#82. Jealousy
#82. Jealousy
"Your Highness. How can you say such a frivolous thing."
Hey. If you're gonna call it frivolous, at least make a face like you hate it.
Her expression looked totally full of anticipation.
Na-eun whispered just loud enough for me to hear.
But that strangely addictive historical drama speech pattern made me want to play along with her prank a bit more.
"I am the king of this country. What words could I possibly not say?"
I tried acting like a dignified king in a small voice too.
"You are so cool, Your Highness. Then please, I beg you to command me to attend to you."
[Attend to you.]
I know it's an old term for keeping night watch, but does commanding someone to "attend" even make sense like that?
Shouldn't that kind of talk come from a courtesan, not a lover?
"How could I say such harsh words to you."
"You were just telling me to grab your dick and shake it. Have you lost your mind, Your Highness?"
Shit. Immersion broken.
'Have you lost your mind' is way too modern.
"...What are you two doing."
We'd leaned our upper bodies close to the table to whisper to each other, so we naturally turned our heads to check out the owner of the voice.
"Hey. Hwi-min."
"Huh? Hi, Si-eun unni."
Hwi-min and Si-eun were standing next to our table, trays in hand.
"We were gonna eat together, but you guys are being so lovey-dovey it's kinda grossing me out. Ugh..."
She even understood it as lovey-dovey.
Good thing we'd closed the distance to talk—it was definitely the right call.
She couldn't hear the content, so she just assumed it was flirting.
If she'd caught the dick this and that, she would've drifted off to another table ages ago.
"Nah, sit down, sit."
I pulled out the chair next to me all the way, signaling Hwi-min it was cool to join.
"Unni, come here too."
Na-eun flashed her business smile and invited Si-eun over naturally.
"Yeah, sure. Mind if I join?"
No, but has this guy Hwi-min gotten so close to Si-eun that they're eating lunch together at school?
I do remember them both working super hard during the last team project.
Lee Hwi-min, the bona fide Architecture Villain of our department.
Si-eun had matched him without backing down, debating the architecture project intensely.
Meanwhile, Na-eun and I were just your typical freeloaders.
We didn't slack off completely, but we weren't throwing out ideas aggressively.
If asked to find materials, we did it diligently, and Na-eun made the PPT super slick.
We paid just the right fare to hitch a ride, you could say.
Compared to those shameless deadbeats who mooch for free, we were saints, I thought.
"No, but what brings you two eating together?"
"Oh... Hwi-min oppa said let's eat together."
Si-eun answered shyly.
"Hey hey, don't eat with a kid like this. You'll lower your level too."
It was just a joke, but a massive foot mercilessly stomped my shoe.
Of course, the pretty ladies across from me saw nothing.
"Ah, shut up, you kiss-mark guy."
Hwi-min's face was smiling, but his eyes were shooting 'please shut your trap' lasers.
Kiss-mark Guy.
The nickname I got after the kiss mark incident.
"Hwi-min oppa, that's a one-two punch."
Na-eun, the Kiss-mark Girl, clutched her heart like she'd been shot, looking hurt.
"Aigoo, sorry, Na-eun."
Hwi-min laughed awkwardly, not expecting a double kill, and apologized to her.
Our historical drama play naturally ended there, and we had our first meal with other people.
It was a bit performative, but not bad.
When it was just the two of us, conversations always veered into weird directions if we let our guard down, but with others around, that didn't happen.
"Ah, I bombed the deadline."
"Hwi-min, please don't say that. It's jinxing it."
The rich ones are the worst, as they say.
Hearing the guy who objectively seemed like the best at design say that made my blood pressure spike.
"No, I really mean it. Can't I even say that?"
"Oppa, you're kinda grossing me out for real."
Na-eun backed me up, mumbling with her little mouth.
This... is what a... girlfriend...?
First time since Mom that a girl's taken my side.
"Wow, you two are such a couple, doing it as a set now."
"Right~ Na-eun~ You two are perfectly in sync~"
Si-eun's "perfectly in sync" was spot on—I couldn't deny it.
If someone asked how Na-eun and I matched, I could proudly say we clicked great.
Our illustration tastes matched 100/100, you could say.
"We do kinda go well together."
Na-eun beamed.
My mouth corners kept twitching.
"Hey, Na-eun, let's head out first."
There'd been a time lag since Hwi-min and Si-eun joined, so our plates had been empty for a while.
"Ah, yeah. Unni, I'll head out first."
"Yeah yeah, take care."
I gave Hwi-min my usual nonchalant goodbye.
"Hey, I'm out."
"Yeah, later."
Zero fluff—that's guy talk.
After clearing our trays, we headed to a café for a palate cleanser.
"Oppa, those two seem like they're flirting, right?"
"Looks like it."
We ordered coffee and took the vibrating pager.
"But they seem like a good match, don't you think?"
"What're you talking about? Si-eun's getting the short end big time."
Hwi-min wasn't ugly at all, but Si-eun's beauty felt wasted.
"...Oppa, why're you taking Si-eun unni's side?"
Na-eun looked up at me with eyes like an angry kitten.
"No, when did I take sides?"
I seriously hadn't meant to.
"Hmph!"
Na-eun whipped her head away, snatched the vibrating pager from my hand, and went to grab the coffee.
She handed me my coffee with a bit of aggressive flair.
The liquid in the takeout cup sloshed like waves.
"...Last time too, they were eating and giggling, so you still have lingering feelings, huh."
"Hey, you know it's not like that. And we weren't dating then."
This felt unfair.
"Oppa, you don't believe Si-eun unni when she says she's never dated, right?"
Na-eun's face looked uneasy as she said it.
"But that could be true, right? You said you've never dated either."
Honestly, the fact that you, Na-eun, were still a virgin national treasure shocked me more than Si-eun.
A cutie overflowing with sex appeal like this had no boyfriend till now? That felt twice as fantastical.
But the more I kept talking, the paler Na-eun's face got.
"...Oppa."
"Yeah?"
Drrruk.
She stood up so suddenly her chair scraped back with a loud noise.
I wondered where she was going, but she just took two steps and sat in the seat next to me instead of across.
She grabbed my ear and pulled it to her mouth.
"Kim Si-eun. Not a virgin, I'm telling you."
"No, how would you know that?"
Did you inspect her visually or what, Na-eun-ssi?
"For real. She's got that sly fox face pretending to be all prim and proper."
No way... is this... jealousy...?
I turned to look at Na-eun's face.
Her cheeks kept puffing up with air and deflating, like she hated the situation.
"Na-eun."
"...What."
"Jealous?"
At my blunt question, Na-eun blinked with a dumb look.
"Me?"
"Yeah. Aren't you jealous of Si-eun right now?"
"Huh...? Ah...?"
Looks like she hadn't realized it herself.
Her face slowly ripened like a fully mature persimmon.
"Wh-what do I have to be jealous about? You think Si-eun unni would even glance at a guy like you? Ugh, ridiculous."
My girlfriend chugged her iced coffee coolly.
It was winter, but she seemed hot—she even crunched the ice.
So damn cute.
Sure, her jealousy came out in the weird form of "she's not a virgin," but just feeling that emotion toward me made my heart swell.
"Na-eun."
"Why do you keep calling me? Gonna ask something weird again?"
"I like you."
My pure, unhidden sincerity.
I grinned at her.
"I like you. Han Na-eun."
It was a bit cringey and not something I said often, but I figured it was the best way to reassure my jealous girl.
Na-eun bowed her head.
What? Thought she'd like it, but not?
Was I too tamed by pure love novels to tell reality from fiction? Right at that moment—
"...Me too."
Her voice was so small I couldn't catch what she said.
"Huh?"
"I like you too, oppa."
Mother.
Your son's pure love training seems successful.