The Girl Who Wants to Be More Than a Friend
Chae Riji covered her mouth, realizing her mistake.
"Oh, I'm so sorry...!"
There was no malice in it. She had just been so excited to see Yang Dajun that the words had slipped out before she could stop them.
Chae Riji bowed repeatedly, her mind racing as she pictured Lee Yurim. 'Ah, she was the person I met at the hair salon.'
Lee Yurim and Yang Dajun had looked so close she’d mistaken them for a couple. They said they weren't dating yet, but the possibility seemed higher than with anyone else.
'I was so disappointed back then. I’d only met Dajun once since that day. I’d gathered all my courage to give him those chocolates... I realized then that dating isn't as easy as I thought.'
She had been feeling down because Yang Dajun hadn't called her. But now, she wondered why he had suddenly reached out.
Chae Riji glanced between the two, reading the room carefully.
"Ugh, I'm really, really sorry."
"It's fine. She doesn't care about stuff like that."
"Dajun?"
Chae Riji froze, blinking at Yang Dajun.
"Yeah. Lee Yurim, right?"
"...Yeah."
"See? She said it's fine."
'Dajun is so kind...'
The atmosphere could have easily turned sour, but Yang Dajun had saved it. He must have viewed Lee Yurim as a laid-back person. He nudged Lee Yurim, trying to laugh it off as a joke.
'They're incredibly close.'
They wouldn't be poking each other's shoulders like that if they weren't extremely intimate. She’d heard they were childhood friends. Seeing them standing together now, it looked like they’d been doing this for a long time.
"But Dajun," Chae Riji said, offering an awkward smile as she watched them. She finally asked the question that had been burning in her mind.
"Why did you call me...?"
Aha.
Chae Riji nodded at Yang Dajun's words and readily agreed.
"Yeah, of course! Let's go together!"
"Lee Yurim, you're okay with that, right?"
"...Yeah."
Lee Yurim turned her head slightly, unlike her usual self. If she were a real woman, she should have been cool about it, but she couldn't. A bitter taste kept rising in her throat.
'Ugh, who is this girl anyway!'
She had been waiting for Yang Dajun for over a decade. She thought she was finally climbing the stairs to success, only for some random girl to cut in.
Lee Yurim shook her head as she looked at Yang Dajun.
'He’s so naive, calling other girls like this without knowing what it means. But in the end, Dajun will tell me that I'm the only one for him, right?'
Lee Yurim was confident in her ability to endure anything, but for some reason, anything involving Yang Dajun made her restless.
She glared at the girl with the side-ponytail, Chae Riji.
"Excuse me."
"Yes?"
Lee Yurim hooked her arm through Yang Dajun's and asked, "Why do you keep speaking informally to our Dajun?"
It wasn't something she could just let slide. Even if Dajun looked innocent, he was the same age as her.
'And he's my man.'
With that thought, she shot a sharp, slanted look at her.
Chae Riji looked flustered.
"Um... because we're the same age?"
"I don't think you and Dajun are the same age."
"Pardon?"
Lee Yurim lifted the corner of her mouth as she watched Chae Riji's eyes widen.
"You're a freshman, right?"
"Y-yes."
"I'm a sophomore. And he's the same age as me."
Gasp.
Chae Riji gasped, looking back and forth between the two.
"A sophomore...?"
Her eyelashes fluttered as she met Lee Yurim's gaze. With her arms crossed in a relaxed posture, her mature bob cut, and her well-proportioned figure, she looked much more like an adult than Chae Riji.
And then—
"Older than me...?"
She tilted her head as she looked at Yang Dajun, and he actually confirmed it.
"Yeah, Yurim and I are the same age, for now."
"Oh... I see..."
Chae Riji's mind became a tangled mess. No matter how she looked at him, he seemed younger than her... If she hadn't met him at school, she wouldn't have even guessed he was in her age group...
'A cute boy like this is older than me?'
Chae Riji's heart hammered against her ribs. She felt happy, yet flustered... she didn't know what to do with herself.
Just as her head started to spin, Yang Dajun waved his hand and said, "It's fine, just speak informally."
"Oh? Really?"
"Yeah, be comfortable."
You were the one who asked to be friends, anyway.
Yang Dajun said this as he linked his arm with hers.
"Ah."
Her heels, which had been hovering off the ground, touched back down. Yang Dajun had approached her without any walls, even though they were of the opposite sex. Chae Riji was inwardly surprised by how he didn't put on airs like other men.
'As expected of Dajun. He’s a guy, but he doesn't try to look flashy, and he tells me to speak comfortably... He's different from those other boys who only care about their appearance.'
While Chae Riji was breathless, staring intently at her own chest, Yang Dajun was thinking to himself.
'If I show her this side of me, it'll be easier for her to approach me without any barriers. I hope I get closer to Chae Riji, too.'
Yang Dajun hooked his arm deeper. He tilted his head, asking as if he had no ulterior motives.
"Is that not okay?"
"No? Oh... yeah, it's fine!"
She had switched to informal speech in an instant. Chae Riji wasn't the type to be intimidated in front of others.
'Yes!'
It felt like the distance that had grown between them was shrinking again. Yang Dajun was looking at her with his bright, clear eyes.
'He said he isn't dating the girl next to him yet. That means I have a chance.'
Yang Dajun pulled his arm away, but the warm sensation seemed to linger. Chae Riji tried her best to avoid the stinging gaze from the side and smiled back at Yang Dajun.
"Hehehe."
Lee Yurim clicked her tongue beside them.
'Tsk... Yang Dajun, that idiot.'
He didn't know anything about women, yet he was out there planting flags everywhere. He was going to school soon, and she was worried he might end up seducing the entire class.
'No way. I'm going to be Dajun's girlfriend.'
She felt impatient, but she had to endure it. It would be pathetic if she clung to him like a desperate woman. At least they had slept together, so she held the high ground.
'I was rejected when I confessed to Dajun... but he said it wouldn't work until graduation, not that it would never work. That must mean he'll accept me after that.'
Lee Yurim held onto that hope. She believed that if she stayed by his side and constantly reminded him that she was a woman, it would work out.
Meanwhile, Yang Dajun was staring straight at Chae Riji.
'Breasts...'
They were big.
That was the only thing on his mind since he saw her. The slightly tanned girl had come bouncing over, happy to see him.
'They were bouncing up and down...'
A beauty was shaking her large breasts right in front of his eyes. If he hadn't been squeezed dry at Lee Yurim's place, he might have gotten an erection right then and there.
He had to speak while feeling a bit awkward due to the throbbing sensation.
"Hmm? What's wrong?"
Even while Chae Riji asked with a bright smile, he kept staring at her chest.
'She probably doesn't even know I'm looking.'
In the first place, no one would say anything if a man looked at a woman's body. And breasts were a part of the body that women didn't really consider sexual. So, he looked to his heart's content.
"Hmm..."
Chae Riji was receiving that gaze with her whole body, thinking to herself.
'Dajun, do you like breasts...?'
He had been staring intently for a while now.
At her breasts...
He was showing interest in her large breasts, which were so big she couldn't see her own feet when she stood straight.
'What's so good about these...?'
It was a mystery to Chae Riji, but it didn't matter. She was just happy that Yang Dajun was showing interest in her.
Furthermore, the feeling she had been getting since earlier.
'Thank goodness. I have a chance, too...'
Chae Riji often felt the emotions of others. It wasn't exactly a superpower, but she could vaguely read their thoughts.
'Does Dajun like me?'
A warm sensation was being transmitted to her. It was a similar feeling to when Yang Dajun looked at Lee Yurim.
'Dajun might like both of us...'
It seemed like Yang Dajun was just starting to take an interest in women. Since he hadn't realized his own feelings yet, he was probably approaching multiple women without hesitation. If that was the case, it explained why Yang Dajun was clinging to her side right now.
Yang Dajun stared intently at Chae Riji's hair.
'I want to touch it, it should be fine, right?'
Women often touched men's hair, too. He remembered them giggling, saying things like "it's soft" or "it's prickly."
'Then the women here... they might say they're embarrassed when a man touches them, but they might actually like it inside.'
They might even be hoping he'd touch theirs while watching from the sidelines. Ah, I want to go to school quickly...
A laugh threatened to escape at the happy imagination. Yang Dajun finally reached out a hand toward Chae Riji.
"Huh?"
Her hair, tied to one side.
He had grabbed her side-ponytail. Chae Riji bent her knees slightly and said,
"Do you want to touch it?"
Yang Dajun nodded silently.
"Mmm, Dajun. It's just hair."
Chae Riji smiled and tilted her head to the side. He gently stroked the long, beige ponytail. The lustrous hair felt exactly like fine fabric brushing against his skin. Yang Dajun held her hair, thinking to himself.
'Hair-grabbing-fetish...'