Taming Someone
After hearing Saeri's answer, Jisu and I experienced completely opposite emotions.
Jisu stared at Saeri in shock, while I barely suppressed a roar of joy and silently offered her endless thanks in my heart.
With an expression of utter disbelief, Jisu asked Saeri,
“H-how did you know…?”
“How did I know what?”
“T-that this person is my boyfriend…”
“Hm? Ah~.”
She smiled at Jisu, then turned to me and said,
“How should I put it? It just felt obvious. The feeling that this man loves Mangsae-nim very, very much.”
“R-really…?”
“Yes. And it’s also obvious at a glance that Mangsae-nim likes him too.”
“So it really shows… Haru was right.”
“See? I told you it shows.”
“Uuu… I tried so hard not to let it show…!”
Jisu nodded with a disappointed look. Thanks to Saeri clearly recognizing us as a couple, I had won the bet and felt great, but I was also a little curious. Did we really look that much like a couple? We hadn’t been openly flaunting it—we’d just taken photos and walked around together like usual.
“Hehe, usually people only assume a couple when they’re being obvious about it. But with you two, it felt different.”
“Really? Then what kind of feeling was it?”
“Hmm, if I had to say… it felt like both of you were genuinely enjoying the cosplay and genuinely caring for each other.”
“I see… Haru, they say we go well together!”
“Isn’t that because of the cosplay pairing I chose?”
“Hehe, maybe!”
Jisu beamed and clung to my arm, clearly delighted by the comment. I felt oddly proud myself. It meant I had successfully blended into her hobby. While we were naturally being affectionate, a laugh full of envy came from beside us. Ah, Saeri was still there. Feeling like we had overdone the PDA, we quickly let go of each other.
“Hehe, it’s fine. You two look lovely together.”
“Still, we probably laid it on too thick… Hehe.”
“I had that kind of burning love when I was younger too. It brings back memories.”
“Ah, how old are you, Saeri-nim?”
“Asking a woman her age is a bit rude, don’t you think?”
“Aww, what does it matter between women~?”
When Jisu asked with a sly grin, Saeri shook her head and laughed.
“Alright. I’ll just say I’m in my late twenties.”
“Really…? You don’t look it at all.”
No matter how I looked at her, she seemed at most mid-twenties. Unlike Jisu, she had a mature charm, but she didn’t look old. Was this the power of makeup and cosplay…? Saeri smiled pleasantly at my words.
“Hehe, thank you for the compliment. Your boyfriend is quite perceptive~.”
“Ahem. Haru’s actually pretty oblivious. I’m the one who trained him!”
“Who trained who? I’ve always been sharp, you know?”
“Oh please~. Just thinking about how clueless you were at the beginning of our relationship…”
“Hey, that was when we didn’t know anything yet. We were still in the getting-to-know-you phase, so cut me some slack.”
As Jisu and I started bickering again, Saeri laughed in amusement. We stopped and looked at her.
“Hehe, you two are so fresh and sweet. I’d love to watch more of your lovers’ quarrel, but I have another appointment, so I should get going.”
“Ah, sorry, Saeri-nim… We ended up taking up your time without meaning to.”
“Not at all~. By the way, is your boyfriend a professional cosplayer too? Your cosplay quality is excellent.”
“Ah, I’m not a pro. I just do it as a hobby to match my girlfriend.”
“Oh, really? So you didn’t have this hobby before?”
“No, not at all. I guess you could say I picked it up after dating Jisu.”
“Really? That’s interesting. Even couples usually find it hard to follow along with cosplay hobbies.”
Saeri looked at me with curious eyes. Cosplay was such a high-barrier hobby that people often reacted with surprise when they heard I had joined because of my girlfriend. Some even said it must be tough to accommodate her. Honestly, I never once thought it was difficult. If anything, being able to share something with Jisu was genuinely fun. To put it in one word—yeah.
“Haha. Well, you could say I’ve been tamed by Jisu.”
“Tamed?”
“Yes. Have you read The Little Prince by any chance?”
“The Little Prince… Ah!”
Saeri tilted her head, then her expression lit up with understanding. She really was quick on the uptake. Jisu, on the other hand, still looked completely lost. I decided to explain further for her sake.
“In the story, the fox says to the Little Prince: ‘If you tame me, I shall be unique to you in all the world.’”
“Hmm, so Haru-nim is the fox that Mangsae-nim tamed?”
“No, not quite. If anything, I’m the Little Prince in this metaphor.”
“Mmm~.”
“To tame someone, you have to naturally blend into their world. So that your existence becomes part of their world. That’s why I started joining her favorite hobby—to melt into Jisu’s world.”
“And in the process, you ended up being tamed by Mangsae-nim yourself.”
“Exactly.”
“Hehe, how interesting. I never thought of relationships that way.”
Saeri nodded with an intrigued smile, then looked at Jisu and said,
“You’ve got yourself a good boyfriend, Mangsae-nim. With such a romantic partner, every day must be delightful.”
“Ah, yes…! Every day feels new…”
“Hehe, I’m jealous. Well then, enjoy the rest of your day.”
“Ah, yes! You too, unnie!”
After saying goodbye to Saeri, we looked around and headed inside the event hall. Rows of circle booths selling various goods lined the space. Since the event supported both cosplay and doujin activities, there were far more booths than expected.
“Whoa, it’s huge…”
Jisu’s illustrator soul was already burning; her eyes were half-glazed over as she stared at the pretty illustrated goods. While she wandered in search of beautiful art, I leisurely followed behind her. Nothing else really caught my interest besides Jisu’s own drawings. Besides, I had other things on my mind right now.
“Hehe, I bought everything.”
“You didn’t pick much today.”
“Yeah! There wasn’t much that really grabbed me.”
“Really? Then shall we go look somewhere else?”
“Hmm… That’s fine too, but would it be okay if we went home now?”
“Home? Sure, why not.”
I nodded casually. Well, internally I was cheering, but I tried to keep it in check. I had originally planned to suggest going home under the excuse of being tired after walking around a bit, but Jisu had suggested it first. I wasn’t actually tired yet, but I was eager to carry out the plan I had set. It was something that could only be done at home. Once we caught a taxi heading home, Jisu let out a sigh and rested her head on my shoulder. She seemed completely drained from walking around in cosplay; she was melting into a puddle. Cute. I gently stroked her hair.
“Good work today, Jisu.”
“Mmm… You worked hard too, Haru. It must’ve been tiring following me around.”
“Nah. It was fun. By the way, you seem especially tired today. We’ve only been at the cosplay event for less than two hours and you already want to go home.”
“Ah, actually, I wasn’t that tired…”
Jisu started to speak, then glanced at the taxi driver and instead gave my cheek a light kiss before whispering,
“I’ll tell you when we get home~.”
“Ah, okay. So it’s something awkward to say here?”
“Yeah…!”
Seeing the slight flush on her face, I had a feeling it was something rather suggestive. That expression usually appeared when she was thinking about something lewd that was hard to say in public. Curious, I tried to probe a little, but Jisu refused to answer until we got home. Even while walking from the taxi to our building, she kept dodging my questions. Only after we arrived, closed the front door, and shared a passionate kiss did she finally tell me the reason.
“Mmm… Chup… Actually, it was when you told Saeri-nim the Little Prince story earlier…”
“The Little Prince? The one about taming each other?”
“Yeah. Do you know how surprised I was when you first said you’d been tamed by me?”
“Huh? Ah, don’t tell me you took the meaning differently?”
“…Yeah.”
Seeing her nod cautiously, it seemed she had interpreted my metaphor in a lewd way. What a perverted girlfriend.
“Ah, no…! But honestly, if you say something like that from the start, it sounds weird…”
“That’s why I added the Little Prince explanation.”
“Honestly, I thought that was a really cool thing to say. But still…”
“But still?”
“When I thought about being thoroughly tamed by you… I got wet…”
As she spoke, Jisu lifted her clothes slightly to show me. Yep, just as she said—completely soaked. I laughed and stroked her hair.
“Earlier you called me a pervert for talking about your chest, and now here’s a pervert who wants to be tamed.”
“Uuu… Don’t tease me…”
“Alright~. To be fair, I did say it on purpose.”
“On purpose?”
“Want to think about what we’re cosplaying as today?”
Jisu stared at me for a moment, then her eyes widened with realization. She was a little slow on the uptake. A blond character reminiscent of a prince and a red fox beastkin. Combined with the Little Prince story about taming a red fox, there was only one answer.
“Today, I’m going to tame you and make you my own fox. How about it?”
“Y-yes…!”
Jisu nodded, her face flushed red.