Isn’t This Still Dating?
The next day.
I pried open my eyes, which kept trying to close again, and sat up from bed.
Still half-drunk on sleep and feeling hazy, I reached back for yesterday’s memories.
“Our yeobo, good luck with your stream.”
And then came that little smack of a sound. No matter how many times I thought about it while rewatching the clip, there really wasn’t any other explanation except a kiss.
I had no idea how many times I’d played that scene back after that. I kept rewinding it until the viewers started begging me to stop, and after I’d counted to about fifty, I gave up.
“Wow. I’m wide awake now.”
Just thinking about it snapped me fully awake. I should use that every morning when I wake up. Works great.
I picked up my phone and checked the time. 11:00 a.m. There was still plenty of time before our appointment.
She’d said she wanted to see me today because she’d just gotten back from Japan and bought me a souvenir, so she wanted to hand it over at the company.
“Let’s get moving.”
With that, I turned on some music on my phone. Standard procedure.
By the time I arrived in front of the company right on schedule, Si-a was already waiting there.
She was wearing a white blouse, a black A-line skirt, and a beige short coat. Since that still seemed a little cold, she’d added black stockings and beige Mary Janes with low heels.
Leaning lightly against the wall while she checked her phone, she was so pretty it made anyone who looked at her lose their focus.
It felt exactly like the image people must have in mind when they imagine a female campus goddess, the kind boys dream about in their second or third year of high school.
“You’re here?”
“Why are you out here waiting? It’s cold.”
“Just because.”
After the quick exchange of greetings, Si-a handed me the shopping bag she’d been holding in one hand.
“What’s this?”
“Just open it at home later.”
That only made me more curious, but since she told me not to open it now, I had no choice but to wait.
“Have you eaten?”
“No. You told me not to eat.”
“Mm. Then let me tell you today’s schedule. Listen carefully, okay?”
Schedule? Out of nowhere?
“First, we’re going to buy you clothes.”
“My clothes?”
“Yeah. Do you have anything you can wear to a party?”
Party? What party was she suddenly talking about? I stared at her, completely baffled, then shook my head. I didn’t even own a suit, so what was this supposed to mean?
“Then let’s buy clothes today. Even if it’s not a suit, it’d be better to have something neat.”
“No, wait. Why are we suddenly buying clothes?”
“Because, did you not get the email?”
As she said that, Si-a started searching for something on her phone. Before long, she seemed to find it and showed me the screen.
“…Watch year-end party?”
“What, you really didn’t know? Did you not get the email, or did you just not look at it?”
At her words, I went straight into my inbox. Even sorted by newest first, there was nothing like that there.
“Did you maybe think it was spam and throw it in the trash?”
That got me checking the trash folder too, but it still wasn’t there. What the hell?
“I guess I can’t go.”
“No, something’s weird. I’ll look into it. For today, let’s buy clothes first.”
“Where?”
“At a department store?”
She said it so confidently that I let out a dry laugh. Department store clothes weren’t cheap.
I couldn’t bring myself to say I couldn’t pay, so I just said it was fine, but Si-a ignored me and started inspecting what I was wearing.
“A full suit would be nice, but that’s probably too much, huh? Then we need to make you look neat at least...”
She slipped into her own little world for a moment, scanning my outfit from head to toe, then told me to turn around, poked and prodded at my arms and waist, and generally treated me like a fitting dummy.
“Hey, that tickles!”
“Ah, sorry.”
Si-a stepped back, looking satisfied. I had no idea what she was satisfied about, but she was smiling, so I didn’t have much to say.
“Watch throws a party every year in early December.”
“But I didn’t get invited.”
“That’s why your noona is going to handle it. You just go pick out clothes.”
With that, she made a quick call to somewhere on her phone.
“Yeah. Come now.”
Not long after the call ended, a car pulled up. While I was still standing there confused, watching Si-a naturally open the back door of the SUV and climb in, she waved at me to get in quickly.
“Hurry up and get in.”
“No, what is this...?”
“Just get in first and I’ll explain.”
At Si-a’s urging, I got into the car. Once inside, I saw a man in the driver’s seat.
“Hello...”
“You’re greeting me?”
“Huh?”
“You’ve been kidnapped.”
I’d just greeted him politely, and that cold line came flying back at me, so I turned to look at Si-a beside me.
The expression on her face was so obviously regretful that I immediately realized she was joking.
Since it had become obvious that I’d seen through it, Si-a clicked her tongue and scolded the man holding the wheel.
“You blew my cover, oppa.”
“Why? My acting was perfect, wasn’t it?”
“I’ve never seen such terrible acting in my life.”
So it really was a joke. I wanted to say I’d figured it out because of Si-a herself, but if I said that now, she’d probably just keep teasing me, so I shut my mouth.
As Si-a and the man continued bickering, he flicked a glance at me through the rearview mirror and spoke.
“Sorry for joking around the second we met. I’m Yu Si-woo, the CEO of Element Agency.”
“Ah, I—wait, huh? The CEO?”
My reaction must have been refreshing, because he let out a snort of amusement.
“Yeah. That’s the right reaction.”
“Pardon?”
“Because the monster sitting next to Hazy-nim doesn’t have that kind of reaction.”
“Maybe the driver should focus on driving properly?”
“Yes, sir.”
After saying that, the CEO straightened up and gripped the steering wheel with both hands. The sudden burst of discipline made it weirdly easy to guess the household hierarchy.
“Anyway, I’m your driver for today.”
“…The CEO is driving?”
“Yes. I’m also the one filming your stream today.”
Stream? At that completely unexpected word, I turned to Si-a. She looked like she’d just realized something she’d forgotten to mention.
“Si-a...”
“That’s my little sister?”
“Hey, it happens. Now that you know, isn’t it fine?”
Somehow, the day felt a little too perfect. This was exactly what Luccia was like. If a person were made of ten parts, she put in eight parts perfection and one part airheaded nonsense, and that made Luccia. What about the last part? Aegyo, obviously. Take away the cutesy act and she’d be a corpse.
At any rate, the CEO shook his head and sighed at Si-a’s answer.
“Hazy-nim. Did Si-a ask you whether you were eating lunch?”
“She did ask that.”
“And there you go, acting like the pig you are.”
“You want to die?”
The second the word pig left his mouth, Si-a slowly lifted both hands toward the CEO’s trapezius muscles. She pressed her thumb hard into the center of one of them, and a scream ripped out of his mouth.
“Hey! Hey, that hurts! I’m driving! I’m driving!”
“Relax. People don’t die that easily. And the light’s red.”
Watching them, I decided that if I ever got married, I absolutely should not have siblings.
This house would never know a quiet day.
*
I thought we were eating at the department store too, but that wasn’t the case.
We parked somewhere unfamiliar, and I was wondering where on earth we were when it turned out to be an omakase place some guy often mentioned in YouTube Shorts as being really good.
“They say this place is delicious.”
“Ah, you do eat fish, right?”
“I’ve never once had trouble finding fish.”
“Good.”
The CEO seemed to exhale in relief, as if he’d forgotten to ask first. But shouldn’t that have been something Si-a checked? I left the question where it was.
Apparently he’d made a reservation in advance, because when the CEO went inside and gave their name, they showed us to our seats.
It was a seat near the wall, but right in front of us we could watch the chef preparing the food.
It seemed the filming permission had also been arranged ahead of time, because the CEO had already pulled out a GoPro and was filming me and Si-a.
Once we were seated, the kitchen staff started moving busily, and the first dish out was chawanmushi.
“Oh, this is good.”
“Yeah. There’s bracken, ginkgo nuts, and kelp in it.”
When we finished the chawanmushi, two slices of sashimi were served.
It was flatfish and fatty tuna belly in turn, followed by abalone with a buttery liver sauce. That was seriously good.
After that came shrimp tempura and octopus, and then it was time for the main course: sushi.
“Wow,”
“What?”
“I’m full.”
“Already?”
I’d been fine for the first one or two pieces, but once the portions started adding up, I got fuller and fuller toward the end.
Si-a looked at me in surprise and repeated herself. ...Why did that annoy me a little?
“Still, try this.”
“No, I’m full...”
“They said this mackerel pike sushi is the best thing here!”
As she said that, she lifted her own piece of mackerel pike sushi and brought it toward my mouth. Come on, I had hands too, and chopsticks... and did she really need to eat that one instead of keeping hers?
That was what I was thinking, but her eyes were so pleading as she held it up with one hand to keep it from falling that I had no choice but to take a bite.
“Mm...”
“How is it?”
“Oh. That is good.”
As I ate the sushi she’d fed me, I felt someone watching us from the side. Looking forward, I saw the elderly chef smiling at us with obvious fondness.
“Ah, sorry.”
“Not at all. It just reminded this old man of when I was courting my wife.”
It wasn’t... dating, though. Was a fake relationship still dating? I wasn’t sure. Since it was awkward to say anything, I stayed quiet, and the chef continued.
“When I was dating my old woman, we were broke, but all I could do for her was cook. So after closing the shop, I’d secretly call her over, sit her down, and make her food.”
There was something in his calm voice that drew people in. After saying that, he told us to wait a moment, disappeared into the kitchen, and came back carrying something.
“This is what I made for her back then. I had no money, but I still wanted to feed her something expensive, so I secretly used ingredients from the shop.”
“Huh? Was that okay?”
“Once or twice is fine. And she probably knew anyway. Hoho.”
The old man deftly sliced the meat and prepared the fish, and before I knew it he’d made two pieces of sushi for each of us.
“This is tuna collar. Personally, it’s a cut I don’t usually bring out unless it’s a special day, but today I felt nostalgic, so I decided to take it out.”
Please enjoy it.
Watching him make sushi for the others, I felt strangely off balance.
It was hard to say anything like, “We’re not actually dating,” when I’d already been fed so much and received so much warmth from them, so it was awkward to break the mood.
Beside me, Si-a seemed to be thinking the same thing, and she laughed awkwardly.
“Mm, should we eat?”
“Th-that’s right! Let me try it!”
“Wait.”
At my words, Si-a looked at me as if asking what I was doing.
She fed me earlier, so now it was my turn to feed her. I lifted the sushi in front of me with my chopsticks and brought it to her mouth.
“Try it.”
“...?!“
“Aah.”
Holding my hand under it in case it fell, I watched Si-a reluctantly take a bite.
“Is it good?”
“It... is...”
She probably hadn’t realized when she was the one doing the feeding, but being on the receiving end in front of other people was mortifying.
As if she’d only just understood that, Si-a’s face had turned bright red.
Watching her reaction, I felt thoroughly satisfied and finished the remaining sushi.
“Mm.”
It was good.