Plop, plop.

Raindrops began to fall on the dark car window.

“So once again, I’m left with the villain’s role.”

Ki Hyeok’s expression gradually twisted as he brought the phone to his ear to listen to a missed voice message.

In the quiet car, Clara’s sobbing voice continued through the receiver.

[Ki Hyeok, I’m going abroad. Celebrity or whatever, it’s all wrong… You and your wife are truly the worst. *sob* Please, I beg you, don’t look for me.]

Amid the busy noise and sobs, an airport announcement was mixed in.

“…You. You, Jin Seo Hyeon!!”

Seo Hyeon’s gaze towards the pouring rain outside the window was indifferent beyond compare.

Already arrived in front of the house in Cheongdam-dong.

“Have some refined hobbies, Seo Ki Hyeok. Not vulgar, low-class ones.”

Click.

Seo Hyeon got out with a relaxed smile through the open door.

With both hands perfectly fine yet unable to do anything, the man who kept getting bested by women punched the innocent leather seat.

*****

In the car returning to Hwa-an-dong.

The car is silent on the return trip, just as it was on the way there.

Seeing Ji Wan unable to say a word to the elder’s scolding despite making the right choice, Do Eum felt a fire burning inside.

She wanted to say that she wished this man wouldn’t be scolded, that he wouldn’t be their laughingstock, that even she who knew nothing of politics or economics could tell the man’s decision wasn’t wrong.

[You did well, that was cool.]

Thinking her sincere words might sound like empty flattery to the man staring out into the dark like gazing into the deep sea, she held them back.

Plop, plop.

The raindrops falling heavily on the front windshield began to intensify.

Placing her fingertips on the window, Do Eum gently stroked it.

Ji Wan’s gaze turned to her at the squeaking sound.

“It’s noisy.”

“Yes, it is.”

At the somewhat distorted voice, the man lowered his dark eyes to examine the woman.

No, he had been examining her for a while now.

Thinking that the small woman must have felt upset after having the food she had carefully prepared so bluntly criticized to her face.

But like with his earlier apology, the man who had never comforted anyone before was simply hesitating.

“The elder lady…”

“This sound I’m making is less noisy than what’s inside you, sir.”

Cutting off his words, Do Eum turned sharply and shot back with her eyes fixed on his face.

This was another unexpected situation, and he was bewildered.

“What did you do wrong, sir? You did well, very well indeed. Your elder brother was wrong, why steal someone else’s company employee with money? That’s pure evil. They say competition should be fair and square.”

The small woman was so worked up that thin veins appeared on her fair, delicate neck.

“You both started from the same line, but your elder brother cheated and ran inside the line while you ran straight on your own lane. He tripped you and cheated, so why are you the one getting scolded? I just can’t believe it.”

With her hands on her hips, her breathing was rapid and agitated.

“This isn’t just a yellow card, it’s grounds for expulsion. Even kindergarteners know that.”

“…Are you done?”

Ji Wan, who had been quietly listening, asked.

“How about… I do some more?”

At the question of whether to continue this act meant to cheer him up, Ji Wan finally burst into laughter.

Ha, haha.

His expectations were completely off the mark.

The fact that all her heated words were only about him showed that she hadn’t taken the elder’s dismissal of the food to heart at all.

Or perhaps she just wanted to pretend not to notice.

This woman, slightly shorter than him, had also been hurt, yet here she was trying to comfort him instead.

This clumsy anger, this inadequate comfort for his sake, wasn’t unpleasant.

At the sound of Ji Wan’s laughter, Driver Park and Manager Han in the front seats glanced back with surprised eyes.

Good heavens, to think that man could make such a sound.

And to laugh after meeting with Chairman Jang of Anseo-dong, no less.

“There’s an amazing spot on our school campus when it rains, want to go?”

“Do you know what time it is? Besides, it’s summer break now…”

“Remember when I said earlier that I knew it was going to rain?”

It was the story of the day they had lain side by side, or more precisely, when he had held her in his arms, awakening to the sound of falling rain.

“I contacted them earlier. Let’s go.”

Like that day, Do Eum’s eyes sparkled.

*****

Befitting its reputation as the largest campus in the country, Korea University’s grounds were wide enough for a drive by car.

Passing through the main gate, past the bookstore where the woman had worked part-time, up a winding hill full of trees, they arrived at a glass greenhouse perched serenely atop a hill.

“It’s an experimental lab run by the Forest Landscape and Plant Environment department. I help with cleaning and occasionally checking the greenhouse. I got permission from the manager in advance.”

Given that she did all sorts of part-time jobs, nothing would be surprising.

Skillfully entering the passcode, Do Eum tugged on the sleeve of Ji Wan’s jacket.

As they stepped into the dark space, Ji Wan asked in a thoroughly guarded voice.

“You’re not going to turn on the lights?”

“You saw before we came in. This place is all glass. If we turn on the lights here, people outside will be able to see us.”

It’s not like we came here to do anything untoward, so what’s the big deal if people look in.

“So what?”

Standing crookedly, Ji Wan asked.

“I didn’t come here to show us to them, but for us to secretly watch them.”

Them?

Ji Wan looked around the dark surroundings.

Pfft.

The woman hunched her shoulders and laughed softly.

“So follow me closely so you don’t get lost.”

Pulling on his sleeve cuff, Ji Wan walked as Do Eum led.

He liked the sound of plant leaves brushing his shoulders, the fresh scent floating in the air, and the comfortable humidity.

“Here, lie down here.”

At her words patting the floor telling him to lie down, he had lecherous thoughts about why she was so open to lying down together and why she said not to turn on the lights, but he lay down on what seemed to be a hastily made platform.

Surely she wasn’t brazen enough to suggest doing that as well.

How long had he lain there with his eyes closed next to the woman?

Only the sound of rain hitting the glass greenhouse filled his ears in the dark surroundings.

“Open your eyes now.”

Between his slowly opening eyelids, the pitch-black night sky and rain pouring down towards him filled his vision.

Startled.

The man’s body twitched slightly, as if the rain falling on the transparent sky window might wet his clothes.

“There’s no metal frame here. It’s like a complete sky.”

Completely surrendering his body to the rain falling on him as he lay.

“…So it is.”

From his childhood without support until becoming a grown adult.

For the man who had never known a moment’s leisure, it was an unfamiliar ‘rest’.

Like the ugly duckling, that’s what an out-of-place life was like.

Even when you want to rest a bit, not even given a moment to catch your breath.

At age eleven, he heard the answer to why the people of Bando were so desperate to keep him out.

Why grandmother was only strict with him.

He learned of the existence of his birth mother, Eun Hee.

The existence that had apparently abandoned him as a newborn to Bando and vanished became like shackles on his ankles thereafter.

Trying to cover his numbed heart, Ji Wan raised his right hand and placed it on his forehead.

That’s when it happened.

The woman sat up and leaned her face over his lying face.

Her small head filled his vision instead of the dark sky, and she pulled down his hand resting on his forehead.

“Grandma Ok Ja says putting your hand on your forehead all the time creates worries where there were none. It’s a very bad habit, she says.”

In the dark surroundings, a bright smile shone as if a light had been turned on above the woman’s head.

“So don’t do this. You’re already someone with too many worries.”

In the days when he believed Santa Claus existed,

There was a time when he felt sad about not receiving Christmas presents, even if he understood not getting birthday or Children’s Day gifts from parents.

He could tolerate friends bragging about their birthdays, but he resented Santa Claus for visiting only that guy and completely skipping him.

Perhaps this woman was the gift he didn’t receive then.

The gift that vile Santa Claus may have sent him, to make up for all the presents he never held in his hands throughout his childhood and adolescence.

His heart, tilted slightly to the left, made a heavy thump.

At the same time, Ji Wan’s eyes slowly closed and opened, gently grasping the small head filling his vision and drawing it in slowly as if entranced.

The lips that met without error were hot and soft.

It was a response, gratefully accepting this gift.

*****

It was soft and tender.

Like cotton candy not quite melting in your mouth, what touched his lips was soft and sweet and quickly dissolved.

Ah, so this is what a kiss is like, he thought, completely forgetting to close his eyes.

While the nice scent at the tip of his nose could be attributed to the greenhouse, a corner of his chest felt as cozy as being wrapped in a wool blanket.

As she pondered the sensation on her lips with wide eyes, she realized the man’s face had already pulled away and was looking up at her.

Gasp!

Do Eum’s upper body jerked backwards.

It was a delayed reaction, far too late.

As if he had expected it, the man slowly sat up and looked over the woman who had distanced herself from him.

“…Th-this.”

She wanted to ask ‘What is this?’, but it was obviously a kiss.

She wanted to ask ‘Why did you do that?’, but feared it would sound unsophisticated.

Unable to continue speaking after separating their lips, Do Eum just rolled her eyes around.

If it was a matter of being flustered, the man was no different.

He hadn’t expected his chest to pound so much at one small head thrust forward, nor had he anticipated his hand reaching for those smiling red lips.

It was a miscalculation from the start to mistake a kind woman’s consideration for Santa’s overdue gift.

“…Should I apologize?”

Though it wasn’t an intense kiss or anything more risqu??, just a simple peck, it seemed ridiculous to mention an apology, but seeing the woman so shocked as if they had done something far beyond a kiss or anything indecent, Ji Wan’s calm gaze examined Do Eum, feeling like he should.

He didn’t realize how his question, meant to be considerate in his own way, could cause a misunderstanding for the woman.

At the single word ‘apology’, Do Eum felt her scattered thoughts come together in an orderly fashion.

‘Since he’s a man who said love was absolutely not for him, this must mean it was clearly a mistake. That’s why he’s asking if he should apologize, right?’

The feelings that had evoked cotton candy and wool blankets shattered and scattered across the glass greenhouse floor.

An apology?

A mistake?

With an utterly wronged expression, Do Eum snapped back.

“Go ahead then, apologize.”

It was a sulky voice beyond compare.

“I will.”

Dusting off his pants as he stood up, Ji Wan lowered his gaze and muttered languidly.

“I’m learning once again that a night intoxicated by emotion is more dangerous than strong liquor. I apologize, I’m sorry.”

As always, the man’s apology was polite.

“If you want, well. Something else too, like compensation for emotional damage…”

More than polite, it was excessive, and at times, hurtful.

“Forget it.”

Do Eum stood up abruptly and walked past Ji Wan.

‘Compensation? What damage did you cause me? If anything, it felt as good as eating cotton candy.’

The path she had gently led him down, telling him to follow closely so as not to get lost, the woman now walked out alone without looking back.