#21
“I won’t take up much of your time.”
His voice had too strong a pull to be considered soothing, yet was somehow refreshingly crisp to be called seductive.
“It really will be quick.”
I pressed down on the spot where the IV needle had been inserted and looked up at him quietly.
Jin Woohyeon had a face that couldn’t be explained simply by saying he was handsome. There was a sense that he knew exactly how he appeared and utilized that knowledge to a frightening degree, and the place where that unique magnetism was most concentrated was in his eyes.
Someone once said that the eyes are the windows to the soul. And it really was true. Through those small, round pupils, we often caught glimpses of others’ emotions. No matter how much someone lifted the corners of their mouth, if they weren’t truly happy, you could read the sadness and pain seeping through their eyes.
But Jin Woohyeon’s eyes, the gaze he showed me, didn’t stop at simply revealing his emotions. Just from our eyes meeting, I felt like not only his emotions but also his intentions and nature were being conveyed to me.
Looking at Jin Woohyeon like this, I suddenly became curious. Are actors originally like this? Just as models know when they look most attractive, do they also know how to look at someone so that the other person can understand their emotions, intentions, and even desires?
“Don’t look at me like that.”
I complained in a small voice.
“How was I looking at you?”
“You were looking at me with eyes that make me want to grant any request.”
Then Jin Woohyeon crinkled his eyes and smiled softly. His eye corners stretched long and his lips relaxed gently, making even the air around him seem warmer.
“So, if I’m being persistent, you want to give in and comply?”
“……”
“If you know, just pretend you don’t and come along. I’m practically dying of embarrassment doing something I’ve never done before.”
It was an absurd statement. Something he’d never done before? His skill at smooth-talking seemed like it wasn’t his first or second time.
I hesitated for a moment before answering.
“……Only until dinner time.”
Jin Woohyeon smiled brightly and said,
“That’s enough.”
It was amazing. The way he was curious about me, missed me, asked for something, and was happy that we could be together was so unfamiliar. Watching his honest and unrestrained reactions made me feel like I was someone with tremendous significance.
“Then could you put on your coat now, Sanho hyung?”
Jin Woohyeon waved his arm. Only then did I realize that he had been waiting while still holding my coat. I felt sorry belatedly.
After helping me put on my clothes, he extended his hand. At first, I looked at him with a puzzled expression, wondering what he wanted me to pick up.
But soon I realized that Jin Woohyeon wanted my hand, and my face turned red.
“I told you I can’t date.”
When I slapped his palm, he giggled and laughed.
“I just want to hold hands, but how far are you imagining, hyung?”
“……”
“Ahaha. I get it, sorry. I understand, so let’s go. We go out this way.”
The place he took me to wasn’t the parking garage but the main entrance on the first floor. Jin Woohyeon slipped his body into the automatically revolving door and explained.
“It’s the building next door anyway. Taking the car would just make things complicated, so it’s faster to walk over.”
“So…… what is?”
“The department store.”
“Department store?”
Was there something to buy? I followed him with a puzzled expression, taking quick steps.
We took the escalator up several more floors. Our final destination was the 5th floor lined with sports brands, and he walked into a store with leisurely steps. The way he pressed down on my shoulder to make me sit while I still didn’t understand was as natural as flowing water.
Jin Woohyeon asked in a gentle voice,
“What size do you wear?”
“Huh?”
“Shoe size.”
“250?”
“Your feet are small for your height.”
After exchanging a few words with the staff, he came back with several pairs of sneakers. Then he politely declined the female employee who offered to help by waving his hand, and knelt down on one knee in front of me. It all happened in an instant before I could stop him.
“Try them on.”
His large hand lightly gripped my ankle. Not only did he personally put the new shoes on me, but he also had me place my foot on his thigh and carefully checked by turning it this way and that.
“How is it? The toe box seems a bit loose…… Looking at it like this, you have narrow feet. You must have hurt your feet wearing ill-fitting ready-made products.”
“Uh……”
“How about this one? Do you like soft ones?”
As I just stared at him, still dazed, Jin Woohyeon looked up and gazed at me.
“If you’re slow to answer, I’ll pay for everything I brought here, Yoo Sanho-ssi.”
“The soft ones!”
I answered as if screaming.
“This side seems more comfortable!”
“Between yellow and blue?”
If I had to choose, the yellow was brighter and prettier, but seeing the laces that were the same deep blue color as the car he had driven somehow made my heart lean that way.
“Blue……”
“We have similar taste.”
He put the blue sneakers on my other foot and even tied the laces. The series of actions from shaping to making knots looked very skillful. Just like someone who had tied other people’s shoes countless times.
“The ones hyung is wearing are pretty but look too uncomfortable, so I kept worrying about them. The sole looks a bit thin too. If you keep wearing shoes like that, you’ll hurt your feet.”
The dress shoes I had been wearing were ones I had custom-made with Lee Chan after becoming an adult. I remember making quite a large expenditure to match his taste, but as Jin Woohyeon said, they weren’t very comfortable shoes. They fit perfectly front to back but were loose in the width, so my feet often got scraped.
Still, I must have worn them for almost 7 years. Those uncomfortable shoes until they wore out, stubbornly. Pretending not to notice when my feet chafed and got scraped, as if denying the fact that those shoes and I, like you and me, didn’t really fit together.
“Why are you being so good to me?”
I asked Jin Woohyeon, who was tying the knot on the opposite shoe.
“Because you caught my fancy?”
“Well, that’s part of it.”
Jin Woohyeon stood up with a grunt and said, “Now try walking.”
I carefully walked around the store wearing the new shoes. My steps felt light and comfortable. I thought, “So there are sneakers this comfortable in the world.”
“I have a younger sibling with a big age gap.”
When I turned my head, our eyes met through the long full-length mirror. Jin Woohyeon shrugged with his hands diagonally inserted in his windbreaker pockets and added, “My real younger sister.”
“She’s like hyung.”
His gaze dropped sharply to the prettily tied new sneakers, or rather, to the ankle that showed pale above them.
“She was badly injured after being hit by a motorcycle. It might have been better if we had taken care of it in time, but it happened to be a hit-and-run…… Well, this is an old story so let’s move on. Anyway, because of that, a fifteen-year-old girl limps when she walks. Much more noticeably than hyung.”
I had nothing to say. Although his tone was certainly casual, I knew it didn’t mean he was really okay with it. Because in his black pupils, distant emotions were quietly rippling. Sympathy, sadness, helplessness, guilt, and anger were all there, bluntly worn down.
“She practices walking every day because she doesn’t want to be teased by other kids. She says that’s all she could ask for.”
Only then did I understand why he was skilled at putting on shoes and tying laces. He had personally tended to that child’s feet every time, hoping she could walk a little more comfortably, stumble a little less.
“But she’ll never be able to wear the pretty heels she used to love so much.”
He gestured to me. After confirming I sat back down, he carefully pulled down my pant leg. He briefly wrapped my left ankle and gently tapped near the ankle bone with his fingertips.
“Hyung. Do you do any rehabilitation?”
He wasn’t asking me about what had already happened, but whether I was doing something for the future.
“You know this ankle is thinner than the other one, right? Don’t skip it because it’s bothersome and troublesome – manage it consistently. Not just taking care of this area……”
His large hand touched my knee.
“It’s best to apply heat therapy all the way up here. Don’t skip the right side just because it doesn’t hurt. The burden is actually concentrated on the right side.”
The body heat transmitted through my clothes was so hot it felt like it would burn me. I stared without even blinking and finally managed to speak.
“That you liked my first impression…… I understand. That you feel responsible because of the pheromone shower, or that you’re concerned because the situation is similar to your sister’s.”
“But,” I added, my voice completely dry. Unlike him, who was stylish and impressive in everything, I sounded only shabby and pathetic.
“I think this is excessive.”
To him, wealthy enough to pay for sneakers without even asking the price, this might be just casual kindness, but for me, the problem was that it was too big a volume to fully embrace.
“I’ve never really received things like this before, so I don’t know what to do.”
Jin Woohyeon, who had been quietly watching me feel overwhelmed, said,
“This isn’t free.”
“……What?”
“It’s a bribe.”
He took out his wallet and pulled out a business card from inside, handing it to me.
“Let’s keep in touch with each other.”
Author: Hyacinthus B
Hyacinthus
