CHAPTER 6
The gaze fixed intently on Harin was heavy and unwavering. It was the kind of look that felt oppressive no matter how many times she encountered it.
She tried to ignore it and get to her feet, but Taemin, utterly oblivious to the situation, nodded toward the side.
“Isn’t the guy at that table over there calling you, Harin?”
“Don’t mind him.”
“I would, except that guy’s got an incredible model—Whoa! He’s coming over here?”
“What?”
Harin’s gaze collided with Jehyuk’s in midair. Jeongin silently mouthed, What are you going to do?
Let’s just go for now.
Harin whispered the same thing under her breath, but before they could move, Jehyuk plopped himself down at their table.
“Mind if I join you?”
The words, tossed out almost like an afterthought, left Harin speechless.
She pressed her lips together, but before she could say anything, Jehyuk turned toward Jeongin.
“I’m Choi Jehyuk, a professor at Daehan University Hospital. You know me, right?”
“Oh, of course I do. Professor Jehyuk… Haha, how have you been?”
Hey, Seo Jeongin!
Harin frowned, while Taemin’s eyes widened in astonishment.
“What? You two know each other?”
“I’ve known Jeongin for a long time.”
Jehyuk cut himself off and fixed his gaze on Harin as he added,
“As for her, we’re team leader and team member in the hospital consortium. Isn’t that right?”
“Yes, Professor.”
Harin’s voice came out low and subdued.
It was already uncomfortable enough having to deal with him because of the consortium. Running into him by chance on top of that had to be a sign that luck was completely against her.
Jehyuk glanced at the bottle of soju Harin had been drinking and twisted his lips into a faint smile.
“I don’t even drink soju with a straw, but I suppose you’re quite the drinker.”
“Harin? She’s no joke. Back in college, there wasn’t a single guy who could beat her when it came to drinking.”
Despite being the one who had invited himself into their conversation, Jehyuk looked at Taemin with an expression that clearly asked, And who are you?
Taemin hurriedly pulled out his business card and introduced himself.
“I’m Kim Taemin, an EMT with Gangyeong Fire Station. You said you’re a professor at Daehan University?”
“I did.”
“Please take good care of our Gangyeong-seo, Professor!”
True to Kim Taemin’s habit of sticking his nose into everything, he even gave a little salute.
Either way, Harin was just as uncomfortable.
She swallowed a sigh and was about to suggest that they leave when Jehyuk said something utterly absurd.
“Let’s cooperate well. With that in mind, EMT Kang Harin, would you mind if I borrowed you for a moment?”
“Yes. Wh—What?”
Borrow me?
Harin blinked at him in disbelief, only to find the sly Kim Taemin selling her out without hesitation.
“Of course. Take Kang Harin with you. You can even take her twice.”
“Thank you. I’ll keep one in reserve.”
“Hey!”
Ignoring Harin’s shout at Taemin, Jehyuk leaned back from his chair.
“I had something to discuss with EMT Kang Harin earlier, but she ran away.”
“Kang Harin, how could you be so rude to a professor?”
Taemin placed a hand on Harin’s shoulder as though telling her to get a grip.
Jehyuk tilted his head at the sight.
It was almost as if his expression were saying, Who do you think you are, touching my girl?
The atmosphere around them instantly turned ice-cold.
Sensing the chilling tension, Taemin quickly removed his hand from Harin’s shoulder.
“Then we’ll leave her with you and head out.”
“Thank you for the handoff.”
With Jehyuk’s dry voice behind them, Taemin and Jeongin vanished like lightning.
A quiet silence settled between the two, pierced only by the cold winter wind.
That heavy gaze still held Harin captive, as though it might swallow her whole.
“Professor…”
Unable to endure it any longer, Harin spoke first.
She wanted to protest about why he’d barged into a drinking session with her friends.
Honestly, she was uncomfortable.
That unwavering stare was simply too much to bear.
“You suddenly show up and say you’re borrowing me. I’m not an object, you know.”
“Were you offended?”
“Not exactly offended, but it was definitely awkward.”
“I was offended.”
Keeping his gaze fixed on Harin, he tapped his index finger against the table.
“So you drink with men at home now? Does Hajun know?”
“Why is my big brother suddenly being brought into this?”
“So you do know what I’m talking about when I mention Hajun.”
He raised one eyebrow as though he found her reaction ridiculous.
The streetlamp outside the convenience store illuminated his handsome features, making them gleam.
Pretending not to notice, Harin continued primly.
“He’s my friend. Of course I can invite him over for a drink. And what does it have to do with you, Professor?”
“Why wouldn’t it have anything to do with me? I hear my younger friend’s little sister is bringing a man home late at night.”
Younger. Friend. Little sister.
Even after all these years, those were still the words that managed to hurt Harin.
Irritation surged inside her.
“Taemin is just a guy friend, okay?”
“There’s no such thing as friendship between a man and a woman.”
“Oh, you’re such an old-fashioned geezer.”
She had actually just called a professor at Daehan University Hospital an old-fashioned geezer.
Ridiculously enough, Jehyuk seemed almost pleased.
His large hand reached out and tousled the bangs over Harin’s forehead.
“That’s more like Kang Harin. Pouting and grumbling with that little mouth of yours. I like it.”
“Professor Choi Jehyuk!”
Don’t touch me, will you? Seriously, you’re crossing the line.
Harin glared at him and shot back,
“You’re eight years older than me, so I guess we’re from very different generations. But among people my age, having guy friends and girl friends is completely normal, you know?”
“Sure it is.”
“You probably don’t know this, but a guy has to be able to scrub your back for you at a sauna before you can call him a guy friend.”
“Your back? What? Sauna?”
Jehyuk’s eyes sharpened as he stepped abruptly closer to Harin.
Startled, Harin instinctively drew back.
His eyes narrowed.
That rough, heated, uniquely intense gaze of Choi Jehyuk’s swept over her.
Her heart began pounding hard and fast, and she nervously bit down on her lip.
Seeing that, Jehyuk’s lips curved in satisfaction.
“At least you still know to be afraid of men. But why would you say something like that?”
“That’s not what I meant…! Ah, forget it. No wonder you’re Big Brother’s friend. Talking to you is impossible.”
“Then you can stop pretending you don’t know me and be my guy friend too. We’ve known each other for years, after all.”
“Oh, my. What an old man!”
She had finally gone as far as calling him an old man.
It was the one thing Professor Choi Jehyuk, her former private tutor, had hated hearing the most.
Seeing how thoroughly she’d gotten under his skin, Harin felt a little triumphant and continued.
“You’re my big brother’s friend. Why would I call you a guy friend?”
“You always talk back to me like we’re equals.”
“No, I don’t. I always treat you with respect and call you Professor. Can’t you see that?”
“Exactly. That’s why I’m asking. Why are you acting so unlike the brazen Kang Harin I know? It’s boring.”
To him, apparently, she was nothing more than entertainment.
Well, he should have expected her to enjoy teasing him a little.
Memories of all the times he’d treated her like a little kid throughout their lessons flashed through her mind.
Without realizing it, Harin clenched her fists and let out a sigh.
“Anyway, hand over the bottle and go home already, old man. It’s cold. What are you going to do if your face freezes up?”
“You little…”
“Oh, right. You said you had something to tell me as the head of the consortium team. Surely you actually have something to say, right?”
“I do.”
Jehyuk pried open Harin’s hand and placed the soju bottle back into it before giving a low chuckle.
“Twice a week. You know you’ve been assigned to work full-time. For now, report to Daehan University Hospital on Mondays and Thursdays, and you must attend the working-level meeting at 8:30 a.m. on those days.”
“What about the days I’m assigned to night duty?”
“When I was teaching you, I was always preaching the Napoleon sleep method. Are you still sleeping nine hours a day?”
“There are such things as long sleepers in this world, you know?”
That had always been a sore point for her.
Choi Jehyuk barely seemed to need sleep, so he had always treated Harin, who loved sleeping, like she was lazy.
“You probably don’t sleep much because you’re getting old, but that’s not the case with me.”
“Are you really going to keep bringing up my age?”
“You need to sleep properly if you want your brain to work at full speed.”
“Then let’s do this.”
Jehyuk elaborated as though he were generously offering her a compromise.
“On days when you can’t attend the meeting, come see me separately in my office.”
“Professor Choi Jehyuk!”
“Best of luck, EMT Kang Harin.”
He turned away and raised one hand in farewell.
Then he walked away, his long legs carrying him farther and farther into the distance.
“Ah, seriously. He always does whatever he wants.”
Harin muttered under her breath and plopped back down in her seat.
In truth, she was so flustered that she could barely remember what they’d even talked about.
Had her face gotten too red?
Could he hear how hard her heart had been pounding when he came closer?
Countless thoughts drifted chaotically through Harin’s mind.
It was a pointless, foolish lingering attachment.
Yes.
An attachment.
Even after all these years, the lingering image of Choi Jehyuk that she had never been able to completely erase was sometimes bittersweet, but most of the time, it hurt.
She had prided herself on having long since forgotten him.
Yet the moment she’d come face-to-face with him again, she had wavered.
She couldn’t tear her eyes away.
Her heart had raced.
And above all else—
She had missed Choi Jehyuk.
That was Kang Harin: a hopelessly easy woman who could still get butterflies over the man who had rejected her, despite having thrown away all her pride.
“Kang Harin, you’re seriously pathetic. Get a grip already.”
Harin slapped her own cheeks and forced herself to come to her senses.
This is just because I’m drunk.
Or perhaps it was because of the biting wind that cut through her clothes.
Cooling her increasingly flushed face with the back of her hand, Harin lowered her head deeply.
“I missed you, Jehyuk oppa.”
