Kill Your X Chapter 21

They say there are a lot of night owls among artists. Anyway, I was glad because I felt bad about our last not-quite-a-date house date, so this was good.

“What should we do?”

“Whatever you like.”

I hadn’t expected him to be helpful in making decisions, and as expected, he wasn’t. We finally had time for a date outside, but I wasn’t very good at having fun outdoors either, so I couldn’t think of a good plan. After some deliberation, we headed to a movie theater in a nearby department store. It was a weekday afternoon, so no matter what movie we chose, the audience would be sparse.

“If there’s a movie or genre you like, let’s watch that.”

“I like what Sunbae likes.”

“Sigh, I didn’t even expect anything.”

With Si Yeonho as my personality-less companion, I bought movie tickets as I pleased. I chose a melodrama.

Ten minutes before the movie started, we bought popcorn and went inside. Sitting in the very back row, the so-called “God’s seat,” I could see the empty seats at a glance.

“It’s like we rented the whole place, nice, right?”

“Should we?”

“…You really do spend money recklessly.”

Anyone else saying that would sound like bragging, but I couldn’t easily dismiss it, considering his history of taking over entire clubs.

“No need. I don’t like it when it’s packed, but I need a few other people in the theater besides me to get the right atmosphere.”

Si Yeonho blinked with an expression of complete incomprehension. I found it cute and pinched his nose lightly, causing a wrinkle to briefly appear and disappear on the bridge of his nose. I shouldn’t get addicted to such childish pranks. It was hard to maintain boundaries when Si Yeonho silently accepted everything.

“Is nose-pinching also a fetish?”

“What? No, it’s not. There’s no such fetish.”

“Your expression is similar to when you’re aroused. Like when you step on my dick with your foot, mmmph.”

I hurriedly covered his mouth with my hand. Other audience members were just entering the theater. Although they were quite far from our seats, I couldn’t let my guard down in a public place.

The other audience members found their seats and sat down in the darkness. I slowly lowered my hand and breathed a sigh of relief.

“I was wrong. I’ll watch my mouth.”

Perhaps my fussing had worked; this time, Si Yeonho apologized first. He might be stubborn, but he wasn’t completely incapable of learning.

“I won’t talk about dicks outside again…”

As he started his second verse, about to tease me again, I popped a piece of popcorn into his mouth. After double-checking that no one around us was watching, I added a few more.

“Be quiet, the movie’s about to start. Eat your popcorn.”

But his reaction was somewhat strange. He didn’t chew the popcorn in his mouth; he froze with an expression as if he had a pebble in his mouth.

“Uh, do you have an allergy?”

I don’t know if popcorn allergies exist, but it was clear he didn’t like popcorn. I thought him staying quiet while I bought popcorn at the concession stand was part of his lack of personality, but was it because he couldn’t eat it anyway?

“Spit it out. Tch.”

I didn’t have any tissues or a handkerchief, so I just put my hand to his mouth. Si Yeonho glanced at the hollow of my hand, then at me. Then came a crunching sound. Crunch, crunch. Si Yeonho slowly chewed and swallowed the popcorn.

“You, allergy…”

“I don’t have any.”

“What? Then why did you react like that? You scared me.”

Si Yeonho took a few pieces of popcorn from the container resting on the armrest between us. He stared intently at them, as if to devour them with his eyes, then tossed one into his mouth.

“So this is what popcorn tastes like.”

My head whipped around at his small murmur. As if his previous behavior had been a lie, Si Yeonho casually poured the remaining popcorn into his mouth.

“Are you kidding me? Don’t tell me you’re twenty-nine and this is your first time eating popcorn.”

“Looking closely, it looks like dog food, just a different color.”

I was about to ask him more, but the lights dimmed. After about ten commercials in a row, the movie finally started.

Unfortunately, the movie I chose wasn’t a very good choice. I had picked it based on the genre, not realizing it was three hours long, and above all, it was too melodramatic. I couldn’t concentrate on the overly sentimental plot, and my attention shifted from the screen to the man sitting next to me.

Is he focused? His emotionless expression took on different shadows depending on the scene in the movie. I was worried I might be disturbing his viewing, but it was a date. And it was dark…

I was wondering if I should hold his hand when, as if reading my mind, he gently took my hand. When I flinched, he considerately turned his palm so that I could interlock our fingers. My face flushed with the warmth of our hands perfectly joined. I almost acted like a lovesick teenager. Really, it was a good thing it was dark.

‘This feels like a real date.’

I thought I would never experience a normal relationship again, but Si Yeonho, who had barged into my life, shattered that thought. The time that had been so tedious began to flow quickly from the moment we held hands.

I hated to admit it, but I felt so good that I secretly wished this moment wouldn’t pass too quickly. It was the first time I wasn’t happy to see a movie reaching its climax. Without realizing it, I was completely immersed in this fake love game with Si Yeonho. My heart was the kind that never listened when told not to do something.

✽✽✽

As evening approached, the movie theater lobby became much more crowded than before. As I went to throw away the trash, I noticed that the large popcorn container we bought was more than half empty. Si Yeonho had eaten most of it.

I guess he really was joking earlier.

To think he pretended it was his first time eating popcorn, saying it looked like dog food and all. I burst out laughing again at his absurd idea. Si Yeonho, misinterpreting my laughter, asked,

“Did you enjoy the movie?”

“So-so. You?”

“I enjoyed it.”

“Eating the popcorn? Or the movie?”

“Both.”

I should have kept the rest. I felt a pang of regret.

“I don’t know why your words sound so soulless.”

“I really-y enjoyed it.”

Si Yeonho repeated his words with a slightly different intonation. I struggled to suppress the corners of my mouth that were trying to turn upwards again. Si Yeonho glanced sideways at my face, which had become strange as I held back my sudden surge of emotions. It might have been my imagination, but he also seemed to be in a pretty good mood. I felt a slight sense of relief, and it became easier to breathe.

“It’s a bit early, but do you want to have dinner? I’m not hungry yet, though.”

As we stood in front of the elevator, my steps felt heavy. I didn’t want to go home yet. I hoped Si Yeonho felt the same.

“I don’t mind whether we eat or not.”

“Hmm, then…”

What should we do? I started to wonder if dates always required this much planning. I really didn’t want to think about it, but my dating history was so meager that I kept recalling my past relationship.

What did Kim Minseok and I do back then? After excluding anything illegal or against social norms, there wasn’t much left, which was depressing.

“Ah, I thought of something!”

Just before I fell into the swamp of despair, a memory surfaced. It was a perfect plan for a disguised date.

“Yeonho, let’s go shopping. I’ll buy you some clothes.”

“Clothes?”

Kim Minseok was interested in fashion. His sense of mixing and matching uniquely designed clothes without going overboard was another world to me, who had lived my whole life wearing preppy clothes. I had fond memories of going around select shops with him, choosing clothes that would suit each other, and exchanging them as gifts.

I erased that bastard’s face from my mind and replaced it with Si Yeonho’s. Objectively, it was fortunate that Si Yeonho was better looking.

✽✽✽

We wandered around the men’s clothing section of the department store and finally stopped in front of a suit brand. It was because Si Yeonho had repeatedly rejected my suggestions, asking, “How about this?” and “How about that?” as we browsed.

“You said you didn’t have a particular style, but you lied to me.”

“I just told you the truth. You’d be disappointed if I didn’t wear what you bought for me.”

Si Yeonho was picky about the type of clothing rather than the design. He seemed like he could pull off casual clothes with his naturally good looks, but he refused, saying he rarely had occasion to wear them.

“I bet your closet is already full of suits. Don’t tell me you sleep in a suit, too?”

“If you’re curious, should I sleep at your place tonight?”

He said he’d show me if I wanted, even though I would be coming in late. I scoffed at his presumptuous flirting.

“You’re being cheeky again. Let’s go in. The department store will close soon.”

As I was carefully looking at the displayed clothes, a store employee approached us. When asked who the clothes were for, I pointed to Si Yeonho.

“Do you have a preferred style?”

“Rather than a style, I’d like to exclude black for now. I already have too many at home.”

I blurted it out and then looked at Si Yeonho for understanding. I thought he was obsessed with black clothes, but he didn’t react much.

“Okay. Please come this way…”

Casual clothes were out of the question, but my determination to add some color to Si Yeonho’s wardrobe remained firm. Of course, black suited him well, but his constant dark attire, regardless of the season, seemed to diminish his handsome features.

While sorting through the suits the employee recommended, I finally asked him a belated, polite question.

“Yeonho, you don’t have a disease where you die if you wear anything other than black, do you? Or do you absolutely hate clothes of other colors?”

“Neither.”

“That’s good. Now go get changed and come out.”

Even though I chose colored suits, most of them weren’t too flashy due to their nature. The wait for him to come out of the fitting room felt quite long. I was curious to see how Si Yeonho would look in clothes other than black.