"Oops."
When I made a troubled face, Sia finally realized how strangely she was holding her chopsticks and hurriedly put them down.
"Wh-What was I just...... doing? Oppa, the thing is—."
Waving both hands, Sia explained that she really hadn't meant anything by it.
But I knew she hadn't done it on purpose, and more than anything, Sia looked cute with her face flushed as red as a tomato.
Should I tease her a bit more?
"It's fine. That can happen when you're flustered. But you weren't actually going to stab me, were you?"
"No, no, no!"
If I teased her any more, I might actually get stabbed.
Telling her not to worry about it, I picked up a king crab leg that hadn't been picked clean yet.
Sia could easily pick it out with magic, but having her boyfriend carefully do it for her would feel different.
I picked every scrap of meat out of the leg, put it in a bowl, and brought it to Sia, who showed her satisfaction with a cutesy smile.
The meal wrapped up in a warm, cozy mood.
"Hehe, that was delicious."
Sia patted her tummy cutely.
"Sia, then want to head to our place and rest now?"
"Yeah. I'm already excited. You're excited too, right, oppa?"
"Super excited. It looked really nice in the pictures earlier."
Sia and I had traveled together a few times since we started dating, but we'd never once stayed at a pool villa, which probably made it all the more exciting.
It wasn't far, so we walked there.
"Whoa."
"We really picked a great place, oppa, didn't we?"
"Yeah. My Sia really does have a good eye."
Dazzling lights illuminating the pitch-black night, and charming little gardens beneath them.
Raising my eyes a little, I could see the private pool where we'd be swimming, shining brightly under the moonlight.
We checked in quickly and went up to our place.
A beautiful night view and a beautiful pool reflecting the moonlight greeted us.
It was a pool villa, so all that was left was to go swimming.
But since the trip had been planned on the spur of the moment, of course we didn't have anything like swimsuits.
So just as I was about to head to the lobby to ask if we could rent some, Sia stopped me.
"I brought some."
But Sia's hands were empty as she said it.
Still, she was a dragon, so maybe she had them stored in her subspace somewhere.
"Then I'll just rent one for me."
"No. I brought yours too."
"......Mine too?"
My Sia was dead serious about swimming.
When did she even get one for me?
Wait, did she even have time to?
It was a little puzzling, but I decided to just go along with it for now.
"Sia, if you wanted to swim, you should've said so sooner. I really wouldn't have minded."
"Actually, I wanted it to be cozy, just you and me. Somewhere with no one else around, just the two of us."
Sia's face was slowly turning a shy shade of pink.
"Where no one else can see, just us two."
So that was why she had picked a pool villa, even while saying she was fine when I suggested swimming.
"Oh, right. Oppa, I have something to take care of, so wait for me a bit."
"Okay. Hurry back, okay?"
"Don't worry. It'll really only take a moment."
***
Once she saw Min-jun go up to their room, Sia quickly slipped out and used Teleport.
The errand she had to run was none other than buying swimsuits.
She had never prepared any swimsuits in the first place.
She had barely been back on Earth; there was no way she'd bought swimsuits in that time.
Yet there was one reason she had lied to Min-jun that she'd 'brought some.'
'I'll go buy them now.'
She wanted to pick out the swimsuits herself.
Swimsuits.
One might think of them simply as clothes for swimming, but in truth, there was no clothing that showed off a man's masculinity or a woman's femininity quite like a swimsuit.
Sia wanted to show hers off in a swimsuit, and at the same time, she wanted Min-jun to show off his masculinity in a swimsuit she had picked out herself.
And yet, go swimming alone together in some cheap, basic rental swimsuits?
'Maybe the old me would have.'
But now, she couldn't accept it.
It might be different somewhere she'd go with family or friends.
But here, it would completely ruin the romantic mood.
Having gotten a generous allowance from her grandfather, she used Teleport and arrived at a department store in Seoul.
'What kind of swimsuit would look best on my oppa?'
And what kind of swimsuit should I wear to get to see my oppa blush?
The Jeong Sia who had shyly said she wanted to swim with just him only moments ago was nowhere to be found.
"Hee. I'm so excited. I'll buy them fast and hurry back to oppa."
She had already narrowed down a few candidates on Min-jun's phone earlier, so buying them probably wouldn't take long.
Sia's eyes curved like crescent moons.
***
While Sia was out on her errand, I went up first and checked out the inside of the villa.
"This is paradise."
It felt like a waste to enjoy this fantastic view alone without Sia.
"I wonder when Sia will be back."
It didn't seem like it would take very long.
Maybe ten minutes had passed while I waited alone.
"Oppa, I'm back!"
The doorbell rang along with Sia's voice from the other side, and I opened the door right away.
Sia was holding a big shopping bag.
"What's...... all this?"
"Snacks! I bought some in case we get hungry after swimming. Snacks, and a few cans of beer too. The swimsuits are in here too."
"So that was your errand. I could've come with you, then."
"Nah, it's fine."
Sia began taking out what she'd bought.
Chips, drinks, alcohol, and finally—.
Even my swimsuit.
"But Sia, where on earth did this swimsuit come from?"
Earlier, I had just let it slide, but thinking about it now, something was fishy.
Why would Sia be carrying around men's swimwear?
"Actually, I just went to a department store and bought it."
"You went out to buy that? We could've just worn the rentals here."
To me, it seemed like quite a hassle.
"I didn't want to wear some rental swimsuit today. So I bought both, mine and yours."
I didn't completely get it, but I decided not to dig any deeper.
Sia said so, so that was that.
"You bought all this...... in that time?"
"Yup."
Two swimsuits, plus snacks.
I wondered whether that was even physically possible in the time, but come to think of it, physical distance was no limitation for Sia, who could use Teleport.
"Then I'll go change over there."
Keeping her swimsuit a secret to the very end, Sia took the shopping bag with it and scurried into the room.
She sure knows how to make a guy curious.
Deciding to see Sia's swimsuit in a little while, I went into a room to change into mine too.
"So this is what Sia likes?"
We'd picked out clothes for each other a few times while shopping together, but never swimsuits.
Maybe that was why it felt so novel.
Secretly looking forward to seeing what design it was, I took out the swimsuit Sia had picked for me.
'That's it?'
Out came a single pair of simple black trunks.
Abroad might be different, but in Korea, people usually wore a rash guard too.
I preferred wearing a rash guard when I swam too, so the thought of swimming in nothing but trunks felt a little off.
But if I thought about it differently...
'If she'd wanted me to wear one, Sia would've bought it as a set in the first place.'
If Sia had only bought trunks, it was because she wanted me to wear just these.
I decided to wear what Sia had bought me.
It was a little embarrassing, but it wasn't like anyone else was here.
Anyway, having changed into my swimsuit, I went out to the pool and waited for Sia.
'I wonder what kind of swimsuit Sia picked.'
The Sia in my memory was pretty much a prim, Confucian-minded girl.
Day to day, and even back when we went to a water park together, she didn't like revealing outfits.
So chances were high she'd chosen a modest swimsuit that covered as much of her body as possible.
She might even have gone for a full-body suit like the ones you'd see at a swim meet.
'......But then she probably would've just rented one here.'
Since she likely wasn't going to wear anything flashy anyway, I didn't think she'd needed to go all the way to a department store to buy one.
Or did she have some particular design in mind?
Or so I thought.
"Oppa!"
Having apparently finished changing, Sia called out to me.
But then I turned my head.
And I couldn't help being stunned.
The prim, Confucian-minded Sia I knew was nowhere to be found.
In a black bikini of the kind you could easily spot at any water park, Sia was waving at me as she walked this way.
It had no special decorations.
It was just a simple black bikini.
But as the saying goes, 'simple is the best.'
"How's the water? Not too cold?"
Without saying a single word about her swimsuit, Sia lightly sat down beside me.
That drove me even crazier.
'How is she this sexy?'
If Sia had regularly worn swimsuits like that, it wouldn't have hit me this hard.
But I had seen a side of Sia I'd never known.
And of all days, I had seen it today.
I fixed my wide-open eyes on Sia.
'How am I supposed to hold back?'
When I stared at her without a word, far from being embarrassed, Sia seemed to enjoy my gaze and gave me a bewitching smile.
Her eyes were fixed on my bare upper body.
'Don't tell me she didn't buy a rash guard because of this......?'
Maybe it was just me, but I felt like I'd fallen right into Sia's trap.
Sia's eyes were openly glued to my abs.
"Ugh, I can't take it."
Grabbing my shoulders, Sia pushed me right down onto the ground.
It was as if this were a bed, not the poolside floor.
"Wh-Wha......?"
Starlight embroidered across the sky.
And beneath that starlight, Sia was looking at me with seductive eyes.
Sia's warm breath, and her hands resting softly on my shoulders.
She's not planning to do something here, is she?
We haven't even gone swimming yet......?
When I was clearly flustered, Sia couldn't hold back any longer and burst out laughing.
"Just kidding, just kidding. Oppa. Do you know how cute you are when you're flustered?"
"You...."
Sia giggled and stuck her tongue out at me teasingly.
I'd been had.
"We still have to swim, so you can't wear yourself out already. I know you want to, but hold on a little longer."
Sia gave a grown-up smile, like a much older woman taking the lead.
Total noona. A real noona.
***
Summer was nearly over, but we spent a night as hot as midsummer.
After enjoying our swim, we went straight to being intimate as lovers.
Afterward, we came back outside to take in the view.
In one hand, we each held a cup of instant ramen we'd poured hot water into.
I hadn't taken a single bite yet, but I knew it would be delicious without even trying it.
We set our cups on a little table by the pool and waited for the noodles to cook.
"Ramen always tastes best after a hard day's work."
"Work? We didn't do any work, oppa."
"Night work is still work......."
"Nngh, that's embarrassing. What if someone hears you?"
We were chatting about trivial things like always, but without saying so, we both knew.
The time allowed to us was almost up.
Once it was over, no matter how much we missed each other, we'd only be able to be together for three hours a week.
How long would it be before we could spend time together like today again, long and unhurried?
Acting as if nothing was wrong, I picked up my wooden chopsticks to eat.
"Oppa, let's take a picture together before we eat."
Perhaps because she wanted to leave plenty of traces of our time together before we parted, Sia wanted to take pictures.
I handed her my phone, and Sia happily snapped away.
After taking the pictures, Sia casually checked the time on the phone.
I didn't bother asking how much time was left.
I had a vague idea how much was left, and I didn't want Sia to have to say it out loud.
By unspoken agreement, we didn't talk about the time we had left.
Instead, we just ate the ramen and drank in each other's faces.
When we finished the ramen, we checked the time.
We had less than ten minutes left.
"Want to wash up and lie in bed for a bit?"
"Under the covers, with the AC cranked all the way up."
"Ahh. Nothing beats that."
We cleaned up the ramen, washed up together, and lay down in bed.
Shaking my head, I fought off the drowsiness washing over me.
"Oppa, are you sleepy?"
"A little."
In truth I was more than a little sleepy, but I couldn't fall asleep like this.
If I was going to sleep, it would be only after our six hours were completely up.
"Today was so much fun. Right, oppa?"
Sia snuggled up close to me.
"I was so happy I never want to forget it."
"I'll never forget it either."
"You said that since you're a dragon, you couldn't forget even if you wanted to."
"Hehe, right."
Sia smiled a dazzlingly bright smile.
"I love you."
"I love you too, Sia."
"I love you. I love you, I love you, oppa. I love you to death. I love you so much. Enough to give you everything I have......."
It was as if she had to say now all the I-love-yous she hadn't been able to say before.
Or maybe she was whispering in advance all the love she'd whisper to me during the week we couldn't see each other.
Sia murmured softly to me, over and over, that she loved me.
"I love you too. Truly. So, Sia."
I took Sia's hand.
"I'll do whatever it takes too. So just wait for me a little while."
I didn't know whether it would take years, or decades, or whether, at worst, I might never manage it even if I gave this whole life to it.
"When that day comes, let's get married, like you said back then. I'll propose to you in style."
Sia hugged me gently.
That was how our conversation ended; it might have seemed ordinary, but it was anything but.
My eyes slowly slid shut.