TDGHR 14

Chapter 14

Oppa, How Do I Look?

“Ah.”

When I gave her an awkward look, Sia finally realized she’d been holding her chopsticks strangely and hurriedly put them down.

“W-What was I just… doing? Oppa, I mean, this was—”

Sia waved both hands frantically as she explained that she hadn’t meant anything by it.

I already knew she hadn’t done it on purpose, and more importantly, the sight of Sia’s face turning as red as a tomato from embarrassment was adorable.

Maybe I should tease her a little more.

“It’s fine. Anyone can do weird things when they’re flustered. But you weren’t actually planning to stab me, were you?”

“No, no, no, no!”

If I teased her any further, I might actually get stabbed.

I told her not to worry about it and picked up a king crab leg that still had all its meat inside.

Sia could easily remove it with magic, but having her boyfriend carefully do it for her would probably feel different.

I meticulously separated the meat from the shell, placed it in a dish, and handed it to Sia. She showed her satisfaction with a sweet, affectionate smile.

Our meal ended in a warm and pleasant atmosphere.

“Ahh, that was good.”

Sia adorably patted her full stomach.

“Sia, should we head to the villa and rest now?”

“Yeah. I’m already excited. You’re excited too, right, Oppa?”

“Definitely. It looked really nice in the pictures earlier.”

Sia and I had traveled together a few times since we started dating, but we’d never stayed at a pool villa before, which probably made it even more exciting.

Since it wasn’t far away, we walked to the villa.

“Wow.”

“We picked a really good place, Oppa, didn’t we?”

“Yeah. I knew my Sia had good taste.”

Brilliant lights illuminated the dark night, with charming little gardens arranged beneath them.

Looking a little higher, I could see the private pool where we’d be swimming, glowing beneath the moonlight.

We checked in quickly and went up to our room.

A beautiful night view and the pool reflecting the moonlight welcomed us.

Since we’d come to a pool villa, all that remained was to go swimming.

But because we’d planned the trip on impulse, naturally neither of us had brought swimsuits.

I was about to go down to the lobby and ask whether we could rent some when Sia stopped me.

“I brought them.”

There was nothing in either of her hands, but since she was a dragon, perhaps she’d stored them somewhere in her subspace.

“Then I guess I only need to rent mine.”

“No. I brought yours too, Oppa.”

“…Mine too?”

My Sia really had been serious about swimming.

When had she even prepared one for me? Had she actually had time to do that?

I was a little confused, but decided not to think too deeply about it.

“Sia, if you wanted to swim that badly, you could’ve just told me earlier. I really wouldn’t have minded.”

“Actually, I wanted to do it somewhere private with just you, Oppa. Somewhere without anyone else. Just the two of us.”

Sia’s face gradually reddened with shyness.

“Somewhere nobody else could see us, with only us there.”

So that was why she’d said she was fine when I suggested swimming, yet still deliberately chosen a pool villa.

“Oh, right. Oppa, I have something to take care of, so wait here for just a little bit.”

“Okay. Come back soon, all right?”

“Don’t worry. It’ll really only take a moment.”

* * *

After confirming that Minjun had gone up to the room, Sia quickly left the villa and used Teleport.

The errand she needed to run was none other than buying swimsuits.

She hadn’t actually prepared swimsuits at all. She’d only just returned to Earth, so when could she possibly have bought one already?

There was only one reason she’d lied to Minjun and said she’d prepared them.

‘I should go buy them now.’

She wanted to choose the swimsuits herself.

A swimsuit might seem like nothing more than clothing worn for swimming, but few outfits showcased a person’s masculinity or femininity as clearly.

Sia wanted to show off her own femininity through her swimsuit, while also wanting Minjun to show off his masculinity in one she’d personally chosen for him.

And they were supposed to spend this private time together wearing some cheap, generic rental swimsuits?

‘Maybe the old me would’ve accepted that.’

The current Sia absolutely could not.

It would be one thing if she were going somewhere with family or friends, but here it would completely ruin the romantic mood.

Her grandfather had also given her plenty of spending money, so she used Teleport and arrived at a department store in Seoul.

‘What kind of swimsuit would look best on my Oppa?’

And what kind should she wear if she wanted to see Minjun get embarrassed?

The shy Jung Sia who had said only moments ago that she wanted to swim privately with him was nowhere to be found.

“Hehe. I can’t wait. I’ll buy them quickly and hurry back to Oppa.”

She had already narrowed the possibilities down to a few choices while using Minjun’s phone earlier, so it probably wouldn’t take long to finish shopping.

Sia’s eyes curved like crescent moons.

* * *

While Sia stepped away to take care of something, I went up first and looked around the inside of the villa.

“This really is paradise.”

It felt like a waste to look at this fantastic view alone without Sia.

I wondered when she would be back, but it hadn’t sounded like something that would take very long.

About ten minutes after I started waiting alone, the doorbell rang along with Sia’s voice from the other side.

“Oppa, I’m back!”

I immediately opened the door for her.

Sia was holding a large shopping bag.

“What’s… all that?”

“Snacks! I thought we might get hungry after swimming, so I bought a few things. Snacks, a few cans of beer, and the swimsuits are in here too.”

“So that’s what you went out for. I could’ve gone with you.”

“No, it’s fine.”

Sia began taking the things she’d bought out of the shopping bag.

There were snacks, drinks, alcohol, and finally my swimsuit.

“But Sia, where did this swimsuit even come from?”

I’d brushed it off earlier, but now that I thought about it, something seemed suspicious.

Why had Sia been carrying around a men’s swimsuit?

“Actually, I just went to a department store and bought it.”

“You left to buy this? We could’ve just worn the swimsuits they rent here.”

That seemed like a lot of unnecessary trouble to me.

“I didn’t want to wear a rental swimsuit today. So I bought one for me and one for you, Oppa.”

I didn’t completely understand, but I decided not to dig any deeper.

If Sia wanted it that way, that was enough.

“You bought all of this… that quickly?”

“Yeah.”

Two swimsuits and all those snacks too.

I wondered whether it was physically possible in that amount of time, but then remembered that physical distance wasn’t much of a restriction for someone who could use Teleport.

“Then I’ll go change over there.”

Without revealing her own swimsuit until the very end, Sia carried the shopping bag containing it and scampered into the room.

She really knew how to make a person curious.

I decided I’d see what swimsuit Sia had chosen in a little while and went into another room to change into mine.

“So this is Sia’s taste.”

We’d gone shopping together and picked clothes for each other several times, but we’d never chosen swimsuits for one another before.

Maybe that was why it felt strangely novel.

Wondering what kind of design she’d picked, I took out the swimsuit with a bit of anticipation.

‘That’s it?’

A single pair of simple black trunks appeared.

Maybe things were different abroad, but in Korea, didn’t people normally wear a rash guard too?

I usually preferred wearing one when I swam, so the thought of going around in nothing but trunks felt a little awkward.

But looking at it another way, if Sia had wanted me to wear a rash guard, she would’ve bought one as part of the set.

If she’d bought only trunks, then she probably wanted me to wear only these.

I decided to wear exactly what Sia had bought for me.

It was a little embarrassing, but there wasn’t anyone else around anyway.

After changing into the swimsuit, I went out to the pool and waited for Sia.

‘What kind of swimsuit did Sia choose?’

The Sia I remembered had always been fairly conservative.

Even in everyday life, and when we’d gone to a water park together in the past, she hadn’t liked revealing clothes.

That meant there was a good chance she’d chosen a swimsuit that covered as much of her body as possible and exposed very little.

Maybe something like a full-body swimsuit you’d see in a swimming competition.

‘…But if that were the case, she could’ve just rented one here.’

Since she was unlikely to wear anything flashy, I couldn’t see why Sia had needed to go all the way to a department store to buy one.

Unless there was some specific design she had in mind.

Then I heard her call me.

“Oppa!”

Apparently, she’d finished changing and was finally ready to come out.

The moment I turned my head, however, I couldn’t help being startled.

Where in the world had the conservative Sia I knew disappeared to?

Sia was walking toward me and waving in a black bikini, the sort of thing you could easily see at a water park.

There weren’t any special decorations. It was nothing more than a simple black bikini.

But wasn’t there a saying that simple was best?

“How’s the water? It’s not too cold, is it?”

Without mentioning her swimsuit at all, Sia lightly sat down beside me.

That only made me lose my mind even more.

‘Why does she look so sexy?’

If Sia had normally worn swimsuits like that, I probably wouldn’t have reacted this strongly.

But this was a completely different side of Sia I’d never seen before, and of all days, I was seeing it today.

I stared at her with my eyes wide open, unable to look away.

‘How am I supposed to resist this?’

When I kept staring at her without saying anything, Sia didn’t become embarrassed at all. Instead, she enjoyed my gaze and gave me an alluring smile.

Her eyes openly traveled over my bare upper body.

‘Did she leave out the rash guard on purpose for this…?’

Maybe it was just my imagination, but I felt like I’d walked straight into Sia’s plan.

Her gaze settled blatantly on my abs.

“Ahh, I can’t hold back anymore.”

She grabbed my shoulders and pushed me flat onto the ground as if the poolside floor were a bed.

“Uh, huh…?”

Starlight filled the sky above us, and beneath those stars, Sia stared down at me with a seductive look in her eyes.

Her warm breath brushed over me, and her hands rested softly on my shoulders.

She wasn’t seriously planning to do something here, was she?

We hadn’t even gone swimming yet…

Seeing just how visibly flustered I was, Sia finally failed to hold back her laughter.

“I’m kidding, kidding. Oppa, do you know how cute you look when you’re flustered?”

“You…”

Sia giggled brightly and stuck out her tongue as if teasing me.

She had completely succeeded in catching me off guard.

“We still have to swim, so we shouldn’t tire ourselves out already. I know you want to, but hold back just a little longer.”

Sia smiled like a mature older woman taking the lead over a much younger man.

At this point, she really was a noona in every sense of the word.

* * *

Summer was almost over, but we spent a night hotter than midsummer itself.

After happily swimming together, we immediately shared an intimate moment as lovers.

Afterward, we came back outside to enjoy the scenery again, each carrying a cup of instant noodles filled with hot water.

I hadn’t taken even a single bite yet, but I already knew they were going to taste incredible.

We set the cups on a small table beside the pool and waited for the noodles to finish cooking.

“Noodles always taste best after working hard.”

“Working? We didn’t work, Oppa.”

“Night work is still work…”

“Jeez, that’s embarrassing. What if someone heard you?”

We were making the same kind of silly small talk as always, but neither of us needed to say what we both knew.

We didn’t have much of our allotted time left.

Once this time ended, no matter how desperately we wanted to see each other, we’d only be able to spend three hours together each week.

How long would it take before we could once again spend a long, unhurried stretch of time together like this?

Pretending everything was normal, I picked up a pair of wooden chopsticks so I could eat the noodles.

“Oppa, let’s take a picture together before we eat.”

Perhaps wanting to leave behind as many traces of our time together as possible before we separated, Sia wanted to take pictures.

I handed her my phone, and Sia happily took photo after photo.

After taking them, she naturally checked the time on the phone.

I didn’t ask how much time we had left.

I had a vague idea anyway, and I also knew Sia didn’t want to say it aloud herself.

By unspoken agreement, neither of us talked about the time remaining.

Instead, we ate the fully cooked noodles and quietly committed each other’s faces to memory.

Once we’d finished eating, we checked the time.

We had less than ten minutes left together.

“Want to shower and lie down in bed for a little while?”

“Under the blankets with the air conditioner blasting.”

“Ahh. Nothing could be more heavenly.”

After cleaning up the empty noodle cups, we showered together and lay down on the bed.

I shook my head and fought against the sleepiness washing over me.

“Oppa, are you sleepy?”

“A little.”

In truth, I was extremely sleepy, not just a little, but there was no way I could fall asleep now.

If I was going to sleep at all, it would only be after every one of the six hours we’d been given had run out.

“Today was really fun, wasn’t it, Oppa?”

Sia pressed herself close against me.

“I was so happy I never want to forget it.”

“I’ll never forget it either.”

“You’re a dragon, so didn’t you say you couldn’t forget even if you wanted to?”

“Hehe, that’s true.”

Sia smiled so brightly it seemed to shine.

“I love you.”

“I love you too, Sia.”

“I love you. I love you, I love you, Oppa. I love you enough to die for you. I love you so much. Enough to give you everything I have…”

As if she wanted to say every ‘I love you’ she had been unable to say during all those years apart, or perhaps whisper in advance all the love she’d want to tell me during the coming week when we couldn’t meet, Sia continued murmuring softly that she loved me.

“I love you too. I really do. So, Sia…”

I took her hand in mine.

“I’ll do everything I can too. So please wait for me just a little longer.”

I didn’t know whether it would take years, decades, or in the worst case be something I couldn’t accomplish even if I devoted the rest of this life to it.

“When that day comes, let’s get married like you said before. I’ll propose to you properly when the time comes.”

Sia gently wrapped her arms around me.

With that conversation—which might have sounded ordinary despite being anything but ordinary—our allotted time came to an end, and my eyes slowly drifted shut.