Ch.220Side Story – I Became a Heroine After the Pure Love Ending (11)

“Sigh, look at those dark circles under your eyes. Do Hamin, how many hours are you sleeping these days?”

“Well, I’m actually getting a bit more sleep lately. Since there’s no morning assembly during vacation supplementary classes, I just need to arrive by 9. I even got about 3 hours of sleep yesterday.”

“What, 3 hours?”

“Why, what’s wrong?”

“Don’t tell me you’ve only been sleeping that much every day even during vacation? Hah… this idiot still hasn’t come to his senses. As punishment, stay like this with your head on my lap for 30 more minutes.”

“Ah, fine.”

“No wonder… you’ve been getting tired like in the old days lately. Even if you built up stamina through kendo, you still need to sleep. Even a semiconductor would collapse on a 3-hour sleep schedule.”

“Mmm…”

“What are you doing? I told you to rest your head on my lap and take a nap. Why are you keeping your eyes open?”

“Well…”

Unlike earlier when he was wavering between reality and dreams,

Hamin, now resting his head on Doyoung’s lap, had half-lidded eyes but couldn’t easily fall asleep.

Doyoung’s lap pillow had, how should I put it?

A truly dual charm.

Since Doyoung had a lower body temperature than the naturally warm Hamin,

resting his face on her lap brought a cool sensation that relieved the heat,

yet if he stayed there long enough, their body heat would mingle, creating a pleasant warmth.

Her thighs, toned from years of kendo training, were sturdy,

yet they felt more elastic than hard or rigid.

It was as if they supported Hamin’s head with just the right amount of give, not sinking under its weight.

His eyes were half-closed from the comfort that promised the sweetest sleep he’d had in a long time,

yet the fact that this pillow was Doyoung’s lap also made his heart race with tension.

“Don’t like my lap? Should I have let you rest on my chest like we did at the movie theater back then?”

“N-No! Your lap is better!”

He tried to fake sleeping breaths while closing his eyes near Doyoung’s head,

but he still couldn’t fall asleep easily.

After all, it was still Doyoung’s lap.

The most comfortable resting place in the world,

and simultaneously, the most nerve-wracking one.

Hamin was now laying his head in such a place.

With worries and responsibilities piled up

in a corner of his heart, making it hard to fall asleep.

“Hey… Doyoung.”

“What, you prefer my chest after all?”

“N-No. Could you maybe listen to what I’m about to say as if it’s just nonsense coming out while I’m falling asleep?”

“…If listening will help you sleep, sure.”

Doyoung nodded as if to say it was fine.

Only after hearing her response did Hamin cautiously turn his half-closed eyes toward her and carefully begin to speak.

“…Actually, I don’t really like studying. Not even a quarter of it.”

“Yeah, I know.”

“…You’re not surprised? I’ve broken so many promises to hang out with you because of night study sessions and supplementary classes. You even teased me for being obsessed with studying.”

“It would be more surprising if you said you liked it.”

“I-I guess so. You’re right.”

Hamin was taken aback by Doyoung’s unexpectedly calm reaction,

but he continued speaking.

“But… in the end, it was the only thing I was good at… so I kept studying because that’s all I knew how to do. It was the only way I could make others happy… and n-now, it’s also for our future together.”

“Is that why you wanted to go to Seongcheon University? Because it’s the highest achievement you could reach through studying?”

“…Yeah.”

Hamin shyly answered Doyoung’s question.

He had always thought that to repay everything he’d received, he needed to do what was expected of him, even without being told.

To that place where he had failed alone before.

He thought he needed to try again and get in with his head held high.

That single thought had kept him going all this time.

“I’ve received things beyond what I deserve. When I’m with you, Doyoung, I sometimes feel like… like I’m the protagonist of this world. Because there’s no other way to explain everything I’ve received from you…”

“…”

“So I know how shameless and pathetic it is to think this, but…”

Hamin couldn’t easily continue.

Even though he had set up a safety net by calling it nonsense before falling asleep,

he bit his lip, seemingly afraid to speak the words that would follow.

“But what if… really, what if I wanted to give up everything and quit…”

“Then I’ll earn the money.”

“…Huh? W-wait, Doyoung. I haven’t finished what I was going to say.”

“Weren’t you going to say that studying is too hard and you want to quit everything? I was just saying you can do whatever you want.”

Before he could fully reveal the truth he had been trying to hide until the end,

Doyoung casually accepted Hamin’s quiet wish with a smile.

“You know, the teacher at my part-time job keeps asking if I’d consider professional modeling. Your girlfriend gets quite a few love calls from various places, you know? Well, not ‘love’ calls in the literal sense.”

“I-I see. Well… of course someone like you would get those kinds of offers.”

“If you don’t want to go to college, I won’t go either. I’ll just follow Teacher Jung and do modeling work. With a face like the great Ban Doyoung’s, supporting just one person like you would be nothing. Oh, but just so you know, if I come home after work and find this morning’s dishes still unwashed, I might nag you a bit, okay?”

“Y-Yeah…?”

“And if you’re staying home, run the vacuum at least once every two days? Robot vacuums can’t clean every nook and cranny properly. Oh, and take Lime to places she wants to go once every two weeks, or at least once a month. Amusement parks are good, camping too.”

“D-Doyoung, wait a second.”

Hamin momentarily stopped Doyoung, her answer far exceeding anything he had expected.

“Doyoung, you… even after I said I want to give up everything, you’d still stay with me?”

“Why, is that not allowed?”

“Well… I just acted really pathetic. Saying I want to give up the only thing I’m good at… Even if it’s just nonsense while falling asleep…”

“It’s okay. You can give up everything.”

*Tap*

Doyoung cupped Hamin’s puffy cheeks with both hands.

Then quietly, so softly the sound was barely audible,

she gently kissed his tired face.

“Just don’t give up on me.”

“…”

“Don’t give up on me, the person who likes you most in this world. Then you can do anything.”

The swelling and marks on Hamin’s cheeks had subsided.

Of course, the redness lingering on his face hadn’t disappeared.

“And honestly, how could you ever give up on me, Do Hamin? Even you know you could never do that, right? Hehe.”

“Y-Yeah… Really. I don’t think I could give you up no matter what happens.”

Doyoung’s statements, sometimes bordering on arrogance, were brimming with confidence.

But Hamin could never argue with her words.

Even after being with Doyoung for over two years,

he had never seen anyone in this world who could be called prettier than her.

Probably not in 2 years, not in 20 years, and not even after more time had passed—

by Hamin’s standards, that result would never change.

“…I’ll get up now.”

Hamin rose from Doyoung’s lap and fixed his disheveled hair.

The imprint of his head remained on Doyoung’s lap.

“I feel better now. Thanks to you, I’m not sleepy at all anymore.”

“Hehe. It’s always faster to recover next to the NPC sister who tells you to rest a bit than at the Pokémon Center.”

“Yeah, I feel like I could stay up for three nights straight and still be fine.”

“Hey, did you not hear what I said? I told you not to stay up all night recklessly.”

“I-It’s just a figure of speech, I’m not really going to stay up all night.”

“Phew… that’s good then. Don’t make me worry about things like that.”

“Yes, thank you, Lime’s mom.”

“You’re welcome, Lime’s da— Wait, what did you just say?”

“…Oh.”

Hamin’s mouth still hadn’t fully emerged from the boundary between dreams and reality.

“T-This is just something I said while half-asleep…!”

“Hehehe… So we’re officially using ‘Lime’s mom and dad’ as our pet names now? You’ve approved it as a settled fact!”

“I-It was a mistake!”

“Hey, Lime isn’t something that comes from a mistake—she comes from love!”

He still hadn’t fully emerged.

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.

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“Sigh, I can’t believe our exam locations got assigned to different schools. I wanted to hold your hand tightly and walk you to the exam site so our Lime’s daddy wouldn’t feel lonely.”

“You need to go to your own exam location too, Doyoung. You should hurry before it’s too late. They won’t let you in if you’re late for check-in.”

“Wait a minute. Don’t you need Ban Doyoung, the goddess of Do Hamin’s grades, to personally bestow her blessing so you can crush the college entrance exam? Give me your hand.”

“…O-Okay.”

“I, Ban Doyoung, goddess of Do Hamin’s grades and his sexy goddess, bestow this blessing so that Do Hamin shall receive a perfect score!”

“W-What was that last part…!”

“Hehe, I added that to help you relax. No deeper meaning, okay?”

“…I really can’t let my guard down around you.”

“That’s what makes me Ban Doyoung. *nods*”

“Alright, I get it. I’ll do as I’ve received. Then I’ll make you a promise based on what I’ve received from you.”

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“I’m going to come back with first place.”

“…Now that’s my husband.”