༺ Morning Mate ༻
“W-Why did you confess to me…?”
Affection was never the thing I wanted from her.
Nor was it the handful of love she was trying to give me.
Unable to comprehend, I grabbed her shoulders in desperation.
“Hey… why are you getting so angry…?”
I could feel the heat radiating from her face, slightly covered with fear.
It was me.
I was the one who screwed up because of you, why were you making that kind of face?
“Answer me! What on earth made you confess to me…!”
With desperation, I looked for a reason.
“That’s obviously…”
When I heard her answer, I could only let out a hollow laugh.
“…Fuck.”
It was a dream I hadn’t had in a long time.
I didn’t think I’d had one since I became an adult.
Pulling myself to my feet, I went into the bathroom to wash my face, trying to get rid of this sticky, unpleasant feeling.
After I rinsed myself with cold water, I felt a little better.
Looking at my damp face in the mirror, Iet out a bitter smile.
What was so great about this?
This feature was something that everyone had, but what was so special about it?
I still couldn’t get rid of my doubts about whether my face was worth it for anyone to go to such lengths.
Well, whatever. Thanks to the nightmare, I woke up earlier than intended, but it wasn’t all bad.
Today was the first day I had asked Doah to go out for lunch with me.
Considering that, it was better for me to wake up early than to sleep in.
I remembered Luka’s stream from yesterday.
Luka played the worst lover Bracket Fight, following the suggestion of a viewer.
Personally, I didn’t believe that streamers would spill out their bare feelings live, but it should work as a reference at least.
Anyway, she hated a lying lover the most…
Throughout the stream, I felt like I was sitting on a thorny seat.
It felt even more so since it was right after I had texted her to take things slow.
That being said, it would also be ridiculous trying to say, ‘Haha! I actually knew that you’re Luka-tan all along!’ right to her face after watching it.
Besides her possible reaction, I was just wondering if Doah would tell me about everything one day.
If we got a little closer…
When we could be more honest with each other… Maybe it would be better to talk about it by then.
Throwing on a pair of jeans and a bomber jacket, I walked out the front door and down the stairs.
Five minutes before the appointment.
If I were a smoker, this would have been the perfect amount of time to smoke a cigarette, but I wasn’t, so I just stood still in front of Doah’s place while waiting for her.
“Hi.”
I, who was looking at the internet on my phone, looked up at the sound of Doah’s voice.
A light purple cardigan.
Beige slacks.
With a white shirt underneath all that, Doah looked quite lovely today.
“Hi.”
When I greeted her, I saw the corners of her mouth twitch.
“Um… I was a little busy yesterday, so I couldn’t reply in time…”
Well, using your phone in the middle of a stream was bad manners.
So, I could fully understand her situation.
And honestly, I would’ve hated it if she hadn’t continued her stream properly and talked to me instead.
“Tonight, I’ll be free a little later…”
Today was Saturday.
Which meant, it was the day for Closer’s group collab, that was probably why she said that.
Usually they ran for two or three hours, shorter than her regular streams.
“Aha~ You don’t have to worry about that, I’ve been staying up late.”
Normally, I’d have asked her what she’d be doing, but as I was pretending to be oblivious, I brushed over the question.
“Really?”
“Yeah, I usually sleep at dawn.”
There was no way I’d go to bed early when your stream lasted until 4am.
If it was for your stream, Luka-tan, staying up until the sun was rising was the least I could do.
Besides, that kind of late-night, early-morning stream had a different feel to it.
The sleepers went to bed.
And the kids would leave.
Only the real fans or those who had been watching her stream for a while would still be around at the time. I liked the chat during that time better too.
It was ridiculous, but it was like a sense of privilege of her older viewers that had been drilled into my head.
“So, where are we going to eat?”
“I was thinking of going to a brunch cafe up ahead.”
The brunch cafe I was talking about was on the left side of the alleyway heading towards the bus stop.
It was quite large and had a nice atmosphere, which didn’t match the somewhat shabby atmosphere of the alley.
Of course, as a man, I had never been there by myself.
“The one next to the bus stop?”
“Yes. Do you not like it there?”
“No? I’ve never been there.”
Side by side with Doah, I walked down the slope and headed straight into the cafe.
There were more people than I expected, maybe because it was a Saturday morning?
“Welcome~ Two people?”
I nodded in response and we were seated at a table by the window in the corner.
“I’ll pay today.”
“Huh? No? Let’s split the bill!”
Doah quickly tried to turn down my invitation, but I refused to be deterred.
“No, no. You got me a gift when you came to my house, but I didn’t get you anything when I went to yours.”
“…Then, can’t you just give me a gift in return?”
Holding on to the menu, Doah looked at me with a coy look on her face.
I didn’t know if it was because she didn’t want me to repay her gift with a meal, or it was because she wanted a gift from me that badly, but my answer was already set in stone.
“Hmm~ No~”
Doah furrowed her brow at my adamant response.
Luka-tan, I’ve already donated a lot to you.
Cut me some slack, please.
I’d rather give you a proper gift for your birthday next week.
“Instead, just order whatever you like here.”
“You don’t know I’m a really big eater, do you, Oppa?”
That was a lie.
Anyone who watched her streams would notice that she couldn’t eat a lot.
“Then I’ll…”
Doah, who had finally decided to listen to me, picked up the menu and began to scan through it again.
“You still haven’t made your choice?”
I swear she had already gone through the menu for around two minutes.
“I want to try the kaya toast, but I also want to try this one with bacon and eggs.”
“Just order both.”
“What about you?”
“I’ll order the same as yours.”
I wouldn’t have come here in the first place if I wanted to eat my favorite food.
Instead, I’d just go to the restaurant next door for a hot bowl, or had it upsized.
Our drinks came out first and the food would have to wait a bit because they were backlogged.
“Oppa.”
“Hmm?”
“You know… What you said yesterday…”
I nodded, immediately recognizing what she was talking about.
“Well, there’s something I don’t want you to misunderstand…”
“Yeah. What is it?”
“It’s not that I wanted to do it that day… An unnie of mine said I should take it with me…”
For a moment, I wondered what she meant, but Doah’s reddened ears told me why she didn’t want to outright say the word.
“Ah. So you weren’t planning on doing that with me? Is that… it…?”
I understood what she meant, but I wasn’t sure how to respond, so I asked for clarification. She averted her gaze in response.
“That’s not… Uh… Anyway! Don’t get me wrong!”
Our conversation got a little more heated, but luckily, a firefighter put the fire out; the server had brought out our food.
“Here’s your brunch set with your toast.”
“Thank you~”
Perhaps due to her nervousness, Doah thanked the server in a voice close to Luka’s.
“Oppa, thanks for treating me.”
“Don’t mention it. Let’s eat.”
The taste of the food was, to put it bluntly, so-so.
It wasn’t worth the money.
Well, I guess the price was for the atmosphere.
“Is it good?”
“It is.”
Doah finely munched on her greens, apparently having different tastes than me.
“So…”
Doah’s eyes widened as I opened my mouth.
“Do you want to exchange timetables?”
“Timetables?”
“Yeah.”
Since we were in the same year and department, we should have plenty of overlapping subjects, but there definitely some of them that weren’t.
I was determined to get to know her better, so this should be a good place to start. Right?
“Wait a minute.”
Pulling out her phone, Doah unlocked the screen, ran her finger across it, and then showed the screen to me.
“I sent it!”
“I’ll send you mine too.”
Our timetables were exchanged in the messenger window.
Doah had six, and I had eight.
We had four overlapping classes.
“You’re taking 22 credits.”
“I was in the military, so I feel compelled to do harder.”
“Don’t you get a lot of assignments?”
“If I could go back in time, I would never plan like this.”
I sighed as I looked at my classes, which were packed like Tetris.
I felt that I should have coolly taken 6 since I wouldn’t need to try that hard. Hell, seven should be fine too.
On the other hand, I thought it was good that Doah had scheduled hers so sparsely.
If she took too many classes, it’d be hard for her to balance it out with her streams. There was no way she’d get enough sleep.
Staring at her phone, Doah started to count something in a small voice.
“The days our schedule overlaps are on Monday, Thursday, and Friday…”
Doah, whose eyes had been fixated on her phone, glanced up at me.
Seeing the look of her face, reminded me of a cat asking for a treat, made me avert my gaze.
“Um… How about we… Go together on those days… In the morning…?”
I trailed off slightly, wondering if I’d said the right thing, while Doah nodded vigorously, bobbing her head up and down.
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