Repayment
Valentine's Day had come and gone, and the next day arrived.
Naturally, I had essentially pulled an all-nighter editing Lua and Elia's Endless Return stream.
I finished the edit, got confirmation, and only fell asleep at six in the morning, so of course I had.
Anyway, when I woke up again…
"…Jinwoo, hi?"
There was some strange person beside me.
Just to be sure, I rubbed my eyes and looked again. She was definitely there.
"Lua?"
"Hi."
Lua gave a little wave, and I blinked at a situation that felt somehow familiar—and one I really shouldn't get used to.
"Did you sleep well?"
"…I slept fine, yeah."
"Really? That's good."
Leaving Lua smiling brightly at me, I stretched long and hard for a moment.
"Uuuuugh… What time is it…?"
"Right now? Eleven in the morning."
"I should get up soon, then."
"You should. It's almost noon."
Eleven meant I'd only gotten about five hours of sleep, but that was a problem I could solve by sleeping after Lua went home later.
That aside…
"What time did you get here?"
Just when on earth had she shown up?
"Hmm, I wonder what time I got here?"
Could you not answer a question with a question?
I was speechless, and yet a laugh still bubbled up. That shameless attitude of hers had a way of tickling my heart.
"Have you eaten?"
"No. I was starving myself so I could eat once you woke up."
"Then you should've woken me."
"How was I supposed to wake you when you were sleeping so soundly?"
I'd been sleeping that deeply?
It might sound a little self-congratulatory coming from me, but I'm the type who wakes up pretty fast. It's not that I need little sleep—I'm just good at getting up in a hurry, you could say.
If Lua had woken me, I would have been on my feet in ten seconds flat. I was sure of it.
"From now on, if something like that happens, wake me."
"Don't wanna~."
"Why? Just wake me up. What's with the 'don't wanna'?"
"I don't wanna because I don't wanna."
Watching her stick her tongue out with that teasing little smile made my blood pressure tick up a notch.
Yeah. This was Lua. This was Im Lua for you.
I brushed past her and headed for the bathroom. A guest had come over, after all—I ought to wash my face and hands and at least look presentable.
After a quick wash, I came out to find Lua already settled on our living room sofa.
"Jinwoo, what do you want to eat?"
"Whatever you feel like."
"Whatever I feel like?"
"Yeah… Wait. Where are Mom and hyung?"
"Your mom said she was going to meet her friends once I got here, and Junwoo went to the library to study."
What? Those two had actually left me and Lua alone in the house and gone out?
Thinking that made me even more speechless. Even so—Lua was a girl. Leaving her alone with me like that… wasn't their trust in me a little too thick?
…Actually, I figured thick was fine. I was a model citizen with excellent self-control, after all.
"Jinwoo, are you thinking something weird right now?"
"Where did that nonsense come from all of a sudden?"
"I'd prefer you call it Lua-sense."
She was so shameless I was starting to lose the ability to respond at all.
"So I really get to pick whatever I want?"
"Yeah. If it comes to it… we could even just boil some ramen here at my place."
"……Pervert."
"Excuse me?"
"Seo Jinwoo. Pervert."
I wondered where the sudden pervert accusation had come from. Thinking it over carefully, one phrase floated up.
Among the classic lines people use when a guy and a girl are about to do certain things, there's the old "Want to come over to my place for some ramen?"
That was it—Lua was reacting to my comment about being able to make ramen. Had I just gotten Lua'd? Honestly, I think I'd gotten Lua'd.
"Did I just get Lua'd?"
"What? Hey, you can't say that either…!"
"Why not."
We started bickering back and forth, sniping at each other. The fight didn't last long, though—eventually Lua was looking at me with a faintly sulky expression.
"Hey, Seo Jinwoo."
"What."
"Are you a pervert or not?"
"I'm not. If anything, you're the pervert. You're the one who heard what I said and thought that kind of thing."
"I think the crazy one is you, not me?"
At this rate a real fight was going to break out, so I decided to cut it off while I still could.
"Fine. Let's say I'm the pervert."
"Eek, pervert…!"
Lua made a face like she was teasing me, and I felt my patience snap clean through.
I stepped toward her. No—I strode right up to her.
As I closed in, Lua started blinking in flustered confusion.
"…Huh?"
Once I was right in front of her, I could finally take her in properly. Lua had big eyes, fair skin, and a nice figure. Her hair was well taken care of, and she was dressed pretty cutely, too. Her height was about average for a girl, and that felt like part of her charm as well.
Looking down at her with those thoughts, I was struck all over again by how petite and cute she was.
"W…wh… why…?"
Lua started trembling as she looked up at me, like a rabbit that had just been cornered. The sight was so cute—and the fact that I'd been angry until a second ago suddenly felt so foolish—that I simply reached out toward her.
"Eh…?"
Squeeze.
I pinched her cheek once. It was incredibly soft and springy. With a texture like this, I could hold onto it twenty-four hours a day, three hundred sixty-five days a year.
"Um… Jinwoo?"
"What?"
"W… wh… what are you…"
What was I doing? What else.
Streeeeetch.
"Eugyaaaaaaah!?"
I was pulling this soft, chewy cheek of hers, that was what. As I stretched it out, Lua flailed in panic, and I just smiled as I watched her. Seeing her suffer like that felt like years of indigestion clearing right out of my chest.
Anyway, that was the feeling. Completely refreshing. Completely happy.
"Uuuuugh… Jinwoo, you pervert…."
"Still on that?"
"You just grab a girl's cheek without permission! You squish it and mush it! You stretch it out—if that's not being a pervert, what is it?"
The way she described it made the whole thing sound weird, but this was her own doing. At least, that was how I saw it.
"So, what are you going to eat?"
"Hmph!"
She was sulking again. I had no choice but to order pizza. Lua liked pizza, and I liked it too. Plus, if there were leftovers, we could freeze them and reheat them later.
As I was working my phone, Lua had already come over beside me and was peering at the screen.
"What are you ordering?"
"Yeah."
"What are you getting?"
"What else—pizza."
At the word pizza, Lua nodded.
"Pretty good choice."
"Right?"
I'd figured she would like it. Thinking that, I started ordering the way I usually did—potato bacon pizza with sweet potato rings and extra sausage. That stuff was seriously good. That was the real deal.
While ordering, I showed Lua my phone.
"Lua, how about ordering this?"
"I like it. How much is it?"
"I'll pay."
"What?"
Lua looked at me in surprise, and I just shrugged. Honestly, I had more than enough money to treat her to something like this without breaking a sweat. It wasn't that I didn't make money—Lua just made overwhelmingly more.
"Let me treat you for once."
"You already gave me a gift yesterday."
"That chocolate didn't cost much."
"Liar. It looked like it was at least twenty thousand won."
So she'd looked it up, huh. I had no choice but to nod and answer.
"That's not much."
"How is that not much?"
Lua glared at me once, then snatched my phone and checked the total. Then she immediately sent me money.
"Exactly half. I sent exactly half, so take it."
Lua seemed to have figured out my personality and tendencies by now. If she'd sent more than necessary, I would have sent it right back—but she was giving a reasonable amount. Aigoo. Our Lua. She'd grown.
I nodded and placed the pizza order. Lua glared at me, then got up from her seat. Coming right in front of me…
Streeetch.
She started pulling my cheek.
"Uwaaaaaah…"
"Seriously. You're so annoying."
After that, Lua and I didn't talk much. We just sat on the sofa looking at our phones or watching TV. And that awkward yet somehow ticklish feeling ended when the pizza arrived.
Once the pizza came, Lua ate it with a thoroughly satisfied expression, and I was satisfied with her expression too, nodding along.
But that wasn't what mattered.
After we finished the pizza, when Lua was about to head home—
"Oh, right, Jinwoo."
"Yeah?"
"There's a present on the top shelf of the first compartment of your fridge."
"Huh?"
"I'm going…!"
Leaving only those words, Lua bolted out of the house like she was running away.
Flustered, I headed for the fridge—and there I found it. A chocolate that looked unmistakably luxurious and high-end.
Return Chocolate!
That was what it said. Honestly, if I received return chocolate twice, my heart was going to explode.
Seriously. That was what I thought.
It's way too bad for my heart, Im Lua.