Five
Ironic BindIn front of her full-body mirror, Hyun Ae held two hangers of clothing – one in each hand – attempting some mix-and-matches. She would bring a top piece of clothing to her upper body, and a skirt or trousers in front of her legs. Her wardrobe was almost empty. Instead, her study chair and bed were covered with clothes.
She sighed slightly at her wardrobe choices. Only now that she saw that her wardrobe was relatively plain. She did not bring many clothes to her apartment, assuming that she would always wear the same clothes, and she would not mind about it.
Ever since she went out with Changhyun, she would feel inferior at times that she would not look nice to him because there were no varieties with her outfit. She looked again at her wardrobe colour. Most of them were of earth tones – black, dark brown, navy blue, emerald green, and grey to name a few. The only accessories that could become a contrast to her outfit were her handbags.
Of course, she would want to look attractive to her partner. But the sight of her wardrobe made her sigh.
‘Should I buy new clothes?’ she thought.
She brought herself to her study desk, removed the pile of clothing from her chair, and made herself seated. She pulled out her monthly budget planner from the first drawer of the study desk, along with a case that contains some money. With the reference to her bank account, she calculated how much cash she had left. The only income that she had during her university semester was the monthly allowance that Dad gave her. She had allocated the allowance for apartment rental, house necessities, groceries, university needs, leisure uses, and miscellaneous things. She also had some extra cash from her previous part-time jobs, but she strictly disciplined herself that it could only be used for emergency purposes.
After doing some calculations, it turned out she had more than enough cash for leisure spending. She was thinking to buy some new clothes, at least for her summer outfit.
‘May also be regarded as a self-reward. I want to look nice to Changhyun, too.’
‘Changhyun’.
Even his name made her smile. It would be Wednesday the following day. They had agreed to meet every Tuesday and Wednesday. Weirdly enough, Changhyun actually had a car to commute to and fro his university. When Hyun Ae asked why she never saw Changhyun drive it, he replied that it was not his car – it was his uncle’s. Apparently, his uncle asked him to use the car to avoid it from being unused while the uncle went for some short-term courses overseas.
Hyun Ae got reminded a month prior – to their 50th day together. She had bought some ice cream from her favourite store to mini-celebrate their event.
“I’m sorry that this is so simple,” Hyun Ae said while watching Changhyun. He was savouring what he claimed to be his favourite flavours: vanilla, and mint chocolate chip.
Changhyun brushed it off, saying, “This is fine. To be honest I don’t even remember that it’s already our 50th day together.” He sheepishly smiled.
Hyun Ae managed a contented smile at his response, glad to see that her partner did not seem appalled at such a minimal event. When she realized that Changhyun almost finished his share, but she had not begun eating, she began to scoop some of her strawberry ice cream and shoved it into .
“Ah,” Changhyun exclaimed, seeming to have remembered something, “I have something to tell you. I should mention it while we’re meeting face-to-face like this.”
“What is it?” Hyun Ae asked.
“I’ve been thinking…” he paused, trying to get Hyun Ae’s attention, which he succeeded when Hyun Ae peeked at him while still scooping up her ice cream from the ice cream cup, “…from now on, you should call me ‘Ricky’.”
Hyun Ae could be seen furrowing her eyebrows. Almost instinctively, her pupils went up, trying to make the connection between the name ‘Changhyun’ and the name ‘Ricky’… and also trying to make sense of the sudden request.
“'Changhyun’, ‘Changhyun’, ‘Changhyun’,” she chanted, still deep in her thought. Even her hand stopped from scooping out her ice cream from her ice cream cup.
To be honest, she liked the name; mentioning the name felt like it rolled out smoothly from her tongue. Plus, she never came across someone else with the same name. ‘Why does he want an English name?’ Hyun Ae wondered.
She blurted it out anyway, “I like your real name; it’s nice. But what’s the significance with ‘Ricky’?”
“Oh, because…” Changhyun – or Ricky – paused. This time, he was the one who brought his eyes to look up, possibly trying to track down the origin of the name. “My friend came up with it. He liked that our circle of friends have a nickname. And now my family members and close friends address me by that name.”
Hyun Ae was about to ask some questions – which circle of friends? Is it his university colleagues, or high school, or middle school friends? Has it been long since he was addressed with the name ‘Ricky’? At that moment, too, it crossed her mind that Changhyun never openly discussed about his friends.
She did not have the chance to ask, however, when Changhyun playfully leaned to her and place his hand over the side of his mouth, imitating a whisper to her ear, “Only the ones I’m comfortable with, though.”
Hyun Ae felt like her face flare up with embarrassment. She managed to catch Changhyun’s cheeky gaze – looking almost seductive. She tried to hide the embarrassment by shoving more ice cream into , but she was sure that she could not hide the expression from appearing on her face. Her heart fluttered at the privilege she was given.
So now, it had been a month since she used the new name. She had also been addressing him as ‘Oppa’, seeing how it was appropriate since they were in a relationship. Ricky did not seem to mind at all.
‘Alright, so I should tell him that I want to go to the department store tomorrow after class,’ she thought to herself.
She removed the pile of clothing that was occupying her bed throughout her mix-and-match attempts. Eager to send texts to Ricky, she simply placed the pile on her chair, leaving the clothes unfolded. She then threw her body onto her bed, opened Kakaotalk app to exchange texts with her partner, all the while with an elated smile on her face.
[29.10.2021]
I just finished looking at the previous chapters and made a few additions and changes. I'm having a brief hiatus soon, but I'll try my best to post at least a chapter before November ends.
I just finished looking at the previous chapters and made a few additions and changes. I'm having a brief hiatus soon, but I'll try my best to post at least a chapter before November ends.
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