The Night of the Weekend We Finally Spent
Riyeon hung around my place until late afternoon before finally heading out.
We'd gone for a walk, come back home, and she'd kept playing me her favorite anime songs one after another. I gave her my honest takes—liked this one, not so much that one—and we put together a playlist. She nodded along with a look of pure satisfaction.
"Oppa, can't you come to my place with me?"
"I've got to get ready for work tomorrow."
"You can do that at my place."
The way she pouted and whined was adorable. I wanted to kiss her, but once we started it was always a good thirty minutes of nothing but soft smacking sounds, so I had to restrain myself. I'd barely managed to fend off kissing time with anime songs earlier; I wasn't about to light that fire again.
"We've already spent plenty of time together."
"Not enough. Nowhere near enough. I wish weekends were six days a week."
"Okay, yeah, I can get behind that."
Weekends really were too short.
"Still, I haven't done a single bit of housework, and I've got to take care of that before bed, so going over to your place is out."
"Why~!"
She clung to me with a yell, but I'd prepared my lines for exactly this.
"If I clean it up now, next time you come over I won't have to show you a dirty place. And the apartment's tiny—if I don't keep the dust under control it's bad for the lungs, you know?"
"Next time I come over?"
"Yeah. Or was today a one-time-only visit?"
Riyeon tilted her head and looked at me for a moment, then tilted it even more.
"You could just call a cleaning service. It's fine to be thrifty, Oppa, but you shouldn't skimp on things that matter for your health. Want me to book one? There's apps for it now and they work really well."
I'd completely forgotten.
That Riyeon lived several times more comfortably than I did.
Our entire ways of thinking were different. Mine was "I'll just do it myself no matter what." Hers started from the premise of "if it's annoying and I don't want to, money solves it."
So without thinking I answered,
"Nah, it's fine. Place is so small there's barely anything to clean. Waste of money."
"Yeah, I guess that's true."
I felt like I'd lost somehow. I could've cried.
But what Riyeon said next nearly dropped me to my knees.
"When you call a cleaning service it's usually a woman who shows up. I can't have some other woman going into Oppa's house. Hmm… thinking about it is making me mad. Don't call one. Got it?"
I'd lost.
The way she moved through thought itself was on another level.
Just how much demonic charm did a man like me possess for a woman like Riyeon to make me the center of her world? Last time, in that guy's world, I hadn't even managed to stick around as a background extra. The two extremes were ridiculous.
Still, I preferred the version where she liked me this much. And I planned to treat her carefully in return, as carefully as she treasured me.
When I stepped out to walk her to the station, Riyeon just stared at me. She stood there like a stone statue, so this time I was the one tilting my head.
A crease formed between her brows.
What? Why? What's the problem?
Deduce. Remember. Find the answer.
I didn't need to dig back too far. Our proper meetings hadn't even lasted a full week. The big leap in our relationship was this weekend, today included. I only had to go back to the start of that.
Opening: Riyeon's place. Extremely spacious, solid proof of wealth.
Development: When I tried to go home she latched on. Said she'd come to my place first.
Crisis: On the subway. Raising her voice to create misunderstandings, whispering filthy things to make me squirm.
Climax: My place. Bottomless heat that kicked me out of my own home so she could take care of herself.
And now.
There it was. The clue!
In the time it took me to figure it out, Riyeon's eyes had gone almost as sharp as a cat about to swipe. But I had the answer.
I held my hand out to her with triumph.
"Hmph!"
She was sulking.
Feeling a little wronged, I tried to explain.
"I thought you'd reach out first."
"…It hurts my pride if I'm always the one who does it first. I'm a girl too. Sometimes I want the guy to take the lead."
Hard. A woman's heart.
Hmm. Then maybe I should mess with her a little.
I pulled my hand back and dropped to one knee like some over-the-top medieval noble, about to ask for her hand. The subway incident came to mind and I suddenly wanted payback for the misunderstanding she'd caused me then.
I started lowering my hand, a little embarrassed.
"Ah…!"
Instead Riyeon freaked out. Before my hand could fully drop she rushed over and laced her fingers through mine.
Looking like she was about to cry, she apologized desperately.
"I'm sorry. I'm sorry. I didn't mean don't do it. Did I hurt your feelings? I'm sorry. I just wanted you to hold my hand first. I'm not mad. Oppa's not mad, right? I'm the one who's sorry."
From hand-holding she moved straight into linking arms and leaning against me. Her heart was pounding hard. Startled myself, I hurried to soothe her.
"It's not like that. I was just teasing—I was going to kneel like a noble and ask for your hand."
"You didn't need to go that far. I'm sorry, Oppa. I'm sorry."
Her expression was frantic, on the verge of tears. The extreme swing worried even me.
Maybe it was because she hadn't had friends for so long. One little bit of sulking and she was terrified I'd get upset and vanish.
It made me feel sorry for her, and it also made me realize the road ahead wasn't going to be entirely smooth.
"It's okay. It's okay."
"Oppa, I'm really sorry…"
"Riyeon, I don't get mad over stuff like this. It was just a little mix-up. We both wanted the other person to go first."
"Even tiny cracks like this pile up and explode later… Look at everything. People don't talk things out, little misunderstandings stack up, and that's how it ends…"
"Just because people are in the same situation doesn't mean everyone makes the same choices. And our relationship is real."
"Oppa, you know."
Riyeon squeezed my hand like she might crush it. She was calmer, but she still hadn't fully let go of her tension.
"No fiction can keep up with reality."
Hmm. What else could I say to soothe her?
My brain turned while my mouth moved at the same time.
"You said you were good at reading people. The me you see—is that someone who sulks and cuts people off over something this small?"
"It's not that Oppa is that kind of person. And if I mess up with you and it ends up that way, that's another— mmph…!"
Her self-loathing seemed to be getting worse, so I just kissed her.
After a deep press of lips, when I pulled back a little, her breathing had evened out.
"Calmed down?"
"Oppa, can I really just kidnap you?"
Thank god.
She was back to the usual Riyeon.
Wait… is this something I should be glad about?
"Let's go. I checked the route—there's a bus that goes straight there."
"Really? But driving's more comfortable for me."
"My place doesn't have parking."
"I'll just use a public lot."
Completely unfazed by all-day parking fees?
How rich was she?
Third-generation chaebol, maybe?
If she were a chaebol heir, would she even need to work at a mid-sized company like this?
Everything else was fine, but the gap in wealth between Riyeon and me weighed on me a lot. Her low social skills, her obsession—all of that I could handle. But this cold, practical difference was genuinely intimidating.
I pushed the thought aside as we stood hand-in-hand at the bus stop.
The sun had set and it was dark. Normally this was the hour when the knowledge of tomorrow's work made me miserable and half-insane, but today was different. Spending the rest with Riyeon, doing things with her, left me feeling like Monday's arrival was a real shame—but also that this had been a weekend I'd enjoyed and rested in fully.
Strange.
Apparently this wasn't a one-way relationship where only she needed me.
"Oppa, I'm going."
"See you tomorrow."
When the bus she needed appeared in the distance, Riyeon said goodbye. Even then her eyes never left me, like she was hoping I'd say we should go together or head back to my place.
In that case, maybe it was time to mess with her properly.
I hugged her.
She hugged me back.
I leaned in and whispered against the ear framed by her blue hair.
"Riyeon."
"Yeah."
"Truth is… I like making people wait."
"……"
"You like being on the receiving end too, don't you?"
Riyeon wasn't the only one good at reading people. I'd said more than once that I had a good eye myself—at least when it came to company life. And after a few days with her I'd felt it strongly.
Riyeon put on a tough front, but when she crossed a line without realizing it and I scolded her for it, she pouted on the outside while feeling genuinely happy inside. Riyeon might be a masochist. I couldn't be sure, but it seemed likely. So I decided to test it now.
"…I don't know."
She refused to answer. I couldn't see what color her ear was under the black strands of hair, which was a shame. At least her breathing hadn't settled.
The bus stopped and the doors opened.
"I'm really going."
"Yeah."
"Ah, not many people. Relax, Oppa."
"Relax about what?"
When I asked in confusion, Riyeon smiled mischievously.
"It's not a packed bus."
Then she pulled me close and whispered.
"Oppa's actually the jealous type too, right?"
"…I don't know."
I gave her the same answer back, and Riyeon bit my earlobe. It didn't hurt—just tickled.
"Kids who aren't honest get punished."
"You know that applies to you too, right?"
"…Ehehehe~."
Caught, Riyeon stuck her tongue out with a grin.
"Bye."
"Bye, Oppa."
As the bus pulled away I waved hard at Riyeon by the window. Once the vehicle was gone I shoved my hands in my pockets and turned around.
The walk home suddenly felt like hard labor.
Weirdly empty.
Bzzzzzt.
A text.
Of course.
Wouldn't be Riyeon otherwise.
Heavy. This was heavy.
And yet my mouth was smiling.