I Unknowingly Rejected My Favorite

༺ A Cruel Fairy Tale ༻

The stream ended at midnight.

After the four-hour stream, Luka made her closing remarks.

「Pink Army! Thank you for congratulating me!」

Hearing her words, the Pink Army spammed ‘Don’t go’ while adding crying Pink Army emojis.

Obviously, I was among those guys who did.

「Oh, c’mon~ Even Cinderella disappears at midnight, so isn’t it fitting~?」

「‘Do you want to go for the second round, my lady?’ No, I don’t~! This Princess wanna go home~」

「Anyway, you’ll see me streaming again on Monday anyway! It isn’t like I’m graduating or something!」

In the end, because of her indulging the chat in their jokes, Doah didn’t end her stream in time, and was only able to do it ten minutes later.

Haah… that was such a good stream, though~

I got to witness all of her cute reactions~ It made me wonder if today was actually my birthday instead~

Like, seriously, she was just too cute!

Well, her cutesy act might turned off some people, but who the fuck cared about them?

The otaku in me kept on spamming ‘cute’ to everything she did. If anything, her cutesy act was a grand feast for me!

That aside, the air felt chilly for some reason…

Yeah, I had a cold and all, but I’ve already put on my jacket, you know? It shouldn’t feel this chilly.

Maybe my cold was worse than I thought, considering that I had a runny nose.

The culprit of the cold that came to mind also arrived at the same time.

[oppa! what time should we meet tomorrow?]

I picked up my buzzing phone, hesitating to reply for a moment.

Wouldn’t it be better to meet in the evening?

Considering my physical condition, and the mood in general… yeah, the evening it is.

[Around 5 maybe?]

[alright, hehe~]

By the way, I gave you a dono earlier.

I typed that in, but I deleted it instead of sending it.

Actually, I didn’t need to do that since I already had a present for her, but when I watched her stream, I just couldn’t hold myself back!

I wanted Luka to call my name so badly!

Of course, to her, I was just one among thousands of her fans, but which Pink Army wasn’t aware of that fact?

Being a fan didn’t mean that I was hoping for something in return.

I liked her, that was all.

Since that was the case, I figured I’d do that to cheer her on.

 [Did you have fun today?]

[yes! my friends congratulated me so much! it was fun!]

[Did you get a lot of gifts?]

[i got too many! Seriously, they love me a little too much!]

My mind replayed the part of the stream when she was struggling because she couldn’t read all the donos that she got. I involuntarily let out a smile.

[You seem to be popular, Doah.]

[nah, im not! all i do is play games at home! that word fits someone like minji more]

Woman, thousands of people said ‘Happy Birthday’ to you. If that wasn’t popular, what was?

I had never even gotten more than twenty happy birthdays.

[I guess comparing you to Minji does feel a bit overkill.]

Minji was an irl reaction queen. 

Sometimes, it felt like she came straight out of an anime.

[by the way, oppa. where are we going to meet tomorrow?]

[Let’s meet in front of our house and go downtown.]

[ohh! i assume we’ll be going to a certain place there~?]

Before this, I tried to look for a reputable Japanese Restaurant on my own.

Since Luka mentioned that she liked Japanese food, there was no way that I’d miss with my choice.

[Yeah.]

[where is it?]

[It’s a secret. I want to make a surprise.]

[really? you know my expectations will be doubled if you put it like that, right?]

…Actually, should I just tell her instead?

The sudden pressure made me think to just tell her everything, but I wouldn’t indulge in such a cowardly behavior.

[Of course. Look forward to it, okay?]

After that, I sent a ‘Leave it to me!’ sticker as a follow up, and Doah immediately replied…

[i’ll leave it to you~! ♥]

She sent me a heart…

I did hear that girls would send the heart emoji without much thought, but…

For some reason, I felt ticklish…

I tried to not think much about it, but I couldn’t lie and say that it didn’t make me happy.

In fact, I kept on re-reading that one particular text, over and over.

[Yeah! See you tomorrow!]

“Achooo!”

When I noticed that my runny nose got worse, I immediately pulled up my blanket so that I could feel better.

* * *

Kim Doah, 21 years old.

Standing in front of the dressing table with a tablet on the side, I held a pencil with a determined look on my face.

[Alright, everyone. Here’s today’s makeup tutorial!]

The tablet was playing the beauty video that I had been watching religiously before I went to sleep last night.

It was time for me to replicate it in real life.

Because today, I had a goal.

A self-imposed mission!

And the goal was…

[To go out looking as pretty as possible.]

I was trying to match the occasion since it was my birthday, but the bigger reason as for why was the conversation I had with Oppa.

He said he was preparing a surprise for me! I wasn’t dreaming! He did say that!

Well, technically, it wasn’t my birthday anymore, so the first reason was null, but I still had to look pretty because he went out of his way to do all that for me!

Anyway, it was my first time trying out this style, so it looked a little awkward, but it should be okay, right…?

After diligently following the video instructions, I turned my head right and left to check myself in the mirror.

Well, there wasn’t anything else I could do at this point anyway.

When I checked the time on my phone, I noticed a bunch of missed call notifications. I hurriedly unlocked my phone.

It seemed like Taemin oppa had been calling me every ten minutes.

During the stream yesterday, I put my phone on mute and I forgot to unmute it since, that was why it didn’t ring at all.

I called him in a hurry.

「Hello?」

「Hello.」

The voice that came from the other end sounded so unfamiliar to the point that I thought I made a wrong call for a moment there.

「Yes, Oppa?」

「Doah, I’m so sorry…」

His voice was very hoarse.

「I don’t think… I can go today.」

A cough followed after that. Was he sick?

「Did you catch a cold?」

「Yeah… maybe because of the weather yesterday…」

I felt guilty.

He probably caught the cold from me.

If only I didn’t ask him to hold my hand back then…

My mind replayed that particular memory and my heart started to beat faster. Trying to brush it off, I made my voice sound as calm as possible.

「It’s okay, we can go out together after you get better. I’ll buy you some porridge.」

「No, no, you don’t need to come.」

Not listening.

The other day you also ignored me and visited anyways!

You weren’t the only one who wanted to look cool!

「What flavor do you like?」

「No, seriously…」

His cracked voice convinced me to visit him even more.

「If you don’t tell me, I’ll just grab anything I can find.」

Oppa paused for a while. 

「…Beef and vegetable porridge.」

「Alright, wait a bit then.」

I did feel disappointed because this meant I wasted my makeup, but my guilt was bigger than that.

There was a porridge shop near the bus stop.

So, I placed an order over the phone, hurried downstairs to get the food, and immediately headed to Oppa’s house when I got it.

  -Knock, knock, knock

“Oppa, open the door, please.”

After waiting a bit, a handsome man with dark circles under his eyes came out from the other side of the door.

“…I told you not to come.”

“Are you going to keep me standing here?”

After he let me come in, I took the container out of the bag and placed it inside a bowl.

“You caught the cold from me, didn’t you?”

“…No.”

His voice was hoarse.

It seemed like his cold was worse than mine.

“What if you caught it again?”

“Since I caught it once already, I’d be immune to it for a while.”

I didn’t know if it was true or not, but I wouldn’t just back down because he told me to.

Besides, I was supposed to spend the day with him.

The only thing that was different was how we spent it.

Also, I thought that I should return the favor anyway.

I put the bowl on the tray, dragged a chair with me and sat next to his bed.

“Can you eat by yourself?”

“Don’t worry about it… I don’t have an appetite anyway…”

“Have you eaten something today?”

“…No.”

When I heard his answer, I took a big scoop of porridge and held it out in front of Oppa.

“Say ah~”

He only stared blankly at me, and only when I told him to quickly get up using my chin did he finally sit up.

Then, I gently fed him with the spoon.

“…How was it? Tasty?”

“Thank you.”

He didn’t answer my question, instead he expressed his gratitude while letting out a weak smile.

“Ah… seriously. I wanted to celebrate your birthday with you today…”

“Well, you texted me yesterday, so it’s fine. It’s the thought that counts anyway.”

“Still, I feel it’s such a shame.”

His slightly loose white shirt revealed the collarbone underneath it.

The dark circles around his eyes, and the smile he was wearing…

It turned me on a little…

No, no! Bad thoughts go away! I busily moved the spoon again.

Kim Doah, he was sick! Get your mind out of the gutter!

“Say ah~”

“Say ah, Oppa. Open your mouth.”

“Oh my~ You’re eating well~”

“D-Doah. I’m done eating now.”

“Say ah~”

After scooping the last drop of the porridge and putting it in his mouth, I finally felt at ease.

“Have you taken your meds?”

“I took one in the morning.”

“Take another one then since it’s dinner already.”

When I got up from the chair and looked at his desk, there were the pills that he gave me.

“Here.”

After he obediently took his meds, Oppa laid back in his bend.

“You should go back to sleep now.”

“I took the pill, so I’d sleep soon anyway…”

“Then I’ll just watch until you fall asleep and go.”

“You don’t need to watch me.”

“Just let me be~ We’re supposed to go on a date today, anyway.”

After hearing my words, Oppa pointed his finger toward the bookshelf.

“There.”

When I turned my head, I could see a box that was wrapped neatly there.

“This?”

“Yes. A gift.”

I grabbed the box and sat down again. What was inside, hm?

It was heavier than I thought…

Seriously, what was it?

“Can I open it?”

He nodded in affirmation.

After I slowly tore off the wrapper, I could see a small lamp inside.

“Woah, it looks nice…”

This light pink lamp matched my signature color well.

It aligned with my taste perfectly!

Oppa’s sense of taste was just amazing.

I didn’t expect him to be such an attentive person.

“Thank you, Oppa.”

“Do you like it?”

“Yes. I think I’ll put this on my bedside drawer.”

“I’m glad to hear that.”

He smiled again.

Ah, I can’t stand it anymore!

Screw it! I knew you were a patient, but screw it!

“…Can I hold your hand before you sleep?”

“You’re going to catch a cold again.”

“Sir, you canceled my birthday date, you have no right to stop me.”

It was a cheap move, but now I just wanted to fulfill my greed.

“Are you sure?”

“Yes.”

Oppa’s hand crept out of the blanket.

And just like that, he slowly fell asleep as he shared his warmth with me.

His breathing became steady.

Once I was sure that he had fallen into a deep sleep, I wiped the sweat off his forehead and got ready to leave.

Not getting a date with him was disappointing, but overall, it wasn’t such a bad day.

I was sure that this would become a beautiful memory that I’d be able to look back on later.

Or that was the case, until I opened Oppa’s computer.

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