Girlfriend
"That's all there is to it. Really."
I explained the whole sequence of events to Nam Yu-ri.
Han Si-ah had refused to get off the bed, so I'd tried to pull her down—and that was how the accident happened. Nothing more.
Beside me, Han Si-ah's face had gone scarlet; she nodded along anyway.
Why does this keep happening with her, of all people?
It was the same at the karaoke place last time. Pointless misunderstandings just kept piling up.
"…"
The mortification must have finally broken through whatever limit she had left. Han Si-ah couldn't lift her head in front of Nam Yu-ri.
Well, yeah. Getting caught making a sound like that would do it.
Even to a guy like me, that little moan had sounded… suggestive. Of course it hadn't meant anything. A sensitive part of a girl's body had been pressed hard against something—hard enough that she'd toppled forward—and the sound had just slipped out in surprise.
Still. Whatever the reason.
"Uuuugh… I want to die. Just let me die… There's no point living anymore…"
Showing that kind of disgrace in front of your closest same-sex friend couldn't be easy. If I'd made a weird noise in front of Yoon Tae-jun, I'd be eternal punchline material for the rest of my life. Better to just end it myself.
Nam Yu-ri was too kind to tease her, of course—but the way her eyes kept flicking toward Si-ah made me wonder if that sound was still echoing in her head.
And it wasn't only Yu-ri who'd heard it. The other party involved—me—had been right there too. That made it worse.
"…Take responsibility."
"What?"
"I can't get married now, so you have to take responsibility…"
Sorry, but where do my feelings come into this…?
Tears welling, she shot me a laser glare.
Hold on. Is this my fault?
Okay, some of it was. But she'd been wrong too. Who refuses to get off the bed?
"Hey. Anyone listening would think I was the only one who messed up."
"It's not that, but… ugh. I don't know."
Granted, I'd come out ahead. How many guys in the world got to bury their face in something that impressive? It really had been one of those once-in-a-lifetime opportunities. If I could preserve the memory, I'd pass it down to my son as a family heirloom. Shame society hadn't advanced that far yet.
"I'm gonna hit the bathroom for a second…"
In the end Han Si-ah fled to the bathroom to collect herself. When she came back she was noticeably calmer; the dampness on her face said she'd splashed water on it.
She glanced at Nam Yu-ri, let out a long sigh, and turned to me.
"Sorry. I got too carried away, didn't I? It's been ages since I came over to a friend's place—I guess I got hyped."
"What are you apologizing for? We mess around like that all the time."
"Still. Invading the bed felt a little much."
"Doesn't bother me. I just wanted you off it because it supposedly smells weird."
It wasn't that I hated her lying on the bed. It was that the male of the species can leave… residual odors on a mattress. Even after laundry. Ahem.
"Anyway, that conversation ends here. We don't bring it up again."
Si-ah clearly wanted the whole thing buried and forgotten. Neither Yu-ri nor I had any desire to keep talking about it, so we both nodded.
"…"
Even with the situation "resolved," the awkwardness hung thick. Everyone just eyed one another, no one daring to start a new topic—afraid one wrong word would drag the whole mess back up.
"What are we supposed to do about this atmosphere?"
"Pfft. Right?"
I broke the silence first; Nam Yu-ri let out a soft laugh in agreement. Once the two of us started chuckling, Han Si-ah looked at us with a face that had recovered a little.
Then Yu-ri, ever the class president, reined in the loosened discipline.
"We should get back to studying. Break time's over."
"Ah. Yeah."
"…Okay."
It had been an absurdly eventful break—long enough to feel like it had lasted forever. Honestly, I was pretty sure I'd remember the chaos more clearly than any of the actual lesson material.
I turned naturally to Si-ah, who still looked mortified.
"Hey, you gonna leave that? You bought it to drink, didn't you?"
"Ah. Right. My coffee."
She scurried over to the white convenience-store bag she'd dropped earlier. One hand came up holding a caramel macchiato; the other held a bottle of reddish liquid that she held out to Nam Yu-ri.
"Here. Drink this."
"For me?"
"Yeah. Black tea. You don't like sweet stuff, so this was pretty much the only tea they had."
Actually she loves sweet things, I thought, but at school everyone believed otherwise, so I kept my mouth shut.
"Thanks, Si-ah. I'll enjoy it."
"Mm. And in exchange, you completely forget about today, okay?"
"Heh. Already forgotten. Don't worry."
"…Don't laugh."
After that cute little pout at Yu-ri, Si-ah sat back down. Yu-ri took her seat as well.
Back to it, then.
I hated studying with a passion, but exams were coming up, so I gritted my teeth and sat beside them.
Then a thought struck me—kind of unfair, actually.
"Hey. Han Si-ah."
"What."
"You got something for Yu-ri and yourself. How come there's nothing for me?"
"Because I felt like it. Yu-ri and I are friends."
"Then what am I?"
"Just some kid in the same class I know?"
"You're seriously cold."
I'm kind of sensitive about stuff like this, you know. Might actually get hurt.
Okay, I wouldn't get that hurt—but the fact that she'd bought drinks for everyone except me did leave me a little dejected.
I thought we'd gotten closer lately… was that just me?
We weren't exactly the type to look out for each other, sure. Still, I hadn't expected her to leave me out completely.
Si-ah watched my face for a second, then grumbled and rummaged through the plastic bag.
"Anyone watching would think I'd stashed a drink just for you. Seriously. Here. Take it or leave it."
What she handed over was the exact same coffee as hers—caramel macchiato. Same brand, same size, everything.
"Why is it the same as yours?"
"I didn't buy it for you. It was a one-plus-one deal."
"Ah~ is that so? How very generous of you."
"Oh? Sarcasm? Want me to take it back?"
"No, ma'am. I'll enjoy it thoroughly. Sorry for mouthing off."
I bowed and scraped and accepted the coffee she'd bought. Nam Yu-ri watched the whole exchange with a fond little smile.
"You two really are close. As expected."
"Where?"
"Me? With her?"
"Even the way you both get all flustered is identical."
Yu-ri chuckled as we both bristled and lunged at her. I watched her, then jammed the straw into my caramel macchiato and took a long pull. Sweet caramel flooded my mouth and my mood lifted instantly.
"Delicious. Okay. Energy restored. Let's start again."
"Mm. Ready?"
One-plus-one or not—who cared? The important part was that she'd bought it for me at all.
I found myself thinking that while watching Han Si-ah, who for some reason kept sneaking glances at both our coffees.
Once the exam-prep study session wrapped up, I fed the two of them a solid meal and sent them home.
"You're surprisingly good at cooking."
"That? I make food for my little siblings all the time, and I've cooked on my own plenty."
Living alone for a while had helped, and with our parents getting off work ridiculously late, I was usually the one on dinner duty for the kids. Lunch had been something easy—omurice.
"I was surprised too. Woo-hyun can do a lot more than I expected."
"Hey, Nam Yu-ri. Exactly how incompetent did you think I was?"
"Hehe."
Laughing doesn't make it okay, you know. Looking at the old Seon Woo-hyun, though, I couldn't really blame her for thinking that.
I walked them from the living room all the way to the front door. No need to escort them the rest of the way home—it was still broad daylight, and Yu-ri's driver would almost certainly be waiting.
"Well, I'm heading out, Woo-hyun."
"See you?"
The two of them stood at the entrance looking back at me.
"Yeah. Get home safe. See you at school next week."
I waved them off. The moment Nam Yu-ri's hand touched the doorknob, the door suddenly swung open with a bang.
"Huh? Oppa, is the door lock broken again? The keypad's—eh?"
Si-ah and Yu-ri both jumped a little, shot me a "who is that?" look, and edged back. A tiny kid stepped inside. She seemed equally startled to find strangers in the house and stared at me like she was asking what on earth was going on.
"Oh. Ah-hyeon's home."
I called the little one's name. Saturday. Normally a day off from school, but this poor elementary-schooler had after-school programs every other weekend, so she still had to go.
"Is this not our house? No, wait—Oppa is here, so…?"
Blink, blink. She rubbed her eyes like something was wrong, looked at the two girls again, then turned back to me with a blank expression.
The two of them took one look at her face, decided she resembled me, and immediately figured out she was my sister.
"Hi. Are you Seon Woo-hyun's little sister?"
"Your name's Ah-hyeon? So cute. Hello, Ah-hyeon."
The two women offered awkward greetings. Ah-hyeon accepted them, then her mouth fell open in pure shock.
"Pretty…"
She stared at them for a second like she'd been enchanted. Well, fair enough. Even I, who saw them every day, still lost my mind sometimes. To a little girl like Ah-hyeon they probably looked like idols on TV—except one of them actually was going to be an idol.
Then she snapped out of it and started muttering like the impossible had just happened.
"…O-Oppa brought girlfriends home?! Two of them?! No way. That Oppa? Our Oppa?"
What kind of nonsense is this now?
Them? My girlfriends?
I snorted at the classic little-kid fantasy—then both girls' faces went faintly pink.
"…Um. Sorry, but we're not girlfriends."
"…Y-yeah. Me neither."
Why are you two fidgeting?
…You don't take a kid's words that seriously, girls.