Chapter 224: Imaginary Couple (7)

Kang Ra-Eun had never been confessed to by women when she used to be a man. However, after becoming a woman, there wasn’t a time when she wasn’t getting confessed to by a man. She had received many kinds of confessions, such as through words or by love letters, but Je-Woon was the first man to ever express his feelings so straightforwardly.

Ra-Eun kept quiet after the surprise confession. She was going through simulations in her head about how to respond. She had immediately refused every confession that she had received thus far, but she could not this time, considering who it was.

“Why did you decide to confess to me out of the blue...?”

Ra-Eun wanted to know what about her had made Je-Woon look at her as a woman; there likely was a reason besides her looks or personality.

“It’s not sudden. I’ve been interested in you for a while now. It’s just that that interest has been getting stronger lately.”

“Is your interest just simple curiosity?” Ra-Eun asked.

“Absolutely not.”

Je-Woon had also wondered the same thing as Ra-Eun at first, and about what would happen if he ended up dating her. However, that had changed. Now, he did not want any other man to have Ra-Eun because he liked her. Once he had come to realize his feelings, he decided to be honest with them.

“I swear my feelings for you are true,” Je-Woon declared.

He wanted to emphasize that his feelings were not fake in any way.

“And of course, I’m prepared to be turned down as well.”

Although he had confessed, it did not mean that Ra-Eun would accept his feelings. Even if they were to date, happiness wouldn’t be the only thing that came with it. No matter how one looked at it, a romantic relationship between a famous actress and an even more famous male idol...

‘It just spells disaster,’

Ra-Eun thought.

She could not imagine a happy ending for them. She had never intended to accept his confession from the start; she already had a set answer for men that confessed to her.

“Come back, please. We’ll put on your mics.”

However, a staff member called out to them before Ra-Eun had a chance to give Je-Woon an answer. Je-Woon got up from the bench first.

“Okay! We’re on our way!” he exclaimed. He then whispered to Ra-Eun, “You can give me your answer anytime. Don’t feel pressured to tell me.”

Je-Woon went on his way before people started to get suspicious. Ra-Eun sighed deeply as she watched him getting further away.

‘Does this body have a special ability that charms men or something?’

She wondered if she had checked off such a box on the Return Application Form.

***

The two of them were on the car ride home after the short lake park date. Ra-Eun found the situation rather awkward. She had not found it difficult to be under the same roof as Je-Woon from yesterday morning until now, and there was only one reason why her feelings managed to change in just one day.

‘This is all because of that damn confession.’

Ra-Eun knew that she needed to give Je-Woon an answer.

‘But there are way too many cameras.’

She wasn’t even able to bring it up in the car because there were cameras installed in there as well. Je-Woon also knew this, which was why he was not bringing it up on purpose. The staff members would end up finding out about his confession if he did.

The entertainment was a scary place; it only took a moment for such a thing to spread way beyond control. Reporters were on especially high alert for a scoop lately, so the story of Je-Woon’s confession to Ra-Eun would cause an uncontrollable storm if it managed to reach any one of them. It was such a sensitive topic that they did their best not to bring it up. In exchange, they decided to talk about something else.

“The parfait that we had earlier was delicious, wasn’t it?” Je-Woon asked.

“Yes, it was.”

“You had the chocolate vanilla parfait, right?”

“Yes. I love sweet things. You had the one with the ice cream in it, didn’t you?”

“Yeah. I may not look like it, but I absolutely love ice cream. But I barely have the chance to eat it after becoming an idol, so I try to eat as much as I can whenever I have the opportunity to.”

“Makes sense. Ice cream is the enemy of diets and maintaining a good figure.”

Ra-Eun also loved ice cream, but had no choice but to stay away from it whenever she was in the middle of shooting a drama or film. It could be considered one of celebrities’ worst hardships. They had talked about ice cream for the entire car ride home. They couldn’t talk in private in their home either since there were cameras all over the place.

Je-Woon mentioned while smiling awkwardly, “Why don’t we sleep early today?”

Their imaginary couple life would come to an end tomorrow. Ra-Eun and Je-Woon were the most popular couple out of the three, but they also did not have the time to stay on the show for any longer. They would only appear on the first and second episodes; they were not contracted to appear on more episodes after. Ra-Eun had to go back to her film shoots, and Je-Woon had to go back to working on his album.

This was their final night together, so it was a bit of a shame to end it so uneventfully. However, Ra-Eun nodded.

“Okay, sure.”

Je-Woon’s smile contained a hint of disappointment.

“Good night, Ra-Eun.”

“You too, sunbae.”

And with that, the two of them walked back to their own rooms.

***

Je-Woon could not fall asleep despite having laid down on his bed for over two hours.

‘Maybe I shouldn’t have done it.’

He had decided to be honest with his feelings and confessed, but waves of regret belatedly swept over him. Even confessions had aftereffects in the form of a relationship becoming awkward. Although there would be absolutely no problem if Ra-Eun accepted his feelings, Je-Woon could not see that happening. He had already resolved to be turned down; he knew exactly what Ra-Eun’s answer would be, but he had confessed to her anyway because—

“...?”

Je-Woon opened the eyes that he had just closed because he had felt a presence.

‘The door just slightly opened, didn’t it?’

He wondered if it had just been the wind, but he was sure that he had closed the window.

“...!”

The moment Je-Woon tried to lift his upper body because he felt something was off, he almost freaked out because he could sense something else besides him under his blanket. He was just as much of a scaredy cat as Ra-Eun.

“I-It can’t be a ghost, right...?”

Je-Woon’s mind was swarming with all kinds of thoughts. Such situations were very common in horror films. He was too scared to even look under his blanket. As his mind was on the verge of shutting down from fear, his blanket suddenly moved as if it was alive. A hand stretched out of nowhere and shut his mouth as he was about to shrink in fear and scream. It was far too beautiful to be a ghost.

“It’s me, sunbae.”

Je-Woon belatedly realized that it had been Ra-Eun who had infiltrated his bedroom. He opened his mouth once Ra-Eun removed her hand.

“Why are you—”

“Shh,” Ra-Eun said while hiding herself in Je-Woon’s blanket as much as possible. “Let’s talk somewhere else.”

Je-Woon glanced at the cameras that were installed in his room as Ra-Eun whispered to him. He realized that she was acting like this because of them, and then nodded.

“Okay. But where?”

Ra-Eun pointed upward, to the third floor.

“Come to the attic.”

Ra-Eun had unconsciously done two things as soon as she arrived at the villa yesterday morning. One was figuring out the locations of every single camera, and the other was figuring out where all the blind spots were. She had no underlying intention for such actions; it had simply become a habit after working as a bodyguard for so long. The only area besides the bathroom that did not have cameras installed was the attic on the third floor.

“I’ll get out first, so come out about ten minutes later and come to the attic after pretending to head to the bathroom.”

It would be far too suspicious if both of them came out of Je-Woon’s room together. Je-Woon nodded.

“...”

He stretched and pretended to go to the bathroom after exactly ten minutes. He was an actor as well as a singer, so this kind of performance was nothing for him. He sneaked to the stairs heading up to the attic after walking toward the bathroom. There were no more cameras from here onwards.

Je-Woon crouched and stuffed himself inside the small attic entrance. Ra-Eun, who had been inside waiting for him, handed him a canned coffee with a smile.

“Would you like one?”

“Thanks.”

Je-Woon usually didn’t drink coffee before bedtime, but he couldn’t refuse when Ra-Eun was the one offering it to him.

Crack!

Je-Woon opened the can and had a sip of the warm coffee. He was sure that Ra-Eun had not called him only to have some coffee together, and he already knew why.

“This is about my confession earlier, right?”

“Yes.”

“You didn’t have to go this far to tell me. I wouldn’t have minded if you’d given me your answer after we were out of here.”

“I wanted to give you my answer while we were still here, no matter what.”

Ra-Eun had no specific reason why; she just felt like it. Her answer to Je-Woon’s confession was already decided.

“I’m sorry, sunbae.”

She had decided that she couldn’t go out with him. Although Je-Woon had expected the answer, it would be a lie to say that he wasn’t disappointed. He smiled bitterly.

“Could you tell me why?”

“It’s because I don’t want to be in a relationship right now.”

“I see.”

Je-Woon had already known, since he could tell from Ra-Eun’s attitude all this time, and that had not changed even recently.

Ra-Eun remarked, “It seems you already knew that I would turn you down.”

“Yeah.”

“Then why did you still confess to me?”

This was the thing that Ra-Eun had wanted to know the most, as well as why she had lured him all the way up here. However, Je-Woon’s answer was completely unexpected to her.

“To put myself up for candidacy in advance.”

“Pardon? Candidacy?”

“I confessed to you because you’d at least be reminded of me when the time comes that you want to date someone,” Je-Woon explained. He then got up from his seat and said while raising his coffee can, “I’ll be going back first. Let’s both do our best on our final day.”

“Okay. Good night, sunbae.”

After sending Je-Woon off, Ra-Eun sighed as she fiddled around with the ends of her hair. Only she herself would know what that sigh meant.