All My Firsts Are You (Completed Main Story) - Chapter 5
“Oh, that’s a gas station, right, noona? I’d like to stop by quickly.”
“Oh… You’re right. Looks like it’s a self-service station. Well, that’s better—less chance of running into people. Even if we explained it all, no one here would understand anyway.”
At the words “no one here would understand,” I suddenly thought of Jun.
‘Lee Ha Ru, scribbling like that won’t help you at all. You’ve got a boyfriend who’s great at Japanese and plenty of time.’
That really was true. I hadn’t improved at all….
That day, Jun had frowned deeply, clearly annoyed by how boringly I kept studying. Remembering his expression, I felt a sharp chill at the tip of my nose.
Just then, a car slid smoothly in front of the fuel pump. Upon closer look, the nozzles were divided into three colors: red, yellow, and green.
“…Which is which?”
Standing behind Hyun Su, who hesitated without touching anything at the pump, Jung Eun soon echoed his exact words: “Which is which?” and tilted her head in confusion.
Perhaps because it was a small gas station tucked away on a remote mountain road rarely visited by tourists, the pump didn’t support English. The fuel types seemed to differ by color, but aside from the Chinese characters “diesel,” nothing else was legible.
After loitering there for a while, Jung Eun finally snapped at me:
“Lee Ha Ru, I’ll let the language barrier slide, but don’t tell me you can’t even read the signs?”
When someone asks “don’t tell me you can’t read?” it makes you not want to admit “yes.” I fiddled pointlessly with a few buttons on the screen and stepped back without accomplishing anything, only receiving Jung Eun’s sharp reprimand: “Don’t press anything if you don’t know what it does.”
Realizing this wasn’t working, Hyun Su took out his phone to snap a photo of the text and search it, while Jung Eun wandered around the car until she finally found the fuel cap and tapped it open with her hand. But at that exact moment, we heard Jung Eun sigh deeply, as if sinking into the ground.
Without even needing to read the characters, we saw a small red sticker inside the fuel cap—the same tiny, fingernail-sized label with identical writing to what was marked on the red nozzle.
“Is it just me, or does this feel like it’s mocking us?” Jung Eun said. I let out a small laugh.
“But honestly, I’m a bit surprised—about you, Ha Ru noona.”
“What about Ha Ru?”
Caught off guard by the sudden finger pointing at me, I could only blink.
“You know Ha Ru noona’s personality. I mean, you only stayed with that family for a month. Alright, fine—you were twenty, an age when people fall in love recklessly without thinking things through. Still, given Ha Ru noona’s character, she wouldn’t open up so easily.”
“Oh… Now that you mention it, you’re absolutely right. Ha Ru’s not the type to confess first before getting caught. Sure, having a crush is instinctual, I’ll give you that—but even so, one month would’ve basically been like meeting a stranger to her.”
Jung Eun didn’t end her sentence with a question mark, but her subtly expectant gaze made me feel she was waiting for my answer.
“That’s exactly what I mean. No matter how I think about it, it just doesn’t make sense. Even while listening to your story just now, it felt like something was missing—a part of the story just floated away.”
Hearing that, a certain memory surfaced silently.
“…I also wanted to secretly like someone on my own. I never even planned to say anything—but I got caught, completely and unmistakably. No excuse I could’ve made up would’ve worked.”
The words twenty-year-old Jun had said to me—words from a long-forgotten film protagonist I thought would stay forever in my private memory—came rushing back, vividly clear as if the painted scene had never faded.
I felt the warm sunlight dancing with the breeze, gently tickling my face.
My head felt hazy—whether from sleepiness or the sun, I wasn’t sure. A languid heaviness, as if draped in a thin blanket, made me reluctant to get up.
I lay there thinking I should rise, but must’ve drifted off again briefly—because I suddenly jolted awake, shoulders twitching.
I struggled to focus my blurry vision. My unfocused eyes gradually added color to a shape, and the moment I recognized that sharp silhouette, my eyes widened as far as they possibly could.
Filling my entire view was Jun’s face, lying sideways and breathing softly in sleep.
I’d never seen Jun’s face this close before. Afraid my gaze alone might wake him, I nervously looked down.
Reassured slightly by the steady rhythm of his breathing near my ear, I slowly and carefully lifted my eyes again.
Could this moment—of you being right in front of me—be a dream? I slowly closed and opened my eyes. But your face remained, as if tapping my temple and saying, “This isn’t a dream.”
My initial fear that just staring might wake you gradually settled. I bent one arm and rested my cheek against it. Watching your chest rise and fall evenly with calm breaths, it was clear you were in deep sleep. Even your eyelashes, gently closed, seemed peacefully at rest.
The tips of your hair were still damp. You’d probably showered and, as usual, just roughly dried your hair with a towel a few times before coming out—your damp strands were tousled messily down to your forehead.
Since chances to see your face this closely were rare,
I gently combed your hair aside to see you better. It looked a bit silly with your hair neatly tucked behind your ears,
but that was fine.
Sleep well, Kim Jun.
Just so you know, I fixed your hair for you.
I swallowed a quiet laugh, afraid of waking you. Normally, if I stared too long, you’d eventually lock eyes with me with that strange look—so I could never pull away easily from this spot where I could see you clearly.
Slowly, I reached my hand toward your face, tracing past your thick eyebrows and down your straight nose.
Just as I hesitated slightly and gently placed my fingers on your lips—
“Not there.”
Maybe my heart’s loud thud was audible even to Jun. I froze in place, mouth slightly open, unable to utter a sound.
I saw the corners of Jun’s lips—still with eyes closed—slowly curve upward, as if he already knew exactly what I’d been doing.
Heat spread from the back of my neck all the way to my earlobes. My mouth kept drying up from nervousness.
Jun half-opened his eyes and looked at me. Playfulness danced in the soft curve of his lips.
“If I hadn’t woken up right about now, things could’ve gotten really awkward.”
I quickly dropped my gaze downward. I didn’t have the courage to meet Jun’s eyes. Trying to act nonchalant, I pretended the whole thing was trivial and easily misunderstood.
“…It’s not what you think.”
“What exactly am I thinking, then?”
Jun’s immediate reply left me far from calm. Startled, I involuntarily flinched my shoulders.
“Whatever it is, it’s definitely not that….”
Despite the surface meaning of my words, my voice trailed off faintly. Anyone could see there was no room for excuse—it was plainly obvious what had happened. Since what you saw was the truth, all I could offer was a weak denial.
Though honestly, even calling it a “denial” felt embarrassing—it was just a childish insistence.
But then, I heard Jun chuckle softly beside my ear.
“Alright then—if it’s not that, I guess it’s not.”
I slowly lifted my head, pushing aside the heavy air. Jun had already sat up on the tatami, lightly ruffling his messy hair with a gentle smile.
“Anyway. Ah, I’m hungry. Lee Ha Ru, should we go?”
His eyes curved into a soft arc,
as if patting me reassuringly: “I’ll keep that a secret, so don’t stay curled up like that.”
“Wait, isn’t that a convenience store?”
We’d just passed the gas station and were back on a winding road after a straight stretch.
Jung Eun, who had been grumbling with a pale face about needing to turn back or how it might actually be better in the long run, suddenly brightened and spoke up.
Just as tourists like us typically hit our breaking point and can’t take it anymore, a small, house-like convenience store came into view.
“Wow, they set up this store in the perfect spot. Seriously, when a store appears right here, we just can’t walk past it.”
Though there was no signboard, the presence of ice cream boxes in front of a large gate suggested it was a converted house. We saw a blue roof with chipped paint and a crumbling half-wall—but rather than looking shabby, it gave off a cozy, nostalgic countryside vibe.
“Oh? Wait, Ha Ru, look at this. What are the odds?”
Inside the shop, about six palm-sized boxes were stacked in front of the counter, with a piece of paper labeled “Motion Sickness Medicine” written in Japanese, English, Chinese, and Korean side by side. Judging by the handwriting, it looked like someone had copied an internet search result by hand.
Jung Eun, who’d initially laughed upon seeing this, quietly placed one box of motion sickness pills onto the counter. For all we knew, it might be the store’s best-selling item.
My gaze naturally shifted to the shelf right next to the medicine—and halted at a glass bottle.
Unusually, a glass jar filled with yuja (yuzu) syrup sat neatly beside packets of instant coffee sticks. In front of them was writing even my limited Japanese could decipher:
[100 yen per serving]It was such a tiny shop that turning my head 180 degrees covered the whole place. When we stepped outside, each of us held a paper cup of yuja tea—and one precious box of motion sickness pills.
With one sip of the bright yellow yuja tea, the queasiness that had climbed up my throat calmed down steadily. Just then, the sweetness of yuzu filling my mouth triggered a forgotten Japanese phrase to slip out without my realizing:
“It’s too sweet.”
At that moment, both Jung Eun and Hyun Su, who had been looking in the same direction, turned their heads toward me in unison.
“Lee Ha Ru, what did you just say? There’s no basic Japanese phrase you know that I don’t.”
But instead of answering, I just blushed slightly—the memory of the day I’d learned that phrase suddenly flashing through my mind.
When scheming men desperately battle for her favor in the male harem
This one’s also on my reread list! The rivalry, scheming between the men in the imperial harem are just as intense and thrilling as in classic palace drama novels, where concubines fight to the death. Give it a read, girls! I promise you won’t be disappointed.
Synopsis:
“I am not worthy of her… but I still want to be by her side, even if only as a loyal dog…”
Those were the painful whispers of Yue Guanyi – the proud Crown Prince of the Great Qi, who was torn between deep love and a guilty conscience. Despite holding the supreme power of the Imperial Guard, he still could not forget the dark past when he was sold into a brothel.
Fate played a cruel twist when Qiu Shuzhi – a young female official who had just passed the imperial examinations with top honors – stepped into his life. She did not know that she was the one who had saved him from a tragic fate many years ago. And now, her heart was the target of pursuit for both Yue Guanyi and the powerful Empress Dowager Qin Qing.
While Yue Guanyi only dared to silently care for and protect the one he loved from afar, the Empress Dowager Qin Qing openly expressed his feelings and did not hesitate to take advantage of his power to approach Qiu Shuzhi. The covert struggle between the two most powerful forces in the imperial court began…
Trigger warning: All men in this novel are yandere style.
_____
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If you find any chapter or novel with poor translation and editing quality, let me know by commenting directly under that novel or chapter. I will retranslate it as soon as possible.
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