Joel’s face came close until it was right in front of mine. It meant we were only at a distance where our noses would touch. I thought he was going to kiss me. My heart pounded. But I didn’t know what this action meant. I wasn’t experienced enough to know what significance such an act—just touching noses like this—held in the world.
“…”
Joel, who had been looking down at me with half-opened eyes, startled me by stroking my cheekbone very gently with his thumb, then,
“Ah.”
He pinched my cheek, making me completely shocked. Looking up with wide eyes, Joel said shortly with a completely expressionless face.
“My popcorn.”
“What?”
What bullshit is that? Making me nervous by suddenly raising his affection a ton and acting like he was going to kiss me, and then what? My eyebrows furrowed on their own. But as always, Joel didn’t back down.
“You spilled all my popcorn!”
“Argh!”
Joel suddenly grabbed my cheek sideways and shouted.
“I dropped it because you startled me! You didn’t even eat it while watching the movie earlier!”
“That’s because you were clutching the popcorn container like someone about to die and trembling!”
“Let go of my face!”
That bastard! Even though his affection became 76, Joel Gomez still didn’t like me. Especially the talk about him liking me romantically was complete bullshit. I didn’t know why his affection was uselessly high. His attitude hadn’t changed at all. Does he treat all humans like this? Is he that kind of asshole?
“You ruined everything!”
This was my first date and it was all ruined. I shouldn’t have met with that bastard. I could raise the Romance Index through other methods. Thump! I pushed Joel away and walked in the opposite direction with strong steps. Facing that bastard made me feel like I was going to explode and go crazy.
“Haa.”
As I got closer to the lake, the cold air mixed with the fishy smell of water and the scent of trees filled my lungs through my nose. I’m human so let me hold it in, hold it in. Let me hold it in…
After a while, I did breathing exercises—huff, haa, huff, haa. Then my rapidly beating heart gradually slowed to normal. My head also cleared up considerably. That didn’t mean my anger had completely subsided though.
Still, I didn’t know my very first “first date” would be this messy. I guess it was my fault for secretly anticipating and preparing for it. The other party was Joel Gomez after all. And it wasn’t even a date we were doing because we liked each other and felt fluttery. When I slowly opened my eyes that I had closed, I saw a shadow faintly. And what came into my clear vision was,
“Ah, you scared me.”
Joel standing right in front of me. With his hands in his pants pockets blocking my way, he was standing crookedly as always.
“Why again.”
“…”
“Don’t steal my air, and if you have nothing to say, get lost.”
Annoyed by his glancing gaze, I snorted and turned my body to the side. And as I flapped my arms like wings as if doing exercises, Joel somehow blocked my way, so I spun my body around. But this time too, Joel blocked my way again so I turned my body again, and he blocked me again so I turned again, and he blocked me again.
“What are you trying to do?”
“What got ruined. What did I ruin, huh?”
His tone full of complaints was absurd. Suddenly pinching someone’s cheek, yelling loudly, and then now coming with, what? I didn’t back down either and retorted.
“It was supposed to be a date, but you ruined it all. Pinching my face and yelling because popcorn fell! You might have done it countless times, but it was my first time, my first date!”
“I gave you a rose, and because you were scared of the movie, I came out with you and brought you all the way to the lake—this much is romantic!”
Rustle! Joel took a step toward me. Crunch! The popcorn stepped on by his foot let out a very small scream.
“Is that the expression of someone on a date right now?”
Making a face like he’s threatening someone or extorting money, asking what he did wrong. Well, it’s not like I really expected something romantic, but still, I thought we’d do it very normally, like spending time among friends. This was really a total flop.
“So my rose wasn’t romantic? You said it smelled good. You threw away the rose I gave you, huh?”
“…”
The moment Joel’s gaze swept over me, I had no choice but to shut my mouth. It was because I had left the rose Joel gave me on the movie theater seat. Joel smirked, pulling up one corner of his mouth.
“You’re the same. Why did you throw away the rose you got on your first date! If David that bastard had given it to you, it wouldn’t have been like that. You would have treasured it preciously and kept it until it became a mummy, then passed it down as an heirloom to your grandchildren!”
“What bullshit…! I’m with you right now, so why is David coming up! And why would I get a rose from David!”
I didn’t know why David’s story was suddenly coming up. And what? Making a rose into a mummy and passing it down as an heirloom to grandchildren? Does that bastard not know I’m gay? Where would I have grandchildren! I have no plans to adopt kids or get married!
Being with Joel kept making me lose my temper unlike myself. I didn’t know why I was like this. I should have just said let’s not do this stupid thing called a date. I glared at Joel, who was smirking with a strange expression, while grumbling.
“Why, what.”
“Well, yeah. You’re with me right now. What does David that bastard have to do with anything? The one on a date with you right now isn’t that bastard, it’s me.”
“…”
Joel shrugged, then nodded his head with a face like he was doing me a favor. I didn’t know why he was suddenly acting like that again. Crazy bastard.
“Leaving the rose behind, I’m pissed as hell about that, but I’ll let it slide this once. As a gentleman, I have to consider to some extent that my date partner is stupid.”
“Sure. Thank you so much.”
What country’s manners is it to call your date partner stupid? Even though I was openly being sarcastic, instead of yelling back, Joel approached the lakeside and plopped down.
“Come. I’ll give you a proper ‘date.'”
“…”
I just couldn’t keep up with the state of that guy changing rapidly every moment. But it seemed Joel interpreted the reason I was staying still in a different way.
“Alright, alright. As expected of a bourgeois young master.”
He laid his outerwear on the ground like it was a picnic mat and patted it.
“Sit down. It feels good to just stay here.”
“…”
Joel, with his eyes slightly closed and the corners of his mouth raised, looked really pleased. As his gently swaying hair tickled his forehead, Joel swept his hair up with those large hands and once again patted his outerwear. Having no choice, or as if enchanted by that gesture, I slowly approached and placed my bottom on Joel’s jacket.
“It’s cool, right?”
“…Yeah.”
Because it was suddenly like this after yelling at each other until just now, it was a bit awkward, so my answer sounded somewhat sulky. Out of embarrassment, I avoided Joel’s gaze as he rested his chin on his arm placed on his knee and looked at me crookedly. That made me look even more like someone who was really sulking.
“What did you want to do.”
“What.”
“Kids like you have that kind of thing, you know. Getting all puffed up with dreams and romance, so bells have to go ding-dong for the first kiss, and you have to do something on the first date and stuff like that. You must have had something you wanted to do on your first date.”
“I don’t have that kind of thing. What exactly have you been thinking of me as?”
Joel seemed to see me as some kind of romanticist full of dreams and hope. There was no way I, who was worn down by South Korea’s entrance exam system, had that kind of leisure. The only romance I’d ever harbored was getting into Korea University Medical School at the top of the class and receiving my parents’ praise. But it all went to waste. Far from being at the top, didn’t I fail to get in?
Feeling unnecessarily depressed, I closed my eyes while resting my cheek on my knee. Swoooosh, swoooooosh. The wind sweeping across the lakeside shook my hair violently as well.
“Here, Mom said this was where she used to date.”
“…”
“But she said she didn’t want to tell ‘that person’ where this place was, so she drove around in circles. Anyway, what a spiteful person. So the only people who know about this place are me and Mom. But Mom’s dead, so now it’s just me. Well, the police might know too. Since there must be a neighborhood map.”
At Joel’s story that suddenly began, I slowly opened my eyes. Because my cheek was still resting on my knee, I couldn’t see Joel’s face properly. I could only barely see his moving lips and firm chin. His loosely relaxed mouth corners pulled up—it really didn’t suit Joel yet somehow fit him. Despite his rough personality, Joel had a rather soft and gentle voice and good looks.
“So anyway, you’re the first person I’ve brought here. With this, I’ve roughly fulfilled your first date romance.”
“…”
I slowly lifted my head, but I still couldn’t see Joel’s face. It was because he had turned his head to the side. His black hair covering his sun-tanned, dark and dry nape swayed gently in the wind. As if it tickled, Joel scratched his nape roughly without straightening his head.
Joel who brought a rose, Joel who brought me back to the lakeside for my “first date” romance, Joel for whom this was the first time bringing someone here. All of it was unfamiliar and strange.
Even though he had quite high affection toward me, he showed a rough attitude, yet why did he do such actions? Was he really just a proper “gentleman” when on a date?
I reached my hand toward Joel’s earlobe, which looked somehow a bit darker than usual—no, slightly reddish. And when the fine hair on that earlobe tickled the tip of my index finger very slightly, and my fingertip touched the hot skin,
Smack!
Joel quickly snatched my hand and looked at me. I was faintly reflected in his eyes that were wide open in surprise.
