“You’re going out with me!”
“I know. I know, but…….”
“……Is it weird?”
“No, I just thought you dressed up really nicely.”
Banye said with a strangely uncomfortable expression.
At that reaction, I thought about changing clothes…… but I had chosen this outfit because I wanted to look good for Banye, so I decided to just wear it.
Banye looked at me, then awkwardly got up from his seat.
“Then let’s go.”
“Okay!”
We went downstairs and immediately got into the taxi I had called.
* * *
The course I chose for today was none other than an amusement park.
‘We eat together all the time, and we sometimes watch movies in the living room, so that’d be exactly the same as usual.’
I had thought a lot about whether it would be better to create special memories with a unique date course.
But I didn’t think I’d be able to plan a date course well, so this was the choice I made after much deliberation.
“Wow, there are so many people…….”
Even though I deliberately avoided the weekend when choosing the day, there were still lots of people. Some high school must have come on a field trip because there were swarms of kids in uniforms moving around in groups.
I was getting pushed around by the uniformed crowd when Banye pulled me out and I barely managed to escape.
“Ban…… uh, where are you going?”
I was about to call him Banye, then awkwardly changed what I was saying. With so many people around, calling him by his game nickname felt a bit……
But Banye suddenly stood there blankly, then started heading somewhere. And I followed Banye with quick steps.
The place we arrived at was a goods shop full of this amusement park’s representative characters. Inside was packed full of character goods decorated with the seasonal theme.
“Why here…….”
“This one looks kind of similar.”
“Huh?”
Banye said something incomprehensible, then held up something that looked like a puppy to my face.
I stood there watching blankly, but Banye seemed excited about something, so I felt proud thinking I really did well bringing him here. From then on, I got excited too and looked around at the goods.
But Banye, who had been quickly passing by, stopped at a certain section and was staring at something as if pondering.
I turned my body toward Banye.
“Do you want to wear that?”
What Banye was looking at was none other than a T-shirt with a character printed on it. It was a cute design that didn’t suit Banye, but…… precisely because it didn’t suit him, I thought he’d look even cuter if he wore it.
“Should I buy it for you? Do they have your size?”
“No.”
Banye said firmly, then pulled out a T-shirt from about the middle and held it up to my body. Then he nodded with a satisfied look on his face.
“I think this would suit you well, hyung.”
“……This? More than what I’m wearing now?”
“Yes.”
I looked down at the outfit I had carefully chosen. ……Well, yeah. Even if I put thought into what I wore, what matters is clothes that Banye likes!
I nodded and checked the T-shirt Banye handed me. The size was exactly the size I wore too.
I paid for the T-shirt. Then I came out of the fitting room wearing the T-shirt. Then Banye smoothly lifted up his phone. I made a V-sign thinking he might be taking a picture, and there really was a click sound.
“Did you take one?”
Banye didn’t answer and handed me the headband he had been holding.
“Hyung, try this on too.”
“A, a headband?”
“Yes.”
From then on it was a bit embarrassing. Not that Banye was embarrassing, but a bit…… I wanted to show him a cool side but everything Banye gave me was all adorable and cute things.
Still, Banye seemed to like it, so I wore the headband, put on the puppy gloves, and even struck poses to the fullest.
Banye didn’t particularly tell me to buy them, but when I paid for them and wore them around, he made such a satisfied expression that I ended up becoming the most excited person in the amusement park in an instant.
“You know, can’t you wear this too……?”
“Why would I?”
“That’s mean!”
So I felt a bit embarrassed being the only one bouncing around in such bright clothes, and smoothly held out a T-shirt with the same design as mine for Banye to wear too, but I was flatly rejected.
“Then, what about this headband……?”
“No thanks.”
“Then how about this cap? Hm?”
“…….”
Banye looked at the ball cap I held out and made a slightly conflicted expression.
This ball cap was black overall and instead of having dog ear shapes sticking out, they were embroidered, so it was a cute design that didn’t stand out too much.
At Banye’s lukewarm reaction, I quickly paid for the ball cap and swiftly put it on Banye’s pretty head. But Banye, you don’t know, do you? There’s a dog tail sticking out from the back of that ball cap. Hehe…….
“So cute…….”
“That’s too much.”
“Don’t take it off! Don’t take it off!”
Seeing my smiling face, Banye tried to take it off several times, but eventually swept up his bangs and wore the ball cap.
I felt so proud and found Banye so cute that my chest swelled. This really feels like a date……! No, it is a real date!
Anyway, Banye stayed still even when I took profile pictures of him wearing the ball cap, didn’t pull away when I grabbed his arm, and didn’t complain once even when we stood in line for a popular ride that required a long wait.
Even though he wasn’t grinning excitedly, there was an atmosphere like he was unexpectedly enjoying it, which lifted my mood as well.
‘Banye is really the best…….’
I held Banye’s water for him and thought this every time Banye said “Some water…….” and I quickly brought the water to his lips.
I had put a straw in the water bottle and was feeding it to Banye, and my heart pounded every time Banye lowered his head toward me to drink water.
I was worried he might find it bothersome and try to take it and drink it himself, but Banye seemed to find using his own hands more troublesome and appeared to have no particular complaints.
I stole glances at Banye’s sparkling red lips with a silly grin and muttered only to myself.
‘This defenseless side is really cute…….’
And somehow, being alone with Banye like this really felt like we were dating, so my mood was ready to pierce through the sky right now. I was so glad a hundred times over that we didn’t just watch a movie and eat.
‘Nanneomukeoeyeowo-nim…… you were wrong.’
I felt the adrenaline burning through my head as I was drunkenly intoxicated with Banye.
“What do you want to ride? Oh, are you good with scary rides?”
“What about you, hyung?”
It felt like…… he was asking back with a vibe of ‘you obviously can’t ride them, right,’ so I bristled for a moment.
“I’m good at them. Are you scared because you can’t ride them?”
“Me?”
Banye snorted.
“Let’s ride whatever you like, hyung. Like the carousel.”
“No. I’m going to ride that!”
What I pointed at was a ride that rapidly descended from a high place, cutting through the water.
Honestly, I’m not that great at riding them, but I’m also not that scared of them either. Besides, the point of that ride was…… that it takes a picture in the middle.
‘Banye being scared…….’
Even though we hadn’t ridden it yet, just imagining Banye being scared while riding the attraction was funny and cute. I confidently took the lead and dragged Banye toward that ride.
Naturally, the line for the ride we wanted to go on was very long. Still, waiting is also part of the fun of rides…… I thought, and figured this would be a good opportunity to have conversations with Banye that we don’t usually have.
However.
“Ah, the fucking line is so long!”
“Fuck, the line isn’t getting shorter?”
“Why isn’t Kim Sojeong here?”
“Did she get lost?!”
In front and behind us…… groups of high schoolers with very loud voices stood and shouted endlessly.
I was a high schooler myself just 3 years ago, but it was so noisy I could hardly believe I had a time like that too. As one team’s voices got louder, other teams’ voices got louder too, and it became astonishingly noisy in an instant.
“The line is…… really long.”
“It really is.”
Forget having an intimate conversation with Banye, it was just too noisy.
Moreover, it wasn’t an atmosphere where we could have a comfortable conversation. I could feel the glances of the high schoolers standing around us looking at us, especially at Banye. Being tall and handsome, he really caught people’s attention—he was like a walking billboard.
I wanted to quickly ride the attraction and escape from here, but the line showed no signs of shrinking easily. I endured and waited, thinking my ears might bleed.
After waiting through that deafening time, our turn finally came.
“Want to sit in the very front?”
“Is the front scary?”
“If you’re scared, I’ll sit in front!”
Banye glanced at me, then sat in the very front.
I sat behind Banye with a pounding heart. And the ride slowly started moving.
“Wow…….”
The higher the ride went up, the more my heart fluttered. And soon, the ride started rapidly dropping downward.
“Waaaah!”
A scream burst out of my mouth without me realizing it. My hair stood on end at the sense of speed I was feeling after a long time.
But unlike me, Banye, who sat in the very front, looked composed throughout the entire ride.
‘……Is he frozen in fear?’
He’s not really scared but I forced him to ride it, right? If so, today’s date would be completely ruined.
I came out trembling, unable to even ask, and stopped in front of the monitor that shows the photo taken during the ride.
The screen changed, and our image appeared on the screen.
I was screaming with a frightened-looking face. It wasn’t that scary, but the moment captured must have come out a bit strange.
And Banye was…….
“…….”
I slowly turned to look at Banye. Banye with an expressionless face raised an eyebrow as if asking why I was looking at him.
I checked the monitor again. It seemed expressionless, but was subtly different. The Banye in the monitor looked somehow…… happy.
“Was it fun?”
“It was fun watching you scream, hyung.”
