WE TRIED TRANSLATIONS

Translator: ZERO_SUGAR

Discord: https://dsc.gg/wetried

◈ My Platinum-Blonde Childhood Friend Is Too Pretty ◈

Chapter 97: 37. My Platinum-Blonde Girlfriend Who Likes Alcohol -2

──────

"A date...? Sure... smooch..."

At the word "date," a smile spread across Elli's face and she gave me a little kiss. The alcohol had loosened her up, making her more honest than usual.

She wasn't completely drunk yet, but honestly, from where I was sitting, it didn't make much of a difference.

If anything, the stubborn edge she got when she was really hammered was dialed back just a notch, which somehow made her even cuter.

I let her leave little traces of herself on my face with her affectionate kisses while my hands roamed freely over her body.

No matter where I touched, that soft, baby-smooth skin kept drawing me back again and again.

Savoring all of it, I said to her, "There's this bar a senior recommended. Apparently the cocktail selection is huge, and the prices aren't bad either. Sounds like your kind of place."

"Okay. I want to go... smooch... but you have to come too... no exceptions..."

"It's a date, of course we're going together. But wow, you got tipsy faster than usual today."

"I'm not even tipsy yet..."

"Yeah? Elli, open up and stick out your tongue. Say aah."

"Aah... bleh..."

"Ha. Your mouth and your tongue are seriously so cute."

"Ugh... they are not... you want to die? I'm not doing that anymore."

"Oh, I was just about to kiss you... can't you do it one more time? I want to kiss you."

"......bleh..."

"You're doing it again because you want a kiss from me? Thanks."

"Bleh...!"

"Pfft..."

I kept talking instead of actually kissing her, which made Elli glare at me with her tongue still sticking out.

Her face flushed pink from the alcohol, eyebrows knitted together, was a treasure I had absolutely no intention of showing anyone else.

Because it was only the two of us here, Elli drank more freely than she would have with others around, and that was exactly why she was showing me this adorable side of herself.

Up until last time she hadn't gotten affectionate quite this fast, so today was a bit earlier than usual.

Maybe she'd gotten used to the two of us drinking alone together.

"......nyam...!"

"Ow! H-hey, Elli... sorry..."

"nom nom..."

"I said I'm sorry."

I'd drifted off into my own thoughts for a moment, and Elli expressed her displeasure by biting my neck.

The softness of her lips against my neck, the warmth of her breath, the dampness of her tongue, the mild sting of pain.

The strands of hair tickling my face and nose, that faint sweet scent of hers.

She was angry, but that cat-like behavior only made my body respond more eagerly.

So I swept the long platinum hair trailing down her back aside and whispered to her.

"Should we go inside now? We can clean up the table tomorrow."

"nom... nyam..."

"You don't want to? Then do you want to do it out here?"

"smooch..."

"You want to do it right here, with you on top of me? Right now?"

"hmph... smooch... lick..."

"So that's what you want."

Reading her reactions, I could piece together what she was after.

Whether everything I said was exactly right, I couldn't say, but she was still mouthing at my neck while the hand that had been gripping my shoulder slid downward.

Then she started tugging off my shorts, this time taking my underwear along with them, and I lifted my hips to make it easier for her, at the same time hooking my fingers into Elli's underwear and pulling it down.

The moment I did, Elli immediately moved on top of me...

"Wait, Elli. There's a condom in my shorts pocket. Let me just grab it real quick..."

"...nyam!"

"Ow...! That one actually hurt..."

* * *

The next day.

I woke up a little on the later side, but not so late that I'd slept through noon.

I'd planned to get up before Elli and tidy things up a bit, but when I opened my eyes she was already gone from beside me.

I climbed out of bed and shuffled into the living room, and there she was, sitting at the already-cleaned table, sipping a morning coffee.

Wearing nothing but an oversized T-shirt that gave no clear indication of whether she had underwear on underneath or not.

I stopped by the bathroom first, splashed some water on my face, and came back out.

Then I sat down next to her, gave her a morning bisou on the cheek, and grumbled.

"Elli, you broke our deal again. We were supposed to clean up together."

Weekday housecleaning was one thing, but we'd made a rule that cleanup after sex or a night of messing around was always a team effort.

Not that Elli had ever actually kept that rule, not since the very first time we slept together, and not today either.

Strangely enough, even drunk, even after a long night of sex and breathless exhaustion that sent her right to sleep, Elli always looked perfectly fine in the morning.

Not just fine, either. Her skin was practically glowing. And she'd hum to herself and take care of everything alone.

Even now, after what couldn't have been more than five hours of sleep, Elli sat there looking fresh-faced, coffee in hand, and said without the slightest hint of guilt, "I woke up early, what was I supposed to do. And if I see something that needs cleaning I just clean it. How long am I supposed to wait around for you to get up."

"Pretty bold. You could've woken me up."

"I tried. You didn't get up."

"Don't tell me you did the thing again where you gave me one kiss and called it waking me up."

"That's exactly what I did. I gave you a bisou and you didn't wake up, so that's on you. Isn't it?"

"Honestly, how is anyone supposed to wake up from that..."

"So you're saying it's my fault? Go on. Say it."

"......"

Watching Elli brazenly talk back without a trace of remorse, I made a decision.

This called for a firmer stance.

I was genuinely grateful that she took care of everything on her own, but at the same time, it kept leaving me with a nagging guilty feeling.

Not angry, just wanting us to do these things together if at all possible.

With that quiet wish in mind, I started to open my mouth.

"Ell..."

Right at that moment.

-grab

"Hm?"

Elli took my hand and,

-squish...

placed it on her chest.

"......"

It was soft. Impossibly soft. My fingers sank right in.

She clearly wasn't wearing a bra under the T-shirt, because even through the fabric the marshmallow warmth of her chest was right there, completely undisguised.

It felt good.

No man alive could have his girlfriend's chest in his hand and not feel good.

While I was momentarily lost for words, all my focus drifting to the sensation under my palm, Elli made her move.

"I'll actually wake you up next time, so just touch them."

"......"

"What. Not going to?"

"I'm going to."

-knead, knead...

There was genuinely nothing to be done about this. Elli's chest was a national treasure.

Soft and pliant and then that one hardening point that caught against the heel of my hand...

Already a little foggy in the way mornings are, sitting there kneading Elli's chest, I couldn't help turning into a complete idiot.

It was so shameless. And so effective.

She'd done this to me before, and here I was falling for it all over again without a single thought of resisting.

In the end I gave up and just kept going.

And to Elli, who sat right in front of me wearing a look that said "what are you going to do about it," the corner of her mouth lifted in satisfaction.

"You're really shameless, you know that."

-smooch!

A hollow little laugh, and I had no choice but to give her a morning bisou on those lips that faintly smelled of coffee.

Inside my head I made a mental note to set an alarm next time and get up first, no matter what.

And also.

"I'll get her back on the puppy cosplay day."

I quietly promised myself a small and petty revenge for that day, coming up soon.

* * *

We drank the generous cup of coffee Elli had brewed, spent a lazy afternoon.

Then I got a freelance illustration commission that had been a while in coming and spent three or four hours drawing.

Around six in the evening.

After a light dinner, just enough to take the edge off without filling up too much, we stepped out of the apartment hand in hand.

"You said it's near your school?"

"Two bus stops from campus. One more subway station if we take the train."

This was for the cocktail bar date I'd mentioned to Elli yesterday.

Thursday meant class, but I had a solid tolerance and hangovers never hit me that hard, so I figured it'd be fine.

Plus, with Elli there, we weren't going to be drinking all night anyway.

"I am kind of curious about cocktails."

Elli, in a beige oversized knit and jeans and matching round fashion glasses we'd gotten as a couple set, had her voice full of anticipation.

"You can make simple cocktails at home, you know. If you find one you like, we can grab the ingredients next time we go shopping."

"No need. It's not like we're going to drink that much. Waste of money."

"Well, only if you find something you like. If not, forget it. But cocktails are mostly sweet, aren't they? I wonder if there'll be anything to suit your taste."

"Plenty aren't sweet. Jack and Coke, martinis, gin fizz, things like that."

"You really know your stuff. Did you look it up beforehand?"

"A little. And even if they only have sweet ones, that's fine."

"The only reason sweet drinks are fine for you is because I feed them to you mouth-to-mouth. You're okay with me doing that in a bar?"

"Obviously. You're not going to do it? You want to die? Why would we even go drinking if you're not going to do that."

"I mean, if that's what you want, I can."

"We're sitting in a corner. Do it there."

"What if there are no corner seats?"

"Then we're going to a different bar."

"Ooh. Actually, from the photos my senior showed me, most of the seating looked pretty private. We should be fine."

"Good. Now what should I drink when we get there..."

Elli, the round fashion glasses adding a touch of cute to an otherwise mature face, had her arm looped through mine and was scrolling intently through cocktail options on her phone.

I silently thanked the senior from the departmental lounge again for recommending the place.

Elli's excitement showed not just in her voice but in the little bounce in her step.

Watching her, I felt a dopey fond smile spread across my face. So I slowed down and took it one careful step at a time, strolling at a leisurely pace, savoring the warmth of a spring evening.

Going past the stares that came Elli's way as naturally as breathing, no longer even worth noticing.

About thirty minutes on the subway.

Five minutes on foot from the station.

We arrived at the cocktail bar. Underground, dim, with scattered pools of soft light, the atmosphere was beautiful.

"Welcome! Please take any seat you like!"

The moment we stepped inside, a cheerful part-timer called out a greeting, and we followed their direction and made our way deeper in, looking around.

It was a Wednesday and the place was sizeable, so despite a decent number of customers there were still quite a few empty seats.

Even better, the bar seemed to cater to couples, with small partitions between seats so no one would feel watched by other customers.

"This is nice."

"The atmosphere is really good. If the drinks are good too, should we come back again?"

"Sure."

Elli seemed pleased with the private layout of the seating, a small smile touching her lips.

We wandered around the interior and made our way to the far end, settling into a corner seat with a side-by-side arrangement rather than face-to-face.

A little while later the part-timer brought over pretzels, the house snack, and a menu, then smiled warmly and asked to see our IDs.

"Excuse me~ I'll need to check your IDs for a moment."

"Yep. Here."

"Thank you! Um... yes, confirmed. And... oh, um... would the person beside you happen to have a foreign registration card we could..."

"Here."

"Oh, you speak Korean... ah, I'm so sorry! Your ID... it's, it's a resident registration card... yes, confirmed. Please press the bell on the side when you're ready to order!"

The part-timer checked Elli's ID with eyes gone wide, then backed away.

Since turning twenty, the occasional ID check whenever we drank out had become something that always drew a small conspiratorial grin from both of us.

We'd seen the shock at Elli's Korean more times than we could count, but there was something freshly delightful about the look on someone's face when the ID she held out turned out to be not a foreign registration card but a Korean resident registration card.

The moment the ID check was done, Elli picked up the menu with a look of total concentration.

"What are you having?"

"Anything, really. Just order whatever you want to try. We're splitting everything half and half anyway."

"Okay. Then should we start with a mojito and a gin and tonic... or maybe a gin martini first..."

Elli's eyes lit up at that, and she started murmuring through all the drinks she wanted to try.

I watched her pouring her whole heart into choosing her cocktails, helping myself to pretzels one by one, and felt like I could already see how the next few hours were going to end.

Guess I'll be carrying her home on my back.

Join our discord at https://dsc.gg/wetried