My Girlfriend Is Very Good To Me [EN]: Chapter 76

Ep. 75

Even after New Year’s Day, the drinking sessions continued. I made sure not to drink so much that I couldn’t stand on my own two feet anymore. I also promised Heena not to drink too much unless she was with me.

So, I drank with friends I hadn’t had a chance to catch up with yet, and I also had another gathering with Suhwang, Yoonseong, and the rest of the crew. This time without Heena.

Thankfully, these guys didn’t record my drunken antics, but they still brought up my embarrassing behavior from that night whenever we met, like it was some kind of inside joke.

It’s infuriating.

What’s worse, when I drank again sober, I was actually one of the better drinkers among us. I guess I was just in bad shape from drinking too much early in the morning that time.

I spent about two weeks indulging in alcohol like that. Still, I didn’t completely abandon studying for the college entrance exam retake, doing a little bit every day. But most of the time, I joined various gatherings, following friends who had been liberated from the long suffering of exam preparation.

In the midst of all that, I also met up with Joohyun, a friend from middle school, though I had to appease Heena, who gave me a death glare before I went.

“Kang Joohyun? Who’s that? I don’t think I’ve heard that name among your friends… Is it a girl? A friend from middle school? Or is it that girl you dated briefly?”

“No, it’s a guy I hung out with in middle school… And that thing from before wasn’t dating… Ugh, that Jeong Yoonseong, he had to bring up unnecessary stuff…”

“You went to eat and see a movie together, right?”

“That’s all we did. Really. I’ve only held hands and kissed with you. Calm down.”

“I’m not mad, okay? I’m not particularly suspicious either? I was just curious.”

“……”

Even if she says she’s not, her eyebrows were pointing downwards.

Back then, I wondered if we were dating or not, but now that I think about it, we didn’t do anything other than that. Even that faded away when we went our separate ways. It’s a bit much to call that dating.

Especially when I think about what I’m doing with Heena now, those things were too insignificant to be considered part of my dating experience. I guess I was just a complete virgin until I met Heena.

Anyway, even though such minor issues occasionally arose, I was thoroughly enjoying becoming an adult.

In the midst of all that, my friends also brought up the idea of doing a short-term part-time job together. The plan was to earn some money and go on a trip to nearby Japan.

“Travel? Yeah, it’s fine. Although I wanted to go on my first overseas trip with Yeonhoo, if you want to go without me, it’s okay. Go ahead and have fun.”

Thanks to Heena saying that with a bright smile, I immediately gave up. I could feel the pressure of ‘Go ahead and try if you dare’ weighing down on me.

When you think about it, neither Heena nor I had ever been on an overseas trip before. I had gone to Saipan with my family when I was in middle school, and I heard that Heena had also traveled to Hong Kong around the same time as me.

I guess she meant going on a trip just the two of us, without family. Does she mean I absolutely have to go with her first?

“Then, should we go on a hot springs trip to Japan together later? I saw it in a meme last time, and it looked really good. Oh, Disneyland is also tempting.”

“I want to go! I can go right now!”

“We don’t have any money right now…”

I calmed down Heena, who was jumping up and down as if she was about to leave right away. I’ve been drinking so much lately that I barely have any allowance left, so what overseas trip?

If I asked my parents to send me just once, they would probably send me. But now that I’m twenty and have to retake the college entrance exam this year, I didn’t want to bring up such a childish thing.

But doing a part-time job like my friends said is also a bit much. I’d have to do it for at least a month to get the travel expenses, and by that time, Heena would be busy. She has to prepare for college too.

I wanted our monumental first overseas trip to be in a more comfortable situation, even after I finish retaking the exam.

Besides, now that we’re going on a trip together, we’ll really be unlocking everything we’ve been holding back, and I need to take care of the big event first.

Until that day, there’s less than a month left.

—

I was at home alone, messing around with the computer for the first time in a while. I’m with Heena almost every day, but today she said she had something to do, so we didn’t meet. She’s going out with her uncle, and judging by the fact that our texts have been cut off since a little while ago, she seems to be busy.

I studied until around 2 PM, and then I was enjoying playing games for the first time in a while. Since last year, I’ve always been with Heena during vacation, so I had a lot less time to play games. Maybe that’s why it’s so much more fun than usual when I get to play like this. Is it because I can’t do it often?

I do play games when Heena is with me. However, every time I do, Heena always sits on my lap and buries herself in my arms, so it’s hard to concentrate. It would be one thing if she just stayed still, but when I’m immersed in the game screen, she keeps kissing my neck.

She says she likes seeing me concentrate on the game, but she doesn’t let me concentrate.

Anyway, while I was playing alone in my room, I heard a knock.

-Knock knock

Yoojung noona [older sister] wasn’t here today, so it’s probably Mom. There’s no one else who knocks besides the two of them.

“Come in~”

The door opened at my words, and as expected, Mom came into the room. As soon as she came in, she naturally sat on my bed and looked at me.

“What is it?”

“If you’re going to retake the exam, should I send you to a cram school?”

She gets straight to the point without any preamble that makes people uneasy. I really liked that about my mom. The content was a bit out of the blue, though. No, she knows I’m retaking the exam, so it’s not that out of the blue, is it?

Since it seemed like a serious conversation, I stopped the game I was playing. And I turned my chair to look at Mom too.

“I haven’t thought about that yet. But if I do it the way I did last year, I don’t think I really need it.”

“Is Heena still going to teach you?”

“Yeah. She won’t be able to stick with me and teach me as much as last year, but still. I’ve developed a study habit thanks to Heena.”

Even today, at this leisurely time, I reached for my books before playing games. I can’t thank my girlfriend enough.

And at my words, Mom had a strange look on her face.

“Is it easier to concentrate when you’re alone than when you’re at home?”

“There’s not much difference, but… well, yeah.”

“Then, do you know how to cook rice?”

“What? Rice?”

A topic that was three hundred times more out of the blue than the cram school talk came up. Why rice all of a sudden?

“Of course, I know how to cook. I’ve helped out sometimes. Don’t you know how my kimchi stew tastes?”

“It’s better than Heena’s, though.”

“Ah…”

A sigh of pity escaped at Mom’s words. Heena’s cooking skills were truly amazing…ly lacking. She clearly makes it according to the recipe, so it doesn’t taste bad, but there’s always something subtle missing.

Last time, she even prepared dinner for our family with Mom, and Mom said that people should have at least one thing they’re not good at to have some humanity.

I can’t even describe what Heena’s expression was like at that time. On the way home that day, she almost cried, saying, ‘What if your mom thinks I’m a daughter-in-law who can’t cook?’

She seems to be practicing, but she just doesn’t seem to be getting any better at cooking. In a way, it was her unique trait. It’s not that it tastes bad, but it’s not great.

“Hmm…”

“Why all of a sudden? Am I moving out?”

To be honest, it would be a lie to say that I don’t have any romance or dreams about living on my own, but since I have to focus on studying for another year, wouldn’t it be better to just try hard at home? There was no reason to make unnecessary expenses.

But Mom didn’t answer my question and was lost in thought by herself.

After a while, she seemed to have finished her thoughts and spoke again.

“You’re not studying all day these days, are you? I see you’re playing games now.”

“Yeah. They said I wouldn’t be able to handle it if I went that hard from the start.”

“Heena said that?”

“Yeah.”

“That’s good. Let’s make lunch and dinner together from today.”

“What are you talking about?”

—

Surprisingly, Mom’s cooking story wasn’t a joke. As the time for dinner approached, she really took me out and started teaching me one by one.

I said that even though I’m not concentrating on studying all day, this is a bit much, isn’t it?

“Heena can’t cook, so what are you going to do if you get married later? Are you going to order delivery food every day?”

After hearing that, I had nothing more to say. Well, even though I’m retaking the exam, as I said earlier, I wasn’t just studying all the time. If I thought of it as reducing my game time and helping Mom, it wouldn’t be bad.

However, there was one strange thing.

Mom’s hypothetical ‘if you get married’ was something that would happen quite a while later, but she was quickly cramming things into my head as if she was giving me a short-term intensive course.

I already knew how to make basic rice and stew, so she also taught me how to organize the things I need to do before preparing a meal and the tools.

“Your mom or your in-laws will take care of the basic side dishes, so you can look into these things later if you’re interested.”

“Okay…”

“Still, it’s a relief that you know how to cook rice and stew. Let’s just increase the types of stew from today.”

“Okay… I understand.”

So, the main menu for dinner today was miso stew that I made based on Mom’s advice. I even added some meat to suit my taste.

“The miso stew is delicious?”

“I know, right? You made it, Yeonhoo? Just quit studying and take this path.”

Junghoo hyung [older brother] was out, but Dad and Sunhoo hyung’s [older brother] reviews were very good. I didn’t get bad reviews when I made it occasionally before, but it was quite delicious with Mom’s advice added. I guess I have a knack for cooking.

It started a bit absurdly, but I felt good because everyone ate it deliciously. I guess this is why moms cook.

I should tell them it’s delicious from now on.

And the next day.

Praise makes even whales dance, and after receiving some good reviews for the miso stew yesterday, my cooking motivation suddenly skyrocketed. So, I came out and helped set the table before Mom even called me for lunch.

Of course, since yesterday’s miso stew was still left, I didn’t make something similar again, but I tried making rolled omelets, which I can usually eat without any problems.

That’s when I first realized that rolled omelets take more work than I thought. It was surprisingly difficult too.

Thanks to that, I completely ruined the first one, but after that, I was able to maintain the shape to some extent.

Well, taste-wise, can it not be delicious if you don’t hate eggs? Heena will also be able to make delicious fried eggs.

Like that.

Today, I was feeling good while receiving praise from Sunhoo hyung and Junghoo hyung, who had returned, when…

Heena came to our house.

Not alone, but with her uncle, who didn’t seem to have gone to work today, driving the car.

She said she would stop by today, but I didn’t expect her uncle to come too, so I was bewildered.

She smiled brightly and said to me.

“Yeonhoo! Let’s go see a house~”

“…….??