Are we really dating? Even the female lead herself doesn't know why she brought it up. It's not like the psychology of many women who want to hear love serenades until they get sick of it, it's just a fundamental curiosity that's been buried deep inside them for the entire relationship that suddenly burst out. Of course, there was a trigger. The recent reactions of my colleagues played a part in carelessly touching on a point I'd briefly forgotten. March. It was the height of the no-gari season, so I felt awkward being included in the list of people who were calling out to go out on blind dates, and having to explain in detail that I was seeing someone was incredibly awkward. Meanwhile, one or two people were so secretive that I didn't even know we were dating, and they threw out a few words, making the situation even more complicated.
Who am I dating? It's not like I have anything to hide. Well, it's not me. The question is, would the other person think the same?
He wasted time on a simple question and answer. Was he deliberating on the best answer, or was he trying to bury the issue in silence? His previously thoughtful eyes turned calmly to the female protagonist.
"that's right."
"......"
"Again."
A straightforward answer. But Kang Yeo-ju wanted to keep digging a little longer.
1 | Bland xx
His personality was just like that. He wasn't particularly rough, and he certainly wasn't kind enough to make anyone laugh out loud. Min Yoongi was the kind of quiet guy who was pleasant to get to know, someone who was moderately well-liked by those around him. Up until then, I'd mostly met lively and cheerful mood-makers, but Yeo-ju didn't view him negatively at first. In fact, he was someone who caught my eye. We'd met in front of the bathroom at the bar I'd been called to for the first time since transferring clubs. Although we shared the same department, our lectures rarely overlapped, so we'd only heard about him sporadically. That he'd returned to school a few weeks ago after a military leave of absence, that the man who'd always been neat and tidy had bleached his black hair bright yellow one day, causing quite a stir among the female students, and so on. The actual emergence of a character I'd only heard about through word of mouth was truly mystical. The seat that we happened to get that day happened to be across from each other, so the female protagonists readily opened up the conversation.
What was the first thing you said, yeah?
"Do you know Professor Kim of the Philosophy Department?"
To be completely honest, I hadn't even the slightest intention of dating Min Yoongi until then. I hadn't even imagined anything like that. The fact that I even brought up the name of a certain professor, who was undoubtedly of no interest to either of us, was purely due to my human collector mentality: the more acquaintances, the better. Above all, Kang Yeo-ju had someone in mind at the time. The process by which her intuitive tastes, which had remained constant for over a decade, veered away from that unrequited crush and ended up in Min Yoongi wasn't easy, I swear.
But in the end? They're dating. They're dating. That's the conclusion and the point at issue.
So what's the problem? Kang Yeo-ju now dislikes the relationship between her and Min Yoon-gi even more than before they were established. Min Yoon-gi was a third-year student and didn't participate in many extracurricular activities, but he was equally passionate about completing assignments and self-improvement, and he was a future-proof talent who even had a large company internship in mind next semester. So, his personality was bound to be different from Kang Yeo-ju's, who always said today was today and tomorrow was tomorrow. Their dates were strictly weekends. If she called on a weekday to ask if he was free, his response was twice as blunt.
-Sorry, I'll be busy this week with my studies. Let's see the movie next Saturday.
Or something. He was flawless from beginning to end. He was specific too. But he strangely... seemed to forget that we were dating. Yeo-ju had always been upset because of that. Being two years younger or older doesn't necessarily determine whether you're an adult or not, but Kang Yeo-ju hated Min Yoongi because he was too mature. Being mature means refraining from unnecessary actions and not necessarily showing off whether it's good or bad. He's still popular, but he has a strong rule about not revealing personal details to others. I guess that probably includes our relationship. Yeo-ju suddenly felt a chill inside. One evening. At a meal across from him.
"You know what? Everyone gets surprised when I talk about my senior."
"Surprised?"
The eyebrows hidden by her bangs rose slightly. A slight, truly, very slight, so slight that if she hadn't had a keen eye, she wouldn't have caught it until the end of the conversation. The female protagonist dismissed it as nothing significant and concluded her speech.
"I didn't know you two were meeting."
The man across from me thought quietly. A subtle blankness.
"Yeah, I see. That could be true."
"You don't get to see each other properly at school." Min Yoongi, who had been quiet for a moment, added his guess, as if he didn't care if they were there or not. The ceiling light suddenly flashed. Neither of them said anything, so he gulped down some water. Yeoju stopped stirring her salmon poke bowl with her spoon. The only sound effects were the footsteps of the servers busily moving around the hall and the laughter around them. She had no appetite and was just watching what people were doing, but since most of them were couples who had come to a nice restaurant like these two, her eyes naturally followed them. Two hands tucked snugly into the pockets of their coats. Shoulders pressed together and a loving kiss. Yeoju turned her head and looked at the person in front of her, her fingers bare and clean, without a single ring.
Yeah, it's weird. We've never been like that before, strangely enough.