My Girlfriend Is Very Good To Me [EN]: Chapter 19

Ep. 18

The people who entered through the door shortly after it opened looked remarkably like Heena. There was a very beautiful middle-aged woman and a middle-aged man with a dignified air that contrasted with his casual clothes.

‘Probably Heena’s parents,’ I thought.

I congratulated myself for getting up with the speediest movement of my life. I even turned off the TV at lightning speed.

I let out a small sigh of relief. Since I was in a potentially rude position, I couldn’t speak before Heena, so I shifted my gaze to the side.

She was staring at the front door with a somewhat sulky expression.

“You said you’d be here around 3?”

“Oh my, your dad kept urging me to come back early. Were you with your boyfriend?”

“Yeah.”

The sudden appearance of her parents, which I hadn’t anticipated, made me feel like I was losing my mind.

However, the moment my existence was mentioned, my mouth moved on its own.

“Ah, hello! My name is Han Yeon-woo!”

I straightened my awkward posture in front of the sofa and bowed deeply, 90 degrees.

My back was already soaked with cold sweat.

‘What is this? 3 o’clock is only an hour later than now. Was Heena expecting her parents to return while I was here?’

My head was spinning with anxious thoughts.

“Oh my~ Nice to meet you, dear! I’ve heard so much about you from Heena~”

Before I knew it, she had taken off her shoes and come inside, playfully slapping my arm and laughing like a friendly woman you’d meet at a hair salon.

“Ahem..”

Her father, with a very displeased face, stood in stark contrast to her mother.

I felt like I was going to freak out from the tension.

Heena’s mother, close to me and constantly smiling, was looking at me with interested eyes.

She seemed very curious about her precious daughter’s boyfriend. Her parents had a completely different vibe from my family.

Because of that, I had no idea how to react.

“Have you eaten?”

“Ah, no… but I had a late breakfast, so I’m okay.”

Actually, I was starting to get a little hungry, but if I heard the words ‘Shall we have a meal together?’ I might jump out the window.

“Heena’s dad! Come and say hello! Our Heena brought her boyfriend home for the first time~”

‘Please, don’t summon my father, who is staring from behind with a very hardened face,’ I thought.

“…Okay, Yeon-woo, was it?”

“Yes! I’m Han Yeon-woo!”

“Treat Heena well… and like a student. You know what I mean, right?”

Wow.

It was really amazing that he sounded so gentle while gritting his teeth.

“Yes…”

I couldn’t maintain eye contact, so I just answered and immediately lowered my eyes.

‘Let’s go out. Won’t you go out? Heena, let’s go on a date outside…!’

I was swallowing those words inside, but today my girlfriend, who didn’t understand my feelings at all, boldly put her arms around me in front of her father.

‘What..?’

“Now it’s family official?”

“..Haha, I guess so.”

“Our daughter is showing off in front of her mom? Oh! Look at my manners. Would you like to sit down and wait a little? I’ll change my clothes and cut some fruit~”

“……….Yes, thank you.”

God help me.

—

However, contrary to my worries,

A pleasant conversation blossomed with apples and grapes prepared by Heena’s mother in the center.

I was quite friendly, and it’s hard to say it myself, but thanks to my generally kind and smiling demeanor, I usually make a very good first impression on adults.

In addition, I had a basic understanding of how to treat my elders. The etiquette lessons played a big role, thanks to Cheonghak-dong [traditional Korean village emphasizing Confucian values], where my parents forcibly sent my brothers and me when we were young.

All I remember is being hit on the soles of my feet, except for the Thousand Character Classic [a classic Chinese text used for teaching Chinese characters] and etiquette that I learned. It’s almost completely gone from my head, but it was ingrained in my body.

Anyway, I think those aspects worked well for Heena’s mother. Judging by her gestures, she seemed to like me.

Thanks to this, after the tension eased a little, I was able to sincerely laugh and have a conversation.

“Three brothers? Your mother must have suffered a lot~”

“Everyone says that.”

“Of course~ We had so much work to do even when we only had Heesung. Right, honey?”

“Um… that guy caused so much trouble.”

“I’m so glad Heena is quiet~”

Heena’s older brother is in the military. From what I gathered, he seems to be the same age as my older brother, but he must have joined the military a little late.

His vacation a while ago was his last, so he doesn’t have much time left before he’s discharged.

Coincidentally, my younger brother was also about to be discharged. However, it seems there’s no coincidence that they’re in the same units.

“Are your brothers still in college?”

“Yes. My older brother has returned to school, and my younger brother will probably go straight there after he is discharged.”

And fortunately, her father was also participating in the conversation with kinder eyes than at first.

It seemed that the main thing was that I had been acting as politely as possible from the beginning until now.

I feel grateful now. Thank you, Cheonghak-dong.

Moreover, I also had a good impression of Heena’s parents.

Sometimes, when you talk to older people over middle age, they ask questions that cross the line.

What does your father do, what is his income, and what universities did your family go to?

Well, I guess they can ask, but honestly, I feel a little uncomfortable.

But Heena’s parents didn’t talk about it that deeply at all, just simple personal matters and…

“So, how is it with Heena? I heard you went on a date last week?”

“Yes… um… Heena is so good to me that I’m always grateful to be dating her…”

They only talked about my relationship with Heena.

Actually, this is much more nerve-wracking.

“I didn’t think she was interested in that, but I was so surprised when she suddenly said she had a boyfriend~”

“Ha, haha..”

“When I ask her what happened today, she only talks about you.”

Heena…

Usually, Heena would be embarrassed when this kind of story comes out, but she is watching this conversation with a bright smile.

“So, how far have you gone? Have you kissed yet?”

“No! Not yet!”

In fact, I almost went that far a little while ago!

With Heena’s professor’s lecture!

“Oh my, I heard that kids these days are fast, so I thought you had already done that much~”

“Hey, they’re getting along well, so don’t rush them.”

“I know~”

Unlike the mother, who seemed really disappointed, the father seemed to be looking at me with even more approval.

Thank you for looking at me favorably, Father! But I’m sorry! I wish you had come 10 seconds later!

I was nervous about the sudden encounter with the two of them, but now that the tension has eased to some extent, I have enough time to recall the memories from before.

Heena’s flushed face, her pink lips, and the small breaths she exhaled as if restraining herself, waiting for me to kiss her with her eyes closed.

All of that, only now, felt so precious.

Argh!! I wish you had come a little later!

And Heena had the same feeling, looking at her father with the same sulky face as before.

“The atmosphere was good earlier, but you came too early.”

“Ahem… work ended early…”

“It ended early! You kept urging me, saying you don’t know what will happen if they’re alone.”

“…Dad?”

“Shall we get up now…”

The father chooses to flee, unable to bear Heena’s frozen glare.

He quickly got up from his seat and went into the main room.

“Anyway, I can’t stop him… Yeon-woo, are you going to stay longer? Are you going to have dinner?”

“Ah, no. I’m going to go back soon…”

“Oh my, are we making you uncomfortable by coming? Sorry~ But it seems that that person likes Yeon-woo.”

“That’s a relief… I will try to get along well with Heena in the future.”

After saying that, I also got up from my seat.

When I heard that her parents weren’t home, I was thinking of staying until around dinner, but it was too much to stay too long when they came back.

Heena seemed to have the same thought, so she didn’t stop me and took a small bag from the room and came out.

Then, I said goodbye to her mother and father, who came out again when I said I was going back, and left the apartment.

“Then I’ll go in now.”

“Be careful going in~”

“Okay, come and visit again next time.”

I was glad that the first impression between us wasn’t bad.

As I came out, I was wondering if I should continue the date outside, but Heena said she wasn’t ready, so I decided to call it a day.

When I saw her, she was pretty enough now, but it seems that girls have a lot of things to prepare.

On the way out of the apartment complex, Heena asks with a smile.

“How were my parents?”

“They seemed like good people. It’s completely different from my house. Ah, I don’t mean that I don’t like my parents, but the atmosphere.”

“Atmosphere?”

“Yeah, we’re completely laissez-faire [policy of minimum governmental interference] and our personalities are kind of bland, so neither my mom nor my dad treat me so affectionately.”

“Um…was it…?”

“Huh? Haven’t you seen them before?”

“Ah, yeah! That’s right. I just can’t imagine it when I see you.”

Well, when you see me, you can’t imagine that my family has that kind of atmosphere.

However, I’m a bit unique, based on my family. My brothers are similar to my parents.

While chatting, we slowly headed towards the back of the apartment complex, not the bus stop, following Heena’s lead.

We were going to stop by the photo studio next to the apartment complex, which was not just a figure of speech but really close.

While looking around the studio, which was smaller and more charming than I thought, I printed out one of the photos I took earlier and one of the photos I took wearing fashion glasses.

They also sold small frames, so I looked at them a little and bought two of them.

It was all over really quickly because all they did was transfer the phone data, do some minor corrections, and print it out.

These days, the phone quality is so good that it comes out pretty well unless you print it out in a really large size.

As we came out of the photo studio with the prints, Heena was smiling brightly and looking at the photos, as if she liked the photo she had taken hugging me so much.

“Do you like it that much?”

“Yeah! I’m even thinking about printing it out bigger later.”

“Let’s, let’s not do that.”

Fortunately, Heena’s parents liked me to some extent, but if it was that blatant, it would be a bit too much.

Anyway, I ended up leaving home earlier than I thought today, but I was satisfied because I had some intimate moments at Heena’s house and left a good impression on her family.

Of course, it was a shame that the perfect kiss opportunity was cut off.

It’s better to try this again when there’s an atmosphere next time than to say it out loud, right?

Honestly, the previous one was a bit forced, probably an atmosphere created by Heena.

Hugging the printed photo, which is a bit embarrassing but nice, and which I can’t even put on my KakaoTalk [South Korean messaging app] profile picture, I started walking.

And because it was so close, Heena opened her mouth while waiting for the bus at the bus stop that arrived quickly.

“By the way, Yeon-woo.”

“Huh?”

“Would you like to study with me starting next week if you’re okay?”

“Study? When?”

“Weekdays and Saturdays? Let’s make Sunday a day off.”

Hmm, from Monday to Saturday.

I had decided to study, but I was a little clueless about how to start, so if Heena helped me, it would definitely be welcome.

It’s not difficult to get out of night self-study by saying that you’re starting private tutoring.

However, there is also the question of whether you can really only study when you meet like that.

And, um. Somehow.

“I’m happy and grateful to study together, but wouldn’t you like to take about 3 days off during the week and see me?”

Heena’s movement stopped for a moment at my words.

Was it because she was thinking of seeing me every day?

However, I was going to say this to Heena even if we weren’t going to study.

“…Why?”

“My friends are a bit… I’ve been hanging out with them every day, but suddenly I can’t hang out with them anymore.”

It was because of my part-time job this week, but I had neglected them too much since the week before when I got a girlfriend.

It’s definitely fun to spend time with Heena, but I definitely also want to play games with my friends.

If I had to choose between Heena and my friends right now, I would choose Heena, but I didn’t want to live my life completely excluding my friends.

And rather than just meeting every day and studying together, wouldn’t it be better for me to have time to work hard on my own?

I want to see Heena every day, but since I’m starting to study to catch up with Heena, it seems a bit difficult to concentrate on studying if I see her 5 days a week.

Get some help from Heena and study alone based on that.

Wow, the realistic plan is amazing.

Heena, who had stopped and was looking at me with a somewhat cloudy expression for a while, smiled again and said.

“Yeah, friends are important too. Then let’s do that.”

“Sorry, I want to see you every day, but… I’m going to try to work hard on my own too.”

Play some games with my friends after night self-study.

“Uh-huh, it’s okay. You’re trying hard because of me, right?”

“Thank you for understanding~ Then what day should we see each other?”

Before the bus came, we talked about the schedule from next week and broke up.

Leaving Heena behind, who seemed disappointed and somehow exhausted.