Is what Gangjin hyung said true? After getting revenge on the hyungs later, if I get the chance, I was planning to ask about the Seongheon hyung I don’t know.
Since I’ll be an adult soon too, I thought that to become equal with the hyungs, we should know each other’s honest selves. I wanted to mature further so I could accept Seongheon hyung’s true nature as it is.
“Hyung, I’ll just change my coat and come back.”
“Then I’ll be in the car, so come out slowly.”
“Okay.”
I went into my room and took off the coat to put it back in the closet, and just from hugging hyung briefly, the perfume smell had permeated the clothes. Even after changing into a padded jacket, I could smell that scent faintly from my body.
“Is this the scent of an adult? I should ask how to make this perfume later.”
I left the room and hurried outside the entrance.
I saw Ddanji wagging his tail while circling around Seongheon hyung’s car in the garden. Since it would be dangerous if the car moved, instead of getting in the car right away, I was busy chasing Ddanji away.
“Ddanji-ya! Go over there. No, come here!”
I was also going around the vehicle a few times following Ddanji when the jet-black car window rolled down with a zing─.
“Daeyoung-ah, stop circling and get in. The car has an around view so I can see where Ddanji is.”
“Ah, really?”
I didn’t know what feature that was, but I pretended to know and walked to the passenger seat.
I was worried that because hyung’s car body was high, he wouldn’t be able to see Ddanji on the ground, but since I ran around a bit, my body was hot, so I lowered the padding zipper to my belly button and got in the car.
“I’ll put on your seatbelt.”
“Hyung! I can do it too.”
Since Seongheon hyung’s face was coming close and it was a bit burdensome, I skillfully inserted the belt clip.
Only after hyung confirmed I’d fastened the belt did he smoothly start the car. Hyung’s long fingers holding the steering wheel moved back and forth to the gentle ballad.
Hyung’s gaze glancing at me while driving was also bright, making me doubt whether Dongwoo had properly stolen the Goldmess egg yesterday. But I dismissed that worry by recalling Daesu hyung’s words and behavior I saw this morning.
* * *
While riding in the car with Seongheon hyung, we exchanged trivial small talk and entered the steakhouse parking lot.
Ding.
Around the time hyung was reverse parking, a message arrived from Dongmi. Wondering if there was something she wanted to say secretly, I slightly turned my body to check the content.
[↳ I’m sitting on the 2nd floor sofa. ─ 12:24]
Nothing special.
After checking, I unfastened my seatbelt and got out of the car. Seongheon hyung also got out and immediately approached, adjusting the area around my shoulder.
“Daeyoung-ah, one side of your padding came down.”
“Ah.”
I’d forgotten that I lowered the padding zipper a lot because it was warm inside the car.
Seongheon hyung personally pulled up the padding that had slipped down one shoulder while gently stroking my forearm. That touch was similar to the action of parents encouraging their child going to take an exam, telling them not to copy answers.
‘Is he worried whether I’ll date properly?’
Even though it’s fake, I was planning to do my best.
“Daeyoung-ah, shall we go in?”
“Hyung, my girlfriend said she arrived on the 2nd floor.”
“Ah… Your girlfriend was there too.”
We came to a place with expensive food, and suddenly hyung countered with such a joke, making me feel self-conscious for no reason.
“Come on. You’re the one who asked to see her, hyung.”
“Just kidding. But being alone with you, I keep forgetting about other people.”
“I see. I was a bit scatterbrained, right? Hyung, I’ll hold the elevator.”
“It’s just one floor, let’s just take the stairs.”
“Should we?”
How long had it been since I came to a steakhouse? Even on my birthday I might or might not come, but to come to a place like this on an ordinary weekend like today, my heart was excited.
“Huh? She’s there.”
As soon as we went up to the 2nd floor, I saw Dongmi sitting alone on the sofa wearing a red coat. I was so happy I approached waving my hand, and Dongmi smiled at me but then made a serious face when she saw Seongheon hyung.
“Dongmi-ya! Did you wait long?”
“No. I just arrived too. I put in for a wait, so we can go in right away.”
“Yeah. Seongheon hyung, this is my girlfriend Dongmi. Dongmi-ya, this is Seongheon hyung I told you about. He’s buying us something delicious today.”
Dongmi just nodded her head as a courtesy and didn’t say much else. Seongheon hyung also saw that and just tilted his head sideways, with no greeting like “nice to meet you” or “so you’re Daeyoung’s girlfriend?”
In the end, unable to bear the awkward silence, I stood between the two first and linked arms with both sides.
“Don’t be like that, let’s go in.”
I dragged the two inside and we were guided to a seat under Dongmi’s name.
But once inside, we couldn’t walk with all three linking arms side by side because of the tables. I had no choice but to try to unlink my arm from Seongheon hyung, but hyung put strength in his arm so I couldn’t pull it out. Meanwhile, Dongmi tactfully unlinked the arm I’d linked, walked ahead, and moved away from us.
Isn’t this somehow backwards? I should be linking arms with Dongmi… If it’s like this, won’t it be too obvious that it’s fake? Thinking that, I looked after Dongmi who was walking ahead.
“Do, Dongmi-ya, shall we hold hands?”
“No need.”
Dongmi shouldn’t refuse me. Every time hyung’s gaze touched my face, it stung.
The seat we were guided to was by the window. While I yielded the window seat to Dongmi, Seongheon hyung sat in the seat across from Dongmi.
Wait a minute. Then where should I sit? Belatedly, I stood next to the table wrapped in contemplation.
‘Normally I would sit next to Seongheon hyung but… now I should naturally sit next to Dongmi, right? Since we’re a couple.’
Just as I reasonably came to a conclusion and was about to move my body, Dongmi urged me.
“What are you doing? Sit down.”
“Huh? Yeah.”
Right, thinking that if we’re dating we should naturally sit next to each other, I tried to pull out the chair, but Seongheon hyung reached under the table and grabbed my wrist.
“Daeyoung-ah, sit next to me. You need to put your girlfriend’s bag there.”
Only then did I notice the handbag on Dongmi’s lap.
Oops, I didn’t know. So that’s why they leave the seat next to the girlfriend empty in movies and dramas—I changed direction and sat next to hyung. Phew, I have to pay attention to even these small things.
I was nervous because I seemed to have shown amateurish signs from the start. Dongmi saw me sit next to Seongheon hyung, and belatedly placed her bag on the chair next to her.
“Would you like to order?”
“What do you want to eat?”
Seongheon hyung asked while looking at me with his chin propped up. Even though he said he wanted to meet my girlfriend, hyung had been looking only at me since earlier.
‘Why isn’t he looking at Dongmi? He should look at her… I brought her with difficulty… Hyung, look at Dongmi.’
So I started looking after my fake girlfriend even more to promote her.
“Dongmi-ya, what do you want to eat? I think there’s something you like here.”
Since Dongmi was looking at the menu so indifferently, I thought there was nothing she particularly wanted to eat. But Dongmi looked at the server and started ordering in a monotone voice.
“I’ll have the garlic ribeye steak, Cajun shrimp salad, penne cream pasta, aussie cheese fries, and a grapefruit ade.”
“Do, Dongmi-ya. That’s too mu─”
“Ah! Can’t forget the rice. Jambalaya paella too.”
The way she ordered was unhesitating, like a necromancer summoning monsters.
I was flustered inside. I didn’t know Dongmi would order this much. Seongheon hyung’s financial situation would be better than mine, but wondering if this was okay, I gauged hyung’s reaction.
“Daeyoung-ah, you order too.”
Since Dongmi had already ordered a lot, I couldn’t burden him further.
“Huh? …Mm. Maybe because I ate a lot for breakfast, I’m not very hungry so I think I can just share a bit of what Dongmi ordered.”
Looking at the menu, I kept staring at the prices instead of the dish names. I wanted to eat the chop steak too… Because Dongmi ordered too much, I felt self-conscious about ordering something expensive.
Generally, the further back you go in the menu, the cheaper it is. As I was turning the pages looking at the relatively cheap pasta section, Seongheon hyung leaned his head toward me and pressed his shoulder against mine.
“Daeyoung, you like meat.”
While saying that, he flipped the menu back to the very first page and showed it to me. Wondering if it was really okay to order meat, while I was contemplating, Seongheon hyung suddenly pointed to something at the top of the menu.
“Should we eat this? It says BBQ couple set.”
“Couple set?”
“Yeah. Let’s eat the couple set. You and me, just the two of us.”
What Seongheon hyung pointed to was a set with various menus like chop steak, pork ribs, salad, etc. While I was briefly wondering if we could eat all this, hyung placed the order.
“We’ll have this.”
“Yes. What would you like for drinks?”
“Strawberry ade for both of us. Without ice.”
By the way, the couple set hyung just pointed to was also extremely expensive. To spend an amount greater than my weekly allowance on one meal. Even though we’re only 3 years apart, Seongheon hyung felt like a very grown adult.
The server taking our order looked a bit flustered at our order quantity, but professionally didn’t lose her smile. We’d only just finished ordering but my throat was already parched. Just as I was picking up a cup to drink some water, hyung wrapped his hand around the water cup I was holding.
“Daeyoung-ah, you get indigestion if you drink cold water before meals. I’ll get you lukewarm water.”
“It’s okay, I’ll just drink a little.”
“No, wait.”
Seongheon hyung took the water cup, stood up, and went to the nearby water purifier. He poured hot water there, then returned to his seat and placed it in front of me.
“I mixed in cold water so you can drink it right away.”
“Thanks, hyung.”
As the lukewarm water went down my esophagus, I relaxed a bit.
‘Now what should I say first?’
When we had nothing to say to each other like an empty table and were just having a staring contest, the pre-meal bread and ade happened to arrive. Seongheon hyung watched me cut the brown bread for a moment, then shifted his gaze to Dongmi.
