I Unknowingly Rejected My Favorite

It was already winter, but it was still way too bright outside.

With the sunlight burning my eyes, I covered the top half of my face with my hand before squinting my eyes forward.

...Huh?

What greeted me wasn’t a familiar scene.

Instead of a messy blanket, a hair darker than black was facing me.

At that moment, memories of yesterday’s events came rushing to me.

[Aaahhhh! Pleaseee! Oppa! I’m gonna die! I’m gonna die, I tell you!]

[No! Really! Oppa! No! Kyaaahhh!]

When I was preparing for the horror game promise with Taemin oppa…

I really thought I was going to die, but sadly people didn’t die that easily.

In the end, I watched around ten videos that scared the shit out of me just by hearing the sound alone and ended up begging Oppa to not go anywhere.

Though, in my defense!

Just think about it! What if a ghost covered in blood popped out the moment Oppa went back and left me here all alone?

This was the result of that.

It seemed like Oppa fell asleep while leaning back in the chair.

Feeling bad that he had to sleep in this position, I poked his cheek.

“...Oppa.”

When I received no reaction, I poked him again and this time, he slowly got up with his eyes closed.

“Ugh… So sleepy...”

“Do you have class today, Oppa?”

We didn’t go to school together today, so I didn’t know whether he had class or not.

“...What time is it now?”

“It’s 12 pm.”

“...Seriously?”

His voice sounded like he had snapped out of his sleepiness.

“...I’m screwed.”

Not believing me, Oppa checked his phone and only then did he sweep his bangs up.

“Did you skip a lot?”

“No, that’s not it.”

Oppa let out a deep sigh and got up from the chair.

“Ah, whatever, I’ll just skip today, fuck it.”

“Mhm, you’ll get busy in December anyways, skipping now is better.”

There was a difference between skipping one class during this lax period and during the exam period.

If it was the latter, I’d force him to rush to his class right away.

“Yawnn~”

As Oppa stretched his arms up, his t-shirt rode with it and his white skin exposed itself.

“Does your back hurt?”

Honestly, I thought he’d just watch me sleep and go home.

I didn’t expect him to actually sleep here with me.

“Yeah, a little, but it should be fine, probably.”

Hearing that, half of my heart felt sorry for him.

While the other half was screaming ‘Serves you right for tormenting me like that!’

Anyway, his sore back seemed to be quite the problem as he kept holding onto the wall while stretching.

“...Just sleep next to me then.”

My words might have sounded a little weird, but I meant it.

If he said he wanted to sleep in the same bed, I wouldn’t refuse him.

Maybe even if he…

When my thoughts wandered to that point, I could feel my ears turning hot, so I quickly looked away from him.

“How could I do that?”

Although I said it quietly, Oppa’s excellent hearing seemed to catch my words like a ghost.

“Why not? You could just sleep and leave after in the morning.”

“Won’t it be too cramped for you? No way I can let you go through that.”

I suggested that out of concern for him, because he must have slept uncomfortably, but it only ended up hurting my pride.

Was I… Not attractive to him?

My friends and the Unnies in the friend server said that guys were always desperate to sleep in the same bed as his girl.

But he didn’t seem to have any interest in those things.

It felt like he was drawing a line with me, as if I was nothing more than a female friend he wasn’t that close with.

“...Oppa.”

I called out to him to give him a piece of my mind, but my next words failed to leave my mouth.

Then again, wouldn’t it be awkward to say that to him?

He might misunderstand, you know?

“Yeah?”

Oppa, who had plopped back down on the bed, looked at me.

That clueless look in his eyes… Ugh, I hated that.

I decided to muster up my courage.

“Do you not want to touch me...?”

“Huh?”

Oppa made a dumbfounded sound, it seemed like he didn’t expect me to ask that question.

“No? Of course I want to.”

“Then, why…?”

I tried to finish my sentence but stopped midway.

Because it felt like if I were to say anything else, I’d end up hurting my own heart even more.

But, at that moment.

“...Ah.”

Oppa wrapped his arm around my waist before pulling me in.

Since he did it so suddenly, I lost my balance and my upper body swayed.

My head ended up landing on his chest.

“...I like it.”

His fingers, too pretty for a man’s, were stroking my cheek.

“I’m not sure what you’re thinking, but…”

His deep dark eyes were looking down at me, as if he was about to devour me.

“I like touching you.”

His words were bolder than I ever imagined and I didn’t know where to look.

It was nice, it felt good.

This man really didn’t know moderation.

His unannounced remarks and actions were almost as forceful as violence.

My heart was beating quickly.

Was this it? Were we going to move on to the next step?

How far did he want to go with me? Which part of my body did he want to touch?

With a bit of anticipation, I looked at his face while waiting for his next words.

“But you know that I can’t just thoughtlessly do that.”

The first question that came to mind as soon as I heard that was ‘Why?’

Why couldn’t you?

We weren’t at the flirting stage anymore.

Like, the entire school knew that we were dating, so why was he saying we couldn’t?

“Why not?”

Unable to figure out why, I ended up asking him again.

“You said it on stream, no? It’s a huge turn-off when it’s obvious that a guy is dating a girl just to get in her pants.”

Hearing those words, my blood pressure spiked.

Okay, look… I ONLY SAID THAT BECAUSE I WAS ON STREAM!!!

Sure I wasn’t acting when I said that, but that was that and this was this!

This girl right here was your girlfriend!

Also, just think about it! Did you think it was a good idea if I were to say that I liked making out with my boyfriend on stream, huh?!

If he heard it from someone else, I would have refuted him, but this was something that I said myself, so I had no room to blame others.

So, I could only click my tongue.

"Haa..."

Luka… Not you again…

You were clearly an obstacle in my love life.

* * *

「Luhai luhai~ Hello everyone~」

Just how exactly did her voice change so drastically like that?

It had been over three weeks since I started dating Doah, but I still hadn’t solved that mystery.

Unless there was an on and off button for her vocal cords, was that even possible?

It still startled me whenever she used Luka’s voice in real life.

[Luka-tan’s teaser was sick!]

[wow, isn’t this quality crazy good?]

[nah, seriously, won’t this be a big hit and she’ll be a global sensation?]

The chat was noisier than usual even though she only did her greetings.

「Ahem! As expected, it seems quite a few people have already watched it even though I didn’t say anything?」

Doah, you were underestimating the Pink Army way too much.

Since they announced the release date for the teaser, I had been spamming F5 on the site, waiting for the video to pop up.

While I might be someone who hated to crawl out of my room in real life, when it came to internet queues, I could outrun anyone.

Not to mention that this was Luka-tan’s first MV teaser.

Any hardcore Pink Army would have been waiting for this while sucking on their fingers.

「With that said, it’s time to watch the music video teaser together with Luka-tan!」

Both viewers who hadn’t seen it yet.

And viewers who had already replayed the teaser over and over to the point that they memorized the whole thing.

They all cheered as Luka looked at the browser.

The song’s name was Boundary.

Its title was in English and people had already come up with their own interpretations by linking it and the teaser.

They were saying it dealt with the theme of the boundary between real life and virtual reality or something.

I’ve watched it too, but honestly, it was a bit too early to come up with that kind of thing.

If the full version was released, it would be one thing, but this was a fifteen seconds teaser, what the fuck they were even on about?

「Alright, is everyone ready?」

Luka gently closed her left eye and winked.

The chat started filling up with [kawaii].

Someone would probably clip this right?

Grinning at the thought of rewatching it, I waited for her to press the play button.

「Then here we go~」

As the clicking sound of the spacebar echoed, the video started.

On a stage without lighting.

Only the footsteps of the CLOSER members moving could be heard.

The moment the camera stopped moving, bright blue lights reminiscent of a futuristic city filled the stage.

Then, the silhouette of five people were revealed.

Woah. I’ve seen it already, but it still looked majestic.

As they were shown one by one in close-ups, the music began.

「I’m waiting for you on the other side of the boundary.」

「If you hear this voice, reach your hand out to me.」

The video ended with a scene of Jennifer, the most popular member, reaching out her hand.

Despite being a really short video, the production that was not lacking compared to irl idol MVs, was enough to give me goosebumps.

The chat was already full of ‘Kyaah’.

Luka nodded her head with a satisfied expression.

「How was it? It came out well, right!」

She seemed to be in a good mood seeing people’s positive reactions, shaking her head side to side with a happy smile.

「The full version will be even more amazing than this, so please look forward to it!」

Now was time for everyone to sing Luka’s praises.

Since the hype was so strong, I also tried to quietly hop on the bandwagon.

[I love Luka-tan! I love Luka-tan! I love Luka-tan! I love Luka-tan! I love Luka-tan! I love Luka-tan! I love Luka-tan! I love Luka-tan!]

[Luka-nim! It’s seriously too goodddㅠ_ㅠ]

The spam in chat had a lot of emotes, so I also chimed in.

She probably wouldn’t see, right?

[Lucario: Take me Luka-tan!]

But… I was wrong.

「I won’t buy you.」

The look in her eyes was filled with disgust.

...I’ve been blessed.¹

***

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