Chapter 84
Chapter 84. Oppa, Don’t You Think We’re Lucky Today?
“Oppa, do I look any different today compared to yesterday?”
Sia’s sudden question caught me entirely off guard, leaving my thoughts completely blank.
‘Is there anything different about me?’
Wasn’t this universally recognized as one of the most hazardous dilemmas a guy could face from his girlfriend?
If she had chopped off her long locks into a bob or dyed her hair an unmistakable neon shade, spotting it would be simple. Yet unless a shift was that glaring, an ordinary guy rarely registered the subtle shifts in his partner’s daily styling.
Even so, an actual variation existed, and figuring it out was entirely up to me.
I recalled glimpsing Sia’s face on our video call the previous evening, though I had been running on absolute fumes during that call. After spending the entire day trekking across various spots, I had merely collapsed onto my bed at the inn, dialling her number while struggling to keep my eyelids from drooping shut.
Under those exhausted circumstances, I could scarcely picture how Sia had presented herself yesterday, let alone recall the specific topics we had discussed.
‘Still, I must figure this out.’
Faltering or delivering an incorrect guess could lead to uncharted trouble. If there was one certainty, it was that facing the aftermath of a wrong answer would definitely overwhelm me.
“Hmm. What could have changed about my Sia?”
Attempting to stall for precious seconds, I closed the distance between us and started inspecting her features with sharp scrutiny, beginning at her face. Her fringe matched what I remembered, and her hair’s total length had clearly not been shortened.
Then a sudden thought struck me.
“Did you put gentle waves into your hair?”
“Correct! You nailed it.”
Having thrown out that guess with barely any confidence, I was honestly stunned that it hit the mark.
‘What an absolute relief.’
Had she curled it dramatically, recognizing it would have been effortless; instead, the undulations were soft enough to pass as natural texture. Yet despite this stroke of fortune, breathing easy just yet would be a mistake.
“I tried curling it slightly just to freshen up my mood. Well? Does it suit me?”
The unavoidable follow-up inquiry was already upon me.
Merely replying with a bland statement that she looked pretty or that the curls suited her would not necessarily ruin the moment, yet sounding superficial or robotic could spark fresh trouble. Sia undoubtedly desired an observation proving that my admiration was sincere and attentive.
“The subtle curve in your hair actually complements what you’re wearing today remarkably well. It lends an air of understated elegance, while still retaining that cheerful, energetic charm you’ve always possessed. You picked an exceptional look.”
The second those words left my mouth, I gauged Sia’s reaction with keen focus. Sure enough, the corners of her mouth curved upward, and she twirled on the spot before teasing, “What about seen from over here?”
“You look breathtaking.”
“Ehehe.”
Even by my own standards, that response felt pretty flawless.
“Now that I’m taking a closer look, pairing that hairstyle with this outfit strongly reminds me of the fashion you loved wearing back when you were about twenty-two, doesn’t it?”
“Exactly! That took place years ago, yet you still remember that?”
“The memory crossed my mind while riding the bus yesterday, which prompted me to flip through the old snapshots we saved together. I came across that specific look. It looked wonderful on you back then, and it looks just as stunning on you now.”
A radiant grin spread wide over Sia’s features at my explanation.
“Hearing you say that makes me want to maintain this hairstyle for quite a while. Ehehe. I’m really glad I styled it this way.”
Sia pulled out her smartphone, switched on the front-facing lens, and tilted her head from angle to angle to admire her appearance, utterly delighted with the result.
‘Great. Handled that obstacle smoothly.’
Observing her radiant satisfaction, I figured I had navigated the minefield with total success and was just about to steer the chat toward our actual itinerary.
“And Oppa, what else have I changed?”
For an instant, my mind froze: ‘…Wait, what?’ A second difference was lurking beyond her hair?
‘I genuinely don’t have a clue.’
Once more, I assessed Sia from her head straight down to her shoes. Her cosmetics appeared unchanged, and while I wondered whether her clothes or jewelry were brand-new additions, I couldn’t say for sure.
Suddenly, an alternative hypothesis flashed through my mind.
“Could it be that you switched your scent?”
“You got it again! I decided to wear your signature cologne today, Oppa. It feels curious yet wonderfully cozy catching the exact aroma I always associate with you.”
Sia raised her forearm to catch a whiff of her sleeve, before leaning straight against my chest to contrast it with the fragrance radiating off me.
The perfume was versatile enough for unisex use, but its branding and primary user base leaned heavily toward men. Personally, I found the gentle floral notes Sia customarily favored to be far more fitting for her, but seeing her pure joy with this swap, I decided to keep that thought private.
“Do you really enjoy the fragrance that much?”
“Totally! Inhaling it gives me a strange sense of peace. Now that I notice it, Oppa, you applied that very same scent today too.”
Setting aside my inner musings, Sia appeared genuinely enchanted by the aroma. She rested her forehead against my chest, breathing in my clothes with several delighted sniffs.
“So today, even our scent matches like a couple item.”
Sia tilted her chin up toward me, her gaze brimmed with affection. Judging by the pleasant mood, it seemed I had navigated every single test without a misstep.
Right as I opened my mouth to suggest we finally kick off our plans, a playful impulse seized me.
“Sia, turning the tables, what about me? Can you tell what’s different about me today?”
It was meant as a harmless bit of playful payback. While boyfriends often found themselves on the receiving end of the ‘Notice anything different?’ interrogation, women rarely had to endure the reverse.
I was genuinely curious to witness how Sia would handle having the spotlight turned on her. Perhaps she would stumble in flustered surprise, or toss out an absurdly wild guess.
Instead, the instant the query left my lips, her response came without a fraction of hesitation.
“That belt isn’t your usual one. Is it a recent purchase?”
“Spot on. But… how could you tell?”
My casual shirt partially obscured the buckle, and the shade matched my older belt almost identically, making it nearly invisible at a glance. Yet Sia had spotted it immediately.
“Furthermore…”
Wait a second. Aside from the belt, I was positive nothing else about my presentation had shifted. I hadn’t acquired new clothes or accessories, and my hair had been arranged exactly as it was yesterday.
“You misted around 1.3 times the amount of cologne you normally apply. Little wonder my spirits felt even higher than usual.”
I hadn’t even consciously registered that detail, but hearing Sia state it plainly, a faint memory surfaced of me giving an extra spritz or two before stepping out the door.
I couldn’t fathom how she had detected such a miniscule adjustment, yet that still wasn’t the end of her list.
“You clipped your fingernails as well. During our video chat yesterday, I caught sight of them getting long enough to warrant a trim. If you hadn’t handled it last night, I intended to cut them for you once we met up today, but you beat me to the punch.”
I was practically dumbfounded that she had picked up on that. I often overlooked it when someone got an entirely fresh manicure, yet Sia had effortlessly caught the fact that I had simply pared down my nails.
“Oh, plus there’s a tiny new beauty mark along your neckline. I’m certain it didn’t exist yesterday. On top of that…”
From there, Sia went on cataloging microscopic bodily variations that I myself hadn’t even recognized.
“Well? Wasn’t every single guess accurate?”
“…Yeah.”
How is the person asking supposed to react when the other party provides answers that the questioner himself didn’t even know existed?
When I initially tossed out the question, I had secretly entertained hopes of catching Sia off-balance, looking adorably perplexed as she struggled to find an answer. Only after she laid out such mind-bogglingly granular details that my spirit nearly drifted out of my body did it hit me: Sia was an ancient dragon with a flawless, unbreakable memory.
Moreover, her perceptual senses vastly outstripped anything belonging to a normal human being. From her vantage point, failing to spot those minor shifts would have been the truly abnormal outcome.
‘I’ll be entirely annihilated if I ever attempt this sort of test again.’
I resolved then and there to abandon such traps in the future. Clearly, walking that road offered me zero advantages.
Following that humbling session of spot-the-difference, we finally commenced our Jeju date in earnest. Our opening destination was lunch.
Admiring breathtaking scenic sights was wonderful, but as the old adage went, even Mount Geumgang was best appreciated on a satisfied stomach. When planning out the date a few days prior, I had originally pitched dining on local black pork since we were staying on Jeju Island, yet Sia had suggested an alternative local delicacy instead.
The specialty we ultimately settled upon carried a name quite novel to my ears: bomal kalguksu.
“We’ve arrived, Oppa.”
Reaching our destination, Sia gestured toward an eatery framed by the distinct basalt stone walls so representative of Jeju. The tangerine trees flourishing in the courtyard hung heavy with ripe citrus, lending the entire backdrop an undeniably authentic Jeju atmosphere.
A crate brimming with fresh tangerines even rested near the entrance. I puzzled over why it sat there until my eyes caught a small sign alongside it stating, “Please take as many as you like.”
“Is this customary for Jeju?”
“Yes! I was surprised when I first encountered it too, but after touring around the island, I noticed numerous establishments offer this. Didn’t you run across anything like it while traveling?”
“How strange. I haven’t stumbled across this even once. Either way, it’s a delightful custom.”
Chatting casually about the citrus, we stepped inside the dining hall. The structure clearly bore the marks of passing decades, yet it didn’t feel weathered or run-down in the slightest.
Instead, its diligent upkeep gave it a charming, rustic aesthetic that proved incredibly photogenic. Perhaps because of that appeal, a handful of young couples were already busy snapping photos among the tables.
“Oppa, we should take some photos too!”
Sia promptly fetched her camera and captured a few portraits of us together. Apparently unsatisfied with just those, she immediately shifted to taking solo pictures of me.
“How do you come out looking this handsome even when I snap photos without aiming properly? Oppa, take a few of me now.”
Passing her smartphone to me, I snapped several pictures of Sia. As I returned the device, my finger brushed against the display toggle. The lock screen had already been updated to the candid picture of me she had taken merely minutes ago.
Just when did she manage to set that as her screen background?
At any rate, between snapping memories and chatting, our long-awaited bomal kalguksu was finally placed before us. Its visual style proved just as foreign as its title.
Diverging from typical kalguksu, the broth carried a distinct greenish hue, interspersed with ribbon-like sea greens throughout the noodles. After taking a quick picture of the bowl, I dipped my soup spoon into the liquid and took an immediate sip.
“Oh.”
The aesthetic hadn’t matched my visual preference, so my expectations hadn’t been particularly elevated. The moment it hit my palate, however, a deep, deeply savory essence washed across my tongue. The bomal itself, which I had never sampled prior to this, delivered a delightfully chewy texture alongside an unexpected depth of flavor.
It exceeded my assumptions by a wide margin.
“How do you find it, Oppa? Delicious, isn’t it?”
Sia looked on as I enjoyed the bomal kalguksu, wearing an expression of pure triumph. My mouth was still full, so before I could formulate a spoken reply, she chimed in again.
“You don’t even have to say it out loud. You’re amazed because the taste completely blew away your expectations, right? That was my exact reaction too.”
“How did you read my mind?”
“Oppa, your expressions are completely transparent to me.”
Evidently, the long span of years we had shared couldn’t be dismissed lightly. At this rate, she had basically mastered telepathy.
“Make sure to eat your fill, Oppa. Finding a dish prepared like this is nearly impossible in Seoul.”
Sia offered a tender smile while I bobbed my head in wholehearted agreement.
“Too true. When you originally pitched this eatery, I was admittedly doubtful, but after tasting this bowl, I completely understand. It genuinely feels like ocean swells are rolling through my mouth.”
“Pfft! Ocean swells rolling through your mouth? That’s such a hilarious way to describe it.”
We carried on eating unhurriedly while trading banter in an easygoing mood. I walked her through the diverse sights I had checked out during my solo itinerary, and Sia suggested several scenic spots that were worth a stop as well.
With one conversation drifting smoothly into the next, we simply basked in each other’s company until Sia suddenly voiced a thought that had secretly been weighing on my own mind.
“Oppa, when you think about our history, doesn’t an incident break out almost every single time we go on an outing together?”
“I was mulling over that exact pattern while traveling here. I don’t recall many dates that unfolded without some kind of chaos.”
It wasn’t merely a stray thought. That had literally been our shared reality.
At my agreement, a slightly wry smile touched Sia’s lips.
“At this point, I catch myself wondering if fate itself is determined to drive a wedge between us. Still, I’m getting an exceptionally good vibe about today.”
The window of time granted to us had lengthened, and without any advance coordination, our outfits naturally aligned almost like intentional matching fashion. Sia seemed convinced it heralded an omen of good fortune.
From my perspective, that precise run of good fortune was what spurred a quiet sense of foreboding, but I refrained from uttering those concerns aloud.
“Let’s make sure we savor every moment today without any regrets.”
“Understood!”
Once we finished our meal, we adhered to the schedule we had drafted and progressed through our outing without a hitch. We strolled through a sprawling botanical sanctuary taking candid photos of one another, popped into a bustling local market to sample street delicacies and purchase keepsakes together, and subsequently nestled into a coastal cafe, speaking in hushed tones while watching the rolling tides.
The passing hours felt brief yet completely fulfilling, and as daylight waned, a quiet optimism took root in me that today might truly conclude without disaster striking.
Yet that fragile optimism didn’t endure.
“So that’s why our luck felt so unnervingly perfect all day long.”
In the end, my hopeful assumption was utterly shattered.
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