Ch.111111. Pride and Prejudice

After an intensely hot night, early morning.

I had rolled over to my side at some point and slowly opened my eyes. Right in front of me was Hwa Nabi, pressed against my body, sleeping with a bright smile on her face.

Looking at her cheeks that seemed especially radiant today and her smooth nose bridge, I unconsciously reached out and touched her.

“…mmm.”

A small, cute whining sound escaped from Hwa Nabi’s pink lips.

Just looking at her sleeping like this, she really seems like an angel. I wonder what bothered her so much last night that she kept urging me on.

“…Ah, my back.”

As I recalled what happened last night, for some reason the muscles in my lower back seemed to ache. It must be my imagination. I massaged my back with my free hand and slowly came to my senses.

Right now, Hwa Nabi was using my left arm as a pillow, so moving would inevitably wake her up.

Since neither of us has morning lectures today, it would be fine to let her sleep more… but maybe because I exerted too much energy yesterday, I feel hungry as soon as I open my eyes.

Judging by the sunlight peeking through the curtains, it seems to be morning, so it should be okay to wake her up. With that thought, I gently wrapped my left arm around her and pulled her closer.

“Nabi.”

When I whispered in her ear, bringing my face close, Hwa Nabi’s lips twitched in response to my voice, and she slowly opened her eyes.

Relaxed lips, half-open eyes. Looking at me with a face that anyone could see was still drowsy, Hwa Nabi smiled softly and hugged me back.

“Yes, Siwoo…”

Hwa Nabi buried her nose in my neck and sniffed softly.

She seems to be trying to smell my scent… I’ve told her several times not to directly smell me like this because it’s embarrassing, but she never stops, so I’ve given up.

“Ah… nice.”

After sniffing a few more times, Hwa Nabi looked at me with a face full of satisfaction.

Really… I don’t know why she likes it so much, but she seems so happy every time she smells me that I can’t say anything.

“Mmm…”

I gently stroked the back of Hwa Nabi’s head as she nuzzled her cheek against my chest. She seemed to enjoy it, closing her eyes again and enjoying my touch.

Finding that adorable, I touched her nape lightly to make her look at me, then gave her a gentle kiss.

“…Ah.”

After my surprise morning kiss attack, I smiled slightly, and a cute blush rose to Hwa Nabi’s cheeks. I gently caressed her reddened cheeks and asked.

“Did you sleep well?”

“Yes… I did. How about you, Siwoo?”

“I slept well too.”

How could I not sleep well sharing a bed with such a lovely fiancée? After giving her a short answer, I pulled her slightly into my arms, burying her face in my chest.

“You still look sleepy. Want to sleep more?”

Glancing at the wall clock, I saw we had plenty of time.

We have no morning lectures, and we’re both tired, so it should be fine to laze around for another hour or two. But she raised her head slightly and shook it.

“Mmm, I’d like to, but… we should get up now.”

“We still have time. Aren’t you tired?”

“…Huh, it sounds like you’re the one who’s tired, Siwoo.”

As Hwa Nabi muttered that, her gaze momentarily brushed past the waistband of my pajama pants. Then, with a meaningful smile, she said:

“Well… last night, you worked quite hard, didn’t you? So it’s understandable that you’re tired.”

“……”

That distinctive way of speaking that embarrasses the listener hasn’t changed at all. No, maybe she has no intention of changing it?

…Anyway, I sighed deeply and muttered.

“It’s fine when we’re alone like this… but please don’t say such things when we’re out.”

Swallowing the words “because the embarrassment is all mine,” I put my arm around Hwa Nabi’s waist. She stared at me for a moment, then chuckled and gently tickled my chest.

“Hehe, I’m just joking. Why so serious about something I just said casually?”

“When you say it, jokes don’t sound like jokes…”

Hwa Nabi always claims she’s just saying things casually, but from my perspective, I’m always anxious that someone might misunderstand. Whether she knows how I feel or not, Hwa Nabi tapped my chest as if telling me to stop joking and raised her upper body.

“Enough joking. Siwoo? Let’s get ready to go out.”

“You want to go out now? I don’t mind, but… where are you suddenly wanting to go?”

“Your lectures end late today, right? We’re almost out of groceries, and if we want to make dinner, we need to buy ingredients in advance. We also need to buy a few more boxes of tissues.”

“Well, if we’re out of side dishes, we could just order in…”

“Hey! Siwoo, do you know how bad delivery food is for your health? Most of it is just empty calories with no nutritional value.”

That’s the kind of nagging parents do when they’re obsessively concerned about their child’s health. While I was having such thoughts, Hwa Nabi jumped out of bed.

She interlaced her fingers and stretched them forward, or turned her neck this way and that to stretch, then glanced back at me.

“Siwoo, get ready first? I’ll wash up quickly and come back.”

“Oh, okay.”

Living with Hwa Nabi would certainly keep me healthy. With such a useless thought, I reluctantly nodded.

*

A large supermarket near our home.

As Hwa Nabi had said, I was pushing a cart to buy daily necessities, groceries, and various other things.

Next to me, Hwa Nabi was walking with her phone in hand.

“Hmm, Siwoo? I’ve roughly organized what we need to buy, but it’s much more than I thought.”

“Really? Then let’s take our time looking around.”

I leaned halfway on the cart and answered leisurely. Since we had plenty of time anyway, I thought we could move slowly, but when I looked back, Hwa Nabi linked her arm with mine.

“We’ll need at least an hour to look around, so you’ll have to work hard, okay?”

“I’ll be using these things too, so it’s not really hard work.”

Whether living alone or with someone else, the items that need to be bought and stocked don’t change much.

Wet wipes, tissues, garbage bags, toothpaste, towels, shampoo, deodorizer, detergent… the list of daily necessities is endless. After putting them all in the cart and finishing up, we headed to the second floor where the food section was.

“Siwoo, is there anything you want to eat?”

“Something I want to eat? Well… I think anything would taste good right now.”

My stomach felt empty since we hadn’t eaten breakfast. Noticing that I had given a half-hearted answer, Hwa Nabi pulled on my left arm, which she had linked with hers, and pressed.

“Don’t answer so casually. Isn’t there anything? If it’s something I can make quickly, I’ll make it for lunch.”

“Hmm, then… since it’s cold outside. How about udon?”

“Udon? Siwoo, did you like udon?”

“I don’t particularly like it, I just eat it if it’s there…”

As I was pushing the shopping cart forward and answering, I suddenly paused.

The silhouette of a person standing about ten meters ahead looked somehow familiar.

The feeling was too strong to be just my imagination. Just as I was about to continue my thought, Hwa Nabi shook my arm.

“Siwoo, why did you suddenly stop walking?”

“Oh, huh? No…”

I definitely seemed to have seen them somewhere… but where? I furrowed my brow as I carefully observed the person.

An outdated snapback worn backwards, dark blonde hair. If it was someone with such a distinctive appearance, I should be able to remember.

As I was trying to trace back my faint memory to figure out who they were… perhaps noticing my gaze, the blonde silhouette raised their head and met my eyes.

Thick eyebrows, sharp eyes.

The person’s eyes widened as they looked at me.

“…Oh.”

…Why is that person here? That thought immediately crossed my mind, but thinking about it, it wasn’t that strange. They were dressed casually at the coffee shop too, so they probably live around here.

“Siwoo, do you know that person?”

Hwa Nabi, who had her arm linked with mine, tapped my shoulder and asked. But even with such a question… I couldn’t answer hastily.

While I remained silent, at a loss for words, the person who recognized me slowly approached.

“…”

If I ran away now, it would look really strange, wouldn’t it? If I were alone, I would just pretend not to know them and leave, but unfortunately, Hwa Nabi was beside me, so I couldn’t do that.

As I was stuck in this dilemma, the person—the blonde-haired woman… no, the blonde-haired man—approached me and said in a friendly tone:

“Wow, we meet again here? Do you live around here?”

“…Siwoo, who is this person?”

We weren’t close enough to greet each other so warmly, were we? While feeling confused, I first observed the person’s appearance.

Eyes full of mischief, a slight curve forming a smile.

This is… the face that appears when someone has a strange thought.

“No, wait… that’s.”

The back of my neck tingled as I sensed something. I hurriedly opened my mouth, but the person facing me opened theirs faster.

“Yesterday you asked for my number at the coffee shop, but I see you already have a girlfriend?”

“…What did you say?!”

Sparks flew from Hwa Nabi’s eyes.