Not Bad 14
At her light offer, she answered in even lighter tone.
“I don’t want that at all.”
Perhaps because she had been splashing about in the sea with Jin-jong-il, Da-in found the dark green grass beneath her toes unappealing.
While Da-in backed away with a shiver, Kwon Hee-jae waved his arm as if to say, do as you please.
Instead, Da-in picked up the glass of liquor resting at the edge of the pool, lifted it, and sniffed the scent. Then she glanced at the rather potent liquor bottle on the table as well.
It reeked of alcohol even in broad daylight; did he not know how dangerously risky drinking and swimming were?
She looked down at Kwon Hee-jae floating lazily on the water with clear displeasure, then plopped down onto the grass herself.
Completely unconcerned with her clothes getting soaked, she submerged her legs in the water and quietly paddled her feet.
Halfway through, Kwon Hee-jae rose to a sitting position and gave her a strange expression.
“I’m watching over you because you’re injured. I could be your last eyewitness after all.”
“Did you exaggerate my injuries out of jealousy?”
“Isn’t it the opposite? I just don’t want to be an eyewitness like that.”
“Fine, then. I’ll watch carefully.”
The sight of the tall, slender man slicing through the water as he swam was quite pleasant to look at.
As a mercenary, Kwon Hee-jae had seen plenty of fit men and women come and go, but his body was like a flawless piece of sculpture with no cracks at all.
Just watching the muscles on his back and arms flex every time he waved his arms was proof that they had not been forged in just a day or two.
His lifestyle was different from that of most other men.
After a light touch-down, he suddenly popped his head up right beside her leg.
The wind from shaking out his wet hair sent droplets splashing onto her face as well.
“Ah, damn it!”
She flailed her arms wildly in an attempt to push him away, and for the first time, a short laugh escaped his lips.
“You’re secretly cute, you know?”
Looking up at her, he lifted the corner of his mouth. His narrowed eyes held something unreadable, leaving Da-in feeling an inexplicable embarrassment as she covered her face.
Ha, she was utterly speechless.
“I wasn’t being lewd at all. I was just asking out of pure curiosity. If it made you uncomfortable, I’m sorry.”
“Just because I look a bit wicked doesn’t mean my niece suddenly wants to be with me. Besides, why are you in Hawaii? You said you’re going to law school—why do you need money?”
She even seemed to be buying a house.
Just moments earlier, he had taken the glass she had set down, gulped down the diluted liquor, and watched his clear Adam’s apple move slowly.
Da-in, now feeling awkward, stared at her submerged legs and the arm of Kwon Hee-jae clinging right beside them, and answered.
“I need to find something I want.”
“Luxury items?”
She had been thinking to herself the whole time.
“If it’s luxury items, then so be it. It would be better to think of retrieving them from the pawn shop instead.”
“What exactly did you do to end up pawning something there too? Did you borrow from a loan shark?”
The man, who had been faintly smiling moments ago, suddenly narrowed his eyes. His knuckles, gripping the rim of the ice-filled glass, stood out prominently.
“Just an example, just an example. Loan sharks need collateral, after all. I don’t have anything like that.”
“That’s good to hear. These days, they even take body parts as collateral.”
“Wah, are you a gangster? What a strange way of thinking.”
“A gangster?”
“Yes, I’m the father of Yeon-woo.”
Deliberately overreacting, Da-in looked at the perfectly healthy Kwon Hee-jae and suddenly sat up.
Her hips were completely soaked, but since her body was already damp with sweat, she felt no discomfort at all.
“Don’t stay in the water too long. If a shark appears in the sea, it’s dangerous even in shallow water.”
“Come with me. You weren’t working today anyway.”
Using both arms to grip the edge of the pool, he lifted her body straight up in one motion. His tall frame cast a long shadow over her.
“I’ve been working until now, you know?”
The inexplicable pressure made her take a step back, and he smirked as he picked up a towel from the bed.
“Not that. Go shower and come to the room. I won’t keep you for long.”
Kwon Hee-jae left Da-in standing there in a daze and walked inside the house.
Alone, she secretly checked the time.
Ten twenty in the evening.
At this hour, was she really supposed to let him go? Then what about Yeon-woo?
Since Kwon Hee-jae had arrived, Yeon-woo had slept clinging to his father every single night without missing a single day.
Of course, it was not that she felt any resentment.
She did not have the kind of sensitive heart that would be hurt just because the child who had once begged her to read him stories every day had suddenly changed.
What worried her now was simply whether it was right to have the father of the child touching her legs while she slept right beside him.
That naive moral sense made her hesitate.
Aigoo!
***
She knocked softly, suppressing every sound, and when she opened the door, the shadow of Kwon Hee-jae moved from the direction of the bathroom.
Da-in found, as expected, Yeon-woo asleep in the large bed, hugging a bunny plushie.
Seeing the child sleeping like an angel made the moral sense inside her rise up again.
Yes, no matter how legitimate the treatment was, this was not it. Absolutely not.
This time too, Kwon Hee-jae, wearing only pants, draped a towel over his head before approaching her standing at the doorway.
Da-in yanked his arm away, which had been furrowing his brow, and even covered his mouth with her hand. He followed her obediently with a fierce expression, as if he did not understand a word.
Backing away, she surveyed the quiet hallway, then opened her own room door.
“What are you trying to do?”
Only after she closed the door did Kwon Hee-jae speak, as if the seal had been broken.
“I’ll do it in my room. I simply cannot do it in your father’s room.”
“Why? Are we going to mix our bodies? Do you have dirty thoughts?”
“Hah, it’s nothing like that. Just consider it a matter of my pride, okay? As soon as Yeon-woo opens his eyes, how shocked he would be to see me.”
“You’re thinking of Yeon-woo?”
His mouth was smiling, but why were his eyes still like that?
Da-in shrugged and pulled Kwon Hee-jae onto the bed.
The small room had nothing more than a single super single bed, a desk, and a small armchair perfect for reading. There were no personal items visible except a laptop and a duffel bag, and the room had no scent of anyone living there.
While Kwon Hee-jae looked around, he draped the towel over the back of the chair and climbed onto the bed.
“Turn off the light. Or at least dim it. My eyes hurt.”
“Today I’m tired too, so I’ll only sleep for thirty minutes. My arms might fall off.”
Following his words, she dimmed the light and climbed onto the bed. Kwon Hee-jae, supporting her with both arms from behind, stretched his long body into a comfortable pose.
Through the loose pajama pants, the muscle fibers of his thighs were clearly visible.
“What kind of job are you doing that your arms are falling off?”
With a casual shrug of her shoulders, she answered without any expression.
“I rent surfboards at the shop by the beach. I work at Waikiki Beach.”
“Surfboards?”
“Yes. There are many rental shops on the beach. I start working from morning there.”
The conversation ended right there.
He kneaded her thighs firmly, then rubbed the overly adhered skin around the scar.
Da-in deliberately avoided meeting his eyes. Knowing that Ju Seung-eon from the NIS was still beside her and that Dan was watching, she felt a sense of relief.
Because of that, her mind kept drifting elsewhere.
Father, there’s something I’ve entrusted to you. Stop being stubborn and hand it over! That’s not yours anyway!
Even though she had no idea what exactly to hand over, the eyes of the big uncle, who was yelling, did not look like a person’s.
Grandfather left me with nothing but a single coin! How many times do I have to tell you? There really is nothing left!
A little brat opens his mouth and lies! Where did all that blood go? Stop pretending to be righteous! Your father is a police officer; he’s eaten everything there is to eat and has nowhere else to make money, so he took money from your father as collateral, didn’t he!
The words of the big uncle were cut off by the driver of Kwon Hee-jae’s car.
He honked twice in a hurry, then lowered the rear window. Only then did the big uncle lower his voice and smile sheepishly. In front of her, he acted like a predator; in front of Kwon Hee-jae, he shrank and bowed flat like a shrimp.
Even though Kwon Hee-jae saw himself being grabbed by the hair, he simply exhaled cigarette smoke and said indifferently, “How long am I supposed to wait?”
“It’s a little sore.”
While she was lost in thought, the man’s voice suddenly spoke into her ear.
Seated up, he gripped her shoulder tightly. Of course, their eyes met directly face to face.
Startled, Da-in pulled her hands away and pressed them onto his chest.
“I was lost in thought. I’m sorry.”
“If you think about something else again, I’ll kill you.”
“It must have hurt a lot?”
“Yeah.”
Just as she was about to tell him to get up, he released her shoulder and fell back onto the bed. With one arm covering his eyes, he let out a deep sigh.
“Keep going. Don’t mind me.”
Don’t mind what?
Feeling inexplicably tired, she was about to sleep lightly and finish when a thick slab brushed against her knuckles.
She knew what it was without needing to check twice.
Yet, while she was the only one feeling bothered, the man’s breathing did not falter even once.
Besides, judging by the outline, it did not seem excited at all.
Was she the only one going crazy here?
Feeling like the only pervert in the room, Da-in squeezed her eyes shut tightly. Then, pretending to be unaware, she turned her head and kneaded the area near her knees with all her might.
Whether fortunate or unfortunate, the image of the big uncle’s face and voice no longer surfaced.
At the moment when, between consciousness and unconsciousness, she sensed the tension leaving Kwon Hee-jae’s body, a faint sigh brushed against her ear.
Da-in instinctively turned her face toward his.
His neatly closed eyelashes and slightly parted lips left her speechless.
“What? You fell asleep?”
Seeing the man sleeping with a calm breath, rage boiled up inside her.
The little demon Yeon-woo had been bothering someone until he couldn’t even sleep, yet he himself slept soundly.
Amazed, Da-in almost flipped his body over, but then she thought it might not be bad to put a bit of debt on him.
So, blaming her own fate, she slid off the bed and curled up in the fluffy armchair.
Turning the light off completely would look strange, so she watched the man’s face in the dim light.
What had changed since before? There was something different, but honestly, she could not tell.
From the very first time she had seen him, Kwon Hee-jae had simply been Kwon Hee-jae himself to her. Well, he did smell different every time.
Stretching, she relaxed her body.
Now, she hoped Kwon Hee-jae would at least realize that she had done her best to care for him.
Only then would she be able to claim some pride.