Chapter 113
"Um, I saw a missed call from this number, so I called back."
"Ah."
He gulped, and the sound was clearly audible.
"You're Teacher Yoon Bom from Shinsu High, right?!"
At that moment, Bom remembered who this person was, and that this wasn't their first call.
As expected, the call was lengthy. After hanging up, Bom sank to the floor right there and burst into loud sobs.
Barely managing to compose herself, she called her mother. Her mother's unexpectedly calm reaction made her burst into tears again.
"Did you tell Son-in-law Gyu about that?!"
"No. Mom, what would you do if you were me?!"
She still wasn't used to being close enough to comfortably discuss such things. But her mother's advice made sense. Yes, she would trust him this once.
⋆★⋆
"Jae-gyu, answer me honestly."
"I'm always honest, what is it?"
Jae-gyu was learning how to operate the newly purchased stand TV. In one corner of the room, which was as spacious as Jae-gyu's own, a lone massage chair sat by itself.
Since the room was empty, they decided to spread out an electric blanket, peel tangerines, and watch a movie.
The weather forecast had declared today the coldest day of the winter. They'd prepared these things, hoping to create a cozy winter atmosphere.
They spread out the thick, smooth ochre-colored electric blanket and settled down. Her bottom quickly warmed up. Bom was lost in thought, wrapped in a plaid blanket.
"It's about Han-gyeol."
Lately, she'd been coming to Jae-gyu's house much more often, but Han-gyeol was never there. She'd thought it was strange, and sure enough, Han-gyeol was out again today.
"Every time I come here, Han-gyeol leaves. Is that a coincidence? You didn't tell him to go, did you?"
"That's unfair."
"Jae-gyu. Han-gyeol doesn't make me uncomfortable. If you're sending him out on purpose, please don't. If you keep doing that, I might not come anymore."
Bom was serious. Even if Jae-gyu hadn't sent him out, and he'd left on his own, it was still a problem. It meant he was being considerate to give them alone time, but if that was the case, it would be better not to come at all. Her heart ached, and she felt upset.
"Hmm."
Sensing the serious atmosphere, Jae-gyu stepped away from the stand TV and plunged his hand into the blanket.
"Ah, it's warm."
Then he pulled out a tangerine from the basket, peeled it, and spoke.
"He seemed to be going on a date."
"He went to meet Se-jin?"
"He said this is the only time he has to play. Maybe he plans to only study next year."
Bom quickly understood Jae-gyu's words. Se-jin was planning to go to college based on her internal school grades, so she only needed to meet the minimum Suneung score. But Han-gyeol was different. His internal grades up to the first semester of sophomore year were the lowest possible.
It would have been better if he'd taken his exams seriously from the start...
What was done was done. So, he decided to apply for college through regular admission and finalized that plan this summer.
Since their paths were different, it would be difficult for them to keep studying together like this.
Special lectures would start with the winter break, so it seemed he wanted to date as much as possible now. Final exams had just ended, too.
"Are you worried? It's fine, Yi-jun went too."
"What?"
He tagged along on a high school date without any tact? Of course, it was natural to worry if your younger sister had a boyfriend, but still...
"Dream Concert, he called it?"
"What? All three of them went there?"
"Well, Se-jin likes Vanilla Mambo, he said."
"...It's Vinyl Lumber."
"..."
He works harder than anyone creating playlists for every situation, mood, and weather, but why doesn't he know the names of popular idols?
He had a subtly mysterious side.
"But Yi-jun went with his sister to see an idol? He's surprisingly sweet."
"Sweet, my foot."
Jae-gyu snorted, letting out a hollow laugh.
"He went to see Manggu Girls, that guy."
"...It's Mango Girls."
The story Jae-gyu told her was a bit shocking. Yi-jun had been a fan of Mango Girls since their debut. She never imagined he'd be so active, even attending fan signing events. Indeed, you can't judge a book by its cover.
"Are all your misunderstandings cleared up now?"
"Yes..."
Anyway, putting everything else aside, a weight was lifted from her mind knowing that Han-gyeol hadn't left on purpose because of her.
"Here, ah."
Jae-gyu held a neatly peeled tangerine to Bom's lips again.
"Ah."
Bom quickly opened her mouth and chewed the tangerine again.
"How does it taste?"
She'd heard they were Bullocho Tangerines, sent by a village resident who'd been helped during the typhoon in the summer, as a belated thank-you. The balance of sweetness and acidity was exquisite, making it taste like honey.
"It's totally my type. Jae-gyu, you'd like it too, wouldn't you? You like refreshing things. Try it quickly."
"...I've been eating them since yesterday, see my hands?"
Jae-gyu spread out his large hands. They were stained yellow, like someone with jaundice from eating too many tangerines.
"Ah, damn it. This will wash off, right? Honestly, it's bothering me because of this."
"...How will it wash off if you keep peeling them?"
"I'll just feed Bom and stop peeling them. It's driving me crazy."
After neatly peeling a few more tangerines, Jae-gyu washed his hands and then fiddled with the stand TV again. He seemed to have learned how to use it, but the stand's height adjustment didn't seem to be working.
Since when did he like movies so much?
Did he just hate the cold? Was watching movies the only thing he could do without going out? Since December, they'd been having all their dates at home.
The garden was spacious, there was a terrace, and recently he'd even decorated the rooftop, so it wasn't stifling. The problem, however, was the movie selection.
He'd picked out romance movies from who-knew-where and wanted to watch them together. Bom, too, had enjoyed watching movies at home as her sole pleasure before meeting Jae-gyu, but...
What was he up to? She asked Jae-gyu, who was diligently sweating and 'researching,' what she was curious about.
"What are we watching today?"
Perhaps embarrassed to choose the movie by himself, Jae-gyu had suggested that December would be Jae-gyu's pick, and January would be Bom's pick. She didn't mind watching Jae-gyu's chosen movies for a month, but surely it wouldn't be another romance?
"Love in Business Class."
The moment she heard the title, she thought, Again? The movies Jae-gyu showed her were strangely similar in content. The stories of men and women meeting and falling in love were all different, but in the end, they all proposed, received an acceptance, and had a happy ending.
Each time, Jae-gyu would ask, "If Bom were that female lead, would she accept?"
She usually said it was fine, but she honestly told him that the movie where he proposed by putting a ring in a cake was truly awful.
At first, she wondered if Jae-gyu was doing this to propose to her, but she'd dismissed that idea now.
A few days ago, Gu Philip had announced he was in a public relationship with the new Manager Ham Cho-rong. When Philip got ahead of himself and started talking about marriage, Jae-gyu had advised him:
[You need to experience all four seasons first.]
He wouldn't be thinking about marriage after saying something like that himself. After all, they had only started dating around summer. So, was he just a romance fanatic?
"Done."
The TV stand's pole smoothly lowered. Jae-gyu quickly adjusted the height and tightened the pole to fix it in place.
He came to sit beside Bom, sharing the blanket, then picked up the remote and began carefully typing in the ID and password for the OTT service.
<ID: jkpower7boy>
Pfft, a laugh burst from Bom's lips.
Jae-gyu casually mentioned that he used this for all his online IDs. On the screen, '*' characters appeared sequentially each time Jae-gyu pressed a key for the password.
Bom suddenly grew curious.
"How did you set your password?"
"Want me to show you? This is all unified too."
He didn't need to show her! Jae-gyu clicked 'Show Password'. Bom's eyes slowly blinked as she saw the screen.
<PASSWORD: 012486spring^^>
"What is this, really..."
A sudden heat rushed through her body, and her heart inexplicably pounded. That 'spring' must be referring to her, right?
"The special character requirements vary a bit, so some places use an exclamation mark, some use the 'well' character. This one is 'smiling Bom'."
"...What if I steal all your personal information? Why are you just telling me all that?"
Even as she grumbled, Jae-gyu's lips curved into a relaxed smile.
"Go ahead and steal it all. All my information is yours."
Then he actually started listing his personal information: his resident registration number, phone lock pattern, blood type, MBTI, underwear size... He seemed ready to even tell her his bank account password and hand over his OTP device.
"That's enough, stop talking."
"I can show you everything, clearly. Everything... even the most intimate parts..."
That's right, that line! It was what Jae-gyu had said to her when they had just started dating.
[I'll show you everything and then go down.]
[I'll come next time and see everything. That works, right?]
At the time, she never imagined she'd actually see everything. Even his underwear size, of all things.
"Want me to show you?"
"...No, thanks."
Jae-gyu's eyes suddenly gleamed. She glanced down and saw his sweatpants were already bulging.
Their eyes met, and their faces slowly drew closer. Jae-gyu wrapped his arm around Bom's waist and pulled her close. He tilted his head slightly and pressed his lips to hers.
He touched them lightly, then pulled away. This time, he gently crushed her lips, then released them. After a few repetitions, he opened his mouth and their tongues intertwined.
The fresh tangerine scent filled her mouth, and the floor beneath them was warm.
"Let's go to the bed."
Jae-gyu undressed her piece by piece, and Bom, with clumsy hands, helped him undress too. Soon, both were bare-skinned, touching and licking each other's intimate places.
Their bodies entwined, and they savored each other.
Jae-gyu, do you know?
Sometimes, us doing this feels more like a movie.
⋆★⋆
"Teacher."
Bom, who had been turning a page, looked up. It was the vice class president who had called her.
"Can I get another sheet of this paper? I pressed too hard and tore it."
As the vice class president waved the torn paper, those around him jeered.
"Damn, be more careful with it."
"How many times has that bastard done that? Are you an attention seeker?"
Winter break was just a few days away. Final exams had long since ended.
Like any other school, Shinsu High's atmosphere had become chaotic. Most teachers signed the attendance book, put on a movie, and then returned to the faculty office. The classroom was blasting heat, so no students bothered to leave for the chilly hallway.
However, Bom felt it was a bit wasteful to let the time just flow by like this. But since they couldn't review all the finished curriculum, she created a form and handed it out to the class.
She set the title like this and told them to plan how they would prepare for their senior year during winter break.
Actually, with exams over, everyone was relaxed, so she expected them to just want to watch a movie, but their rather serious demeanor made her feel pleased.
"Here you go. Please pass these out."
Bom handed the last remaining sheet to the vice class president and sat back down in her chair.
Bom, who had been fumbling to find the part she was just reading, simply closed the book with a thud and looked out the window.
Something's not right.