Chapter 23
Chapter 23
-----------------------------------------------------------------
Translator: penny
Chapter: 23
Chapter Title: Good Night, Sarang-ah
-----------------------------------------------------------------
Lee Seo-yoon's mother was quite skilled in the kitchen.
The kimchi stew was spicy yet subtly sweet, and every side dish carried a clean, refined flavor.
"It's really delicious."
"Oh, I'm so glad you think so."
Mother beamed at my words.
"Sarang-ah. Is Seo-yoon doing well at the company?"
The lively energy of the household carried over to the dinner table.
"Mom!"
"I'm just curious. You never tell me anything, so I need to know if you're doing okay. Idols these days have it so rough, from what I've heard."
It was the perfectly natural worry of parents who loved their child.
I already viewed the idol path pretty pessimistically myself—what must it be like for parents?
In their one and only life, their child was choosing a path overgrown with thorns. From my perspective, the fact that her parents had ultimately allowed it made them all the more admirable.
I set down my spoon and looked straight at Seo-yoon's mother.
"Seo-yoon unnie is definitely going to debut."
Mother's eyes widened in surprise.
"There's no trainee in our agency who's as talented and charming as Seo-yoon unnie."
"Oh, really?"
"Her passion is the highest of all. If anyone from our company debuts, it'll be Seo-yoon unnie for sure."
"Sa-Sarang-ah."
Lee Seo-yoon was staring at me from the side, her mouth hanging wide open.
"...I see. Sarang-ah, you're so pretty—it makes it all the more believable."
"I'm not just saying it."
A subtle shift passed over mother's eyes at my earnest tone.
"Thank you so much for saying that."
Mother was genuinely delighted. She was pretending otherwise, but it seemed she'd been worried for quite a while deep down.
You could tell just from the thin film of moisture gathering at the corners of her eyes. She probably hadn't been able to show that anxiety in front of her daughter all this time.
A parent's unease would only burden their child more.
"Let me cut some fruit for you. Go on and rest now."
Mother rose from her seat first, turning her head away. Maybe she didn't want us to see her face.
"Haha, guess I should help out too. I'll take care of the dishes—you girls head inside."
No wonder they weren't just any couple. Her husband had noticed the faint tremble in his wife's shoulders and smoothly followed after her.
That's when Lee Seo-yoon grabbed my hand from the side.
"Sarang-ah."
Lee Seo-yoon's deeply suppressed emotions gazed at me through eyes brimming with feeling. The blue tint in her irises seemed even brighter today.
"Yes?"
".........Nothing. Thanks."
What.
So anticlimactic.
A pitch-black sky hung heavy in the night. The clock hands had already ticked past midnight.
"This has to be the song."
Lying side by side on the bed with Lee Seo-yoon, we flipped through Han Sea-ah's performances one by one.
After reviewing stages for over an hour, we finally settled on the song to prepare for the individual evaluation.
"Thanks for helping me, unnie. I'll work hard on this one."
"It's nothing."
Lee Seo-yoon set her phone aside and turned her full attention to me.
"Those pajamas suit you well, by the way."
I hadn't packed any clothes, so I'd borrowed her pajamas. No toothbrush either, so I'd used one of the spares she had at home.
"Thanks."
Our tousled hair spilled across the bed, strands mingling together.
I gently gathered a lock of my hair and hers, bringing it to my nose for a sniff.
"Unnie, it smells just like our shampoo."
I said it with a light laugh. Lee Seo-yoon's body flinched.
"O-Of course. We used the same shampoo..."
"Our skin probably smells the same too, huh? That's kinda neat."
The scent from Lee Seo-yoon that I'd always found pleasant had seeped into my own skin, making me feel oddly fragrant myself.
"...Sarang-ah, you really say stuff like that without a second thought."
"Does it bother you?"
"Mm. No... I'm used to it now."
Lee Seo-yoon smiled as she toyed with my fingers.
Was it my imagination? Her smile seemed a touch deeper than usual.
"We can head to the agency together tomorrow then."
"Yeah. Sounds good."
"Yeah... And Sarang-ah."
"Yes?"
Lee Seo-yoon hesitated for a long while, her lips twitching without a word.
I waited quietly. Finally, she spoke with difficulty.
"Um... You remember that time you pecked my cheek?"
"Ah... Yeah. Did you hate it?"
"No, not that."
Lee Seo-yoon shook her head right away.
"I was just... curious about what you were thinking when you did it."
"Thinking? You looked upset, so I wanted to cheer you up."
"...Yeah. Figured as much."
What was the point of asking? She said it was fine, but maybe she actually disliked it back then.
Not every girl is okay with skinship, even between girls, so it wouldn't be strange if she hated it.
But she didn't seem to hate it... Maybe I misread her expression.
"Sarang-ah, could you maybe do it one more time?"
"The peck?"
"Yeah. I want to check something."
Lee Seo-yoon seemed confused herself about whether she liked it or not. Asking for another probably meant she wanted to confirm for sure.
"...Okay. Here, your cheek."
Lee Seo-yoon turned her head, offering her cheek to me.
I carefully tucked her slender side strands behind her ear. Then I softly pressed my lips to the flushed, snowy skin.
Smack—
I parted my lips with a soft sound.
Lee Seo-yoon, now facing me again, had a strange gleam in her eyes.
"Yeah. Now I get it."
Her lips moved faintly.
If she said this kind of skinship made her uncomfortable, I'd resolve to avoid physical contact from now on.
"Do it a lot more from now on."
"Huh?"
"Feels nice. Makes me feel closer to you too..."
What a relief.
Contrary to my worries, Lee Seo-yoon had concluded she didn't hate it.
I was newly surprised at how broad the range of skinship could be between girls.
As long as it wasn't a kiss on the lips, pretty much anything went?
"Ah, it's late. Let's sleep."
"Yeah, unnie."
It was nearly one o'clock. We had to head to the agency in the morning, so better to turn in early.
The bedside lamp clicked off, plunging the room into darkness. It was that same strangely warm night, like when I'd stayed at Han Sea-ah's place.
"Good night, Sarang-ah."
"You too, unnie."
Maybe because I'd showered and felt so content lying there, a pleasant drowsiness enveloped me. My relaxed eyelids blinked slowly, drifting shut.
Did sleeping with someone else just suit my constitution?
This time too, my eyes closed much faster than when I slept alone at home.
"...Sarang-ah, you asleep?"
All that came back was the soft, steady rhythm of delicate breathing.
Lee Seo-yoon carefully slipped her hand out from under the blanket. She stroked the sleeping girl's hair, strand by strand.
Swish—
She scooted her hips forward a bit, closing the distance between them. The breaths of the slumbering Sarang-ah came through even clearer now.
'Her face... so cute.'
After caressing her hair for a while, Lee Seo-yoon's fingers drifted, mesmerized, toward Sarang-ah's face.
She gently rubbed the pale cheek. A chewy yet soft sensation wrapped around her fingertips.
"Sarang-ah."
Lee Seo-yoon called her name, her eyes melting like they might dissolve, breaths laced with excitement.
After fondling Han Sarang's cheek like that for ages, Lee Seo-yoon buried her flushed face in the pillow.
'What... what do I do?'
She couldn't even deny it anymore.
A vivid emotion was erupting uncontrollably from her entire body, rampaging freely.
The feeling she'd pushed away so many times, insisting it couldn't be. The one she'd denied over and over, telling herself she couldn't be that indecent.
But the moment those lips touched her cheek earlier, Lee Seo-yoon had no choice but to raise both hands in surrender to that emotion.
I think I like you after all, Sarang-ah.
A whole lot.
'To think I'd actually fall for a girl...!'
Liking someone at all was a first for her.
From elementary school days, she'd lived fixated solely on those shining stages. Her heart and life's direction had always pointed that way.
For such a her to harbor her first crush—and on another girl, no less. The absurdity left her utterly dazed.
'...No, no. That's not it. Wrong.'
It wasn't because the person in front of her was a 'girl' that she felt this way.
It was solely because it was Han Sarang.
Yes. These feelings had bloomed because it was Sarang.
She was so very lovable, just like her name.
Homosexuality, heterosexuality—none of that mattered.
All that mattered was how much she adored this living, breathing being right in front of her. That was it.
Once she'd set everything aside and cleanly admitted it to herself, Lee Seo-yoon's heart began to churn violently.
The emotions, now unleashed, swelled beyond control.
That impulse triggered a chain reaction, bursting forth with all the suppressed feelings and desires she'd held back until now.
Mesmerized, Lee Seo-yoon pulled out her phone.
She opened the camera app and captured the face of the girl sleeping peacefully, utterly unaware of such lewd thoughts.
'Sorry, Sarang-ah. But... it's your fault for being so irresistibly cute.'
Click. With the press of a button, the girl's sleeping face saved to the screen without a sound.
Lee Seo-yoon smiled faintly as she carefully traced Sarang-ah's face on the display with her fingertip.
Then her finger paused near the softly reddened lips.
"..."
A brief silence flowed through the quiet night.
Lee Seo-yoon cradled the phone preciously in both hands.
Placing the emotion of her very first love onto her own lips, she gently pressed them against the image of Han Sarang's lips on the screen.
"Good night, Sarang-ah."