Drawing the Line
Her hair spilled forward as she bowed her head, the strands that had been resting on her shoulders swaying downward with a soft rustle. Hair the color of the night sky rippled as though it were riding the Milky Way itself.
I tilted my head at the sudden bow, unable to figure out what she was even apologizing for. Huh?
Not that there wasn't plenty she could apologize for. Trying to use me as a betting chip, getting to first base without a single confession, the fact that we never even had sex — the list went on.
...Thinking about it was starting to piss me off.
Anyway. She had no shortage of sins stacked up on the inside, but almost nothing showing on the surface. From her point of view, she had no idea I'd figured out the confession bet. The only thing she could actually be guilty of was showing up late to our last meal.
Ah. Was it actually that? Because she'd been late last time? We'd parted on an awkward note, so it made sense the whole thing had been sitting wrong with her. And since then it had been the weekend — no chance to run into each other. Coming to apologize in person instead of just shooting a text was probably her idea of putting in the effort. It did look more sincere that way.
That aside, I had to give her credit. I'd given her the cold shoulder pretty hard last time. I'd figured she'd soured on me. But here she was, showing up to apologize the second Monday rolled around, and it didn't look like she'd soured at all. If anything, she seemed genuinely sorry. If this was an act, she belonged in the theater department, not Physical Education.
"The truth is, I'd gone to see a friend for a bit that day. I was only going to be a minute, but then... I should have just been honest with you from the start. I'm sorry I lied."
She was even confessing her own sins on top of the apology. That wasn't easy. Apologizing to someone took plenty of courage on its own — volunteering the thing you'd done wrong along with it? This looked like the real deal. The irritation I'd been nursing eased, just a little.
I stood there looking at the top of her bowed head, turning it over. What do I do with this...
Two options. I could lose my mind like a complete asshole and rip into her for lying, or I could let it go with the grace of the Virgin Mary. Ah, yes. A single choice was all it took to swing a person from total scumbag to Holy Mother.
I went with the latter.
"Ah, it's fine."
You couldn't keep pushing someone away forever. This was the moment to reel her in a little — give the line some slack.
"People do that kind of thing. It happens."
I was hardly one to talk. I lied to people all the time — sending gore pics while claiming they were nudes, plastering a chat with horror images and then swearing it wasn't me. A lie on this level was a little annoying, sure, but it was something I could let slide.
"Hehe... thank you."
When I told her it was fine, Lee Eun-byul lifted her head with an awkward little smile. She clearly hadn't expected me to let it go that easily.
"I still feel really bad, though... Let me buy you a meal sometime."
And there it was — the natural follow-up invitation. I nodded right away.
"Works for me."
I had no reason to turn it down. Restaurant food beat home cooking any day. No matter how decent I was in the kitchen, I couldn't compete with a professional's touch — or with MSG dumped in at quantities that would make a nutritionist weep. To someone who didn't give a damn about his health, MSG was basically a god. A god engineered by people with master's degrees and PhDs.
"So you've been waiting around since this afternoon just to apologize?"
"Ah, no, that's not it. I had class until just a little while ago."
She grinned as she said it, and the eyes shadowed by her baseball cap curved into crescents. The corners of her mouth lifted along that slender jawline, and for a second I just froze.
Damn...
I'd thought it before, but she really was beautiful. That feline, finely cut face gave off a haughty impression at first glance, and the navy hair dressed it in something mysterious. Add a body sculpted by athletics — cinched in where it should be, filling out where it counted...
Hoo.
I dragged my gaze back up before it could wander any lower. There was mass down there. Serious, gravitational mass, pulling my eyes toward it.
I was still trying to find my inner peace when Lee Eun-byul spoke up.
"Ah! Right, oppa. Do you have another class after this?"
"Hm? No, I don't."
"Then do you want to go grab a meal with me right now?"
She clapped her hands together like this was perfect timing. Now that the offer to treat me was already on the table, she seemed ready to make good on it immediately.
Hmm...
I hesitated. I was hungry, actually. I'd skipped breakfast and sat through three hours of class on an empty stomach, and a hollow ache was circulating somewhere behind my navel. The invitation was tempting. Eating together would push the relationship forward a notch, too.
But—
"Sorry. I've got something I need to do at home."
I turned her down with the most apologetic face I could manage. This was the moment to say no.
Like I'd told myself before, distance mattered between us. We could get close — up to a point. Past that point, I needed a line. That was how you made sure she'd try every trick in the book to reel me in.
And I actually did have work. Gotta make money. I needed to finish a commission I'd taken. I'd earned fifty thousand won last time, but I was still broke. I also needed to grow the account and build some name recognition, so there was no time to slack off. I had to start getting the Pinbox patronage system ready, too. For all those reasons, I was a busy man.
"Ah... well, if that's the case, it can't be helped."
The moment I said I had work, Lee Eun-byul looked a little disappointed — but she gave up quickly. A brief sulk crossed her face.
"...What kind of work, though?"
The sulk didn't last. She tilted her head and asked, bead-bright eyes glittering as they locked onto me. No agenda — just pure curiosity. Which was exactly why I froze.
Uh?
What kind of work... well, the kind where I go home and draw porn. A woman in a blindfold, bound hand and foot, coming her brains out on a vibrator. That was the piece I was heading home to finish.
I couldn't exactly say that out loud. Even in a gender-reversed world, even as a guy, announcing I draw nudes was a one-way ticket to being treated like a freak.
So I scrambled for an excuse. My brain kicked into overdrive, manufacturing lie after lie. Do I just say I have to take a dump? But fuck, my body was so flustered that nothing useful came out. I had no choice but to go with something halfway honest.
"Weeell... I've actually got a drawing I was working on. I need to finish it."
Sometimes a sliver of truth worked better than a terrible lie. I drew pictures, sure — I just wouldn't say which ones. Hide the fact that they were nudes, and I was just a regular artist. She already knew I'd prepped for art school admissions, so there was nothing suspicious about it.
"Ahh."
Fortunately, that was enough for Lee Eun-byul. She nodded. She looked a little unsatisfied by the teasingly vague answer, but she didn't seem inclined to push. We weren't close enough for her to dig deeper.
"I like art too. If I get the chance sometime, I'd love to take a look."
You could look right now, you know. Hop on Paxiv, scroll down about ten pages, and there I am. I thought that to myself and kept my mouth shut.
Fortunately, that seemed to be the end of it. Eun-byul went on her way.
"See you later, then."
"Yeah."
A slender arm waved side to side in farewell. I waved back the same way. I waited until she'd disappeared around the corner, then pressed a hand to my startled chest.
"Hoo..."
That had actually scared the hell out of me. Next time, I should have an excuse ready in advance. Getting flustered over a curveball that light?
Can't let anyone find out I draw porn...
If it got out, I'd be looking at social burial, not just contempt. Then again, this was a gender-reversed world — maybe it wouldn't be that bad? Either way, I needed to be careful. It wasn't exactly something to brag about.
Telling myself to watch it from now on, I turned to head home.
Today's lecture had been in room 602 — sixth floor. Walking down every flight sounded like a pain, and it was a long way, so I decided to take the elevator. Back in high school, elevators had been unthinkable. At university they were everywhere. Lots of tall buildings, all kinds of people — elevators were basically mandatory.
This building's elevator was in an odd spot, tucked into the far left corner, a separate shaft tacked onto the edge of the building. I strolled over at an easy pace.
The elevator was already waiting on the sixth floor. At this hour most people had either gone home or headed off to eat, so of course it was empty.
"Hell yeah~"
I stepped on in a great mood. I hit the button for the first floor and was about to ride it down when a woman's voice shouted from outside.
"Huh? Hey, it's open! Hurry up, you idiot!"
"Hold on! I'm almost done packing my bag!"
"Ugh, you slow-ass slug! Making me wait forever."
Two women's voices. They must have spotted the open elevator and come running in a panic. I hit the door-open button. Gotta wait for them. Ignoring people who were sprinting that desperately and letting the doors close would have been heartless. I had at least that much decency, so I waited at my leisure.
"Hah, hah... thank you."
The woman who'd been running ahead grabbed the elevator door. I'd never seen her face, so she was probably from a different department — someone taking class in another lecture hall, most likely.
"Don't mention it."
I said it casually, and our eyes met. For a moment her eyes went wide. Whether it was from the running or something else entirely, color had risen in her face — a faint flush.
"Hey. What are you doing just standing there instead of getting in..."
The woman who'd come up behind her had a similar reaction. She spotted me parked in the corner of the elevator and froze. I thought I heard a very small whoa...
A strange silence took hold. Unfamiliar gazes passed back and forth across a distance of two or three steps. The standoff only broke when I tilted my head.
"?"
"Ah— th-thank you."
The two of them snapped out of it at the sight of my head tipping side to side and finally stepped into the elevator. Even on the way down, I could feel them sneaking glances at me. I was left fidgeting with my phone, vaguely uncomfortable.
What is this.
Did I have something on me?
I had no idea.