WE TRIED TRANSLATIONS

Translator/Editor: Ryuu

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◈ My Platinum-Blonde Childhood Friend is Too Pretty

Chapter 62: My Birthday Party, and Joo Hye-ryeong (2)

She liked Lee Do-yoon.

Ever since their middle-school days, from the very first time she saw him, Joo Hye-ryeong had liked Lee Do-yoon with an unwavering heart.

Of course, at first she had been drawn in by his handsome face.

But Lee Do-yoon’s charm.

Even though her presence must be awkward for him, right now he was still talking to her with the same cozy smile as always. Clearly, his appeal was not limited to his looks.

There had never been any special incident between them, yet the more you watched Lee Do-yoon, the more inevitable it became to like him.

Because of that, more than a hundred times a day, Joo Hye-ryeong would find herself thinking—

'Why didn’t I go to the same daycare as him.'

Why had it been Alicia and not her who met Lee Do-yoon back when they were little?

In Joo Hye-ryeong’s mind, the only thing that decided the win-or-lose between her and Alicia was that single fact.

She was sure she could treat him far better than that needlessly pretty platinum-blonde girl who always chained Lee Do-yoon down and swung him around as she pleased.

And yet.

Even with that confidence, whenever she actually compared herself to Alicia she ended up discouraged.

Everything about them was the exact opposite.

Starting with something as simple as hair color—Alicia’s bright platinum versus her own jet-black hair.

On top of that, Alicia’s rather sharp impression contrasted completely with the pure, almost innocent look that Hye-ryeong gave off. Even their overall aura felt reversed.

If there was any similarity, it was that both of them were tall and had good figures, though even there she fell short beside Alicia’s mixed foreign blood.

Their personalities were the same story.

Alicia bossed her boyfriend around however she liked.

Hye-ryeong, who had never even dated, considered herself the type who would match her boyfriend in everything.

Taking all of that together.

The kind of girl Lee Do-yoon liked was the complete opposite of Joo Hye-ryeong herself.

'Even so…'

Even so, Hye-ryeong didn’t give up.

She went on liking him.

Even when Alicia glared daggers at her from his side, and their mutual friend Lee So-yeon looked at her with eyes that said don’t interfere.

If even the slightest gap opened between the two, she was ready to steal him away, to seize that love, waiting for her chance.

Though.

'That ring… it pisses me off. Seriously…'

For whatever reason, after years of calling each other childhood friends, those two had suddenly started dating this year and in no time even got matching couple rings.

When she heard, through the grapevine, that the silver rings had been a secret surprise prepared by Do-yoon, she couldn’t describe how jealous she was.

Even while feeling all that.

Hye-ryeong didn’t confess. She couldn’t.

She still didn’t want to admit she had lost.

But neither did she want to actively sabotage their relationship.

She refused the girls who, knowing she liked Do-yoon and envied Alicia, tried to buddy up to her while bad-mouthing them behind their backs.

Her pride wouldn’t allow that.

She wanted to make Do-yoon look back at her through her own charm alone.

Starting the fashion TikTok account had been for that very reason.

Of course she had always cared about styling and grooming herself, but she wanted to prove she could be prettier than Alicia.

To craft her current figure she worked out every single day and paid constant attention to what she ate.

She studied fashion and makeup daily to stay on trend.

And because she didn’t want to look like a dumb girl, she gave her best in her studies too.

But the reply she received from Do-yoon was.

"I watched all the links you sent with Elli. You really dress well."

That was it. And even that was him saying he’d watched the videos together with his girlfriend.

Hye-ryeong’s chest ached. It hurt to realize that, even after all this hidden effort, she still couldn’t catch up to Alicia.

At the same time.

'Yeah. That’s just who Lee Do-yoon is.'

Even without ignoring a girl who was interested in him, he drew a clear line and upheld his manners toward his girlfriend, and that too was cool.

Those were exactly the parts of him that had made her fall in love.

Unlike the guys who, starting around middle school, got full of themselves, acting tough and messing around, or the ones who subtly put classmates into tiers and treated them differently.

Do-yoon was different.

He was kind and considerate to everyone.

You could feel absolutely no fakery there.

She had watched that mature side of him up close, and even to the girl his girlfriend didn’t like, he still smiled warmly.

How could she not fall?

Ironically, because of that she could understand why Alicia glared at her every time.

With such a cool and gentle boyfriend, of course you’d worry.

Even if it was the worry of someone who already had it all.

Anyway, Hye-ryeong.

Only now did she really realize that just waiting quietly wouldn’t work.

She had polished herself up this beautifully. She couldn’t just keep waiting forever.

So at last she made her move.

"You’re throwing a birthday bash this weekend, right? Can I come too?"

She had no intention of picking a fight with Alicia, nor of clinging to him until he found her annoying. She didn’t want Do-yoon to see her look so pathetic.

Still.

Standing a little closer to his line of sight than before, and keeping him in her eyes.

Showing herself off, at least.

She wanted to try that much.

By now, no, honestly even before, it had been obvious that Do-yoon and Alicia liked each other, but he was just too wonderful a guy to give up on without trying.

And.

'I want to celebrate him too.'

She wanted to celebrate the birthday, the party, of the boy she liked.

She wanted to take part and congratulate him in person.

She, who had held back from their birthday gatherings because of Alicia’s glare, now wanted to join.

Dressed prettier than ever.

With a friendlier smile than ever.

'Look at me.'

She wanted to show him the self she had worked so hard on.

She hoped he would spare even one more glance.

What Joo Hye-ryeong hoped for.

That was the only thing.

Hye-ryeong told me with a smile that she’d join the birthday bash, locked eyes with Elli for a brief staring contest, and then walked away.

I didn’t refuse Hye-ryeong’s coming. I welcomed it, in fact.

I knew she liked me, and I knew that made things rather delicate between her and Elli.

But aside from that she wasn’t a bad kid at all, if anything, she was a girl who threw herself earnestly into everything.

So I didn’t want to turn her away when she said she wanted to celebrate my birthday.

Elli knew that too, so she didn’t really say anythi—

"Hmph."

"..."

"Hmph."

"…Mmm."

She never actually says anything, but every time our eyes meet she makes sure I hear that little snort.

Still, she didn’t look angry to me, just lightly showing that she wasn’t thrilled.

I half-expected Lee So-yeon, rather than Elli, to say something, but standing beside Elli and watching the scene, she was.

"…Honestly, that girl… Now I just feel sorry for her… and it’s hardly someone else’s business either…"

With a pitying face she muttered under her breath and let out a sigh.

Since the mood was shifting in an odd direction, I tried to steer the two of them with the brightest voice I could manage.

"Come on, let’s go. It’s on me. What do you want to drink?"

Both pairs of eyes turned to me. Elli still had her lips jutting a bit, while So-yeon instantly pulled on a beaming smile and spoke.

"…Ahh."

"I’m getting the most expensive thing\~ that okay?"

"If it’s So-yeon she’s allowed the priciest drink. Want cake too?"

"I do!"

"If we’re having cake, let’s hit Lusome."

"Lusome’s great~ I want strawberry chiffon!"

"Get whatever you want. What should I drink? You two decide."

""Stanish Condensed-Milk Latte.""

"Ah, that… Elli. You’ll share with me, right? It’s kinda too sweet to drink by itself…"

"Whatever."

"Give me a sip too~ and I’ll have a latte as well!"

With that we headed straight to the café.

After my mouth was carpet-bombed by the sugar combo of cake and condensed-milk latte, So-yeon went home looking blissful, and Elli’s mood had brightened a lot too.

Then back home that evening.

I dug around in earnest for a venue for the birthday bash, for all the friends who said they’d come.

It had to be close to school so getting there wasn’t a pain, spacious, and it would be nice if it even had a karaoke rig…

With all those conditions, finding a place wasn’t easy.

Even so, thankfully—

[ Jin-woo : How about this party-room-mood place? Seems perfect for a friend’s birthday bash ]

[ Me : Good good ]

[ Me : Looks nice ]

[ Me : But isn’t it a bit far? The others might be too lazy to come ]

[ Jin-woo : Fuck it, tell the lazy ones not to bother ]

Jin-woo : There’re already goddamn tons of them zergling-style anyway ]

[ Chae-hwan : LMAO yeah, if they’re too lazy to come, just ditch ’em ]

[ Me : Anyway thanks ]

[ Me : I’ll look a bit more and if nothing’s better we’ll go with that ]

[ Jin-woo : k ]

[ Chae-hwan : Ball after school tomorrow? ]

[ Jin-woo : Nah need to go buy a present ]

[ Chae-hwan : ? Thought you said you’d give him a Chupa Chups ]

[ Jin-woo : WTF lol ]

Thanks to Jin-woo’s help we finally settled on somewhere workable.

It was a bit away from school, but even after searching all over I couldn’t find a better spot.

In the end I went with the party room Jin-woo had linked, hoping I could still reserve it when I called tomorrow.

Right after the venue scouting had more or less wrapped up—

Clack.

Elli came into my room for the bisou that marked the end of the day.

The moment she arrived, Elli walked up to me sitting in my computer chair and—

Squiiish…

With her soft hands she started squishing up my face.

Quite literally kneading it this way and that.

"Elli… what’re you doing?"

"…"

Without answering my question she kept poking and prodding as she pleased.

"Tsk."

She clicked her tongue.

"It’s still cute even like this…"

"??"

Muttering something I couldn’t make sense of, Elli finally released my face and spoke.

"Finished your stuff?"

"Yeah. I’ve settled the venue for the birthday bash. It’s—"

"Enough. Handle it yourself, and if you’re done get to the bed… no, tonight we’ll do it standing."

"Standing? Sure."

I promptly stood up from the chair and wrapped Elli in my arms— shorts, tee, and zip-up hoodie and all.

We placed our arms around each other’s waists, her blue eyes reflecting my face.

"Smooch…"

We exchanged our bisou, our good-night kiss.

And in the same motion—

Slide…

I set my hand on the area of Elli’s bottom, one of the softest places granted to me.

Elli, naturally, placed her hand on my butt too and began to caress.

And so, again today.

While enjoying the plush feel at my fingertips and the ticklish strokes over my backside, we ended the day with a kiss.

By the way, with my birthday already right around the corner.

When am I going to see that bunny-girl outfit?

Footnotes:

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