New Year's Date Part 2
The doorbell rang, and a short while later.
“Come in!”
At the intercom, Sia’s voice asking me to come in made me hesitate for a moment.
Of course I knew the password to Sia’s house… but the thought crossed my mind—should I really be using it to enter? That was why I was pondering.
Still, there was no other choice, so I entered the password and stepped inside.
The moment I entered Sia’s house, a refreshing fragrance greeted me.
It was the same scent I always smelled when visiting her house… and I actually liked it.
Then, the aroma of food drifted over.
I was thinking how suddenly food scent appeared when.
“Ah! Siwoo! Come here quickly!”
From the kitchen, Sia peeked her head out and called me over.
But Sia wasn’t in her outside clothes at all.
“An apron?”
She was wearing an apron.
I had assumed she’d go out and eat somewhere since I was invited for a meal, but the sight of her in an apron left me stunned.
“Give this a taste for me.”
Sia handed me a plate.
Inside it was…
“Jjabchae?”
“Yeah! Try it!”
“Umm…”
I took the plate and examined the jjabchae.
It looked pretty plain.
The aroma wasn’t bad either.
The reason I was being cautious was because when I was in middle school, Sia tried to cook but the taste was so terrible even an auntie would have given up.
Honestly, even the memory of that taste makes me shiver even now.
Anyway, the smell was average, so I picked up the chopsticks and brought a piece to my mouth.
Then…
“How is it? Delicious, right?”
“…Umm, it’s good.”
It was actually good, contrary to what I expected.
Moreover, the taste of the jjabchae matched my palate almost perfectly.
“How did you make it?”
“I learned a bit from Mom here and there.”
“Oh…”
“Hehe, that’s not all. Sit on the sofa and wait.”
“Alright.”
I sat obediently on the sofa and waited for Sia to finish cooking.
From the kitchen, I could hear cooking sounds, and I just sat there listening blankly.
“Ugh… I can’t just sit still.”
No matter that I was a guest, I couldn’t just sit there, so I got up from the sofa and headed to the kitchen.
“It’s fine, sit still!”
“No… at least let me help with the dishes.”
“It’s fine!”
“Then… at least the silverware…”
“That’s fine too! Today is my treat, so just sit quietly!”
“Ah… um… okay.”
But Sia didn’t allow me to do anything, so I was chased back to the living room sofa.
After about twenty minutes, the whole house was filled with delicious smells.
“Siwoo! It’s ready!”
“Ah… yeah!”
So I went to the kitchen and found the table set.
Naturally, there was rice and soup, with jjabchae and bulgogi in front.
The bulgogi looked perfect, so I figured it would taste as good as the jjabchae.
“Did you make everything yourself?”
“Yeah.”
“Wow…”
It was the kind of spread that would make even a king envious, so I stood there in a daze.
“Ah… I’ll eat well.”
“Yeah! Eat up!”
I told Sia I’d eat well and carefully took a bite of the bulgogi.
Because I liked meat, after a few chews it melted in my mouth.
“It’s really good.”
“I’m glad. Eat a lot!”
And so I began eating in earnest.
Since it was so delicious, I ate without thinking and the portions of bulgogi and jjabchae were quite a lot, but at some point the food started to run out.
After everything was eaten, with my belly full, Sia said, “Want me to peel an apple?”
The thought of having dessert too made me hurriedly refuse.
If I ate more there, my stomach really would burst.
So I helped with cleanup and sat on the living room sofa.
I sat there tired for a moment, letting out a sigh, but I could think of nothing worse than washing dishes.
But this was all because of the arguing; I had persuaded Sia, who refused to let me wash dishes as a guest, to help with cleanup.
After finishing the dishes, I sat on the sofa again, while Sia went to her room to change clothes and said it would take some time.
Just as I was wondering what was taking so long.
Sia’s door burst open and she came out wearing a thin t-shirt and dolphin pants.
I hurriedly looked away from the sight of her.
My instincts were screaming to keep looking, but I somehow held them back with superhuman strength.
Sia plopped down beside me on the sofa.
She had changed out of her school uniform and had been excitedly playing before coming home to cook, so it made sense she was tired.
Both of us sat there blankly, until I suddenly became curious and asked Sia.
“When is Aunt coming?”
“Mom? She’s not coming today.”
“Umm, not coming today… what?”
“Today she went to my grandmother’s house for a bit, so she won’t be back.”
“What does that mean…”
I had also heard Uncle wasn’t back yet, so… in the end, right now at Sia’s house, it was just Sia and me.
That meant… no matter what happened inside here… no one else would know but us.
That fact made my throat dry.
ㅡ꿀꺽.
I gulped down my saliva without realizing.
Honestly, both Sia and I were old enough to know these things.
Of course, Sia might not know about such things, but if her open-minded aunt were around, she might have taught her.
Since I couldn’t read Sia’s thoughts, I was stammering.
ㅡ스윽
Suddenly Sia’s hand touched the back of mine.
“……!”
I startled, but Sia looked at me with no particular meaning.
“Siwoo, do you have a remote? Let’s watch a movie together!”
She asked with a bright expression if there was a remote.
I looked around and found one on my left, then handed it to Sia.
“What should we watch?”
“Um… I was thinking of just picking anything… you don’t mind?”
“No, I don’t. I just asked because I was curious.”
“What to watch… an action movie would be good, right?”
Sia turned on the TV and scrolled through the movie list.
Then she chose a famous SF movie series.
“This should be safe.”
“Yeah.”
I thought it would be a fun movie for killing time, but there was one thing I had forgotten.
It was this…
ㅡ쪼옥!
A scene of intense kissing appeared in the middle of the movie.
If I had just watched without thinking, it would have been a normal scene, but with Sia right next to me, I felt awkwardly embarrassed for no reason.
So I watched the movie without any thoughts.
ㅡ꾸벅꾸벅.
Sia nodded her head, then suddenly drooped it.
“Sia, are you sleepy?”
“…U-um…”
“Want to go lie down?”
“I… I can’t eat and lie down.”
“Y-Yeah…”
Sia, who couldn’t lie down after eating, was fighting the oncoming drowsiness, but eventually she couldn’t win against it.
Seeing Sia like that made me feel sorry, so after taking a deep breath, I let her lean her head on my shoulder.
Still, it wasn’t as difficult as last time.
I thought I could just keep worrying about her head until the movie ended.
The movie continued playing, and Sia seemed to have fallen asleep on my shoulder.
And as the highlight part of the movie approached.
“U-um…”
While mumbling in her sleep, Sia slid down.
The spot where Sia was lying was…
“……!”
It was my thigh.
Suddenly I had given Sia a knee-bop situation, but while the knee-bop itself was fine, the problem was Sia’s head position.
It was located in a somewhat dangerous place, so it was extremely risky.
Sweating profusely, I tried to keep her from waking up while starting to think of other things.
From that point on, no matter what was happening on the TV or if a big incident occurred, I focused all my nerves to prevent it.
After how long? The movie was already showing the ending credits.
Since the movie had ended, I tried to wake Sia, but…
“U-um…”
Sia wasn’t trying to wake up.
I just sat there quietly until a new movie started on the TV.
Then, suddenly without thinking, I stroked Sia’s hair.
The sensation was so good that I started touching her more without realizing.
Then…
“U-hem…”
“……!”
Startled by Sia’s sudden voice, I pulled my hand away.
I wondered if I had woken her because of the touching, but fortunately it wasn’t.
Just as I was relieved, I noticed Sia’s side profile.
And right after, Sia’s lips came into view.
“……”
I kept looking at Sia’s lips, and I kept thinking of the kissing scene from the movie I just watched.
Moreover, although it had been a while lately, since it overlapped with the Sias I saw in dreams, I kept feeling like something was wrong with me.
“Huu… I should move her to the room…”
To stop my delusions, I picked Sia up in princess style and carried her to her room.
The room had a clean fragrance from the diffuser.
I carefully lowered Sia without waking her and covered her with a blanket, then came out.
“I’m going crazy…”
Leaving Sia’s house was difficult because of the strange delusions that kept coming.
※※※※※※
Not long after Park Siwoo left.
ㅡ벌떡!
“Waaaaah! You really just left?! Really?!”
Sia jumped up from the bed.
Then she began wildly flailing her arms and legs, expressing her anger.
“This is so frustrating! I lured him with what men like! Why didn’t he come over! I cooked hard! I wore pretty clothes! I naturally gave him a knee-bop! What’s the problem?!”
After venting her anger, Sia finally collapsed back onto the bed, exhausted.
“Park Siwoo… you idiot… moron… the guy who kicked over the table I prepared…”
From Sia’s perspective, she had prepared the table with all her might so he would eat it, but Park Siwoo kicked it aside because it was too precious.
“Is my taste not his… maybe?”
Finally Sia began to think that perhaps it wasn’t his taste.
Sia had always been positive and bright, but her cheerfulness had been greatly reduced by Park Siwoo’s unyielding attitude.
Still, she didn’t give up.
“In high school… just you wait…”
Sia began sharpening her knife, saying Kim Jieun had promised to change everything during high school.