Chapter 25 - Oppa, How Did You Know?

I looked over the old clothes I'd packed into a bundle, lost in thought. I'd worn all of them for more than four years on average and had been planning to put them in a clothing donation bin soon because they'd pilled or their collars had stretched out. What on earth did Sia want them for?

'She could've just asked me to buy her an outfit.'

Wanting to give her a proper present, I'd prepared some ordinary housewarming gifts in addition to what she'd asked for: rolls of toilet paper, the classic housewarming gift, a versatile blanket, and little things useful to someone living alone, like instant rice and ramen.

*'Is there anything else I could give her?'

Sia had surely furnished her lair just fine on her own, but as her boyfriend, I wanted to do a little more. If I'd had more time, I could have popped into the supermarket near my place. This was my girlfriend's housewarming, after all. Wasn't there something else I could bring?

'There is one thing.'

Judging by why Sia might have asked for my old clothes, I thought she might like it. But anyone else who heard about it would definitely think I was crazy. I wasn't even sure it counted as a gift.

... Still, I had nothing to lose. I could see how things went and simply not give it to her if it didn't feel right.

After packing the extra things into my pocket dimension, I was straightening my clothes when—

"Oppa!"

I sensed Sia approaching from a distance. Able to use Teleport at will, she'd come to pick me up herself. The moment our eyes met, she squealed with joy and hugged me tight.

"I missed you so much I thought I'd go crazy!"

"Me too. I didn't know a week could feel this long."

Even though we'd spent hours on a video call just yesterday, we clung to each other as if we'd been apart for months rather than a week. But Sia kept squeezing until I could barely breathe, and I coughed out, "Sia, I can't breathe."

"Oh!"

Startled by my complaint, she let go. "O-Oppa, are you okay? I was so happy to see you that I just... Sorry!"

"No, no, I'm fine."

No exaggeration: if she'd held on a little longer, she might have broken a rib...

Fortunately, Sia soon bounced back to her usual energy. "Oh, right. What about the thing we talked about yesterday?"

A little embarrassed, I pointed to the piles of old clothes in the corner. At the sight of them, her eyes immediately lit up.

"Wow, how many outfits is that? Thank you, Oppa! I'll put them to good use!"

I had no idea what use she could possibly have for my old clothes, but she cradled the bundle as if it were treasure.

"It felt a little lacking to give you just those, so I got you some other presents too."

"Oh, these are plenty, Oppa. Really, I'm fine."

She waved a hand in protest, but the anticipation written all over her face told the truth. I showed her the other gifts I'd kept on the balcony, and she broke into a beaming smile.

"Wow, what's all this?"

She seemed deeply touched that I'd gone to so much trouble. "Do you like them?"

"Of course I do! Thank you so much, Oppa!"

Humming, she neatly tucked my gifts into her pocket dimension, then kissed my cheek in thanks.

Once she'd collected everything, Sia took my hand and teleported us straight to her lair. The familiar surroundings I'd seen through my phone appeared before me.

"Ta-da! This is our lair!"

She'd given me little virtual tours during our video calls, but seeing it in person felt different. Rather than a dragon's lair, it looked more like an upscale detached house. The spacious lair was furnished with pieces that were charming yet elegant, and its modern, immaculate interior made it hard to imagine it had been carved into a mountain.

What caught my eye were the many frames hanging on one wall. Every large frame held a photo of Sia and me together. She'd asked me to send her some photos of us recently. So this was why. Seeing pictures of myself enlarged and hung on the wall made me strangely bashful.

As I stared at them, Sia, pressed close beside me, slipped an arm around my waist. "What do you think, Oppa?"

There was an eager note in her voice, as though she expected me to praise it.

"It feels like an exhibition just for the two of us."

She smiled, apparently pleased. "I like that. An exhibition. We'll have to take lots more photos so we can hang enough to really call it one."

"Definitely. They say photos are what you have left in the end."

Sia and I went on to look around the other rooms. The lair was so large I might have gotten lost without her showing me around.

"What do you think, Oppa? Do you like it?"

"I wish this were our first home as newlyweds."

I couldn't imagine a more perfect one. Unfortunately, we weren't in a position to live together yet. But we both knew that, so neither of us brought it up.

"When I can move in someday, how about we buy a little plot nearby and grow tangerines?"

"I'd love that. Or since the lair's so big, we could put a greenhouse in here! Then we could harvest tangerines we grew ourselves, and..."

It would probably be at least a few years before that could happen, but Sia let her imagination run as happily as if the dream had already come true.

"Sia."

"In winter, we could get under a blanket together and eat tangerines—"

"Sia?"

"Oh! Look at me."

How lost in her daydreams was she that she hadn't heard me? I didn't know what she'd been imagining, but her face was redder than before.

"We shouldn't be standing around. Oppa, let's go make tteokbokki!"

Our first date in Sia's lair. We'd spent days wondering how to spend such a meaningful occasion and had finally decided to make tteokbokki together. It was Sia's favorite food, and she liked watching me cook. More than that, although we'd cooked together a few times when she was human, somehow we'd never made tteokbokki at home together. So I'd suggested it, and she'd readily agreed it was a great idea.

But before we went to cook, there was one thing I still had to give her.

"Sia."

"Hmm?"

"Actually, I have another present besides those."

At the mention of another present, she clasped her hands together and looked up at me with sparkling eyes. So much for saying the others were more than enough. Remembering how cute she'd looked when she said it, I couldn't help smiling as I took the things I'd secretly prepared out of my pocket dimension.

I'd called them presents, but in my mind they were just things. As I'd thought earlier, they were too embarrassing to call gifts.

"When you suddenly asked for my old clothes as a present, I tried to figure out why."

They were worn out, and they wouldn't fit her anyway. After giving it some thought, I'd come to a conclusion: she wanted to feel as if we lived together. If I left traces of myself around her lair, she could feel like we shared a home even when we were far apart.

So—

"I brought some other things besides the clothes."

I took out what I'd packed separately: my favorite perfume, an old pair of shoes, and, though I hadn't been sure whether to bring them... even underwear I'd worn. It might be a little embarrassing, but wouldn't that make it feel more real?

I set the things down and watched Sia's reaction. Just as I began to wonder if I'd made a wild assumption—

"Oh my."

Her eyes curved into crescents. She carefully accepted what I'd offered, as if each item were a priceless treasure, and held them to her chest.

"Oppa, how do you know me so well?"

Uh...

Was this what she'd wanted all along?

* * *

The day before the date.

When Sia had asked Minjun for his old clothes, she'd secretly been worried. It wasn't exactly a normal thing to ask your boyfriend for clothes he'd worn for years out of the blue, even if you were a couple. Especially as a present.

*'What if Oppa thinks I'm weird?'

He might wonder why she'd ask for his old clothes when there were so many perfectly good gifts she could have requested. Or he might misunderstand and think she had some strange clothes fetish. As her thoughts went that far, her face turned bright red.

*'But I can't tell him the truth!'

After all, she'd asked for his old clothes so she could breathe in his scent from them whenever she missed him. It was far too embarrassing to say aloud. The thought of smelling his scent, soaked deep into the fabric, or secretly trying on his clothes and feeling as though she were one with Minjun was enough to make her...

"Phew!"

Even she thought the plan was a little perverted, but she couldn't help it. As far as she could see, it was the best way to cope with missing Minjun when they couldn't meet often.

*'...Oppa has no idea I'm thinking this, does he?'

He probably didn't, and he must never find out. Despite her anxiety, she secretly hoped he'd bring lots of old clothes steeped in his scent.

And then Minjun brought not only the old clothes she'd asked for, but shoes he'd worn, perfume he used, and even underwear. He told her:

["You want it to feel like we live together, right? I thought you might need these too to make it feel real, so I brought them just in case."]

In fact, he'd been nervous when he said it, unsure whether his guess was right. But Sia was in no state to notice. She'd never even thought of his shoes or the perfume he liked to wear. And the underwear he'd brought...

'#$%$%^@%@#$'

It filled her head with steamy fantasies she couldn't possibly put into words.

"Oppa, how do you know me so well?"

Worried Minjun might think she was a pervert, Sia did her best to suppress her surging emotions and carefully stored everything he'd given her in her pocket dimension.

"That's a relief. I was worried I'd gotten it wrong."

Strictly speaking, he had gotten it wrong. But Minjun would probably never dream of that. And it was better if he never did.