlike us, whose fates had been decided a full week ago, most students who needed their applications scrutinized a little more closely would have been hearing back from the Academy right about now. The Park siblings included.
"Wow…. S-so many people…."
"Hold my hand tight, Eunju. If I lose you in here, you'll be hard to find."
"O-okay…!"
-Malkkak!
I told her to grip my hand tight and instead she pressed her chest even harder against me—what kind of temptation was that supposed to be?
Given her body type, I understood that leaning in chest-first was practically her only option, but even accounting for that, my heart couldn't help fluttering.
After all, like Cha Eunju, my own last bit of intimacy had been with her a week ago. I figured that once we were inside the dark theater, I might sneak in a little mischief—so I gave the list of currently showing films a casual once-over.
One historical epic, one superhero movie, one family comedy, one animated film, and…
There's a romance, actually. Though it's technically a fantasy romance.
If it had been a straight contemporary romance, I'd have picked it without a second thought, but with fantasy mixed in, it felt a little murky.
Romance films are, after all, the go-to genre for setting that intimate, couple-y atmosphere. Throw fantasy into the blend and it's harder to sink into.
Still, of the available options, it looked the most promising. And just as that thought crossed my mind, I turned my gaze toward Cha Eunju—
"Eunju, do you happen to like fantasy rom—"—I caught myself—actually:
"……."
Her eyes had locked, dead still, onto the trailer advertisement for Makai Shinkoto's new animated film, Secret of Our House Tree.
Truly, some things never change with her.
I'd half expected this from the moment an animation title showed up in the list—that this would be her favorite of the candidates.
I'd originally planned to use "Cha Eunju approved it" as an excuse to pick something more couple-appropriate for our first official date, but seeing her light up like that made it awfully hard to just brush past.
I abandoned the romance plan and bought two tickets to Secret of Our House Tree. It was our first date, after all—if I had the choice, picking what Cha Eunju loved was the better call.
"D-did you call me, Seonho?!"
"Just wanted one last check before I picked the movie."
"I-I like whatever movie you like!"
"That's what I figured, so I booked them already. They said seating starts in ten minutes."
"Oh, r-right?! Wh-what movie is it?"
"Secret of Our House Tree. I'd been meaning to see it, and it happened to be playing."
"R-really?!"
…Yeah. Definitely the right choice.
She was this openly thrilled just because I'd pre-booked a film she liked—if she could see this reaction, what would a mere movie genre even matter?
So she wouldn't suspect I'd gone out of my way to accommodate her, I offered up a plausible reason for the pick.
"It's Makai Shinkoto's new one, right? I really enjoyed 180 Meters Per Second and Your Clan."
"Mm-hm! 180 Meters Per Second is a masterpiece! Your Clan had its shortcomings, but I loved that one too! A-and I've actually been wanting to see this one!"
"Good to hear. Great minds think alike."
"Oh—have you seen Child of Wind? Personally it's my favorite of Shinkoto's works, and see, it's about the protagonist meeting this girl of the gale winds, and…"
The moment her area of expertise came up, Cha Eunju lit up like a switchboard and started chattering away.
She was so swept up in it that she forgot to buy snacks entirely, and spent the entire ten minutes firing off an impassioned lecture on animation.
Agh. Agh. Aghhh!
So embarrassing! So embarrassing I could die!
What on earth possessed me to ramble on like that all by myself?! You idiot, Cha Eunju…!!
The moment the topic of animation had come up, she'd gotten so worked up that she'd spilled all sorts of personal trivia.
She'd talked nearly thirty minutes straight, counting the wait and the pre-show ads, and only realized her blunder several minutes after the movie had actually started.
Wh-what do I do…? Does Seonho think I'm a total otaku now…?
Strictly speaking, she was exactly that kind of person.
But she'd always believed she'd hidden it well, never letting it show in front of Lee Seonho—and then her first official date had her so giddy that it all came pouring out.
And so she'd talked more than usual, and when a subject she knew came up, she'd gotten excited and wanted to show off her knowledge for no good reason.
Cha Eunju had committed the textbook blunder of a first-time dater, and her face was burning red. Though thanks to the darkness of the theater, the blush didn't show all that much.
A-and now that I think about it, Seonho bought the tickets too….
She was pretty sure she'd learned that on dates like this, the girl was supposed to buy the popcorn and drinks. What now? She'd been so nervous that on her very first date she'd already made two mistakes.
They'd been alone together before, of course—practical exam prep, hospital visits—but this was the monumentally significant first date since they'd officially started going out, and no matter how she looked at it, she'd behaved less like a girlfriend on a date and more like a creepy girl with an otaku hobby.
…Not that she knew Seonho would never see her that way. Still, wanting to show only your best side to the person you love was simply the heart of a girl carrying her first love.
But wait—when exactly did Seonho and I officially start dating…?
Honestly, if asked when they'd become a couple, it was hard to pinpoint. She'd introduced herself to Han Sora back in her church hospitalization days as not-yet-dating, so it had to be after that.
Had it started the day she first gave him fellatio? Or the day of her first time? Or, since today was their first true date as lovers, should it count from today?
She was still confused. At the end of the day, all those firsts—the first time, the first fellatio—had happened while she was "under hypnosis."
She intended to keep her pretense of hypnosis a secret as long as possible, if only for Lee Seonho's sake, so anchoring their relationship's start to those moments might be a little strange.
Then what about their trip to Neverland with everyone? It hadn't been a two-person date, but most of her memories from that day were of sticking by Seonho's side as the two of them wandered together.
No. I don't want that kind of day to be our first.
An exploding ride. Armed terrorists. And the image of Lee Seonho nearly dying because of her.
There were far too many terrifying memories for that day to be remembered as the day they started dating. The monumental day she began her relationship with him deserved better than that.
Because—Seonho was her destined love.
…Granted, she wasn't entirely sure what "destined love" even meant, but something about Seonho just felt like that kind of thing!
Come to think of it, I think the popular kids say that everything up to the first kiss is 'talking stage,' and dating begins right after the kiss….
It was nothing but secondhand nonsense scraped off the internet—but sadly, Cha Eunju, who had never once been one of the popular kids, had no ability to filter that information.
And so she suddenly found herself anxious: if she wanted to become Lee Seonho's lover for real, wouldn't she need to kiss him first?
True, they'd already done far more than kissing, several times over—but those had all been done under her hypnosis pretense, so they essentially didn't count.
A kiss under hypnosis wouldn't count either, which meant that if it was going to happen, it had to happen somehow during today's date—not through hypnosis training.
B-but how…? Should I wait for Seonho to make the move…? But then it might not happen today at all….
Her anxiety kept mounting, and Cha Eunju's small right hand fidgeted restlessly on her lap.
-Squeeze.
"……."
"……."
And then, ever so quietly, Lee Seonho's hand settled over hers, there in the seat beside her.
A large hand, big enough to swallow hers entirely. Yet trembling with a nervousness that didn't quite suit it.
The moment she felt that tremor beneath her own palm, Cha Eunju felt something unexpected: relief. Because in that instant, she realized she wasn't the only one nervous on this first date.
…Right. Don't get impatient. Seonho surely has his own plan.
He could have just used hypnosis training as the excuse to invite her straight home, but instead he'd chosen to spend the day like this, on a proper date. That could only mean he wanted more than a relationship of bodies—he wanted one where they shared their hearts as well.
Her anxious heart settled, and with room to breathe at last, Cha Eunju made up her mind: she would wait, patiently, for him to close the distance at whatever pace he wished.
When my awkwardly trembling left hand settled gently over Cha Eunju's right, her anxious fingers quieted within moments, going sweetly still.
Good thing faking a case of nerves worked in my favor.