After School with My Childhood Friend (2)

I stepped off the bus and immediately launched into a full-scale effort to soothe a very cute, very sulky Aki. She loves teasing me and pulls little pranks all the time. I fall for them more often than I'd like to admit, but the flip side is that she's incredibly weak to being teased herself. The moment I counterattack even a little, she starts broadcasting 'I'm mad at you~' like this.

"Aki, I'm sorry. Are you really upset?"

"……Hmph."

Even when she gets sulky, all she does is cross her arms, turn her head away, and pretend she can't hear me while huffing through her nose. Far from being scary, it's honestly just adorable. But if I call her cute and keep teasing, she'll get seriously mad for real. There are actual stages to Aki's sulking, you know? Kind of like the famous five stages of anger you see all over online communities. From tiny rage to maximum rage. If I had to map her current state onto that scale, I'd say she's at minor sulk. Actually, since she's not angry but pouting, tiny pout would be more accurate.

"I'm sorry, okay, Aki? Please?"

"……Hmph!"

I tried apologizing to tiny-pout Aki, but she clearly had no intention of accepting my feelings. She just kept huffing and puffing. To be honest, her sulky face was so cute that I kind of wanted to keep watching, but that would only make things harder on me. After all, today was the day Aki had promised to come over to my house and cook for me. If we went home like this, there was no telling what kind of twisted modifications she'd make to the recipes as revenge. Not to mention I was the one getting fed tonight. So yeah, it was probably best to yield for now.

"I was wrong. I won't do it again, so please stop being mad."

"……"

"You know, that thing you like? The one on a stick. What's it called again…"

"……Tanghulu."

The second I pretended not to know, Aki took the bait hook, line, and sinker.

"Oh right. Tanghulu. That was the name."

As expected from a girl who loves sweet snacks, the moment I mentioned tanghulu, Aki's ears perked up and she started sneaking glances at me. It looked like she really wanted some but felt too embarrassed to ask directly. I caught on immediately and jumped in.

"I'll buy you one tanghulu if you forgive me. How about it? Pretty please, Aki?"

"……Two."

"Huh? What did you say?"

"Buy me two."

"……"

Even while pouting, she negotiates for two. As expected, you can never let your guard down around this girl. Still, if two tanghulu were enough to fix her mood, that was a bargain. I nodded without hesitation.

"Fine, I'll buy you two. So we're good now? Friends again?"

"……Yeah."

Only then did Aki finally look at me. Yep. Girls really do love food. The life lesson I'd learned with my own body at age ten still held up perfectly at seventeen. I smiled and held out my hand.

"As a sign of reconciliation, want to hold hands on the way?"

"……Whatever. If you want to."

Even though she grumbled, Aki slipped her hand into mine. I gently wrapped my fingers around hers, and since we'd made up, I matched my ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠pace to hers as we walked. Time to bring up the main topic.

"Aki, you remember you're coming over to my place to make dinner tonight, right?"

"Mhm, I remember."

"Good. Can I ask what you're planning to make?"

"Hmm… First I should check what ingredients you have at home, Wooju-chan… Ah, never mind. Obviously you won't have anything. Let's stop by the supermarket first, Wooju-chan."

"Yeah, there's literally nothing. But Aki, why aren't you calling me Wooju anymore?"

She'd just dropped the -chan and called me Wooju a little while ago, but the moment we reconciled, she'd gone right back to the usual nickname. I asked immediately. Aki thought for a moment.

"Ah, it's still… a little… too early, I guess…"

She mumbled it so quietly I could barely hear.

"T-that was just a mistake! Yeah, a mistake!"

"A mistake? Then shouldn't you keep making that same mistake?"

"N-no! I decided I'll only call you by your first name later, when we're in a much deeper relationship… That's when I'll do it…"

"What exactly counts as a deeper relationship here?"

"……I don't know. Anyway, calling you by your first name is still too soon! Pretend you didn't hear that, Wooju-chan!"

She'd called me by my first name just minutes ago, and now she was back to adding the honorific. It was a disappointing declaration for someone who'd been desperately waiting for the day Aki would finally call me just Wooju. But this wasn't something I could demand. From what I'd looked up, Japan's yobisute culture was an extremely personal thing. Forcing her to call me by my first name when she wasn't ready would be a huge breach of etiquette. Of course it varies case by case, but that was the basic idea.

Can't be helped…

I had no choice but to back off for today. I swallowed my disappointment—well, not completely; a little bit of regret still lingered—and nodded.

"Okay. But in exchange, make tonight's dinner really delicious. That's fine, right?"

"……Mhm! Just leave it to me, Wooju-chan!"

In front of my house, at the large supermarket.

Aki and I walked hand in hand for about one bus stop's distance before stopping at the supermarket near my place to buy ingredients for dinner. Since it was that time of day, the inside was pretty quiet.

"Wooju-chan, is there any dish you want to eat?"

"Me? Anything's fine…"

I pulled out one of the shopping carts that no longer required coins and pushed it forward. Aki walked beside me, tapping her lips with her index finger.

"Not just anything. Isn't there something specific you're craving?"

"Hmm, not sure… How about we look around first? Maybe something will catch my eye."

"That's not really a good habit… but okay. Let's browse."

"Yeah, let's do that. But why isn't it a good habit?"

"Wooju-chan, have you heard of impulse buying? If you don't decide what you're getting beforehand, you're more likely to buy unnecessary stuff. You end up wasting money on things you don't need."

"Ah, I see."

That made sense. Everything on the shelves looked useful when you saw it. I glanced around, thinking she had a point. Fruits, vegetables, meat. The first floor was full of fresh produce where freshness was everything. That must be why they called it the Fresh Corner.

Meat and vegetables…

The first thing that came to mind when combining those two was men's top pick: stir-fried spicy pork. Pile that sweet-and-savory meat over perfectly cooked rice and mix it up—dinner done in minutes. Just imagining it made my mouth water, so I sneaked a glance at Aki and tested the waters.

"Aki, how about stir-fried spicy pork?"

"Stir-fried spicy pork? Oh, you mean stir-fried pork?"

"Yeah, the one with vegetables and pork. Sounds good, right?"

"Well, it's simple and easy to clean up after, so it's not bad… But Wooju-chan, did you know? Vegetable is the Japanese way of saying it. In Korea, you're supposed to say chae-so, not ya-chae."

"Oh, really?"

What the… Even though Aki was half Japanese and half French, she knew Korean better than me, a native Korean… As I walked past the vegetable section, genuinely impressed, the people around us kept staring at our side-by-side cart-pushing. The reason was obvious. Aki, who was glued to my side, clearly wasn't Korean, yet she was wearing a Korean school uniform. Plus, her appearance was ridiculously beautiful. Just the fact that she was a blue-eyed foreigner was enough to draw attention… and she was so pretty that people couldn't help but turn around for a second look.

"Let's see. For stir-fried spicy pork, we'll need meat, cabbage, green onions…"

But Aki herself didn't seem to care about the stares at all. Or maybe she was so used to it that she didn't even notice. She just kept touching her lips, seriously contemplating the recipe.

"Wooju-chan, what should we use for the sauce? Soy sauce, or gochujang?"

"Since it's dinner, maybe soy sauce?"

"Mhm, got it. Then we'll need soy sauce too. Wooju-chan, let's get the meat first."

"Okay."

The order had come from today's chef, Lady Aki. Target: pork. Destination: meat section. I pushed the cart forward. One step, two steps. Then three more. As we walked, a promotional sign hanging on the upper part of the opposite wall suddenly caught my eye.

…Oh, right.

White Day was already next week. I'd been so busy lately that I'd completely forgotten. March 14th was the day guys gave presents to girls. Since Aki had given me homemade chocolate on Valentine's Day, it was only right that I return the favor. Besides, she was even cooking for me tonight, and she always took care of me in so many little ways. Now that we were both high school students, I wanted to give her a proper gift with real meaning…

…The problem is the cost.

As always, money was the issue. According to my mother's educational philosophy—you have to be short on money to understand its value; if you get everything you want from a young age, you'll only develop bad spending habits—I never got that much allowance to begin with, so spending it always felt burdensome. At least when I was living with her, if I ran out I ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠could just cut back on expenses. But now that I was living alone, that wasn't an option anymore. The living expenses my mom sent were fixed, and I had to manage every single won myself.

"Hmm…"

If there was some way to make money, I'd buy her a gift without hesitation. But I wasn't working a part-time job, so unless I had some left over from my living expenses, I wouldn't have any extra cash. And obviously I couldn't use my dad's card to buy Aki a present.

This is tricky…

Wasn't there some good way to solve my money problem in one go? Some brilliant solution… I was walking forward, seriously pondering my dilemma, when Aki tapped my shoulder.

"Wooju-chan, that's the wrong direction."

"……Ah, sorry. I was lost in thought for a second."

"Lost in thought…?"

Aki stopped walking.

"Wooju-chan. You weren't thinking about some other girl, were you~?"

"Come on, why would I think about anyone else when I'm with you? Of course not."

"Hmm, really…?"

She gave me a long, slow once-over, eyes narrowing.

"You know… I heard something interesting a few days ago, Wooju-chan…"

"Interesting? What is it?"

"About three days ago. I heard that Wooju-chan secretly went to a coin karaoke place with another girl behind my back… Something like that."

"……Who the hell is spreading such ridiculous nonsense?"

"Jaehyun said he went with you. Is that not true?"

"……"

Nam Jaehyun. I will definitely get my revenge. How could he stab me in the back like this…?

"Wooju-chan, why aren't you answering?"

"……"

"……Wooju-chan?"

"……"

"……Hehe. Wooju-chan, staying silent won't help you. If you won't tell me, then I'll just have to—"

"──Are you two newlyweds?"

Just as Aki grabbed my arm and started interrogating me, someone suddenly spoke to us from behind the meat counter. When I turned around, there stood a warm-looking middle-aged woman. She looked to be in her fifties or sixties—maybe even close to our grandmother's age if I exaggerated a bit.

"Um, are you talking to us?"

"Yes, that's right. The two of you who were having such a sweet conversation."

"……N-newlyweds?!"

Aki's face turned bright red as she muttered under her breath. I stared at her, strangely embarrassed, then fiddled with the cart handle as I answered.

"Ah, we're… still students."

"Oh my, I see. I'm sorry, I must have misunderstood."

"No, it's fine…"

I'd gotten the are you dating? misunderstanding plenty of times, but this was my first time being mistaken for newlyweds. Both Aki and I looked fairly mature, but since we were in school uniforms, I hadn't expected anyone to think that. Apparently older people saw it differently.

"Are you here for meat?"

"Yes. For stir-fried spicy pork."

"For stir-fried spicy pork, the front leg cut would be good. Is it for the two of you? How ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠much should I give you?"

"Yes, it's for two people. Aki, how much should we get?"

"……N-newly… newlyweds…"

Aki seemed to have short-circuited. She just kept muttering newly…weds… like a broken robot. Since she wasn't answering my question and just stayed like that, I had no choice but to speak up.

"Just give us a normal amount. Enough for two people for one meal."

"Alright. I'll pack you one geun. That'll be five thousand won. I'll give you a discount since I misunderstood earlier."

"Ah, thank you. Here's five thousand won."

The employee behind the counter skillfully packaged the meat. I paid and took the package. The whole time this was happening, I kept gently patting the still-dazed Aki on the back.

"Aki, let's ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠go get the vegetables now."

"Ah, yeah…"

Aki followed me with a completely spaced-out expression, like her soul had left her body. …Did the word 'newlyweds' really make her that happy? I watched her quietly for a moment, then a tiny mischievous impulse suddenly hit me.

"Aki."

"Mhm…?"

"When should we set our wedding date?"

"……H-huh?!"

Aki's face turned bright red.