Sticky Notes

"So the bookshelf fell over and that's how this happened?"

"Yeah. Woo-hyun ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠got hurt because of it... so I just, without thinking..."

After Han Si-ah arrived, Nam Yu-ri—who had startled and toppled onto me—kept explaining.

Han Si-ah seemed willing to believe us, at least.

Not believing would have been harder, really.

The books from the shelf were all spilled across the floor, after all.

And the wound on my face was still right there.

Han Si-ah let out a long sigh of relief and said,

"Thank goodness."

"That I got hurt?"

"No. Not that. I thought you two were kissing or something. While I was gone."

At Han Si-ah's bombshell, Nam Yu-ri's face flushed so red she looked ready to faint.

Anyone watching would have thought someone had just choked her.

One more poke and she might actually explode.

"Th-th-th-there's no way!"

"..."

"Why would I-I and Woo-hyun k-kiss... all of a sudden..."

She snuck a glance at me as she said it, sounding less and less sure of herself.

I had no idea why her voice kept shrinking toward the end.

"But when a guy and a girl are stuck together like that, faces cupped in hands, staring straight at each other, nothing else comes to mind."

"That's true."

"Woo-hyun, why are you agreeing... seriously..."

So the misunderstanding was fair enough—that was the point.

Honestly I was just agreeing out of curiosity, to see how red Nam Yu-ri's face could actually get.

"Anyway, as long as it's not that, fine. I was starting to wonder if I was getting in the way between you two."

"It's not like that at all..."

Nam Yu-ri denied it with everything she had.

Knowing full well it wasn't true and still pushing that hard was pretty relentless of her.

More than that, though, I was curious about Han Si-ah's side of things.

"Hold on—more importantly, Han Si-ah, how did you even get in?"

I hadn't given her the password.

This girl had walked into the house without so much as ringing the doorbell.

That felt off, so I asked.

"Ah. That? I came through the main entrance with a resident. And the front door seemed broken? It didn't lock when I left earlier either."

Broken again already?

I'd felt uneasy since this morning, and sure enough—old house, nothing stayed in working order.

I really needed to replace that thing.

The door lock had failed often enough that I just took it in stride.

"Anyway. So how long is the break?"

"I think we should rest until we clean this up, at least."

When I said that while looking at the books, Nam Yu-ri nodded.

"...Yeah. I'll clean it up. Don't either of you touch it."

"It'd be faster if we do it together."

"I knocked it over."

"No. It's my fault too. I didn't warn you it was going to fall."

I argued and reached to help gather the books, but Nam Yu-ri held firm that she would handle it herself.

Watching from the side, Han Si-ah spoke up again, looking thoroughly unimpressed.

"Is this a lovers' quarrel? Should I leave again?"

"Si-ah, please stop..."

She teased Nam Yu-ri one more time, then giggled to herself.

I shot her a look that asked the obvious.

...Having fun?

Honestly, I was having a little fun too.

Even though the two of us weren't anything special.

Getting such delicious reactions from shipping us over nothing made me happy.

Plus she usually teased me and Han Si-ah the exact same way.

In that sense, this was payback.

In the end we even enlisted Han Si-ah, and the floor got cleaned up fast.

It hadn't been a large bookshelf, so organizing the books didn't take long.

Once everything was back in place, Nam Yu-ri looked at my face as if she still had unfinished business.

"Woo-hyun."

"Yeah?"

"Cleaning's done, so now let's treat that. What if your face scars?"

"Ah. That's fine. A guy with a scar on his face looks kinda cool."

"Don't put on airs. Hurry. Where's the first-aid kit."

"It's in the living room."

"Then let's go to the living room. Quickly."

Leaving Han Si-ah staring at us with a strange expression, I got dragged by Nam Yu-ri out to the living room.

"If you tell me where it is, I'll find it."

"It's fine. I'll find it faster."

Leaving Nam Yu-ri on standby, I rummaged through the living-room drawers.

Where was it again.

I'd only used it for my siblings and hadn't touched it in a while, so the location had slipped my mind.

"Ah. Here it is."

I found the first-aid kit and carried it over to the sofa.

Nam Yu-ri scurried after me and sat right down beside me.

"I'll just slap some on and go back in, so Nam Yu-ri, you go ahead first."

"What are you talking about. That's not allowed. I'm the one who hurt you. I'll apply it for you."

Haa.

This girl really did not listen.

But I knew how much she hated causing trouble for other people.

And knowing how severe Nam Yu-ri's obsessive perfectionism could get, I gave up trying to talk her out of it.

"Fine. Fine. Do whatever you want—roast me or boil me."

When I raised my hands in surrender, she finally looked satisfied.

Geez. Even that face was pretty.

This was why people said beauty forgave everything.

She pulled disinfectant, gauze, ointment, and bandages from the kit like someone who'd done a lot of first aid.

"Then you have to stay still without moving. It's under the eye, so if you move a lot it'll splash into your eye."

"Okay."

Holding still wasn't hard.

I'd done plenty of that in the military.

The only real problem was the scent of the beautiful girl pressed right up against me.

And her thighs lightly brushing mine through her shorts.

Or her face ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠drawing closer to examine the wound.

Those were much more distracting.

"That must hurt."

She dabbed disinfectant onto gauze and pressed it to the cut as she spoke.

It stung, but with an adult mind the pain was easy enough to endure.

"It doesn't hurt much, so don't worry."

"Liar. It tore bigger than I thought. There's no way it doesn't hurt."

Once the hydrogen peroxide had bubbled and the foam settled a little, she carefully applied ointment near my cheekbone with a cotton swab and stuck a bandage on with meticulous care.

"You're better at treating wounds than I expected."

"I got hurt a lot when I was little."

Ah. Right. That was true.

Nam Yu-ri was naturally active—a bit of a wild child.

As a kid she'd gotten into accidents all over the place.

It was only her parents forcing her down that had shaped her into this.

Of course she wouldn't have treated herself, but having constantly received treatment from someone made the familiarity natural.

In every delicate touch of hers there was a strange, careful precision.

Heavenly feminine, maybe.

"Anyway, that's it now? Treatment over?"

"Yeah. It's over, but."

"But?"

"Still, I'll apologize one more time. I'm sorry."

"Geez, I said it's fine."

"...But you got hurt trying to protect me, Woo-hyun."

Looking at that flustered face made even me uncomfortable.

I'd done it because I didn't want her to get hurt.

I hadn't particularly wanted an apology.

I didn't really want to lecture, but I thought she needed to learn the proper way to handle a situation like this.

As an adult.

"Nam Yu-ri."

"Yeah?"

"In times like this, apologizing makes me uncomfortable. I helped because I wanted to help you. It's not like I want an apology, right?"

"...Is that so? Then what should I do?"

She asked as if she genuinely didn't know.

I smiled at her and said,

"So in times like this, instead of apologizing, you give thanks. Try following. Thank you for helping me."

"...Thank you for helping me?"

"Yeah. Like that. Good job."

As expected of a model student.

I praised her quick absorption and stood up.

"From now on, if something like this happens, say it that way."

"...Okay."

We walked together back down the hallway toward my room.

Just before we reached it, Nam Yu-ri lightly caught my sleeve.

What now.

When I turned my head slightly to look at her, she spoke quietly with her head bowed a little.

"Thank you for wrapping ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠around me so I wouldn't get hurt. If it weren't for you, I probably would have gotten hurt badly."

Maybe so.

If the bookshelf had toppled straight onto her—

Just imagining it was terrifying.

Of course, since I was the cause in the first place, I'd only done what I had to do.

"And I was sorry so I couldn't say it, but..."

"..."

"Woo-hyun. You were cool."

Nam Yu-ri whispered that to me with a flushed face.

Not the forced thanks from earlier when she'd just been following my words.

A real thank-you coming from her heart.

This looked so much better than her only being sorry.

Full marks.

Her application skills were excellent too.

I nodded with a satisfied face.

When we got back to the room, Han Si-ah was pacing in front of my desk.

Confirming I'd come in, she glanced at me and asked,

"Where's Yu-ri?"

"She said she went to the bathroom."

Maybe she'd been embarrassed about thanking me.

Hiding her red ears, she'd fled to the bathroom.

"More than that, why are you looking for Nam Yu-ri first instead of the injured person."

"Making a fuss over a little scratch."

"Fuss? Hey, hey. Not just my face—I'm bruised all over, you know? It still hurts."

When I made a big show of massaging my legs and arms, Han Si-ah turned her head away as if she had zero interest.

Then she asked me nonchalantly,

"Did Yu-ri treat the wound?"

"What? Uh. Yeah, she did."

"Really?"

"Yeah."

"You two didn't do anything else while I was gone, right?"

"Do what. Us."

"How would I know."

"We didn't do anything. Just talked."

Why did this girl ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠even care about that in the first place.

Whatever we did, it really had nothing to do with Han Si-ah.

I wondered if it was because of that sense of exclusion she'd mentioned earlier.

At my answer she hummed a long "mmm," then suddenly turned her head to look at me.

There was the usual mischievous Han Si-ah again.

"Then never mind. Anyway, while you guys were gone I looked around your room a bit? Because I was bored?"

"Oh. And?"

"I wondered if you'd hidden something dirty, but there was nothing. Boring."

"Would there be."

Even if there had been, I'd have cleaned it all up before they came.

Did I look like some pushover?

"And I was surprised you live surprisingly cleanly."

"What did you think of me normally."

"Dunno. It was a bit different from the image of a guy's room I had in mind."

Well, that was the usual look, honestly.

My room hadn't been that clean until they showed up.

It was only because I'd scrubbed and cleaned thoroughly today.

She stood in front of the desk chair, looked next to my monitor, and called me.

"Seon Woo-hyun."

"Yeah."

"But what's this?"

"What."

"This sticky note."

At her call I walked over to the desk.

A small sticky note was attached next to the monitor.

It was the space where I usually memoed things I didn't want to forget.

If I stuck it on the desk, I saw it regularly.

"I usually stick memos here so I don't forget."

"Then this too?"

What she pointed to was one of them—a pink sticky note.

Ah. That one.

I realized why she was interested.

Because what was written there was this:

Various song titles were written there.

Naturally, the latest idol tracks I would never listen to on my own.

"...These are the songs you recommended to me, right?"

Because that was the list of songs Han Si-ah had recommended to me—the ones I had written down.