“Yeonseo… do you want to keep staying like this?”
At my question, Yeonseo looked up at me and answered, the pretty smile still lingering on her lips.
“Mm… I want to… keep… staying like this with you, unnie….”
That answer was enough to shake the last of my patience.
The urge to press my lips to hers rose up as if I might do it at any second, but reason set off warning bells in a corner of my mind.
This was my workplace, a place where it would not be strange at all for the bell on the door to ring and a customer to walk in at any moment.
On top of that, there was no telling when that willful Lee Yeonhui might suddenly appear and laugh at me.
Troubled, I bit my lip.
The realistic situation, which refused to go my way, held me back.
All I could do was soothe the burning inside me by stroking Yeonseo’s cheek.
At the jingling sound of the bell breaking the silence, I jumped and immediately pulled my hand away from Yeonseo’s cheek.
It felt as though my heart might leap out of my mouth.
Fortunately, the newly arrived customer seemed too absorbed in their smartphone to pay much attention to us, and took a seat in the corner.
“Welcome. Would you like to order?”
Even while I approached the customer and took their order, I was going crazy thinking about Yeonseo left behind me.
Every time I felt Yeonseo’s gaze on my back, still leaning against the counter and following me with hazy eyes, cold sweat broke out.
The customer casually placed an order as if asking for what they always drank, and I nodded before returning behind the counter.
As if she was disappointed that the mood from just moments ago had been broken, Yeonseo was looking up at me with her lips slightly pushed out.
“Wait just a little.”
I whispered to Yeonseo in a very small voice, then immediately prepared to make the cocktail.
When Yeonseo parted her lips as though she was about to speak, I quickly brought my index finger to my lips, signaling for her to be quiet.
Whether the completely drunk Yeonseo would understand that desperate signal was another matter.
After that, three or four more customers came in one after another.
I busied myself taking orders, shaking the shaker, and making cocktails.
Strangely enough, though, Yeonseo had stayed quiet the whole time.
I couldn’t tell whether she had really understood me and was holding back, or whether she had finally passed out.
When I sneaked a glance sideways, Yeonseo was resting her chin in her hand, watching me work with unfocused eyes.
“Nothing happened, right?”
A little later, the returning manager, Yeonhui, asked calmly as she came behind the counter.
As I cleared the customers’ glasses, I answered briefly.
“…Yeah. Nothing happened, so don’t worry.”
At my answer, Yeonhui’s lips curled up, and she tapped my shoulder.
“Oh, Seohui. You held back pretty well, huh? Since you’ve been so good, go sit next to Yeonseo over there.”
“Why… What are you trying to do?”
“Just go sit down first.”
Though puzzled, I carefully sat in the seat beside Yeonseo.
Then Yeonhui picked up the shaker as if to show off and began mixing liquids with flashy movements.
Only then did I realize Yeonhui’s intention.
Lee Yeonhui was clearly planning to make me drink and get drunk too, after Yeonseo.
I wanted to refuse, but the look in Yeonhui’s eyes seemed absolutely unwilling to allow it.
‘Whatever happens, happens.’
Feeling half-resigned, I accepted the glass Yeonhui held out to me.
“Here, try it.”
“You made this on purpose, didn’t you?”
“I let you off work early and even made you a drink, so don’t complain and drink.”
“…I was going to drink it anyway.”
I began drinking one sip at a time, controlling myself so I would only get moderately tipsy.
It felt strange to be sitting in a chair as a customer like this, when I was always on the other side of the counter making drinks.
The bar’s lighting felt more languid than usual, and the alcohol spread through my whole body.
By the time the drunkenness had risen pleasantly, the customers who had filled the bar had all left before I knew it.
As if she had been waiting for this very moment, Yeonhui opened her mouth with a smile.
“Guess we’ll close a little early today.”
Yeonhui walked out from behind the counter, went to the door, and flipped the sign hanging there from OPEN to CLOSED.
Inside the shop, a strange tension drifted along with the silence.
“You… just what are you planning?”
At my question, Yeonhui shrugged and answered leisurely.
“You, who’ve never liked anyone before, finally have someone like that, don’t you? As your friend, I just want things to go well for you~. This is the best way I can help.”
“Always butting in when nobody asked…”
I replied with deliberate bluntness, but Yeonhui seemed amused by my reaction.
“Don’t go thanking me later. And clean up before you leave.”
Then she turned off the main lights, leaving only one or two on.
In the darkened interior, only the faint pin lights shone down on us.
With the jingle of the bell, Yeonhui left the bar, and in the spacious shop, only the drunken Yeonseo and I were left alone.
I turned to the side and gently placed my hand on Yeonseo’s head as she lay slumped over.
Her soft hair wound between my fingers.
“She fell asleep. In the end, it’ll end without anything happening. Yeonhui’s going to be pretty bored tomorrow.”
I muttered quietly to myself and gave a bitter smile.
I was thinking of looking at Yeonseo a little longer, then carefully taking her home.
But at that moment, Yeonseo, who had not moved at all, slowly lifted her head.
In a languid voice, Yeonseo whispered.
“…Then, would you like it if… something did happen?”
It felt as though my heart dropped, but I calmly asked back.
“Yeonseo, you really… act like this with anyone when you’re drunk?”
At my question, Yeonseo lightly shook her head and stared straight at me with hazy eyes.
“No… Because you’re a good person, unnie. And I… want to help you become happy…”
“Yeah…? Thanks.”
“Yes…!”
A good person. Those words stabbed at my chest.
The way she had been acting cute and smiling brightly at me since earlier had made me misunderstand for a moment.
To Yeonseo, I was merely a “good unnie,” and the realization that I had not yet reached her as an object of romantic feeling struck me with a chill.
That fact instead stirred something inside me violently.
Whether it was the alcohol, or the possessiveness I had been suppressing, I couldn’t tell; the impulse took over my mind.
As if bewitched, I wrapped my hand around the nape of Yeonseo’s neck and kissed her.
“Hng…”
At the sudden contact, Yeonseo’s shoulders twitched and trembled.
Confusion filled Yeonseo’s wide-open eyes, but she did not turn her head or push me away.
Instead, she let out a thin, trembling breath and carefully gripped the hem of my clothes.
The sweet and bitter fragrance of the cocktail mingled between my lips and Yeonseo’s.
“Haa…”
I slowly pulled my lips away and looked at Yeonseo.
Her ragged breaths, her flushed cheeks, and the eyes gazing at me.
Everything before me was terribly sensual.
But was it really okay to do this to a girl so drunk she couldn’t even think straight?
As if mocking that question, the words Yeonseo had said before echoed in my ears like an auditory hallucination.
That she wanted to see me happy, that she wanted me to help her be able to like me.
Even to me, it was an absurdly cowardly excuse, but I began using those words to justify what I was doing now.
Right. This is what you wanted, isn’t it? For me to be happy, and for you to come to like me.
I kissed Yeonseo again.
This time, without hesitation, I slipped my tongue inside.
“Mmm…”
The hot breaths mingling in Yeonseo’s mouth and the lingering taste of the Long Island iced tea seemed to numb my brain.
“Mmnh… Haa…”
Yeonseo let out a faint moan and accepted me with her eyes closed.
My hand naturally slid down along Yeonseo’s back, and I pulled her waist tightly into my arms.
Through our pressed-together bodies, each other’s heartbeats were conveyed completely.
The instinct to go further from here tore through my mind, but I barely managed to pull my lips away and rested my head on Yeonseo’s shoulder.
It felt as though the air that had been burning hot was cooling cold.
‘…No matter how I think about it, this isn’t right.’
To go any further here with a girl who didn’t even see me as a romantic partner, using drunkenness as an excuse, would be something beyond cowardly.
“I’m sorry.”
With my face buried in her shoulder, I apologized in a low voice.
“Hehe… It’s okay…”
Yeonseo slowly stroked my hair and let out a small laugh.
At that pure sound of laughter, all I could do was hold Yeonseo even tighter.
If someday Yeonseo comes to truly like me, then at that time, I want to do it properly, without any excuses.
With our hearts fully touching each other, and with a sincere confession that hides nothing.