episode_0006

Upon entering college, Seong-a noona glared at me.

Then she started tapping my back and telling me to come out.

I thought it would be a huge hassle.

But since it was my fault, I thought I had no choice but to get up from my seat and follow Seong-a noona.

I knew the reason.

Surely she called me because of what happened yesterday, so I followed Seong-a noona.

And she looked at me and asked, “Who is that girl from yesterday?”

Of course, I expected such words to come out.

She must be jealous, I thought.

I just told her that the girl was a friend.

“So, where do you draw the line between male and female friends! Don’t meet that girl in the future.”

Noona got angry and told me not to meet Jiwon.

I didn’t know how to respond to that, but I nodded my head anyway.

**

“I heard her say that.”

And today at school, I told Jiwon about what happened.

“I see.”

Jiwon started ignoring me while looking at her phone.

She probably didn’t listen properly.

Although I said not to meet her, Jiwon really thought nothing was wrong and just kept reading web novels.

I knew from the start that she was a guy, but I never had any other intentions.

I wanted to be the perfect boyfriend for Seong-a noona.

“If you just sit still, you seem like an easy catch.”

“Hey, what’s with this ‘easy catch’? This is also dating.”

It’s my first time dating, thinking of being the perfect boyfriend and dating.

“Being the perfect boyfriend, isn’t that gaslighting?”

I couldn’t say anything in response to Jiwon’s words.

Sometimes, considering his actions, I feel like it might be gaslighting.

Blaming everything on me, even if it’s my fault for my eating habits or fashion sense.

There are many other things, but just looking at this is enough to make me think it’s gaslighting.

Living through each day in such a situation,

Still, I have no regrets.

While thinking like that,

Jiwon stood up and said, “Hey, let’s go to your place.”

Did this guy only hear half of what I said, just looking at his phone, and finally saying, “Let’s go to our place”?

A bit flustered, unsure of what to say, but since it didn’t matter, I said okay and got up from my seat.

After that, we went outside, took the bus, and headed to our house.

As we entered the house, Jiwon lay down on my bed and started looking at her phone.

What’s different from her own house? I asked Jiwon why she came to our house.

“Well, the gas bill hasn’t been paid at my place, and the boiler isn’t working.”

The reason was simple.

Her home’s boiler wasn’t working, so she came to our house to escape the cold.

Should I say it’s unbelievable?

Or should I say she lacks caution?

Now that this guy has become a girl, I’m not sure if it’s okay to be with me, a guy.

No, even if he was originally a guy, I’m not sure if it’s okay with this person.

For now, I just sat on the floor, looking at social media on my phone.

Just because the location changed doesn’t mean anything else changed.

While staring at my smartphone like that,

Jiwon started calling me.

“I’m hungry.”

Should I say it’s unbelievable that she came to someone else’s house and, after 10 minutes, said she was hungry?

Hold on, she’s a guest now, so I couldn’t get mad yet.

“Okay… Is there something you want to eat?”

“I’ve said it before, my taste buds are like a raccoon’s, omnivorous, I eat everything.”

I thought about handing her the trash can of food scraps at home, but even a raccoon might refuse it, so I ultimately didn’t.

Jiwon smiled and said, “I’ll have omakase, please.”

I don’t know where she learned such words.

Now that he asked me for a favor.

Let’s just feed him some pasta and send him off.

Thinking so, I boiled water in a pot and added salt,

Prepared the pasta noodles and put them in the boiling water.

While the pasta noodles were cooking, I prepared onions, garlic, and olive oil.

After greasing the frying pan with olive oil, I sautéed garlic and bacon, added onions, then poured in cream.

Next, after adding Parmesan cheese and creating the sauce, I mixed in the cooked noodles and tossed them again.

Finally, added a bit of pepper, yolks, and parsley to finish.

“Hey, come eat.”

Then lying on the bed, I called out to the ungrateful parasite who hadn’t helped with anything to come eat.

“What? It’s not fried rice or delivery food?”

Even though this guy saw everything I was doing in the kitchen, he reacts like this?

Should I have just handed him the trash bin? I thought, but.

Taking a fork, watching Jiwon eat pasta.

At least his eating manners were decent, so I couldn’t say anything.

Well, as long as he enjoys it.

Thinking so, I sat down to eat as well.

Jiwon started eating, saying it’s delicious.

Honestly, the way he eats in front of me makes me lose my appetite.

“I’m trying this for the first time today, it’s really delicious.”

Hearing that, something inside me starts to ache.

“Why are you trying this for the first time? Didn’t you eat at the cafeteria during school?”

“At the cafeteria, did I eat well? I went to the snack bar.”

I couldn’t refute that statement.

Except for Wednesdays, every day was spent eating at the snack bar.

It must have been a long time since I ate like this, I thought, and slowly began to eat the pasta.

After eating pasta, Jiwon said he has a tiny bit of conscience and offered to do the dishes.

It didn’t matter much, but can he actually do the dishes well? I wondered.

Watching Jiwon slowly do the dishes, something…

“How about we do the house chores at our place?”

To my words, Jiwon asked what I meant.

“Well, I live alone in a small two-room apartment, cleaning is tough. Wouldn’t it be nice to have someone help with the cleaning at home?”

“I don’t even clean my own house, would I clean yours?”

Uh… stating an undeniable fact, there’s nothing more to say.

So Jiwon said he’d go back home, and with the thought of cleaning my house, I picked up a broom and started cleaning.

After finishing cleaning the house, the words I said came back to mind.

Asking if they’d like to do household chores at our place.

It felt almost like proposing if worded differently, but I wasn’t looking at Jiwon in that way.

Quietly turning on the computer, I sat down.

Had a cup of coffee, finished my university assignments, and was thinking of taking a break.

-Ding-a-ling

My smartphone vibrated along with the ringtone.

Who could it be at this hour? I wondered, checking my phone.

It said “Seonga Nuna” (Sister Seonga).

Another call.

Answering the call, I asked what she was doing and said I was planning to work on assignments at home.

“Don’t lie, pick up for a video call.”

She doubted me and insisted on a video call.

It seemed like my suspicions grew because of Jiwon.

After the video call, showing around my house and that I was alone, Seonga Nuna finally hung up.

Lastly, she suggested going on a date this weekend.

A date… Well, calling it a date… I’m not sure.

For now, I replied okay and sat back down.

“Sigh…”

Even though I hadn’t done my assignments, I suddenly felt drained.

Should I just leave it for tomorrow instead of doing it today? I thought.

It seems like that’s not it. I sat down at the computer to start my assignment.

And began working on the assignment, starting to create a PowerPoint presentation.

As the PPT work was nearing completion.

*Ding*

This time, a short message came through.

Who could it be this time? I wondered if it was Seonga again and checked my phone.

This time, it was Jiwon who left a message on KakaoTalk.

And Jiwon sent a really brief message.

“I got kicked out.”

I thought, “What nonsense is this?” and tried calling, but in the end, I couldn’t reach Jiwon.

It didn’t seem like Jiwon didn’t want to be contacted.

Yet, it wasn’t like him to ignore my calls deliberately.

Therefore, I couldn’t figure out what had happened to Jiwon.

… He’s someone who can manage just fine for about two months even without my help.

Somehow… he’ll manage to survive, I thought.

But my thoughts changed abruptly after two days.

**

“What the hell is all this?”

Two days later, Jiwon showed up.

More precisely… with his belongings.

“Can you let me stay for a while?”

He asked me to accommodate him and walked into our house.

In other words, being kicked out is no joke.

Whether to call it bewildering or not, looking at Jiwon’s current state, it’s hard to say.

“For now… come inside.”

Leaving a friend outside the front door seemed a bit off, so I told him to come in first.

So, he came in, and I thought I should at least hear him out…