Chapter 22. So, Wear This and Do Role-Play Too?
“Puuuheee!”
Chae-ah blew her nose one more time before finally calming down.
No matter how much I thought about it, bringing up my past story had been—
No, there was no point dwelling on it anymore.
The water was already spilled, and it would be rude to Chae-ah after she'd listened to everything and comforted me.
“Unni, so what do you wanna do today?”
“Hmm, good question. Should I grant that wish you mentioned last time?”
“Oh, the nurse cosplay outfit?”
“Yeah, since I owe you one.”
After spilling my story to Chae-ah, the stuffy weight in my chest lifted like a burden had been removed.
Just unloading to someone eager to listen—regardless of who it was—must be something I always needed.
“Then… hold on a sec.”
Chae-ah suddenly pulled out her phone and tapped away furiously.
Before long, she set it down with a smug smile.
“Phew, done. Unni, head to the address I sent you by noon. Oh, and bring the cosplay outfit.”
“Huh? In broad daylight?”
“Hehe… Unni, you want to fuck me while I'm wearing that outfit, don't you?”
I'd figured asking me to wear something like that already implied cosplay play was on the agenda.
Chae-ah undoubtedly felt the same.
Still, her reaction was clearly just to tease me.
“Oh, guess you don't wanna do it after all. Then I'll just put it on and call it a day.”
“Wait, Unni! Hold on…!”
When I fired back without missing a beat, Chae-ah grabbed my hand in a panic.
“Of course I asked you to wear it so we could fuck.”
“Too bad. One more second, and you'd have been stuck with just the outfit.”
“Hehe, like I'd let that slip by.”
I checked the address Chae-ah had sent ahead—it was a motel.
So that's what she'd been doing just now? Booking the motel?
“You're quick.”
“Thanks! I gotta do what I want right away—it's just how I am.”
“Let's eat first.”
“Yay!”
With breakfast time leisurely and Chae-ah fully recovered, I decided to make something special.
The menu: abalone butter grill.
I was pretty sure no other boss would personally cook something this fancy for a fully healed employee.
“Sniff sniff… butter!”
Chae-ah, who'd been sitting on the bed, wandered over drawn by the scent of melting butter in the pan.
“Whoa, abalone!”
“You like abalone?”
“Duh! But doesn't abalone kinda look like a pussy the more you stare at it?”
Right as I was about to score the abalone, that comment hit me, sparking an inexplicable revulsion.
“So I'm slicing a pussy right now?”
“Pfft! Hahaha! Unni, that's so brutal!”
“You said it looked like a pussy.”
“It was just a figure of speech.”
“Why am I the bad guy here?”
For a moment, I could empathize with the dread Dad must have felt watching Mom hack away at peppers in a petty marital spat.
“Ah, this is fun. Being here with you like this is the best.”
“Glad to hear it.”
“Huh…? Wha-what?! No way!”
Chae-ah, who'd gone back to the bed to check her phone, came running over with a shocked reaction.
“Unni, one of my friends is a he-nyeo, right?”
“Yeah.”
“Well, she just DM'd me saying she thinks she likes girls.”
He-nyeo meaning hetero woman.
In other words, a straight girl.
“Really?”
“Yeah. How should I reply?”
“Could just be a misunderstanding. You know, like straight girls messing around.”
“Unni.”
“Yeah?”
“Do you hate heteros?”
Her words nearly shoved me into the abyss—I almost scored my finger instead of the abalone.
“How much more do you plan to stress me out…?”
“Pfft! Just kidding.”
Ever since the Gochujang incident, Chae-ah's comments had gotten bolder.
I figured it meant we were closer, but I wondered if I should take it all positively.
“One of my hetero friends did that once.”
“What happened with her?”
“She met a guy and got married.”
“I see. Well, misunderstandings aren't always a bad thing.”
“Right. But why try to drag me down to ruin with you?”
As I started slowly grilling the scored abalone, Chae-ah approached again, phone in hand.
“What's it this time?”
“Unni, they say 'pussy' in English for baby kitten.”
“Pussy's what's under you.”
“Hahaha! What the—? But it's true.”
“It means that?”
“Yeah, look.”
Chatting back and forth like that while cooking, breakfast was soon ready.
Abalone butter grill, doenjang jjigae, and a massive cheese egg roll-up.
This had to be a proper celebration feast for her full recovery.
“I'll eat well.”
“Dig in.”
“Yum!”
Chae-ah gave a thumbs-up after tasting each dish.
She always rated my cooking like this.
Words were nice, but that thumbs-up paired with her sparkling eyes was just as good.
“By the way, why haven't you posted on Insta lately?”
“Dunno, some lady's been too busy caregiving to post.”
“Hmm, who could it be? No idea.”
“Yeah. Whoever she is, she seems like a perv who loves naughty stuff.”
“Hah, me?”
“Pfft! Eat up.”
Her head-tilt and hair-scratching were so cute, I couldn't hold back a laugh.
“Truth is, hitting hearts on your Insta is my hobby.”
“Yeah, I figured. Post something, and bam—heart right away.”
“I'm always first, right?”
“Your flirting's no joke. Even my friend said she likes it.”
Mid-meal, a notification lit up Chae-ah's phone screen.
Her wallpaper was still that selfie we'd taken at my place.
“Still using that photo as your wallpaper.”
“Huh? Oh, duh. It's our first one together.”
“Wanna take a new one?”
“For real? Then today in the nurse cosplay…”
“Vetoed.”
“Boo.”
Slipping her ulterior motives in so naturally was no small feat.
Maybe that's why they warn you to watch out for the young ones.
Chae-ah polished off breakfast and plopped on the bed, patting her full tummy.
Meanwhile, I tackled the dishes.
“Unni, I could've done them.”
“Just this once from me.”
“Thanks, Unni.”
“Oh yeah, did you book overnight?”
“Nah, daytime—three hours.”
So, no letting me go for three hours straight, huh.
“After, I can head home?”
“Hmm, can I sleep over at your place, Unni?”
“Why my place?”
“Wanna sleep there once.”
I finished the dishes and wiped down the water splatters with a towel.
Shaking off my hands, I turned—and Chae-ah nagged.
“Unni, I told you to wear rubber gloves for dishes.”
“Yours are too big for me.”
“Aren't our sizes similar?”
She splayed her hand, so I walked over and pressed mine against it.
“Whoa, there's a difference?”
“Yeah, your fingers are too long.”
“Hehe…”
“Why the laugh?”
“Guess I'm a born lesbo.”
Best to give up understanding at times like this.
Just let it go in one ear and out the other.
“So you came out crying 'waa' at birth and said 'love lezzies' instead?”
“Hahaha! Unni, you're savage today? Makes me laugh more than talk. Sooo, sleepover at your place?”
I thought I'd dodged it smoothly, but Chae-ah latched on persistently.
It wasn't that I hated having her over.
My near-OCD tendencies made me hypersensitive to anyone stepping foot in my space.
Even after that brief visit, I'd cleaned for nearly an hour.
“Chae-ah.”
“Yeah, Unni?”
“Look around you.”
“Huh?”
She glanced around.
Scattered clothes and unmade bedding said it all about her habits.
She was trying to restrain herself in someone else's place, but at hers? She'd trash it all day.
“What?”
“What do you think?”
“Um… it's clean?”
Yeah, letting Chae-ah sleep over probably wasn't the best idea.
“Ah, time's up already…! Unni, let's go!”
“Okay.”
Luckily, time was nearing her deadline, cutting off the topic.
I stopped by the store to grab a nurse cosplay in my size, then headed to the motel at her address.
She must want me greeting her fully dressed in it.
“Ugh, garter belts are such a pain. Never thought I'd wear one.”
Grumbling nonstop, my hands kept moving.
“Eh, this'll do.”
Sex in this getup, though.
I could pass it off as product testing, but it was straight-up embarrassing.
“Whoa, panties and boobs are totally visible.”
Even standing still, the short skirt flashed my panties, and the deep neckline exposed my bra.
*Ding-dong!*
“She's fast.”
I slowly opened the door at the chime announcing Chae-ah's arrival.
“Chae-ah, you here—”
“Is this Yui's hospital?”
“What…?”
“I've got a cold and my head hurts—could you take a look?”
I hadn't expected role-play on top of the cosplay at all?