The Date
"Haa…."
"Why all the heavy sighing?"
"Group project. You know how it is, Mom. Plenty of freeloaders who just want to ride along for free."
"Oh my, is that so?"
Group project. Or team project, as people called it these days.
I'd specifically enrolled because the course description said there were no team projects. And then—ta-da—absolutes didn't exist.
At this point, shouldn't professors be arrested for false advertising?
How was this even possible? I was a senior. This shouldn't still be happening.
"What, did someone pick on my son?"
"Not pick on, exactly… Nobody's saying who should do what. And I can't exactly step up either."
"Then why don't you just do it?"
"I don't want to do it…."
"Then what are you going to do? You don't have the right to complain either."
"Yeah…."
Nothing but hits to the bone from Mom, every single time.
Not that she was wrong. Still—people wanted carrots, not the stick.
"Try proposing something first. And if that still doesn't work, do exactly what they're doing."
"Got it."
I sighed again and sent a message to the group chat.
The trick to spurring them on was to deliberately claim the easy job for myself. That usually provoked them enough to get things moving.
The message sat there until after morning lectures, when a reply finally came during my free period.
Wow.
For a group chat that had sat silent for three straight days, things moved with startling speed.
I'd grabbed the PPT myself because pure research felt too much like freeloading—and yet everything had fallen into place like this.
Maybe our teammates weren't freeloaders at all. Maybe they were just shy little angels.
"Whew… thank god."
One problem solved. But as the saying went, beyond every mountain lay another mountain—and the next one was a three-hour free period stretching out like a vast empty plain.
What was I supposed to do for three hours?
Maybe I should call Noona. Office workers would be right in the middle of lunch about now.
"Hello~?"
"…What are you doing?"
She'd answered in a voice dripping with aegyo. From the noise in the background—metal scraping and clattering—she was clearly at a restaurant.
"I'm eating~"
"Ah… I'll call you later."
"No? It's fine, we can talk. Is something wrong?"
"No. I just called because I was bored."
"What's that supposed to mean… Are you on a free period right now?"
"Yeah. A huge one. How long is your lunch break?"
"Until one-thirty."
"Ah, really?"
"What about you, Cheol?"
"I've got class again at three."
"When does it end?"
"Um… probably five. You get off at five-thirty, right?"
"Yeah. Want to grab dinner?"
"Dinner works."
"Then see you then. Bye."
"Yeah. See you later."
Click.
Ever since that day, something in the air between Noona and me had shifted.
I'd expected us to drift apart. Instead, we'd grown closer.
We looked after each other more. Paid more attention. Anyone watching might have mistaken us for a couple—the way we saw each other more often, the way we stuck closer together.
One thing had changed for certain.
"Right… we never said where to meet."
The day after everything happened, Noona had gone back to her own place.
"Been waiting long?"
"No? I just got here too."
Six in the evening.
We met at a midpoint between my campus and her workplace. From our respective homes it took me about an hour and her about forty minutes, so Gongdeok Station was just right.
There was a popular pork cutlet place nearby, so we headed straight for it.
"Whoa… there's a wait at this hour?"
"Yeah. This place is really popular."
"I see…."
I'd been a few times with friends. In a world of skyrocketing prices, the menu was relatively cheap—ranging from about ninety-five hundred to seventeen thousand won. Pork cutlet was the main draw, but they also served katsudon and curry.
After about ten minutes, we were seated.
"I'll have the menchi."
"Cheese hire for me."
"Oh, look—there's a combo. Menchi cheese? Let's do that."
"Okay. You want the mini udon?"
"Order one and we'll share."
"Sounds good."
After placing the order, I poured Noona a glass of water and waited.
"Did you have a performance today?"
"No? Ba-les."
"Ba-les…?"
"Baby lessons."
"Ahh."
They'd abbreviate anything these days. Anything.
But apparently all of Noona's friends actually called it that.
"Thirty thousand won an hour."
"For real? That's a lot."
"You need at least that much to make a living."
Baby lessons, literally—teaching little kids. Occasionally the students weren't babies at all. Most of the time she went to the student's house to teach.
Today's lesson had been in Cheongdam-dong, at the home of some absurdly wealthy family.
…Then wouldn't fifty thousand an hour have been fine too?
"Is the kid good at piano? How old?"
"Yeah. Apparently they're entering a competition soon. Sixth grade."
"That's early…."
"Everything's early these days."
"True."
Maybe it was the shrinking population, but it felt like the age of debuting into society kept getting younger. Every other story was about some genius elementary schooler, and even among idols, debuts in the third year of middle school or first year of high school had become common.
Entering a competition in sixth grade might not even be that early anymore, depending on how you looked at it.
"Menchi cheese for two~ Where should I put it?"
"Over here."
I took a bite of the crispy pork cutlet. Tender fillet, juices welling up between the meat, and a sauce that filled in the last two percent of blandness.
It was the perfect taste for dinner after a hellish day of classes.
"So good."
"Yeah. I come here a lot."
"We should come here sometimes. It's really delicious."
"Yeah…."
A smile rose from Noona's face—genuine, drawn out by pure deliciousness. Even just the line of her jaw on that small face was lethal, and when she smiled I found myself looking away for no good reason.
Ever since that day, my heart ached every time I looked at her. The same way your chest flutters just from glancing at someone you like.
And with no boyfriend in the picture, it hit even harder.
Right now, the only person who could sit beside her was me.
"Can I try a piece of yours?"
"Sure. Go ahead."
"Ah."
"Ah…?"
"Feed me."
"……."
What kind of shameless request was that in this day and age?
Not that I minded.
"Ah…."
"Ahh~"
Noona opened her mouth just wide enough for the tip of her tongue to show. I blew on the piece to cool it, then slowly held out the fork.
What if something other than pork cutlet went in there?
The thought rose unbidden, and I suddenly wanted to try it.
"How is it?"
"This one's good too."
"Give me one of yours."
"Open up."
"You're going to feed me too…?"
"What, you don't want me to?"
"I didn't say I didn't…."
I closed my eyes and opened my mouth. The piece of cutlet Noona had blown on drifted closer and closer. Warmth brushed against my lips—
—and stopped right in front of my face.
"…What are you doing."
"Whooosh~"
"Don't play with food… it's embarrassing."
"We're not the only ones here…."
"If you're not going to give it to me, just say so."
"Okay, okay, here. Don't pout."
"I'm not pouting."
This time the cutlet landed properly in my mouth. Maybe because Noona had given it to me, even the slightly cooled piece tasted good.
"Hoo… I'm full."
"Full makes me sleepy."
"Let's grab coffee on the way."
"You buying?"
"Sure. I'll buy."
"Yes!"
With just the right amount of fullness, we bought iced tea from a café. I couldn't drink caffeine—it made my heart race. Noona, on the other hand, was a caffeine addict who practically lived on coffee. She drank so much I worried she'd end up sick.
"Where are you headed, Noona?"
"Me? Home."
"Any plans tomorrow?"
"Hmm… no? Tomorrow's completely free."
"Want to see a movie, then? There's something I've been wanting to watch."
"Sure."
The conversation flowed as naturally as water. But I was extremely nervous.
It was a rare chance to ask her on a date, and whatever the reason, I was terrified she'd turn me down. I'd poured everything I had into that invitation.
Not that Noona herself seemed to have noticed.
"Here."
"Hm? You're carrying my bag? Thanks."
"Don't mention it."
My petty, shallow little plan: if I took her bag, her free arm would have nothing to do—and she'd link it through mine.
The plan succeeded immediately.
Her head tipped lightly against me, and at the same time the scent of her shampoo drifted up. Honestly, unless a shampoo smelled dramatically different, I couldn't tell them apart—but it was a good smell. That much was certain.
We kept our arms linked all the way into the theater building and onto the escalator.
"Noona."
"Yeah?"
"Isn't that skirt a little too short?"
"So what? It's not the nineties."
Noona stepped onto the escalator first, and I followed behind her. Beneath the white skirt, her pale thighs were right there in front of my eyes.
For me, that was a bonus—but I hated the idea of anyone else seeing her like this.
"Still… if you crouch at all, people can see."
"What color are they?"
"Black."
"You already looked?"
"I said they're visible."
"……You're allowed to look."
"……What are you talking about."
It felt like I could see straight through to how her underwear covered her, and the sensation left me strange. I wasn't supposed to react like this. Out of nowhere, I'd gone hard….
"We already ate, so maybe just cola instead of popcorn?"
"Yeah. I'm not that hungry either."
The movie we were seeing was a recent action hit—a blockbuster that had crossed ten million viewers not long ago. It featured a lot of famous actors and the performances had been well reviewed, so to avoid spoilers I hadn't searched a single thing about it beyond the teaser.
"I'd been wanting to see it too. Perfect timing."
"Yeah?"
I deliberately didn't ask if she'd had no one else to see it with. She would have thought of someone other than me for sure.
Come to think of it, it had been years since the two of us last went to a movie together. Watching one alone with a woman—Noona might genuinely have been the first.
She'd probably seen plenty with guys like Jiyoung-hyung and others.
The jealousy rose for no good reason.
"Noona."
"Yeah?"
But the person beside her right now was me.
Don't dwell on the past. Be present. Do what I can do now.
During the previews, without a word, I held out my hand to her.
"……."
And without a word, she took it.
In that moment our eyes met, and neither of us let go.
And until the movie ended, the two of us kept fidgeting with each other's hands.