Chapter 15: Beneath the Pleated Skirt: Growing Closer

“What’s going on?” Song Chae-hyun said to me.

She stepped in front of me, blocking the guys and me.

She was holding two ice cream cones in each hand.

One of the two guys was slightly shorter than Song Chae-hyun, and the other was about the same height.

They hesitated for a moment, as if their pride was hurt, then spoke again.

“What do you mean? Your group spilled coffee all over my clothes.”

“Then why are you yelling? What are you doing to the kid right now?”

Song Chae-hyun said in a much lower voice than usual.

It felt like I was hearing a growl, and my shoulders gradually hunched up.

“And.”

Song Chae-hyun spoke in an even more menacing tone than before.

“About that last thing.”

“What were you trying to say?”

The gazes that had scanned me up and down.

The sticky tone of voice.

The two guys fell silent.

Seeing this, Song Chae-hyun crossed her arms and tilted her head slightly as she spoke.

“These are trashy bastards. Just complete garbage.”

“Ugh…”

“What?”

At her words, the man in the navy shirt bristled and stepped forward a few paces.

“You’re going too far. It was that girl who spilled the coffee; why should I get cursed at?”

“Ha.”

Song Chae-hyun laughed at that.

“Isn’t your follow-up attitude the problem? You sneaky bastards.”

This b*tch…

The man in the navy shirt stepped closer.

As he approached, he rolled up his sleeves, revealing tattoos all over his arms.

More and more gazes began to gather around us.

Colorful clothes surrounded and blocked us.

My vision started to spin.

I felt a bit scared.

Song Chae-hyun could even say those kinds of words?

Since when?

The crowd around us murmured. The four of us stood at the center of it all.

The man in the brown sweatshirt was still standing in the back.

He was looking at Song Chae-hyun with a somewhat strange expression.

Was it strange that he remained silent without supporting his side?

The man in the navy shirt turned to glare at him.

“What’s wrong?”

“No, I feel like I’ve seen you somewhere…”

The man in the brown sweatshirt continued to stare at Song Chae-hyun.

Suddenly, he looked visibly startled.

“Uh, huh? Hey, f*ck.”

He took a slight step back.

“What’s wrong?”

The man in the navy shirt asked, confused by the reaction.

The man in the brown sweatshirt, sweating coldly, whispered to him.

“Hey, that’s her. That crazy girl.”

“What? Who?”

“No, it’s her. The crazy one. The one who revved her motorcycle at Myung-jun over there.”

“What? What?”

At those words, the man in the navy shirt also became surprised, his voice raised.

“What? What did she do with a motorcycle?”

I hadn’t heard.

No, could it be…? No way.

I slightly squeezed my legs together.

“Is she that girl?”

He looked back and forth between the man in the brown sweatshirt and Song Chae-hyun.

“Yeah, I’m sure, f*ck… blonde hair, around 170 cm tall, wearing street fashion. Isn’t that rare? Besides, it was her back then too.”

They whispered to each other.

“Wow, she really was a crazy b*tch…”

With that, they stepped back and quickly walked away.

Is that it?

“Moon Hyun, are you okay?”

She glared at them until they disappeared from sight, then immediately turned back to me.

“Ah, yeah… I’m fine…”

As she approached me, my racing heart gradually began to calm down.

But the words wouldn’t come out.

I held her hand tightly, keeping my mouth shut.

I was really scared.

My heart was still pounding, my breathing was uneven, and my vision was dark.

“Ah, oh… Moon Hyun.”

Seeing me like this, she pulled me into an embrace.

“It’s okay now.”

In her wide arms, I wrapped my arms around her and quietly cried.

“Um, um, noona…”

“Yeah?”

“What were those people saying about what they did with the motorcycle…?”

“What did you mean? And you swear pretty well… But you ride a motorcycle too?”

At my sudden question, Song Chae-hyun replied,

“Se-, secret~”

Her voice sounded refreshing, as if she had to force it out.

…

After such an incident, it was really humiliating, and I didn’t understand it either.

“Moon Hyun, have we gotten closer?”

“Uh…”

I started to stick close to Song Chae-hyun.

I wrapped my arm around hers, licking my ice cream cone.

Being with her felt comforting.

Being apart from her made me anxious.

…

Maybe, my weakness being objectified makes me cling to the strong.

I really don’t want that, but my emotions always act in the opposite way of my reason.

It seems like this has definitely worsened since becoming a girl.

As I licked my ice cream cone, I clung to her closely.

Is this heaven?

“Hehe, you’re cute, Moon Hyun. It’s like I’m looking at my little sister.”

“Uh-huh…”

Receiving her gentle strokes, it felt like paradise.

My eyes gradually relaxed.

Being petted made me feel fluffy, and my eyes slowly started to close.

But I couldn’t sleep here, so I leaned my weight a bit onto her.

Hmm. Why do people have sex?

Isn’t this sex?

Whether I like men or women, let’s just set that aside.

I’m not someone who can’t live without sex.

“Um, Moon Hyun.”

A voice came from above.

“Eh?”

I wanted to pronounce “yes,” but my words came out garbled as I licked my ice cream.

“That… the clothes.”

“Yeah.”

“Should we change?”

“Uh…”

“Those bad guys from earlier seemed like they were everywhere. I know it’s not your fault, but… maybe you should wear a hoodie and sweatpants…?”

She chose her words carefully, speaking as gently as possible.

Her words weren’t wrong either.

I wasn’t sure if it was the clothes that caused that incident, but I never wanted to experience something like that again.

…

But.

Pouting, I started to fiddle with my skirt with the hand that wasn’t holding the ice cream cone.

… The dress is pretty.

The shirt is pretty.

“Yeah, I can’t help it.”

“Okay… I’ll change.”

“Ah…”

But then, Song Chae-hyun stared blankly at my face and said, “Oh, it’s fine! What you wear is up to you! You look pretty enough, and I’ll chase them all away, so let’s wear what you want!”

“… Yes!”

Suddenly feeling better, I nodded vigorously.

After wandering around and enjoying various things, the sky gradually darkened.

As we looked at the sky together, Song Chae-hyun turned to me and said, “Moon Hyun, can we go to the batting range?”

“The batting range?”

The batting range.

A place as familiar as my friend.

Whenever I was stressed, I always went there to play.

“Sounds good!”

“Oh, are you good at it?”

“Hehe.”

It was time to show Song Chae-hyun my impressive side.

Even though my body had changed, my athletic sense hadn’t.

I’d adapt quickly and look cool.

Thwack—

Thwack—

Thwack—

But contrary to my expectations, the balls kept getting stuck in the back net.

“C’mon, keep going…”

“Moon Hyun, haha… is it really that hard? Let me teach you—”

Thud—

“Eek!”

“Moon Hyun!”

I managed to get the bat in position, but perhaps due to a lack of strength, I lost control and let the bat slip from my hands, overwhelmed by the speed of the ball.

My hand throbbed painfully.

…

It hurts.

…

This is strange.

Something feels off.

The bat feels twice as heavy as before.

It’s even hard to swing it.

Even when I try to focus on hitting the ball, when I see it coming, I’m too scared to keep my eyes open.

… My pride is wounded.

“This isn’t right…”

Watching Song Chae-hyun examine my hands to see if I was hurt, I felt my masculinity diminishing.

I used to succeed at hitting ten out of ten balls.

Now, it’s more like one out of ten.

And that one hit was purely by chance.

Song Chae-hyun, seeing me drained of energy, approached and picked up the bat I had dropped, getting into position in front of the pitching machine.

“Okay, Moon Hyun. Use your hips, don’t use your shoulders; you don’t have to think too hard about it. It’s tough for beginners anyway.”

As she spoke, she gazed intently at the pitching machine.

“Just think of it this way: you’re hitting the ball with the bat.”

Thwack!!

The baseball flew beautifully in a straight line, hitting the front net.

“Wow…”

Thwack!

Thwack!

Thwack!

Incredible.

Song Chae-hyun repeatedly hit the balls like that.

…

I could only stare at her blankly.

Staring blankly, my hand rested on my chest.

Why is my heart racing?

Why is she so cool?

I suddenly felt the desire to be wrapped in her embrace.

My gaze was fixed on the ball flying at her, and her determined expression while hitting was mesmerizing.

… My heart kept racing.

“Moon Hyun?”

“Y-yes?”

As I tried to regain my composure amidst my confusion, I noticed Song Chae-hyun had stepped right in front of me.

She smiled while wiping the sweat from her forehead with a tissue.

“Do you get what I mean?”

“Ah, ah… yes.”

In truth, I hadn’t really heard her properly.

… She’s too close.

“Want to try hitting again?”

“Yes…”

In the end, I still didn’t manage to make contact with the ball even once.

It wasn’t that anything was wrong.

I just froze up when the ball came toward me because I was scared.

It wasn’t something I could control…

After leaving the batting range, we went out for dinner.

Dinner was at a spicy noodle place.

Song Chae-hyun told me to choose what to eat, and I strongly suggested going to the spicy noodle place.

Unlike at the hamburger joint, I ate quite a bit there.

About a third of what Song Chae-hyun had.

“It was fun, right?”

“Hehe… yes.”

This time, I was holding churros while attached to Song Chae-hyun’s arm.

She had noticed I was fixated on the churro stand and bought them for me.

“I guess we have to part ways now.”

Looking up at the sky, Song Chae-hyun said this with a slightly disappointed expression.

“Yeah.”

I also felt regret.

…

It was enjoyable.

I had met her with the selfish thought that she would push me away if I felt bad, but playing with her was genuinely fun.

People still irritate me.

I think people are inherently foolish; when I see someone happy, I want to break that happiness, and when I’m happy, I fear how long this happiness will last.

… But.

She might be different.

Maybe it’s okay not to push her away just yet.

A warmth from a person I can no longer remember came from her arm to me.

I don’t know how far this feeling will go, but until then,

Let’s enjoy the present.

“It’s okay; we can meet again next week. I’m sorry, but can you go home alone? My little brother just came back, and I need to cook for him.”

“Ah, yes. That’s fine.”

“Then see you next week! Text me when you get home.”

Okay,

Song Chae-hyun waved her hand and lightly bounced away.

She quickly disappeared into the distance.

“Phew…”

Then, I should head home too.

On the way back,

Song Chae-hyun smiled as she reminisced about the memories of playing with Moon i-hyun today.

“That was fun.”

She didn’t feel regret about treating her to dinner, enjoyed walking together, and smiled whenever she saw her smile.

When she bought her clothes, she knew how much she liked it even if she pretended otherwise.

While wearing a smile that resembled a father’s, various images of her suddenly filled her mind.

Those slender legs, those pure white legs.

Those tiny, delicate hands.

Parts of her body that were completely opposite to her well-trained areas.

Song Chae-hyun strongly slapped her cheeks with both hands.

“Phew…”

And holding her now numb cheeks, she looked at the darkening sky.

“… Why am I acting like this?”

Moon hyun was like a younger sister to her.

Besides, she was also Taeyeon’s younger sister.

Even though they were from different families, she was still undoubtedly his younger sister.

I can’t treat her poorly.

…

Curved thoughts.

Even thinking this, the image of her returning home, her fluttering short pleated skirt, and the pure white beneath it kept spinning in her mind.

Song Chae-hyun shook her head vigorously to chase away the distracting thoughts.

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