He Is That Guy

“…”
“…”
Chae Yu-jeong stared at me, dazed.
I’d expected him to flush and freak out or get teary like before. His reaction was a lot more normal than I’d imagined.
I didn’t show it, but I was pretty shocked too. It was a kiss swept up by the mood, but I didn’t feel bad about it.
No—if anything…
It was pretty good. It was weird that a little peck could make me feel this way.
I wanted to try it once more, but that’d be too much, right? Swallowing the regret, I let go of his lapel. He’d been quietly watching only me the whole time; finally, he spoke.
“Didn’t you say… no physical contact?”
…Did I?
“Thinking it over, cutting physical contact out of the getting-to-know-you stage doesn’t feel right.”
Even with my brazen stance, he still didn’t react. That made me a bit embarrassed.
“Did you hate it? If so, I’ll apologize.”
“Huh? No, no, that’s not it…”
“…”
“…”
Another awkward silence rolled in.
I blew it.
Apparently the timing I’d felt earlier had just been my own delusion.
The shame hit me late. I’d never missed the timing on physical contact in my life.
“Anyway, thanks for the ride. I’m gonna head in. Drive safe.”
Best move now was to run. I forced a smile and said goodbye, and he grabbed my arm hard.
“W-wait. Hyung.”
“Say it.”
“I… I’m really sorry, but…”
Still half out of it like he was dreaming, he stammered,
“Could we… could we do it one more time?”
“What?”
“Just once. It’s… it’s my first time. It went by too fast.”
One more time? So he hadn’t hated it?
Flustered, I couldn’t answer, and he pleaded, the corners of his eyes drooping.
“Hyung, please? Just once. Yeah?”
“Once is fine…”

I barely got my reason in order and nodded, and he rushed in like he’d been waiting.
He pressed his lips to mine and took my face in both hands. His hands, cold with nerves, trembled.
For someone who’d lunged in so boldly, he only held his lips to mine—just like I had—and after around five seconds he jerked back. This time his whole face was blazing red.
“…Wow.”
Hand over his mouth, eyes sparkling like stars, he breathed out,
“Wow!”
“Feels good?”
“Yes!”
It was just a couple of pecks and he was that happy. If we actually kissed later, he’d probably start dancing.
“Can we do it again next time?”
“Did you leave it with me?”
“Is that a no?”
“Don’t ask permission for every little thing—read the room and do it…”
“What about one more right now?”
“Do you think that’ll fly? Knock it off.”
Watching him look like he might take off into the sky any second, I started to worry.
“Calm down. It’s nighttime and snowing—how are you going to drive like this?”
“It’s not far, so it’s fine.”
He took a deep breath, trying not to make me worry, and called me.
“Hyung.”
“Yeah.”
“Since way back, whenever it snowed, something good always happened to me.”
Smiling brighter than ever, he added,
“Today’s the happiest of them all.”
I couldn’t help it—I smiled back. I’d never heard a confession so pure and direct.
“I’ll go. Can I text you when I get in?”
“Do whatever you want.”
“Okay!”
He crunched back through the newly piled snow toward his car and called out, bright,
“I’ll text you!”
“Drive safe.”
Even after he got in, he rolled the window down to wave at me before he left.
I watched until the car disappeared and only then turned for home.
From the moment I succeeded in kissing Chae Yu-jeong, I accepted my feelings to a degree.
Admit it. Maybe it started as simple curiosity, but now I definitely had romantic feelings for him.
Dating a man, huh.
Until recently, I couldn’t have imagined it.
But it couldn’t be helped. His pretty looks, that one screw-loose personality, and the way he looked only at me with a single-minded devotion that was almost shocking—there wasn’t a single piece of it I could turn away from. With those eyes full of sincerity fixed straight on me, how was I supposed to ignore it?
Unfortunately, right after the day I realized how I felt, the year turned over, and he became insanely busy.
[Chae Yu-jeong: sorry ㅠㅠ]
As if what we’d done until now had been a mirage, he holed up at team housing with his teammates, grinding scrims and solo queue without a day off.
A typical day for him went like this: wake at noon, eat a brunch-ish meal, then start private scrims with other teams.
Usually two scrim blocks a day, three at most, and since they run as close to real matches as possible, each block eats about three hours.
They grab a late dinner between blocks, and when scrims end, each player runs solo queue to around 3 a.m. Since he’d taken a year off, he often went till 5 to make up the reps.
Our contact naturally tapered off. During scrims he obviously couldn’t text, and in solo queue the only break was the ~5 minutes while the queue popped, so it was tricky to keep a conversation going.
On a heavy day I’d get ten replies, usually around five, and I made sure to answer every one. Thankfully, I was on winter break and had room in my schedule, so I could pick up even when he messaged late at night.
[Chae Yu-jeong: hyunghyung]
[Chae Yu-jeong: you’re coming to my place tomorrow right?? 8ㅅ8]
[Chae Yu-jeong: what time?]
[Yu Ji-han: around 3?]
[Yu Ji-han: I’ve got a part-time interview so not sure exactly]
[Yu Ji-han: I’ll text after the interview tomorrow]
[Chae Yu-jeong: yupyup! (sticker)]
Two weeks passed without seeing his face, and finally his birthday was right around the corner.
January 15. The one day off he’d scraped together after working every single day.
Wanting to do something—anything—for his birthday, I remembered the logo on the cake box from Christmas.
A quick search showed it was a dessert shop right in front of his place.
I’ll at least buy a cake there.
Just in case, I called and reserved one. The plan was to eat cake with him, hang out, and when the mood warmed up enough, confess and ask to date for real.
Thinking of how he’d light up when he heard me say it put a smile on my face.
The next day, dressed to look neat without going overboard, I headed out late morning so our meet wouldn’t run too late.
The part-time interview was at the bookstore where I’d worked last summer. I’d budgeted time to wait since a few people had arrived before me, but unexpectedly their interviews wrapped fast and my wait shrank.
“If you’re coming back, that’s great news for us, Ji-han. You did a super clean job last time—reliable.”
With a pleased face, the owner told me I was in, and I said I could start next week. I grabbed a taxi right away. I thought about texting him that I’d wrapped early, but I still had to pick up the cake, so I held off.
“Perfect timing. The cake just finished—we can hand it over right away.”
At the dessert shop, a man with a good impression passed me the boxed cake.
“Thanks.”
Why is my luck so good today? Nailed the interview, got the preorder on the spot. One of those days where everything goes right?
Humming with a cake box in ❀ Nоvеlігht ❀ (Don’t copy, read here) one hand, I headed for his apartment. It was under five minutes away; as I walked, I called him. The call didn’t connect—just rang on and on.
Busy?
Maybe he was cleaning because I was coming over again? As if there was anything to clean in that place.
I didn’t think much of it and was about to redial when I stopped—someone familiar was across the way.
Standing at the front gate was definitely Chae Yu-jeong. A woman stood with him.
And she was a face I knew. When I realized that, the smile I’d been wearing froze, slow and stiff.