Stepping Stones in the Rain
Clang.
She lost her grip on the spoon she had been washing. Dajeong crouched down as if to pick it up again and let out a silent scream.
What do I do.
It was strange enough that the busy CEO had shown up for volunteer work, but of all the moments to run into him, it had to be right when he was peeling his shirt off.
Everything had twisted itself into a mess. Ever since the incident with her advisor she had been carrying a cold, distant heart, and now it looked like she would be the one forced to lower her head first.
All the careful dodging she had managed for days vanished in an instant.
“Are you planning to stay down there all night?”
“Ah, no.”
She rose as slowly as she could, yet Taekyung still stood there bare-chested. The neatly defined abs and the vertical ridges of his rectus muscles that slid smoothly beneath the waistband of his pants somehow sparked a completely useless curiosity even in that situation.
It was a body so impressive that the mere act of breathing made the muscles of his chest and even the latissimus dorsi connected to his back flex and shift in perfect harmony.
She knew she shouldn’t, yet her eyes kept sticking to him.
“Why so surprised? You’ve seen and touched plenty of men’s bodies.”
The offhand remark he tossed while slowly pulling his shirt back on carried a subtle edge—half accusation, half teasing.
Ever since last time, this man had a way of steering people into strange territory.
“That’s right. I’ve looked carefully and touched every corner, so I know my way around reasonably well.”
She fired back, unwilling to lose, and his eyes narrowed.
“Ahh. So if I lay myself down in front of Dr. Yu, would you look at my body the same way? Touching and examining every single corner, thoroughly.”
…This man, honestly.
“What a shame. If only you were thirty years younger, I might have done just that for you.”
“Ha.”
Taekyung burst out laughing as if he had lost the round, then pinned his gaze on Dajeong and calmly finished tugging his shirt down.
Perhaps because he wasn’t in a suit, there was a freshness about him that felt different from usual. He even pulled off the hairstyle with his bangs left natural, half-covering his forehead instead of being slicked back without a single gap.
The simple short-sleeved crew-neck shirt and training pants weren’t deliberately stylish, yet they still revealed the charm he was born with.
Then Dajeong’s eyes snagged on his arm.
“Are you hurt? What’s that wound?”
A long red scrape ran from his left wrist all the way up to his elbow.
Without realizing it, Dajeong stepped right up to him.
“I scraped it on a nail earlier while working.”
“A nail? Does the injured spot feel swollen at all?”
“No.”
Her small hand tapped against Taekyung’s arm. His brows drew slightly together.
“Any feverish feeling or chills?”
With her scurrying over to gently rub and poke at a perfectly fine arm, he was starting to feel a little feverish, actually.
For the moment he stayed still. He was curious just how thoroughly and carefully she would examine him.
“Have you had a tetanus shot? Was the nail old?”
“I told you, it’s just a light scratch.”
“If the nail was rusty, you really should keep an eye on it.”
“Is this an occupational hazard?”
“……Ah.”
Only then did Dajeong startle and jump back from him.
To the eye it looked like a solid, masculine arm, yet when she touched it the skin had been softer than expected—she found herself chewing over that useless observation.
“So you’re only gentle with patients, is that it?”
“Pardon?”
“Just now you looked every inch the doctor.”
Did that mean she had been gentle, then?
Taekyung’s way of speaking always left room for interpretation; you had to think twice before the meaning landed. Confusingly so.
“Dr. Yu Dajeong, do people often tell you that you don’t live up to your name?”
“My name?”
Taekyung, who had been irritably rubbing the arm she had touched, took a large step closer.
Her head tipped back of its own accord to look at him, and her lips parted slightly.
“Gentle, my ass. You should just change your name to Yu Indifferent.”
His gaze landed precisely on Dajeong’s lips. It was so blatant she couldn’t possibly miss it.
“Still… ‘my ass’ is a bit… harsh, don’t you think?”
Dajeong let the end of her sentence trail off and quietly turned her head away.
Only a few days ago he had coldly ignored her. She ought to be in a bad mood.
Yet strangely, the moment they faced each other she found herself swept up in his pace, heat rising for reasons she couldn’t name.
Just as she was discreetly brushing her heated cheek, it happened.
“……!”
His firm arm shot out and easily lifted the large basket sitting in front of them.
Even a fairly big basket crammed full of spoons and chopsticks looked like a toy from a children’s playset once he held it.
“Give it here! I can carry it.”
“I see the little mutt you always keep trailing after you didn’t come along today.”
Trailing after her? Mutt?
Either way, she couldn’t let him carry her load. Dajeong started a small tug-of-war to take the basket back.
“There’s no one filming here. You don’t have to go out of your way.”
For a second, a chill flickered through Taekyung’s deep-set eyes.
“…….”
Ah…… Had she made a mistake……?
While she froze in embarrassment, Taekyung strode ahead. Dajeong quickly followed.
……Who was it, exactly, who had brought live streamers and made such a noisy production of promoting this volunteer work?
But his back looked so subdued that Dajeong added an apology.
“I’m sorry. That was a slip of the tongue.”
“Nothing to be sorry for. It wasn’t entirely wrong.”
The mess those bastard brothers had handed him had exploded into a misunderstanding in the most unexpected place. Still, there was no need to grab Yu Dajeong and launch into a long, pathetic explanation.
What was there to brag about when it came to stories from a household of complete scumbags?
Leaving the hesitant Dajeong behind, Taekyung carried the basket out of the wash area.
The volunteer work really did feel like a college MT.
“It’s been ages since I’ve drunk this much.”
Maybe because they were sure no calls would come in, everyone drank as if tomorrow didn’t exist.
The liquor Lee Suhui had packed into her backpack was gone in no time.
“Mixing drinks was a mistake.”
Dajeong was starting to feel the alcohol too. If she stayed any longer she really would drown in the stuff, so she slipped outside.
“Maybe it’s because the sky’s overcast. Not a single star in sight.”
Still, it had been so long since she’d had a break.
Hmm. She drew in a deep lungful of the muggy summer air, plugged in her earphones, put on some pop, and walked slowly around the lodging.
Following the path brought her to a fairly wide stream. This must be the valley Lee Suhui had mentioned.
Five or six large stepping stones crossing the stream somehow stirred an urge to try them.
Dajeong went down the slope and carefully stepped onto the stones.
She planted her foot on the first one and was about to take the next step when—
“Huk!”
There must have been moss; a slick sensation hit and she was on the verge of falling into the water.
If someone hadn’t caught her.
“Ah…….”
Of all places, she had to run into Taekyung again here.
“How much did you drink that you can’t even cross this properly?”
When had he arrived? Dajeong pulled free of the body that had come so close it was almost an embrace, took out her earphones, and straightened her posture.
“Thank you, CEO.”
Standing together with a large man on the narrow stone made the distance feel extremely close.
Ah, he would smell the alcohol on her.
The sudden thought made Dajeong naturally step onto the next stone, putting space between them and Taekyung.
“It’s pretty deep here. No sense of how dangerous water can be. Crossing so boldly even in the dark.”
With a low laugh, Taekyung stretched his leg and closed the distance again to the stone where Dajeong stood.
“Um…….”
“Ah. I’m out for a walk too. I’m heading to the other side.”
The small face that had been about to protest shifted into a flustered expression. Watching the change in real time was rather entertaining for Taekyung.
Just looking at Yu Dajeong, who reacted so transparently to every little thing he did, made him want to tease her, to poke at her.
He thought he finally understood why a predator doesn’t swallow its prey in one gulp and instead bats at it with a paw first.
So he had this kind of perverse hobby? The fresh realization struck him as he casually stepped closer, and Dajeong hopped nimbly onto the next stone to escape.
Naturally Taekyung closed the gap again.
He had been waiting for the laptop his secretary was supposed to bring from Seoul and had come out for some air because he felt stifled.
When he saw a figure boldly approaching the night stream that was flowing quite fiercely, he had followed as if bewitched.
Surely she wouldn’t fall, he’d thought—and then the woman really had staggered.
A moonlit stroll, a man and woman meeting by chance, saving the woman who nearly slipped by the stream. It was the most clichéd setup imaginable.
Even when Dajeong’s faint scent, carried on the muggy air, brushed against his senses the moment she landed in his arms, he had thought nothing more ridiculous could possibly happen.
“Oh, it’s starting to rain all of a sudden.”
The sky that had been overcast all day began scattering thick raindrops.
Water dripped, drip drip, from the back of Dajeong’s hand as she held it up for shade, heavy enough to fall steadily.
“A shower, maybe?”
“Let’s head over there for now.”
Taekyung nodded toward a pavilion a short distance from the stream.
And now a downpour on top of everything. It was cliché to the point of being childish—just like a melodrama.