“Jaekyung!”

After struggling with parking for over 10 minutes, Naeun finally gets out of the car and flashes a bright smile at her boyfriend who came out to greet her.

As if to prove that he was at home, Jaekyung, dressed in light training clothes, smiled back and approached her.

“Was driving not scary?”

“No! Don’t worry. It wasn’t that scary!”

It’s okay to be a little scared though. Swallowing the words he wanted to say more with a wry smile, he took the cake box Naeun pulled out from the backseat.

She remembered her boyfriend’s promise to make her favorite pasta, and even brought something for dessert.

Although it’s usually too expensive to eat, today is a special day, so she proudly tells him that she bought it herself from a famous bakery. Jaekyung quietly looked down at her, who was excited.

It’s so clean. That was the thought that crossed Naeun’s mind as she stepped into Jaekyung’s studio for the first time.

Usually when you hear a male college student lives alone, you imagine a slightly messy interior, but far from being messy, the floor looked so clean that not a single speck of dust would come out even if you wiped it with your hand.

There was only one bedroom, but the living room and kitchen were separated, and there was a fragrance everywhere.

Jaekyung made an embarrassed expression, saying he had cleaned just before Naeun came, but she was convinced that he would have lived similarly to this on a regular basis even if he hadn’t cleaned on purpose.

In the first place, there wasn’t a lot of miscellaneous furniture compared to the large house, and since all the clothes were stored in the closet, it didn’t seem possible to have the clothes hanging on the wall in an instant, which is common.

In addition, Jaekyung’s neat personality, which she knew from the beginning, also contributed to such a prediction.

Having rarely been to a friend’s house, and moreover, having never set foot in her boyfriend’s house like this before, she awkwardly walked to the living room for a moment, not knowing what to do.

Jaekyung put the cake Naeun brought in the refrigerator and took her outerwear and immediately hung it on a hanger.

Looking at each action he took, it showed how neatly he had been living.

Naeun, who sat awkwardly on the small sofa in the living room, looked around the house to hide her awkwardness and said for no reason.

“It’s so clean. Do you clean often?”

“I tried harder today because you were coming. Oh, did you tell your parents you’ll be back late today?”

“O-Of course!”

Naeun quickly nodded her head like a machine.

After becoming a college student, the curfew disappeared, but she still had to report where she was going and what she was doing.

Naeun honestly told her mother Suhyun that she would be out late playing with her boyfriend today, but she left out the fact that it was at the studio of her boyfriend who lives alone.

She made an excuse to herself that she didn’t have a chance to tell her father Seokhoon because he happened to be on a business trip to Busan.

Even if nothing happens, even if nothing occurs, she predicted that if she said she was going to play at her boyfriend’s house, she would inevitably face opposition.

I just didn’t answer because they didn’t ask where I was playing.

Having arbitrarily rationalized it, Jaekyung approached Naeun and picked up the remote control on the table.

“If you press this, you can watch YouTube or OTT. Pick what you want to watch.”

“Oh, then what about you?”

“I’ll be cooking.”

“I want to do it together!”

“It’s okay. The guest should sit.”

Pressing down on the shoulder of Naeun, who was about to jump up from the sofa, he smiled kindly and tapped Naeun’s cheek with the opposite hand.

Saying that this is how guests who come to play at home should be treated, he put the remote control in her hand and turned his back without hesitation.

“……”

Naeun took in Jaekyung’s actions, which were not much different from outside, with her eyes.

His hand setting up ingredients and pots he prepared in advance was simply diligent.

She stared blankly at Jaekyung’s back, which showed no intention other than the will to make something delicious for his girlfriend, and secretly reflected.

I’m sorry, Jaekyung. I guess I was really a pervert.

Imagining alone, expecting alone, such things were meaningless.

Because having fun with the person you really like at the house of the person you like is a happy thing in itself.

Don’t think strange thoughts for nothing.

Keeping in mind Sunjin’s advice not to have false expectations and be humiliated, she raised her hand and began to search the screen for a movie they could enjoy together.

In the end, she couldn’t watch the movie properly.

She did find what she wanted to watch, but when she tried to watch it together while eating the pasta Jaekyung made for her, they ended up chatting about this and that, so she couldn’t focus on the video.

Even though they see each other at school every day, there are always things they want to say to each other, so there was rarely a break in the conversation between the two.

Even if it was cut off, they were close enough that such silence was not burdensome at all.

Complaints about the liberal arts professor they chose together, that kimchi fried rice was the most delicious menu in the student cafeteria, and even stories about new friends they made in the same department.

Naeun was talking in a friendly manner, and suddenly realized that Jaekyung wasn’t talking much about himself.

Jaekyung was always like this.

He is in a position to mainly listen to her story, not the type to bring up his own story first.

Naeun playfully shook Jaekyung’s arm sitting next to her.

“You’re not talking about yourself again.”

“…Did I do that.”

“What did you do yesterday?”

“You know. Took classes, went home, and worked out.”

“Not that kind of stuff.”

It’s a little annoying that Jaekyung pretends not to know when he knows.

“There are very trivial things. Like what I said earlier.”

Sharing even small events is fun.

But Jaekyung never readily shared his inner thoughts unless Naeun asked him like this.

It was a moment when Naeun was shaking Jaekyung’s arm as always, urging him to now tell his story too.

“Naeun.”

From a close distance with their arms touching, Jaekyung’s large hand cupped her cheek.

It’s a usual skinship, but the original distance was so close that she could feel his breath.

C-could it be, is he doing it now?

When she arrived at the reality she had tried hard to ignore, not wanting to be disappointed after raising her own expectations, her heart began to dance as if beating wildly.

Ah, I haven’t even brushed my teeth! It was a moment when she didn’t know what to do, averting her eyes as the pasta they just ate bothered her.

Jaekyung whispered affectionately in her ear.

“You don’t say it either.”

“……”

“Trivial things.”

“……”

The tone that was plain as usual, seeming to be overflowing with love, yet somehow chilly, felt unfamiliar.

Naeun was so flustered that she couldn’t answer. Then her clever mind recalled an incident that happened not long ago.

…As I thought, he’s upset because I didn’t tell him about meeting that man somewhere else.

Putting herself in his shoes, she understood Jaekyung as it was sufficiently possible.

“I’m sorry. I won’t do that again.”

If something like that happens, I’ll tell you everything, Jaekyung.

Naeun sincerely apologizes and looks him in the eye.

It was when she thought Jaekyung’s eyes, who were still cupping her cheek and silently looking down, seemed blacker than usual.

“…What’s the name of the man you ran into at school?”

“Ah, um, what was it? I heard it but I can’t remember well.”

“When did you see him?”

“Didn’t that person say before? That he tutors his younger sibling. Mom found out for me, but he happened to be that student’s older brother.”

“Then besides tutoring, besides when you and I first met, where else have you seen him?”

“Ha-have I seen him? …I’m sorry, I can’t remember well.”

“……”

Ha.

Jaekyung snickered lowly. At that sigh-like sneer, her heart felt like it sank with a thud.

In an instant, very abruptly, the time when he first suggested breaking up not long after they started dating came to mind.

The current Jaekyung had the exact same face as then.

Accustomed to having to give up on something, with a faint anger.

“…Okay. Let’s stop.”

“Wh-what?”

Is this what it feels like to lose one’s mind? No matter how stupid, she could understand what ‘let’s stop’ meant coming out of Jaekyung’s mouth right now.

Naeun hurriedly grabbed her angry boyfriend’s arm.

“Jaekyung, I know you’re very angry, but…”

Still, I wish you wouldn’t say such things easily. Until just now, we were sharing food and having a good atmosphere, chatting together, but I didn’t know what to do when it suddenly flipped like this.

We met to happily date each other, not to fight like this. She was only at a loss.

In fact, it’s ridiculous to even use the term fighting. This was just Jaekyung unilaterally getting angry.

But I really can’t readily spill the beans about that person, you know.

While understanding the angry Jaekyung, a small sense of unfairness piled up from the pit of her stomach.

It was true that she couldn’t accurately remember his name even though she had heard it.

Of course, she clearly remembered running into him at the hotel or charity event, but she couldn’t say that as it was.

It was for the sake of her precious boyfriend’s well-being.

“……”

Although there were lots of things she wanted to say, feeling like she had to choose her words carefully at this moment, Naeun just pressed her lips tightly closed as Jaekyung scanned her with a chilly gaze.

Before long, he picked up a paper from the corner of the table.

Naeun looked at Jaekyung with puzzled eyes as he handed it to her along with a pen. He said:

“Write down the characters you saw in the book that day, just like that.”

“……”

Naeun’s thoughts froze for a very brief moment.

It was because it was difficult for her common sense to immediately interpret what Jaekyung’s words meant and in what context she should understand them.

About 10 seconds passed in silence. Naeun slowly blinked her eyes.

“Uh… when we went to the library? What I saw then was a book for my major…”

Ha. Jaekyung’s laughter ringing out as if dumbfounded again stabbed Naeun.

For the first time, very briefly, she felt her boyfriend was scary.

“Jaekyung.”

“Naeun.”

Naeun called out to him, trying to shake off her fear, but Jaekyung was faster.

Calling her name as if answering, Jaekyung cups Naeun’s cheeks with both hands and affectionately meets her eyes.

“You know what I’m telling you to write.”

“……”

“Does this sound like a request?”