Ch.224IF Side Story: Like Engraving a Moment

I never thought I’d say this, but when people… how should I put it.

When you live with multiple people, certain unspoken rules naturally develop within that environment.

Nothing officially documented. Setting strict rules when living together just makes everyone uncomfortable.

So sometimes one person gets a bit more benefit, and sometimes another person has to yield.

If you’ve yielded, that’s fine. It’s one way to avoid conflict in the first place.

But if you end up seeing something you didn’t want to see when you weren’t particularly looking to yield in the first place, you’ll naturally get upset.

That’s why I ended up alone with Ju-a today.

We were lovers, but at the same time, we were all friends. None of us wanted to sever our relationships with each other. Naturally, Jihye and Hayun felt the same way.

Ju-a did too, but—human emotions aren’t easily controlled. If they were, the world would be full of nothing but Buddhas.

“So, um, where should we go?”

Even though we’d been everywhere together, I still felt a bit nervous walking alone with her like this.

“…”

Ju-a pouted but held tightly onto my arm.

Her attitude was clear.

She simply wanted this moment to continue.

It was just at the end of summer. The days were still a bit hot. Sticking together like this would definitely leave the parts where we touched soaked with sweat.

But I didn’t want to tell Ju-a to let go.

“Should we just wander around somewhere for now?”

I asked.

Ju-a finally nodded.

She was still pouting as if upset, but she seemed pleased that I had initiated conversation. Her face was slightly flushed, and her eyes looked a bit relaxed.

Her hand gripped my arm firmly, and somehow her steps seemed lighter.

Seeing her like that, I felt my tension easing a bit.

*

Come to think of it, it had been a long time since we went on a date like this. Since we stood out too much when we all went out together, we usually went to places where we could all go while maintaining our privacy, away from prying eyes.

It wouldn’t be right to take just one person to such places. And we couldn’t hang out every day anyway.

Still, it was fortunate that we had many days off.

“How about this?”

When I showed Ju-a a necklace, she rolled her eyes around before looking up at me.

“Th-that…”

“That?”

“Well, actually, I don’t really know…”

“Huh? What do you mean you don’t know?”

“I haven’t really dressed up like this very often…”

Ju-a, who usually acted so confident at home, seemed to find it quite difficult being alone with me in a place like this. She didn’t look displeased, just embarrassed.

Was Ju-a always like this?

I thought she had an image of liking cute things…

…

Ah, right. Thinking about it again, Ju-a wasn’t the type to lead a lot of friends around either. If anything, she was similar to me.

In my case, I learned naturally because I heard things from Hayun and Jihye, and I had tons of girls around me who could teach me such things. Even though I might find it difficult to dress myself up, I know what designs generally suit pretty girls like her.

Especially since Ju-a’s style is usually quite simple. In cases like this, a thin necklace without any special decorations would definitely suit her.

“Don’t worry.”

Feeling a bit more confident, I bent slightly toward Ju-a, meeting her eyes as I spoke.

“Anything would look good on you.”

“C-complimenting me like that won’t g-get you anything, you know?”

Ju-a said that as if I was teasing her, but when she saw me tilting my head in confusion, her face turned bright red again.

I’m being sincere though?

I think all my brides are lovely and beautiful. If I didn’t, I wouldn’t have thought about marrying all of them in the first place. How objectively pretty each person is doesn’t really matter.

How could I dislike someone who fought alongside me risking their life, and who likes me this much? I have no reason to flatter or tease her to get something.

The reason I hug Ju-a, put her on my lap, and smell her is simply because I enjoy doing all of it.

“I’m always sincere.”

“W-w-w-what…”

“Well, it’s not like I’ve never lied in my life, but my feelings are always sincere. I’m trying not to lie about these things anymore. It’s strangely too costly when I do.”

I put the necklace around Ju-a’s neck and—

Smooch.

I gave her a light kiss on the cheek. Ju-a’s face turned even redder than before, looking like it might actually explode.

Hmm.

People around us were staring, so maybe we should quickly escape. I already paid anyway.

I quickly straightened up and—

“Eek!?”

I wrapped my arm around Ju-a’s waist and headed out of the store.

From my experience of holding various waists, I really do prefer placing my hand on the waist. Since these girls are fighters by profession, they tend to be in good physical shape, which makes it comfortable to hold them by the waist.

Above all, this way I can pull them close to my side no matter who’s beside me. So they can’t think about running away.

For reference, as much as I like my wives’ waists, my wives also like various parts of my body. The most popular area was my chest.

Although Ju-a did her best not to nuzzle her face against the side of my chest, she was still extremely conscious of those fatty lumps being right there.

“Alright, where should we go now? Want to see a movie?”

“N-no, not a movie.”

Ju-a rejected my suggestion.

“Huh? Why? You like movies, don’t you?”

“That’s when we watch at home. I…”

Ju-a seemed to gather her courage and stretched out her arm to wrap around my waist. She wrapped it so gently that her hand barely touched my side, hovering a bit, which tickled.

I liked her attitude.

While physical intimacy was certainly beautiful, enjoyable, and lovely, the shyness during dates like this could also be considered an art form.

“I want to talk more, and look at each other more. We can’t do that in a theater.”

“…”

I was momentarily speechless at Ju-a’s words.

“I see.”

After struggling for a while about how to respond, that was all I could manage.

“Then, shall we go to a nearby park?”

“That would be better.”

Ju-a answered with a shy smile on her lips, looking slightly downward.

*

So that’s what we did.

We went to the Han River, spread out a mat, and lay down together.

Everyone around us paid no attention to us. They all seemed too focused on their own lovers, families, and friends to even think about looking at us.

Or perhaps it means the world has become that peaceful. To the point where people don’t care much even if we’re there.

Well, it might also be because we were both wearing large sunglasses.

The sunlight was still a bit hot, but not unbearably so.

Rather, the warmth felt nice.

Even Ju-a, who almost always seemed tense with her body stiffened, was now completely relaxed beside me.

Though relaxed, both of us were still sticking close to each other.

I deliberately flexed my arm to pull Ju-a closer to me.

Ju-a made a whining sound but clung to me. Just like a big stuffed animal. Soft and warm.

“What should we have for dinner?”

“Hmm, I wonder.”

Ju-a answered leisurely to my question.

“Meat?”

“Meat sounds good.”

“Noodles? Rice?”

“Carbs aren’t bad either.”

“That’s the same as saying anything is fine.”

“But anything really is fine. I already know Jieun’s taste preferences. You generally eat well, but you have a very ordinary palate that doesn’t bother with anything too exotic, right?”

“Do you dislike that?”

“I’m saying I like it. Since you’re fine with anything.”

Ju-a suddenly looked up at me. Unlike before, Ju-a, who had her face near my chest, squirmed her way up to my face and—

Smooch.

She lightly kissed my cheek.

“Well, the range of ‘anything’ might be too broad, but what can I do? In the end, I’m the one who fell for you.”

Ju-a looked up at me as she spoke.

“Since I’m the one who likes you, that’s all that matters.”

My face felt hot.

Probably not from too much sunlight.

“That’s payback for earlier.”

Ju-a said with a grin.

Finding her so adorable, I hugged her tightly and rolled around on the mat.

I’m happy.

The fact that I can receive such love makes me so happy.

Just this fact alone makes me think that I’m glad to be alive.

“Thank you, really.”

“…No need to thank me.”

When I whispered that while holding Ju-a tightly in my arms, she finally blushed deeply with an embarrassed face and rolled her eyes around.

In the end, as we clung together and rolled around, we started attracting attention, so we had to quickly grab the mat and run away.

All day long, we stayed close like that.

Eventually, Ju-a thought of something she wanted to eat.

A common neighborhood barbecue place. We sat outside and diligently grilled pork belly and pork neck.

“I prefer this to something too fancy.”

At Ju-a’s words, I smiled and agreed.

So ordinary, yet special because we were together.

We sat leaning slightly against each other for a long time, chatting away.

For a long time.

As if engraving this moment.