My heart dropped with a thud, but I maintained as expressionless a face as possible as I took off my shoes and went inside. Then I checked the invoice while examining the delivery box thoroughly.
But there was nothing attached to the box and nothing written on it either.
“Is this yours?”
Lee Jiwoo asked me, holding the small fish-shaped container. It was a really strange question. It was an item that came out of my delivery box opened at my house, and he’s not asking what it is but whether it’s mine?
No, more importantly, what the hell is that thing?
“Why are you opening someone else’s delivery without permission?”
For now, I let out a sigh and pretended to close the empty box again while checking it over. There really was nothing. At this point, even I was puzzled.
Is it really something hyungnim sent?
“Delivery? You received it by delivery?”
Lee Jiwoo tilted his head and asked again. Each question felt like a trap. I didn’t even know if this delivery was really sent by hyungnim, and I didn’t know what that was, so if I rashly lied, an irreversible situation might come.
I put on a poker face and spoke, mixing lies and truth appropriately.
“I suppose so? Otherwise, it wouldn’t be in front of our front door.”
“Didn’t you order it?”
“I am expecting to receive something, but I don’t know what that is. What is that? There’s no invoice on the box either. Did it come to the wrong place?”
When I muttered like talking to myself while tilting my head, Lee Jiwoo’s gaze finally left me. I felt relieved as if freed from a snare, but it was only for a brief moment.
“Then it’s not yours.”
“If it was misdelivered, of course it’s not mine. What is that? Is it salt?”
“Why salt all of a sudden?”
“That’s a soy sauce container. Haven’t you eaten sushi?”
Lee Jiwoo shook the container lightly, then put it in his pocket.
“Let’s go eat sushi next time. What kind of sushi do you like?”
“What about you, Lee Jiwoo? And why are you sneakily pocketing that? Give it to me. It might be a misdelivered package for upstairs, so I’ll ask the landlady.”
“It’s not the landlady’s delivery.”
At his firm words, I frowned.
“How can you be so sure?”
“I just have a feeling.”
“What are you talking about? Opening someone else’s delivery without permission…”
“You said it’s not your delivery?”
He really doesn’t make sense. I felt like I’d only get more frustrated if I argued more, so I held out my hand.
“Give me that.”
“You said it’s not yours?”
“It’s not mine, but since it came to my house, I have to take responsibility for it.”
“Has anyone other than me said they liked you recently?”
Ignoring my words, Lee Jiwoo changed the subject. Seeing him obsess over it like that, that fish salt seemed to be what hyungnim sent. Otherwise, why would Lee Jiwoo be so obsessed with it?
I just thought I’m screwed. Not knowing what to do, I decided to cross the living room and go into my room to change clothes. Lee Jiwoo leaned against the doorframe with his arms crossed and spoke while watching me take off my pants.
“Or expressed interest, even lightly.”
“There are many people like that.”
“You’re more promiscuous than I thought.”
“What?”
I was startled while putting my right leg into my jeans and turned around. His cold gaze was precisely on my butt.
“Do you just sleep with anyone who shows interest?”
“……?”
“Taking off your clothes?”
“…What are you saying? Is this because I took off my pants just now? I’m just changing clothes, but you’re condemning it like this.”
I was so dumbfounded I even dropped the pants I was holding. The jeans that had been halfway on fell down, and I pressed my throbbing forehead in a bottomless fashion.
“Then you’ve never slept with anyone?”
At the nonsense that came again, laughter burst out without realizing it.
“You’re really extreme. Then what about you, Lee Jiwoo? How many people have you slept with?”
I asked with a snort, but an answer didn’t come right away. I knew it. I clicked my tongue and opened my mouth.
“See? You’re flustered too when asked this question, right? Such a personal…”
“Do you do it while counting each one?”
“What?”
His gaze turned upward. As if thinking about something, he looked blankly into space, folding his fingers one by one, then looked at me again.
“Well, yesterday I slept with five people.”
“Yesterday? Five people?”
“Yeah.”
It was a strange number. I didn’t understand, so just in case, I said:
“That… sleeping, it’s not sleeping like snoring. I mean, sexual intercourse…”
“Wasn’t I talking about sex?”
“What? Oh, yes… That’s right… Five people?”
As if asking what the problem was, Lee Jiwoo nodded with an innocent expression. Come to think of it, among the characteristics of Lee Jiwoo that hyungnim told me, there was also the word hedonist.
“Wow, your stamina is impressive…”
“It is.”
“Congratulations.”
“You can do it too.”
What kind of conversation is this? I smiled awkwardly with an uncomfortable expression, then finished changing my clothes. Lee Jiwoo still stared at me intently, but I was purely impressed by his stamina so I didn’t care.
“Didn’t you say you liked me?”
“Yeah, I like you.”
At his confident words, my breath caught. Because I’d closed the boiler, my room’s floor was cold as ice. Whether because of that or because of Lee Jiwoo’s unconventional statement, my body trembled.
“But why do you do that with other people?”
“What does that have to do with this?”
“……”
Is this what adults call the way kids think these days? I felt dizzy at the shocking statement that seemed to shatter my brain cells.
“You don’t like that kind of thing?”
Whether my current feelings showed a lot on the outside, Lee Jiwoo asked. What exactly is that kind of thing? I was scared to ask. If Lee Jiwoo’s dating style is that free-spirited, don’t I have to adapt to it? Anyway, I need to become closely related to Lee Jiwoo.
“Just…”
It would be troublesome if Lee Jiwoo lost interest in me after I said I didn’t like it. I desperately smiled and salvaged the situation.
“It’s not that I dislike it, I’m just a bit surprised. You’re the first person like Lee Jiwoo I’ve met.”
“Really? Then do you want to join next time?”
“……”
Was it even five people at once, not one person five times… I really couldn’t believe it. Who’s calling who promiscuous?
“Yes, well… If there’s a good opportunity…”
I vaguely glossed over it and was about to put on my padded jacket when Lee Jiwoo suddenly came close. Then he thrust his face forward and said:
“Give me something to wear too. I might freeze to death if I go like this.”
Why does he have to get so close to say that? I had no choice but to hand over the padded jacket I was about to wear to Lee Jiwoo.
“Then wear this.”
“Aren’t you going to wear it?”
“I’m not that cold.”
I felt like I’d freeze to death too, but there was only one padded jacket. Even searching through the closet, there wasn’t much to wear, so I just wore a thick hoodie and wrapped a scarf around my neck several times.
Surely he won’t ask for the scarf too.
“What time do you work until at your part-time job?”
“Um… I don’t know. If there are a lot of customers, I work a bit longer.”
We left through the front door together and went down the steep downhill road. Then I suddenly remembered and asked:
“Are you really going to take that fish from earlier?”
At my question, Lee Jiwoo took out the fish-shaped container from his pocket. Even looking closely, I couldn’t tell what it was.
“It’s not yours anyway. Just give it to me.”
“…Do that, then. But what is it?”
“GHB.”
G, what? I didn’t know what it was even after hearing it, so I just memorized it. I’ll have to search it on the internet when I get to the store later.
“Do you have other employees you work with?”
“At the part-time job? Yes, there are.”
“Hmm.”
Lee Jiwoo stayed still for a moment as if thinking about something, then waved his hand lightly without even looking at me.
“Alright, good luck.”
A taxi that saw that stopped right in front, and Lee Jiwoo disappeared in an instant just like when he came. I couldn’t help but be flustered watching the taxi getting farther away.
“What the hell, really. There’s no one more wind-like than this person.”
Standing there, it felt like I’d been dreaming. But a bus came right away, so there was no more time to be lost in thought.
Today I only had to be there until the boss came to work, so I thought I’d stop by to see Seogong briefly after finishing. Kim Minjun, the new employee, greeted me when he saw me arrive at work.
I greeted him back while unwrapping my scarf and putting on my apron.
“Did you have breakfast?”
“Not yet.”
Anyway, there weren’t many customers during this time, so the inside of the store was quiet. Time passed quickly as I chatted with Minjun, cleaned, and did prep work.
Then I heard the sound of the door opening with a ding.
“Welcome.”
The first customer came in two hours after I started work. I heard Minjun’s bright greeting voice, and I also came out from the kitchen.
No, I was about to come out but froze in surprise.
“What do they sell here?”
“Meat, I guess. Pork.”
“Ah, so that’s why it’s called Pig Dream.”
Lee Jiwoo was entering with a dignified elderly gentleman dressed in a suit.
