A Familiar Face

"Hey, you jerk! Get your ass back here!"

Cheon Eun-jung bellowed, but no answer came back. The sweet little brother who used to flinch at her anger, scurry home, and shower her with aegyo was gone for good.

Ah, my blood pressure. Eun-jung closed her eyes and took a slow breath. I am precious. Relax. And relax again... Composure restored, she typed out a message in full battle mode.

So this isn't your job—it's mine?

"You absolute ✕✕✕."

Moon Kang-hyun never disappointed her expectations. As if determined to overwrite every bad old memory, he was driving her blood pressure up far more dynamically than he had back in their school days.

Whew. Eun-jung blew the bangs off her forehead, clenched her teeth, and typed again.

A moment later, another message arrived with the time and place. A unilateral notification, nothing more.

"How does a text message manage to reek of smugness?"

Muttering to herself, Eun-jung gave her shoulders a shake. Come to think of it, Kang-hyun's mother Jin Ae-ran seemed easier to deal with than he was—though she couldn't quite tell whether that said something strange about her.

Saturday morning, Lee-jin met Kang-hyun as promised. Unlike their usual meetings, this one came with a name attached: a date. Perhaps that was why everything felt awkward and oddly embarrassing.

"You look beautiful today, too."

The unhesitating compliment made Lee-jin flinch.

"Can you stop calling me pretty?"

"Why?"

"Because it's embarrassing."

She hadn't known she was capable of being this self-conscious. But she'd built no immunity to the way Kang-hyun stared straight into her face when he said it—and the kisses that had always followed those words didn't help matters either.

"You're even prettier when you're flustered."

Kang-hyun snickered, teasing her mercilessly. Lee-jin shot him a glare and walked on ahead, though a few long strides later he'd caught up, and they were walking side by side again.

Passing the parking lot, they entered the gallery entrance, where a familiar hush settled over them. The two of them packed away their playful mood and stepped inside.

It wasn't a large-scale exhibition, but the artist was drawing considerable attention lately, and the crowd was bigger than expected. Reporters there for coverage, people from the ceramics world, and admirers like Lee-jin herself—it seemed everyone who loved this artist's work had gathered under one roof.

At the entrance, Lee-jin picked up a pamphlet first and pressed one into Kang-hyun's hand as well. Reading the pamphlet carefully before even glancing at the artwork—she looked like a model student. Watching her, Kang-hyun's lips twitched into a smile.

He had never once, not in a gallery, a museum, or even an architecture expo, read a pamphlet cover to cover. Rather than absorbing information someone else had already organized for him, he had a habit of understanding things as they presented themselves to his own eyes.

It was the same now. Instead of the ceramics on display, his attention went first to the placement of the windows, the building materials, the efficiency of the spatial layout. He probably wouldn't come to an exhibition like this on his own if he died and came back to life.

And yet, it wasn't boring.

Watching the light pour through the tall windows and set Lee-jin's lashes quivering delicately. Noting how her eyes turned a warm brown when the light caught them. Or the way her lips parted slightly each time she marveled, the way her brow furrowed as her eyes sharpened, working backward from each piece to imagine how it had been made... Watching all of that was quietly fascinating.

"Come to think of it, I've already finished the concept for a few pieces suited to Cheongjukje."

"Already?"

"Mm. I have some sketches. I'll show you when we get back."

"Seo Lee-jin, you're incredibly capable."

"What kind of compliment is that for sketches?"

Worried someone might overhear, Lee-jin lightly smacked his arm. Since he quite liked the ease with which she touched him, Kang-hyun angled his arm toward her just a little more.

Frankly, the craftsmanship or artistic merit of the ceramics was never the real issue for him. He didn't need pottery made by Lee-jin—he needed Lee-jin herself. The pottery, to put it kindly, was a medium connecting them; to put it less kindly, a mere means to an end.

That didn't mean he dismissed the love and care she poured into her work, of course.

Gazing quietly at her face, Kang-hyun said, "How would you feel about spending your weekends at Cheongjukje?"

"What?"

Lee-jin stopped mid-stride, doubting her own ears.

"I've set up a workspace in one wing of Cheongjukje. I figured if you're making pieces tied to the estate itself, that would suit you better than anywhere else."

It would probably help with inspiration, too. As she listened to him add that, Lee-jin's thoughts tangled into knots. Did spending time at Cheongjukje only sound strange to her? He wore the businesslike face of a man making his best offer in pursuit of the finest ceramics.

So she couldn't refuse outright, and hesitated instead. He was telling her to stay there alone—had she just misread the whole thing?

"Then... what about you, oppa?"

At her question, Kang-hyun's eyes curved into a soft crescent.

"While you work, I'll be there to take care of you."

So we wouldn't be alone after all. Just as Lee-jin was wrestling with what to say, a familiar face appeared across the gallery floor.

"Huh? Is that Professor Cha Ji-hoon?"

It was Cha Ji-hoon—the man who had offered Lee-jin the adjunct position at their alma mater—walking toward them with a group of four or five people in tow.

Ah, that sunbae. As if he had never once smiled, the expression drained from Kang-hyun's face. Meanwhile, the group led by Cha Ji-hoon drew closer.

"Seo Lee-jin! Running into you here. What a pleasant surprise."

Whether genuinely startled by the unexpected encounter or not, Cha Ji-hoon's delight was plain to see.

"Yeah. I didn't expect to see you here, either."

As Lee-jin smiled awkwardly, the eyes of those standing around Cha Ji-hoon converged on her.

"Would this be the person you mentioned before, by any chance?"

"Ah, yes. That's her. An alumna of our school with an impressive list of awards. She currently runs her own workshop, and her teaching ability is outstanding."

"Oh, is that so."

On the face of a man who looked older than Cha Ji-hoon, open interest was unmistakable.

"Sunbae, we're done with that conversation, remember?"

When Lee-jin made her discomfort plain, Cha Ji-hoon answered with a smile.

"I know. I was simply stating facts."

He said that, but the air about him was every bit as attentive as before, as though he were presenting Lee-jin to the university officials around him.

"Professor Cha has praised you so much, I've been hoping to meet you. What a wonderful opportunity—and yet..."

Just as one of the men was about to launch into something suspiciously like persuasion, Kang-hyun cut in.

"She has a better opportunity."

His face made no attempt to hide its arrogance—as if to ask who would call an adjunct lectureship a good opportunity in the first place. Only then did Cha Ji-hoon seem to notice him, a strained smile rising to his lips.

"We meet again, Moon Kang-hyun."

"Do we..."

Try as he might, Kang-hyun couldn't dredge up the man's name, so he let the word trail off. He was used to thinking of him only as that sunbae guy or that sunbae bastard, which was why the name wouldn't come.

But what could he do about something he couldn't remember? Kang-hyun papered over his awkwardly stretched sentence with a laugh and moved on without a hitch. Cha Ji-hoon's expression stiffened noticeably, but that was none of his concern.

Sensing the delicate undercurrent between the two men, Lee-jin hurried to say her goodbyes.

"Sunbae, you seem busy—we'll get going."

"Ah, right, yes, of course."

He was, at this very moment, escorting senior university officials on a gallery visit. He would have loved to hold Lee-jin back, arrange another meeting, or trade impressions of the current exhibition, but circumstances wouldn't allow it. The sight of Moon Kang-hyun planted firmly at her side didn't help, either.

And so they went their separate ways.

Why does the mood feel different from last time? Cha Ji-hoon was still turning over the subtle something that had shifted between Lee-jin and Kang-hyun when one of the men beside him spoke up.

"Professor Cha, are you well acquainted with that man from earlier?"

"Not particularly. Why do you ask?"

The man tilted his head as he answered his own question.

"Hmm, his face just seems familiar, that's all."

Cha Ji-hoon brushed it off with an air of indifference.

"He's an architect. It's probably from the newspapers and magazines—he shows up in them now and then."

"Maybe. But still, why do I feel like I've seen him somewhere before?"