Chapter 99: Reminiscence

“Here’s your cola!”

Even though we were four respectable adults, there were no alcoholic beverages to be found on our table.

The galbi was cooking with a sizzling sound.

As the seasonings soaked in generously, we started eating in earnest.

“How is it? How is it?”

It was as though she was talking to her CLOSER unnies…

Fumurin’s eyes alternated between the two of us expectantly.

“It’s tasty!”

Doah chewed the meat diligently, smacking her small lips.

This was definitely a taste I couldn’t find near the school.

Was this how the downtown food tasted like? How unique…

I could feel that my hostility towards food that people would line up for slightly subsided just from this.

“Yeah, this is good.”

“This place is one of our favorites!”

“Haengnim, if you know any good restaurants, let us know too!”

Changjin took out his phone, ready to take notes.

Well, I actually never really went out to look for good food, so I had to think about it for a bit.

A decent place among the ones I’ve been to…

And a place that I would recommend to others…

Found one.

“Right, there’s a fire spicy braised galbi place in my neighborhood.”

“It’s totally heat and addictive!”

“If you come to our neighborhood, you’ve gotta try it! Can’t recommend it enough!”

This was how you were supposed to talk with normies, right…?.

But, why did the couple sitting across from us look at me awkwardly…? Did I do something wrong…?

At that moment, Doah put her hand on my thigh.

“Oppa, that restaurant is a franchise…”

Oh, for fuck’s sake.

I really thought that they only opened in our neighborhood!

My ears turned red hot from embarrassment.

Since I knew what kind of person Taemin oppa was, I had been feeling guilty all day long.

Haaa… I knew Murin was like this…

From her way of speaking off-stream and the things she usually talked about, I knew that this would happen…

But…

I didn’t expect that her boyfriend would be the same type of person as her!

All I heard from her was that he was very nice and had a good personality.

I figured that if her boyfriend was really that kind of person, even if Oppa was shy in conversations, things would turn out fine…

My boyfriend’s face, which should have been rejuvenated by the delicious food, now had dark circles under his eyes.

“Should we get going?”

It would probably be best for us to wrap things up quickly and go our separate ways.

Anything more, I felt like a certain someone might break down…

“Ah, Unnie! Before we go, let’s just do one more thing!”

“What is it?”

If this took a long time, I was prepared to refuse it, but…

“Let’s take a picture!”

“Picture?”

Ah. Thinking that she meant pictures for Instagram, I took out my phone, but Murin waved her index finger side to side.

“No, no! Since we’re already here, we should do that four-cut photo booth thing instead!”

Ah, those photo booths…?

I mean, I was fine with it, but what about Oppa?

I threw a glance to the side. There was a smile hanging on his face; The kind of smile that a hero had as they were about to meet their demise after a final battle.

“Ah… Yeah… I can finally see it… The end…”

It felt like if I held his hand right now, he would turn to dust and scatter in the wind.

I put on my streamer smile and agreed with her.

“Okay. Let’s just go to the first one we see and take some there.”

“Sounds good!”

Anyway, it had been a long time since I took these sticker-like photos.

The last time I did it was probably back in high school when I went to an amusement park with some of my friends.

We found a booth quickly, and all four of us, including the guys, crammed our bodies inside. The place became so cramped to the point I wouldn’t be surprised if it burst out.

“Shall I put the money in?”

As Murin inserted the bill, a timer started counting down on the screen.

[Three! Two! One!]

“Unnie! Unnie! Unnie! Unnie! What pose are you doing? Quickly! Quickly!”

Wait, wait! I didn’t know it would start so quickly!

I thought she’d give us a heads-up or something since she was more experienced, but I guess not, huh?

“U-Um… Why don’t we just do a standard pose?”

Murin and I were in the front row.

Meanwhile, Oppa and Murin’s boyfriend were in the back.

Our first shot had us in a very demure pose, so it felt almost like a family portrait than anything.

“Ah, then for the next one, why don’t we go for a super close friends vibe?”

As the countdown started again, Murin made a half-heart with her hand.

I naturally completed the heart with her, but it made me wonder what kind of pose the guys behind us were making.

No way they were also doing hearts, right?

But there was no time to check.

Since the photo machine relentlessly demanded poses from us, we had to move busily, following Murin’s instructions.

“Then, for the last shot… Let’s have the boyfriends do whatever they want to do to their girlfriends!”

Almost immediately after she finished talking, Murin’s boyfriend nuzzled her cheek.

He wrapped his arm around her neck, as if refusing to let go.

I wonder what would Oppa do to me…?

Of course it was a tall order from me to expect something sensible coming from him, but…

The human heart was cruel, it always ended up hoping for the impossible.

[Three! Two! One!]

Oppa, who hadn’t given any instructions even right before the voice started, just stayed as he was.

-Click

When all four shots were done, the machine printed out the photo.

“Unnie, look! These photos are super cute!”

As Murin giggled and handed out a copy to each of us, I couldn’t hold back my laughter either.

“Unnie, Oppa.”

First of all, Oppa’s expressions were hilarious.

Except for the first photo, the one with the most static pose, his face in all the others looked as if he was a lost child.

When the girls were making a heart together, he wasn’t even looking at the camera; Maybe because he was surprised by Murin’s boyfriend forcibly putting an arm around his shoulder.

As for the one where he was allowed to do whatever he wanted to me…

You know, I don’t understand what the hell he was doing.

He put his hands together above my head and rested his chin on top of them…

Was I your face rest, Han Taemin-ssi?

What the hell? What were you doing?!

“Ah! We had a lot of fun today! Get home safely, Haengnim!”

“We’ll get going first, Unnie! Talk to you later!”

In front of the subway station. The two of them waved at us.

As they were about to leave, Oppa’s face started to light up.

“Have a safe trip home~”

Oppa, weren’t you being too obvious about how happy you were?

I thought about scolding him, but knowing how hard he’d tried, maybe it would be better to just let him have this one.

“Gahee! DM me later!”

Only after they were completely out of sight could I finally breathe a sigh of relief.

“You worked hard.”

No joke, really…

“Did you have fun?”

Oppa asked, patting my head.

“It was a little exhausting, but I had fun…”

“That’s good then.”

We turned back the way we came to catch the bus.

Naturally, we passed by the photo booth again.

The photos came out cute, but I still felt something was missing. So, I stopped in my tracks.

“Oppa.”

“Yeah?”

“Let’s take some photos of just the two of us before we go home.”

Yes. We had photos with all four of us, but we had none with just us two.

Wasn’t that a bit disappointing?

“Uh.”

Hearing that, Oppa flinched.

It seemed like he didn’t want to do it.

“You know, I want to have at least a photo of us together to keep in my wallet.”

Of course, I had a few of those kind of photos on my phone, but having an actual physical photo was a different matter.

Because obviously there was a difference between having it as virtual data and having it as a tangible object that you could touch in the real world.

“Do you not want to?”

If he still refused after I had said this much, that meant I’d need to back down for today.

I’ll just suggest taking some on another date.

“Let’s do it.”

Oppa, who had been wriggling his eyebrows, finally relented and entered the booth, as if declaring that he couldn’t win against me.

The space that felt so cramped earlier felt quite spacious with just the two of us.

“But let’s decide on the poses beforehand.”

Since this was our second time, it seemed like Oppa had learned something.

Of course, I agreed with him.

“I’ll leave it to you, I don’t really know about these things.”

“Okay, then first.”

For our first shot, we decided to sit sweetly while looking straight ahead.

The next one, we’d be making hearts with our hands.

Then, we decided that looking at each other while smiling would make a good one, so we’d do that.

When I was trying to come up for the last one, I felt a slightly mischievous desire welling up within me.

Would he do it if I asked him, though?

Although we were outside, this wasn’t exactly a place where others could see us.

Feeling my face start to redden, I cupped my cheeks with both hands.

“Have you come up with something for the last one?”

He seemed even more relaxed than before, maybe because he didn’t have to worry about deciding everything one by one himself.

“Ah… well…”

“It’s fine as long as it’s not too weird, so just tell me what’s in your mind.”

Seeing my hesitation, he encouraged me.

“It’s not weird…just a bit embarrassing… I think.”

“What is it that’s got you so worked up?”

“Well…”

With each word I said, Oppa’s eyes widened more and more.

Ugh, I was the one who brought this up, but why was I the one who felt like running away?

[Three! Two! One!]

In our last shot, we puckered our lips together, giving each other a kiss.