#048
“Does it hurt?”
“If I’m not injured, it shouldn’t hurt.”
“Your ankle twisted earlier.”
“You saw wrong. It didn’t twist.”
It’s true. I know. If it had twisted, I would have collapsed even with Woo Dohwan catching me.
“I was startled.”
The hands massaging my ankle were cold. The hands I had finally warmed up cooled down in an instant. Unlike the cool temperature, the only gentle touch busily moved around my ankle area. He pulled up the socks that had been rolled down to fully expose my ankle bones, and pulled down the pants that had been hiked up to the knees to reveal my calves, covering the tops of my shoes.
“You overreacted.”
“When I see someone about to fall right in front of me, isn’t it harder to maintain composure?”
“……”
“So be careful. My heart almost dropped. If you had scraped your knees, it would have hurt my heart.”
The words he casually spat out were genuinely cheesy. Ah, so cheesy. So cheesy…! I lacked resistance to lines like this. Why does he talk like that? I turned my entire face bright red and actively nodded to block Woo Dohwan’s mouth.
I just rolled my eyes around in embarrassment. I had nothing more to say. I coughed desperately, hoping Woo Dohwan would go home, then bit my lips looking at the man who was being completely clueless.
“That… that Lim Nanhee-ssi… I can call her that, right?”
“Yeah. It’s her name, so what.”
“That… didn’t Lim Nanhee-ssi tell you to come to work at the gallery?”
When I voiced my curious question, Woo Dohwan shrugged. She said she’d take away his card… is it okay for him to be so leisurely?
“She told someone who only knows Picasso when it comes to paintings to take charge of a gallery. So I was studying. What’s hanging there, what’s being exhibited. I need to know what kind of gallery I’m basically taking charge of to do the work.”
“…Huh?”
Woo Dohwan looked very tired. He definitely showed no sign of fatigue just a moment ago.
“Ah…”
“What she wants to give me is ‘蘒 from the business card I received then. I guess she doesn’t like that I’m not working and just playing around.”
“I actually thought successful curators get promoted to director positions.”
At my absurd words, Woo Dohwan smiled faintly and shook his head slightly.
“I wish that were the case too.”
He spoke as if he genuinely disliked it. As they say, wealth is inherited. By the way, maybe because he’s from a chaebol family, the scale of inheritance is extraordinary.
“When do you start work?”
“Well. I think I’ll have to by next month. I’ve been studying paintings lately.”
Woo Dohwan, who had been smiling mischievously while scrunching his nose bridge, looked at me intently with serious eyes.
“It’s a shame. If I could just paint well, I’d exhibit them.”
“Pardon?”
Woo Dohwan narrowed one eye and reached out his hand to make a sketching gesture. Naturally, I was the subject. When I opened my mouth unable to hide my shock, Woo Dohwan shrugged and lowered his outstretched hand.
“I’m pretty good with things I do with my hands. You remember when I trimmed flowers for you, right?”
“I don’t.”
Woo Dohwan pouted his lips and held out the finger that had absurdly asked for industrial accident compensation. I naturally started muttering “Our honey always opens his mouth and—” but swallowed the rest at my piercing gaze. But when I glared at him with sharp eyes, seeming to know what the content would be, Woo Dohwan laughed very heartily and seemed pleased. He’s like a sadist, I tell you. He straightened his crouched body and took one step closer, narrowing the distance between us.
“I know what that is now.”
“…What?”
“The flower language of sweet pea.”
My eyes widened in confusion. When was that…!
“Please remember me.”
Ah… delayed embarrassment washed over me. I should have told him that day. Or even now, it might have been a hundred times better if I had beaten Woo Dohwan to it and told him the flower language first. Of all things, why did I bring that in…! Just as I was feeling extremely regretful, Woo Dohwan’s laughter came a bit closer.
“Why are you so embarrassed? I found that one too, tulips.”
Looking straight at the face that had come right up to me, I felt like my heart would burst and unconsciously reached out to push Woo Dohwan’s shoulder.
“Too…”
“Hm?”
“Too close.”
When I turned my head and muttered, Woo Dohwan leaned his forehead against my shoulder and muttered quietly.
“Declaration of love.”
“Crazy…”
“If that’s how you feel, then I do too.”
“…Are you insane?”
When I turned my head in shock at his shameless words, the first thing that caught my sight was Woo Dohwan’s reddened ear tips.
“Your language is rough. In that sense, will you come eat breakfast tomorrow too?”
“No.”
“So damn decisive…”
The drooping end of his words that seemed regretful shouldn’t be cute, but it was cute.
***
Woo Dohwan was there as if he wasn’t until I finished organizing. I placed some unusual flowers from today’s haul in front of him sitting on the mini sofa with a bored expression, and I organized the flowers again. I cut the stems diagonally, removed some leaves, plucked off wilted petals, then put them in vases and placed them in the showcase.
The completely empty showcase wasn’t even half full, but it was still okay. I could take it easy this week. I organized the messy table and scraped together the removed leaves and cut stems to throw in the trash. Then I took out flowers to make a bouquet that I had decided to give to Woo Dohwan since I started organizing the flowers.
Woo Dohwan looked at me with an expression wondering why I was putting flowers in and taking them out, then grabbed the stem of the sweet pea placed in front of him and brought it under his nose to deeply inhale the fragrance. Then he checked the Pepero placed on one side of the table and furrowed his brows as if displeased.
“What’s this?”
“Pepero.”
“That’s not what I’m asking, Ranho.”
Then what are you asking? Are you asking who gave it to me?
“A friend of a friend gave it to me.”
“A friend of a friend?”
“Yes, anyway, you can eat it. It’s really delicious.”
I thought he wanted to eat it so I said he could, but Woo Dohwan turned his head away with an indifferent expression. He’s really picky.
“But what are you doing?”
“Making a bouquet.”
“Suddenly?”
“Not suddenly. I was planning to make one after finishing organizing.”
Woo Dohwan, who had been sitting primly, straightened his body and came closer to the table.
“What’s this?”
“Panicum.”
“Panicum?”
“I’m going to use this to make a bouquet for Woo Dohwan-ssi.”
I was busy shaping the all-white Brut roses, lisianthus, stock, silk gerbera, and pompom chrysanthemums I had taken out. Thinking it might be lacking in fullness, I took out a handful of didiscus to fill the gaps and breathed life into the plain bouquet with panicum and eucalyptus. Indeed, with the addition of green, the bouquet became much more vibrant.
“It’s pretty, right?”
“It’s pretty. But why are you giving this to me?”
“Um… because I’m grateful for today. Breakfast was delicious too.”
“The meal cost is excessive, honey.”
If only I could hear less of that “honey” sound, Woo Dohwan would be much prettier. Shaking my head, I took out white tissue paper and Claude paper to wrap the bouquet. I tied a khaki ribbon around the stem to finish and stretched out my arms.
“In a cool place,”
“Cold water, change it often, cut stems diagonally.”
“Oh. You memorized it.”
“I want to stay longer, but I should go.”
Woo Dohwan, who had placed the bouquet on the table, picked up the coat that had been covering my shoulders or knees the whole time and draped it over his arm.
“Wear it when you go. It’s cold outside.”
“It’s uncomfortable to wear while driving.”
“Then take this.”
I took out a hot pack I had brought as a spare to the shop, peeled off the plastic, and shook it quickly. Shake shake shake, the sound of the heating material shaking inside the white pouch echoed. When I put the gradually warming hot pack in his hand, Woo Dohwan reached out to lightly embrace my shoulders and let go. Crazy, that was too natural…!
Being so flustered that I couldn’t say anything and just blinked, Woo Dohwan reached out his hand warmed by the hot pack to gently stroke my hair.
“Thank you.”
“It’s, it’s nothing, really nothing.”
“Don’t come out.”
The hand holding the hot pack waved gently in the air. My heart kept pounding. I glanced at his retreating figure holding the bouquet, then suddenly let out a deep sigh. Ding-a-ling, the wind chime sounded, and Woo Dohwan turned around and smiled against the light, just like a scene from a photograph. Then he mouthed “see you later,” words I could understand even without hearing.
***
After sending Woo Dohwan away, I had no time to seriously think about what kind of relationship he and I actually had as customers came flooding in. After sending away customers who kept coming one after another, giving them bouquets of various sizes, I turned off the shop sign light as soon as I saw off the last customer. Things should go moderately well—if I just keep the shop open, customers keep streaming in and out, so I seriously thought I should consider closing down.
I was planning to sell flowers occasionally, not to run such a busy business that I could only get occasional rest time.
“Phew…”
Now I finally had a moment to breathe. Sitting on the sofa and gulping down water, I tried hard to remember something I seemed to have forgotten. There was something, what was it exactly? What was I planning to do today… Hmm. As I turned my head to look around, the moment I saw the Pepero that caught my eye, my body sprang up like a spring.
“Ban Hajoon!”
I had forgotten because I was too busy. That I had promised to buy him dinner today. I stuck my hand into my apron pocket and took out my phone. I had no time to check all day so I didn’t know, but messages had already piled up heavily. The first message was very cheerful, but as it went on, there were more and more periods. I inhaled at the needlessly wistful message content and immediately pressed the call button.
“He must be sulking.”
The dial tone rang briefly, and Ban Hajoon’s voice sounded gloomy.
Author: Hyacinthus B
Hyacinthus
