The Morning After
When I opened my eyes, an unfamiliar ceiling filled my vision.
Still half-asleep, I stared blankly around the room before my body suddenly tensed.
Someone was lying right beside me.
Completely naked, without a stitch of clothing.
My heart plummeted as I recognized the woman breathing softly in her sleep.
It was Yuna.
My ex-girlfriend.
And now the most famous member of the nation's top girl group.
I glanced down at myself. I wasn't wearing anything either.
For several seconds I sat frozen, face slack with confusion, until the memories of last night crashed over me like a wave.
It hadn't been a dream.
Yuna moving into the unit next door.
The way she pounced on me the moment I opened the door.
The long hours we'd spent tangled together, lost in each other until we finally collapsed from exhaustion.
I clutched my head, completely at a loss, then absently checked the clock on the wall.
One in the afternoon.
I'd blown straight past my shift.
I was about to bolt upright at the thought of being late when I remembered I'd been fired yesterday.
"Ha...!"
The tension drained out of me all at once, and a hollow laugh slipped free.
Rustle.
The sound of movement came from beside me.
When I turned, sunlight slipping through the curtains was painting Yuna's face in soft gold.
Her unguarded sleeping expression was breathtakingly lovely.
Whether it was the years apart or the polish of the entertainment industry, she looked even more beautiful than I remembered.
Watching the gentle rise and fall of her breathing stirred something complicated inside my chest.
At the same time, a mountain of questions pressed in.
Why was she living in a rundown officetel like this?
Why had she been thinking about me—her ex—all this time, doing those kinds of things?
What had driven her to lose herself so completely with me last night?
Had running into each other really been a coincidence?
But I couldn't bring myself to wake her. She'd always slept like the dead; back in the day you could have carried her off and she wouldn't have stirred.
Now that I was fully awake, the hunger gnawing at my stomach made me rub it absently.
I considered ordering delivery, but the old habit of cooking for myself in my tiny apartment won out.
I quietly gathered the clothes scattered across the floor and dressed.
Opening the front door without a sound, I slipped back into my own unit.
I rummaged through the fridge and began cooking something familiar.
It was a dish Yuna had always loved.
Kimchi fried rice and seaweed soup.
I plated everything simply, arranged it on a tray, then carefully opened the door to the neighboring unit once more.
As I stepped inside, I found Yuna sitting up in bed.
With bed-mussed hair, she was staring blankly into space.
She must have just woken up.
"You're awake?"
At my cautious question, her unfocused eyes drifted toward me.
Those eyes slowly widened, round as coins.
"It wasn't... it wasn't a dream..."
The words slipped from her lips in a bare whisper.
"I thought yesterday had to be a dream too—"
Before I could finish, she cut me off.
"It wasn't a dream!!"
Yuna cried out and scrambled up, trying to throw herself into my arms.
"W-wait!"
With the tray in both hands I couldn't dodge. I shouted in a panic, "This is going to spill! Let me set it down first! And maybe... you should put some clothes on?"
Yuna glanced down at herself.
Her bare body, every inch of pale skin exposed.
"Kyaaaah—!!"
With a shriek she dove under the blanket like lightning.
She yanked it all the way up to her chin, only her face peeking out, and yelled, "T-turn around!"
I set the tray on the nearby table, chuckling to myself.
After everything we saw and did last night, you're getting shy now?
Still, I kept the thought to myself and obediently turned away.
Behind me came a frantic rustling—not just the sound of clothes being pulled on.
"I'm insane...! Completely insane, Kim Yuna! And why is this room such a disaster...!"
The pop of cosmetic lids, the whisper of a brush through hair, the hurried sounds of tidying up filled the air.
Between them I caught her soft, self-reproaching mutters.
I stood facing the wall for what felt like ages.
"Y-you can turn around now..."
Her voice was timid.
When I turned back, I froze on the spot.
Yuna sat there in a white camisole and black dolphin shorts.
Her messy hair had been pulled back into a quick ponytail, and in that short time she'd even dabbed on light makeup.
The outfit was simple, but her pale skin and the soft curves beneath it made it impossible to look away.
I stared, utterly captivated.
Seeing her even more beautiful than before, the image of her gasping and crying out beneath me last night overlapped in my mind.
The memory sent a rush of heated tension straight to my lower belly.
Yuna's face flushed. She averted her eyes slightly and asked, "W-why are you staring like that?"
"Huh? Oh, it's nothing."
Flustered, I looked away and mumbled.
An odd, awkward tension settled over the room.
Gurgle—.
The silence shattered as a loud growl came from Yuna's stomach.
She clutched her belly without a word, lips pressed tight.
Her ears had gone scarlet with embarrassment.
I let out a soft laugh and jerked my chin toward the table.
"Let's eat first. I figured you might be hungry, so I made something."
Yuna's round eyes darted between the dishes on the tray.
"You made this? Where?"
"My place."
"Your place...?"
Her face filled with confusion.
Yesterday had been such a whirlwind that she hadn't realized I lived right next door.
"I live in the unit right beside yours."
Her mouth fell open in shock.
"For real?!"
"Yeah..."
I scratched the back of my head with an awkward laugh. The revelation seemed to hit her like another shockwave.
Gurgle—.
Her stomach growled again, louder this time.
"We have plenty to talk about, but..."
I smiled awkwardly and handed her a spoon.
"How about we eat first?"
Yuna let out a small, helpless groan, then nodded with her face still burning red.
And so, after years apart, our morning meal began—the morning after a night of passion with the ex-girlfriend I'd just reunited with.
Clink.
The only sound breaking the silence was the soft tap of spoons against bowls.
We sat across from each other for a long time without saying a word.
It wasn't only because of the heated, frantic events of last night.
Our last parting had been anything but clean.
Yuna had suddenly ended things one-sidedly, and I'd been left behind without any explanation.
Years later we crossed paths in this rundown officetel and immediately fell into each other's arms.
It would have been stranger if things weren't awkward.
She seemed aware of it too; her face as she held her spoon looked unusually somber.
She kept her gaze lowered, lost in thought, and when she finally dipped her head to take a bite—
She froze.
She must have finally noticed what was on the tray.
Steaming kimchi fried rice fresh from the pan, and seaweed soup with its clear, savory broth.
Her eyes slowly widened.
The hand holding her spoon trembled faintly. Then she bit her lower lip and went completely still.
Her hesitation puzzled me.
"What's wrong?" I asked, gently breaking the silence. "Is it too heavy for breakfast? I could have made something lighter."
Yuna lifted her head.
When our eyes met, I saw the faint shimmer of tears in her large, round gaze. Soon her eyes grew red and watery.
"Uh...?"
Startled, I set my spoon down.
"If it doesn't look good, you really don't have to—"
Before I could finish comforting her, Yuna frantically wiped her eyes with the back of her hand.
"It's not that...!"
Her voice was thick with tears. She immediately scooped a huge spoonful of fried rice and shoved it into her mouth.
"Mmmph... mmmph..."
I watched anxiously as she chewed with her cheeks puffed out.
After swallowing a few more bites, she took a spoonful of the seaweed soup and finally looked up at me.
"It's delicious."
Her eyes were still rimmed with red, but she was smiling brightly.
"I'm glad."
Relieved, I smiled back.
I'd thought she was crying because it didn't suit her taste. Thankfully that wasn't the case.
"But you... know how to cook?" she asked around another mouthful.
Back when we were together, I'd never cooked for her. We always ate out or ordered in.
"I knew the basics even when we were dating," I said, scratching my head sheepishly.
"There just wasn't any reason to make anything for you back then. After graduation I lived alone for years, cooking for myself. I ended up doing it a lot more, so I'm a little better at it now. It's still just survival-level stuff, though."
Yuna lightly stirred her soup with the spoon.
Her gaze as she stared into the broth seemed to sink somewhere deep and distant.
"I see... You've been through a lot too, haven't you..."
Her quiet murmur carried an unexpected weight of bitterness.
It was just a simple story about picking up cooking while living alone, yet her response felt loaded with hidden pain and emotion.
I wanted to ask what she meant, but I held my tongue.
The meal wasn't over yet.
She was finally eating with real appetite. I didn't want to ruin the moment by dragging heavy topics into it.
So we returned to our food in silence once more.
It had been a long time since I'd shared a meal with someone like this.
The fact that the person across from me was the ex who had left me years ago felt strangely surreal, but the food still tasted good.
When our bowls were nearly empty—
"Ulp..."
A tiny, adorable sound broke the quiet.
I looked up to find Yuna with her eyes squeezed shut, spoon still in her mouth.
She'd let out a little burp without meaning to.
Her face flushed bright red. She quickly covered her mouth with both hands.
"S-sorry..."
The way she fidgeted and avoided my eyes was impossibly cute.
The charismatic idol who commanded glamorous stages was nowhere to be seen. She just looked like an ordinary young woman in her twenties who'd eaten her fill and felt embarrassed about it.
I chuckled softly and pushed the empty bowls aside.
The mood had lightened enough. It was time to ask the questions I'd been holding back.
"So," I began carefully. Yuna's shoulders flinched.
"What exactly is going on? How did you end up here? I caught some of it on the news—Stella's on an indefinite hiatus, right? But even then, why would the nation's top idol hole up alone in a crumbling old officetel like this?"
I asked gently but directly.
Yuna pressed her lips together and dropped her gaze to the table.
She fidgeted with her fingers, clearly anxious, and stayed silent for a long moment.
Then she slowly lifted her head and looked at me.
"You..."
She started to speak, then bit her lip and swallowed the words.
I could see countless emotions swirling in her eyes.
Finally she let out a short, resigned sigh and gave me a bitter smile.
"You're still so kind. Just like always..."
"Huh?"
I frowned at the unexpected remark.
Watching me look confused, Yuna let out a small, dry laugh.
It sounded brittle, like it might shatter at any moment.
She stopped laughing and lowered her eyes again.
Sunlight from the window lit her pale cheek, but her expression remained lost in shadow.
"It was just... hard."
The first words slipped out of her like something she'd been holding in for too long.
"It hurt so much. It felt like I couldn't breathe... so I ran away."
Her voice was hoarse and heavy.
The weight behind it kept me silent.
Yuna drew in a deep breath, then slowly began to speak.