MOON Ch 9

Shwaaaa—

The sound of the terrifically pouring rain sounded muffled in one ear, then properly heard in the other. It repeated that way. Listening to the sound of the water streams pouring down as if to swallow the entire world whole, Chaeon only then felt the cold and hunched her shoulders.

Because she was dragged to the incinerator and beaten up without even having time to grab an umbrella, on her way back, she had no choice but to take shelter at the bus stop while getting completely soaked in the rain. Her cheek was still throbbing, and the tender flesh inside her cheek stung.

It was when Chaeon, letting out a small sigh, rummaged in her school uniform skirt pocket to pull out a hand mirror. At that moment, something sharp grazed past her fingertip.

“Ah…!”

At the tips of her index and middle fingers, horizontally cut wounds were created in an instant, and red blood seeped out. Whether it cracked when she fell, the middle of the hand mirror was split wide open. Chaeon’s face reflected in the mirror was crookedly misaligned. Because that felt like her situation, which had veered off smooth ground a little while ago, she let out a small laugh and lowered the hand holding the hand mirror onto her knees.

Dropping down like something that crash-landed into an environment that didn’t suit her at all, she wanted to quietly graduate without getting involved with anyone as she was. Even that doesn’t go her way. Her family’s financial situation, the piano she had tried to do with determination for the first time, and the wish to pass through quietly without getting involved with anyone. Truly, not a single thing.

Drip, drip. The dripping blood drops fell into the water puddle formed below her feet, spreading out in a bizarre shape. It was when she was staring down at that sight blankly for a while.

Tap.

At the front toe of Chaeon’s white sneakers, the front toe of a black, sleek dress shoe touched.

“…”

When she raised her apathetically lowered gaze, her two eyes opened wide at the unexpected face she saw.

Under a large, black umbrella, a man standing just as pitch-black as the umbrella. Jang Taeha, dressed in a three-piece suit neat enough to be suffocating from head to toe, was looking down at her. How is this person here…

Chaeon, flustered and avoiding his gaze, opened her mouth in a slightly trembling voice.

“…Hello.”

“Hello.”

At the unexpected single word, as Chaeon awkwardly covered her cheek and raised her head, he was still fixing his dry gaze on her. Rather than exchanging a mutual greeting, that just now seemed closer to mocking her greeting.

Finding something, Taeha’s gaze narrowed slightly. The place his gaze touched was Chaeon’s finger. As Chaeon flinched and hid her bleeding fingertip behind her back, he slowly moved his gaze to look at her swollen cheek and said in a low voice.

“Get in.”

“It’s fine—”

She almost let out such a prickly reply as ‘It’s fine, so mind your own business and go on your way.’

“No, I’m okay.”

At the reply returned as if waiting the moment he finished speaking, one of his eyebrows raised slightly.

“You can just go. I’m really okay.”

When Chaeon stubbornly pursed her lips and turned her head, he let out a short sigh as if it were a bit annoying.

“Did you say Chaeon?”

“…”

“Your name.”

She didn’t know he would remember her name. Chaeon, inwardly surprised, barely managed to reply.

“Yes.”

“Right, Chaeon.”

Tilting his head slightly, he rubbed his temples with a subtle hand movement laced with annoyance.

“Even if I had seen a puppy raised at Songbaekwon instead of you, wouldn’t I have given it a ride all the same?”

“…”

“I’d prefer if you didn’t make me say it twice. Because I don’t particularly like that.”

It meant that she shouldn’t misunderstand, as he wasn’t taking care of her because she was anything great. So stop holding onto her pride, don’t talk back, and just do as told. Must she be beaten like a dog, and even treated like a dog, on top of everything else? A hollow laugh leaked out, but she didn’t even have the energy to argue back.

As Chaeon staggered to her feet, Driver Kim, who had shielded Taeha with the umbrella and escorted him to get into the back seat first, soon approached Chaeon.

“No, well, your face…”

Driver Kim, discovering Chaeon’s swollen cheek late, wore a flustered expression.

“It’s fine.”

“…”

“It’s just, nothing much.”

At Chaeon’s calm reply, Driver Kim, who was about to say something more, parted his lips briefly and then opened the back seat door without a word. Bowing her head slightly, she immediately boarded the car.

Inside the enclosed space, as the door closed, the ferocious sound of rain grew distant. And simultaneously with losing the sound, the heavy scent of the man rushed into her nose.

The car, possessing an appearance that wasn’t ordinary from its exterior, was luxurious in its interior as well. The seat, which felt like it wrapped closely around her body the moment she sat down, was also comfortable, making it feel as though her tired body would droop limply if she relaxed her tension even a little.

As if his gaze observing Chaeon, who was sitting with distance almost stuck right against the back seat door, narrowed faintly, Taeha slipped his hand inside his suit jacket and pulled something out. It was a handkerchief.

“Shall you give me your hand for a moment.”

She wanted to say she was okay again, but seeing her fingertip already stained red—perhaps because it was cut deeper than she thought—Chaeon silently held out her hand to him. At the somewhat timid movement, he sharpened his gaze as if asking what she was doing, then grabbed Chaeon’s wrist without hesitation and pulled it.

“Ugh…”

Because her body tilted precariously, Chaeon hurriedly balanced herself and sat up. As he suddenly grew close, her throat dried up crisp even in this humid weather. At the heavy scent she had never smelled from boys her age, her pit of the stomach rang with a sting.

Taeha, with a dry touch, began to wipe Chaeon’s hand, which was wetly soaked with a mixture of rainwater and blood. Every time he moved his hand, tendons stood out over the back of his long and sleekly stretched hand, and a watch giving off a sparkling shine was visible inside his shirt sleeve.

A hand that, despite wearing a cold face, paradoxically felt warm enough to feel hot… Chaeon swallowed dry saliva and lowered her eyes. She felt a suffocating discomfort and a ticklish feeling at her toes at the same time.

…As expected, I dislike this person.

When her palely drained hand was wiped clean, he pressed the handkerchief into Chaeon’s hand.

“Apply pressure to stop the bleeding. Until it stops.”

It felt like the inside of her ears were scratched by his terribly low voice.

“Yes.”

Chaeon, who replied softly, awkwardly added, “Thank you,” right after. Regardless of her disliking him and feeling uncomfortable, it was right to express gratitude for receiving help.

He, who was about to say something more, looked at Chaeon as he was for a moment. Chaeon felt her pride hurt somehow at having been caught in this state by a man who made it clear from the beginning that he didn’t think of her very favorably. What is he going to say again? While she was in a state of tension for a while, the single phrase he spat out of his mouth was unexpected.

“Good girl.”

A tone as if coaxing a puppy. Even though it was nothing more than words spat out unceremoniously with a clunk, for some reason, the moment she heard those words, it felt like a heavy weight was placed on her chest. Chaeon, who grew sharp for no reason, muttered.

“I’m not a child.”

His indifferent gaze touched her, and soon a voice just as indifferent as that gaze returned.

“If you’re not a child, then what are you.”

Whatever that answer was, strangely, she didn’t feel good. Since her body and mind were tired, it would have been fine if she just stayed quiet as she was, but for some reason, her mouth moved on its own.

“You’re only seven years older than me.”

Chaeon impulsively recalled his age from his profile posted on the internet and snapped back. In fact, just looking at the atmosphere he exuded, he was far more mature and adult-like than her, but out of whatever bravado, she didn’t want to admit it.

He, who for a moment looked at her like looking at an item difficult to deal with, let out a subtle sound that was neither a snort nor a hollow laugh, then spat out in a low voice.

“Maybe if you were an adult. To a minor, seven years is a distant difference.”

A strange sense of helplessness was felt, but he merely stared at Chaeon intently with a dry gaze.

“Be thankful when you’re treated like a child.”

Listening to the monotonous, low voice, she was struck speechless, unable to make any reply. However, no matter what emotion Chaeon was swept up in, he immediately withdrew his gaze from her like a person who had dutifully finished a given task.

For a while, the only things heard inside the car were the faint noise of the heavy rain striking the car windows and the hood, the sound of the driver driving shifting occasionally, and the sound of Taeha’s long fingers lightly grazing the screen to swipe the tablet PC to the side. That was about all.

Chaeon, trying her best not to move noticeably, stole glances at the man in peeks. Leaning his back leisurely against the seat, crossing his long legs, and holding the tablet PC in his hand with one arm leaning at an angle against the car window, he never let his posture or breathing grow messy once.

How can a person sit for a long time in one position like that without their posture breaking down even once? Even though it wasn’t an upright sitting posture, it was mysterious how it looked endlessly relaxed and neat rather than indulgent. As if he was born wearing that kind of atmosphere on his body in the first place.

His sculpted side profile reflected diverse colors every time the screen of the tablet PC changed, but he merely moved his pupils diligently without a single twitch. No matter what situation came, it seemed the man would be that straight and firm.

Taeha thought for a very brief moment if he should deliberately turn his head and meet her eyes at the passionate gaze touching his side face.

It was bothering him even when she stole peeks, but it seemed she hadn’t even noticed that her head was completely turned without realizing it. Chaeon’s gaze touching his side face was moving busily. His loosely relaxed mouth line closed tightly in an instant, then slowly opened.

“Is there something else you want?”

Startled by the suddenly broken silence, Chaeon tried to turn her head, but Taeha slightly turned his head and stared at her a beat faster. As their eyes met just like that, Chaeon froze stiffly.

“You were staring at me like someone who wants something.”

Does he have eyes on the side of his head too? Her face looked as if it were saying that.

“No, I never did that.”

“You didn’t?”

Asking back in a low voice, he looked intently at her swollen cheek. Chaeon, hiding her cheek by twisting her head to the side, whispered softly.

“Ah, this, I got hit by a ball during PE class…”

Taeha’s gaze, fixed without wobbling on Chaeon’s face, slowly scanned down her body. That flow stopped exactly twice. Once near her bruised wrist, and once again at her knee and shin, which were likewise bruised.

To him, who also enjoyed martial arts whenever intense exercise was needed, distinguishing wounds created from getting hit was as easy as distinguishing black and white.

“What should I do.”

“…”

“Should I let it slide?”