* * *

Bzzz! Bzzz! Bzzz!

In the middle of the night, the vibrating sound of a phone on the table seemed unusually loud. Seol-ah, half asleep, reached for it. Without turning on the light, she glanced at the screen and, in her drowsy state, misread the name ‘Lee Jung-jae’ for ‘Lee Jeom-ja’, her mother’s name. Seol-ah had saved her mother’s name on her phone as a joke, knowing that her mother didn’t like it, but Seol-ah always found comfort in the name. 

“Hello? What’s going on at this hour?” 

Thinking it was her mother, Seol-ah asked in a concerned tone.

“Seol-ah, Seol-ah, I miss you. Can you come out?”

Jung-jae’s trembling voice suddenly filled the line, making Seol-ah sit up in bed, startled, and switch on the lamp. 

“What’s wrong?” 

Next to her, Hwi-gang woke up as well. 

“Huh? Oh, it’s just….” 

“Seol-ah, I miss you. I’m standing in front of your apartment. Can you come down? I need to talk to you.”

Hwi-gang recognized the voice coming from the phone, and his eyes narrowed with irritation. 

“It’s fine. Go ahead and talk. From the sound of it, he’s drunk.” 

Seol-ah was impressed by Hwi-gang’s patience and understanding. 

“Okay, I’ll just ask him what’s going on.” 

“Alright,” Hwi-gang said, nodding.

Hwi-gang got out of bed, stretching and loosening his body. After yesterday’s grand proposal, the two had shared a passionate night under the guise of “testing the bed”. Their desires had carried them for hours, and after finally releasing their pent-up emotions, they had fallen into an exhausted sleep.

The room was sparsely furnished – just the bed, two bedside tables, and a couple of lamps – but it had never felt more comfortable as they drifted into a deep slumber. Feeling thirsty, Hwi-gang turned on the built-in water dispenser and took a drink straight from it before opening the built-in fridge. After last night’s dinner, they had saved some leftovers. Looking through the contents, Hwi-gang took out an unfinished bottle of wine.

Meanwhile, Seol-ah was growing more irritated as she listened to Jung-jae’s lament over the phone.

“So, what exactly do you want me to do?”

“I just want to see you. Just let me see your face once.”

“Are you serious? right now? I’ll see you tomorrow at the office. Why are you calling me so late just to see my face? If you’re drunk, go to sleep. I’m hanging up,” Seol-ah said, her frustration clear as she ended the call.

But Jung-jae’s voice came through again, desperate and pleading.

“Seol-ah, please don’t hang up. Seol-ah, please, just listen to me.”

Sighing, Seol-ah reluctantly brought the phone back to her ear.

“I’ll give you 30 seconds. Say what you want.”

“30 seconds is too short.”

“You’ve got 25 seconds left.”

“Okay, okay. Seol-ah, I was wrong. I didn’t realize how great you were. I’m sorry, and if you let me make it up to you, we could—”

“Are you crazy?”

Seol-ah shouted, cutting him off. Jung-jae quickly tried to backtrack.

“No, I just meant we could at least be drinking buddies or something—”

“Enough! I’m hanging up!”

“Seol-ah! Seol-ah! Don’t hang up! I’m right outside your place. Just for one minute, can’t we see each other? Please?”

Jung-jae’s voice was slurred, his drunken state unmistakable.

Seol-ah, out of patience, ended the call. When he tried calling again, she simply placed her phone inside the nightstand drawer and ignored it, feeling no need to listen to any more of his drunken rambling.

The phone’s faint vibrations were now barely audible, tucked away in the drawer. Feeling a little guilty about possibly waking Hwi-gang, Seol-ah slipped out of bed. She glanced down at her bare body and wrapped herself in the bed sheet like a cocoon before quietly stepping out of the room.

“What are you doing?”

Hwi-gang asked, turning his head at the sound of her voice. He was sitting at the dining table, casually sipping wine.

Seeing Seol-ah approaching, bundled up like a caterpillar, Hwi-gang let out a soft chuckle and motioned for her to come closer. Seol-ah walked over to him and he reached out and gently pulled her up by the waist until she sat naturally on his lap.

Hwi-gang reached up and tucked a strand of her hair behind her ear before asking.

“Did the call go well?”

“Yeah. He’s drunk and not in his right mind, so I yelled at him and hung up quickly.”

“Is that so?”

Hwi-gang wasn’t the least bit upset. Instead, a soft smile appeared on his lips, and he gazed at her with gentle affection.

“Sorry.”

“For what?”

“For getting a call from my ex in the middle of the night. It’s only right to apologize.”

“It’s fine. He’s the one who called, not you.”

“Well, that’s true, but still…”

Seol-ah trailed off, a hint of guilt lingering in her voice.

Seeing Seol-ah’s lingering guilt, Hwi-gang laughed softly, gently cupping her cheek. He leaned in slowly, and as Seol-ah closed her eyes, his warm lips met hers in a tender, lingering kiss.

After a moment, Hwi-gang brought his lips close to her ear and whispered, almost like a breath, “I love you.”

Seol-ah’s eyes widened in surprise.

“I love you, Jin Seol-ah.”

Hwi-gang repeated, more clearly this time. As Seol-ah blinked in disbelief, her eyes wide with emotion, Hwi-gang leaned back just enough to meet her gaze, looking deeply into her eyes as he said it once more with quiet certainty.

“H-Hwi-gang….”

“No,” he corrected gently, a playful smile on his lips. “Now is not the time for formalities. You should be saying ‘I love you too’ right about now.”

But Seol-ah couldn’t bring herself to say those words so easily. Confessing love felt like it would make everything too light, too casual, and she couldn’t shake that feeling. 

“Uh, well, you see…” she stammered, avoiding his gaze. 

For a brief moment, disappointment flickered in Hwi-gang’s eyes, but he quickly masked it with a gentle smile. 

“It’s okay,” he said softly. “I can’t force you to say ‘I love you.’ I was too hasty. Sorry about that.” 

“You don’t need to apologize. If anything, I should be the one apologizing.”

“Is that so? Well, then let’s not apologize to each other.”

His understanding only made Seol-ah feel even guiltier, but she pushed that feeling aside for the moment.

“Are you hungry?”

At Hwi-gang’s words, Seol-ah quickly responded.

“There’s leftover cake in the fridge. Should we eat that?” 

“Sounds good.”

“I was feeling a bit hungry too.” 

“Really?” 

“Yes, I’ll get it quickly.” 

“Alright.”

Hwi-gang responded to her every word with a gentle smile, which only deepened Seol-ah’s sense of guilt. Trying to distract herself, she quickly went to the fridge and pulled out the leftover whipped cream cake from the night before. Although they didn’t have much in the way of kitchen supplies yet, the cutlery that came with their takeout order was still around.

Placing the cake on the table, Seol-ah cleaned a fork and brought it over. 

“One fork is enough.”

“Why?”

Seol-ah asked, confused. 

“Because I’m going to do this,” he replied with a smile, scooping up a piece of cake and gently feeding it to her.