Chapter 9
Chapter 9
A Childhood Friend of Fifteen Years Wants to Kiss
After leaving the café, Sihyeon and Yerin arrived at the department store eight minutes away on foot.
The movie theater was on the third floor. As they rode the elevator up, the sweet scent of popcorn welcomed them.
“Your Majesty still has twelve aircraft carriers left…”
“If this keeps up, you’re gonna think he’s Dooley.”
“Are you alone? Yeah, I’m still single.”
Trailers for popular movies played across the TV monitors.
Several of them looked pretty interesting. Was the movie Yerin picked one of these?
Sihyeon asked with curiosity in his voice.
“So what’s the movie you wanted to watch?”
“This one.”
Yerin operated her phone and showed him the screen.
“Boyfriend Sold Out? What even is this?”
Was someone literally selling off their boyfriend or something?
While Sihyeon immediately sensed disaster from the title alone, Yerin excitedly continued while pointing at the screen.
“This movie’s famous for its insane plot twist. That’s why I really wanted to watch it!”
“What genre is it?”
“Hmm… romantic melodrama?”
A very Yerin-like choice from someone who loved morning dramas.
“Yeah… we’re hanging out together after a long time, so I should just let her do what she wants.”
After sighing, Sihyeon went to buy popcorn.
By the time the people ahead finished collecting their orders and it became his turn—
Yerin had suddenly appeared beside him and grabbed the hem of his shirt.
“Sihyeon, let’s get the couple set.”
“Do we really have to? We can just buy one popcorn and some drinks.”
“I checked earlier. Buying the couple set is way cheaper. Plus you get more food, so the value’s good too.”
“Really…?”
Just as Sihyeon was about to check the menu—
Yerin suddenly handed over her credit card and paid first.
Then she accepted the couple set with a delighted smile.
“I don’t really think this counts as good value…”
“Who cares? As long as it tastes good, that’s all that matters.”
Still smiling happily, Yerin walked side by side with Sihyeon.
Not long after, the two entered the theater and sat down facing the screen.
“Settlement support funds worth twenty billion won! Come earn easy money at Nobelpia!”
Ads played on the giant screen, followed soon by emergency evacuation instructions.
Before the movie started, Sihyeon took a sip of iced tea and focused on the film.
“You know… starting today, I decided to date Sihyeon.”
“What…?”
The moment his own name came out of the actress’s mouth, Sihyeon’s eyes widened while Yerin burst into quiet laughter.
“Sihyeon, the male lead has the same name as you.”
“You didn’t pick this on purpose, did you?”
“Nope. I had no idea either.”
“That sounds like a total lie.”
Sihyeon looked at Yerin suspiciously, but before long he turned back toward the screen.
Just as Yerin said, the movie was a romance drama.
The male lead and the two heroines were childhood friends, and both women constantly used seduction, threats, and manipulation to win him over.
“What kind of movie even is this?”
Watching the heroines’ endless obsession, Sihyeon shuddered and concluded this really was a landmine movie.
After taking another sip of iced tea, he turned toward Yerin, curious about her reaction—
Scratch scratch—
Only to witness Yerin intensely staring at the screen while taking notes.
“What are you doing?”
Flinch.
Startled by Sihyeon’s voice, Yerin hurriedly covered the memo app with her hand and answered,
“I was thinking of writing a review later… so I was organizing the movie contents.”
“And why are you writing one?”
“Well… apparently they give out prizes if the review’s good.”
“Really?”
Yerin spoke while sweating nervously, but Sihyeon accepted it casually.
Glance. Scratch scratch—
The moment Sihyeon turned back toward the movie, the note-taking resumed.
No one could possibly know what exactly Yerin was writing down.
“I’m pregnant.”
“What the actual fuck…”
As the story became more and more absurd, Sihyeon smacked his forehead.
While eating popcorn, he glanced beside him again and saw Yerin completely immersed in the movie, having forgotten about taking notes entirely.
“What’s so entertaining about this for her to focus this hard…?”
Sighing, Sihyeon grabbed another handful of caramel popcorn.
Then, just as he lowered the tub onto his lap—
Fumble fumble.
Without taking her eyes off the screen, Yerin stretched her hand toward him.
“She wants some?”
He moved the tub closer to her hand, and Yerin grabbed popcorn before stuffing it into her mouth.
Exactly as expected.
Chuckling quietly, Sihyeon brought the drink straw to her lips.
Sluurp—
It felt strangely like feeding pet food to an animal.
Oddly satisfied by that, Sihyeon leaned back against the chair and slowly drifted off to sleep.
Forty minutes later—
“Whoa, no way. Sihyeon, look at that…”
A major scene finally appeared in the movie, and Yerin excitedly tried talking to him.
But Sihyeon was already deep asleep.
Only realizing it afterward, Yerin quickly shut her mouth.
“Was the movie really that boring…?”
Scratching the back of her head awkwardly, Yerin looked embarrassed.
Snore…
Maybe the sight of Sihyeon sleeping peacefully despite all the noisy surroundings looked cute to her.
Giggling quietly, Yerin brushed his bangs aside and carefully pulled the popcorn tub from his hands.
And then—
“S-Stop… ngh!”
A deep kissing scene suddenly played on the screen.
“Sihyeon, you like it too deep down. Just be honest already.”
Maybe because the male lead shared the same name, Yerin became even more immersed in the movie.
Without realizing it, her gaze drifted toward Sihyeon’s face.
Perhaps because of the scene she just watched, her eyes kept falling toward his lips.
“…Sihyeon, are you asleep?”
Even after waving her hand repeatedly in front of his eyes, there was no response.
“He’s really asleep…”
The moment she confirmed Sihyeon was completely unconscious, a vulgar desire slowly began rising inside Yerin’s chest.
Maybe because she felt guilty.
She kept glancing around nervously before—
“Yawn… maybe the movie’s making me sleepy too…”
Muttering an excuse to nobody in particular, she gently leaned her head against Sihyeon’s shoulder.
Maybe because they’d been in a café earlier, his clothes still carried the scent of coffee beans.
Thump. Thump.
“It’s just my head touching him… so why am I this excited…?”
As her heartbeat grew wilder, Yerin squirmed against herself.
After wriggling against Sihyeon’s shoulder for a while, she decided to become a little greedier.
Glance.
Her target was his lips.
“It’s not like they’ll wear down just because they touch a few times…”
If lips really wore down that easily, Sihyeon’s would’ve already dried out from dating Chaeyeon.
Grinding her teeth at the thought, Yerin slowly lifted her head.
And just as she boldly prepared to smash her lips against his—
“Ugh!”
Something suddenly flew through the air and smacked her forehead.
“What was that…?”
When she picked up what fell onto the floor, it turned out to be a roasted corn puff—the kind usually mixed into popcorn tubs.
“Why is this flying at me?”
Yerin irritably turned around, but the theater was too dark to identify the culprit.
“Hoo… calm down. Calm down.”
After suppressing her anger, she tried aiming for his lips again—
But her plan immediately collapsed.
Because Sihyeon, who had been sleeping moments ago, was now awake and looking around behind him suspiciously.
“Why’d he wake up?”
Feeling completely empty inside, Yerin asked in a sunken voice,
“Sihyeon, what are you doing?”
“No, seriously… stuff keeps flying at me from the back.”
Sihyeon sounded irritated while holding a handful of corn puffs in his hand.
“It’s obviously the same person!”
Yerin bit down on her lower lip while searching for the culprit.
She thought she could identify them instantly since there were only a few obvious suspects—
“Ahem!”
But the people in the back seats started getting annoyed, forcing her to stop searching midway.
After waking up, Sihyeon never fell asleep again.
Yerin spent the rest of the movie anxiously searching for another opportunity, but ultimately failed both at kissing him and even properly watching the film.
Enraged, she scanned the rows behind them the moment the theater lights came on—
“They escaped beforehand!”
The people she suspected were nowhere to be seen.
All that remained were two empty seats sitting a few rows behind them.
“Those little—!”
Yerin violently jammed the popcorn tub into the trash can before leaving the theater together with Sihyeon.
Anyone could tell from her footsteps that she was furious.
Watching her, Sihyeon awkwardly spoke.
“Calm down. Even if you get mad now, nothing’s gonna change.”
“But still…!”
Feeling wronged, Yerin lowered her head with a miserable expression.
She just wanted to enjoy a movie together.
How had things turned out like this?
While Sihyeon awkwardly wondered what to do, he noticed something on top of Yerin’s head.
Rustle—
As Sihyeon touched her hair, Yerin’s eyes widened.
“There’s still a corn puff stuck in your hair… hold on, I’ll get it off.”
After pulling out the piece stuck near the crown of her head, Sihyeon carefully ran his hand through her hair in case there were more.
Pat pat.
The affectionate action that began unintentionally caused Yerin’s heart to pound wildly.
Feeling embarrassed yet happy at the same time, she wrapped her arms around Sihyeon’s waist and whispered shyly,
“M-Make sure you check carefully. I think there’s still more left…”
“Alright.”
As his fingers slowly combed through each strand of hair, Yerin’s anger gradually melted away.
Eventually, she even started thinking the corn puff shower had become an unexpected blessing.
“Actually… this is kinda nice…”
“Hm?”
“…It’s nothing.”
To hide her burning face, Yerin buried her head against Sihyeon’s chest.
“Hngh…”
Unable to hold back her laughter, her body trembled slightly.
Sihyeon watched her with a strange expression.
At the same time, while lifting strands of Yerin’s hair, he kept glancing around the area.
“This is weird… feels like someone’s staring at me…”
An indescribably strange sensation.
The invisible gaze felt even more intense than before, enough to make the back of Sihyeon’s neck sting.
“What the hell…”
Unable to figure it out, Sihyeon eventually gave up searching.
Then he gently combed Yerin’s messy hair back into place with his fingers.