Chapter 13

Episode 013. Do you only act like this in front of me?

After that, nothing special happened at school.

Although teachers occasionally turned their heads to Hyun Woo when they were about to call on Chae Ah.

And there was no need to share public embraces in front of others.

-Hey… it’s a good time, a very good time.

-Don’t let your grades drop because you’re busy with romance?

Though the incident in the gymnasium already had teachers treating them as an official couple…

Anyway.

The worrying first week flowed by and before I knew it, the weekend had returned.

“Ugh…”

Hyun Woo woke up late. He picked up his phone to check the time.

The screen showed 11:00 AM. Because he stayed up late watching anime with Chae Ah yesterday, he ended up oversleeping after a long time.

“?”

But the screen didn’t just show the time.

‘No one should contact me anyway.’

When he tapped the message icon in the notification bar, a yellow chat window appeared.

[Mh]

A text made entirely of consonants. The sender was Jin Hyuk.

I wondered what was up with him as I prepared to reply.

“Uuuuh…”

Chae Ah was tightly holding onto Hyun Woo’s right arm and wouldn’t let go.

It wasn’t right to wake her up just to send a simple reply, so he slowly typed with one hand.

[What’s up? You suddenly contacting me.]

[What is it? Did it take you this long to type that?]

[Chae Ah won’t let go of my arm, so I’m typing with one hand.]

[…Where’s Lux again?]

There was no reason to listen to nonsense while struggling to type.

[So what?]

[I’m shaking Lux right now, bro.]

[You have nothing to say, huh?]

As Hyun Woo was about to close the screen,

[Is Yu Chae Ah doing okay physically?]

Jin Hyuk sent a serious message, cutting off his jokes.

‘Why is he suddenly asking this?’ Hyun Woo stared blankly at Jin Hyuk’s sudden serious tone.

Hyun Woo didn’t seem to be particularly close to Eun Bi, and neither did Jin Hyuk and Chae Ah. They only talked at school, didn’t even exchange numbers, and certainly didn’t plan to contact each other outside of that.

‘Well, considering she had an accident bad enough to cause memory loss, it’s not strange.’

While thinking this, Hyun Woo glanced sideways.

Chae Ah was still sound asleep, making soft breathing sounds.

“What did you do while sleeping?”

Perhaps it was hot during the night;

She had rolled up her top, revealing her pale stomach, and was clinging tightly to Hyun Woo’s arm.

‘Got softer. There used to be abs.’

His hand was perfectly positioned to touch her stomach.

Even though the abs were gone,

he absentmindedly touched the soft belly fat without any flab.

‘Did I really lose my mind, Do Hyun Woo? What are you doing while she’s asleep?’

He hastily pulled his hand away after realizing what he was doing.

Even if his hand accidentally touched her,

squeezing it directly seemed too intentional.

Several faces flashed through his mind in an instant.

Chae Ah’s parents who entrusted her care to him.

His mother who casually allowed them to live together.

Chae Ah herself, who clung to Hyun Woo out of fear of being alone.

All of them trusted Hyun Woo, yet here he was admiring the stomach of his childhood friend while she slept.

A deep sense of guilt pierced his chest.

“Ugh…”

“!”

To make matters worse, Chae Ah opened her eyelids halfway and looked at Hyun Woo with a drowsy expression.

Hyun Woo’s heart sank.

‘Crap, did I wake her up? I should apologize first… but can something like secretly touching her stomach be resolved with an apology?’

As he thought all sorts of things internally,

Chae Ah released the arm she had been gripping tightly and changed positions, burrowing into Hyun Woo’s embrace.

“…Chae Ah?”

“You can keep touching me.”

“What?”

“Since I’m clinging to you recklessly anyway. You can touch me however you want…,”

Chae Ah grabbed Hyun Woo’s hand and placed it on her stomach before resuming her regular breathing and falling back asleep.

Hyun Woo, frozen in place, thought:

‘…Is she sleep-talking?’

No matter how close childhood friends might be, this was taking it too far.

How could she so freely give permission to touch her like that?

And what would happen if he really took advantage of that?

‘…Just die, Do Hyun Woo.’

In the middle of these thoughts, Hyun Woo pulled down Chae Ah’s top to cover her stomach.

[Why aren’t you replying?]

During the time spent dealing with the series of events, another message came from Jin Hyuk.

With his arms feeling numb, Hyun Woo typed with both hands.

[She’s fine.]

[Is her brain not fine?]

[I don’t know either…]

Hyun Woo sighed audibly and continued,

[So why did you suddenly ask about Chae Ah?]

[Oh. If she’s okay, tell her to join the game quickly.]

[?]

[We’re going on a raid, and we’re short one person. Aren’t you skipping this week’s raid?]

Jin Hyuk and Hyun Woo were in the same guild.

They often called each other when the raid team lacked members.

[If she’s fine, leave her alone and play the game. Oh, you can control her account under her name.]

But upon reflecting that he went through all that trouble just for such a trivial reason,

[Go away.]

Without realizing it, he typed that.

[?? Why the sudden curse?]

[I don’t have time today since I’m on a date with Chae Ah.]

[(Startled smiley face) Huh? A date?]

Hyun Woo immediately closed the screen.

He realized he had typed something strange in the heat of the moment.

‘What date?’

Today was the day they agreed to go out to help Chae Ah recover her memories.

* * *

After sending “date” for no reason and silently screaming to himself,

“Haaam…”

Chae Ah lazily yawned and slowly opened her eyes.

“Nyaaa.”

“Yeah… did you sleep well?”

Still unable to fully open her eyes, Chae Ah rubbed her head against Hyun Woo’s chest.

Hyun Woo nearly stopped breathing but managed to say,

“What kind of cat are you?”

He tried to push her away while clicking his tongue.

Swoosh swoosh.

Unfortunately, her hair was so soft that he absentmindedly started stroking it.

“If this cat isn’t too bad…”

“What are you saying? Get up already. We agreed to go out today, remember?”

“Too sleepy, nyaa…”

As she made cat-like sounds and burrowed deeper into his embrace,

Kunk kunk kunk kunk.

Hyun Woo’s heart raced at 240bpm, almost ready to burst.

Unfortunately, Chae Ah’s uninhibited actions didn’t stop.

“Uhmm?”

She made a curious sound and pressed her ear against Hyun Woo’s chest.

“Your heart is beating so fast. Are you hurt somewhere?”

“…It’s because of you.”

“Me?”

“Yeah, you. So get up quickly.”

Hyun Woo pushed Chae Ah away from his embrace and quickly got out of bed.

If he had hesitated any longer, his heart would’ve exploded for sure.

His death certificate would’ve read “Happy Death” or “Heart Flutter Death.”

“Huuuuh…!”

The spot where Hyun Woo had vacated was filled with cold air.

Chae Ah shivered and stretched before getting up.

“What time is it?”

“11:20 AM.”

“Geez! Our reservation?”

“At 3 PM. It’s not super urgent, but you should start getting ready.”

“Alright, then.”

Chae Ah groggily got up and entered the bathroom.

Ever since sometime, the bathroom in Hyun Woo’s room had become Chae Ah’s exclusive space.

“Phew… I really thought I was dying.”

Clutching his aching heart, Hyun Woo headed toward the bathroom in the living room.

* * *

After finishing a clean shower and changing clothes, Hyun Woo returned to his room.

Wiiing-

He dried her hair with practiced ease before swallowing hard.

This was the hardest part of the day.

It was time to help Chae Ah change clothes.

Why was this time the most awkward?

Not only was her shiny skin after bathing distracting,

Click.

“…Are you done?”

Because Chae Ah could only use one hand,

he also had to help hook her bra.

“Yeah, seems like it. Phew… This makes me think having too big ones isn’t good either, huh?”

You wouldn’t understand unless you’ve tried it.

Whenever she twists her body slightly, everything becomes visible.

Holding onto his sanity tightly,

hooking the bra that never seemed to fit properly was quite the challenge.

Of course, if he ever told Jin Hyuk about this,

-You’re exiled from our guild, Do Hyun Woo. You’ll pay quadruple taxes forever.

He’d probably just receive icy stares and curses.

“Hmm… It’s unnecessarily heavy and annoying. I wish I could share some with Eun Bi.”

As if proving they were childhood friends,

Chae Ah performed a deceitful act that would’ve made Eun Bi ignore her for a while if she had heard.

“Keh… Stop talking nonsense and hurry up and get dressed.”

“Did you bring my clothes?”

“Yeah, they’re over there. Check yourself.”

After thinking about things that could get him beaten up by Jin Hyuk and Eun Bi,

Hyun Woo opened the suitcase brought from the neighbor’s house and showed her the clothes.

“What do you want to wear?”