I looked over the old clothes I'd bundled up and sank into thought.
These were all clothes I'd worn for over 4 years on average, ones I'd been about to toss in a clothing donation bin soon because they were pilling or had stretched-out collars and so on.
What on earth is Sia going to use these for?
'She could've just asked me to buy her some clothes.'
Wanting to give her a proper gift, I'd also prepared some safe housewarming gifts separate from what Sia had asked for.
There were rolls of toilet paper, the classic housewarming gift, a blanket that would come in handy in all sorts of ways, and little things useful to anyone living alone, like instant rice and ramen.
'Is there anything else I could give her?'
Sia had probably decorated her lair well on her own already, but as her boyfriend, I still wanted to do a little more for her.
If I'd had more time, I'd have run to the supermarket in front of my place.
It was my girlfriend's housewarming, after all; was there really nothing more I could give her?
'There is one thing I thought of.'
Guessing at why Sia wanted my old clothes, I thought she might like it if I gave her something like this.
But if anyone else heard about it, they'd definitely think I was crazy.
Besides, it was questionable whether this could even be called a gift.
...Still, at worst I'd break even.
If the mood didn't seem right, I just wouldn't give it to her.
I packed the extra things into my subspace and was just straightening my clothes.
"Oppa!"
I could sense Sia's presence from a distance.
Sia, who could Teleport at will, had come to pick me up in person.
The moment our eyes met, Sia let out a squeal of joy and hugged me tight.
"I missed you so much I thought I'd go crazy!"
"Me too. I wondered if a week had always been this long."
Even though we'd video-called for hours just yesterday, we clung to each other fiercely, as if we'd been apart for months, not a week.
But when Sia kept squeezing me so hard I could barely breathe, I choked out a few words.
"Hack, hack. Sia, I can't breathe."
"Oops."
When I complained, Sia jumped in surprise and let go.
"O-Oppa, are you okay? I was so happy to see you, I didn't even realize.... Sorry!"
"No, no, it's fine."
No exaggeration, a little longer and my ribs might have broken, but.......
Thankfully, Sia soon bounced back to her usual energy and asked.
"Oh, right. What about the thing we talked about yesterday?"
At that, I sheepishly pointed to the heap of old clothes piled in the corner of the room.
The moment she saw the heap, Sia's eyes crinkled with delight.
"Wow, look how many there are. Thanks, oppa! I'll put them to good use!"
I had no idea what on earth she'd use those old clothes for, but Sia hugged the bundle like a treasure.
"Actually, giving you just these felt too skimpy, so I got some other gifts while I was at it."
"Oh, come on, these are plenty, oppa. I'm really fine."
She waved her hand to say she was fine, but her face, brimming with anticipation, was honest.
I showed Sia the other gifts I'd kept on the balcony, and she broke into a huge smile the moment she saw them.
"Wow, what's all this?"
Saying she hadn't expected me to go this far, Sia seemed deeply moved.
"Do you like them?"
"Of course I do! Thank you so much, oppa!"
Humming a tune, Sia neatly packed the gifts I'd gotten her into her subspace, then kissed my cheek as thanks.
Once everything was packed, Sia took my hand and immediately Teleported us to her lair.
The instant we Teleported, the familiar view I'd seen over the phone spread out before me.
"Ta-da, this is my lair!"
Sia had given me a virtual housewarming tour here and there over video calls, but seeing it in person felt different after all.
It didn't really feel like a dragon's lair. How do I put this.
It looked more like a luxurious detached house.
The spacious lair was furnished with cute yet luxurious furniture, and the interior was so sleek and modern you'd never imagine it had been carved out of the inside of a mountain.
What caught my eye most were the frames covering one entire wall.
Every one of the big frames hanging there held a photo of Sia and me together.
Sia had asked me a while ago to send her the photos we'd taken together; so this was why.
Seeing my photos blown up this big and hung in frames was somehow embarrassing.
As I stared at the frames, Sia, glued to my side, slid her arm around my waist and asked.
"What do you think, oppa?"
Perhaps because she expected me to compliment it, I could hear excitement in Sia's voice.
"It feels like I've come to an exhibition just for the two of us."
Sia smiled, apparently pleased with the answer.
"I love that. An exhibition. We'll have to take lots more pictures from now on. Enough that it really deserves to be called an exhibition."
"Of course. They say in the end, photos are all that remain."
After that, Sia showed me around the other rooms.
The lair was so huge that I thought I might have gotten lost if I hadn't toured it with Sia.
"So, oppa? Do you like it?"
"I wish this were our newlywed home."
I couldn't imagine a more perfect newlywed home, but sadly, we couldn't set up house together right now.
But Sia and I both knew that, so we didn't bother mentioning it.
"When I get to set up house here too someday, how about we buy a plot of land nearby and grow tangerines on a small scale or something?"
"That'd be great. Or since the lair's so big, let's build a greenhouse in it! Then we can harvest the tangerines we grew ourselves together, and...."
That was probably years away at the very least, but Sia spread the wings of her happy imagination as if the dream had already come true.
"Sia."
"In winter we'll snuggle under a blanket and eat tangerines—."
"Sia?"
"Oh, listen to me."
She'd been so lost in her imagination that she didn't even hear me.
I didn't know what she'd been imagining in the meantime, but Sia's face was redder than before.
"This is no time for this. Oppa, let's go make tteokbokki, quick!"
Our first date at Sia's lair.
After spending days wondering what to do on this meaningful date, we'd finally decided to make tteokbokki together.
Tteokbokki was Sia's favorite food, and more than that, Sia liked watching me cook.
Above all, we'd cooked together a few times back when Sia was human, but strangely, we'd never made tteokbokki together at home.
So I'd suggested we make tteokbokki, and Sia had gladly agreed, saying that was a great idea.
But before we went to cook, there was one thing I had to give Sia.
"Sia."
"Hm?"
"Actually, I've got more gifts besides those."
At the mention of more gifts, Sia clasped her hands together cutely and looked at me with sparkling eyes.
And earlier she'd said these alone were plenty.
Remembering how cute she'd looked saying that, I couldn't help smiling as I took out the things I'd secretly prepared from my subspace.
I'd told Sia they were gifts, but in my own mind I called them things, not gifts, because, as I said, they were too embarrassing to call gifts.
"When you suddenly asked for my old clothes as a gift, I thought about why you'd say that."
They were old, and a different size, so she couldn't even wear them.
After thinking it over, I came to this conclusion.
She wanted to feel like we were living together, even this way.
If traces of me were scattered around her lair, she could feel like we lived together no matter how far apart we were; that must be what she was thinking.
So.
"So I brought some other things besides the old clothes."
I took out the things I'd set aside from my subspace.
The perfume I liked to wear, old shoes, and, though I'd gone back and forth on whether to bring these...... even my worn underwear.
It might be a little embarrassing, but this way would feel more real.
Setting out the things I'd brought, I watched Sia's reaction.
I was just starting to wonder whether I'd jumped to conclusions.
"Oh my."
Sia's eyes curved like bows, and she took the things I held out ever so carefully, as if they were priceless treasures, and hugged them to her chest.
"How does my oppa know my heart so well?"
Uh....
Was this what she wanted all along?
***
The day before the date.
When she'd asked Min-jun for his old clothes, Sia had been secretly worried.
Anyone would be.
Lovers or not, suddenly asking your boyfriend for clothes he'd worn for years was not a normal thing to do.
As a gift, no less.
'What if oppa thinks I'm weird?'
Why would she want his old clothes when there were plenty of normal gifts— he might think that.
Or he might mistakenly think she had some weird fetish, like a clothing fetish.
Once her thoughts branched out that far, her face turned bright red with embarrassment.
'But I can't exactly tell him the truth!'
And no wonder: the reason she'd asked for his old clothes was so she could smell Min-jun's scent on them whenever she missed him.
Saying that with her own mouth was far too embarrassing.
Breathing in the scent soaked deep into the fabric, or secretly putting on those old clothes and feeling like she'd become one with Min-jun; just thinking about it......
"Pwah!"
Even she thought the plan was a little pervy, but she couldn't help it.
As she saw it, this was the best way to ease her longing for Min-jun, whom she couldn't see often for now.
'...Oppa must have no idea I'm thinking like this.'
He probably didn't, and he must never know.
Nervous as she was, she secretly hoped Min-jun would bring lots of old clothes steeped in traces of him.
And then.
Min-jun brought not only the old clothes she'd asked for but the shoes he'd worn, the perfume he used, even his underwear, and said this.
'You wanted to feel like we're living together, right? I figured you'd need these too to really get the feel of it, so I brought them just in case.'
In fact, when he said it, Min-jun had been on pins and needles wondering if he'd guessed right.
But Sia was in no state to notice.
She hadn't even thought of the shoes or the perfume Min-jun liked to wear.
And the underwear Min-jun had brought....
'#$%$%^@%@#$'
It set off scorching fantasies she could never say out loud.
"How does my oppa know my heart so well?"
Worried she might look like a pervert to Min-jun, Sia held down her boiling emotions as best she could and carefully stored what he'd given her in her subspace.
"What a relief. I was worried I'd been barking up the wrong tree."
Strictly speaking, Min-jun had in fact been barking up the wrong tree.
But Min-jun would probably never dream of it.
And it was probably better he never found out.