Off Leash
Don't come over. Don't you dare pretend you know me. If you know what's good for you.
She glared as though delivering a warning, but the direction her feet were pointed told an entirely different story. Jae-jun's voice settled beside her ear like a marksman confirming his kill.
“He's heading this way, though……?”
“Is he, now……?”
“Assistant Manager Han, I need to use the restroom real quick.”
“Oh—sure, go ahead, Hae-soo.”
Before Assistant Manager Han could even finish, Hae-soo spun around and fled, worried that, at any moment, the man might come over and greet her.
I should have just said we went to the same school when he asked how I knew him. But after listening to Jae-jun rattle on about what a catch the guy was, admitting now that they only knew each other belatedly would make everything awkward in the worst way.
She ducked into the restroom without so much as a backward glance. The moment she came face to face with her flustered reflection in the mirror above the sink, her phone buzzed violently in her pocket.
Baekyeong Seo Moon-yeol. Five utterly charmless letters floated up on the screen. She picked up on the first ring, and a tongue-click came through at once.
“You feel guilty? Why'd you run off?”
“What's wrong with you? Why are you even here?”
“Why does anyone come to a department store? To shop.”
“Then shop quietly and leave. And don't even think about acting like you know me.”
“The more you tell me not to, the more I want to.”
“You're seriously…….”
“Kidding.”
She heard Yeol's low laugh. The restroom was so quiet it felt as if his lips were pressed right against the rim of her ear as he chuckled. Her earlobe grew hot, and she switched the phone to the other side, leaning the burning one against the cold tile wall to catch her breath. But no sooner had she recovered her composure than he spoke.
“Want to meet up for a bit?”
“How could I? I'm working.”
“What if I wait until you're done?”
“……Weren't you sulking at me?”
“Did it look that way?”
“Yes. It absolutely looked that way.”
“Half success, then. Half failure.”
What's a success and what's a failure? Bewildered, she straightened off the wall, and he admonished her.
“If you think I'm sulking, you're supposed to find a way to make it up to me. Instead you've left me hanging for hours.”
“Left you hanging? You're the one who never texted me back, so what did I…….”
“I was mid-sulk. How was I supposed to reply to every single message?”
“……What?”
“I figured if I stopped replying, you'd at least have the decency to call.”
“…….”
“Cold. Very cold.”
Yeol murmured it in a tone that hovered somewhere between wounded and detached. Oh. So that's what that frosty little 'Fine.' message meant. Hae-soo belatedly understood, and her face went sheepish. Come to think of it, she had never once called him first.
The moment exclamation marks began streaking through her scrambled thoughts, words she hadn't planned tumbled out.
“Are you really going to wait until I'm off?”
“Hmm. Not particularly inclined to at the moment.”
There was something almost endearing about the man digging in his heels on the other end of the line. Without quite meaning to, Hae-soo pressed a hand to her twitching cheek and answered quietly.
“Don't be like that. Wait for me. It's just another hour until I clock out.”
“Is that an order?”
“No, it's a request.”
“Then ask me.”
What more does he want from me? As she stood there flustered, his laughter-tinged voice scattered at her ear.
“'Wait for me'—what am I, your puppy?”
How does he even hear it that way? Hae-soo hesitated a moment, then blurted it out.
“Wait for me, please.”
“Not good enough.”
“Then… please wait for me?”
The same unimpressed answer came back. Her lips had gone bone dry. It baffled her how something this small could have her stomping her foot in place. One moment she wanted to snap, what do you want from me? and the next she was anxiously fretting, okay, but what should I do? Lost in that whiplash of confusion, Hae-soo spoke carefully.
“I want to see you……?”
A huff of laughter, half sigh, came through the receiver. Not that either, then? Just as she was starting to sulk, Yeol shattered her disappointment with a casual remark.
“Now that one I liked.”
“…….”
“I'll wait.”
The call ended, leaving nothing behind but her ragged breathing. Hae-soo pressed both hands over her pounding chest and bit her lip. If this is what a fling feels like, I really can't afford to do this twice. She met the eyes of the woman in the mirror. That tomato-red face looked like it belonged to a stranger.
Time always ran a touch faster than it should as quitting time drew near. Help close the store, write up the daily log, and before she knew it an hour had flown by—she'd check the clock and go, huh? in genuine surprise. At least, that was how it had always been. Until yesterday.
……Ugh, come on.
Today, a different sound escaped Hae-soo's lips. She'd been sure ten minutes had passed, and it had only been three. No wonder she was hunting for a groan instead of a gasp.
Human nature. What can you do.
Exasperated with herself, Hae-soo kept tabs on Assistant Manager Han and Team Leader Ko. Team Leader Ko, who had been clicking away at his mouse, glanced up at the wall clock on the far side of the office. He set his glasses aside, stretched both arms out long in a full-body yawn. The quitting signal.
Hae-soo sent the message to Yeol and saved the document she'd been working on. Sure enough, Team Leader Ko rose from his desk and announced, “All right, everyone—let's wrap up what we were doing.”
Had those words ever sounded so welcome before?
Forgetting the patient humility an intern ought to display at day's end, Hae-soo tidied her desk with a spring in her fingers. Shutting down her computer, tucking in her chair—everything quick and deft. She bowed politely to the team and swept out of the department store like a bird released into the night.
A sleek, low-slung sports car was parked in front of the building she'd told him about. Waiting for the crosswalk light to change, Hae-soo kept brushing her hair back. The damp summer air had made it go limp and heavy, and it was bothering her.
Should've checked a mirror before I left. Not just my hair—my makeup's probably faded by now, too.
She regretted letting her eagerness run ahead of everything else. She was just reaching into her bag for a compact when she heard brisk footsteps closing in fast.
“Hae-soo!”
It was Jae-jun. Spotting her, he hoisted his sagging backpack up his shoulder and sprinted over in one go. It had been less than five minutes since they'd parted with a polite have a safe trip home, yet he greeted her like a friend of five years.
“Where are you headed? I thought you were going home?”
Wait, what? How did he know I'm not going home? At the unexpected question, Hae-soo could only blink her eyes wide, and Jae-jun gave a small laugh.
“You always take the subway to and from work. I was wondering what was up.”
For all his easygoing image, he was surprisingly observant. So that's why I got caught off guard. Hae-soo smiled back awkwardly and tucked her hair behind her ear.
“I'm stopping somewhere for a bit on my way.”
“Are you going alone, Hae-soo?”
Jae-jun's voice was a tone higher than usual. The way his eyes looked down at her had a certain expectant glint to it. Half suspicious, half not, Hae-soo shook her head.
“No, I'm meeting a friend.”
“Ah… a friend……”
Please let me be imagining it. But the way his shoulders sagged made her uneasy. Sure enough, a carefully probing question came her way.
“Is that… the friend from before?”
“Before?”
“You know—the day of our orientation. You rushed off the second it ended to meet a friend.”
He remembers everything. He's curious about everything. In her experience, thoughts like that never ended well. Hae-soo opened her mouth, hoping her math was wrong.
“Yes. That friend.”
“Oh, I see. No wonder.”
No. No. No.
“Um, I don't know if I should be asking this but……”
If you don't know if you should ask, then don't.
“Is he your boyfriend?”
She'd hoped he'd veer off course, but the question hit its mark dead center. She couldn't even summon a polite smile anymore.
“You don't have to answer if it's hard to. I was just curious, that's all……”
“Yes. He's my boyfriend.”
“Ah—right, of course? I figured as much. Haha. I've always had really good instincts about this stuff, you know, uh.”
Why he wanted to know whether she had a boyfriend, since when—all of that was pointless to dig into. No, honestly, she simply didn't want to know the answers, so she'd answered without hesitation. Her voice had come out colder than she intended, and Jae-jun visibly scrambled to recover. That was when the pedestrian signal turned green.
“Oh, the light changed. Let's cross.”
Jae-jun hurried onto the crosswalk. Hae-soo, about to answer yes, froze solid in that instant. A motorcycle was barreling toward Jae-jun, fast and terrifying. Without a thought—without any choice at all—her hand shot out.
“Watch out!”
Hae-soo's hand seized Jae-jun's arm and yanked hard. He staggered with a strangled cry as the motorcycle grazed past him, a hair's breadth away. Two bodies thrown off balance side by side toppled in a heap onto the sidewalk.