More Than Friends, Less Than Lovers
“Uh… uh… uh…?”
I blinked in complete bewilderment, and then…
“Seyeon, hi.”
Lua was completely unfazed.
“Lua, you were eating here too?”
“Yeah, so you guys ate here as well.”
“We were craving meat for the first time in a while. But…”
That Seyeon Kim from our class turned her face toward me and looked me over.
“So you were eating with Jinwoo.”
“Yeah, I ate with Jinwoo.”
“Are you two pretty close?”
Lua asked right back in the same casual tone.
“Does it look like we’re not? We’re eating together, aren’t we?”
She said it that way, but there wasn’t a hint of challenge in her voice. It was more like, You can’t possibly not know something this obvious.
Sure enough, Seyeon Kim nodded.
“I knew it. You two are stuck together almost every day, so I figured.”
“Figured what?”
“You’re dating, right?”
At that, even Lua was startled this time. As for me, I was so shocked I couldn’t get a single word out.
Seeing our frozen expressions, Seyeon Kim looked surprised herself and glanced back and forth between me and Lua.
“You guys… aren’t dating?”
“We’re… not dating…?”
“Yeah, we’re not.”
“…… You’re seriously not dating? For real??”
Lua and I could only nod without saying a word. The girl next to Seyeon looked at her and then at us and said,
“I’ve been dating for three years now, but maybe I haven’t actually been dating at all?”
At that, Seyeon giggled and looked at her friend.
“Right? Starting today, you’re back to day one.”
“Guess so. Thanks, you two. For resetting me to day one of my relationship.”
“Um… Minju…? That’s… not what we meant…”
This time even Lua’s voice was trembling with genuine fluster, and I could only share the feeling and stay silent.
Then a familiar voice floated over.
“So that’s why Jihye Kim said she was so frustrated… Sheesh…”
Apparently Jihye Kim had talked about our relationship when she was chatting with them.
Jihye Kim, you and I are going to have a long talk later.
While I was burning with thoughts of revenge against Jihye, the four of them got up first, paid, and left the restaurant—with a parting “Have a nice date, you two~”
…… Yeah. This was a date. Thinking about it, of course it was a date.
Going out to eat with a girl from the same class right after exams, dumping our stuff and heading straight for food—it’d be hard for this not to count as a date. Yeah.
“Um… Lua…”
“Yeah…”
“Should we… uh… head out too…?”
“Y-yeah… let’s go…”
Lua and I clumsily stood up, paid for the meat, and went outside.
When we stepped out it was 2:30 in the afternoon—an awkward time if ever there was one.
“Lua.”
“Yeah…”
“What… do we do now…?”
“Yeah, what do we…”
Lua and I were completely groggy from the earlier storm. You could call it a state of mental and physical exhaustion where we couldn’t even decide what to do next.
In the middle of that, Lua asked me,
“Um… Jinwoo…”
“Yeah…”
“…… Want to go see a movie or something?”
“A movie…?”
“Yeah…”
At Lua’s nod, I nodded back, trying somehow to break the atmosphere. I hoped that focusing on a movie might ease this awkwardness even a little—only to soon realize that was a huge misconception and a mistake.
Eating and then going to a movie. That was the classic dating course for couples.
By the time I realized that, I was already on the bus heading to the theater with Lua.
… Fine. I don’t know how this is going to go either, so I’ll just enjoy it. Honestly, how many more chances will I get in life to go on a date with a girl as pretty and kind as Lua?
Just date Lua, then go home cleanly and rest well. That’s the right call. Yeah.
At the theater Lua and I arrived at together, the movie we picked was the action film with the soonest showtime. It wasn’t anything I was particularly looking forward to—it had the strong feel of a generic mass-produced action flick. Even so, it was the earliest available screening, and it seemed like the kind of movie I could just switch my brain off and watch with Lua, so we went with it.
Or so I thought. That, too, turned out to be a mistake.
Being a generic release, the seats were wide open, so we sat as close to the center as we could. The next thing I knew, it felt like we had rented out the entire auditorium for ourselves.
“Um… Lua…”
“Uh… yeah…”
“…… We completely private-screened this place.”
“Y-yeah…?”
Still flustered, we took our seats anyway, but sitting alone together in that vast, pitch-dark space only made everything feel stranger. My heart was pounding like crazy, and my mind was growing fuzzier by the second. Maybe it was because the theater had gone dark, but Lua beside me felt overwhelmingly vivid—her breathing, her every little movement, even her scent. All of it scrambled my senses, and that was the state I was in when the movie started.
I barely remember the plot. I don’t even remember whether I was paying attention to the screen at all. What I do remember is simply that Lua was right next to me. And that—
We kept glancing at each other, locking eyes again and again, startling and whipping our gazes back to the movie.
It was a viewing that was completely meaningless and yet packed with meaning all at once. After repeating that process over and over, we eventually reached the end of the film, and as the credits approached we both managed to pull ourselves together a little.
And then…
Chuuup…!
The male lead on screen shared a deep kiss with the heroine, as if crowning the climax of the movie. In that moment, embarrassed and flustered, I turned my head—and caught sight of them. Lua’s lips. Soft, glossy lips that looked almost unbearably tender.
What would it feel like to press my own lips against those? How good would it be? How happy would I be?
Thinking such perverted thoughts, of course. I forced myself to snap out of it, stared back at the screen, and the second the movie ended I was on my feet.
“…Im Lua, let’s go.”
“Yeah…”
I called her by her full name, which I almost never did, yet Lua answered as if it were nothing. Normally she would have sulked at that. She must have been just as thrown as I was; she was clearly in a strange state herself right now.
Well, of course she would be. From her perspective it had to be pretty shocking—being told she was dating me.
It was true that Lua and I were close. Extremely close. If I had to pick the single friend I was tightest with, it would unquestionably be her; that was how well we got along. And that was exactly why the idea of “dating” only left me with more question marks.
At the very least, Lua would never look at me that way.
By the time we stepped outside, it was already past five.
“Lua, do you have a stream today?”
“…Yeah, I do.”
“Then let’s get you home quick.”
“Okay…”
Lua rode the bus back with me. Two seats had been free side by side, so we sat next to each other, but we didn’t exchange a single word. Even though we were close enough to feel each other’s warmth, we simply sat there in a daze until the bus reached our stop.
The moment it did, we got off and started walking home. We reached my apartment building first, and just like that the moment to part ways arrived again.
“Lua, I’ll head in then.”
“Yeah… take care…”
Lua waved, and I waved back. She kept waving without moving, so I carefully asked,
“…Aren’t you going?”
“Ah… aah, sorry…”
Lua nodded, lowered her hand, and started toward the neighboring apartment complex. I watched her go—and then she stopped mid-step and ran back to me.
She looked up at me, her face faintly flushed, and said,
“I had a really fun time today, Jinwoo.”
“Uh… yeah…”
“So… let’s hang out like this again next time, okay…?”
I nodded at her question. I couldn’t claim her intensity hadn’t pushed me into it, but more than that, I simply wanted to spend time with her again. Being with Lua had felt too good. Even though I vaguely knew that something other than pure friendship had slipped into those hours, that was exactly why I didn’t want to let this chance slip away.
“Good luck with your stream tonight.”
“Yeah, I will. Thank you so much, Jinwoo.”
Lua gave me a bright smile and waved once more; I waved back. Then we each went home.
And that was how our date that wasn’t quite a date came to an end.