Ep. 53
-Crunch, crunch
We each held one end of a Pepero stick in our mouths, nibbling closer to each other. Mostly, Heena ate the stick part, and I ate the chocolate part.
Her eyes, curved like a crescent moon, met mine as she drew nearer.
Soon, the Pepero between us dwindled as our lips approached. Heena gently pushed her lips and tongue forward, placing the remaining piece into my mouth.
At the same time, she lightly licked the chocolate from my lips before pulling away.
“Chocolate, it’s good.”
“Yeah.”
All Heena ate was the small chocolate part at the top of the stick and what she licked off my lips.
As she pulled out another Pepero, I glanced sideways to see how many were left. All I saw were Pepero boxes and wrappers scattered everywhere.
It seemed she had bought one or two of every kind, not just the typical Pepero sold in supermarkets.
There were also countless types of individually wrapped Pepero, big and small, sold in every store around this time of year.
And since arriving here, I had been stuck with Heena, trying them all.
I hadn’t eaten before coming, but I was starting to feel full, and the Pepero itself was becoming tiresome. I had found it fun and novel at first, but that was only for the first few. Now, I had eaten almost ten boxes and quite a few individually wrapped ones.
If Heena hadn’t been licking my lips every time, which really set me on fire in many ways, I might have run away already.
Still, we hadn’t finished everything we had opened. Heena had set aside a few of each kind. Was she planning to give them to Heesung hyung [older brother or male friend]?
Anyway, I wondered if it wouldn’t be better to just kiss, but Heena seemed to be enjoying this game itself, constantly opening new ones.
I originally liked snacks and could eat a lot, so it wasn’t that I couldn’t eat them. But I was hoping we could stop soon.
“I’m starting to get full. Can we take a break?”
“Really? Hmm… then let’s stop this and play another game?”
“Another game?”
“Yeah.”
She said, gathering the Pepero she had set aside earlier.
“Close your eyes, and I’ll feed you one by one. Can you guess which one it is?”
“Oh, but isn’t that a bit easy? I’m not kidding, I’m confident I can guess them all.”
So that’s why she left a little of each. But this is too much in my favor.
I liked Pepero, so I had tried all the ones Heena had bought here.
I had even eaten a ton of them with Heena just now, playing what felt like a Pepero game or a kissing game.
Heena gave me a meaningful smile and continued.
“Then let’s make a bet?”
“A bet?”
“A wish. If you guess them all, you win. If you get even one wrong, I win. Five tries.”
“Are you sure? Once a bet is on the line, I can’t lose.”
My competitive spirit flared up. Even if my opponent was Heena!
“Will you do it?”
“Of course!”
“Then let’s start? Close your eyes!”
“Okay…”
I wasn’t just confident.
I was confident I wouldn’t lose.
Honestly, unless she fed me something weird at the same time, I thought it would be hard to get it wrong.
I closed my eyes and waited for a moment. Something slightly bumpy touched my lips.
I opened my mouth slightly, and the Pepero entered.
-Crunch
“Hmm, this is… Crunky!”
“Correct~”
As soon as I took a bite, I knew it right away. Lotte Pepero flavors tend to have strong characteristics. So, unless you hadn’t tried them, you would know, especially since I had eaten them all the time and had just tried them all again today.
I ate about half, and then I heard Heena crunching in front of me, probably planning to finish the rest.
Soon, I heard the rustling of a wrapper, and it seemed like we were moving on to the second one, so I opened my mouth slightly again.
Next, something smooth and quite thin entered my mouth. At first glance, it might seem like a typical Lotte Pepero, but the thickness was different, and it had its own unique flavor.
Personally, I didn’t like it very much.
“Pocky?”
“That’s right too~”
“Yesss!”
Even as Heena said it was correct, her voice didn’t sound disappointed. It seemed like she had started this game just because she wanted to grant me a wish.
All we ever wished for were slight changes to our dates, so there was no pressure.
So, what should I ask for this time?
We’re going to the amusement park tomorrow, so I wonder if there’s anything we can do there.
While I was thinking about that, I opened my mouth again, and this time, something rather blunt gently touched my lips.
“Don’t bite this one, just guess. Okay?”
-Nod
It was already in my mouth, so it was hard to answer with words, so I nodded very slightly and focused.
It was quite large, and as it entered, it smeared chocolate all over my lips.
This is like dipping in Nude 빼빼로 [Pepero]… no, wait. It’s definitely thicker than Nude 빼빼로 [Pepero].
-Slurp, slurp
I pursed my lips and gently sucked on it. The taste was definitely Nude 빼빼로 [Pepero], but something was off.
The edge that I was touching with my tongue as I sucked felt hard amidst the softness, like a fingernail-
“Huh?!”
I was so surprised by the thought that flashed through my mind that I opened my eyes. In front of me, I saw Heena’s face, smiling as she held a finger in my mouth.
I took the finger out of my mouth and trembled with betrayal.
“That’s cheating! That’s cheating!! That’s not Pepero!”
“Yeah~ I think it is~”
“No, shouldn’t we be a little conscientious? This isn’t right…!”
“I think I won~”
Heena stretched out the end of her words as if she was teasing me, and licked the finger she had just put in my mouth.
I was momentarily speechless at her seductive appearance, but I raised my voice again.
“It’s invalid! I don’t accept it!!!”
Even though the prize wasn’t a big deal, my pride couldn’t allow me to lose like this.
“Then one more round?”
“Do it! I’ll guess it this time! I’ll even guess which finger it is!”
“Okay, then close your eyes again~”
“Bring it on!”
I closed my eyes tightly, ready for battle, and opened my mouth wider than before.
The ones that could be confusing would be the middle finger and the ring finger. The thumb and pinky were out of the question, and the index finger was relatively short, so I felt like I could figure it out if I used my tongue well.
I focused all my attention on my lips and tongue and waited quietly.
I felt something approaching my mouth.
I wondered if it was already in, so I gently pursed my lips.
Something much softer and squishier than before was caught between my lips.
Smelling the faint scent of chocolate, I wondered how I should react to Heena, who had presented ‘this’ to me.
Yes, first of all.
-Lick
I licked the chocolate smeared on the end once with my tongue and immediately pulled my face away and opened my eyes.
What I saw in front of me this time was.
Heena’s face, her raised lips trembling as if she was very happy and amused.
With chocolate on her lower lip.
I took in her cute yet very mischievous appearance and opened my mouth.
“The answer is my girlfriend’s lips.”
“Hehehe… Wrong!”
I protested to her, who was giving a definite wrong answer even while giggling foolishly.
“No, why is that wrong?”
“You opened your eyes first… and the answer is Yeon-hoo’s lips.”
What does that mean?
“Why my lips?”
“Because─”
Heena stuck out her tongue slightly, licked the chocolate remaining on her lips, and continued.
“This is, Yeon-hoo’s?”
Wow.
“I lost, really. I lost.”
How could I win against those words? It was a game I couldn’t win in the first place.
Even if I had racked my brains and used all my imagination to say that answer, there would have been a new correct answer.
I admitted defeat and lowered my head.
I should have kissed those seductive and wicked lips.
“I won, right? My victory~”
“Yeah…”
I was very frustrated with this unreasonable game. But it’s okay because Heena is happy.
—
After cleaning up the Pepero scattered here and there, Heena and I sat side by side on the bed, leaning against the headboard, and played with our phones for a while.
Because Yoonjung noona [older sister or female friend] was sending me a series of photos she took with hyung [older brother or male friend] in Jeju Island, so I was looking at them.
I thought Heena was probably looking at the same messages from noona [older sister or female friend], but.
In the meantime, Heena was holding a comic book in her hand.
“What’s that? I thought you didn’t read comics?”
“This? Unnie [older sister] lent it to me.”
“Yoonjung noona [older sister or female friend]? Well, that noona [older sister or female friend] liked comic books.”
It wasn’t strange that noona [older sister or female friend] had comic books or that Heena borrowed something from noona [older sister or female friend], but it was a little surprising that it was a comic book.
“It’s a romance comic.”
“Yeah~ It’s quite interesting.”
“What’s it about?”
“Want to see?”
She handed it to me, so I flipped through it roughly. I was looking through it quickly for about 2-3 minutes when I realized something was strange.
“It’s about a date at an amusement park.”
“Yeah.”
“But all they do is kiss? No, wait. Is that all that happens on every page I flip to?”
“Right?”
“I’ve read a few romance comics that noona [older sister or female friend] left at our house, but this is the first time I’ve seen one that’s so focused on showing only this.”
“Hehe, remember it well.”
“Huh?”
I turned to look at Heena at her meaningful words, and she pointed to the comic book and continued.
“Tomorrow’s wish, I’m going to use this.”
“Use this?”
“I want to kiss while following what comes out here.”
“Oh…..?”
Wait, they do it in all sorts of places here.
“And I’m going to take pictures of everything.”
“That’s your wish?”
“Yeah!”
“So, you want to do kisses in situations similar to what’s in this comic book, and take pictures of all of them?”
“I’m looking forward to tomorrow~”
Does that mean I have to do the same kisses as the male lead in this comic?
I calmed myself down and flipped back to the beginning of the comic.
The couple in this comic meet at the subway station like students, and from there, a scene of them kissing very intensely caught my eye.
They’re doing a wall slam against a pillar on the subway platform and kissing?
Is this real life?