For Lua's Rest
Whether it was because of the first anniversary, Lua had started living an incredibly busy schedule even after winter break began.
There had been a little breathing room through about the middle of January, but after that she became ridiculously busy.
I hadn't seen her at all either.
Just like that, a little more than ten days passed without me catching so much as a glimpse of Lua.
I'd been plenty busy myself in the meantime. On top of the Lulu clips I'd already been making, I was producing Elia's clips as well, so of course I was swamped.
Thanks to that crush of work, the days flew by without a spare moment to think—
Out of nowhere, Lua had messaged me.
She answered with a pure, unfiltered string of laughter, as if my reply were the funniest thing she'd ever seen.
Sometimes I really do think Lua's bar for what's funny sits incredibly low. I meant that completely seriously, and she just answered my honesty with laughter.
Right as things were getting even harder to follow, Lua hit me with an unexpected proposal.
Tomorrow? To my house?
Tomorrow was January 30th—right on the doorstep of Sweet Mare's first anniversary.
Technically it was the day before, so it should be fine, but would she even have the free time?
Even if the songs were pre-recorded and just played back, there were still interviews and the actual stream to run, weren't there?
Wait—was it only called a live when everything was actually pre-taped? That would make sense, at least.
There was no reason to say no, so I answered right away, and Lua sent back a bright little rabbit emoji that looked thoroughly satisfied.
Yeah. All's well that ends well. That was how I decided to think about it.
Even as I thought that, my head was already somewhere else.
These past few days, Lua had been working herself to the bone for that anniversary stream. I couldn't even begin to imagine how exhausted she had to be.
In that case…
"…I should prepare something."
It would be best to get things ready so she could rest as much as possible while she was here.
The first things that came to mind were a sweet cake and, of course, sweet coffee to go with it.
I thought it over for a second before answering her question.
Knowing Lua's particular brand of earnestness, if she said she'd come right on time, she'd probably show up around eleven-thirty.
So I just needed to have something ready for her by about eleven.
I'd finish my work tonight and set an alarm for ten. If I got up all lazy the way I usually did, she'd end up standing there watching me sleep again like last time.
With that thought, I set the alarms in advance—from nine to ten, every ten minutes.
It felt a bit like an Indian rain dance, but if even one of them got me up, that was good enough, right? And if not, whatever.
The next day I woke at nine, immediately killed every alarm, and got out of bed.
I brushed my teeth, washed my face, took a quick shower, and by the time I stepped out it was nine-thirty.
I got dressed and headed straight for that absurdly expensive high-end café.
The coffee prices made me go yikes the second I looked at them, but that wasn't what mattered.
What mattered was walking out of there with that coffee and cake in hand.
I wasn't sure if Lua would like it, but I bought a Java Chip chocolate latte she was sure to enjoy if I just handed it to her, plus a slice of chocolate chip cake.
Together they came to about fourteen thousand won—a pretty steep price tag—but with these, she ought to be able to rest easy at our place.
I had the coffee and cake boxed up, brought them home, and stuck both in the fridge.
Just in case, I slapped a sticky note on them that said Lua's. Mom or my brother eating them would be a disaster.
Not that anyone in my family would actually do that, but better safe than sorry.
After that I killed time gaming. Naturally I stayed in the same clothes I'd gone out in.
Lua would be showing up in outdoor clothes, so it would feel weird if I were the only one lounging around in whatever.
Anyway, I kept playing with that in mind, and before I knew it the time had come.
Sure enough, right around eleven-thirty—
Ding-dong~ ding-dong~
Lua rang our doorbell.
I opened the door the way I always did, and she was standing there waving.
"Jinwoo, hi."
"Hey. Long time no see."
"I know, right? It's been forever."
Lua smiled softly as she stepped inside and handed me another gift.
"Jinwoo, this is for you."
"You brought something again?"
"It's some beef jerky I tried a little while ago. It was so good—share it with your parents and Junwoo oppa."
"Thanks."
I took the jerky and thought to myself, Yeah, I'm definitely eating this all by myself.
…As a side note, things did not go according to plan. I ended up sharing that jerky with the whole family.
I checked the price once. It was expensive beyond imagination. Eating something like that alone would have been a sin. I mean it—it was that expensive.
Anyway, once I'd let Lua in, I naturally called her back to my room.
She went to the bathroom to wash her hands, said hello to my family, and quietly slipped into my room. I watched her for a second, then bolted for the fridge.
I pulled out Lua's cake and Java Chip chocolate latte, added the coffee to the latte myself, and carried both over to her.
When I'd ordered the drink earlier, I'd deliberately asked them to leave out the ice so I could add it myself.
The moment I brought them over, Lua's eyes went wide as she stared at the cake and coffee.
"Jinwoo, what's all this?"
"You've been working yourself to death lately. You've got to recover somehow—even if it's just with something like this."
"I've been recovering plenty, though… There's a massage chair at the company, one at home too, and I've been eating lots of good food…"
"…Okay, I'm taking this back."
"Ah—wait—?"
She'd probably been trying to play it cool out of some sense of guilt before actually accepting it, but when I really moved to take it away, a flicker of panic crossed her face.
Even a light tease pulled such colorful reactions out of her. She was ridiculously cute.
"I'm kidding."
"You're so mean. Honestly."
Lua laughed softly as she said it, and I handed her the cake and coffee before sitting down on my bed.
She sat at my desk eating the cake and drinking the coffee with a goofy little smile, and I watched her as I asked,
"Is it good?"
Nod nod nod.
That little nod of hers let me relax, if only for a second.
Honestly, even while I was buying the stuff I'd been terrified she might not like it.
But people say girls love sweet things, so I'd gone with that faith—and luckily it seemed to have been the right call.
"Jinwoo, have you tried this before?"
"No, never."
"Jinwoo, say ah."
Lua cut off a piece of cake and held it out toward me. I shook my head.
"You eat all of it. Why are you giving it to me?"
"You bought it for me, so this is how I feel about it. Come on, ah."
I had nothing to say to that, so I tried at least to get her to make the piece smaller.
I'd bought it for her to eat, not so I could have some myself.
"…That looks like way too much."
"You're a guy."
With that simple line, Lua firmly forked up a portion of the slice and brought it over to me.
It looked like at least a fifth of the whole piece, but there was no way for me to refuse.
Even if I wanted to, Lua would dig her heels in and block me at every turn.
"…Thanks for the food."
"Mm. Enjoy."
Lua nodded with a small smile, and I took the bite of cake from her.
"…Well? Is it good?"
Her voice was tight with nerves. Why was she the one getting tense when she was the one who'd fed it to me?
"…A little too sweet for me."
"Ah…"
"…But it's still good."
"That's a relief."
Watching that soft smile of hers made my chest feel weird in a way I couldn't quite place.
"…Relief, nothing. That just means there's less left for you."
"I'm on a diet these days, so finishing the whole thing would be a lot."
"There's nothing on you that needs losing."
At that, Lua reacted strangely.
She curled in on herself and glared at me.
"Seo Jinwoo, you absolute pervert."
"Out of nowhere?"
I asked, genuinely confused, and she kept glaring as she leaned in close and whispered against my ear.
"…Your eyes looked filthy just now, you perv."
Me? Really?
I hadn't meant anything like that at all. I'd just been wondering if she'd put on a little weight.
I kept staring at her in total fluster, and Lua narrowed her eyes at me before going back to her seat and calmly returning to the cake.
Unbelievable. My head was starting to ache a little.
Whether I was reeling or not, Lua just kept eating her cake and watching me the whole time.
And when she'd finished every last bite, she looked at me and opened her mouth.
"Look forward to tomorrow's stream."
She said it in Lulu's voice, smiled sweetly, and left my room—then walked right out of our house.
I still don't really understand why Lua came over that day and stayed for only an hour.
But one thing I'm sure of: even that short stretch of time was something truly happy and precious to me.