Ch.195195. A Kiss When It’s Hard to Answer

After about an hour, we arrived at the apartment. We parked the car in the underground garage and headed home with plastic bags full of side dishes for dinner.

“Siwoo, do you want to shower first? I’ll start preparing dinner.”

“Yeah, sure. I’ll be quick.”

“It’ll probably take some time to cook anyway, so take your time. Make sure you wash thoroughly, okay?”

Hwa Nabi gave me a meaningful smile and patted my waist.

I wasn’t sure why she suddenly told me to wash thoroughly. Well, actually I had an idea… but I pretended not to know and just nodded.

“I’ll grill some meat, and make steamed chives and stir-fried celery. Hmm, do we have any oyster sauce left?”

Hwa Nabi muttered about what seemed to be our dinner menu as she walked past me into the kitchen. I watched her go before heading to the bathroom.

I took off my clothes, put them in the laundry basket, and stepped into the shower stall, turning on the hot water. As the steaming water soaked my entire body, I let out an involuntary sigh.

“…Phew.”

This feels better. I was about to stand there with my mouth open but stopped myself. If I were alone that would be fine, but someone was waiting outside, so I should hurry.

So I washed at a reasonable pace, thoroughly cleaning every part of my body as Hwa Nabi had instructed. I wasn’t doing this with any particular intention—just being considerate since we’d be sleeping together, and it would be inconsiderate to smell bad.

-Squeak.

Shower done. After finishing thoroughly, I turned off the faucet and stepped out of the bathroom. I had already filled the washing machine with water, and as I was drying myself with a towel, the smell of food wafted in.

“Nabi, I’m done showering.”

—Then come eat dinner, the side dishes are ready!

As I announced that the bathroom was free and sniffed the air, it was indeed a familiar food aroma. Chives, celery, lightly cooked beef.

Though neither of us mentioned it, all three are widely known as foods that are good for men. Why she prepared only those side dishes, well, there’s no point in asking.

“…Let’s try to finish within two hours today.”

So I can get some sleep.

*

Dinner, consisting of dishes that seemed healthy just by eating them, was over. After helping Hwa Nabi clean up and wash the dishes, I returned to the living room and flopped down on the sofa.

“Yaaawn…”

After a big stretch, I checked the time—it was already 8 PM. Today really flew by. I felt like I could fall asleep right now if I just closed my eyes, but that wouldn’t be right, would it?

As I fought against my heavy eyelids and the pull of sleep, I heard movement from the kitchen. The light footsteps that seemed to bounce with each step could only belong to one person.

“Siwoo, are you already sleepy?”

It was Hwa Nabi, my girlfriend and now my future wife.

“Mmm, a little sleepy.”

“Then drink this. It’s cold, so it’ll wake you right up!”

Hwa Nabi cheerfully held out a cup. It contained some kind of purple liquid that smelled like grape juice when I sniffed it.

“Is it a soft drink?”

“Hmm, something like that… Anyway, drink it down! Come on, fighting! You know men should drink in one shot, right?”

“Okay, got it.”

She’s making such a fuss about drinking one cup. Since she was urging me so cutely, I drank it in one go.

Gulp. Now that I tasted it, it was sweet at first but bitter at the end. The aroma and taste were similar to grape juice, but somehow different. What is this exactly? I held the empty cup, pondering for a moment. When I looked up at Hwa Nabi, she was smiling down at me.

“This isn’t grape juice, is it?”

“No. It’s black raspberry extract.”

“This is black raspberry extract…?”

Hwa Nabi, holding a pouch in her hand, tilted her head. Her expression seemed to ask what the problem was.

“Yes, why? Did it taste strange?”

“No, not really. Just a bit surprised.”

It was my first time trying black raspberry extract, so I was a little surprised. The taste felt both familiar and unfamiliar.

Wait… maybe it’s not my first time. I think Hwa Nabi gave me some before. While I was trying to remember, Hwa Nabi carefully sat down beside me and gently placed her hand on my thigh.

“I heard it’s really good for men. They say it helps a lot with nighttime activities.”

“…I suppose so?”

I already knew that from what I’d heard. In fact, who doesn’t know? Black raspberry is always mentioned when talking about foods that enhance virility.

“How do you feel after drinking it? Don’t you feel all energized and powerful already?”

“It’s not medicine… it doesn’t work immediately after drinking it.”

If such a thing existed, it would be revolutionary. “Attention, gentlemen with concerns! One cup of this drink and your worries are over.” It would sell like hotcakes with that kind of catchphrase.

“Really? That’s strange. The advertisement said that one cup would keep a man up all night.”

“…Huh?”

Did she intentionally try to feed me something like that? I got goosebumps for a moment, put down the cup, and glanced at her, but she looked back at me with innocent eyes, not seeming to understand what the issue was.

I was about to say something but decided to keep my mouth shut. It seemed pointless to explain.

“Oh well, let’s take a picture together then. I’m going to put on lipstick—which color do you like?”

She just asked one of the three most difficult questions a man can receive from a woman. All the red lipsticks look exactly the same to me, but she’s asking which one I like best.

Hwa Nabi took several lipsticks out of her pouch and showed them to me. Each had its color name engraved in English, but they all looked like the same red to me, despite having different names.

Fruit Punch, Wild Strawberry, Crazy Ruby…. What difference could possibly exist between these three lipsticks?

“Here, I’ll apply them on the back of my hand so you can choose the one you like.”

“Hmm….”

Even if you ask me to choose one I like, they all look the same color to me. There’s no way I can pick a specific one.

“Siwoo, are you looking?”

“Yes, I’m looking, but…”

“Don’t you like any of them? Should I try different ones?”

“Well, that’s….”

“You’re not finding this annoying, are you?”

The longer I stared at the lipstick swatches on the back of her hand, the narrower Hwa Nabi’s eyes became.

I desperately wanted to say, “I need to know what I’m looking for before I can choose,” but I knew with absolute certainty that would upset her. If I told her to wear any of them, she’d definitely get angry. What should I do?

After contemplating more carefully than when I was planning my proposal, I finally gave up on choosing and went with a fourth option.

“Ah, um…”

…Instead of choosing a lipstick color, I wrapped my arm around Hwa Nabi’s waist, pulled her close, and stole a kiss. Since I didn’t know much about lipstick, my brilliant strategy was to steal the lips that would wear it.

“Mmph… mm.”

Whether she was surprised by my sudden approach, I could feel Hwa Nabi’s surprise even as we kissed. I held her carefully, as if to comfort her, and gently stroked her back.

Gradually, she seemed to calm down, and eventually closed her eyes with a very relaxed expression. Her hands, which had been uncertain at first, wrapped around my neck, gently caressing the back of my head as she made pleased little sounds.

“…Mmm.”

“…”

After staying like that for a while, I thought it was enough and let go of Hwa Nabi. She stared at me with dazed eyes, then suddenly came to her senses and wiped her lips with the back of her hand.

Then she gave me a slight side-eye and lightly tapped my thigh.

“I asked you to choose a lipstick, why did you suddenly kiss me?”

“Just because I suddenly wanted to. …Maybe that black raspberry extract is starting to work?”

I joked and kissed her again. This time it was a light bird kiss, just a brief touch of the lips. Hwa Nabi didn’t seem to mind, as she pursed her lips, then avoided my gaze and glanced at me.

“Still, there’s such a thing as setting the mood, you know.”

“Sorry. I’ll be careful next time. Should I ask before kissing you?”

“Really, if you can’t even say it…”

This strategy of kissing when faced with a difficult question is surprisingly effective. I should remember to use it again if a similar situation arises.

While I was making that mental note, Hwa Nabi, who had been caressing my thigh, suddenly brought up an unexpected topic.

“Anyway… so, what was that conversation about earlier?”

“What conversation are you talking about?”

“The one you had with the director at the studio. You know, about being fellow design students or something.”

“Oh, that? It’s nothing special.”

Obviously, we didn’t study at the same place. What’s the difference in status between me and the director?

The “fellow design students” comment just meant that both the director and I studied design and shared an interest in Enzo Mari… it’s just a term with no deep meaning.

“There, understand now?”

I thought I’d explained it well, but for some reason, Hwa Nabi tilted her head with a puzzled expression. Did she have more questions? I took her hand to encourage her to speak, and as she fiddled with the back of my hand, she asked:

“What I’m curious about is this: Siwoo, when did you study design? You never told me you studied that.”

“It’s not that I didn’t tell you, there was just no need to mention it. I quit before I met you.”

I met Hwa Nabi when she was seventeen, so it’s been well over three years. That’s also why I didn’t recognize Enzo Mari’s recent work. It came out after I quit studying design, so it would be stranger if I had recognized it right away.

“When did you quit?”

“About 3 years ago, why?”

“Three years ago… wasn’t that when we were in our first year of high school?”

“Yeah, around then.”

After saying that, I felt a sense of how much time had passed. Wow, it’s been that long already. While I was marveling at the passage of time…

Hwa Nabi, who had been muttering “3 years…” and contemplating something, suddenly looked up.

“Siwoo.”

“Yes, what is it?”

“…Was it because of me?”

“Huh? What would be because of you?”

I asked casually, but her gaze was intensely serious. Why is she suddenly acting like this? Wondering if something was wrong, I questioned her with my eyes, and Hwa Nabi intertwined her fingers with mine and pulled me toward her.

“The reason you quit studying design. Was it because you were helping me with my studies? Was it too time-consuming to handle school, design studies, and tutoring me, so you had to give up one?”

“Well, you’re not entirely wrong…”

It would obviously be difficult to balance all three. But I definitely didn’t quit studying design because of Hwa Nabi. It was more of a hobby to begin with, and I was already losing interest even before meeting her, so I quit without regrets.

I was about to carefully explain this to avoid any misunderstanding when Hwa Nabi, with her incredibly serious expression, spoke first.

“Do you prefer apples or strawberries?”

“Between the two, I’d say strawberries… but why are you asking that all of a sudden?”

She didn’t answer my question but instead took out a lipstick from her pouch and applied it to her lips without even looking in a mirror. What if she messes up?

But my concern was unnecessary—the lipstick was applied perfectly. Her lips, redder than usual, looked very attractive.

“Siwoo.”

“Y-yes?”

“…Here goes.”

—Smooch.