“Why? I really want to kiss you. Do you know how long I’ve held back the urge to kiss you?”
“How long?”
“All day long.”
“They say men are like wolves! Just be more patient!”
“Let’s just do it. It’s not a big deal, you know.”
Hojoon hugged her shoulders when she closed her eyes.
A cool, briny scent of perfume tickled the tip of her nose. She waited for his kiss, with eyes closed. But she didn’t feel his lips.
She couldn’t open her eyes nor continue to close her eyes.
In the end, she slightly opened her eyes.
“Oh my god!”
Her eyes met his pupils, which were close enough to reflect her big, brown eyes.
“What are you doing? You’re not kissing me?”
“Just stay still like that.”
“Why?”
“I’m now embedding your face in my heart.”
“You’re too close to me,” she said, pushing his chest slightly with her arms. But his strong chest wouldn’t move.
“Since I usually saw you from a distance, I couldn’t believe it.”
“Believe what?”
“I can’t believe that you’re this beautiful.”
Hearing that, she was so embarrassed, with her face and ears blushing.
‘I wonder if my makeup is still okay. What if my mascara was wiped off? He might notice wrinkles in my eye rims. I wish I had put on lipstick once more.’
She was nervous about her makeup at that moment. She cared about how she looked to him. All of a sudden, she said, “Can’t you just kiss me?”
“Nope.”
“What? You don’t want to kiss me?”
Strangely enough, it was Arum, not Hojoon, who was begging for them to kiss.
“No, I’m not kissing you.”
“Kiss me!”
She felt strange when she said that.
‘This is not what I’m supposed to do.’
Only then did she realize that she was being played.
At that moment, he put his lips close to her cheek.
After kissing her cheek, he stroked it, saying, “Good night!”
“…..”
Arum couldn’t reply. She felt her cheeks burn.
‘What the heck is he doing now?’
It was like a sweet ice cream when he kissed her cheeks while she was sober.
She wanted to taste it once more.
‘I can’t let him go like this!’
There were some people who never kissed, but there were none who stopped after kissing their partners only once.
The moment she saw him again, his eyes turned erotic.
“Shall we sleep together tonight?”
“Are you crazy?” Arum asked in surprise.
Deep inside, though, she wanted to welcome him into her house right now.
Her heart began to beat fast, but she held onto reason, vowing that she would not let her hair down.
“I thought of sleeping here tonight, but let me just take my leave!” he said jokingly.
“Don’t joke like that again! Take care!”
With a cool smile, she got out of his car.
She wanted to invite him to her house after she solved all her personal problems first, and Hojoon knew that.
“Good night!”
“Take care!”
She stepped back, looking at his car.
“You’re gonna fall if you move back like that!” he shouted.
“Just go quickly!”
“I don’t want to go,” he said wistfully.
“I don’t want to, either. So, head out first.” Arum didn’t want to part with him either. She felt lonely; she had to go into her dark room alone.
In the end, he gave in.
“I’ll be heading out first.”
He drove his car out of the garage and disappeared.
“Dang it!” She let out a sigh, murmuring, “I regret it.”
And then she touched the spot on her cheek that he kissed with her finger.
Kissing was a body language. If one kissed the other party, feeling his or her temperature and breathing, the other party would feel good. The only way to know the other party’s feelings without ever speaking at all was to kiss.
Though Arum tried to describe kissing as ‘one’s lips folded together beautifully,’ her memories of kisses in her childhood was just skin touch.
She knew after she came of age. Love was not deepened in proportion to the length of one’s dating. And that was the same with kissing. Only considerations and understanding were the yardstick of love.
Today, Hojoon’s kiss was a show of his warm considerations, which was waiting.
With light footsteps, she walked into the entrance of her villa.
A yellow sensor light turned on.
At that moment, a young man suddenly appeared from the stairs.
“Gee!”
She squatted down, feeling incredibly scared at the moment.
“Arum!”
He was none other than Konsu.
“Gee, you really scared me off! What are you doing here?”
He looked pretty haggard. She hadn’t seen him in several days.
“Why are you avoiding me?” he said resentfully.
“Who is avoiding you?” Arum turned away her gaze. In fact, she avoided him yesterday.
“In fact, I…”
She knew too well what he was trying to say.
“I know you cancelled off the marriage.”
With a surprised look, he stared at her.
“Do you know that? You avoided me knowingly? How can you dare? Arum Yang?”
The more agitated he was, the calmer she got.
“Because that’s your own problem,” she said.
“It’s our problem!”
“You should go and pick a fight with Yuyoung, not me. Why did you cancel off the marriage? Did Yuyoung change her mind because of me?”
She hit the nail right on the head.
“Did Yuyoung know that I was a divorcee?” coming to his senses, he asked.
“Nope.”
“Why did you come to my place then? You should have gone to her house.”
“…”
“Do you love me?” she asked as she felt stuffy at the moment.
“…”
As expected, he didn’t reply. But deep inside, he already had a ready-made answer.
He would be lying if he said he loved her.
When asked about their relationship, he would have to say, “Friendship.”
In their college days, it was love. But when they met again, it was friendship.
Arum realized it clearly today.
“You don’t love me, right?” she said.
“That’s not true. I really…” he hesitated awkwardly.
“We’re trying to love each other. But let’s stop it.”
“What?”
“What you call love.”
Konsu made a cool expression upon hearing her reply. Was he taking a weight off his mind?
“What should I do now?”
Having said that, he was making the same expression as her cousin brother right before he got scolded by his mother.
“What do you mean?”
Though she already sensed the meaning of his loaded question, she asked this, pretending not to know. He cancelled off the marriage, and his ex-girlfriend left him once and for all.
He was in a dilemma at the moment.
“What about my disengagement?”
She let out a sigh subconsciously.
What would have happened if she had gotten married to this type of man?
“Why are you asking me about your own issue?”
“Tell me how, since you’ve always been a good troubleshooter.”
“Hey, come to your senses! Just go and beg for Yuyoung’s forgiveness! Do you want me to tell her on your behalf?”
“…”
Konsu didn’t reply. She saw him rolling his eyes.
“Can we love again?”
He was really impossible in her eyes.
“Hey, get out here right now!”
She expelled her ex-boyfriend once and for all, along with her lingering sympathetic feelings toward him.
But she had some other work to do. She had to retrieve the geomancy advice given by Hojoon’s father.
‘By the way, when is geomancy master Paekhoon coming back from Tibet?’
***
Two days later, Hojoon met her in front of her company, timed with her getting off work in the evening. They drove to the house of Paekhoon, Hojoon’s father.
“Konsu came to my house the other day,” she told him about it as if she was simply reminiscing about something that happened a long time ago.
“Why didn’t you tell me?”
“What can I say?”
“His disengagement… Is it true?”
“Not yet. Since Yuyoung asked for it first, it’s his job to change her mind.”
“Again…”
He examined her expression, looking askance at her.
“I won’t meet him again,” she said resolutely.
“Can I trust you this time?”
“I’m not the type of woman who sits on the fence.”
That was true. She found it hard to handle even one man like Konsu.
“And don’t even talk about Konsu anymore from now on. Don’t you have any pride, Hojoon? Do you really enjoy talking about another man?” she said sincerely.
“Of course, I don’t want it, either. But what should I do? It’s your biggest problem up to now.”
“Yeah, that problem. That’s the problem. Your father clearly knows the solution to that problem, right? Don’t you know it, Chief?”
“How can I? I’ve never seen such a bad client,” he answered, referring to her.
She had nothing to respond since she was responsible for it.
They arrived at Paekhoon’s house 30 minutes later. The housemaid welcomed them.
“Is my mother not here yet?”
“She went to the Temple of Chongryang as she had to serve food for the monks there.”
“How about my father?”
“He is in the tea room now. Please come in.”
“Sure, this way.”