Episode 70: Cha Na-ra Loves?!
Episode 70: Cha Na-ra Loves?!
Chapter 70: Cha Nara Loves?!
"Sijun, just a minute."
Nara, who had been looking in the mirror, grabbed her bag and disappeared into the bathroom. As far as I could tell, her makeup was fine, but she must have thought otherwise—she rushed in there in a hurry.
Sitting on the bed, I found myself scrolling through SNS and marveling all over again.
"Damn, seriously..."
A dance video of Nara had come up—the kind where she showed off her waistline while swaying her hips.
She was a girl whose first time was supposed to be today. But if she moved her hips like that on top of me... I didn't think I could hold back.
"You sick bastard. You sick bastard."
I was in the middle of scolding myself when I realized Nara was taking strangely long. I knocked on the bathroom door and called out to her.
"Nara?"
"Yeah?"
"Is it gonna take a while?"
"Yeah... a little?"
"Alright."
For a simple touch-up, it was taking a little long. But she was a woman, and in a way this was our first real date, so I decided to wait.
While I waited, I crossed over to the office, checked if there was anything to do for the next day, and got a little work done in advance.
Like that, thirty minutes passed before Nara finally came out.
"What the—?"
Nara's makeup had been completely redone.
"What?"
Was it different from before? Well, no, it wasn't different.
But as someone who had spent plenty of time watching the older girls do their makeup up close, I could tell whether this was a fresh face, a touched-up face, or a face that had been sitting for a while.
"Did you redo your makeup?"
"Huh... how could you tell?"
"You think I wouldn't notice? I'm a TA at an arts university, in my own way. In the Acting Department, no less."
I don't wear makeup much myself, but a lot of the other TAs are actors, so even the guys end up wearing it pretty often. Bits and pieces of makeup-related chatter end up drifting past my ears all the time.
"Oh, right."
"You could've told me—I would've waited without worrying."
"I should've... sorry."
"It's fine. You look pretty."
"Really?"
Maybe it was one of those days where makeup just goes on perfectly, because she looked even prettier than usual.
"Let's go!"
My compliment seemed to lift her spirits. She flashed a bright smile, came up beside me, and started tugging at my arm.
One minute I thought she was awkward with physical contact, the next I genuinely couldn't tell. Was I really that unpredictable when I was twenty? Terrifying thought.
I got Nara settled into the passenger seat and used the car's premium features to darken the window tint enough to keep her hidden.
It made driving slightly annoying, but if someone snapped a photo and it turned into an article, that would be a whole lot more annoying.
"Where are we going?"
"A theater."
"A theater? Is that okay?"
"It's fine. It's a place just for the two of us."
I glanced over at Nara, who had taken my right hand and was fiddling with it, and let out a soft chuckle. I drove as carefully as I could. The environment was different from usual, so I drove with a bit more delicacy than normal.
Nara must have picked up on my mood, because she didn't try to make conversation, and I was genuinely grateful for that.
We arrived at the theater run by Haru's older sister—the same place I'd come with Haru on our first date.
After confirming there was no one around, I quickly ushered Nara into the building.
With Haru, Eunhwi, or Sieun, I didn't have to go to these lengths. But Nara was an idol—this kind of thing could be catastrophic for her.
Of course, since I'm a clearly verifiable person, maybe all this caution was overkill. But in the entertainment world, there are plenty of people who'd see a single photo and spin entire baseless theories out of thin air. And those baseless theories become articles, and those articles become accepted fact. That was the industry. We had to be extra careful.
"Wow!"
The moment we stepped into the theater, Nara let out a gasp of admiration.
"Oh!"
I followed suit with my own gasp.
"What—haven't you been here before?"
"I have, but the layout's changed a lot..."
The screen had gotten bigger, a lot of the cluttered decorations were gone, and the bed where Haru and I had shared that deep kiss had been replaced by a wide, oversized bed.
"But, Sijun?"
"Yeah?"
"There aren't any chairs."
"Uh... yeah, you're right."
A low table with a hole in the middle, a bed, a screen, a projector... no chairs. Even that uncomfortable sofa from before was gone.
"So we're... doing it here? You pervert."
"No... that's not... there were definitely chairs here before..."
I'd managed to land myself in a completely unnecessary misunderstanding.
"What movie should we watch?"
"Hmm... this one!"
Nara picked a movie that had become practically synonymous with romance over the past five years or so. I'd seen it a few times myself, but it was the kind of film that stayed entertaining every time, so I had no objections.
"Have you seen this one before, by the way?"
"I've only heard about it."
The issue was that it was R-rated, so Nara probably hadn't been allowed to watch it. Though maybe she'd snuck a viewing in?
"Really?"
"I was seriously diligent, Sijun..."
"Alright, I'm sorry."
"Hmph..."
Nara put on a pouty expression, so I immediately pulled her into a hug and rocked her gently as an apology. She didn't seem all that seriously upset—she hugged me back and swayed along with me.
I put a little strength into it and lifted Nara just enough that her feet left the ground.
"Eep!"
Startled, she clung to me even tighter. I swayed her softly, and the sound of her laughter rang right next to my ear.
"This is fun!"
"I'm struggling here."
"Struggling? Should I lose more weight?"
"Where exactly do you have weight to lose..."
It was the same with Eunhwi and now her—honestly, their fixation on weight, or whatever you wanted to call it, was pretty intense.
Nara, being an idol, was even more sensitive about it. They filmed her with those massive cameras—fancams or whatever—close enough to see her pores. She probably felt like she couldn't afford to look even slightly off.
She could afford to take it a little easier, though...
We sat at the table planning to eat the popcorn we'd bought while watching the movie, but the microwave I remembered was gone, so we had no choice but to give up.
"Where should we watch?"
"Let's lie down on the bed."
"Sure."
Cha Nara was the kind of girl who looked like a total social butterfly but never left her bed at home. That was part of why people were so endlessly curious about her as an idol—and part of why I had to be that much more careful.
"Aren't you a little too obsessed with beds, though?"
"Beds are the best thing in the world."
"Better than me?"
It was a slightly childish question, but it slipped out of my mouth before I could stop it.
"Well... no, that's not it. You're my favorite, Sijun. And my parents... and the older girls..."
My surprise attack of a question had completely short-circuited Nara.
I let out a soft chuckle, reached over, and gently stroked her hair—careful not to mess it up—as I told her it was just a joke.
"What the heck!!"
Smack smack smack—hmph hmph hmph
"Ack! Ack! I told you to fix that!"
She did say she'd grown up fighting with her actual older brother. When she got annoyed, her hands flew first. I took a few hits to the back of the head—if I hadn't dodged the later ones, I might've blacked out on the spot.
"Ah, sorry. You just remind me of my mom's son sometimes."
Her family had come up once before in conversation, which had led to the topic of her brother.
"If your parents work in the entertainment industry, does your brother work in it too?"
"He almost did, technically. He was a trainee, then he got a regular job and got married."
"Impressive..."
"Impressive my ass..."
A sweet girl like her transformed completely the moment her own brother came up.
"Whoa!! Sijun, this bed is insane!"
"Yeah? Ask Haru about it, then."
Nara kicked off her shoes and threw herself onto the bed, then let out a cry of pure wonder.
"Haru?"
"Yeah."
"Is this Haru's place?"
"It's run by Haru's older sister, apparently."
"Oh... I've gotta ask..."
I took off my shoes and climbed onto the bed too. I'd been impressed last time as well, but now that the size had increased, it was genuinely even better.
"Incredible..."
"It wasn't like this before?"
"Before it was... a single? Around that size. That's probably why—it wasn't nearly this big back then. Maybe it's custom-made..."
"I've seriously gotta ask."
"Me too."
"What are you planning to do to the older girls on that bed? From what I've heard, you torment them almost every night?"
"Cough!"
"You okay?"
I nearly spat out the water I'd been drinking. Nara patted my back and asked if I was alright, but between the water and my voice refusing to work properly, I couldn't answer.
"Ahem, ack!"
I cleared my throat and reached out to stroke Nara's cheek as she looked at me with worried eyes.
"I'm fine. You just caught me off guard."
"Really?"
"Yeah. But... the older girls really talk about that kind of thing?"
"Well, they said they'd tell me the details after they've experienced it themselves..."
She vented her frustration, complaining that they wouldn't include her in the conversations because she "wasn't a proper woman yet" and treated her like a child.
"Haru is so annoying!"
Especially Park Haru, she said—she'd only been a woman instead of a girl for a few months, but she walked around acting so damn smug about it.
"I'll scold her for you."
"Yeah, you'd better!"
Nara even held out her pinky finger, demanding I keep the promise.
I hooked my pinky around hers and promised.
"Should I turn off the lights?"
"Yeah."
I worked the remote to kill the lights, fired up the projector, and started the movie. The quiet hum of the projector filled the room, and the movie's opening score played softly.
We lay side by side, propped diagonally against the headboard, holding hands and facing forward as we watched the film.
About ten minutes in, I heard Nara take a deep breath—maybe she was cold. I slipped my arm behind her, gently pulled her closer, and unfolded the blanket that had been beside us, draping it over both of us.
"Heehee."
Nara let out a pleased little laugh and nestled into my arms.
Time passed, and when the movie's plot had progressed to a certain point, the two leads suddenly started kissing.
And then the atmosphere between us turned strange. We fidgeted with each other's hands, stealing glances, unsure what to do, avoiding eye contact—until our eyes finally met.
And at the same moment, we called each other's names.
"Sijun..."
"Nara..."
The movie no longer registered in our eyes. We saw only each other's faces, and slowly, we drew closer.
"Mwah! But my lipstick's gonna rub off..."
"Then we'll just redo it."
"Hnn..."
"You don't like it?"
"No... I like it."
"..."
"..."
We let a brief, wordless moment stretch between us, speaking only with our eyes, before slowly drawing close once more.
As it happened, the sounds of the movie's leads sharing a deep kiss drifted from the screen at the exact same time.
"Slurp, shlurp, sluuurp... Sijun..."
"Shlurrp..."
"I love you, Nara."
"I love you too."
It was a little early for a love confession, but saying "I love you" felt more fitting right now than just "I like you."