Chapter 19
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Translator: MadScientist
Chapter: 19
Chapter Title: Bringing Pizza Over (With Illustration)
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On the day of our promised meetup, on the way home from school.
I asked Im Rua,
"What kind of pizza should we get? I'll order whatever you like."
"I'm not picky about pizza."
"Some things never change."
She could eat pizza even with toppings she hated and still enjoy it. That hadn't changed either.
She was what you'd call a massive pizza lover.
"Then how about pineapple pizz—"
"That's not pizza."
I loved how she refused to acknowledge pineapple pizza as real pizza. That's Im Rua for you. A true taste expert.
"...Fine, steak pizza it is."
"Sounds good~"
"Any other pizzas okay?"
"Oh, yeah, that's fine."
"Huh? What do you mean?"
Im Rua answered my question as if it were the most natural thing in the world.
"I'm home alone today."
...That was big news to me.
*
Once I got home, I dropped my bag and flopped onto my bed.
Im Rua's words from earlier were still nagging at me.
No one's home. She's by herself.
Even if Im Rua was my childhood friend, was it really okay for me to go to a girl's empty house?
No, absolutely not. I definitely shouldn't.
But we'd already made the plans, and backing out for that reason felt wrong.
I had no idea what to do.
Could I just casually show up, act like everything was normal, and eat pizza?
...No way.
This might sound weird, but I have a pretty vivid imagination.
How vivid? Just the thought of Im Rua inviting me to her empty house was enough to spark all sorts of wild ideas in my head.
What kind of ideas? Not anything sexual—just normal stuff like, "Does Im Rua have feelings for me?"
Ridiculous, right?
Im Rua liking me? That would be the delusion of the century.
Why would someone as gorgeous and amazing as her like me?
So right now, I had to lie here rolling around, shaking these stupid thoughts out of my head.
That aside, I needed to head to Im Rua's in about twenty minutes, so it was time to order the pizza.
I pulled out my phone, opened the delivery app, and ordered a steak pizza like I'd told her. Using carrier discounts and such made it dirt cheap, which was great.
That's why I've been preferring pizza over chicken lately. Chicken prices just keep climbing, while pizza somehow gets cheaper.
Not that it's dropping normally—it's all coupons that only savvy people know about—but still, better than chicken's nonstop price hikes.
After ordering, I rolled around some more to calm my nerves, then got up from bed.
I headed to the entrance and called out to my parents and older brother.
"I'm heading out~"
"Okay, have fun~"
"Don't be a nuisance."
"Have a good time."
"Sure~"
My family had no clue that Im Rua would be home alone.
And they weren't going to find out.
If they did, they never would've let me go to her place.
My parents are pretty conservative about that stuff.
My brother would've just glared at me with jealous eyes until I dropped dead.
So today's little outing stays secret until the grave. That's that.
With those thoughts, I stepped out of our apartment and headed to the identical one next door.
Same entrance code as ours, so I punched it in and rode the elevator up to the floor I remembered.
It dropped me right in front of Im Rua's door.
Heart pounding, I pressed the doorbell, and...
"Coming."
Im Rua's voice came from inside.
-Creak
The door opened, revealing her.
"Hey, Jinwoo."
"Hey."
It hadn't even been an hour, but Im Rua looked totally different.
Her neatly tied-up hair was loose and relaxed, glasses still on, but her clothes were way more casual.
A thin white T-shirt and pink dolphin shorts.
She looked so defenseless it made my heart race. This was just asking for more misunderstandings.
So I hypnotized myself with the obvious thought, "Im Rua wears stuff like this too," and stepped inside.
"...Need slippers?"
"Uh... yeah, if you have some."
"Here."
She handed me some slippers. I slipped them on obediently and neatly arranged my shoes by the entrance.
"...Come on in. And absolutely do not go into my room."
"Wouldn't dream of it."
Of course not.
Getting invited to a girl's empty house was awkward enough—going into her bedroom? No thanks.
I had zero intention of doing that, even if she invited me.
Luckily, Im Rua seemed to think the same way, emphasizing it like a mantra.
So there I was, awkwardly perched in her living room.
She blinked at me like I was ridiculous and pointed to the sofa.
"Just sit on the sofa comfortably."
"...Is that okay?"
"Can't have a guest sit on the floor."
"Ahaha..."
I had nothing to say to that common-sense smackdown.
I sat on the sofa as instructed, and Im Rua settled a short distance away, striking up a conversation.
"...It's been a while since you were at my place. What do you think?"
"Hmm... It's been so long..."
"...You don't remember?"
There was a hint of disappointment in her question.
I didn't want to let her down, so I racked my brain for any memories.
Thankfully, a few surfaced.
"...You got a new TV."
"Yeah, bigger one, wall-mounted now."
"AC's new too."
"Right, upgraded that too."
"...Come to think of it, the whole interior's redone."
"Mom wanted something more upscale."
I nodded. Then I remembered more details and kept going.
New sofa, new lights, stuff like that.
Im Rua giggled and calmed me down.
"You don't have to list everything."
"Haha..."
I gave an awkward smile, but inside, I was relieved.
She didn't seem disappointed.
"You remember a lot."
"Yeah, once I focused, it came back."
"You came over so much, you could've recalled it anytime if you tried. You're smart."
"You're smarter."
"Pfft... Yeah, right now anyway."
That "right now" dredged up nostalgic memories.
And Im Rua voiced them.
"You used to be pretty smart yourself—better grades than me even."
"Bringing up elementary school scores?"
"Beating you was my goal."
"Congrats, you achieved it the second we hit middle school."
"That's because you stopped studying."
I couldn't help but flash the most awkward smile at her grumbling.
I had no idea what she really thought of me. And I wasn't sure I wanted to know.
It might hurt.
But from that brief glimpse...
...it stung more than I expected.
For some reason, it felt like whatever awkward dynamic we had was more my fault than hers.
I was trying to shove down that guilt when—
-Ding-dong~
Pizza was here.
"Pizza's arrived."
"Yep."
"...Wanna watch TV while we eat? The pizza, I mean."
"...Can we?"
"It's just us. Why not?"
Part of me wondered if it was okay, while another thought, "If the homeowner's daughter says so..."
I pushed both aside and stood up.
"I'll grab the pizza then. Put on whatever you wanna watch."
"Got it."
She turned on the TV as I headed to the door to pick up the pizza.
By the time I returned, she'd tuned into some entertaining variety show.
"This okay?"
"Yeah, been a while since I watched one."
"Me too, honestly."
I smiled back at her gentle grin.
For that moment, it felt like we were kids again.
We spread out the pizza in the living room, poured drinks into our glasses, drained the pickle juice...
Once all the prep was done, we were ready to dig in.
"Dig in, Jinwoo."
"Let's eat."
After the pre-meal pleasantries, I tore off a slice and handed it to her.
She took it with both hands and smiled at me.
...Im Rua, you're definitely super pretty.