“Uh, no. That’s not what we meant…”
Seeing me deflate, Dana quickly said that. Then she shot Fia a sharp glare.
“Oh, I’m sorry!”
Fia hurriedly apologized.
“It’s fine. Well… technically speaking, it’s not wrong…”
That’s what I said, but maybe I still looked a bit down, because Arna spoke up as well.
“Don’t worry too much. Out of everyone here, you’re the only one who’s even been near a romantic relationship. Honestly, no matter what we say, it probably won’t be of much help.”
At Arna’s words, the other three subtly averted their gazes.
…Well, yeah, I guess that was true…
“Anyway, at least next Wednesday, you’ll definitely get closer. That’s a relief.”
Kalia spoke as if trying to comfort me.
Right. Next Wednesday, I’d be alone with Noona.
Unless some huge event happened, there wouldn’t be anything to interrupt us.
Just thinking about wandering around with her, just the two of us, made me unable to hide my smile. Seeing that, the others finally looked relieved.
“……”
Then, as if the conversation had run its course, an awkward silence settled over the living room again.
“Well, we all have plans tomorrow, so let’s call it a night and head to our rooms.”
Honestly, even after going to our rooms, everyone would probably stay up for quite a while. But it was still better than just sitting here in awkward silence.
Without anyone having to take the lead, we all nodded, exchanged slightly awkward goodnights, and headed to our rooms.
[Did you get back okay?]
It was only after I got into my room that I noticed the text from Noona.
I quickly checked the timestamp.
…It had arrived right after I came in.
She’d never sent me a message like this before… No, now that I thought about it, outside of work hours, we’d barely contacted each other at all.
When we went shopping for clothes together.
When we attended Yuri Noona’s wedding.
When we went to volunteer.
And even then, it was mostly just confirming meeting times and locations, or checking where the other person was.
I hastily typed a reply.
[Got back safe]
And then immediately regretted it.
I’d sent it so quickly that I hadn’t even checked if I had typed it correctly.
My fingers had slipped, and some consonants had been repeated multiple times.
I tried to delete it right away, but before I could, the little “1” next to the message disappeared.
She’d already read it.
As embarrassment flooded through me, a reply from Noona arrived.
[I see.]
Luckily, she didn’t point out my typo or anything.
Well, there was no real reason to, anyway. At most, she might’ve just found it funny.
Did she laugh?
If she did, then what did it matter if I messed up a little?
[Are you feeling better?]
I didn’t want the conversation to end there, so as I sat on my bed, I carefully checked my message this time before sending it.
[Yeah, I’m fine. I feel better after getting some rest.]
Below her message, she added an emoji of a white rabbit waving its hand with a cheerful I’m okay!
A smile spread across my lips.
I lay back on my bed, staring at the ceiling as I pondered what to send next.
[What are you doing now?]
Before I could even come up with a message, Noona texted me first.
[Just finished washing up, chatted with my friends for a bit, and now I’m lying down.]
[I see.]
Hmm.
Was texting always this difficult?
If we were face-to-face, I’d be able to read Noona’s expression, but through text, I had no way of knowing what kind of face she was making.
And I couldn’t just attach an emoji to every single message…
But even if I did, what kind of emoji would be appropriate?
My phone had a few basic ones, and if necessary, I could buy more. But since I hadn’t been back for long, I wasn’t sure which emojis were trendy or appropriate to use in different situations.
Before I crossed over to Irrelcia, there were popular emoji sets from famous webtoons, collaborations with games and anime, and even original messenger characters.
But after spending five years in another world, I had no idea what people used these days.
I turned onto my side and stared at the chat window. Noona hadn’t sent any more messages.
Was she upset?
Did I cross some kind of line, like back at the drinking party?
But I couldn’t just ask if she was angry. That would only make things worse.
“Hmmm…”
After debating for a while, I finally settled on something neutral.
[What were you doing before this, Noona?]
Of course, I double-checked for typos this time.
…Maybe I took too long to reply. Our messages had been coming in less than a minute apart, but now three minutes had passed.
[After texting you, I washed up, and then I just lay down for a bit before sleeping.]
I had no idea how long Noona usually took to wash up. I’d never seen her do it, after all.
She was close with both me and my mom, but she had never showered at our house.
That… was a bit too personal.
Not in terms of manners, but in terms of the kind of closeness that went beyond just being acquaintances or friends.
Since we were opposite genders, after all.
…Would she take a long time to shower? Since she’s a woman?
Well, technically, I was a woman now too. But really, that kind of thinking was just a stereotype. Being female didn’t automatically mean spending more time washing up.
My comrades used to wash as quickly as possible whenever they got the chance. Especially when there was only one available bathroom—then we’d take turns and rush through it.
…Wait, no, that wasn’t because they were women who washed quickly. It was just because we had no time.
My face slowly heated up. I’d ended up imagining Noona showering for no reason.
Earlier, Noona had hugged me head-on.
Her clothes were thick, but not quite winter-thick yet.
And, despite how I might look, I’d spent five years training. I hadn’t just built muscle and endurance I had sharpened my senses to their peak.
In a battlefield, any dulled sense could be fatal.
Because of that, when Noona hugged me, I had felt every contour of her body.
I couldn’t fully picture her figure since I’d never actually seen it, but… it was easy enough to imagine something similar to the partially-concealed shower scenes I used to see in manga before I left.
Of course, depending on the material of her clothes or the shape of her undergarments, that mental image would change.
…Now that I thought about it, maybe it was a good thing I wasn’t facing her right now.
[Sorry about earlier.]
Noona sent another message.
She was probably apologizing for what happened in front of her house earlier, right?
Noona had no reason to apologize.
To be honest, I was actually grateful.
I had thought that, since I was a woman, I wouldn’t be able to get close to Noona.
But the fact that she was the one approaching me so boldly….It meant there was a possibility.
I recalled Noona’s eyes, which had filled my vision earlier.
Her half-lidded gaze had been incredibly seductive.
The scent of alcohol in her breath, too—if I put it differently, it felt deeply decadent.
[It’s okay.]
After sending that message, I quickly searched through my emojis.
The one Dana had sent me earlier when I texted that I’d be a bit late—I had the same one.
It must have been a default emoji.
I sent the cute cat giving an OK sign, then added:
[Don’t worry about it!]
But as soon as I sent it, I regretted it a little.
Wasn’t there a more fitting emoji?
I looked again and found one of the same cat shouting, “It’s okay!”
I should have sent that one.
Still, the “1” beside my message disappeared right away.
After a brief pause, Noona replied.
[That’s a relief.]
Even though I couldn’t see her face, this time, I felt like I knew exactly what expression she was making.
It was the same look she often had—thoughtful and considerate.
Like when she bought me food I’d never tried before, and when I said it was delicious, she let out a relieved sigh and said the same thing.
Or when I arrived a little early for a meeting spot, and when she showed up slightly later than me, I reassured her it was fine, and she let out that same sigh of relief.
She was probably making that face right now too.
I couldn’t help but smile.
Even after all this time, Noona was still the same Noona I had liked.
[Then, I’ll see you tomorrow.]
I sent that message along with an emoji of a character cheerfully shouting, Bye!.
A moment later, Noona sent the exact same emoji back.
That made me chuckle quietly.