Da-yeon's Crush.
Da-yeon's Crush.
Maybe it was because I went to the pool almost every day, or because I'd gotten used to holding my breath...
Sometimes I thought this body might really be a mermaid, because holding my breath for about ten minutes didn't bother me at all.
I was floating face-down in the water like a corpse when things grew noisy outside.
A man approached, apparently trying to pull me out.
I lifted my face from the water and looked at him.
"...? What?"
"Ah! It's Si-yoon... sorry."
He was a rapper from a different agency than Dad's, the one who'd rented the pool for a party back in the day.
"It's fine."
I went back to floating around like a corpse. Before long, Lee Jin-seok came up beside me, and when I lifted my face from the water, he spoke.
"...I get that you're good at holding your breath... but when it goes over five minutes, anyone watching would get worried, wouldn't they?"
"You think?"
I floated toward the shallower end of the pool where Da-yeon was. The student I'd often seen there lately was nowhere in sight—maybe she'd moved away.
That schoolgirl had told Da-yeon that swimming made you prettier, and that became Da-yeon's motivation to practice. Especially since I—whom Da-yeon considered the prettiest person in the world—was a good swimmer, Da-yeon worked even harder. I adjusted Ga-yeon's swimming posture while keeping an eye on Da-yeon's swimming.
Her swimming was polished enough that she could have trained competitively. It was flawless, proof that five years of consistent practice had paid off. Da-yeon spotted me from a distance and swam over.
"Aren't I good?!"
"Whoa... Da-yeon's basically a mermaid now."
"Nah~ not that much~ You have to be like Si-yoon to be a mermaid!"
"I'm more than a fish."
Da-yeon paused for a second at my words, then slowly tilted her head.
"Isn't a mermaid a person-fish too?"
Come to think of it, she had a point, so I couldn't answer. Ga-yeon, who had been swimming in the distance, stopped and shivered. Seeing that, I got out of the water.
"Si-yoon? You stopping?"
"Nah, I'm just gonna hang outside for a bit~"
Everyone kept swimming hard, unaware of the truth, in water that somehow felt wrong. Before long, summer arrived, with mosquitoes biting at my legs. Dad decided even the smart carbon-dioxide mosquito traps installed in every unit weren't enough, so as a special measure he bought a mosquito net for the bed. We spread it out before sleeping to block every mosquito, and I dove inside faster than Dad did.
"Heh heh heh... this is the 21st century... you uncivilized mosquitoes..."
"You like it?"
"Yeah, it's nice~"
Dad looked at my pajamas, the sleeves now too short because of how much I'd grown.
"We should go buy bigger clothes, huh?"
"Right~ I started growing faster than I expected."
"You're already... only 40 centimeters shorter than me..."
As I was rolling around, Beta poked at the mosquito net with her paw, apparently finding it fascinating.
"That thing's gonna tear soon."
Dad chuckled and pulled me into his arms. The next day, we left on a domestic trip with Da-yeon's family. Lee Jin-seok drove while Dad sat in the passenger seat, and the two of them talked. Kim Seon-hwa said she'd leave the children with Dad and Lee Jin-seok while she went to the office.
That meant I ended up watching the kids... Normally Dad would have worried about my safety, but when I looked around, countless black cars surrounded us. We arrived at a well-maintained zoo, got out in order, and I finally came face to face with a kid named Kim Tae-oh. In truth, Lee Jin-seok and I had planned the trip so I could size Tae-oh up and see how Da-yeon reacted.
Da-yeon merely seemed happy that Tae-oh had come and gave no sign that she liked him. Knowing how she behaved when she had a crush, I couldn't help but be moved.
'Oh my! My precious baby!'
On top of that, Da-yeon kept watching me, apparently worried I might expose her. Kim Tae-oh greeted her politely, then stared intently at me.
"Who... are you?"
"That's Si-yoon, my best friend."
"Ah... understood."
What was with that stiff behavior? The eleven-year-old seemed fully aware that he was working. Focused on protecting Jeong-yeon, Da-yeon, and Ga-yeon, he kept checking their positions.
Alright, I'll admit it.
The kid was incredibly passionate and hardworking. With looks that striking, I could see why Da-yeon had fallen for him—his face was practically that of a male lead from a comic. Our Da-yeon quietly radiated girlish charm around Tae-oh without making it obvious. To me, it was simply adorable. Jeong-yeon and Ga-yeon gave her strange looks, while I alone treated her normally.
"Wanna go see the pandas?"
"Yeah!"
The moment we moved, a whole crowd followed. They wore ordinary clothes, but their builds were anything but ordinary. I sketched the pandas and said quietly to Da-yeon.
"Pandas are cute and adorable, but did you know they pay rent for them separately?"
"Rent?"
"China uses their cuteness as diplomacy. The annual rental fee for a live panda is 1.2 billion won."
"Seriously?!"
"Yeah, and if a cub is born, there's an additional 700-million-won fee. Once it turns three, it has to return to China."
"Whoa..."
"And they're incredibly picky eaters. I heard their food alone costs 100 million won a year."
"Wow... that's one expensive animal..."
"But if we topple China, we'd only have to pay for food..."
"Huh?"
Kim Tae-oh kept staring at me. Whenever our eyes were about to meet, he casually turned toward the pandas. Something about his gaze felt unmistakably off.
It was the same unmistakable expression other kids wore when they looked at me—the stage just before a confession, when they were sorting out their feelings.
Knowing how Da-yeon felt, I... felt like this was fucked.
If the person she had an enormous crush on liked her own friend... I could see clear as day how Da-yeon's feelings toward me might change.
Praying I'd misread Tae-oh's gaze, I kept drawing the pandas and pretended not to notice. But wherever we went, I felt his eyes on me until I became certain: that kid liked me. And... Da-yeon sensed that something was wrong too.
When Da-yeon finally stepped away, I dragged Kim Tae-oh aside and shoved him against a wall. I felt bad for the kid, but for Da-yeon's sake I had to draw a clear line.
"Hey... why the fuck do you keep staring at me?"
The kid looked at my face with round eyes, then suddenly averted his gaze, his face turning red. I felt my blood run cold.
"You like me?"
"...No. There's no way."
"Haa... good. I hope not too..."
"You... don't like me?"
"What?"
Suddenly the kid's face went red again.
"You look like a bug. Don't look at me. I'm telling you because seeing you disgusts me."
The kid's face looked like he'd taken a massive shock. Even as I said this to preemptively block a confession, I apologized to the kid in my heart, sincerely. I left the kid, whose expression was growing more and more grave, and went back to where I'd been. The conversation with the kid confirmed it. I'd deflected for now, but it was clearly a more serious situation than I'd thought. In this situation that felt like it would explode if I poked it, I couldn't focus on my drawing. The moment my eyes met Lee Jin-seok's as he played with Jeong-yeon and Ga-yeon in the distance, I quickly moved over and spoke in a rapid-fire burst.
"Kim Tae-oh likes me."
"What!?"
For the first time in my life, I bit my nails.
"We're in trouble... this can't happen... What if Da-yeon starts hating me?"
"Stay calm, Si-yoon..."
Lee Jin-seok started thinking, his expression serious.
"First, I told him he looked disgusting and not to look at me."
"To a kid...?"
"Then what was I supposed to do!!! He almost confessed right in front of Da-yeon!!! And what's that supposed to mean, am I not a kid too?!"
Lee Jin-seok grew more and more serious, as if he'd never imagined Kim Tae-oh could end up liking me.
"What do I do?"
"Go back for now... it won't be good to be away too long..."
I nodded at Lee Jin-seok's words and returned to drawing the pandas. Kim Tae-oh suddenly approached and tapped my shoulder while Da-yeon stared blankly at us.
"Let's talk for a second..."
"..."
Kim Tae-oh had singled me out in front of Da-yeon... For a moment, I felt faint.
'Oh... dear God...'
In front of Da-yeon, I couldn't treat a kid she treasured too harshly, so I ended up going somewhere the two of us could speak alone.
"Hah..."
"I'm not interested in you."
"Get to the point."
"You're the friend of someone I have to protect. I was only looking at you to gather information. I was curious because I recognized you from TV, that's all."
Apparently embarrassed at having been rejected, the kid made excuses, and I nodded quickly.
"Sure."
"..."
"We're done, right? I'm leaving."
Just as I tried to hurry back to Da-yeon, who was watching us with anxious eyes, the kid grabbed my arm.
'What kind of grip does this kid have...?'
"It's not over yet."
"Let go, will you? It hurts..."
"Sorry. Still, I'm not making excuses—I mean it."
"Didn't I say I got it? I said I got it, so don't talk to me."
"..."
Feeling sorry for the kid again, I returned to Da-yeon. Left alone, he watched me the whole way. When I reached her, Da-yeon asked very carefully, her face full of worry.
"What did Tae-oh... say?"
"Ah, since I'm always with you, he was just curious about who I was."
"R...really?"
"Yep."
"That's so mean. Why would he do that to you? Getting all stern, pulling your arm... You're my precious friend... I'm disappointed in Tae-oh..."
Da-yeon was clever. I could tell from her expression that she was probing me, and I didn't fall into the trap.
"Still, he was only trying to protect you. He's dedicated."
"Is that what it was?"
"Yeah."
When Da-yeon smiled softly again, I broke out in a cold sweat, let out a sigh of relief, and went back to drawing the baby panda. We changed clothes for the farm experience. They said no pesticides were used, so I was thoughtlessly picking and eating strawberries when Dad stopped me.
"Si-yoon! That has bugs!"
"Yeah, I know. That's the bug's fault for not avoiding me, not mine. As long as I chew thoroughly, it doesn't matter."
"...Huh?"
Dad stared in confusion as I kept chewing despite the caterpillar visible on the strawberry.
"Tastes good."
""...""
I made eye contact with Kim Tae-oh again. He immediately looked away and blushed. Having lived as a man for forty-five years, I knew exactly what it meant.
This was fucked...
If Da-yeon—who had handled Kim Tae-oh's photo until it wore thin—found out... the thought alone made me dizzy. Resolving to avoid drawing attention, I silently placed the strawberry I'd been eating in Dad's hand. Still crouching, Dad looked up at me with a thoroughly frightened expression.
"Sh... should Dad eat one... too?"
"How can you eat while making that face? Throw it away."
"Okay."
Dad's pale face relaxed as he sighed in relief and immediately threw away the strawberry. To avoid arousing Da-yeon's suspicion, I played with Ga-yeon and Jeong-yeon. The day flew by with all sorts of activities, and I made a private resolution.
Somehow, I had to avoid running into Kim Tae-oh from then on... But before long, I met him again—this time with Ji-hoon in tow—when we went to an indoor pool.
Thinking of the saying 'turn a crisis into an opportunity,' I resigned myself to using Ji-hoon. When I took his hand, he flinched and broke out in goosebumps at how unexpectedly soft it was.
"Are you trying to fight in front of our parents?"
"Help me today. Act like we're interested in each other."
"Fuck off. Why should I?"
This bastard had never listened when I asked nicely, so my fist started to rise before I restrained myself. I spoke slowly to the flinching Ji-hoon.
"Later, a ridiculously handsome kid named Kim Tae-oh is going to show up."
"So?"
"Da-yeon has a huge crush on him. But that kid likes me."
"Huh?"
Once he understood the situation, Park Ji-hoon laughed far too hard.
"Control your expression unless you want your life to end at eleven."
"Out of spite alone, I'll live at least twelve years longer than you."
"Yeah, yeah. Just help me today."
We split up and changed in our respective locker rooms. In the women's locker room, it was only me, Da-yeon, Kim Seon-hwa, and Ji-hoon's mother. Da-yeon was excited at the thought of seeing Kim Tae-oh.
I stroked Da-yeon's hair, acting like nothing was up.