Women’s intuition was far more developed than men’s. Song Ki and Hyungtae, who I see every day, didn’t even ask, but she figured it out after just watching for two days.
“We were always close.”
“You’re lying.”
“Don’t you want to eat meat?”
At my words, she shook her head while giggling again. It was cute. Right, you do want to eat meat.
“Is Heejin oppa still doing well with his girlfriend these days?”
“He doesn’t have a girlfriend.”
I was certain—Seo Heejin himself had said he’d never had a girlfriend since joining the company, and lately he’d been meeting me every weekend.
“Really? Ever since he joined, whenever anyone brought up blind dates he’d say he had someone he liked, so I thought he had a girlfriend.”
Ah… I think I knew where the rumors about Seo Heejin playing the field started. With Heejin’s looks and his personality of being nice to everyone, he must have heard about blind dates dozens of times. They say looks are an ability too, but looking at Seo Heejin, I thought being too exceptional might also be tiring.
Since it didn’t seem great for him to be on multiple people’s lips even when he wasn’t present, changing the conversation topic was the only consideration I could offer.
We left the meat restaurant, bought alcohol, and all piled into the training center to start the second round.
With over 30 people, we couldn’t all drink in one room, so we split up to some degree, but Seo Heejin wasn’t anywhere. How did I know? Because I was going around from room to room trying to cheer Heejin up. He really was high-maintenance.
Where are you? 21:47
The message I sent showed as read, but there was no reply. Seo Heejin, that bastard. What a bastard. I finally gave up and settled into a suitable room, and only then did my phone vibrate.
Seo Heejin
Hyung. Can you come out for a bit? 22:13
Seo Heejin really was a bastard. I’d just sat down, and now I had to get up again while reading the room—it was killing me.
Even though nobody asked, I made excuses about my phone battery being dead and going to get my charger as I headed outside the building, but Seo Heejin was nowhere to be seen.
Where are you 22:20
Seo Heejin
The smoking area in the basement of the lecture hall 22:20
You went pretty far at this late hour. Though I grumbled, from the feeling of the message it seemed Seo Heejin’s mood had improved, so I thought that was fortunate. After going down the stairs and walking quite a ways, I saw Seo Heejin standing blankly in front of the smoking area of the lecture hall.
“Are you done sulking?”
At my question, Seo Heejin didn’t answer at all and suddenly held something out. A chocolate-flavored Chuchubar. What. Is this his way of making peace right now? What he was doing was so funny and cute that I had no choice but to let it slide.
“I didn’t think I’d be able to take care of you tomorrow, so I wanted to do it now.”
“You think of everything.”
I spoke curtly on purpose as I took the Chuchubar and pulled off the cap, and Seo Heejin naturally took the cap from my hand and put it in his mouth.
It was dark so I couldn’t see his face well, but he was obviously grinning with his eyes.
When Seo Heejin’s sulking cleared up, this time upset feelings suddenly bubbled up in my heart.
“Don’t drink too much today. You’ll throw up in the car tomorrow.”
On top of that, he even brought up the story from our first training. I’d gotten so carried away drinking that I even had makgeolli, and the next day I was in terrible pain on the bus ride back.
Had Seo Heejin been nearby then? I didn’t remember well.
Seo Heejin, who’d been chuckling to himself, brought his face close to mine. It seemed Seo Heejin couldn’t see me well in the dark either.
“Hyung, are you feeling down right now?”
When Seo Heejin asked if I was feeling down, I got goosebumps now. Surely he wasn’t going to ask if he should blow me here? If Seo Heejin was in his right mind.
“…Your grilled meat is delicious, but…”
I didn’t really know why I was upset either, so when I nitpicked about something trivial, Seo Heejin, who was right in front of my nose, smiled.
“What kind of weird excuse is this. If hyung wants, I can feed you meat every single day.”
I knew myself it was a weird excuse, so all I could do was suck on the Chuchubar.
“Should I grill meat for you when we go up tomorrow?”
I’d eaten meat until I was sick of it today, but I still hadn’t eaten meat grilled by Seo Heejin. So when I nodded, I heard a small laugh.
“Tomorrow… should we go straight to my place?”
It wasn’t a bad suggestion. I nodded again, and this time instead of laughter, a “hmm” of contemplation came back.
“It seems like you’re still not feeling better?”
Seo Heejin was right. There was one more thing I’d been continuing to be upset about.
“…The bus.”
And I was too embarrassed to say with my own mouth what I was upset about. It was even more trivial than sitting separately at the meat restaurant.
“The bus?”
The corners of Seo Heejin’s eyes curved prettily as he mulled over my words. I was upset, but this bastard seemed to be in a completely good mood.
“Do you want to sit together on the bus going up?”
If Seo Heejin was asking this far, it would be weird to back out now.
“Yeah…”
When I answered obediently, Seo Heejin’s smiling face hardened.
“Ha— Hyung, can I kiss you right now?”
What is he saying.
“Of course not.”
And there was no way Seo Heejin would listen to me.
Seo Heejin’s lips felt dry, unlike usual when they always felt moist and wet.
The lips that had touched mine lightly parted and closed. With normal thinking, I should push him away asking what he’s doing in a place where we might get caught. But my stupid body, which had grown accustomed to Seo Heejin, opened my lips as if welcoming him.
“Mmm…”
As if that wasn’t enough, I tilted my head and welcomed the hot flesh that was burrowing in even deeper. What did Seo Heejin say. Even as I thought that, the hand holding the Chuchubar fidgeted and grabbed Seo Heejin’s clothes tightly.
What he was wearing today must be expensive clothes too. If a wet mark in the shape of the Chuchubar was left on it, that would serve him right. It was definitely me kissing, but somehow it felt like I was a completely different being.
Seeing how the resentment that had been building up in my heart melted away sweetly at this small contact, it was definitely a different being.
When the tongue that touched mine slyly wrapped around my tongue and then pulled back, I felt regretful and followed it, only to have it rub against mine tap-tap. If I pulled my tongue back, it followed as if asking where I was running to and wrapped around it, and if I kept running away, it stirred various places in my mouth, protesting that there were plenty of places to touch even if not my tongue.
Late at night, the kiss with Seo Heejin had the taste of a little meat and alcohol, and the taste of the chocolate Chuchubar Seo Heejin had bought me, all mixed together thickly.
The lips that separated and bumped back together several times only completely pulled away when we heard people’s voices from a distance. Were they going out to buy more alcohol? The familiar voices of my coworkers echoed faintly. It felt like I’d just returned from another world.
While I was dazed, Seo Heejin pulled me into a hug.
“Ah… I finally feel alive.”
His voice sounded relieved somewhere.
“For two whole days, hyung was right before my eyes but I couldn’t touch you. I really almost died.”
While hugging me, Seo Heejin muttered that he was proud of himself for enduring until now.
The long hand that touched my back felt particularly hot, so I didn’t push Seo Heejin away and just let him hold me while I fiddled with the Chuchubar in my hand. I seemed a bit strange.
“Your ice cream’s all melted.”
The ice that had been stuck to the surface of the Chuchubar melted and ran down the hand I was holding it with. It was a really strange feeling, hard to express in words. At my words, Seo Heejin pressed the Chuchubar poke-poke and burst out laughing.
“Think of it as drinking chocolate milk, hyung.”
It was a strange enough night that I even chuckled at Seo Heejin’s nonsense.
Even after returning to the room where the drinking was happening with Seo Heejin, we sat a bit far apart. If we sat close, I felt like I wouldn’t be able to control myself and would keep sneakily touching Seo Heejin.
Seo Heejin must not have been thinking much differently from me, as he naturally sat far away and sipped his beer. Although when our eyes occasionally met he’d show me a pretty eye-smile, he didn’t talk to me separately, so he was keeping his promise not to show it.
Unlike usual when we’d see things through to the end, we left the drinking session at an appropriate time, and even on the way back to the room together we were awkward for no reason.
The hallway we were walking down was narrow, so just our hands brushing made me gasp in surprise and curl my hand.
