WE TRIED TRANSLATIONS

Translator: ZERO_SUGAR

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◈ My Platinum-Blonde Childhood Friend Is Too Pretty ◈

Chapter 127: 51. A Husband Who Enlisted, a Wife Left Behind

──────

February already. I couldn't believe it.

Time had always had a way of vanishing whenever I was with Elli, but ever since we filed our marriage registration and became spouses on paper, the evaporation had only accelerated.

Not that anything had actually changed, given that we'd already been living like a married couple long before that.

We treated the friends and the hyungs and noonas who had helped with Elli's proposal to a meal, and whenever Elli stopped by a photo shoot or the gym, she'd slip it into conversation almost casually.

"We filed our marriage registration, by the way."

A brag, and a warning to anyone watching, all in one.

"Oh my, congratulations~"

The shopping mall owner absolutely gushed over the news, praised them to pieces and said she was so happy for them, then gently worked on Elli a little.

"Once you have a baby, how about the three of you do a family shoot? We'd enshrine it right on our site. Do-yoon, you, and your little one, all yours to keep."

"Are you a genius?"

"Oh, it's nothing. So you'll keep working with us until then, right? That shameless... ho ho, I heard a rumor that someone from a neighboring agency tried to poach you... hmm?"

"We'll see about that."

"Elli, come on~ We've got history together~"

"I'll look at the contract next time and we can talk."

"...How did our little treasure grow up to be so sharp? Obviously we're going to draw up a completely new contract when the time comes. So..."

Elli tended to go soft for people she'd grown close to, which made her firm response all the more surprising. Later I asked her why.

"We need a wedding ceremony, a house, and money to raise a baby. We have to start saving properly now. If we don't, when are we ever going to have the ceremony?"

"Ah... should I just trust our honey to handle the finances from here on out?"

"Yes. Trust me and hand it all over."

That's what she said.

Anyway.

That was about as far as our outings went. Our external activities, that is.

Everything else, we stayed home. Time felt too precious to waste.

We were genuinely glued to each other twenty-four hours a day, and we managed every date from the apartment. Singing together, watching television, drawing, skinship, all of it.

I'd taken a military leave of absence from university, so there wasn't much reason for me to go out, and Elli was two hundred percent content with that arrangement too. We spent a genuinely happy stretch of time together.

And then, before either of us noticed, the enlistment date crept up on us.

Right now.

"......"

-stroke, stroke...

The day before enlistment.

Elli's eyes were rimmed red as she ran her hand again and again over my freshly buzzed head.

* * *

After getting my hair cut early that morning, we had a steady stream of visitors throughout the day.

Elli had been keeping the door firmly shut to everyone until now, but I'd announced that today we were opening it up, and a gratifying number of people showed up.

My parents and Elli's family, who had agreed to come see me off to the base the next day, well, I supposed I should start calling them my in-laws now. Auntie Ye-rin and Uncle Mark. Then Lee So-yeon and Joo Hye-ryeong, who came partly to cheer Elli up.

Jeong-woo hyung came with tips about military life. Bini-noona stopped by with a warm send-off and told me to take care of myself.

Then there were my high school friends: Jin-woo and Chae-hwan, both of whom were due to enlist themselves before long, and Minjae, who'd come all the way out here even though he'd be enlisting in the Air Force soon. And Seong-jun, the only one of my university classmates who'd ever been to our place.

The guys had come partly to commiserate over the enlistment they'd all be facing soon enough, but either way I was genuinely grateful that they'd made the time.

I couldn't have gone out to meet them even if I'd wanted to. Elli had me pinned.

-stroke, strooke...

"You seem to like my hair."

"...Not really."

"Then why do you keep petting it?"

"......"

After all the guests left, Elli pulled me into a hug from the front, pressed my face into her chest, and started stroking my head again.

She'd called it cute the moment she saw it at the salon. Did she actually mean it?

Honestly, it felt so bare to me. Throughout my life I'd gone through countless hairstyles to suit Elli's tastes, but of course I'd never had it this short before. The sensation was strange, and the mirror felt even stranger.

But I didn't want to worry Elli when she was already a little down, so I just held her and pretended everything was fine.

Elli seemed to feel the same way.

"......"

She couldn't hide the shadow that had settled over her face, but she didn't let herself mope or show her sadness beyond that. So I wouldn't worry.

Maybe she was managing all that grief and reluctance by occupying herself with something harmless, like playing with my hair.

Otherwise there was no way a buzz cut this short could possibly be--

-peck

"Mmh... E, Elli?"

"...It really is cute."

"......"

Maybe it genuinely was her type.

Well, if Elli liked it, I liked it. I'd never really cared much about my own style or look anyway. I'd always just done whatever Elli wanted.

That evening, after all the guests were gone.

Elli had been wandering around in a half-dazed state, stroking my head, pressing small kisses to it, murmuring that it was cute. Then night fell, and when we sat across from each other on the bed--

"......"

-peck!

She cupped my face in her hands and kissed me, soft and gentle.

And then, with none of the gloom she'd had at lunch, she looked at me with a calm, steady expression and began to speak.

"Lee Do-yoon. Listen carefully."

"Yeah."

"If you get hurt, you're dead. If you get sick, you're dead."

"I'm absolutely not getting hurt or sick."

"And when you make your first call..."

"It'll be to you, obviously."

"No. Call your mother before me. She'll be worrying a lot."

"Is that okay?"

"It's not just okay, it's what you should do. The first and second weekends after you leave, I'll be with your mom all day. That's when the first call is most likely to come, apparently."

"Alright. I'll do that."

Elli was remarkably composed compared to earlier. So much so that I couldn't tell whether she was only keeping it together on the outside, or whether she'd genuinely settled herself inside too.

Clear eyes. Those blue eyes, meeting mine without flinching.

"I'll do one more check on your bag tomorrow morning, so take your time getting up. I'll drive, so don't worry about that either."

"Thank you. I'm counting on you."

"You can't wear accessories anyway, so just take the couple rings separately. Don't lose them."

"I'd never lose them. I'll be careful."

I kissed this devoted, lovely princess of mine first this time.

-peck

"Wait for me here. I'll be back before you know it."

"Come back fast. And make sure you get assigned to the base in Yongsan. If not that, then Gyeonggi-do at least. Daegu is off the table."

"That's entirely up to luck, apparently... I'll do my best."

With that playful little grumble she let me close the distance between us again and again. Then we wrapped our arms around each other and lay down in bed.

Tonight, for once, we didn't make love.

We didn't want to leave either of our conditions off-balance, mine for checking into the training center tomorrow, and Elli's for the long drive ahead.

We just lay there, eyes closed, feeling each other's warmth.

Without saying out loud what we both knew: that we wouldn't be able to lie in this same bed together for a long time.

I stroked her beautiful platinum hair, the hair I knew would float in front of my eyes every night starting tomorrow.

* * *

The morning of enlistment day.

We got up early.

We kept breakfast light, just cereal so it wouldn't sit heavy, took one last shower together, which naturally ran long, did a final check on the bag, and headed out.

"Oh, Mom. We're about to leave. Yeah. See you there."

I called the family who'd said they'd come see me off before we got in the car.

"We're here!"

"How are you feeling?"

Then we picked up Lee So-yeon and Joo Hye-ryeong, who'd insisted on coming to see me off, and fit them into the back seat before setting off for Nonsan.

The mood in the car wasn't as heavy as I'd expected.

Elli drove with a calm expression, talking lively with the two in the back.

"I heard all the restaurants near Nonsan are bad."

"Oh! I heard that too! What are you two going to do about food? Did you pack lunch?"

"Our moms are making lunch boxes to bring. We'll eat those before going in."

She was even more composed than yesterday. More steady.

Last summer she'd been ready to have a baby just to keep me from leaving. Even yesterday evening she'd had a shadow over her face. But now that the actual day had come, she seemed to have shaken it off entirely, a small smile resting quietly on her lips.

If anything, I was the one who'd woken up with a slightly stiff face, quietly burning inside.

I was keeping my mouth curved up somehow, but it was a struggle to hold the expression.

Not only was I the one actually going in, but the thought that I wouldn't be seeing Elli starting tonight, not until training ended, hit me fresh every single second.

Yesterday had been fine, more or less. But now that the day was actually here, my head felt foggy and I couldn't settle down.

It was like anxiety had scooped out everything inside me and left me hollow.

'...Five weeks of not being allowed outside, not being able to see family. Is this real?'

I'd grown up like a flower in a greenhouse, surrounded by family and Elli's love, so the idea of not being able to see the people I loved hadn't really sunk in. And whenever it started to, fear rushed in to fill the gap.

As a result, for the two-plus hour drive to Nonsan, I was the only one in the car who couldn't get a single word out.

"Should we still get the Ray? It's cute, and the back seat is comfortable enough."

"It's decent, but..."

"Ray's nice. But if you're planning to drive out to the countryside like us, keep that in mind. Last time we made it to Busan in ten hours because we were taking it nice and slow, and that was fine for us, but a long highway drive in that car is going to be rough on your body."

"Maybe we'd take it as slow as you guys?"

"...No. Even so, I don't think it'd take us ten hours like them. I'll have to think on it more."

The three of them seemed to pick up that I wasn't in any shape to join the conversation and chatted among themselves without pulling me in. I was so grateful for that.

We arrived at the training center and climbed out of the car, and as soon as we started walking, a sea of fellow buzz-cut recruits and their families swept past and glanced our way.

Elli was conspicuous, but so were Lee So-yeon and Joo Hye-ryeong. Those kinds of stares had never really bothered me before, and right now I was in even less of a state to register them.

"Lee Do-yoon. Hold my hand and stay close."

"...Okay."

I just trailed after Elli in a daze.

Eventually the family who'd come from the other direction arrived and we all joined up.

"Son, are you hungry? Should we eat the lunch boxes now?"

"I only packed things that are easy on the stomach, so just say the word. Our son-in-law needs to eat when he's comfortable."

"Hmm... not yet, I think. I feel like it'd just upset my stomach."

"Then eat later, or if it's too much, don't force it. Eating under stress will just make things worse."

"But you'll be hungry..."

Neither Mom nor Auntie Ye-rin had their usual high energy. Both of them fussed over me with faces full of worry.

Up until that point I was still managing. The unreality of it hadn't left me.

I was floating, a little untethered, while everyone gathered close around me, filling the air with worried words and warm wishes. I answered them all in a fog.

Then an announcement came through the speakers, telling us the induction ceremony would begin shortly.

That's when my chest tightened.

My throat started to close up too, but I forced a smile onto my face.

"Our son will do just fine, obviously, but... please take care of yourself..."

"Sniff... our son-in-law... our son... if anything hurts, make sure to say you need to see a doctor... and if it's really too much, you can always come back out... okay?"

"Of course. I'll be careful."

Mom's eyes went red, and Auntie Ye-rin, who was less of a mother-in-law and more genuinely a second mother to me in every way that counted, let her tears fall.

"Come back safe. Don't think about anything else, just take care of your body like your mom said."

"Do-yoon. If you want to take Elli away with you someday, you can't afford to get hurt. No injuries. She'll cry."

"Yes sir. I'll come back in one piece."

Dad and Uncle Mark each put a hand on my shoulder.

"I don't know what to do... I think I'm going to cry right now... Do-yoon, stay healthy and come back safe..."

"...Take care of yourself like everyone's saying. Don't get hurt. You know if you do, Elli is going to be an absolute wreck, right...? And I'll be angry too."

"I know. Thank you both for coming all this way. Please take care of Elli while I'm gone."

I said my goodbyes to the friends who'd made the trip to Nonsan, and I was more grateful than I could say.

Last of all.

She had been quiet the whole time, standing just one step behind me, doing nothing but holding my hand.

My beloved platinum-blonde wife.

"El... mmph...!"

"...mwah..."

She wrapped her arms around my neck and kissed me, deep and sure.

Right there in the middle of everything. In front of family, in front of friends, in front of the other recruits and their families whose eyes had already been pulled toward her platinum hair.

Without a hint of hesitation.

I pulled her in by the waist and kissed her back. Not too short. Not too long.

A kiss full of love.

Afterward Elli rested one hand against my cheek, pressed her forehead to mine, and spoke.

Without crying. With the beautiful smile I loved so much.

"Go on. I'll be waiting at home. We'll see each other during visitation, but when you come out on leave I'll plan something special, all the things you love. Look forward to that and keep going."

From behind those soft red lips, her voice came out clear and steady and lovely, and it wrapped around me.

None of the noise around us reached me in that moment. Only Elli's voice did.

And with it, the tightness in my chest eased. The anxious pounding quieted.

The thought came to me that my girlfriend was smiling and sending me off like this, so I had no business looking miserable. That thought gave me strength.

Thanks to that, the smile I gave her back wasn't forced. It came from somewhere real.

"I'm off. I love you, Elli."

"I love you too. See you later."

"Yeah."

-peck

One more kiss from Elli.

Her blue eyes and beautiful platinum hair filled my vision and burned themselves into me.

So sharp and vivid they would never fade from my memory, not in five weeks, not in five years.

That was the last of it. I picked up my bag and walked down to the field below.

To the sound of a sweeping march and the announcer's voice, I joined the rows of other recruits and went through the induction ceremony.

My eyes never left Elli the entire time.

Even in the shade of the stands her platinum hair caught the light, so finding her was never the question.

But it was only a moment.

As the ceremony ended and we were guided inside, I left behind the sight of Elli waving from a distance, her expression composed and calm.

And I became a recruit.

'I miss Elli.'

One second apart and I already missed her.

Still.

...Deep breath.

I'd manage. What other option was there.

She'd sent me off with that much dignity. I couldn't keep standing here like an idiot when I had a husband's pride to uphold.

With that settled in my chest, the beautiful smile Elli had shown me before we parted surfaced in my mind.

-a small laugh slipped out

I couldn't help it. Warmth flooded back into me.

Right.

If seeing that smile again was what it took.

I felt like I could do anything.

* * *

Even among the countless recruits all dressed alike, finding Lee Do-yoon was no trouble at all for Elli, and until the very last moment she kept her eyes on him without looking away once.

But in the end.

When the short induction ceremony concluded and the recruits saluted their families and filed inside--

When Lee Do-yoon's figure disappeared from view--

When she could no longer see her beloved childhood friend, her boyfriend, her husband, and knew she wouldn't be able to for the next five weeks--

Elli, who had smiled all the way through sending him off, could hold back no longer.

-drop...

Tears began rolling down her cheeks, one after another, without pause.

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