Yandere Rampage! (2)
I wasn't kidding. It was genuinely terrifying.
"Oppa, why didn't you do it? Was the promise you made me that cheap?"
"You know what? I've been waiting this whole time. Quietly. Patiently. I believed in you."
"I believed in you!"
"So how could you just try to get out of the car?"
"One kiss! Did I ask for that much? One kiss! Just one damn kiss!"
"No—no, our kisses aren't just anything. I'm sorry. I didn't mean it like your lips are no big deal. You know that, right?"
"They're valuable. They're sweet. That's why I waited all day! Do you get it?"
"Oppa, you're really too much. I was the only one who was serious, wasn't I? I was the only one looking forward to it, wasn't I? Just me…! Just me! Just me! Just me! Just me!"
"No. I wasn't yelling. If it sounded like that, I'm sorry. You're just exhausted today, right? That's it, isn't it? Look—there's no way you did it on purpose. I'm sorry. I think I'm pushing too hard."
"Just say it already!"
Tears streamed from her wide, unblinking eyes, and even so her gaze never left me for a second. She wasn't watching the road, yet the car carved through the corners with smooth, unnerving grace—which, if anything, only made it more frightening.
Riyeon kept swinging between fury and apology like someone in the grip of a manic episode, and I was too rattled to think straight.
"Of course I didn't do it on purpose."
"I was just so pissed off and wiped out from dealing with my team lead and the executives today."
"Riyeon, if what I feel for you were light, I wouldn't even be apologizing right now."
"I'm sorry. Really. I knew how much you were looking forward to it, and I still got completely buried in my own problems."
The wounded, vicious little cat stared at me without so much as a blink. My rapid-fire excuses didn't even register—like disinfectant poured onto a raw, open wound that simply refused to flinch.
What the hell was this outburst, anyway?
For a sudden flare-up, the depth and density of the emotion were way too intense. For someone supposedly angry over something so small, she looked genuinely, desperately hurt.
At times like this, rational persuasion was useless. You had to appeal to the heart. To the feelings. And you had to mean every word.
"Riyeon."
"Oppa treats this like some casual fling! I'm not that easy of a girl. Do you know how much I thought about this, how much I agonized before I even started this with you? How can you do this?!"
"Riyeon. How could we be casual? We've had drinks together, shared meals, spent the weekend with each other—how is any of that light?"
"See?! Even you said it out loud. We already have time and memories together, and out of all of that—out of all of that—you just completely forgot the one thing I asked for yesterday, the one thing we promised? That means you're taking me lightly. Doesn't it? If not, give me a reason why not!"
The wounded cat's reaction was painfully transparent. Even as she raged at me, the one doing the yelling and accusing was the one who was scared. She was terrified of what might come out of my mouth. Her eyes trembled at the thought that I might deny us, that I might cut us off.
Tears had filled to the brim and kept overflowing. One tremor, one tear. One tear, one spoonful of fear.
She knew losing me would be the worst possible outcome, and still the resentment poured out of her uncontrolled—like she was self-destructing right in front of me. A cat hissing and pleading at the same time. She'd been touched on her reverse scale, she couldn't rein in the anger, so please just soothe her, please just reassure her.
Hmm.
How romantic.
I glanced down. One of Riyeon's hands wasn't on the wheel. This woman had been driving one-handed the entire time while staring only at me.
That was genuinely terrifying.
"Where are you looking?! Look at me!"
She snapped, sharp and fierce, but I was already seized by a strange certainty. I laid my hand—cold despite the heater—over hers. She tried to shake me off; I tightened my grip and held her firm. Then I lifted my eyes and looked at her again, locking her solidly inside my field of vision.
"Riyeon."
I let my voice drop into something very calm and brushed it against her ear.
"If I really thought of you lightly, would I have held your hand right out in the open on a street full of people from work?"
"……."
It landed. She was still huffing, but the wild thrashing stopped.
"I'm not as open with my feelings as you are. I don't let people in easily either."
"……."
It worked, but the dose was too weak. This alone wasn't going to cut it.
For what it's worth, I was confident in improvising. If I just let my body take the lead, I at least wouldn't step on a landmine.
I lifted the hand I was holding and pressed my lips firmly to each of her knuckles.
"Hhh…"
The breath she'd been holding to seal away the sorrow finally broke free.
Good. Now drive the point home.
"Oppa is sorry. Riyeon, please forgive me. If it hurts that much, want me to stay with you until it doesn't?"
Was I being sincere? Myself?
I'd gotten carried away by the moment and delivered a line so saccharine I could barely stand it. But the answer key tailored specifically for Riyeon turned out to be an instant cure that worked on her and her alone. Even I couldn't endure the words coming out of my own mouth.
"Hiiiiiiing…!"
At last Riyeon burst into full, messy tears. One hand on the wheel, the other trapped in mine, she wiped her face with her shoulder—and honestly, I was still incredibly nervous. Forgiveness aside, she still hadn't been watching the road this whole time!!
Fortunately, once she'd scrubbed the tears off on her shoulder, she went back to staring properly ahead while hitching and gasping. Except she kept wiping and wiping without stopping, so I stayed on edge the whole time.
I was going to lose my mind.
"I… I told you… everything with Oppa is… the first time in my life… hiiiiing… and you just… treated it like it was nothing…"
"Riyeon. That's not true."
"From the very first day we really talked, everything was a first for me. Holding hands, kissing, lying down together—all of it…! The more time I spend with you, the more sure I am that you're a good person, so how could you forget the very first thing I ever asked for, starting from day one? How could you do that?"
"I'm sorry, I'm sorry. Oppa will never forget again. I promise."
"……."
Those lips sealed shut once more. I called on my improvisation again—on instinct. I had more room to breathe this time, because I could feel sweat in our joined palms. My hand, which had been cold, was warming up, and so was hers.
"Riyeon."
"……."
"I have a confession."
The ear left bare from roughly wiping away tears twitched. Her piercings swayed with the small movement.
"Most of what I've done with you is a first for me, too. Firsts with a woman."
"……."
"I'm a total virgin, remember?"
She squeezed my hand harder. More sweat welled between our palms, slick and warm. Not a bad sign. And then Riyeon's blinking returned.
Wait—she was blinking way too much.
"…What isn't?"
"Huh?"
"Out of everything we've done… which ones weren't a first?"
"Texting one-on-one. Oh, and eating together, just the two of us. But never drinks. The texts were mostly work, with the occasional bit of small talk that slipped in—still work at the end of the day. The meals were lunch for project stuff… just labor issues we were handling. That's all."
"……."
"Everything else—breakfast, dinner, drinking, drinking three days in a row, going to each other's places, especially a woman's place, walking together, kissing, getting rides to and from work—all firsts."
Without hesitation I listed off every shared achievement we'd unlocked, one after another. Not a single lie among them. I'd been too broke scraping by to even dream of dating, never mind any real experiences. Riyeon herself was the comet of absurdity and nonsense that had crashed into my life.
Yes, I'd screwed up—but a beautiful woman who would genuinely sulk and cry and make a scene over not getting a kiss from me? I was grateful she existed. And I meant that.
Riyeon's hand twitched. It seemed like her mood was finally easing.
Alright. Time for the real finishing blow.
"…And you're also the first person I've ever told all of this to."
She clenched my hand so hard it almost hurt. The sniffling stopped. The tip of her nose was red, but she was pressing her lips together and gathering up the last of the sobs.
Right on cue, the car came to a stop.
"Sleep at my place and go to work from there."
"Okay."
I glanced out the window—apartment underground parking. Last time I'd waited at the front gate and gone up from there, so this was my first time coming all the way into the garage.
Another first. Why were there so many of these?
She parked with perfect smoothness and cut the engine. Seat belts clicked free, and we both opened our doors at the same time and stepped out. Even underground, the air was cooler than inside the car. Belatedly I felt the sweat drying sticky all over my body. But neither of us cared about that.
I hurried around the hood toward her. Riyeon tilted her chin up and glared at me. I walked right up without flinching, shoved her by the shoulders, and pinned her against the wall.
"Eup! Mm—!"
I ignored the pointless resistance and went ahead with the kiss.
Not a kiss. A peck. Just a peck—except the smacking sounds were absurdly loud. Riyeon had tried to turn her face away, but after a few of those wet little sounds she simply grabbed both my cheeks and pulled me in harder.
I didn't count how many. I started it, but she finished it. Nobody had written that rule down, but it might as well have been law. When Riyeon finally released me, eyes closed, savoring me like a rich dessert and smacking her lips, a full hour had already passed since we'd arrived.
She took the lead, opening the parking gate and stopping in front of the elevator. I stood quietly beside her. Before long the doors slid open. We stepped inside and waited leisurely, just in case anyone else was coming.
No one did. The doors closed. A faint lift of weightlessness, and we started to move.
At the same moment, Riyeon and I both turned toward each other. I pulled her in by the waist; she hooked her hands around the back of my neck.
"Chuuup! Chuk!"
I couldn't even tell whose mouth the sounds were coming from. But it still wasn't a kiss. Just pecks. Only pecks. We were still in the talking stage, and there were still so many firsts left for us to do together—so we could take our time and enjoy this little grace period, this careful distance, for as long as we wanted.