Chapter 27: Destined to End Up with Someone You’ve Known for Ages

Today was the weekend after the exams.

And since I’d fallen asleep almost at dawn…

Chaea woke up even later than Hyunwoo had expected.

“Hyunwoo-yah…”

“What.”

“Give me some water…”

“Your throat’s all cracked up.”

Hyunwoo was the one who played the horror game yesterday, though.

Why was Chaea in such a state?

She hadn’t even screamed her head off.

Chaea was the type to freeze up when she was scared.

-Uuuuuh….

-Are you a puppy? Why are you whining so much?

-It feels like something’s about to pop out soon….

-I’d rather it just came out. This path is disgustingly complicated…!

-……!

Of course, Hyunwoo was also the type to react physically instead of yelling.

“Here, drink.”

“Thanks…”

Chaea gulped down the cold water and leaned her head against Hyunwoo’s stomach.

“What should we do for fun today?”

“I don’t know. We could play games again, I guess…”

It was always like this after exams; you lost the things you wanted to do.

The five minutes before the exam ended were always the most enjoyable.

Once you actually started having fun, you quickly lost interest.

“Aren’t you hungry? Let’s eat first.”

“Ummm, what should we eat?”

“Let’s just bake some of the leftover bread.”

“Okay.”

At a time that was embarrassing to even call lunch, we roughly finished breakfast.

After showering in our respective bathrooms,

We returned to the room.

“Hyunwoo-yah. Dry my hair for me.”

“Your hands are all better, why do you always make me do it?”

“Because I like your touch.”

“…Don’t say things like that outside.”

Wee-ing-

After thoroughly drying Chaea’s hair,

“It’s 4 o’clock now. What should we really do?”

And so, we ended up in a ‘What do we do now?’ state.

Nothing came to mind to do outside.

And when we tried to pick a game, nothing appealed to us.

“Ah, that’s right.”

Suddenly, Chaea clapped her hands and got up from her seat.

“Should I read your palm?”

“Palm reading?”

Hyunwoo blinked at the sudden suggestion.

“Yeah, I saw something on YouTube…”

Chaea rummaged through her phone.

Soon, she showed the screen to Hyunwoo.

A video titled ‘Palm Reading Guide’ where a balding old man was showing pictures and rambling.

“Why does your algorithm show you stuff like this?”

“I searched for it?”

“……”

Why, though?

I pushed aside the question and continued.

“Who is this guy?”

“I don’t really know. But he’s super famous in palm reading.”

“If he’s super famous, why would he need to do YouTube?”

“Maybe? Anyway, I’ll read your palm using this!”

A palm reading by a regular person who learned from someone who might not even be an expert.

‘I should take everything with a grain of salt.’

While Hyunwoo was making up his mind,

Chaea was spinning around the room.

“Do you need some kind of ritual to read palms?”

“No, I’m looking for a pen. It’s supposed to be easier to follow the lines if you use one.”

“Trace the lines?”

“No, no. Just follow along with the back of it.”

“Really? I think there’s one in the drawer?”

As soon as he said it, Hyunwoo realized his mistake.

The drawer was where he’d shoved the condom box.

He’d gone to the trouble of hiding it, and now he was telling Chaea to open it.

He was about to tell her to use one from the pencil case, but

“I’ll look for it.”

Slide.

Chaea was already searching the drawers from the top.

There were four drawers in total.

The box was in the bottom one.

“It’s not here.”

Chaea immediately skipped the first drawer.

Gulp.

Hyunwoo swallowed nervously.

“Not here either.”

The second drawer was also clear.

She immediately moved on to the third drawer.

She was about to face a large-capacity box that would last him a year even if he used it every day.

Should he stop her now?

Should he think of an excuse?

His mind was racing.

“Not here either… Ah, found it.”

Chaea, who was about to close the third drawer, found the pen.

“Hoo…”

“? What’s wrong?”

“Nothing.”

Hyunwoo, relieved, wiped the cold sweat from the back of his neck.

‘But I didn’t even tell her to do this. Why am I acting like this?’

He belatedly judged the situation objectively and felt wronged.

“Now, now. Give me your hand, please.”

Chaea, who had brought the pen,

Tapped Hyunwoo’s hand with the pen, imitating the old man in the video.

“First, interlock your fingers.”

“Okay.”

“Your right hand goes on top? You can let go now.”

“…Is this even reliable?”

He was just going along with it because he was bored, but

He wondered if it really meant anything.

“What does it matter. We’re just doing it for fun. Now, show me your hand? No, don’t spread it out too much. Naturally…”

Fiddle, fiddle.

Chaea fiddled with Hyunwoo’s hand, tapping it with the pen.

“But you have really pretty hands.”

“Aren’t you supposed to be reading my palm?”

“I am. I’ve always felt it, but they’re so soft…”

Swish, swish.

She gently stroked Hyunwoo’s palm with her finger.

“Your fingers are so slender too. And your nails are really well-maintained.”

“I don’t like it when my nails are long, it’s uncomfortable.”

“These are perfect hands for playing the piano, aren’t they?”

“I’m not really interested in instruments.”

Rustle, rustle.

Chaea tickled the back of his hand, opening and closing her fingers.

The area of contact was definitely smaller than when they hugged, but

‘Why does this feel so sensual…?’

He felt a strange sensation and tried to pull his hand away.

Slap.

She put their palms together and lifted them to face level.

“They’re so big too. Look at the difference between mine and yours.”

He didn’t know what was so good about it.

She giggled and intertwined their fingers.

Hyunwoo subtly averted his eyes.

They always held hands like this,

But today, it felt strangely erotic.

“So when are you going to read my palm?”

“I was just about to.”

As soon as he said it, Chaea let go of his hand and spread it out for him.

“This is the life line, and this is the fate line… What’s this?”

She paused the video for a moment.

Then, she looked back and forth between the screen and Hyunwoo’s hand.

“Um, I understand perfectly.”

“Really?”

“Actually, I’m lying. Just ask me what you want to see. Then I’ll look it up in the video.”

“If you suddenly ask me what I want to see…”

Hyunwoo didn’t really have anything he was curious about.

In the first place, he didn’t really believe in superstitions like palm reading or tarot.

He didn’t like the idea of ​​divulging the future.

If he was going to do it, he would have looked at it earlier and set a proper date to confess to Chaea.

“What do you want to see?”

“Huh?”

“Just look at whatever’s easiest for you.”

“Then… I’ll look at your love life.”

Why did she have to look at his love life of all things?

He gave her a suspicious look, but

Chaea was staring intently at his palm, so she didn’t notice.

“Um… umm. I see.”

“Why? What is it?”

“There are a lot of fine lines, so I don’t really know what’s what…”

“I figured.”

He chuckled.

He wasn’t expecting much anyway, so he was just going to let it go, but

“If we just look at the big lines, it says you’re destined to end up with someone you’ve known for a very long time.”

A suspiciously accurate diagnosis came out.

“It says that much?”

“That’s what it says in the video? Looking at your marriage line… it looks like you’ll only get married once. It’s a palm that won’t cheat.”

Hyunwoo looked at the old man in the video and fell into thought.

‘Ending up with someone I’ve known for a long time, and only getting married once?’

Until just now, he had been dismissing it as superstition, but

“This old man looks a little trustworthy.”

“Huh, suddenly?”

He hoped that the palm reading was correct, if possible.

Even if it was superstition, it felt good to have his fate predicted like this.

“Not bad. This channel.”

“Right? The explanations are clean and he only says what’s easy to understand.”

“Then give me your hand now.”

Hyunwoo took the pen from Chaea’s hand.

“Are you going to read my palm too?”

“Yeah. There’s no way I can’t look at yours if you’re looking at mine.”

“…What does that mean?”

“It just means the explanation is that friendly.”

He thought as he took Chaea’s hand, who was slightly frowning.

‘If her palm is similar to mine…’

It would be as good as saying that Hyunwoo’s partner was confirmed.

Of course, he wasn’t blindly believing it, but

He hoped that their palms would be the same, just to feel good.

“Heehee, it tickles.”

“You were holding it like this earlier.”

Small, soft, and tender.

As he spread out the hand he wanted to caress for the rest of his life,

He suddenly had that thought.

‘But what if they’re different? Doesn’t having like six marriage lines mean you’re a cheater?’

He was seriously worrying with a serious expression, even though he had said he didn’t believe it until just now.

Ding-dong-

The doorbell rang.

“Who is it?”

“Did you order something else?”

“No, we’ve been looking at palms this whole time.”

He didn’t order anything.

These days, non-face-to-face delivery was the default for packages.

He wondered who it was and turned on the front door monitoring screen.

“Ah.”

“Huh?”

Hyunwoo and Chaea each let out a different exclamation.

Hyunwoo knew the person too well.

And Chaea felt like she had seen the person somewhere.

It was obvious.

Eyes with a faint purple hue that resembled Chaea’s.

Long hair down to her waist, unlike Chaea’s blunt bob.

A petite and cute figure, as if the genes were concentrated on one side.

Click-

“Oh, Chae-rin-ah. What’s up? You’re with my sister at home, right?”

“Ah, it’s been a while, oppa. Mom told me to bring over some side dishes… Hehe.”

A girl holding up a container of side dishes and giving an awkward smile.

Yoo Chae-rin.

Chaea’s younger sister, two years apart.