At Fourteen, We Slowly Begin to Realize Our Feelings (3)
About thirty minutes later, after finishing the errand for my mom and returning home, I went up to my room to find a familiar scene unfolding.
“Aki, it’s noona’s fault. I won’t tease you like that again, so forgive me, okay? Please?”
“Hmph…!”
With her cheeks puffed out in a clear sign of being seriously upset, Aki stood with her arms crossed, body turned toward the wall. Kim Yuna, our tutor, was practically clinging to her, desperately begging for forgiveness.
“……Hmm.”
I had no way of knowing exactly what had happened while I was gone, but I could roughly guess why the situation had turned out like this. It was obvious that Kim Yuna must have teased Aki again, causing her to get sulky. It had already been nearly four months since Kim Yuna started tutoring us, and after we got closer and started speaking casually to each other, scenes like this had become so common that it was easy to tell what was going on.
“Teacher, did you tease Aki again?”
I deliberately made my presence known loudly as I sat down in my spot. Instantly, both women’s gazes turned to me. Aki pretended not to notice me and let out a big huff, while Kim Yuna gestured at me as if this was troublesome but perfect timing.
“Wooju! You came at just the right time. Come here and help calm Aki down…!”
“Calm her down? What am I supposed to do?”
“You two are dating, aren’t you? Just tell her you love her or give her a kiss or something to cheer her up, yeah?”
“You caused the trouble, so why am I the one cleaning up after you…. And anyway, I keep telling you we’re not dating…?”
Since people around us kept asking, I’d gotten so used to saying it that the words rolled off my tongue.
“We’re just really close childhood friends.”
“…….”
Aki slightly turned her body and started staring at me silently. For some reason, her gaze felt a bit sharp.
“Yeah, whether it’s childhood friends or girlfriend, the point is you two are close, right? So could you help out instead, huh? Wooju, Wooju~!”
“……Sigh.”
On top of already feeling awkward from what happened earlier, now she was asking me to soothe Aki. Honestly, I wanted to just tell the teacher to handle it herself and stay far away, but if Aki stayed sulky like this, it was obvious that neither the tutoring nor anything else would make any progress. It wasn’t like there was one person who caused the accident and another who cleaned up, and I didn’t like being stuck with the cleanup, but there was no choice. We couldn’t waste the whole day, so if she asked, I’d have to do it.
I deliberately cleared my throat to draw attention.
“Um, Aki…?”
“……What?”
“I’ll buy you something delicious later, so can you forgive me and stop being mad?”
“Wooju-chan, I’m not a little kid. You think I’ll forgive you just for food—.”
“I’ll buy you whatever you want. How about that?”
“……Then, can it be tanghulu too?”
“No, that’s too bad for your body, so no. But anything else is fine.”
“Tch, then it’s not whatever I want, is it…? Wooju-chan is a liar.”
Even though she was snapping at me with her words, it seemed the mention of buying sweets was gradually improving her mood. She uncrossed her arms and turned her body toward me.
I looked at Kim Yuna with a glance that said, ‘This should be enough, right?’ Taking advantage of the opportunity I’d created, Kim Yuna carefully approached Aki.
“Aki, you’ll forgive noona, right…?”
When Kim Yuna, who was much older than us, took such a low stance, even Aki seemed unable to stay angry any longer and let out a long sigh.
“……Don’t play pranks like that again. Yuna teacher.”
“Gasp, got it! Thank you, Aki!”
“Save your thanks for Wooju-chan instead of me. If it wasn’t for Wooju-chan, I’d still be mad….”
“Oh, that’s right. Wooju, thank you~”
“Yeah, well….”
“Alright then, shall we pick up where we left off earlier? Wooju, can you read this passage out loud for me?”
“Um, when x plus y equals six and xy equals seven, then the square root of x minus the square root of y divided by the square root of x plus the square root of y is……”
“Yeah, this seems good. Do you have any more questions?”
“No, I don’t. What about you, Aki?”
“I don’t either, Yuna teacher.”
“Really? Then let’s end today’s lesson here.”
The current time was seven in the evening, and the tutoring session had run later than usual. Kim Yuna gathered the textbooks we’d used for the lesson, organized them, and stood up from her seat. Aki and I also put away our workbooks and followed Kim Yuna out of the room.
“Mom, the lesson is over~”
“Yuna teacher, Wooju-chan’s mom isn’t home right now.”
“Oh, really? Where did she go?”
“Yes, she sent a text earlier saying she’s going out with Dad and will be back a bit late. She told us to have dinner by ourselves.”
“……?”
What? I hadn’t heard anything about that. I was feeling confused by this news I’d never heard before when Kim Yuna nodded.
“I see. Then shall we just say goodbye among ourselves? Wooju, Aki. You both worked hard today too. Rest well, and I’ll see you next Friday~?”
“Goodbye, teacher.”
“Yuna teacher, get home safely!”
Click. Thud—.
After a brief farewell, Kim Yuna left through the front door. With three people becoming two, the noisy house instantly grew quiet. After seeing her off, Aki and I looked at each other.
“Wooju-chan, what should we do now?”
“Huh? What do you mean?”
“What else? Dinner, of course. Didn’t I say earlier? That Wooju-chan’s parents are coming home late so we have to eat dinner by ourselves.”
“Oh, right. That’s what happened….”
The fact that it was just me and Aki left alone made me feel nervous all over again, and I found myself spacing out without realizing it.
…Normally I wouldn’t be this nervous.
Was it because of what happened earlier? This wasn’t like me at all….
“Wooju-chan, is there any rice left at home?”
“I’m not sure. Why? Are you going to cook for us?”
“Yeah, I can cook well now. I learned directly from my mama!”
“Wow, really? That’s amazing….”
The only things I could cook were ramen and kimchi fried rice. So when I looked at her with genuine admiration, Aki seemed to feel proud as she puffed out her chest and smiled brightly.
“I don’t usually cook for just anyone, but since Wooju-chan is special, I’m making it especially for you!”
“Yeah, thanks! What are you going to make?”
“Hmm, I think I need to check the fridge first. Wooju-chan, is it okay if I open the refrigerator?”
“Of course it’s okay. You can open it freely, Aki.”
We moved from the living room to the kitchen.
Clunk—.
Aki opened the refrigerator door with quite familiar movements, looked around inside, and tilted her head with a small “Hmm…?” sound.
“Wooju-chan, there isn’t much in the fridge?”
“Uh, really? Maybe Mom didn’t do the grocery shopping…?”
“This is going to be a problem…. Is there rice?”
“Wait a moment, I’ll check.”
I went over to where the rice cooker with the big brand logo was. I pressed the button firmly and opened it. The inside of the rice cooker was completely empty.
“Aki, there’s no rice either?”
“What, no rice? Wooju-chan, is your rice cooker a pressure cooker?”
“Huh? What kind of rice cooker?”
“……Come here for a second, Wooju-chan.”
Aki looked over our rice cooker from various angles, then cutely touched her chin while letting out a small “Mmm…” sound.
“It’s a thermal rice cooker. Hmm, in that case, just making rice would take at least an hour…. Wooju-chan, are you very hungry?”
“A bit. What about you, Aki?”
“Um, I’m not really….”
Growl—.
Someone’s stomach clock rang out loudly. Of course it wasn’t mine; the sound came from Aki’s stomach right in front of me.
“…….”
“…….”
Whoosh. Aki’s cheeks turned bright red.
To be considerate of Aki, I pretended I hadn’t heard anything and naturally turned my body, fiddling with the magnets on the refrigerator.
“……Should we just order in for dinner?”
“Uh, y-yeah…. That seems like a good idea….”
I heard Aki mumbling from behind me. Her voice had grown so small it was almost inaudible, showing just how embarrassed she must have been.
…If I said it was cute, she’d probably get mad, right?
Thinking to myself that my childhood friend was incredibly adorable, I took out the cell phone I’d put in my pocket and opened the food delivery app.
When I was little, I used to go out with Mom and Dad, but after I turned ten, they’d say things like “Wooju, you’re all grown up now so you can stay by yourself, right? No, actually you’re not alone since you’ll be with Aki—” and the two of them would go out together to various places. In other words, it wasn’t that unusual for me and Aki to be left alone like this. That’s why I had also gotten quite used to ordering food through the delivery app.
“Aki, what do you want to eat?”
I asked without looking at her on purpose. After hesitating for a while, Aki mumbled in a small voice with a tone that would sound awkward to anyone listening.
“Whatever, anything’s fine…?”
“Anything…. Then I’ll just order pizza?”
“Uh-huh, okay….”
“Let’s see, the order button…. Ah, done. I ordered it. It says it’ll take about forty minutes.”
“……W-Wooju-chan.”
“Yeah, why?”
Seeing her call my name, I thought her embarrassment might have faded a bit, so without thinking much, I turned around quickly. Our eyes naturally met, and Aki’s cheeks were still flushed red.
“Um…. About what you said earlier….”
“Earlier?”
“……Hah, at school I mean. I didn’t expect Wooju-chan to say something like that in front of your friends. It really surprised me, you know?”
Aki took a hesitant step closer, her body language showing she was trying hard to hide her embarrassment.
“You know. That means Wooju-chan likes me that much, right……?”
“……Huh?”
“Y-You can’t fool me by pretending. I heard everything. How you shouted loudly that you were going to marry me…!”
“Uh….”
It wasn’t wrong, but I wondered why she was bringing up that story in this context. As I was momentarily pondering this sudden appearance of my dark history—
…Ah, I see.
—I suspected she was feeling embarrassed about her stomach growling and was forcibly changing the subject.
“Wooju-chan, tell me honestly. You like me, don’t you……?!”
“…….”
Seeing Aki’s tension rise more than necessary, my suspicion turned into certainty.
“You’re not saying anything, so that means yes, right? Yeah, uh-huh~?”
…Pfft.
Normally I would have been flustered and tried to mumble my way out of it, but since I could see right through my childhood friend’s intentions, instead of feeling embarrassed, I just found Aki incredibly cute. So, I decided to play along a little with Aki’s desperate attempt to take control of the situation.
“Ah…. Seriously, that story again? I told you to stop….”
“Hehe, what if I don’t want to stop?”
“I told you it was just something I said without thinking. How long are you going to keep bringing it up?”
“Hmm, until Wooju-chan dies?”
“Does that mean you’ll stay by my side until I die?”
“Of course! Because Wooju-chan belongs to Aki!”
Whether she was saying it to tease me or if she was serious, I couldn’t tell. As I looked at Aki saying such things, I twisted my whole body as if in agony, but inside I was thinking something else.
“Wooju-chan, I was so touched. You shouted so coolly that Aki is going to marry me……! You didn’t say it, but really….”
“Stop, please stop…. Aki…!”
“No way, I’m going to keep going~?”
Aki was deliberately acting even more mischievously to hide her own embarrassment. My childhood friend like that.
“Ei…! Wooju… chan~!”
“Wait…. Aki? H-Hold on. It’s dangerous if you suddenly cling to me…?”
“Wooju-chan is so tall! ……Hehe, ei, ei~!”
…Ah, she’s cute.
She was so cute that it felt like I might start harboring other feelings if I wasn’t careful…….