The Unfinished Strawberry Latte
?
He turned his head. When Ju-ri saw his gaze fixed on the drink cup she had tossed on top of the trash can, she faltered slightly. Ah. She was supposed to throw out the liquid separately, wasn't she.
She hadn't expected to be called out on a moral failing, and a flicker of shame crept over her. Geon-joo turned back into the store, retrieved the cup, and returned.
"I'll throw it away."
Ju-ri, unable to hide her embarrassment, held out her hand to him. The cup was pulled back out of reach.
?
Geon-joo held the drink cup behind him and asked, "Throw it away?"
"Sorry? Oh... yes."
"But there's this much left."
Geon-joo shook the cup as he spoke.
"It's too sweet."
"..."
Geon-joo said nothing, but he seemed to have understood her answer not at all.
"..."
"..."
The silence stretched on. Ju-ri laughed awkwardly — haha — and snatched the cup out of his hand.
"Let's hurry. We're going to be late at this rate."
"If you don't want it, give it to me."
"Sorry?"
"That."
Ju-ri glanced at the strawberry latte, barely diminished.
"Do you like sweet things?"
"It's not that I like them, but I don't dislike them either."
Geon-joo smoothly took the cup from Ju-ri's hand. On the shopping cart's holder, an iced americano and a strawberry latte now sat side by side.
In silence, the two of them carried their groceries to the trunk of Geon-joo's SUV. To be precise, Ju-ri merely helped; it was Geon-joo who did the hauling.
Ju-ri glanced at the strawberry latte left sitting in the cart.
"Are you really going to drink that?"
"Yes."
He shot her a look that seemed to ask, Is there a problem? Ju-ri swept her hair back.
"I did drink from it, so it's a bit... you know. I'll buy you a new one. You've worked hard today."
"No need. It'd be a waste of money."
Geon-joo said it as he closed the trunk lid.
"A waste. Just throwing it out."
And then, without a hint of self-consciousness, he drained the strawberry latte in one long pull. Ju-ri blinked. He was using the straw she had put her lips on.
Wow, he's got a cast-iron stomach.
"Still, you can't force yourself to eat something you don't like."
"I don't dislike it."
"It doesn't seem like you like it, either."
Ju-ri stared at the faint frown knitted between his eyes, peeking out through his unkempt hair.
"...It's not bad."
What kind of stubbornness is this?
Ju-ri tried to understand him for a moment, then gave up.
"See you at the campsite later then. Oh, I'll return the cart."
"No, I'll—"
"You're carrying two drinks, aren't you?"
With a wink, Ju-ri wheeled the cart away.
Srrrp.
The cool, sweet drink swept down his throat. It was nothing like the kind of beverage he usually drank, so it felt unfamiliar — but, all things considered, it wasn't bad. He watched as Ju-ri, who had returned the shopping cart to the entrance of the store, walked toward her car without so much as a glance back.
A bright red car that suited her perfectly pulled out of the lot.
Srrrpp.
At the sweetness of the drink, Geon-joo furrowed his brow.
Thud.
Climbing into the SUV, Geon-joo wedged both drink cups into the cup holders.
She's different.
She was different from him. Very different.
The difference he had just discovered concerned consumption.
She had craved something sweet, so she had bought a drink. Then it turned out to be sweeter than expected — or sweet enough — that a single sip had satisfied the craving.
So what should be done with the rest of the drink?
He would have choked it all down, grimly, to the last drop. But she, as he had just witnessed, throws it away.
A sigh leaked out through the gaps in Geon-joo's teeth.
He had known what kind of person she was, hadn't he.
He had known she was different from him, hadn't he.
Was that the only difference between them? Of course not.
And yet, why...
Why.
Geon-joo took off his glasses and pressed the heel of his knuckles firmly against the space between his brows. When his hand came down, a pair of strikingly large, sharp eyes were revealed. He put the glasses back on, and those fine, delicate eyes shrank down to the size of buttonholes.
WHAM!
The moment the ball slammed into his face.
Ah, I screwed up.
Ju-ri knew instantly that it was over.
"Gah!"
People covered their mouths with their hands. Once she'd gathered herself, Ju-ri hurried over to Geon-joo.
"Are you okay, Geon-joo?"
No, seriously — I didn't even throw it that hard, and you couldn't dodge that? With a build like his, I figured that despite the way he looks, he must work out or something. Apparently not at all. So he really is the type to just fiddle with a computer at home, huh.
"...I'm fine."
Geon-joo's voice filtered out through the fingers pressed over his face.
"I'm sorry."
"It's all right. I was distracted."
"Let me see. Are you badly hurt?"
"I'm, I'm fine."
Holding onto his arm as he drew his head back, Ju-ri examined his face. Geon-joo was covering it with his hand, so she couldn't see much — only his sharp jawline was visible.
Huh? He has a pretty jawline.
Min-seok, who had been on her team, came running up, out of breath.
"Ju-ri, is Geon-joo okay?"
"Not sure. We're going to step out for a bit."
"Sure, sure, of course."
She told the people casting worried glances their way, "Don't mind us, keep playing." The hesitant ones began passing the ball again. They'd been playing dodgeball as part of a team-building event. It was the first game she'd played in ages, and she'd thrown herself into it because it was fun — clearly too enthusiastically.
Supporting Geon-joo, Ju-ri walked to a bench in the corner of the court.
"I'm really fine."
Geon-joo pushed her hand away as he spoke — and that was what revealed his face. His glasses sat crooked on his nose. When Ju-ri confirmed that one of the temple arms had bent, her mouth fell open.
"You're — you're not fine, are you? Your glasses are broken."
"They were old anyway. It's fine."
"You're bleeding, too?"
"..."
"From both nostrils, no less..."
Glasses grotesquely warped by the broken temple arm, and blood running down to his lips. Geon-joo groped at his philtrum. He stared blankly at the fingers stained crimson.
"..."
Sweat beaded on Ju-ri's forehead.
"It's fine. You didn't do it on purpose."
Geon-joo flatly refused her offer to pay for new glasses. Ju-ri found that somehow unsettling. It's fine — but his face was far too battered for those words to cover it.
"...Shin Ju-ri? What brings you here?"
"I was hoping I was wrong, and there you are. I've been waiting for you to get off work. Come on."
"Where to?"
"The optical shop."
"There's no need. The glasses are fine."
"How long are you going to walk around in bent frames?"
"If the lenses had shattered, I'd have replaced them. But they didn't."
"...Ugh. Come on, let's just go."
And then, wouldn't you know it, he kept wearing those glasses even at the office. The sight was impossible to miss — she'd barely crossed paths with him a handful of times before, and now it felt like she ran into him once a day at minimum.
It bothered her, so she more or less strong-armed the reluctant man into coming to the optical shop with her.
"While we're at it, why not switch to contacts? Your eyes are terribly bad, right? I think contacts would really suit you."
"No thank you. Glasses are fine."
"And here you go again, after we've come all this way."
"...Are you always this stubborn?"
"Look who's talking."
"..."
"While we're here, let's pick out a nice pair. Those round goggles of yours... just, no."
"Are they strange?"
"They're not... strange, exactly."
"These belonged to my late parents, so..."
Ah, so that's why they look so retro. "Well, that's kind of charming."
"They didn't buy them for me. I bought them myself, when I got into university."
"Are you insane?"
"I'm not being made fun of."
"Then what?"
"I wanted to see how people reacted."
"...Just take the glasses off."
"The frames are far too thin for that. Thick ones are better."
"They'd suit you better than those bent ones. Take them off. Now."
"..."
"..."
"..."
"Are you insane?"
"Why are you suddenly cursing...? Where are we going?"
"To burn your glasses."
Thanks to Geon-joo, who clung to his glasses to the bitter end, she ended up having to buy them anyway. Even after the new pair had been chosen, Ju-ri couldn't shut her mouth. The shock of seeing Geon-joo's bare face, unguarded by his glasses, still had the back of her head throbbing.
It was absurd. Why on earth does he walk around wearing glasses? With a face like that!
While she was still reeling, Geon-joo paid for the glasses.
"Ugh, why are you paying for them again? I'm the one who broke them."
"It's fine. It was an accident, wasn't it?"
"Then let's get something to eat instead. This one's on me."
"Dinner?"
"What, you don't want to?"
"No, it's not that I don't want to."
"...Dinner's a bit much for you, huh? Would drinks be okay?"
Sometimes life, like a ship without sails, refuses to go the way you want it to.
Ju-ri had always wanted to live like a reed swaying this way and that in the wind, not like an unbending stalk of bamboo.
A life that stressed her out every time something snapped just wasn't her idea of a good time.
And yet even a woman like her sometimes found herself colliding head-on with a moment of life so bewildering she didn't know what to do with it.
"Hoo... ah, hoo, haaah."
Ju-ri furrowed her brow as she watched Geon-joo working his hips above her.
Well, it's not like this isn't my own doing...
Perhaps it was because the alcohol had worn off. The man's face looked strangely unfamiliar, like a stranger's.
"Aah, ah, aaah, ahaah."
At the breath spilling past her ear, she narrowed her eyes, and the awkward, self-conscious feeling began to dissolve. Her cheeks flushed a warm pink.
She had never imagined she'd be having thoughts like this about this man of all people.
God, that moan should be illegal...
