Boyfriend Tutorial

You wake up thanks to your phone ringtone, blasting the default bell jingle in your right ear, with a humid pool in your notebook and a huge pain in your back. Certainly falling asleep at your desk wasn’t a good sleep position for your spine, and not a comfortable one either, but literature was so powerful, it knocked you out in less than thirty minutes. That said, behind that loud ringtone, you were already sensing an upcoming pain in the ass.

Your phone was almost demanding to be answered, it was as if the notes were screaming in your face. You take a deep breath and pick your phone up to see the person who was calling: “Puppy”. Now, you would’ve never saved anyone with such a name on your contacts but you were forced into it, by the same person that was calling you now, your girlfriend.

Once you slid the green button across the screen, her filtered voice came blasting at full volume.

“Good morning sleepyhead! I bet you had the most profound, warm, dream-inducing, fairy-like sleep ever, right? Must have been so heavenly!” You could already tell it wasn’t a “good” morning for her and it wasn’t supposed to be one for you either. Her voice was already cracking your speaker, she must have been fuming mad.

“Good morning, Sieun…” you said softly, testing the ground.

“Wh—first of all, Sieun? We’ve already discussed this before, baby, say it.”

“Honey.”

“Well done. Second, good morning? Babe, it’s 2 pm!”

“Well, you said it first and I—”

“It was sarcasm, you idiot. Can’t you even tell?” she complained. The large sigh behind the speaker gives you a moment to rest then Sieun starts again. “Gosh, I don’t know how I’m the girlfriend of such an airhead… Anyways, listen here mister.”

You lean back into the chair and look to the ceiling, calling the help of the gods, the angels, the deities above but you know nobody could rescue you now. She said the phrase, Sieun’s mom mode was activated and you could not escape.

“Not only I didn’t receive a good night text, which we have agreed on, not only I didn’t receive a good morning text, but you didn’t say anything to me all day! Wh-what am I? I’m your girlfriend, not a random friend you talk to only when you feel like it.”

“Sieun—honey, I…”

“Go ahead, give me your excuses. Like you always do,” Sieun scoffs. You don’t even dare to sigh, if she heard it, she’d go on another rant about you not caring enough or whatever she had in mind—you didn’t know. Next time you should ask your friend to code you a bot to send her texts or remind you to do it, because at this rate, it was only a matter of time until she’d kill you.

“Nothing, honey, I’m sorry.”

“Well, you’re unforgiven. You better make up for it, alright?”

“Okay, tomorrow I’ll—”

“Not tomorrow! Right now. We’re going on a date. We’ve been a couple for two months and you’ve only taken me on one date when you confessed. I’m tired of waiting, you’re taking me on one right now. Think of a place while you come to my dorm.” When she was done talking, Sieun closed the call without giving you time to say anything else.

You go back to your normal sitting posture to think. Sure, you had to prepare for your test but that was in a week and even if it was a lot of material, it was a threat in the future while Sieun was a very close threat. Putting things on a scale of importance, your girlfriend seemed to be a bit further up. Fine, the date was already decided, you might as well go. 

Being Sieun’s boyfriend was, in a lack of words, demanding. You’ve known her for a long time before getting together with her: you were her personal tutor. In the past, her character was definitely rougher and you had to take a long time before she trusted you, but after that you got to see her sweet side. In a mix of hormones and surprise, you eventually asked her out and in a even more surprising twist, she liked you too.

Unfortunately, it was right at the start of your midterm so you couldn’t spend much time with her. Frustruation must have gotten to her too and she was more irritated than usual.

Anyways, you don’t ask yourself anymore questions as you drive the car away from your dorm and drive to your Sieun. While on the road, you looked around thinking of where to take her. She was a very energetic girl and bringing her to watch a movie or to a café would have been very stupid of you. Something like a bowling or an arcade was more fitting. Yeah, you should go to the arcade.

You arrive at her dorm in probably 10 minutes. You knock on the door of her room and another girl opens the door for you. You know her, she’s Sumin, Sieun’s roommate. She comes out of the room like the priest of the Oracle of Delphi, ready to give you one of her prophecies and it wasn’t going to be a good one.

She looks at you with a mixture of fear and worry but politely gives you a smile. “You got Sieun real upset, she’s been complaining all morning,” she says.

“Sorry about that,” you reply apologetically, rubbing the back of your head and bowing. 

“It’s okay, I’m used to it,” she chuckles. “Anyways, she’s in her room, she’s still changing so you can wait in the living room. I’m gonna go buy some groceries.”

“Thank you, Sumin.”

“Good luck,” she says and runs down the stairs. Now it’s only you and Sieun. 

“Honey, I’m here!” you yell at a random direction and Sieun yells back, “You can come in, I’m pretty much done!” You come into her room like a soldier on a battle field. There is stuff everywhere on the floor: clothes, make up, bags, magazines, and if you ever dared to step on one of them, it would be over for you. 

Sieun was sitting in front of a mirror, touching up her lips. She raises an eyebrow, looking at you through the window, then continues to put on her red in a comfortable silence. You limit yourself to looking at her and thinking about what you’ll do later.

She was done. Sieun got up after clicking the lipstick and grabbed her bag. 

She wore a beautiful white dress, simple in appearance but full of little decors up close, it narrows just a little under the chest, not to show too much of her curves but let completely uncovered her shoulders and collarbones, where your eyes went the most. Her pink wavy hair adorned her face perfectly, making her face look smaller and sharper. 

The moment she got up, the air inside the room was pushed out, and a sudden void was left in your lungs as you couldn’t master up any coherent word. You stutter a bit, and turn around to shield yourself from a too strong beauty. 

“Uhm… so, I was thinking of going—” you can barely start when Sieun interrupts you.

“Really? Is that what you’re going to say?” she scoffs. You turn around and see her rolling her eyes, folding her arms, and leaning back on one leg.

“Wh-what?”

“You’re really useless, aren’t you?” she starts. “You’re lucky I’m an understanding person, the other girls would have left you already, but you have a lot to learn.”

“What did I do wrong?”
“Well, I made myself this pretty and you’re just going to ignore it?!” Her voice suddenly increases in pitch and in volume. “A good boyfriend has to give a lot of compliments, you know that? I have to teach you everything apparently.”

“It’s just that… I do think you’re very pretty but I didn’t know what to say. You were so beautiful, you made me speechless. You don’t know how much I want to kiss you right now,” you say honestly. 

Sieun is flustered, her cheeks become as pink as hair and she starts to look for a place to hide, without finding one, she covers her face with her hair and storms out of the room. “You said you got a place already, right? Let’s go,” she declares with a mighty voice and then with another almost inaudible voice, she whispers to herself, “What an idiot. He could’ve kept it to himself…”

You can hear her from the other side of the room and sigh at her hypocrisy but whatever, she was cute.

After you told her what you planned and made sure she approved of everything, you went down the dorm and started walking, it was just ten minutes from the building. You start talking about college and the upcoming tests but most of all, you let her rant because she always a lot on her mind.

Things were too smoothly to be true and after five minutes Sieun stops walking. You took a couple of steps before realizing and turn around.

“So are you not gonna do it?” she scoffs.

“What? What should I do?” you ask with confusion. 

Sieun stands there with her fist rolled and her lips curled in an annoyed frown. She doesn’t look so much of a princess anymore. “Gosh, you’re so dense, what do I do with you…? Hold hand! You have to hold my hand!”

“But—”

“Look around, dear,” she says and sways her arms to show you, “All the couples are holding hands because that’s what couples do.” Sieun then stretches her arm out, holding her palm open to you. She flicks her chin, without watching you in the eyes, “So?”

You sigh and take her hand. “There.”

You start to walk again and this time Sieun's steps are wider, with more bounce in her shoulders. You chuckle to yourself, if she really wanted to hold hands, she could have just asked nicely. But that wasn’t really in character with her.