Yes, It’s Me. The Obsessive Side Top

#032

When I opened my eyes feeling like I had slept deeply for the first time in a while, the clock was pointing to 11 o’clock. Feeling something empty beside me, I turned my head to find Sun Woo wasn’t there.

“Did he leave?”

We definitely slept together, but I was so drunk with sleep that I barely felt his presence. The warmth I felt before falling asleep was nice. I should have savored it more before passing out completely. I got up from bed, shaking off the regret.

My eyes felt heavy from crying.

“Wow, this is crazy… really.”

Even if I was half-asleep, to cry in front of Sun Woo. Not only did I make a drunken scene, but now I’ve shown him my crying face too. What a mess of a collaboration between me, Ha Jin, and myself. Rubbing my heavy eyes, I headed straight to the bathroom.

Taking a hot shower made my body feel languid again. After drying my hair, I thought if I was still feeling groggy, I might as well go back to sleep. While drying myself with a towel, I came out. As I was looking for the hairdryer in the powder room, I sensed movement from the bedroom.

Wondering what it was, I peeked into the room and my jaw dropped.

It was because Sun Woo was standing in the middle of the room, turning towards me. I quickly looked down to check myself. Fortunately, the towel was barely covering that area as I had been drying my legs. I adjusted the towel to cover myself more completely. Sun Woo’s gaze followed my hand movements.

“Did you shower?”

“Y-yeah.”

As I stammered my response in surprise, Sun Woo walked toward me with an unchanged expression.

“What are you doing? Why are you coming closer?”

I fired off questions while backing away slightly. Thankfully, Sun Woo stopped at my desperate cry. After seeming to think about something for a moment in response to my questions, he reached out his hand while continuing to approach.

“I’ll dry your hair for you.”

“It’s fine. I can dry it myself. By the way, Sun Woo, you haven’t left yet? I thought you had gone. Haha… I’ll go dry my hair and come back.”

Right. If I had known you were here, I wouldn’t have come out looking like this. I spoke rapidly like I was rapping and quickly closed the middle door to separate Sun Woo and myself. Looking for a lock, I found there wasn’t one since it was a middle door. I quickly backed away toward the bathroom. Grabbing the bathroom doorknob, I tried to calm my pounding heart while checking if Sun Woo might come in.

‘Yesterday Sun Woo showed me his body, so is it my turn to show mine today?’

I found myself unnecessarily examining my body. Since I’ve been getting personal PT whenever I have time, my body wasn’t bad compared to Sun Woo’s. I put my clothes back on and dried my hair. Originally, I was planning to get clothes from the dressing room while naked, but Sun Woo’s appearance changed those plans. From now on, I’ll need to keep spare clothes in the bathroom.

When I finished drying my hair and went out, Sun Woo wasn’t in the room. Going to the living room, I found Sun Woo sitting on the sofa, changed back into his own clothes.

Looking completely comfortable as if it were his own home.

“Get dressed and come out. Let’s go.”

“Where?”

“To eat escargot.”

“Escar…? What’s that?”

“The restaurant where we had our date before. I heard they officially opened recently. We agreed to go back when they opened.”

A date? Ah right. I was doing an assignment with someone who was over-committed to getting an A+.

My face quickly drained of color as I remembered the embarrassing history with the wine aide. Thanks to Sun Woo, I became wide awake without any chance to remain drowsy. As my mind cleared, I suddenly felt hungry and replied “Okay” before quickly entering the dressing room.

Instead of just throwing on any clothes, I carefully chose what to wear.

* * *

“What’s with all these people…”

I looked at Sun Woo with a frustrated expression at the long line of people in front of the restaurant. At least 10 groups were waiting in the heat without any shade.

“Sun Woo, are we going to wait?”

The restaurant isn’t even that big. At this rate, wouldn’t it take an hour or two to get in? How are there so many customers when they just opened?

“Do you hate waiting?”

“Yeah.”

Obviously. There are restaurants everywhere, why should we wait to eat? Sun Woo seemed pleased with my answer and smiled. While I was wondering why he suddenly smiled, he pulled me toward the restaurant.

‘What? Are we going to wait? Did he smile because he’s going to make me do something I hate? What a terrible main character.’

“Let’s come back when it’s less busy. It’s probably crowded because it’s the weekend.”

Despite my rebellious tone, Sun Woo just smiled more happily.

“I made a reservation.”

“Ah, a reservation.”

I take back what I said earlier. That’s our main character for you.

“When I called today about coming, they said they’d keep a table for our arrival time.”

“When did you call?”

“This morning when I woke up. While watching you sleep.”

The way he said that with a smile felt strange. It seemed like something had reversed.

According to the setup, Sun Woo was supposed to be the one groaning and unable to get out of bed, but here he was, waking up first and watching Ha Jin sleep. He seemed too healthy. More than that, he thought about having lunch with me and made reservations first thing in the morning?

‘Wow. Sun Woo is really thoughtful.’

When we entered the restaurant, the owner welcomed us warmly. Despite the dark circles under their eyes showing fatigue, their smile looked very happy.

“Oh my! Here come my precious customers who keep me from resting!”

“Are you okay? You look very tired.”

“Ah honestly, I feel like dying. We were running it with just two people, but it was impossible so we hired another employee. They’ll start next week, so if we can just get through this weekend, it’ll be okay. We didn’t expect so many customers, so we thought we could manage with two people.”

The owner removed the reservation sign from an empty table and gestured for us to sit.

“I prepared the best ones especially for you two. I’ll make it delicious. Look forward to it.”

The owner soon brought out escargot and cream pasta.

“It’s a shame we can’t chat more because we’re busy. Once the opening rush dies down, it should get quieter. Come back then.”

“I hope you continue to do well.”

“Ah… honestly, I didn’t open this place to make money. I’d prefer if there were fewer customers.”

“If it stays this busy, you might need to expand?”

“Oh no. Don’t say such scary things. I’m already seriously suspecting that Mi-eun started this whole thing as a project just to kill me.”

The owner, seeming too busy to chat more, quickly greeted us and headed back to the kitchen. Seeing the restaurant full of customers somehow made me happy.

Sun Woo peeled an escargot and placed it on my plate.

‘Crazy, this is so thoughtful, isn’t it?’

“I could do it myself.”

“I’m just giving it to you while I’m peeling mine.”

Though his tone was casual, it was nice to hear. Ah, our main character is growing up so well? If things continue like this, he might turn out quite proper. And Ha Jin isn’t here to torment Sun Woo anymore.

But thinking about it, the fundamental problem lay somewhere I couldn’t solve.

The death of Sun Woo’s only family member and the appearance of his biological father.

As that thought hit me, I felt my blood run cold.

When I stayed quiet, Sun Woo looked at me and smiled slightly.

“Want me to feed it to you?”

“Ah… no.”

Why make such an intense joke? When I hastily declined, Sun Woo peeled another escargot and placed it on my plate. I quietly watched him smiling contentedly.

I worried about his future that would eventually come. Knowing someone’s future isn’t always a good thing.

“Owner, thank you for the meal.”

After paying with another employee, I approached the kitchen to say goodbye, and despite being busy, the owner poked their head out to greet us. Then, seeing the receipt and card in my hand, they burst out:

“Ah! Why are you paying? Just eat for free!”

“I was going to eat for free if it wasn’t good, but since it was delicious, I’ll pay.”

“Wow, Ha Jin, you’re really guilty!”

Though I didn’t understand what that meant, they looked busy so I just bowed. The owner waved back with a smile.

As we left the restaurant, I saw two familiar figures bickering as they walked toward us. One seemed to be getting scolded one-sidedly, and the familiar scolding voice hit my ears clearly.

“Is that Mi-eun?”

I asked Sun Woo as if seeking confirmation, but he wordlessly pulled me in the opposite direction from where they were coming.

‘Huh? But we parked on the side where Mi-eun is walking?’

As I was being pulled along, Mi-eun must have spotted me from behind as she called out my name cheerfully.

“Ha Jin oppa!”

Soon there was the sound of rapid footsteps behind us, and Mi-eun quickly grabbed my arm that Sun Woo was holding. When I turned around gladly, I could see Beom-jun walking slowly behind Mi-eun, silently mouthing “ugh, split personality.”

“What are you two doing? Coming out of the restaurant? Or heading back because it’s too crowded?”

“We just finished eating. What about you? Going to eat with Beom-jun?”

“No. We’re not eating.”

“Hey! You’re the one who came all the way to my house and dragged me out to eat this!”

“Shut up, Cha Beom-jun.”

Mi-eun spoke fiercely before instantly switching to a bright smile.

Wow, scary. Her expressions change so quickly.

“There are too many people here, right? Let’s eat another time.”

“Ah… but I’m hungry. Are we going somewhere else then?”

“Yeah. I’m going to follow wherever Ha Jin oppa goes.”

Mi-eun answered Beom-jun’s question cheerfully while rhythmically swinging my arm. The swinging stopped when Sun Woo grabbed my arm.

“We’re finished eating and heading to a café.”

Sun Woo spoke in a dry voice, as if suggesting we should all go our separate ways. Beom-jun seemed to understand his intention and replied “Yeah, okay,” but Mi-eun maintained her smile and spoke up.

“Perfect! I was wanting coffee too!”

Beom-jun grabbed Mi-eun’s shoulders with a dumbfounded expression and shook her vigorously.

“Hey! What about food? I’m hungry! If you hadn’t dragged me out, I could’ve been eating warm rice at home right now. If you drag someone out, you need to take responsibility!”

“What, are you possessed by the ghost of someone who starved to death? Just eat some bread at the café!”

“…How is bread the same as a proper meal…”

“If you don’t like it, don’t come with us.”

Sun Woo looked at me during their petty argument. I could only respond with a faint smile.