DH ✦ Ch 29

✦ Chapter 29 ✦

Jeongdong-gil was located not far away.

Ga-young entered the stone-wall path, guided by the man whose fingers had woven with hers. It was a path where ginkgo trees lined up in a row along a stone wall topped with traditional tiles.

At the beginning of the night walk, Ga-young couldn’t fully enjoy the scenery. Even after doing much lewder things, she remained excessively tense from the man’s body heat wrapped around her hand.

However, as their side-by-side footsteps accumulated, things began to come into view.

The time and history preserved in the deep interior of Seoul’s downtown. The moss-covered stones and the antique charm of aged trees. Her eyes gradually opened to such things.

So this is what Jeongdong-gil is like.

Ga-young looked around, recalling the lyrics of an old popular song.

The red-brick cathedral from the lyrics wasn’t surrounded by winter snow, but by yellow lights, and instead of the fragrant flower scents of May, the green scents of June lingered.

“Have you ever been here?” At Hyun-jae’s question came a warmth identical to the hand enclosing Ga-young’s. Ga-young answered calmly.

“It’s my first time. The Executive Director must have come here often.”

“I’ve seen it several times passing by, but this is my first time taking a walk here, too.”

His words tasted sweet in her ears.

The fact that this man, too, had a “first time.” The fact that no memories of Shin Hyun-jae with another woman were buried here. Confirming such a fact made her heart melt away senselessly.

“It seems like it would be even better to come here in the autumn.”

Hyun-jae muttered to himself while looking at the green ginkgo trees. To Ga-young, it was a sentiment she couldn’t relate to at all. I like it right now, though. Hyun-jae didn’t miss her small murmur.

“Do you like this place?”

“Yes.”

“What part of it?”

“……Everything.”

It felt a waste to untangle her current emotions into a lengthy, wordy chatter.

The stylish elegance of the stone wall and the red-brick buildings. The natural color of trees wearing only green leaves. The ordinary, everyday noise—neither too quiet nor too loud—that felt just like a world where people lived.

She liked that the environment blending all those things together wasn’t complicated. This simplicity felt like it was washing away the anguish in the back of her mind.

“I’m glad to hear you like it.”

Hyun-jae readjusted his grip on her hand, which had grown slightly loose. Ga-young’s cold hand had been warmed by the man’s heat so that now their body temperatures were similar.

A walk without any airs continued, satisfied with just holding a hand.

“Why do you think I chose this place for a date?”

“Well, I wonder. Why did you?”

“I thought about what date spot people dating in Seoul would visit at least once. Across generations, it had to be here. I figured if you’re a Seoul citizen, you must have at least one memory with a lover here.”

It was a remark that matched the scenery entering Ga-young’s field of view.

Many of the pedestrians lingering on Jeongdong-gil right now were doing just that. There were many pairs of two—lovers, married couples, or even same-sex friends.

Emotions such as familiarity, friendship, affection, and love shared by them were vaguely floating above the path.

So, to Seoul citizens, this path must be that kind of romance. To the older generation, a path winding back against the flow of time. To the younger generation, a path stored away as a moment of memories to be chewed over someday.

“If it’s a memory shared by everyone, I wanted us to have it, too. That’s why I came here.”

For Hyun-jae, a date course requiring massive amounts of money would have been much easier. Yet he chose a place where parking was inconvenient and required some legwork.

An unusual first meeting, an abnormal marriage—compared to those, dating was an extremely ordinary beginning.

Dating.

The dizzy confusion from the moment Hyun-jae had proposed it still hadn’t faded for Ga-young.

Does dating even fit a relationship with a predetermined end? But if you interpret that “end” in reverse, until this very summer when their relationship hit a period, she had no choice but to stick close to Hyun-jae whether she liked it or not.

It’s better to just think of it as a short-lived romance. Making that judgment was why Ga-young had accepted his proposal.

In the end, it seemed like the right choice.

Now, Hyun-jae’s hand didn’t feel uncomfortable, and she had adapted even to walking side by side.

Occasionally turning her head to look at him, Ga-young would think such things.

That the man standing next to her right now was breathtakingly cool. That someday, she would likely pull out this time like a time capsule filled with beautiful memories.

While walking along a path where antique stone walls and red-brick walls harmonized, an old popular song sounded like an auditory hallucination. It was background music perfectly suited for a lovers’ spot transcending eras.

“Shall we grab some tea?” At Hyun-jae’s suggestion, Ga-young nodded happily.

They stepped into wherever their feet led them and claimed seats on the second-floor cafe terrace.

Hyun-jae placed the beverages he picked up from the first-floor ordering counter onto the table.

While he took off his jacket and hung it over a chair, Ga-young sucked eagerly on her ice cream latte through a straw. Since she was thirsty, the speed at which the latte dwindled was fast.

Hyun-jae, who hadn’t even touched his iced americano yet, gave a dry snort of laughter.

“Is it good?”

“Yes.”

“Seeing Yoon Ga-young eat it makes me crave something sweet, too.”

“Ah, would you like a sip?”

Hyun-jae stared at Ga-young blankly without answering. Gripping her latte cup, Ga-young hesitated over whether to move it across to him before standing up from her seat.

“I’ll go get another straw.”

“Sit down. You don’t need to.”

As she fidgeted and sat back down, Hyun-jae pulled the latte cup over. Fearing he might find sharing a straw dirty, she watched as he unhesitatingly put his lips to her straw.

After slowly savoring the ice cream latte he had drawn in with a single sip, Hyun-jae said like a sigh,

“This isn’t going to cut it.”

What isn’t cutting it? Just as Ga-young was about to ask, a surprise kiss brushed across her lips. It happened in the blink of an eye, causing Ga-young’s eyes to widen into circles.

“This side is tastier.”

Hyun-jae licked his own lips with his tongue and smiled brazenly.

Ga-young let out a breathless ha as well. Unlike before, it was a kiss that left behind only an itchy sensation deep inside her chest rather than on her lips.

Following that, a time of reading books fetched from the cafe’s shelf ensued.

Ga-young only let letters that failed to register in her brain brush past her eyes while secretly stealing glances at Hyun-jae.

Even though the book he held in his hand was the exact same size as hers, it looked much smaller. Sweeping over his long fingers, neat fingernails, and the veins protruding on the back of his hand in turn, she thought to herself that it was a terribly manly hand.

It felt miraculous how a hand that looked so composed while holding a book turned wildly lewd the moment it touched her skin.

When interlocking fingers, when rubbing lips, when squeezing her breasts, and right down to there……….

At the sudden flash of memory, Ga-young’s ears flushed burning hot.

“Is it fun to think about lewd things while reading a book?”

Hyun-jae spoke with his eyes still fixed on the book page. Startled, Ga-young pulled the book right up to the tip of her nose.

“I wasn’t, I wasn’t thinking about anything like that.”

“You weren’t?”

Hyun-jae lowered the book, reached out, and caught the edge of Ga-young’s ear. He didn’t let go even when she pulled her face back.

“Are only your ears feeling mischievous?”

Let go, she snapped, swatting away his teasing hand. Only then releasing her ear, Hyun-jae laughed playfully.

Ga-young sucked the ice cream latte down to the very bottom of the cup.

She did so without defollowing her cheeks, which had puffed up petulantly from the embarrassment of getting her inner thoughts caught. Watching that sight intently, Hyun-jae wiped the smile from his face.

“This is driving me crazy.”

“Why are you like this, Executive Director?”

“Because you’re pretty.”

Ga-young’s puffed-up cheeks turned hollow, and her gaze sank downward. At that moment, the wind blowing onto the cafe terrace carried the heat of summer.

She had read nearly half a book at the cafe, walked down a secluded night path upon leaving, suffered a few surprise kisses, and ended up at a hotel just as Hyun-jae led her.

Because they hadn’t passed through the front desk, she hadn’t imagined he’d secured a guest room, but as she obediently followed Hyun-jae, they found themselves inside a suite.

Right now, the moment the door clicked shut, she was in the middle of being kissed inside Hyun-jae’s arms, having been pulled straight toward him. Before she could even find a word to say, Hyun-jae swallowed Ga-young whole, sucking hard on her lips.

Pushed back by the fervent momentum, Ga-young’s spine hit the wall.

In the brief gap when Hyun-jae momentarily parted his lips to adjust the angle, Ga-young struck the wall with her hand.

“Executive Director, Executive Director.”

“Hmm?”

“Where, where is this?”

“Where we’re sleeping tonight.”

Giving a lackadaisical response to a stupid question, Hyun-jae bit down on her lips once more. Only after they were thoroughly sucked on and released did Ga-young quickly move her lips to speak.

“We’re sleeping here?”

“Yeah. Do you hate it?”

“No, rather than hating it…”

It was hard to keep talking because Hyun-jae buried his face into the nape of her neck.

An ah-like gasp flowed from her as the man’s lips sucked on her tender skin, twisting her neck. Feeling the man’s hand wrap around her waist and fumble with the dress zipper made her even more out of it.

Swept up in the lewd sensation, Ga-young gripped the man’s shoulders tightly. Words tinged with bewilderment tumbled past her lips.

“I, even as we stepped into the hotel, didn’t think, didn’t think our destination would be a guest room.”

“Yoon Ga-young.”

“I never anticipated that the Executive Director would do this, hah, never anticipated—”

“Yoon Ga-young.”

“So I, I thought we were dating. Dating, dating is…”

While her un-brain-filtered words tumbled out stammeringly, Hyun-jae lifted his head.

Right before her eyes, gazing at her gently, Ga-young struggled to gather her dizzy wits.

The man’s hand cupped her flushed cheek. Even while binding her so she couldn’t move an inch, it carried a sweet warmth capable of melting her skin. The man’s smile, penetrating her pure and innocent eyes, was just as sweet.

“When you date, you sleep together. Ga-young.”