#058
Ju Isin said with a prim expression. Ah, pfft. I laughed. It wasn’t a mood for laughing. As my body that had been tense the whole time relaxed and swayed, Ju Isin stretched out his arm and caught me. As time passed, Chu Gangmin’s body tilted. The mumbling sounds also became quieter and his swaying movements became more frequent, then thud, he laid his body on the floor.
“He’s drunk out of this world. I almost became like that. Really horrifying.”
While Ju Isin was shaking his head in disgust, a police car stopped. As police officers got out of the driver’s and passenger seats, a crisp voice rang out.
“Thank you for your hard work.”
Ban Hajoon didn’t seem like he would be familiar with this kind of thing, but he handed over Chu Gangmin very familiarly. While helping the police officer lay Chu Gangmin in the back seat, he briefly explained the situation. He conveyed without omission that he had drunk a lot, came to the flower shop and caused trouble, and even used violence.
Then he rolled up the clothing covering my wrist to show the flesh that was beginning to bruise bluish.
“Oh my, you must have been startled. If there was also property damage, please take good photos, and take photos of your wrist too. Getting a medical certificate from the hospital would also be helpful. If you’re going to file charges, you’ll need to visit the police station to write a statement.”
“Yes, thank you.”
I gave thanks to the police officers who had quickly responded in the cold weather and stood still in that spot until the car carrying Chu Gangmin disappeared.
“You’re going straight to the police station, right? Let’s go together.”
“…I am going to go, but I don’t think I can go today, I’ll have to go tomorrow.”
“Hyung, let’s go today. Writing a statement doesn’t take long, so why postpone it?”
Ju Isin asked in a tone that said he couldn’t understand. I had to meet Gyoyeon today. If I went to the police station, the time we agreed to meet might pass by, and if I postponed the appointment, I didn’t know when Gyoyeon would suggest meeting again, so I didn’t want to do that. As I stood there just blinking while organizing my thoughts, Ban Hajoon carefully grasped my wrist that was getting hot and causing slight pain.
“Let’s go together tomorrow. I’m a witness.”
“……”
“Having witness testimony for an assault case would be good too. I’ll come pick you up, so calm down and rest a bit today. There was a loud banging sound earlier, are there any other injured places?”
When I nodded at his soothing, gentle voice, his gaze that had been meeting my eyes went down to check my wrist that was starting to swell. Feeling embarrassed by his intense staring, I pulled my arm away and moved my feet that had been stuck to the ground.
Ban Hajoon’s gaze that touched Ju Isin, who was looking at me with a face tinged with slight irritation, lingered on him for a moment before turning forward again. I should clean up the shop first… but what time is it now? I thought I was fine, but I must have been shocked because trembling started from my fingertips. The moment my legs gave out and I swayed, I was pulled into Ju Isin’s arms again as he quickly approached.
“I don’t understand, but I’ll just bear with it. If hyung says he’s going to do that, there must be a good reason for it.”
Ju Isin spoke with the most proper pronunciation I’d ever heard from him. His voice, not lively at all, sank low and flowed into my ear. Ju Isin, who had supported me and stepped up onto the terrace, pushed open the entrance door for me.
Whether it was right that I had been dragged out quite violently, vases and piles of flowers that had fallen here and there were scattered messily on the floor. Looking over the twisted sofa and table, I thought it was fortunate that no items were broken and escaped from Ju Isin’s arms.
Ban Hajoon, who had arrived at some point and caught my hand as I tried to clean up the messy places, took out his phone and carefully took photos.
Would this really serve as evidence? How was it in the original story? Even trying to remember, there had never been a time when police help was available. They were always like a script designed to make Seo Ranho unhappy, arriving one step too late.
“Hah…”
My head was dizzy. Time had flowed well in the meantime. The wall clock had already passed 4 o’clock.
“I finished taking photos. The cleaning-“
“I’ll… I’ll do it. Thank you for today.”
“Will you be okay alone?”
Ban Hajoon asked worriedly. He gently grasped my shoulder as if to calm my pale face. When he called “Ranho-ssi,” I raised my downcast gaze.
“Are you okay?”
Calm and affectionate eyes met mine. In fact, the biggest victims in the current novel were Ban Hajoon and Mo Gyoyeon rather than me. Though they didn’t know it, the love story between the two who had been the protagonists was completely twisted by my hasty judgment. I felt sorry for Ban Hajoon who was worrying about me without knowing anything. And as if layered on top of that emotion, self-reproach also grew in volume.
“…It’s easier to do alone. Thank you for coming today. …I’ll contact you.”
“Call me. I’m worried.”
I nodded to Ban Hajoon instead of answering and looked over the messy interior, then noticed Ju Isin still standing with a sulky face, one leg bent, leaning crookedly. He glanced to confirm Ban Hajoon turning and leaving the shop, then let out a deep sigh.
“I’ll go too.”
“Thank you. If it weren’t for Ju Isin-ssi…”
“Hyung almost got in big trouble. Right?”
“……”
“…I want to call too.”
I raised my gaze from the floor to meet Ju Isin’s eyes.
“I’m worried about hyung too.”
When I received the phone he held out, entered my number and gave it back, Ju Isin immediately pressed the call button and left a missed call on my phone.
“I’m going.”
Ju Isin waved his hand gently in the air and walked away. The strength drained from my body that had been barely standing in front of the long table for making bouquets. While barely leaning against the table for support and covering my eyes, breathing heavily for a long time, the wind chime rang.
Unable to even lift my head and staying still, someone quietly passed by and placed a rustling plastic bag on the table. Without acknowledging me, he left the shop as he was. At the sound of the door opening, I removed the hand covering my eyes and checked – the back figure was just neat.
With sluggish movements, I opened the plastic bag and checked its contents. From inside the bag containing patches, ointment, cheong-sim-hwan, drinks, chocolate, candy and such, I took out the cheong-sim-hwan. I thought he had just gone to the convenience store, but it seemed he had also been to the pharmacy. I put down the lid that turned with a click on the table and tilted the bottle with the bitter herbal medicine smell, emptying it all without even breathing.
Though I was calmer than before, I thought it would be better to drink it, but I regretted it as soon as I took it. I barely endured the dry heaving from the bitter taste and immediately put a candy in my mouth. When the sweet taste spread, it felt better. This is why he bought the candy. Rolling the green grape-flavored candy on my tongue, I opened the plastic bag and took out the contents, spreading them on the table.
“Ointment…”
Picking up the square box and reading the description, it was for applying to bruised areas. Seeing my wrist swelling up, he must have bought it for me to apply.
“Cool patch? Is it cooling…”
I rolled up the knit that covered even the back of my hands to check my wrist. The skin with handprints still remaining was more swollen than before, and even lightly squeezing it caused a tingling pain. I have a bouquet reservation this week too.
“I’m screwed…”
Muttering to myself, I set up the fallen vases and gathered the dried flowers that had become unusable with petals scattered sparsely, bundling them together. Thinking it would be a waste to throw them away, I should take them home and trim the stems short to stick in a diffuser. While being dragged around, what had he touched so much – even small decorative items had all fallen to the floor and were rolling around here and there.
I really hate this. Each time I picked up the accessories made by putting small flowers and hardening them before opening the flower shop, my anger toward Chu Gangmin grew in volume. Calling him a crazy bastard and spitting out curses, I was reaching to pick up an accessory that had gone under the display case when it happened.
At the ringing wind chime sound, I irritably turned my head sharply.
“We’re closed-“
“What on earth did you spill to be like that?”
An especially neat-looking man today stood stopped in front of the entrance with a playful smile on his lips. Suddenly, an unknown emotion surged up. Looking at that bright smiling face reminded me of who Woo Dohwan had been meeting and coming from. While I was going through this kind of thing, he had apparently been dating in such a neat appearance with the person to whom he gave the bouquet I made as a gift. When did he charm me saying his heart was urgent, this and that? Staying frozen while kneeling on the floor, I unconsciously buried my face in my arm.
Calm down, calm down. Whoever he meets, what does that have to do with me? Whether he gives the flowers I made to noonas or not. He might have met Minhui noona or Minju noona all day today, so what, what’s the big deal? He said he liked me, but he didn’t say he wouldn’t meet anyone else.
“Ranho?”
My eyeballs were hot. Feeling my eyes getting moist, I rubbed my eyes roughly on my clothes and fumbled on the floor to pick up the decorative items. I straightened my body that had been kneeling on the floor and put the basket with the collected accessories on top of the display case. I’ll clean up later, later, and right now…
“Ranho.”
When I turned around, Woo Dohwan, who had come close, happened to grab my bruised left wrist that had been caught by Chu Gangmin’s hand.
“Ah…!”
At my heavily frowning expression and the scream I let out, Woo Dohwan, who was more surprised than me, dropped the hand that had been holding my wrist. The pain was so great that tears almost came out. Ha, shit. I really hate this. As I unconsciously hugged my wrist and covered the area where pain spread, Woo Dohwan came close and carefully removed the hand covering my wrist.
“What’s this?”
“It’s nothing.”
“Which bastard did this?”
Woo Dohwan’s eyes flashed menacingly.
“The shop is closed today. Let’s go.”
“Who did this? You, were you crying?”
I wasn’t crying. My eyes stung, but it hadn’t hurt enough to cry.
“It hurts when you hold it like that, so let go.”
“Ranho.”
I don’t even know why I’m feeling this way. Rather, what happened with Chu Gangmin didn’t matter at all… I just felt sorry for Ban Hajoon. But now that I see Woo Dohwan, emotions I can’t even understand myself are flowing out like a burst dam. What kind of relationship do Woo Dohwan and I even have?
“What did I do wrong?”
My vision became distorted. He did nothing wrong. When I shook my head vigorously, a delicate hand rubbed the corner of my eyes and well-shaped lips opened to mutter to himself.
“Then why are you crying? Was I too late?”
Author: Hyacinthus B
Hyacinthus
