Fake Lovers (2)

Coming home didn't change a thing.

Still, maybe because I'd been so thoroughly thrown off earlier, the hollow emptiness of the house — the one I felt every single day — seemed a little less crushing than usual.

"I'm just... kinda tired..."

It was the first day of school, and I'd already been through something completely insane. The moment I got in, I went straight to my room, flung my bag aside without even changing clothes, and collapsed onto the bed.

Lying there, I unlocked my phone and opened my contacts. Three characters stared back at me: Lee Yeonhee.

I'd been trying to take refuge in the idea that it had all been a dream, but looking at that name forced reality right back down my throat.

"Whatever..."

My vision slowly blurred. My mind grew hazy, and consciousness slipped away.

A cheerful ringtone blared through the room.

"Nngh... uh..."

The sudden ringing dragged my half-dreaming consciousness back to the surface.

"I was sleeping so well... Is there even anyone who'd call me?"

At first I figured it was a scam or spam, but I still had to check. Still lying down, I groped around the head of the bed, found my phone, and looked at the screen.

"What the... why is she calling?"

The name Lee Yeonhee was lit up on the display.

I hesitated over whether to pick up, then realized I wasn't in any position to be picky about it, and answered.

"Uh..."

"I was sleeping..."

From the other end of the line came a playful, thoroughly unapologetic voice. Oh! Did I wake you? Sorry~

"So why'd you call?"

Oh, is that so. Our school's greatest beauty apparently had absolutely nothing better to do.

How did she know?

Caught off guard, I let out a startled little "Huh..." and a sulky voice came through the speaker.

"......It's fake anyway. Do we have to keep up the act even outside of school?"

I was about to say, I don't have any friends anyway, so it's fine — but then it hit me. The moment they announced that I was going out with Lee Yeonhee, jealous stares from every guy in school and a bombardment of questions would be inevitable.

So I accepted it, more or less. I accepted it, but...

Just imagining it was horrifying.

"So was that all you called for?"

"Someone to introduce?"

"Suit yourself..."

I didn't have a choice in any of this anyway. If I wanted to get through the remaining year until graduation in one piece, the only option was to keep as low a profile as possible.

Though it already seemed like that ship had sailed.

"So we're done here, then? I'm starting to get hungry."

"Alright. I'm hanging up, then."

What now? I waited in silence for a moment, and then her voice came through again.

The line went dead.

......Was she always like this?

I thought she was the quiet, well-mannered type at school...

I'm not usually the type to get flustered, either. So how many times had I been thrown off today, exactly...?

My stomach growled, right on cue. I figured I should eat something, anything, and headed to the living room. I opened the fridge to find, to my complete lack of surprise, absolutely nothing.

"Ah... I was supposed to go grocery shopping this morning."

Well... given everything that had happened today, forgetting was only natural.

"Hah... I should go now, before it gets any later."

Changing clothes felt like too much effort, so I left the apartment still in my school uniform.

I decided to go to the supermarket closest to home.

Normally I'd check the sale items and hop between whichever stores were cheapest, but it was already late and I couldn't be bothered, so I went to the nearest one.

I was pulling a cart along, picking out cheap meals that would last a while, when someone put a hand on my shoulder from behind.

......?

I started to turn around, puzzled, and a finger poked me in the cheek.

"Pfft."

A suppressed laugh came from behind me.

That voice... I'd heard it somewhere before, hadn't I?

I turned around. The evening was still cold enough that she was wearing a long-sleeved white T-shirt under a cardigan, with jeans that went all the way down to her ankles. Lee Yeonhee.

On anyone else, the outfit would have looked perfectly ordinary. On Yeonhee, it had more than enough charm to make a guy's heart skip — it overflowed with it.

"What is this, a prank from ten years ago?"

I said it as dryly as I could, and a pouty voice answered from behind me.

"Your reaction is way too boring, don't you think...?"

I was about to wonder what she was even doing here when the contents of our phone call flashed through my mind.

Yeah. I'm about to head to the mart near my place with my family to get stuff for dinner.

......So it was near my house.

Anyway. I needed to get out of here, fast.

"Sorry I'm so boring... Anyway, I'm heading out."

"Ah! Then I'll come with you!"

I looked at her with an expression that clearly said, And why would you...? To which she declared, perfectly shameless:

"Ah! Don't worry about my family. We each grabbed what we needed and agreed to meet back at the entrance!"

That wasn't what I'd been getting at, though...

Regardless, the current situation was not a good one for me. Yeonhee's looks were drawing the eyes of everyone who'd come to shop.

Oblivious to any of that, she started peering into my cart.

"These look like pretty sad groceries."

"Mind your own business."

Did they really look that pathetic...?

It was nothing but vegetables, sure, but I'd picked them to cover a decent spread of nutrients, okay?

I was lost in that pointless little argument with myself when something occurred to me, and this time I was the one who brought it up.

"That's surprising, actually."

"What is?"

"Nothing, just. Since we're fake anyway, I figured you'd tell me not to act like I know you if we ran into each other outside."

I asked her what I'd been thinking, and Yeonhee looked at me through narrowed eyes.

"What? What do you take me for?"

She turned her head away with a hmph, and then, in a voice so small I almost missed it, she added:

"I'm the one who asked you for this. There's no way I'd say something like that..."

That was her asking a favor?

Had I had the wrong definition of "asking a favor" this whole time...?

"But you came alone?"

"Why do you ask."

"I spotted you from the entrance and followed you in. It looked like you came by yourself."

"......"

I didn't like telling people about my family situation.

There had been a few times when I'd had to, and the pity in their eyes had only made me feel more wretched, more depressed. That experience had probably lodged itself somewhere in my head, and it was why I looked at the world with such a dry, empty gaze. The proof was right next to me: looking at Yeonhee, I thought she was beautiful, but nothing beyond that crossed my mind.

I was still lost in old memories when Yeonhee spoke up, out of nowhere.

"If you don't want to talk about it, you don't have to."

"......?"

"If you're going to make a face like that, I end up feeling bad for even asking."

What was my face doing...?

"Just now you looked like someone about to drop dead."

"......Sorry."

"No, ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠why are you sorry."

"Beats me..."

She was smiling, both corners of her mouth lifted, as if she found something hilarious.

I forced a smile back at her.

"Blegh."

Yeonhee made a face like she'd just seen something she shouldn't have.

Why does she only react like that to me......

After walking around with Yeonhee for a while, my cart was reasonably full of everything I needed.

I was just thinking it was time to head to the register when Yeonhee grabbed my sleeve and tugged. I looked at her.

"What."

"I can see my family over there, so I think I'll head off now."

They were too far away to make out clearly, but I could see a middle-aged couple carrying shopping baskets. Those must have been Yeonhee's parents.

"That so..."

"Yeah. See you at school tomorrow."

I watched Yeonhee wave and run off.

Whether she was showing up or taking off, I'd give her this — she was fast.

Alright. Time for me to go check out too.

I finished paying, came home, ate a roughly thrown-together meal, and got ready for bed.

I changed clothes, showered, and lay down, fiddling with my phone. Sleep crept in gradually, and my eyes started to fall shut.

Just as my consciousness was sinking under, a notification sound yanked me back to the surface.

On the screen was a message from Lee ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠Yeonhee.

I'd seen the notification. I was about to let myself sink back under when another alert went off, and I had no choice but to check my phone again.

Isn't she expecting a bit much from me......

Left with no choice, I sent a halfhearted reply and let my eyes fall shut as if collapsing.

My eyes snapped open. The pillow was wet. My hands were trembling, and cold sweat was running down me.

"......"

"...I thought I'd gotten used to it by now."

I groped around the head of the bed, found my phone, and checked the time.

The screen said five minutes until the alarm, so I just got up and started getting ready for school.

I left my room and headed to the living room to make breakfast.

At least I'd gone grocery shopping last night, so I could eat a proper breakfast before leaving. That thought had barely formed when the scene at the mart came back to me.

Yeah. See you at school tomorrow.

Yeonhee's last words before we parted.

I hoped nothing would happen... but there was no way that would be the case.

Maybe it was the nightmare first thing in the morning, but I walked into the classroom with a haggard look on my face. Quite a few seats were still empty.

We hadn't assigned seats yet, so I sat in the same corner window seat I'd taken yesterday. Before long, a commotion started up in the hallway.

I turned toward the center of the noise, and my eyes met Lee Yeonhee's.

She smiled — a shameless, delighted little smile, like she'd just found something interesting — then sat down in the seat right next to mine and said hello.

"Hey, Juyeong."

"......Hey."

The stares pouring in from every direction were terrifying....

Oblivious to any of that, she rested her chin on her hand and grinned at me.

"Did you dream about me last night?"

"......No."

"When someone asks you that, you're just supposed to say yes."

We were trading that kind of pointless small talk when I noticed a girl from our class walking toward us.

"Um... Yeonhee...?"

"What?"

"Could you... tell me what your ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠relationship with Juyeong is...?"

I'd turned my head toward the window, as if I couldn't care less — but what Yeonhee said next made me whip it right back around.

......!

I'd known she was going to announce it. I just hadn't expected her to do it this suddenly.

I snapped my head toward Yeonhee. There she was, beaming — and next to her, a girl whose face said she could not process what she had just heard.

"Ha... haha, so that's...?"

"Huh? For real...?"

"Yeah. For real."

A wave of disbelieving murmurs rose around us. Yeonhee delivered the finishing blow anyway.

"Right, Juyeong?"

"......"

I'd lived long enough that I thought I'd dried up completely — that tears would never come again, no matter what.

And yet, for some reason, I wanted to cry.