#021
Straight fingers rubbed against his neatly exposed forehead. When I responded indifferently to the words of the man who wrinkled his nose bridge in a not unpleasant way and smiled, the man who had been arranging the flowers in the vase pulled out one stem.
When the man, who was pale enough to be called white, took out a deep red rose, the stark color contrast created an excessively decadent atmosphere. Saliva naturally gathered in my mouth.
“That, that day—did you succeed in making up?”
I had been staring at the man blankly again and unconsciously blurted out the question that flowed out.
“…Got hit again. Protected the flowers though. You said not to hit with flowers back then.”
“…Can’t hit with hands either. Why do you keep hitting people?”
“Exactly. But she said the flowers were pretty. Said she liked that part. She said she’d come here once.”
“……”
I don’t really welcome that kind of person who’s used to hitting people. When I couldn’t hide my expression and scrunched it up, the man made a “puhh-” deflating sound and laughed.
“Why?”
“I don’t really like the idea. There’s a saying not to hit even with flowers, but that person hit you even though you brought flowers.”
“Right. Making the person who made them feel bad. Right?”
I busily moved my hands pretending to clean a table that didn’t need cleaning. Strangely, the more I talked with the man, the more my heart, which had been beating as if it would burst just moments ago, gradually calmed down. Still, my hands wouldn’t stop trembling, so feeling like I had to do something, I took out a bunch of flowers on the table that had nothing left to organize and trimmed the stems and leaves.
“What kind of flower is this?”
“It’s called sweet pea—it smells good and the flowers are pretty too. Oh, the color too. It’s my favorite color. Light purple. This flower has delicate petals, so a bouquet with just these looks pretty, and it’s also pretty when mixed with other flowers.”
I placed one of the flowers I had trimmed into the man’s hand. The delicate petals fluttered following the movement of his hand, looking exactly like a butterfly flying away.
“You’re right. It’s pretty.”
His red lips curved into a soft arc. What was so special about that that I got distracted by it…
“…Ah!”
I cut my flesh on the blade of the flower scissors I was holding with a scrape. Sharp pain spread instantly. Bright red blood dripped onto the table, and the man’s eyes opened wider than I’d ever seen. This happened often so I was fine, but he apparently wasn’t, as he furrowed his brow as if he was in more pain than I was.
“Does it hurt?”
“It does hurt, but…”
The man moved his body urgently, pulled out several tissues, wrapped them around my fingertip and squeezed tightly. He gripped so hard his knuckles turned white and examined my complexion with shaking eyes. The white tissues quickly turned red and became moistly soaked.
“…What’s your name, your name?”
“What?”
At the sudden question, he asked back as if confused.
“What do you mean, what name all of a sudden. Fuck, why won’t this bleeding stop.”
“I’m asking what your name is.”
Chu Gangmin.
That was the name written on the resume of the man whose appearance couldn’t be called a gigolo. I’d always called him bastard, or that bastard, or crazy bastard, so I couldn’t even remember his surname well, but after checking the three-character name written on the resume, I vaguely remembered seeing the surname ‘Chu.’
The Chu Gangmin I was facing was different from Seo Ranho’s memory—rather than being called a gigolo, he was dependable, simple, and a man who knew how to make pure expressions. Only when he smiled, curving his eyes like crescents, did he look… just a little bit like that.
What on earth was so good about him, and how did he… change so terribly?
“What’s your name?”
No, maybe it’s just the same name and not Gangmin. Like people with the same name. Maybe this obvious gigolo-like man in front of me might be Gangmin.
“What?”
“You said you didn’t want to tell me yours.”
“…I’ll tell you.”
I promised several times that I would also tell him my name, as if doing him a favor, toward the man who was still gripping my finger tightly and couldn’t take his bewildered gaze away.
“Woo Dohwan.”
“……”
“You are.”
“……”
I knew it. To be called Gangmin… this bastard has too much money for a gigolo. I looked at the round back of the man’s head as he concentrated all his attention on stopping the bleeding from my finger and muttered.
“Ranho. Seo Ranho.”
“A name like a flower.”
The man who had slightly released the hand he was holding to check how much my bleeding had stopped finally lifted his head and met my eyes.
“…Did you come to buy flowers again today?”
“Should I buy some?”
I shook my head. He’s not even Gangmin, but how many times have I been ripped off already? I sighed deeply and looked at my finger that I couldn’t even feel properly because he was gripping it too tightly. I took hold of the hand where blue veins protruded and gently pulled it away, then checked the cut.
The flesh had split slightly showing the red interior, but this level didn’t even count as a cut. I was lucky my flesh wasn’t sliced by the flower scissors. After removing Woo Dohwan’s hand, I rummaged through the drawer and took out bandages, disinfectant, and ointment. When I soaked a round cotton ball with disinfectant, a pale hand shot out and grabbed the tip of the cotton.
When I put down the disinfectant, my hand was naturally caught. He pulled my hand in front of him and lightly tapped the cotton soaked with disinfectant over the split flesh. Even his breath blowing “hoo hoo-” was incredibly tender.
Woo Dohwan put ointment on his fingertip, gently rubbed it between the cut skin, then neatly applied the bandage.
“It doesn’t hurt.”
“It must hurt. You cut it deep.”
“Not really. Wait a moment.”
I took out the light purple sweet peas and campanulas I had been working on, along with white stock and oxypetalum. Thinking the green was a bit lacking, I additionally took out ruscus and began shaping the arrangement. The hand with the bandage was a bit uncomfortable, but this much was nothing.
“This is really expensive. You really can’t get hit with this.”
I muttered while putting sweet pea as the main flower and arranging the surrounding flowers.
“It’s an imported flower, plus it’s a winter flower, and like its name, the fragrance is really sweet… It’s really expensive. I originally wasn’t going to buy it, but it was pretty, so I bought it. Just… I brought in a little to try selling. Not as the main flower but as a surrounding flower. So I really only brought in a little.”
“It’s pretty.”
“Anyway… I’m giving this to you first. So you can’t get hit with this. It’s too precious. Did you tell them that you can’t hit with flowers? Did you tell them that you can’t hit with hands either?”
As I asked while holding the gathered stems, Woo Dohwan met my eyes briefly, then answered languidly while keeping his gaze on my finger.
“I did.”
“Then why did you get hit? Why?”
“I met someone. A fucking lot of people.”
“……”
They say you can’t quit women and gambling… This bastard… I naturally let out a deep sigh.
After finishing the flower arrangement, I wrapped the stems with white floral foam and florist paper. I tied a pink ribbon around the middle to finish the packaging and held it out toward Woo Dohwan.
“You said not to buy flowers.”
“This isn’t for you to buy, it’s just something I made since the flowers came in. Like a sample…?”
“Pretty. Sweet pea?”
“That’s right.”
As I handed over the bouquet, I pulled at Woo Dohwan’s jacket. Whether he’d been dragging it on the ground all day, there were frayed parts of the fabric, and it was indescribably dirty. I couldn’t understand at all why he went around looking like such a beggar. Getting beaten up everywhere he went was the same.
I pulled out wet wipes and rubbed the dusty bottom hem while casually asking what I’d been curious about.
“You got dumped but you like her too much so you keep clinging on?”
“What?”
“You said you got dumped. That she hit you with flowers. With hands too… Seeing you go to make up after getting hit like that, I thought maybe you’re clinging because you like her too much.”
At his expression of hearing this for the first time, I wondered if my memory was wrong and traced back, remembering that I really had heard him say he got dumped, so I added that he had said that back then.
“That day, when it was raining. That day you were sitting in front here soaking wet like a drenched mouse after drinking. You said you got dumped.”
“A mouse? I’m too handsome for that.”
“……”
I didn’t want to acknowledge it so I didn’t answer. All the ones I’d mistaken for Gangmin knew too well that they were handsome. It was a fact I knew very well too, but I deliberately kept my mouth shut. Woo Dohwan seemed intoxicated by the sweet pea’s fragrance, smelling it for a long while before quietly beginning his story.
“When I said dumped, I meant kicked.”
“…Kicked?”
At my questioning response, Woo Dohwan’s finger pointed downward. Pointing at his shiny leather shoes, he answered ‘Kicked.’ once more and slowly revealed the behind-the-story of that day.
“Maybe because she didn’t like seeing me live however I wanted, my big noona blocked all my cards.”
“……”
“She said if I wanted to be treated like a person, I should live like one? Anyway, since all my cards were blocked, I went around meeting rich noonas. A fucking lot of them. Then apparently some reporter came looking with photos. Something about pictures taken in cars, or paying for hotel bills. Anyway, there wasn’t just one or two people who gave me money, so I don’t even remember who properly, but when they asked who exactly I got money from…”
Crazy… How impressive, really. I barely held back the words that almost burst out loud, but…
“Even like this, I’m the most famous person in our family, so whenever I meet anyone, they get excited all day long.”
Woo Dohwan said with a slight curve of his lips. He’s bragging, this bastard… I almost couldn’t hold back this time.
Even while listening to behind-the-scenes stories that made me sigh deeply though I wasn’t even family, every time Woo Dohwan’s lips slightly parted, I found myself thinking the glimpse of red flesh inside was strangely alluring. Sensuality flowed out as naturally as breathing, constantly making my mind restless. That guy really had it all in his face. His airy light tone of speech, his profanity as natural as breathing—all of it was covered by that face.
Author: Hyacinthus B
Hyacinthus
