I Want to Stay Together
I doubted my own ears and eyes at the whisper that brushed against them.
“What if… I don’t go home today?”
“…What?!”
I wanted to believe I’d misheard. But the look in Chae-yeon’s eyes made that impossible. It wasn’t the kind of gaze you could brush off as a joke.
Was she serious? Or just teasing?
No matter what, I needed to get a grip on the situation first.
“W-why wouldn’t you go home? You should go home.”
“It’s a shame, though. It’s already the afternoon. If we keep playing like this, it’ll be evening before we know it!”
“O-of course it’s a shame. But it’s still only the afternoon.”
“I said it’s already afternoon, didn’t I?”
“Well… when you put it that way, I guess it is already afternoon.”
The tone she used was one I’d never heard from her before, and that alone told me the words had come from the heart.
If she didn’t go home, where exactly did she plan to spend the night? We couldn’t possibly stay out all night in this freezing weather.
“Once today’s over, we’ll both go back to our normal routines.”
“If Yeoni wants to meet, we can see each other tomorrow too!!”
“You should spend time with your family. You always spent Christmas with them, right?”
“H-how did you know that?”
“Your mom told me.”
“You talk to my mom a lot?”
“Yeah, pretty often. We get along really well, so it’s fun.”
An inside informant I knew nothing about had been leaking information. No wonder people say you should suspect the people closest to you first.
“So what do you want to do, Jung-woo?”
“Huh…?”
“Are we going to play all day and then head home? Or do you want to keep spending time together?”
Backing away from this kind of temptation and calling myself a man afterward would be impossible. In my heart, I wanted to follow Chae-yeon’s suggestion, but…
To do that, I’d have to overcome an enormous obstacle.
The massive wall known as Chae-yeon’s dad.
I had zero confidence I could scale that particular barrier.
“W-we’d still need to get permission from your dad.”
“Why do you care more about what my dad thinks than I do?”
“B-because he’s scary?”
“I can beat my dad. I’ll talk to him properly for you.”
No matter how well Chae-yeon explained things, I knew I’d eventually have to meet her father face-to-face. He’d ask about today and about the baseball stadium incident, and I’d have to answer.
I knew all of that, but…
I simply couldn’t ignore those sparkling eyes of hers. They were shining way too brightly.
“O-okay then… let’s do that.”
“Really?”
“Yeah, really. So stop worrying and just enjoy yourself.”
“Yay!! You promise?”
She even hooked her pinky around mine and shook our hands, sealing the promise that we’d stay together until tomorrow.
I wasn’t sure if this was the right decision.
After we made the promise, Chae-yeon seemed to relax completely. For the rest of our time together, her expression was brighter than I could have imagined. Thanks to that, my own steps felt lighter too. Before long, we found ourselves at a shooting booth where you could win stuffed animals as prizes.
“It’s a thousand won for two shots. If you knock it over, you get the doll as a prize.”
“What do you want, Yeoni? Just tell me. I’ll get you anything.”
“Then I want that rabbit doll over there.”
“We already bought a rabbit doll last time.”
“I want another one.”
“Got it. I’ll definitely win it for you.”
She aimed at the rabbit doll that was hugging a carrot and took her first shot. She’d been trying to hit the head to knock it over, but her hand shook and she ended up hitting the carrot instead.
Obviously the doll didn’t fall, since its center of gravity was still stable.
“It didn’t fall.”
“What a shame. It’s okay. We still have chances left. I’m already thinking up to five thousand won.”
She hadn’t actually expected me to get it in one try? Our Yeoni had a whole plan in mind.
Even on the second and final attempt, the rabbit doll refused to budge. Two thousand won. Three thousand. Four thousand. After firing a total of eight shots, the rabbit still stood firm in its place.
At that point, my competitive spirit kicked in. I was ready to spend every last won if that’s what it took.
For the final five-thousand-won round, the first shot missed, but the second finally struck the head. The rabbit doll wobbled for a moment before toppling backward.
“Yes!! Exactly five thousand won!!”
“Considering the quality of the doll, we got it pretty cheap.”
“Here you go, Yeoni.”
“Thanks. I thought it would cost ten thousand won, but it wasn’t that bad.”
“Come on, even if I have terrible aim, I’m not that bad.”
Just like last time, Chae-yeon walked around hugging the rabbit doll tightly to her chest.
Whenever she spotted a rabbit doll inside a claw machine on the street, she’d stop in her tracks, completely absorbed. At this rate, her room was going to be filled with rabbit dolls. The biological trait of high reproductive rates was apparently being perfectly reflected in stuffed form.
“Jung-woo, look over there.”
The place Chae-yeon pointed to was a booth running a special Christmas couples event. The challenge was to give your partner a piggyback and do thirty or more squats. If you succeeded, you’d win a prize.
“Should we try that?”
“Uh… I don’t think the prize is worth it.”
“It’s fine!! I can do it.”
“H-huh? You’re going to do it, Yeoni?”
Before I could fully process what was happening, she dragged me by the hand over to the booth.
“We’d like to try!!”
“Welcome! Are you two a couple?”
“Yes, we are.”
“Then the boyfriend should carry the girlfriend on his back and get ready!!”
“The rules don’t say the guy has to be the one carrying, do they?”
“Pardon…?”
“Can’t I be the one who gets carried?”
“That… um, that’s fine too, I suppose.”
Chae-yeon flashed the host a bright smile and crouched down. Then she patted her own back as if to say, “Get on.”
She was really going to do this? In front of all these people? I was supposed to let her carry me instead of the other way around?!
My brain spun at full speed. If the goal was to win the prize, having Chae-yeon carry me was by far the most realistic option. With no other choice, I climbed onto her back.
“Are you positioned okay?”
“Y-yeah.”
“Then I’ll start?”
Chae-yeon’s challenge for the prize began right away. Without showing any sign of fatigue, she moved quickly. The more she continued, the more gasps of amazement rose from the crowd around us.
She was breathing hard. I thought this would be her limit, but she clenched her teeth and kept going.
“Twenty-eight!! Twenty-nine!!”
Before I knew it, the people around us had joined the host in counting. We were only one away from the prize.
“Ughhh!! Aaaaaagh!!”
“Thirty!! Yes, congratulations! You completed thirty reps!!”
Even though I’d thought it might be possible for her to do squats while carrying me, I never imagined she’d actually reach the target number.
The moment the host announced her success, I quickly slid down from her back and helped steady her as she wobbled for a second.
“Congratulations!! We usually only give a ten-thousand-won gift card, but since you two did so well, we’ll give you a twenty-thousand-won one.”
“Thank you!! Jung-woo, we did it!!”
“You worked hard, Yeoni. You really did an amazing job.”
“Hehe. I carried Jung-woo and did thirty reps!!”
I stroked the head of a beaming Chae-yeon as she waved the twenty-thousand-won gift card around.
Her competitive spirit, which had been fierce since we were kids, clearly hadn’t gone anywhere. She really was the same as ever.
“What should we do with this?”
“You earned it, so use it however you want.”
“But it’d be better to use it while we’re hanging out together, right?”
“Then let’s hold onto it for now and think about it later.”
“Okay!!”
As we wandered the streets, we spotted a bowling alley and naturally drifted inside.
It seemed like whenever we saw anything that involved betting, the two of us reacted on pure instinct. We were practically the definition of a betting couple.
“We’re obviously going to bet on this, right?”
“Let’s just play for fun this time.”
“What?! Why? Betting makes it more fun.”
“You used up a lot of energy during that event earlier. It wouldn’t be fair to bet under those conditions.”
“I’m fine.”
“I’m not. If we bet, you’ll take it seriously, and what if you collapse?”
Even though I was dying for a rematch after losing at bowling before, I wasn’t the kind of boyfriend who would make a bet with his girlfriend when she was in that state.
Despite talking like she could beat me, Chae-yeon ended up suffering a truly miserable defeat. If we had bet, I would’ve gotten two wish tickets out of it.
“I lost. And I got completely crushed. It was awful…”
“I told you, didn’t I? You used too much strength earlier, so the balance was off.”
“Still, did I really lose that badly?”
“Your legs had completely given out. This result was pretty much guaranteed.”
“B-but since we didn’t bet, it doesn’t count as Jung-woo winning.”
“Fine. Oh, now that I think about it, if we include the games we played at home, it’s three to one, right?”
“Why three?! I won at bowling!”
“That was because you begged me to play one more round after I won, and I went along with it.”
“You have to count only after we started dating!! Then it’s one to zero!!”
Apparently thinking three to one was too humiliating a score, Chae-yeon quickly changed her story. In truth, whether we counted before or after we started dating didn’t matter. Either way, I was still in the lead.
“Alright. Our Yeoni can do whatever she wants.”
“Ah!! Let’s just bet again!! I’ll win this time.”
“I’m not doing it. It’s for the sake of protecting the player.”
“Let’s do it again!!”
I grabbed the stubbornly protesting Chae-yeon’s hand and practically dragged her out of the bowling alley.
Once we were outside, the sun had already begun to set. Since it was winter, darkness fell much faster than before. I guess it was time to give it to her now.
“Yeoni.”
“Yeah!!”
“Um… I have a Christmas present for you.”
“A Christmas present? For me?!”
“Yeah, it’s a present for you, Yeoni.”
“W-what is it?”
I quietly pulled a ring case out of my padded jacket pocket. The shape was so obvious that Chae-yeon noticed the moment my hand came out of the pocket.
I took her left hand—her eyes now as wide as a startled rabbit’s—and gently held it out.
“It’s already been over a hundred days since we started dating. It felt weird that we didn’t have matching rings.”
“Don’t tell me… is this a couple ring?”
I nodded silently, opened the case, and slipped the ring onto her ring finger.
“What do you think? Do you like it? I picked it out myself after looking around.”
“…Yeah!! I really love it!!”
“Your ring has my initials engraved on it, and mine has your initials.”
“Whoa?! It really does!! Jung-woo, the size fits perfectly too.”
“You tried on my ring at our house last time, remember? Since it fit, I got the same size for both.”
Chae-yeon spread her fingers and stared intently at the ring on her left ring finger for a long time.
“Jung-woo, thank you so much. I never even thought about rings!!”
“Looks like I did a good job preparing.”
“Yeah!! I love it so much!! I love you!!”
In the middle of a crowded street full of people, Chae-yeon’s lips met mine.
The kiss didn’t end lightly. Our lips stayed pressed together for a long while before finally parting. During that time our lips were touching, I could feel every bit of happiness Chae-yeon felt from receiving the ring.
We walked even closer together than before, enjoying the sweet, lovey-dovey time that every couple experiences. We looked around the streets, ate dinner together, chatted about all kinds of things while we ate, took pictures of our matching rings to show off to everyone around us.
It was truly a happy time.
After we spent every last minute we could, the time had somehow reached almost eleven at night.
And then we arrived at a place that was completely outside my expectations.
I never thought in my life I’d ever come here. I guess I really am dating after all.
“Jung-woo, should we go in?”
“Y-yeah. Let’s… let’s go.”