Fake Lovers (5)
After leaving the apartment, I walked toward home in a bit of a daze.
Juyeong's place and mine weren't far apart, so it didn't take long before my house came into view.
I opened the door and was taking off my shoes when Mom came out of the kitchen, where she'd been getting dinner ready.
"Yeonhee, you're home?"
"I'm back."
After greeting her, I went straight to my room.
The moment I got inside, I burrowed under the covers. I couldn't bear the embarrassment, so I started kicking the blanket with my feet.
Thump.
Thump.
Thump.
As if barging in on my own and snooping around his room wasn't enough — by the time I came to my senses, I'd been stroking Juyeong's hair.
It was mortifying even now, thinking back on it.
But... that room had just looked so lonely...
From under the blanket, I replayed everything that had happened at the apartment.
When I first saw the apartment Juyeong lived in, all I really thought was that it was enormous.
That impression changed not long after, once I actually stepped inside.
The interior of that vast home was steeped in a dark, chilly atmosphere, as if to flaunt the fact that he lived there all alone. Even a complete stranger would have taken one look and thought: lonely. Depressing.
People say home is a sanctuary, but from where I stood, Juyeong's house didn't look like one.
He's living in this huge place... by himself?
One of the rooms was completely empty. Whether he cleaned it or not, there wasn't a speck of dust inside.
After looking around for a while, curiosity got the better of me, and I tossed him a question.
"Where's your room?"
"...Why do you want to know all of a sudden?"
"Obviously because, as your girlfriend, I need to inspect what my boyfriend's been hiding!"
"I get what you're after, but there's nothing like that."
If someone says there's nothing, that just makes you more curious. He clearly doesn't know that.
I kept searching for Juyeong's room, and unlike the empty one, I found a door that was shut.
Find it? It was the only door closed — it practically jumped out at me.
Ah, whatever. I opened it, and inside was a room with a bed and a few pieces of furniture.
I was looking at that hollow interior when Juyeong followed me in.
He seemed to think it was perfectly ordinary. At least to my eyes, it wasn't.
It was just so bleak...
The room held only the bare minimum of furniture needed to live. The kinds of things you'd commonly find in a high school guy's room — a computer, manga, or even just books if he studied — none of it was there. It felt like a space meant solely for sleeping, a thin disguise of ordinary life.
A room that wouldn't look any different if he vanished the very next day.
What on earth happened to you...
When I asked him at the supermarket last time if he'd come alone, his expression hadn't been good...
I looked at Juyeong with those thoughts in mind, and he wore an expression like he was used to all of this.
Watching his face, a heavy feeling settled in my chest, and my body moved before my head could catch up.
Stroke, stroke.
Maybe I was proud of him for growing up without turning out twisted in an environment this lonely. By the time I came to my senses, I was stroking his hair.
...What am I doing?
I lifted my gaze just slightly to check his expression, and there was Juyeong, frowning, looking like he had a lot to say.
I was scrambling for an excuse when, right on cue, the doorbell rang. I fled the room as if making an escape.
"Looks like the others are here. Let's start the meeting."
Juyeong looked at me for a moment, then walked toward the door not long after.
When he opened it, Naeun came running and threw her arms around me.
"Awwngh~ Yeonhee, I missed you~"
"We literally just saw each other at school. What are you talking about?"
"Ehehe, did we?"
Hah... I'm saved...
A little while later, the roles had been divided up and a rough plan put together, and we decided to call it a day.
Around the time Naeun and Hanbyeol disappeared from view, I stood in front of the door, fidgeting, and spoke in a voice so small it barely crawled out of my throat.
"About earlier..."
Maybe he hadn't heard me well. Juyeong stepped closer.
"Forget what happened earlier!"
Seeing his face up close brought the whole thing rushing back. Mortified, I practically shrieked the words and fled the scene.
Ugh... I never should have looked in that room...
After that, I headed home wearing a dazed look on my face.
After everyone had left, I looked around the house.
The living room, which had always held nothing but a lingering chill, felt a little warmer today.
Not bad...
It was already pretty late, so I quickly put together dinner, killed some time scrolling on my phone, then washed up and went to bed.
That night, for the first time in a while, I had a good dream.
The next day.
I walked into the classroom as usual and found Yeonhee already in her seat.
Yesterday's events drifted through my mind like something swimming past, and I headed to my own desk.
"Hey."
I offered a greeting as I walked by, and Yeonhee answered with a bright smile, her voice perfectly calm.
"Hi. Morning."
Apparently she'd decided to bury what happened yesterday, because she spoke as if nothing had happened at all.
Well, nobody needs to dwell on their own cringe moments one by one.
I was thinking that when Kang Hanbyeol and Kim Naeun came in together through the back door.
"Huh? You two came together?"
Yeonhee asked, looking surprised.
"We ran into each other at the front gate, so we walked in together."
"Yeah, yeah — turns out his place is in the same direction as mine."
"Really? I knew Naeun's house was that way, but I didn't know yours was too, Hanbyeol."
I was listening to the three of them chatter when, out of nowhere, that guy dropped a question I couldn't make sense of.
"Anyone busy after school today?"
Busy after school?
Kang Hanbyeol asked it like going was already a done deal.
"I~ mm~ don't really have anything."
"I don't either, for now."
Kim Naeun and Yeonhee answered, and then it was my turn.
I was just about to reply—
"I..."
"You're not getting away."
"Your girlfriend's going. You weren't thinking of running off by yourself, were you?"
He cut me off like there had never been a choice to begin with.
For a second I remembered leaving Yeonhee behind after school once and going home alone, and I looked over at her.
She was smiling. More precisely — just her mouth.
If I run off again today, she's actually going to kill me, isn't she?
"...Fine."
I had no choice but to agree, and only then did he get to the point.
"Then wanna hit karaoke after school?"
Out of nowhere...?
Of all the places in the world, why karaoke.
Wasn't that the holy land of the popular kids? A loner like me had never even set foot in one.
Sure, some people go to karaoke alone, but I don't particularly like wandering around, and going to karaoke by yourself takes a certain kind of courage.
Like I'd have that kind of courage.
And the biggest problem was that I had no idea whether I could even sing. There was nobody to give me an objective evaluation, so how would I know?
Please just don't laugh.
Time flew by, and before I knew it, school was out.
As we'd agreed beforehand, we headed to karaoke.
"Alright, let's go in. This is the place I always go."
He took the lead, claiming this was the nicest karaoke spot he'd been to.
Not one of those coin-operated karaoke booths, but a proper timed room. The four of us prepaid, splitting the cost, and when we went into the room we'd been assigned, it was pretty spacious and comfortable.
"Okay! Let's rock-paper-scissors to see who goes first!"
This guy looks like he comes to karaoke all the time, so why is he this excited?
Please, just don't let it be me first.
But the world, cruelly, was not on my side.
"Oh, Juyeong's up first? Han Juyeong singing is a seriously rare event, you know~"
"You got this, Juyeong~"
"Shall we hear how well our dear boyfriend can sing?"
"..."
I already wanted to go home.
"...Don't get your hopes up."
I put on a song pretty much anyone would have heard before.
It was a difficult track with high notes that made it hard to sing, but what was I supposed to do? I had to sing something I knew. I couldn't exactly pick a song I didn't.
"Whoa, you're opening with that? You must actually be able to sing."
Kang Hanbyeol... just you wait.
I shot a glare at the guy for loading me with completely unnecessary pressure, then looked at the monitor.
A little later, my turn ended, and I looked around.
Everyone's reaction was... uh...
"Guys...?"
I had no choice but to break the silence myself, and Yeonhee answered in a dazed voice.
"H-huh?"
"I'm done."
"Oh... yeah. That was really..."
Really?
I was listening closely to hear what she was going to say when Kang Hanbyeol cut in.
"Whoa, what the hell, Han Juyeong? Did you take lessons?"
"No?"
"Then how are you that good? I had no idea you had this in you."
Yeah, well. Neither did I.
"Right? Especially on those high notes just now — I got goosebumps. Don't you think, Yeonhee?"
"Yeah. He sings really well. I was going to make fun of him if he was bad."
"...That so."
Under a barrage of praise I hadn't seen coming, I scratched the back of my neck, feeling awkward, when a song started playing through the speakers.
"Ahem. Then perhaps it's time this body demonstrated its skill!"
True to his role as the mood-maker, Kang Hanbyeol launched into an upbeat number, but his antics were funnier than the singing itself, and Yeonhee and Kim Naeun kept cracking up beside him.
When his turn was over, he collapsed into a chair like he'd burned himself down to white ash.
After a brief wait, the next song came on.
"Naeun, it's our turn."
"Yes! Let's do this — it's been a while!"
Yeonhee and Kim Naeun sang a duet, a song meant for two girls. They traded lines and layered in harmonies like they'd done it a hundred times. Without meaning to, I kept watching Yeonhee.
After the song ended, she came and sat down next to me.
"Phew. How was it?"
"...You sing well."
"Hehe. Thanks."
She wore a satisfied smile, like she thought it had gone pretty well herself.
Her voice had been really something when she was singing just now.
It wasn't a bad voice on a regular day either, but the way it sounded when she sang was a completely different feeling.
If you set aside the playful side of her that shows up now and then, there really isn't a thing you could find fault with.
Even while I was thinking that, the music kept playing, and everyone sang until they were exhausted, no one holding back.
Before we knew it, time had slipped away in the blink of an eye.
When we stepped out of the karaoke, the sun was setting, painting the sky in evening colors.
"Hah... I burned myself down to white ash today."
"Tell me about it~ I don't think I need to set foot in a karaoke for a while."
Kang Hanbyeol and Kim Naeun let out big sighs.
It's not like I was the type to take the lead on anything, and Yeonhee had sung a fair amount too, but compared to those two we were pretty average.
Seeing them like this, they actually look pretty good together.
I was walking along with those aggressively shippy thoughts when the time to part ways arrived.
"We're headed this way, so we'll take off."
"See you next week, Yeonhee~. You too, Juyeong, bye~"
Kang Hanbyeol and Kim Naeun split off, since we were going in different directions.
I gave them a rough goodbye and was about to turn and head home when something snatched my hand, and I stopped.
I turned back to look at the culprit holding my hand, and there was Yeonhee, grinning.
This time I'm not letting go, her grip on my arm seemed to say.
I thought she'd more or less forgotten about that...
Apparently I was the only one who thought so.
"Alright. Let's go."
And so we walked, holding nothing but each other's hands, keeping the silence as our feet carried us forward.