Ch.175Side Story) Dream of China (8)

“…I’m crazy.”

By the time all university classes ended after lunch, all Irene could do was sigh while covering her cheek.

A sudden date proposal—why would someone who had been so timid until just a few days ago suddenly say such things to her?

It was strange enough when he said he was interested in her, but Suhyun’s attitude of approaching her so boldly, unlike his usual self… it was certainly difficult to get used to.

Then, catching a glimpse of herself in the mirror, Irene’s shoulders flinched as she stared at her reflection.

She was still wearing the same clothes from yesterday. Though she had washed up, she hadn’t had time to put on proper makeup or change clothes.

Disheveled hair, a face with barely any makeup. Realizing she had been like this the whole time, a sudden wave of embarrassment made her face feel hot.

Though she wasn’t sure why she cared about such things, it was clear her current state was far from ideal. Irene got up from her seat, checked the time, and hurriedly ran toward the parking lot.

#

[Wait a moment. I’ll be there soon.]

Staring at the text message that had arrived at 3 o’clock, Suhyun chuckled and tapped the watch on his wrist. It was almost 4 o’clock now—was this just her way of rejecting him?

Though it was his own words, he knew there were several problems with that “date” comment. He had blurted it out somehow, and somehow things had ended up like this…

To be honest, it was a statement he himself wasn’t prepared for.

“Sigh.”

The breath that escaped his lips was heavy. While wondering if he had made a mistake, he was also afraid of seeing Irene’s disappointed expression if he were to cancel what he had said.

It was true that he hadn’t met with women often, so he wanted to congratulate himself just for asking someone on a date first.

The result of his preparation was something not entirely satisfactory, cobbled together in the insufficient hours he had.

Weren’t these the things he had thought about before falling asleep? When Irene was lying on his bed, when she was on top of what he had been lying on, he had thought about these things while hiding his heartbeat. Now he frowned, imagining her reaction might not be as good as he had hoped.

“I’m crazy.”

His clothes weren’t much different from what he had worn that morning. He had always dressed that way, and now he felt like he was being properly punished for not paying much attention to his appearance.

He had tried to find clothes during his free periods between classes, but… how could he find and change clothes in those few hours?

So although he had put on what he considered his neatest outfit, he was still anxious about what the person he was meeting would think.

Vroom-

The exhaust sound coming from far away was quite familiar to Suhyun.

He had heard it many times, and had even driven it himself at dawn. The black sedan stopped in front of him, and Irene slightly lifted the sunglasses she was wearing through the open window, staring at Suhyun.

“…Why are you looking at me like that? How can you stare at someone so blankly?”

“How embarrassing,” she grumbled, but Suhyun’s gaze remained fixed on Irene.

Was there something wrong with her hairstyle, or was her makeup not done properly?

As Irene, who had slightly fixed her perfectly fine hair, lowered her sunglasses again, Suhyun, who had been quiet, naturally got into the car by opening the door.

“It suits you well. That outfit.”

“Th-that’s good then, um.”

Irene, who was fiddling with the buttons of her coat, gripped the steering wheel tightly at his words.

Even if he complimented her right away, it wouldn’t change anything, would it?

But it didn’t make her feel bad; rather, it made her feel good.

Her eyebrows twitched up and down at her own confusing emotional state.

She had put some effort into choosing her outfit. It wasn’t that she wanted to hear it suited her well, but… who wouldn’t feel good about being called pretty?

Hearing it directly from Suhyun made her feel quite nice, so Irene smiled slightly and replied in a voice a tone higher than usual.

“Your outfit suits you well too. I noticed it’s different from this morning.”

“Is that so?”

“But, um… since you asked me on a date. Where are we going now?”

When Irene, who had put her sunglasses aside, asked, Suhyun, who had been quietly looking ahead, took out his phone and began searching for an address to somewhere.

After hearing the tapping sounds for quite some time, Suhyun placed his phone on the navigation device and glanced at Irene nervously as his lips moved.

He did have a place prepared, but whether it would be to Irene’s liking was still uncertain.

“…It’s a movie theater?”

While wondering if there was a popular movie these days, she was also curious about why he had chosen a movie theater.

It seemed he had already made reservations, as he kept checking the time, which made her smile a bit.

Wondering what exactly was waiting for her, Irene tilted her head with narrowed eyes.

#

“I didn’t expect it would be this kind of movie.”

Suhyun couldn’t answer Irene’s words as she opened her mouth slightly in apparent surprise.

Was it because he had hurriedly made reservations after only checking the time? He only realized at the theater that the genre of the movie he had booked was romance.

To make matters worse, the seats were couple seats, so when Irene sat down and realized there was no middle divider, she let out a nervous laugh.

“Nice attention to detail. When you said date, I didn’t expect you’d create such a couple atmosphere.”

“These were the only seats available…”

“Well, that’s fine. I like romance movies.”

Though she spoke calmly, once seated, she realized their arms were pressed right against each other, making her ears burn.

She had taken off her coat and was only wearing a thin long-sleeved T-shirt, but this kind of contact was inevitably burdensome.

“…Maybe we should move apart—”

“You said this was a date. And can we even move apart?”

The seats were just big enough for the two of them.

Unable to counter Irene’s words, Suhyun touched his reddened ears and nodded slightly.

The movie that soon began was, true to the romance genre, about a man and a woman. It was a story that seemed familiar from somewhere—a film set in the medieval period about a knight and a duke’s daughter.

To Suhyun, it felt exactly like his own story. If he were to compare, he would be that knight, and Irene would be the noble lady. His head throbbed for a moment, but remembering Irene beside him, he tried hard to control his expression.

What he felt looking at Irene Yuris was an indescribable sense of déjà vu.

She always seemed familiar, as if he had seen her somewhere before. Even though he had already recalled meeting her at the concours, he felt a familiarity as if they had met even before that.

When he was with her, his heart raced, his pulse quickened, and breathing became difficult.

It was exactly the same reaction he had felt when he realized he liked someone, and that puzzled him.

They had only met a few days ago, hadn’t really had any meaningful conversations.

They didn’t have any beautiful memories worth reminiscing about, yet why was he constantly looking at this woman?

What entered his vision was no longer the movie. As if absorbed into the film,

Irene, who was blankly staring at the screen, was Suhyun’s movie.

The changing shadows from the projector were like the blinking of eyes, and with each moment, Irene’s changing appearance gave him different emotions.

Why, how? Before he could even resolve these questions, he had already developed new feelings.

Irene Yuris. Repeating those syllables to himself, he asked: how did he feel about this woman?

-It’s true that I’m interested in you.

She had approached him first.

-Uh, that’s… I mean. It’s because you smell like sunlight. It’s not the misunderstanding you’re thinking of!

Sometimes she showed amusing sides of herself.

-How long are you going to speak so formally? You can be comfortable with me now.

A woman who made him think of her again just when he was about to forget.

He thought there wasn’t much, but when he recalled, there were quite a few memorable scenes.

Suhyun smiled at the sudden thought and turned his gaze back to the screen.

It seemed to be at the highlight now, with a close-up of two people kissing in a park under starlight.

Why was it that his heart was racing as if it were happening to him? It was just a scene from a movie.

As his cheeks suddenly reddened, Suhyun covered his face with his hand and reached for the popcorn container he wasn’t even going to eat.

Thud.

At the touch of their hands, both of them flinched simultaneously. Cold fingers intertwined, their hands touching in that ordinary moment, making their faces flush.

Was it because of the scene they had just watched, or because Irene had pretended not to notice Suhyun staring at her all this time?

Neither Suhyun nor Irene knew the answer.

All they knew was that the touch of their hands felt unusually hot,

and they could only bow their heads, no longer able to watch the screen, silently praying for this time to pass quickly.

When the movie ended and the credits rolled, bringing light back to the theater, only the two of them remained.

Only Irene and Suhyun remained, still reminiscing about the touch of their hands, still watching their own private movie playing in their minds.