Chapter 72: Our Private Screening (2)

The movie was already set up with Juho’s help.

While handing over the completed movie file, Juho had made probing comments like “You two really looked like you were dating, man.” But at that time, we were still clueless about each other’s feelings. His assumption had been completely off the mark.

Well, I suppose it wasn’t entirely wrong since we were both secretly in love with each other at that time.

“This should be fun. Let’s watch it,” So-yul urged, tugging at my sleeve as she sat beside me.

“I wonder. It seemed like a typical romance film when we read the script and during filming. Will it really be that interesting?”

“Of course it will. Your acting was terrible, so that alone should be entertaining.”

“Oh my, is that so?”

I had absolutely no plans to pursue acting and was certain I would never act again. Yet somehow, hearing that my acting skills were awful made me feel slightly irritated. Especially since I couldn’t deny it.

“I’m kidding,” So-yul said with a snicker that didn’t sound like she was kidding at all.

“I just think it’ll be fun to see our innocent selves from back then.”

“What innocent selves?”

In my opinion, we were still plenty innocent even now.

Just look at us right now. Despite being actual couples, we couldn’t even sit close together, keeping a slight distance between us.

We’d flinch and move apart if our bodies touched. Our faces would flush even if just our clothes brushed against each other. We’d hugged before and even slept in the same bed, yet getting shy over something this minor seemed almost contradictory.

It seemed we both were still not fully accustomed to conscious physical contact.

Since we were really dating now, we couldn’t keep being awkward like this forever. We’d have to get used to it gradually.

With that in mind.

“Should we hold hands while watching?”

“H-hold hands?”

So-yul furrowed her brow and asked with narrowed eyes.

“…I don’t mind.”

Shortly after, she mumbled this and opened her tiny hand.

Seeing a happy smile spread across her face despite her obvious shyness made me think I’d made the right suggestion.

As I took her outstretched hand, I felt its soft, smooth texture. Her body temperature was just slightly warmer than mine. Her fingers trembling slightly from nervousness seemed incredibly cute.

My heart was naturally pounding away.

“Ready to watch the movie now?”

“…Y-yeah.”

So-yul’s voice, tinged with a delicate tremor, revealed that I wasn’t the only one whose heart was racing.

I gave So-yul a bright smile and pressed the play button.

The movie began by showing two people walking down a street. Of course, when I say “two people,” there were no other roles in this film. Naturally, it was So-yul and me on the screen.

“This is kind of embarrassing.”

Perhaps feeling awkward seeing her face on screen, So-yul whispered while biting her lower lip tightly as if trying to hold something back. She even hunched her shoulders, showing how flustered she felt.

Well, this was a problem. If she was already embarrassed at the beginning, what would happen later? I offered a few words to ease her mind.

“What’s there to be embarrassed about? You look pretty to me.”

“…That makes me even more embarrassed.”

Seems it backfired.

Anyway, on screen, we were walking while firmly holding hands. Though unintentional, it mirrored our current position exactly. Even the occasional trembling of our intertwined hands was the same.

When I squeezed our overlapping hands slightly, So-yul flushed and asked, “W-what are you doing?”

Her every reaction was so adorable that a wide smile naturally spread across my face.

“Nothing. We held hands even before we started dating. I’m just wondering how we still get shy when holding hands.”

“Of course it’s embarrassing. No matter what, back then it was just acting.”

“I’ve hugged you since we started dating, though?”

“I thought I was going to die from embarrassment then.”

Oh my. Is that so?

“Then I shouldn’t do that anymore. I want to be with my precious girlfriend for a long time, so I better not hug you again.”

“W-what?”

At my teasing words, So-yul pouted her lips and grumbled, then:

“…I didn’t actually die, so it’s fine.”

She whispered this in a tiny voice.

Really, she couldn’t have been cuter.

The rest of the content, honestly, wasn’t that important.

I remember the plot being something about a man and woman who shouldn’t fall in love, but in reality, only the setting had been established. I had no memory of filming those kinds of scenes.

So the only thing worth watching was So-yul’s excellent acting skills. At most, there was the added entertainment of laughing at my surprisingly poor acting and mumbling. For a film the director himself proudly called a masterpiece, it was rather unremarkable.

But who cared? Today was a private screening just for the two of us.

Judging by the deep smiles on both our faces, there was no reason not to call it a masterpiece.

Soon after, the screen showed us embracing each other.

So-yul and I were frozen for a long time, shy and embarrassed. What broke through this hesitation was So-yul’s courage.

With her eyes tightly closed, So-yul rushed into my arms and buried her face against me. The way she nuzzled her face against my chest made her look almost like a child seeking affection.

I feel like I could still vividly recall it in my dreams.

Her amber hair flowing in the breeze. The scent that wafted toward me, tickling my nose. The soft touch that revealed the difference between a man and a woman, and even the delicate hands that held my body – everything.

Filled with nostalgia, I couldn’t help but laugh.

“You managed to hug me back then. Now you struggle even with holding hands.”

“I stepped up because someone was hesitating and dawdling. Dummy.”

So-yul clicked her tongue and complained with a hint of sarcasm. What made it worse was that she was absolutely right, so I couldn’t even respond.

In that case, I might as well:

“Thank you. For approaching me first when your boyfriend was hesitating.”

“Yes. You should thank me.”

“I’ll make sure to keep hesitating diligently.”

“…”

“Okay, I’m sorry.”

From now on, I should approach first before So-yul comes to me. Based on her reaction just now, that seemed absolutely necessary.

As I made this firm resolution, So-yul whispered in a small voice, almost like she was speaking into my ear:

“Still… if you try to distance yourself too much, I’ll come to you first.”

That was quite an interesting statement.

“Why would I distance myself? I have no intention of leaving you.”

“You never know. You might get tired of me later on.”

“If that happens, I probably won’t be in my right mind, so kick me hard.”

“I won’t kick you.”

So-yul continued with a playful smile:

“…Since you’re my precious boyfriend, I’ll just hug you first instead.”

Just one sentence from my adorable girlfriend.

It made my heart tingle. The affection filling my chest gradually boiled over. It was so lovable that I almost felt like I was floating.

Not knowing how to calm these emotions,

I simply kept my gaze fixed on the screen as the movie continued.

And the movie reached its climax.

The most important part both in terms of the movie’s content and for us who filmed it. It was the scene where the kiss scene appeared.

On the screen, So-yul and I appeared, blankly staring intently at each other.

Our lips trembled slightly, and our pupils shook wildly as if reflecting the turmoil in our hearts.

So-yul, with her hand placed on her chest, was taking deep breaths repeatedly. Just this image alone made me feel her tension completely.

“Looks like you were really nervous.”

When I casually commented this, So-yul immediately flared up.

“Hmph. As if you weren’t.”

“To be honest, I wasn’t that nervous at that level.”

“Don’t lie. I can clearly see your lips trembling.”

Well, that wasn’t entirely wrong either. It’s just that compared to So-yul, I looked quite composed.

But it was natural. Even if I was less nervous than So-yul, I wasn’t completely calm either. No, it was impossible to be calm in that situation. That’s just how it is when you’re about to kiss someone you like.

In fact, even now as a real couple, we still hadn’t experienced a kiss.

If we had kissed then, when we weren’t even lovers yet and didn’t properly understand each other’s feelings… my heart might have burst on the spot.

Eventually, in the movie, So-yul’s and my lips drew close together.

As we slowly approached each other, our hearts pounded deeper. So-yul’s amber hair fluttered with her intense trembling. The gaze we exchanged contained emotions we had never shown before.

Finally, just before our lips touched, So-yul’s eyes closed tightly, and…

Suddenly, a full shot taken from far away followed, and the screen gradually faded out.

It felt somewhat abrupt, but well, this was an ending I already knew everything about.

Just as our lips were about to touch, So-yul finally couldn’t hold back and began sobbing. In the process, Juho’s little trick was exposed.

In the end, instead of filming an actual kiss scene, we decided to just pretend to kiss from a distance. That was the backstory behind the awkwardness felt in the editing.

“It ended so suddenly.”

Apparently sharing the same impression, So-yul smiled slightly and said:

“Still, I’m glad we didn’t do it.”

She said something that was both clear and unclear.

“You mean the kiss?”

“Y-yeah.”

As if even the word “kiss” was too embarrassing to say, So-yul blushed and continued:

“If we had done it then, my first would have been fake. This kind of thing should only be done between people who share their hearts.”

“…Hmm.”

Well, she had a point.

Even if we liked each other, we were only fake lovers at the time. Moreover, the motivation for the kiss wasn’t pure either. If it had been our first kiss, it probably wouldn’t have remained a good memory.

But if that was the case… did it mean it was okay now?

If a kiss was “something only to be done between people who share their hearts.”

Did that mean there was nothing holding us back now?

I suddenly looked at So-yul’s face.

Coincidentally, So-yul was also looking up at me.

So-yul’s cheeks, already flushed red. Her ears, visible through her hair, had also turned bright red. They looked so hot that they might burn to the touch.

Her moist, glistening eyes looked straight at me. Her pupils were wavering slightly. As I looked directly at her, her gaze seemed to fade as if she couldn’t find a place to rest her eyes. That gaze strangely felt like it was seducing me.

The warmth coming from beside me had already changed into heat.

Her delicate breathing, her quickened breaths were constantly stimulating me.

My senses were so overwhelming my reason that my head felt dizzy.

Her pretty, pale pink lips looked especially alluring today.

Eventually, So-yul’s face gradually moved closer.

Was I approaching? Was So-yul coming closer to me? Maybe both. Or perhaps it was just my imagination.

So-yul’s lips were trembling slightly.

As if she already knew what we were about to do, what waiting like this meant.

Yet, why didn’t she run away? How should I interpret this signal?

If she didn’t stop me, I would go all the way. Did that really mean it was okay?

What if our noses bumped? What if she was disappointed by my clumsy kissing? What if my mouth froze from nervousness? What if she ended up disliking me for being too hasty?

And at the end of these thoughts… I wondered what So-yul’s lips would feel like.

Even as all these thoughts raced through my mind, the distance between us gradually narrowed.

Close enough to hear each other’s breathing in our ears, we exchanged glances.

And like this, we finally…

“…No. Dummy.”

So-yul’s index finger gently rested on my lips.

When I came to my senses, So-yul was shaking with a bright red face. Her gaze wandered as she looked at me. Several times, she made sounds like “huff” as if trying to calm her startled heart.

What on earth was I trying to do?

I almost forced something wrong on So-yul when she wasn’t ready. If she didn’t have those feelings, it would be no different from a fake kiss. That wasn’t even what So-yul wanted.

Having finally regained my senses, I apologized.

“I’m sorry. For trying to force you when you didn’t want to.”

But for some reason, So-yul tilted her head.

As if she didn’t understand. As if wondering what I was talking about.

Then she gave a slightly bitter smile and said:

“…I never said I didn’t want to?”

“…What?”

She stopped me herself, but now she’s saying she never said she didn’t want to? I don’t understand what she’s trying to say. As I asked back in confusion, So-yul touched her chin as if pondering and said:

“It’s not that I don’t want to, but if we did something like that now…”

“If we did…?”

When I prompted her to continue, So-yul showed a playful smile and said:

“…I’d be in a daze all day, and my mother might notice.”

“Pfft.”

“I’m serious. Dummy.”

When I couldn’t hold back my laugh, So-yul poked my cheeks as if telling me not to laugh. Her behavior, like she was throwing a tantrum, was unbearably cute.

After a moment, I stopped laughing and said:

“Alright. Then I’ll wait for a better opportunity.”

“Okay. I’ll look forward to something really romantic.”

“Well, don’t expect too much.”

When I expressed concern about this burdensome comment, So-yul giggled teasingly and said:

“…I’m definitely going to expect it.”

She just kept poking my cheeks while returning such remarks.

A romantic first kiss that would fulfill my girlfriend’s expectations.

I vaguely thought that when the time came, I would need to create a scene just like in a movie.