An Unintentional and Unconscious Mistake
I wasn't the type to miss social cues. Even so, I was well aware that when it came to a woman's heart, I was honestly pretty dense.
Of course, looking back later, I'd realize, Ah, she was interested in me. But by then, it was usually too late.
Hye-jin was the same.
At the time, I'd wondered why she kept talking to me.
She must have been interested in me.
In the end, she'd distanced herself after I said I liked Eve—maybe she'd gotten sick of it.
I'd just thought it was because Hye-jin and the others couldn't accept VTubers.
I arrived at the restaurant with Hye-jin, met the three others including Hae-an, and ordered food in a faintly awkward atmosphere. Once things loosened up a little, Hae-an asked me,
"How'd you end up coming together?"
"I wasn't trying to come with her or anything. We just ran into each other by chance and happened to be headed the same way."
I told him the truth. I'd been looking for a place in the basement, bumped into Hye-jin by accident, and since she was meeting other classmates at the same spot, we'd simply walked over together.
"Did Hye-jin say anything?"
Seo-hyeon glanced toward the table where the girls were sitting and asked me.
"We barely talked. And it's not like we're close enough to have anything to say to each other."
Even if she had been interested in me, we'd only been friendly for half a day. And the moment I said I liked Eve, she'd pulled away.
"You might think that, hyung, but..."
"Ha, hey. I told you. This hyung never even thought that far."
"What?"
When Seo-hyeon trailed off, Cheon-u jumped in as if to back him up. What were they getting at?
"Hah. Looking at you at the after-party, what do you think went through my head?"
"...Otaku?"
"That's the result of Adami hyung coming out. I'm talking about how it looked when you told the girl next to you that you liked VTubers. You get that?"
I tried thinking it over on my own.
But no answer came. What else was there supposed to be?
I looked at Hae-an while I was still stuck, and he just shook his head like he didn't get it either.
Seo-hyeon gave us the answer.
"Hae-an might not get it. He'd already talked with Gachi hyung some and didn't have any bad feelings about him. But for people like me and Cheon-u who didn't know hyung well and had no particular feelings either way, it looked like this... like a guy trying to drive off an annoying girl."
"...What?"
No, I'd just said I liked Eve. That was how it came across?
"How does that even work?"
"Come on, this Adami hyung... Think about it. You already knew what would happen if you admitted you were an otaku, right? So saying it straight out means you're either just an idiot, or you wanted the person next to you to leave."
That hadn't been my intention at all. I'd just... not wanted to hide that I liked Eve.
While I was turning it over by myself, Seo-hyeon calmed Cheon-u down and spoke to me again.
"Honestly, if you'd just said you liked VTubers and left it there, it might've ended as an otaku coming-out. But hyung—after Wa Sol sunbae showed up, you know the vibe got way better than when you were talking with Hye-jin, right?"
"That's..."
I had to admit that one. Part of it was the surprise of running into someone I never expected to see again, and Wa Sol noona was the kind of person who just drew your eyes.
"Me and Cheon-u saw that and thought, Ah, this guy draws a hard line with Hye-jin who he's not interested in, but he's super sweet to the prettier Wa Sol sunbae..."
"Now that you mention it... I think I heard something similar from the other tables too."
Hae-an muttered, recalling that day.
So it wasn't the fact that I liked Eve itself. It was the way I'd come out that had created that atmosphere?
"In this day and age, nobody's going to lose interest just because someone's an otaku. From Hye-jin's side, it could look like this guy is drawing a line with me. And then seeing you chatting all friendly with Wa Sol sunbae after that only makes it worse."
I hadn't known. I never thought that far.
"Honestly, I thought Adami hyung was a total asshole. But talking to you, it's not like that. You're an otaku, but you still do what needs doing."
"Yeah. We figured you just didn't realize."
At Cheon-u and Seo-hyeon's words, I thought back over what I'd done that day.
...Yeah. What I'd done could easily have been rude to Hye-jin.
"I didn't mean to, but I caused her trouble..."
"...Does it really have to be that? I don't think you did anything that bad."
I shook my head at Hae-an's words. This was clearly my fault.
Even if it was a mistake from a perspective I couldn't easily notice myself, that was no excuse.
"No. This is on me. Whatever my intention was, I was the one who pushed Hye-jin away in a bad way."
"But hyung just said he liked what he liked."
"That's true. But the way I did it wasn't good... Haah. Making a mistake like this at my age..."
Looking back... I hadn't needed to say it so bluntly. I could have let the conversation go on and revealed it gradually.
No matter how much I hadn't wanted to hide liking Eve, that was just my own stubbornness. It wasn't considerate of anyone else.
I was honestly embarrassed. I was older than these kids, I'd even done my military service, and I still had parts of me that only thought about myself.
"Thanks for telling me. I'll properly apologize later."
"Do you really need to wait for later?"
Cheon-u pointed at Hye-jin with his thumb. I understood what he meant, but...
Apologizing itself wasn't hard. I just didn't know how to say it, so I was stuck.
I looked over at Hye-jin, and our eyes met. She turned her head away like she was a little startled.
If she was acting like that because of what I'd done... better to apologize sooner.
"Alright. I'll go talk to Hye-jin for a bit."
"You're leaving your girlfriend to go to someone else?"
"!?"
At the sudden familiar voice, I turned my head.
Why was my timing always this bad? Of all moments to say something that could be misunderstood, right behind me stood Yun-a sunbae and... that person, wearing a smile that wasn't smiling at all.
"Wa... Sol noona..."
"Yeah, babe. So where are you going?"
The "babe" she never normally used didn't make my heart race in a good way—it just squeezed it tight. How was I supposed to get out of this?
"...Bathroom."
"Ehh~ Doesn't seem like it~"
"...Home?"
"..."
"There's... a reason, okay."
The asura behind that unsmiling smile was about to break through to the surface, so I spilled the whole story. As she listened to what had happened that day, Wa Sol noona ended up sitting down at our table with Yun-a sunbae.
"Hmm... So you're going to apologize for that day?"
"Yeah. I ended up doing something I feel bad about without meaning to."
"And if you apologize, then what?"
"Huh? Well..."
"You can't really become friends. That girl was definitely interested in you, and you have a girlfriend now."
She pointed at me, then at herself, and I just nodded. That was true.
Keeping a girl who'd been interested in me hanging around wasn't something a boyfriend should do.
"So what is our dear boyfriend going to do?"
Noona asked like she was testing me.
I had to answer carefully. My instincts were screaming that if I slipped here, it would last a long time.
What should I do... If I just said I'd apologize, would she get mad... What would Wa Sol noona... Ah.
"Everyone... Big Sis Kiri is really good at yielding, you know..."
In that moment, Eve's words came back to me. Come to think of it, I'd only known Wa Sol noona for about a week, but through Eve I'd been hearing what kind of person Kiri was for nearly a year.
In that case... maybe I could push a little.
"First... I think an apology is necessary. I was in the wrong. And more than anything... Hye-jin used to be interested in me."
"Hyung..."
"Is that guy for real."
"Ah..."
The three guys looked back and forth between me and Wa Sol noona with faces that said they'd completely misread what I meant. Afraid noona would take it the same way, I immediately continued.
"Rather than carrying around guilty feelings and fretting over a girl who was interested in me, I think it'll be more comfortable to clear it up quickly. Wouldn't that be better for noona too?"
"...Well, better than Gachi fretting over some other girl besides me, maybe?"
Okay. She'd come around a little.
"So I'll just apologize simply. That I never had that kind of intention—I just didn't want to hide that I liked Eve, so I put it that way. I never meant to push you away."
"Then she might get the wrong idea again and come after you... Haah, fine. I'll go with you. Okay?"
"What? Umm... If it's just going together..."
I'd known saying it like that could cause more misunderstanding. So going with noona would indirectly show Hye-jin that I had no interest in her now.
"Hey, Wa Sol. He really is dense, huh."
"Yeah, he has that side."
"It's fine. You said you like dating a guy who's a bit dense."
"That's why I'm dating him now."
Noona and Yun-a sunbae were roasting me right to my face, yet somehow both of them looked like they were enjoying it and smiling.
"Then let's go together. But... you have to hold my hand."
...Huh?
Hold hands with my girlfriend while going to apologize?
Was that... okay?
"What are you doing?"
"...Holding hands."
"Haah, why are you doing that in front of me."
Right? Even I thought it was weird.
I'd been waiting with Wa Sol noona's hand in mine while Yun-a sunbae casually steered Hye-jin outside. Hye-jin looked at me with a slightly uncomfortable expression, then saw Wa Sol noona holding my hand, and her face grew even more uncomfortable as she asked the above.
"Why did you call me?"
"I... wanted to apologize for last time."
"While holding hands with your girlfriend?"
"She said it was a condition for the apology."
"You're good at saying weird things, oppa..."
"I hear that a lot."
Mostly when I talk about VTubers.
Not that I'm bragging.
"That day... I didn't say those things because I disliked you. I really like this VTuber called Eve a lot. So I didn't want to hide it. It might be hard to understand, but... that was the only reason I told you I liked Eve."
"...And?"
"That's all. I wanted to apologize for making you uncomfortable without meaning to... because I wanted to feel better myself. Sorry."
"..."
When apologizing, what's the most important attitude?
It's not asking for forgiveness. Forgiveness is something the person who was hurt gives—not something the one who hurt them demands.
"Haah, oppa."
"Yeah?"
"Let me clear up just one thing."
What?
"Back then... did you fall for sunbae?"
Squeeze.
The moment Hye-jin said it, the grip of Wa Sol noona's hand tightened.
Come on, what am I supposed to do if noona gets even more emotional...
"If you're asking whether I fell for her at the after-party, no."
"...Then maybe before that?"
She said just one thing... And "before that," huh.
A little different.
"I'd seen noona before that. Just once. But I probably didn't fall for her... She did catch my attention, though."
"So you were interested."
"...Yeah. Seems like it."
Squeeeeeze!
Why is it getting stronger. Noona, please let me focus on the conversation with Hye-jin right now.
"I thought so... The way your face and the whole atmosphere changed was completely different from when you talked with me."
"I'm just bad at talking with people I've just met. I'm basically shy."
"Haah, and that kind of person yells loud enough to shake the classroom because someone was late?"
"I've got nothing to say to that."
Come to think of it, most of the reasons Hye-jin was bringing up were about Wa Sol noona.
Really, my girlfriend of only three days—why was she seeping into my life this fast.
"Well, fine. Honestly, I didn't want to keep weirdly fretting over a guy who already has a girlfriend either. Let's just treat each other like any other classmates."
Did that mean she was forgiving me?
And treating me like any other classmate... Keeping some distance but not deliberately pushing me away—the best distance for me.
"Thanks."
"It's not something to thank me for. And... I should head back in. That sunbae's eyes are a little scary."
"Huh? Eyes?"
Hye-jin said only what she needed to and went back into the restaurant. I couldn't watch her go.
Because I couldn't escape the eyes of noona, who was still gripping my hand squeeeeeze! and staring at me from behind.
"N-Noona? Are you mad?"
"More than mad... why did you say that in front of someone else..."
"Say what?"
"That you fell for me, or that I caught your attention... It's embarrassing..."
Ah, so that was it. Thankfully she wasn't angry.
Thump thump.
"Idiot. You could've said it better."
...Maybe she was a little angry.
"...I didn't want to spin it in a way that made me look good. I was the one in the wrong."
But noona didn't seem to like my answer, because she kept doing the same thing over and over.
Thump thump.
Could she stop silently punching my chest? It didn't hurt, but still.
Come to think of it, after Eve said Kiri was good at yielding, what else had she said...
Ah.
"But somehow, once something catches her interest, she never yields on it..."
Yeah... noona really was Kiri.
Once the Hye-jin matter was settled, Wa Sol noona and Yun-a sunbae somehow ended up joining us for dinner.
"I'll cover this. I was planning to pay from the start."
"If word gets out that the student council president freeloaded off a freshman, I'll be too embarrassed to show my face."
For that reason, Yun-a sunbae insisted on covering the entire dinner bill. I tried to ask noona for Yun-a sunbae's number so I could send her half, but she stopped me, saying it would be insubordination if I did it. (When I asked for Yun-a sunbae's number, I could've sworn beams shot out of noona's eyes, but that had to be my imagination...)
"In exchange, you have to tell us every single bit of your love story with Wa Sol. No skipping."
In the end, we got a free meal in exchange for telling the four of them everything that had happened while we were still in the flirting stage. (Of course, we left out the Wa Sol = Kiri part.)
"...Khh." / "Hnn..."
And so, for no good reason, noona and I finished the meal with red faces, while the other four finished looking thoroughly full and satisfied...