WE TRIED TRANSLATIONS

Translator: ZERO_SUGAR

Discord: https://dsc.gg/wetried

◈ My Platinum-Blonde Childhood Friend Is Too Pretty ◈

Chapter 73: 28. Nineteen-Year-Old Elli's Bride Lessons

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After the day Elli announced she was giving up on the college entrance exam, she immediately went around with my mom and her aunt to look into cooking schools, just the three of them.

Not for a certification course, but a hobby class, purely to expand the range of dishes she could make.

A few days later she started attending one close to home.

It was a fairly large place that offered both certification tracks and hobby tracks.

Korean cuisine, Japanese, Chinese, Western, pastry and baking, and so on.

Of everything on offer, Elli decided to start with Japanese cooking first. After that would come Chinese or Western food, and she said she might try pastry and baking last.

"So you're skipping Korean food? There's a lot of variety there, isn't there?"

"Most of it just looks pretty and tastes average. I already know how to make the basics like jjigae, and if I were going to learn that, I'd be better off learning from your mom or my aunt anyway. Traditional Korean cooking doesn't suit your taste either..."

"My taste?"

"...Anyway, there's no real reason to bother with Korean cuisine..."

"There really is no one else for me. I love you, Elli!"

"Quiet."

And so Korean food was off the list.

After signing up for the cooking school, Elli let the shopping mall fitting-model job know she was interested in an exclusive contract, and the owner reportedly beamed ear to ear.

But they didn't sign right away.

"I hear you're attending a class now, Elli. Then let's keep things the way they are through the end of this year and draw up a new contract next year. Of course, I'll raise your current pay starting this year."

"Oh my, thank you so much. You've always been so accommodating..."

"Not at all, ma'am. Elli is our shopping mall's treasure. If she's willing to go exclusive with us, we should be the ones bowing in gratitude. The shoot schedule won't suddenly double or triple next year, so it shouldn't feel like too much of a burden."

"Thank you, boss."

"I'm the grateful one here. Oh, and Do-yoon agreed to come in every now and then too, so if he's still shooting with her, couple shoots are fine, right?"

"Yes."

"Wonderful!"

Elli relayed all this to me, and the owner had really gone out of the way to accommodate her on multiple fronts. The treatment was excellent, too.

Since Elli had only ever modeled for this particular shopping mall since first year, it was comfortable and she had gotten close with the staff there, so moving somewhere else had never really crossed her mind to begin with.

Still, the fact that they showed their appreciation not just in words but through actions and pay made us all the more glad.

With her time now divided between the cooking school and modeling work, there were a few more occasions when Elli went off on her own without me.

I spent most of my time focused on studying at school, and Elli would head straight to the cooking class or her modeling job the moment school let out.

I also happened to overhear from Auntie Ye-rin that on days when she had nothing scheduled, Elli was practicing housework in earnest at home.

That did mean there were many moments between study sessions when I missed Elli sneaking little touches with me in the self-study room.

But I'd remind myself: it's all for the sake of next year.

Knowing that this brief stretch of hardship was both of us putting in effort for our future together gave me the energy to keep going.

Above all else.

Elli was doing her bride lessons for me. How could I not be happy about that?

I was just happy. Simply, purely happy.

* * *

A little more time passed.

Around the time the first-semester finals were drawing close.

I had come home late after self-study, and after a bisou with Elli I'd stayed up drawing to shake off some study stress, which made me sleep in.

"...smooch, mwah..."

"......"

"Who said this guy was handsome... he's just cute is all... smooch..."

"......"

"lick... mwah..."

The damp sensation on my cheek and neck made me open my eyes.

A familiar, pretty face and platinum hair draped over me, blocking more than half my field of vision.

"smack, mmm..."

Even through all that, the faintly rough, moist, oddly electrifying touch of a tongue was trailing along my jaw.

Her small hands moved freely over my chest and waist, touching wherever they pleased. That possessive, wanting touch felt good.

"...Elli."

"mwah... You're awake, so get up already. Go wash and eat."

"Yeah... but my face is really wet..."

"So what. Any complaints?"

"No..."

-lick

Once I opened my eyes, Elli straightened up. She looked down at me while running her tongue slowly over her own lips, which had left traces of saliva here and there, as if annoyed the meal was over before she was done.

"Time's tight, so hurry and get ready. I'm going to go change into my uniform and I'll be right back."

"I will..."

-click

She left those words behind and walked out of the room. I watched her go, yawned, and climbed out of bed.

When I stepped out into the hallway, the mouthwatering smell of bread tickled my nose.

"Our sleepyhead son is up? Go wash and come quick, you'll be late. I made soup and salad, they're good, so look forward to it."

"Yeah... Did Elli help make it again today?"

"She's been doing it every day lately. Elli even packed your dad's lunch for him. A sandwich."

"A sandwich... that sounds good."

On the kitchen table, everything was perfectly laid out: toast, eggs, salad, and soup.

It had been about two weeks since Elli started cooking school, and around that time the days when she set food out like this had been growing more frequent.

In the evenings I ate dinner at school during self-study anyway, so unless it was the weekend, it was always breakfast. Not every single day, but at least three or four times a week, steadily.

Thanks to that, my mom and Auntie Ye-rin would join in and help a little with whatever Elli was making.

And it hadn't lasted just a day or two. It had already been going on for over a month, so my mom was genuinely impressed with Elli.

"She must be tired, but she gets up early every morning to do it. Looks like she's been going for morning jogs too..."

The breakfast Elli made was never simple.

Just today, it wasn't just toast. There was soup and salad alongside it, and on other days it was even more elaborate than this, never less.

From the perspective of a prospective mother-in-law looking at a prospective daughter-in-law, there was no way not to be charmed.

To me, her prospective husband, she looked unbearably sweet too. Every day brought this deep, warm wave of feeling.

"Dad must have loved it."

"Don't even get me started. He literally cried going out the door... and Uncle Mark cried too."

"Uncle Mark too? From being moved?"

"There wasn't enough bread, so we couldn't make one for Uncle Mark."

"Ah..."

So the prospective father-in-law comes before her own dad?

I'm so sorry, Uncle Mark.

But I'll enjoy my share for the both of us.

* * *

After finishing the meal Elli made for me, we walked to school together.

So-yeon and Joo Hye-ryeong, who had arrived earlier and were chatting, came over to me.

"Do-yoon, you must be well-fed today."

"Was it good? The salad looked like she really put in the effort."

"Of course it was good."

I knew the moment I heard it that they were talking about the breakfast Elli had made.

How did those two know? Because every time Elli made food, she uploaded photos to BellStar.

She had her main account where family and I followed her, kept separate, and she had been posting consistently to a new cooking account she'd made.

That one was a public account, so anyone who knew Elli could see it.

Thanks to that, there were people like So-yeon and Joo Hye-ryeong who used Elli's cooking as cheerful conversation fodder, but...

"I could kill him..."

"I want to kill him..."

There were also plenty like Chae-hwan and Jin-woo who sent out looks of genuine, hollow murderous intent. Mostly the guys.

They had gotten pretty used to Elli and me being all lovey-dovey together, but they couldn't hold out against the devoted care Elli had started showing me since the beginning of the year.

"Ha ha."

"Lee Do-yoon, that son of a bitch looks insanely happy."

"Can you blame him? If it were me, I'd be bowing a thousand times a day and eating every bite..."

"God... I want to kill him."

"Same. I want to kill that guy."

All I could do was laugh. Well, having a girlfriend as pretty as a model, which she literally is, in fact.

Anyway, a beautiful girlfriend with a great figure who works as a model, the kind of person who outside the house is assertive and stubborn like a queen.

But at home, she makes a heartfelt, lovingly prepared breakfast every morning like a devoted wife and takes care of everything.

Hard not to be jealous.

As her boyfriend I was incredibly proud and happy, but I understood how it must have looked from the outside. Nauseating, probably.

"If I'd lived next door, I could've done all that for you."

I had nothing particularly useful to say and was just smiling when Joo Hye-ryeong sat down in the seat in front of me, propped her chin in her hand, and said that with a bright, easy smile.

She was casually putting herself forward in a joking sort of way. I smiled back and answered.

"You're good at everything, aren't you. I'd bet you're a good cook too."

"Thanks for the compliment. Then if I ever get the chance, I'll..."

"Do-yoon, Do-yoon."

Joo Hye-ryeong's sentence, which had been heading toward cooking for me sometime, was cut off by So-yeon.

"Hye-ryeong is seriously, absolutely terrible at cooking. A while back she said Elli inspired her to start practicing, and I agreed to taste-test, and wow... I think the dog they keep at her place could do better."

"Hey! Lee So-yeon!"

"If you have any conscience, don't even think about putting that paella in front of Do-yoon. I went in with expectations and... paella? That was not paella. It was just an oil bath."

"You're dead, just you wait... ugh...!"

"Look at you managing your image because Do-yoon's right here. Go ahead and talk the way you normally do."

"Ughhhh...!"

Joo Hye-ryeong's face went bright red as she glared daggers at So-yeon, while So-yeon laughed and kept right on teasing her.

It was genuinely nice to see them like this.

Before classes started, Elli also stopped by our classroom to chat for a bit.

"Elli! You won't believe it, Hye-ryeong here was telling Do-yoon she'd cook for him."

"Cook?"

At So-yeon's playfully incriminating announcement, Elli's eyes moved to Joo Hye-ryeong. They were close enough by now that she wasn't hostile, just slightly narrow-eyed and half-lidded.

"What, why. Is it wrong if I do?"

"......"

Joo Hye-ryeong crossed her arms and stared back at Elli, unapologetically bold.

Elli.

-pfft

One corner of her mouth curled up in a smirk.

Like the idea was beneath consideration.

"That paella? Go ahead. Should be delicious... heh."

"...Ha. Alisha, come outside with me."

"Come at me."

"Hye-ryeong, you know you've already lost this one against Elli. The arm-wrestling was over in one second flat, too."

"...You two are seriously so annoying!"

They really had become a trio I never expected to see getting along like this.

They had all known each other since middle school, and things had not been great between them because of me, but now they were this close. I found myself feeling strangely pleased about it.

I was watching the girls with a warm, fond smile on my face when Chae-hwan called my name in that grim, hollow voice.

"Lee Do-yoon."

"Yeah?"

"It'd probably be faster if I just killed myself instead of killing you, right?"

"Why are you being so scary."

"Shut up. You disgusting alpha male."

"Well..."

Jin-woo next to him was nodding along vigorously at every word.

I wanted to say it really wasn't that extreme, but it seemed like it would only make him angrier.

So I kept quiet.

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