Even Now, This Isn’t Dating?
A heavy bundle settled into both my hands. It was all the clothes I’d been wearing a little while ago.
I had no idea why, but the moment I came out in my shirt, Sia had suddenly whipped out her card and paid for every single thing I’d been wearing.
“I said a few pieces would be fine….”
“It’s fine. I kind of hate to say this about myself, but I’m loaded.”
Watching her sweep her hair back, she really did look like some rich girl from a chaebol family. No, wait, that wasn’t quite right.
I knew she had money, sure, but even so, there was such a thing as reasonable limits.
The price I’d just seen when she checked out was still burned into my brain.
“I saw the total too. It was over a million won.”
“Too much pressure?”
“Of course.”
“Then wear it on a special day.”
Like the day we did a joint stream, or at the Watch party.
After saying that, Sia gave me a faint smile. Something about the easy, offhand way she smiled made me feel a little better.
I was obviously planning to wear it at the Watch party coming up soon. That was why she’d bought it for me in the first place. I looked down at the mountain of shopping bags in my arms, then lifted my head and met her eyes again.
“Thanks. I’ll wear it a lot, seriously.”
“You better. Who do you think bought it for you?”
She’d even bought the top and bottoms together so I wouldn’t have to agonize over how to wear them. I really would have to make good use of them.
I’d have to show them off somewhere too. If I turned up at the Watch party and bragged about them then, people would probably swarm me.
“And go around bragging about it. At the party, on stream, everywhere.”
“Is that really okay?”
“Of course. That’s better for promotion, isn’t it? Besides, we’re filming this too.”
Sia gave the GoPro in her hand a little shake. Come to think of it, she’d said she was filming a vlog with it.
When the director had said she was making a vlog, I’d wondered what the hell that meant. But by now, I’d stopped caring.
Wait. The director?
“Sia.”
“Yeah?”
“Where’s the director?”
“…Huh?”
Only then did Sia seem to notice too. He’d said he was going to hold the camera and film today while carrying the GoPro around, but somewhere after we got into the department store, he’d vanished while Sia and I weren’t paying attention.
“How did you get the GoPro back?”
“He said he was going to the bathroom and handed it to me.”
“When?”
“An hour ago?”
At that point, he may as well have just run away alone. Director, you can’t do this! Dead or alive, you were supposed to stay with us today!
Still, judging by the weight in my hands, it didn’t seem like we were going to do any more shopping here. More importantly, we’d already spent a ton of money.
“Oh? That one looks good. Come here.”
Nope. Sia dragged me into a section that, for a department store, actually looked pretty cheap—watches and necklaces.
Before she hauled me in, I’d glanced at the sign, and it was a brand people had been praising lately for its great quality at a good price.
“Welcome. Is there something specific you’re looking for?”
“I’m looking at men’s watches.”
“This way, please.”
After we went a little deeper into the store from the entrance, we came to a display lined with all kinds of watches.
The prices weren’t listed, but there were plenty of styles, from ordinary-looking watches to ones that practically screamed expensive.
“Is there a particular product you had in mind?”
“Not really. I want to pick two—one dress watch and one daily watch.”
Dress watch? Daily watch? What the heck was that?
Left to flounder without a clue, Sia and the employee carried on their conversation without me.
“What price range were you thinking?”
“For daily wear, around 1 to 1.5 million. For the dress watch, up to 3 million.”
My jaw nearly hit the floor. 1.5 million won? 3 million? So she was planning to sink 4.5 million won into watches alone.
That seemed a little insane, so I jabbed her in the side. She rubbed the spot and turned to look at me.
That look said, What’s the problem? So I blurted out the complaint first.
“Hey, the prices are way too….”
“If you want something good, this is what you have to spend.”
“The only watch I’ve ever owned in my life was a 30,000-won Casio I wore in the army.”
“Then now’s your chance to start wearing better ones.”
I had nothing to say to Sia’s firm tone. When I stood there like an idiot, she went on,
“And when you’re wearing something even remotely formal, accessories matter.”
As if to reinforce the point, the employee in front of us chimed in too.
“It sounds like your girlfriend has a real interest in fashion.”
“Huh?”
“A watch is the key accessory that completes your style and taste. There’s even a saying that if you buy a suit, you should buy a watch too.”
As he spoke, the employee took two watches from the display and placed them in front of Sia and me. One had a slightly sporty vibe, right down to the band, while the other was the kind of design everyone pictured when they thought of a watch.
“This is our hottest seller right now. It’s hard to beat this one for a daily watch.”
He kept explaining things, but honestly, I couldn’t make head or tail of it. Then he introduced the second watch.
“This is the only dress watch left in our store. Apparently a recommendation video went up on places like YouTube, and a lot of people have been looking for it lately.”
From a guy’s perspective, it looked cool as hell. Just imagining a suit and that watch on my wrist made me feel like I’d become some incredible man.
While the employee was still talking, he slid the watches toward us and said,
“Feel free to try them on.”
“Try it on.”
At Sia’s words, my brain briefly stopped working. Was I really allowed to wear this?
“Seriously?”
“Seriously.”
“What if I scratch it while trying it on?”
“Then what about when you wear clothes and they tear?”
“…I buy them?”
“Exactly. Same thing here.”
But what if I put it on and it didn’t suit me at all? While I hesitated, Sia seemed to get impatient, took the first watch she’d shown me, and held it up to my wrist herself.
I froze in surprise, and then she actually fastened it onto my hand. Click—
I looked down at the watch now secured around my wrist.
“How is it? Good?”
Since it was clearly meant for everyday use, it felt more comfortable than restrictive. It didn’t feel awkward at all, and even when I moved my wrist around, nothing caught or pinched.
When I didn’t say anything, Sia apparently decided that meant it was fine and reached over to undo the watch she’d just put on me.
“Try this one too.”
Before I knew it, she’d picked up the second watch and said it to me. I watched her fasten it on just like before, and with another click, she let go.
Maybe because it was metal, this one felt a little less comfortable. My wrist bones stuck out a bit, so it caught there some.
“This one’s a little much, isn’t it?”
“How’d you know?”
“Because you’re grimacing.”
It seemed the pressure where it rubbed against my wrist had shown on my face. After taking it off and putting it back on again, Sia asked me,
“How about now?”
“Better. Way better than before.”
It definitely felt better than the first one. Unless I was doing something like working out, I figured it wouldn’t bother me much.
“Are you planning to match it with a suit?”
“Not a suit. I’m thinking of wearing it with a blazer and slacks.”
“Then this one should be fine.”
The employee even added a bit of personal trivia, saying he’d bought the same model for his own boyfriend. That probably meant it was a watch that was really in style lately.
After a moment of thought, Sia said she’d take both of them, then took off the watch I was wearing.
“Hey, but this is way too expensive….”
“If you’re worried about that, think of it as content costs. It’s not wrong.”
Content costs. She wasn’t wrong. After all, we were in the middle of a fake-marriage content project, and if we uploaded today’s shopping trip as a vlog, it’d probably make a decent amount of money on YouTube.
Yeah. If she was okay with it, then that was that. I’d make it up to her by being better to her. That was what I decided.
My expression must have softened, because Sia poked my cheek with her index finger.
“There. Keep going like that. Don’t look so gloomy.”
Her nail was a little long, so the spot she poked stung. While I rubbed my cheek, a cough came from beside us.
Ah, right. I’d completely forgotten the employee was still there.
Total: 4.5 million won.
After paying, we left the store. Clothes and two watches.
Honestly, I’d thought she was only saying she’d buy my clothes so she could use me as a pack mule while she shopped for herself. Of course, I had expected her to buy me a piece or two.
But looking at the weight now pulling at both my arms, I felt bad for even thinking that.
“Now let’s go get you a necklace.”
Cancel that. I wasn’t sorry. I was, in fact, her pack mule.
Still, she’d just spent who-knew-how-much on my clothes and watches. I could at least be a pack mule.
I wasn’t sorry, just grateful.
But then things got a little bewildering.
We ran into the director—the very same man who’d ditched us and fled after Sia dragged me into the store.
Only now, he was making out with a staff member there.
At the utterly incomprehensible scene, I looked at Sia.
Sia had the same expression, like she couldn’t make sense of what the hell was going on either.
So random behavior really is a family trait on Sia’s side.
I decided that was probably the correct conclusion.
For the sake of my own sanity, anyway.