WE TRIED TRANSLATIONS

Translator: ZERO_SUGAR

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◈ My Platinum-Blonde Childhood Friend Is Too Pretty ◈

Chapter 67: 25. With Elli on the Sweden Trip

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Winter break followed right after Elli's birthday.

With Christmas closing in, both my family and Elli's were deep in travel preparations, barely a moment to spare.

I was buzzing over my first time going abroad, and Elli was buzzing because she got to go with me. We ran around shopping endlessly right up until the day we left.

"What do you think about the sunglasses?"

"They're insane. You look amazing."

"Don't just say that to get out of it. Be real."

"I can't think of anything else to say... you really do look amazing. The prettiest and coolest, no contest."

"Hmph. You try them on."

"I wonder if they'll suit me... how do I look?"

"......"

"Elli?"

"...Not bad. I'm buying them."

Sunglasses with enormous frames, the kind you'd normally only wear at some beach resort. On top of that we picked out matching cropped puffer jackets, a couple's look.

This time around, Elli paid for everything.

Since I'd spent most of the second semester practicing guitar and studying, I'd had almost no time to take proper freelance illustration commissions.

Drawing itself was my favorite hobby, so I'd kept at it steadily every night, but I just hadn't been taking paid work. My wallet was thinner than it had ever been.

Still, I had the allowance from my parents, and Mina-noona occasionally asked me for a small illustration here and there, so it wasn't like I was completely broke.

But.

"Then I'll pay..."

"Pull that card out and you're not getting any more kisses today."

"......I love you, Elli."

"That you can have more of."

"I love you."

Elli had been doing fitting model part-time work a lot in November, so for the first time in a long time her wallet was much fatter than mine. She refused to let me use my own card.

It felt a little awkward just accepting everything, but it was hard to stop her when she was so happy buying me things.

And the threat of no kisses if I pulled out my card, was there anything scarier than that.

"That foreign girl is insane..."

True to form, Elli drew every eye in the place with her radiant platinum-blonde hair, without fail.

But she paid none of it any mind. She just walked along with a faint flush on her fair cheeks and the corners of her lips turned up.

"Hey, listen."

"What?"

"Do you really think you can go all day without kissing me?"

"......"

It was a small little tease, a bit of a poke. Elli's eyes narrowed. She couldn't find a comeback, so she just stared at my bright, grinning face, and then...

"...So annoying."

She bit her lip, grabbed my arm, and started pulling me somewhere.

"Where are we going?"

"Just follow me."

And when we got home that day, my coat pocket was stuffed with photos from one of those photo-booth booths.

Not a single one with our lips apart.

* * *

Two days before Christmas.

We arrived at Incheon Airport for the Sweden trip.

Elli's parents had left the day before, and my dad had booked a later flight, so the four of us, Elli included, were heading out together.

"These two are seriously... come on, sit side by side. I'll take a picture."

We were already in a travel mood the moment we got to the airport, wandering around in our matching sunglasses. Mom giggled like she found us adorable and took a ton of photos.

My whole body was so jittery with excitement that my stomach actually hurt.

It was my first time going abroad, my first time on a plane, and on top of that we were heading to Sweden, a place I'd actually wanted to visit.

Though part of me was also a little nervous.

"The plane's not going to fall out of the sky mid-flight, right?"

"Why would it fall? Stop saying silly things and stay next to me."

"No, but still... it doesn't make sense for something that huge to fly. Look at it. It's a solid chunk of metal."

Obviously about 80% of that was just me goofing around. My chest was so full of excitement and anticipation, with just a little bit of fear mixed in, that I was blabbering nonsense.

But 20% of it was genuine. Honestly, plane accidents aren't totally unheard of, so a small thread of unease had crept in. The thing was, showing that fear felt embarrassing, so I kept rambling to cover it up.

Elli looked at me quietly.

Squeeze.

A moment later, she gripped my hand tight, and with her other hand she gently stroked my cheek.

"I'll hold your hand the whole time, so don't be scared. Okay?"

Like she was soothing a little kid. She must have noticed there was real anxiety buried somewhere in my chest, because her voice was so, so soft.

Getting found out like that was a little embarrassing, but the wave of relief that washed over me was so much bigger.

"Yeah. I will. Thanks."

I fell for my girlfriend all over again, right there, for being so much warmer and gentler than usual.

We sat holding hands in comfortable quiet for a bit, then browsed the duty-free shops with my parents, had a light meal at the airport, and boarded the plane without any rush.

A neat flight attendant guided us to our seats. Elli and I took two seats by the window, with Mom and Dad in the two seats directly in front of us.

"You take the inside. You want to look out the window, right?"

"Is that okay?"

"Get in there."

Thanks to Elli, I had the window seat. My dad must have really gone all out, because the seats were incredibly spacious and comfortable.

Business class, wasn't it?

"Oppa. Isn't this going overboard?"

"I got a good bonus this year, so it's fine. We'd also been saving up together for a trip abroad. And this is Do-yoon's first time on a plane... and you have a hard time on long flights, too."

"Honestly... I love you, honey."

My parents' quiet conversation drifted back to us just faintly enough to catch.

I wanted to tell them I was grateful, that I loved them too, but watching them exchange affection like that was almost enough to make me feel secondhand embarrassment. And I didn't want to interrupt, so I decided to save it for later.

Elli seemed to feel the same way. We looked at each other and laughed without making a sound.

A little while after that, an announcement played and the plane lifted off.

Clunk, clatter!

When the fuselage shook hard during takeoff I was genuinely scared for a second, but Elli held my hand just like she said she would and I settled down fast.

"Wow..."

The ground falling away below us, the city skyline coming into full view all at once, and then the clouds swallowing everything up.

It was cool. It was beautiful. It was bizarre.

I couldn't pull myself away from the window. A new experience, all of it. Just being on the plane was enough to make me happy.

"Hehe."

I kept letting out little gasps of wonder as I stared outside. Elli let me gawk, a small smile on her face.

But.

I'd been staring at nothing but clouds and ocean for nearly ten full minutes, completely lost in the feeling, and she finally ran out of patience.

Poke, poke.

"Ow... hey, what, Elli?"

"How long are you going to keep looking over there. Don't you want to look at me?"

"Oh."

She prodded me in the side with her finger. Her lips were in a pout, her brows furrowed into a dejected little shape, the face she made when something wasn't to her liking.

I finally realized I'd been completely absorbed in the view outside, and turned to face her.

She'd taken off her coat and had on a thin but warm turtleneck sweater. I leaned over and wrapped my arms around her.

There was an armrest between the seats with various functions built into it, a bit of a barrier, but Elli leaned into me to match my movement, so a quick hug was no problem.

Squeeze.

I felt something soft press against me. I rubbed my cheek gently against hers, then let go.

"Sorry. From now on I'll only look at you."

I kept it to a whisper, too embarrassed to let anyone else hear something like that.

Elli's expression finally softened at those words. She glanced around briefly, then...

"......"

Slipped her pink tongue out between her pretty lips in a cute little peek. She held it there, raised her chin, and leaned her face toward mine.

I knew what it meant. She wanted a deep kiss, tongues and all. So I also took a quick look around.

My parents in the seats ahead were still chatting quietly. No flight attendants were visible nearby. The grandfather in the center seats across the aisle had his earphones in and his eyes closed.

If Elli wanted to, I was always ready, but being completely oblivious to our surroundings in a closed public space like this would have been rude to everyone else. So I'd wanted to check first.

Anyway, once I'd confirmed no one was paying us any attention, I turned my face toward her.

"Mmph... fwt..."

Quietly, not too heated. Our tongues met, our lips overlapped.

Fingers intertwined in an unhurried hold, we sank into a slow, lingering kiss.

"Smk, fwt..."

I noticed it every single time. The sensation of pressing tongues with someone you loved never failed to send a shiver of pleasure through me.

Soft flesh tangling together, trading warmth from mouth to mouth. There was no way to describe it.

That was why I loved kissing Elli. It had to be the same for her.

Any guy who disliked kissing a girlfriend as pretty as her wouldn't be much of a guy at all.

* * *

Right after boarding the plane it had been one thing after another to be amazed at, but once that settled down I understood exactly what people meant when they said long flights were boring.

There wasn't much to do.

I made do by sharing earphones with Elli, listening to music, watching a movie I'd downloaded ahead of time from the web.

"Should we say hi to your parents right when we get there, then go on a date?"

"You'll probably be too tired to move. See how you feel when we land."

"Maybe. Oh, right, didn't you say we have a layover in London? Maybe we can see a little of it too?"

"If the layover's long enough, probably. Ask later."

We chatted about this and that.

At some point the cabin lights dimmed and we could sleep. With the flight being so long, I thought it was amazing they even did that, just another thing I'd never imagined.

Anyway, I reclined my seat a little, propped my feet on the footrest.

Comfortable.

Surprisingly, genuinely comfortable. My body, worn out from all the tension and excitement, was just about to slide into sleep...

"Lee Do-yoon."

"Elli?"

Elli, who'd been lying under her blanket beside me, pulled my blanket aside and climbed on top of me.

Her soft weight settled over me, and then she draped the blanket over us both. Over our heads, even.

In that darkness where nothing was visible, in the growing warmth under the blanket with the cabin heater running, winter or not...

"Mm... fwt..."

"Ngh..."

I was pinned beneath Elli.

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