Chapter 85: Double the Embarrassment!

R̃​éád̃​ ̀öń ́K̈ât̀R̈êâd́ïn̂​g̀C̈ä​f̀​é

Late at night.

When Da-jeong suddenly came out to the living room and made an unexpected request, Jia’s eyes widened, wondering if she had heard correctly.

“Sleep together… under the same blanket?”

“Yes… I-I can’t sleep because of the horror game earlier.”

Holding a pillow that covered most of her upper body, Da-jeong explained her situation in a voice so delicate that it tugged at Jia’s heartstrings.

Jia had never felt the term “protective instinct” resonate so strongly before.

At most, she might have felt it toward small pets like puppies or kittens but she had never thought it could apply to a person.

Maybe, at a stretch, toward a newborn baby.

Yet there was no better way to describe how she felt about Da-jeong at that moment.

Da-jeong, still haunted by the scenes from earlier, looked like she might burst into tears at any moment.

Her anxious eyes, worried that Jia might refuse, combined to make Jia feel like she was looking at an abandoned kitten.

“…Alright, let’s sleep together then.”

As if there was no reason to hesitate, Jia nodded readily, seeing Da-jeong standing hesitantly by the door.

Da-jeong’s face lit up instantly.

“R-really…?!”

“Yeah. Unnie wanted to talk to you more too.”

“Hehe…!”

At first, Da-jeong had been worried about being a bother, but hearing Jia’s words, she finally relaxed and ran to the futon with an innocent, childlike smile.

Since the bed in the room was a bit too small for both of them, the spacious futon laid out on the floor seemed much more comfortable for sleeping together.

Squeeze—

As Da-jeong slipped under the blanket, Jia hugged her warmly from behind, as if she had been waiting for this.

Despite the weather getting colder, Da-jeong’s body was surprisingly warm.

“Ugh…”

“Oh, sorry. Was that uncomfortable?”

Wanting to feel more of this warmth, Jia unconsciously tightened her grip, causing Da-jeong to let out a soft whimper.

Startled, Jia asked if she had hugged her too tightly, but Da-jeong shook her head.

“No, it’s just…”

“Just what?”

“Unnie’s embrace is so warm… I think I like it.”

“…Really? That’s good.”

How could she say such sweet things so effortlessly?

Jia absentmindedly stroked Da-jeong’s hair and nuzzled her face against her shoulder.

She could smell a comforting, warm scent, like baby lotion or the natural scent of a child.

“By the way, Da-jeong, your pajamas are cute. Do you usually wear this at home?”

Jia asked, recalling Da-jeong’s pajama outfit she had seen earlier before leaving the room.

Jia herself had never bothered to change into pajamas before bed.

She usually just slept in her everyday clothes, lying down on the bed as usual.

So seeing Da-jeong dressed up in such cute pajamas, ready for bed, felt oddly endearing.

“Ah, yes. I used to just wear T-shirts but Ra-hee unnie bought these for me, so I’ve been wearing them carefully.”

“Ra-hee did? Ah, from that shopping trip you went on together?”

“Yes. I thought they were too cute and wouldn’t suit me, though.”

“R-really?”

The pajamas were pink with animal patterns, definitely more suited for children than adults.

But in Jia’s eyes, they suited Da-jeong perfectly.

Still, she couldn’t bring herself to say outright that Da-jeong looked cute or that the pajamas suited her.

Everyone around Da-jeong knew how she reacted to being called cute.

To Jia, this was a baffling mindset.

‘She’s so cute, though. Why does she hate it?’

Was it because she had heard it too much and was tired of it?

Or did she prefer being called pretty over cute?

But even when praised for being pretty, Da-jeong didn’t seem particularly thrilled.

Yet, to Jia, this very trait was part of Da-jeong’s charm.

The way she firmly denied being cute, despite being undeniably adorable, only made her cuter.

‘If I say that, she’ll get mad, so I’ll keep quiet.’

Of course, Da-jeong was cute even when she got mad, but teasing her too much wouldn’t be good.

Knowing it was important to keep things balanced, Jia bit her tongue.

“U-unnie.”

“Hmm?”

In the brief silence that followed, Da-jeong turned her body slightly and called out to Jia in a trembling voice.

Under the faint moonlight streaming through the curtains, Da-jeong’s timid eyes glimmered, and Jia gently brushed her hair as she responded kindly.

“Thank you for doing the collab with me today. You probably didn’t want to play the horror game…”

“No, I had a lot of fun with you too. I wouldn’t have been able to do the horror game alone, but thanks to you, I wasn’t as scared.”

Honestly, Jia had never understood why people played horror games, or why viewers enjoyed watching others play them.

Why would anyone spend money to watch scary scenes?

Why would anyone want to watch someone else tremble in fear?

These questions had always lingered in her mind.

But today, after watching Da-jeong, she began to understand the latter, at least a little.

Though she’d get scolded for saying this, watching Da-jeong tremble like a scared squirrel while bravely continuing the game was both adorable and made her want to cheer her on.

It was oddly enjoyable.

“And honestly, I’ve been wanting to do a collab with you at least once.”

“Really?”

“Yeah. Like I said earlier, you’ve done collabs with the other members but not with me… and you didn’t really approach me much either. So I thought maybe you didn’t like me.”

Even though she knew it couldn’t be true, especially with Da-jeong, a small sense of unease had filled Jia’s heart.

But after today’s stream, that worry had completely disappeared.

“So I was really happy today. I found out you didn’t avoid me because you disliked me, but because you liked me too much.”

“T-too much…?”

Perhaps because the expression was too ticklish, Da-jeong’s cheeks turned slightly red.

Though the lack of light prevented Jia from seeing it, she could tell Da-jeong was embarrassed, so she teased her playfully.

“Huh? No? Don’t tell me you lied to unnie?”

“N-no…! O-of course I really like you, but… hearing it out loud is embarrassing.”

“What’s there to be embarrassed about? Unnie likes you a lot too.”

“R-really? Hehe… I’m happy.”

Where did such an adorable creature come from?

Jia clicked her tongue as she watched Da-jeong smile innocently at a simple compliment.

Honestly, this kind of unconscious flirting was the most dangerous and among the members, Da-jeong was undoubtedly the best at it.

No wonder Ra-hee had said that spending just one day with Da-jeong would make anyone fall for her.

“Ugh…”

As Jia hugged her precious freind and patted her back, Da-jeong, lulled by the warmth, began to blink sleepily.

“Da-jeong, sleepy? Should we sleep now?”

“It’s okay… I still want to talk to unnie more…”

But as if she didn’t want to fall asleep yet, or didn’t want this enjoyable time to end, Da-jeong mumbled like a child throwing a tantrum, her voice growing fainter.

Squeeze—

Seeing this, Jia hugged Da-jeong a little tighter and spoke softly.

“It’s okay. We can talk as much as we want in the future. So let’s sleep for now, okay?”

“Ugh… unnie…”

Lulled by the gentle voice of her eldest unnie, Da-jeong felt her consciousness fading and reflexively buried her face in Jia’s embrace.

The sound of soft breathing filled the room.

“Ssshh… ssshh…”

Within seconds, the gentle sound of breathing reached Jia’s ears.

She gently stroked Da-jeong’s head and then pulled the large blanket over both of them.

Please, in the future…

May this precious child dream of a happy life.

For the first time in her life, Jia made a wish for someone else.

With that thought, she too closed her eyes, falling into a deep sleep.

Thanks to each other’s warmth, the bed felt especially cozy that night.

＊＊＊＊＊

A strange sensation shook my body, gradually pulling me awake.

At the same time, a familiar voice reached my ears.

“Ugh…”

Groaning like a child throwing a tantrum, I opened my eyes and looked around.

To my surprise, an unexpected person was standing in front of me.

“Jia unnie…?”

“You’re awake? Time to eat breakfast.”

Like a mother gently scolding her daughter for sleeping in on the weekend, Jia unnie spoke in a kind tone and smiled at me.

Only then did I remember that I had fallen asleep in the same futon as Jia unnie last night.

I sat up, brushing off the sleepiness, it felt incredibly warm.

If sleeping with Ra-hee unnie felt like sleeping with an older sister, sleeping with Jia unnie felt like sleeping with a mother.

“I made a simple breakfast. Is that okay?”

“Yes, I’m sorry. Because of me…”

“No, it’s fine. I had to eat too, so it’s no trouble.”

Feeling guilty for making a guest do the work, I apologized, but Jia unnie shook her head and guided me to the dining table.

On the table was a neatly arranged breakfast.

There was doenjang jjigae (soybean paste stew), grilled mackerel, seasoned vegetables, and side dishes from the fridge.

It was a classic Korean breakfast.

“By the way, Da-jeong, it seems like you’ve been eating well. The fridge was pretty stocked.”

“Yes, the CEO checks on me every day.”

“Ah, right.”

Of course, even without the CEO’s checks I would’ve eaten well but saying that wouldn’t sound very convincing, so I added that detail.

Ding-ding— Ding-ding—

“…Huh?”

“What’s wrong, Da-jeong?”

“I’m getting a lot of notifications.”

“Is it the group chat?”

Ah, is that it?

Now that I think about it, the only place that would be buzzing with messages this early is the group chat.

Honestly, aside from the members and company staff, I don’t get many messages anyway.

For some reason, Jia unnie was smiling strangely, but I brushed it off as my imagination and picked up my phone to check the screen.

I opened the group chat to see what everyone was talking about.

[Yuna] – Jealous jealous jealous jealous jealous jealous jealous jealous

[Ra-hee unnie] – Unnie, what did you do to our youngest?

[Chae-yoon unnie] – How dare you defile our youngest… KISS MY ASS!!!!!!

There were a lot of mentions of me.

What’s going on?

Did I do something?

Overcome with anxiety, I quickly scrolled up to check the earlier messages.

The commotion started around… found it.

Around 8 a.m., about an hour and a half before I woke up.

And the message that started it all was none other than…

[Jia unnie] – (A photo of Da-jeong giving Jia a kiss on the cheek while asleep)

[Jia unnie] – Hehe

[Jia unnie] – How’s that? Jealous?

[Jia unnie] – You guys haven’t gotten this from Da-jeong, have you?

[Jia unnie] – I’ll be taking Da-jeong’s first kiss!

“…Huh?”

Wh-what is this?

Why am I kissing Jia unnie on the cheek?

And why do I look so happy doing it?

“U-unnie! What’s going on…?!”

“Oh, you saw it now?”

I quickly put down my phone and demanded an explanation from Jia unnie, who was sitting across from me.

Unnie calmly smiled and held up two fingers in a peace sign.

Then she dropped the bomb.

“What do you mean, what’s going on? You’re the one who did it. I didn’t do anything.”

“Th-that’s a lie…! Are you saying I really did this while I was asleep?!”

There’s no way I would’ve done that unless I was out of my mind.

Even if I was asleep, how could I have done something so embarrassing on my own?

I almost died of embarrassment when I almost kissed the CEO at the hospital!

“Yeah, it’s true. I was just watching you sleep, and suddenly you said, ‘Unnie…’ and clung to me, giving me a kiss.”

“……?!”

But with unnie’s unwavering response, I had no choice but to accept that this was the truth.

After all, Jia unnie is known in Blue LUV as someone who can’t lie.

“Thanks to that, I found out just how much you really like me. I’m so happy, as a memento, I’ll set this photo as my wallpaper.”

“NYAAAAH! P-please stop…!”

I lunged at unnie, who was calmly trying to immortalize my embarrassing moment as her wallpaper, but she deftly dodged my hands and set the photo as her wallpaper.

Then she proudly showed it to me with a smile.

Ugh, this is too much.

Sure, it’s my fault for doing something like that in my sleep, but to go as far as posting it in the group chat…

[Yuna] – I should do a horror game collab with Da-jeong next time.

[Chae-yoon unnie] – No, I’m doing it first.

[Ra-hee unnie] – You guys suck at horror games, so I’ll do it.

And now I see that she even told them I slept with her because I was scared.

Yeah, I’d rather die.

After this level of humiliation, dying would be a relief.

At least let me die with dignity as a human being.