My Ex-Girlfriend Regrets Dumping Me

20 – Anxious Heart (2)

“…Oppa, I’m scared. Can you hold my hand?”

Jia imitated a trembling voice and whispered to Gunyul.

He could feel his heart pounding.

He reached out his hand and placed it in Gunyul’s hand, providing reassurance instead of a response.

A warm and affectionate touch.

Jia thought she had made a good choice in selecting a thriller movie.

Her hands trembled with an exhilarating thrill of things unfolding as she expected.

“Are you okay? Can we not go if you’re not feeling well?”

“…Yes… I’m fine…”

Suppressing the urge to burst into laughter, she continued acting scared.

It felt like her act was about to break when he showed concern for her.

…It’s not scary at all. It’s harder than I thought to pretend to be scared.

Jia glanced sideways at Gun-yul.

He casually held her hand and focused on the movie without a care in the world.

He was truly innocent.

She worried that revealing her true feelings might make him slightly resentful.

“Let’s just go with something scary. That way, we can have an excuse to lean on each other. Okay?”

“I’m not really scared of horror or thriller movies.”

“Oh, Jia. You don’t have to actually be scared. It’s all about creating the atmosphere. Atmosphere is what matters!”

The conversation she had with Seo-yeon while selecting the movie came to mind.

When she mentioned wanting to get closer on this date, it was Seo-yeon’s advice.

In fact, Jia was quite strong when it came to thrillers or horror films.

Even back in school, when they played horror movies in class and others would shiver, she enjoyed them.

Rather than being scared, she was more interested in them.

She wondered what would happen in the next scene, and that suited her well.

[Oh no! I hate it. Don’t come near me! Don’t come!]

Even as the movie pushed the boundaries of thrills, her mind remained peaceful.

If she were watching it at home, she would have been thoroughly entertained.

However, this level of intensity wasn’t enough for her to feel the satisfaction of watching a scary movie.

To be honest, before coming here, she had only planned to hold hands at most. But now that they were holding hands, she wanted to go further.

“Heek… ugh… it’s so terrifying…”

She acted as a scared girl, her voice mixed with cuteness.

That way, Gun-yul would hold onto her hand even tighter.

Internally, she anticipated the moment when a powerful scene would come up.

“It should happen around now.”

She should have expected the highlight scene to come around this time, having grown accustomed to thriller films.

Given the atmosphere, the cruelest and most frightening scene should come now.

The movie’s background music gradually changed into eerie sounds.

As the scene reached its climax, Ji Ah began counting silently.

“This is it. 3. 2. 1.”

Crunch-

The unpleasant sound of flesh being torn is heard.

As the women in the theater began to scream, she too let out a scream.

“Ahhhhh!”

Then, pretending to be scared, she hugged Geonyul’s shoulders and arms tightly.

Geonyul’s faint and comforting scent stimulated her nose.

An addictive fragrance that she wanted to continue to smell.

When Geonyul suddenly hugged her, Ji-ah was bewildered, but soon he started patting her head that was resting on his shoulder.

And he whispered in her ear.

“It’s okay, Ji-ah. It’s over.”

“…I-It’s over?”

“Yeah. It’s too horrific. Really. It’s different from the reviews and I’m scared too.”

Every time his whispered breath touched her ear, her body shivered.

A tingling sensation and a sort of pleasure came over her.

Geonyul’s warm body temperature transmitted to her and Ji Ah instinctively felt that he was aware of her consciousness.

It was a sensation that was easily felt as a beautiful woman.

Ji-Ah was aware to some extent that she was pretty.

People around her often complimented her for being cute and pretty.

When she was around, she could feel the attention from men.

Even though the movie theater wasn’t particularly hot, her face blushed slightly.

And she was awkward about where to place her hands.

It was the same reaction as that of an ordinary man, but Ji-Ah felt that Geonyul was endlessly cute.

“….Oppa. I will be like this for a moment… I’m really scared…”

“Okay. Do what you need to until you feel better.”

It seemed like the first button of their date was well fastened.

Her laughter burst out as Geonyul’s hand gently patted her back.

In order to hide that sight from Geonyul, Jia kept burying her head deeper and deeper into his shoulder.

*

I was waiting for Jia in front of the women’s restroom after coming out of the movie theater.

Jia, who came out after fixing her makeup, soon revealed herself from the restroom.

“Sorry. Am I late?”

“No, it’s alright. But are you feeling a little better now? You were shivering until I came out earlier.”

“Yes. I feel a little calmer now because you were by my side.”

Even when the movie ended and we were outside, Jia was still trembling, holding onto my arm and leaning on me because she couldn’t walk properly.

I wondered if I had chosen the wrong movie.

I should have just let Jia watch a harmless movie of her choice.

I honestly didn’t know she would be this scared.

Thankfully she didn’t burst into tears because her expression was constantly on the verge of crying.

It would have been really difficult if she had.

“Next time, let’s not watch anything scary. Okay?”

“…But it was still fun. For me.”

“The person who says it was fun is burying their head all day after watching the movie?”

“I can’t help it, it’s scary… Come on, be understanding.”

As I made a sarcastic remark, Jia pouted and turned her head, cheeks puffed out.

Despite the running time not being short, it was late afternoon when we came out, but the time had already turned into evening.

I asked Jia if she wanted to go for a meal.

“So, are we going to eat now?”

“Yes. I made a reservation. Let’s go there.”

.

.

.

.

The place Jia headed towards was a restaurant in the city center, just as she said.

It was a place with sophisticated interior design focused on western-style cuisine.

Where Ji-ah and I sat was on the second floor, where we could have a view of the city center at a glance.

“The atmosphere here is really nice, isn’t it?”

“Yeah. The sunset outside is so beautiful.”

As evening approached, the sun was setting beyond the floor-to-ceiling glass windows.

I thought it was a good idea to leave the choice of venue to Ji-ah.

Although I had looked up a few places, none had such a good ambiance.

As we were enjoying the scenery outside, our ordered dishes arrived and were placed in front of us.

“Wow, it looks delicious.”

Ji-ah’s eyes lit up as she looked at the pasta in front of her.

I calmly cut into my reasonably priced steak without feeling overwhelmed.

“You know that movie we watched earlier? Honestly, I think the direction was well done. The story was quite predictable though.”

“Yeah, you’re right. The content was easily foreseeable, especially when it came to betrayal by women and such.”

We began discussing the movie we had seen earlier while having our meal.

During our conversation, I felt something strange.

A fleeting glance toward my hand.

‘…What’s going on?’

It happened more than once, so I followed Ji-ah’s gaze and noticed that she was glancing at me whenever I cut into the steak.

Perhaps she also wanted to try it.

There were quite a few girls who liked to taste various things.

With a gesture, I suggested to her.

“Do you want to try this too?”

When I cut a piece of steak and offered it to her, Ji-ah gulped and said to me.

“No, it’s okay. I’m full just with this.”

Her shifting gaze seemed to suggest something else.

Seeing that, it reminded me of an incident with Ha-yeon.

She also tried to eat as little as possible when she was with me.

Girls naturally reduce the amount they eat in front of someone they like.

…It’s not necessary though.

Fascinated by Ji-ah’s contrasting words and actions, I felt an urge to feed her the steak.

“Really? No. I’m just full, that’s all. Besides, it would be a waste if there are leftovers with the price being what it is.”

In truth, that was unlikely.

The amount we had eaten today would barely fill a few popcorn crumbs.

The portions served in places like an Italian restaurant were significantly smaller for an adult male.

But I only said that because it seemed like Jia would eat this way.

“…..Is that so?”

Is she feeling cold?

Another drop of saliva falls from her mouth.

No matter how you look at it, it didn’t seem like Jia disliked food.

She hesitated for a moment, then lifted her head again with excitement.

“Yeah. No, it’s fine.”

“You’re really okay? This tastes delicious, Jia.”

The more she avoids it, the more I am compelled to push back.

I want to somehow make her eat the steak.

Please, if you want to eat, just say that you want to eat honestly.

But even when I say this, Jia looks steadily into my face.

And she points to the steak on my fork with her finger.

“…..Then please feed me. That one.”

With a slightly blushing cheek, she opens her mouth in an adorable way.