Chapter 2
***
In fact, Eun-jin clearly remembered the day she last saw Cho Min-seong.
Forgetting that would probably be impossible even after a lifetime.
It was a nice day.
Like the warm sun, her heart felt good.
It had been two months since she started working at Taewon Electronics. For the first time, she received a compliment from her boss.
Did she say that the phone call was a blessing in disguise?
Her helplessness to do anything, which she had learned in college, was wiped away with a single compliment from her boss.
She was proud of Taewon Electronics. Now that she had joined one of Korea's largest companies, her life seemed to be looking up.
As she exited the subway station, Eun-jin couldn't help but smile. The world had never looked so beautiful in her life.
Somehow, she felt like her life would be different from the shithole she had been living in.
She wondered if the seasons were jealous of her over-excitement.
As soon as she crossed the road and turned into the alley, a torrential downpour came out of the clear sky.
"It's suddenly raining."
The dark clouds quickly darkened the world. There was no place to shelter from the rain in the narrow, wall-lined alleyway.
The water poured down from the sky, soaking Eun-jin to the bone. A smile spread across her face as she headed home, even though she was shuffling like a mouse in the rain.
"You’re going to catch a cold."
At that moment, the rain from the sky suddenly stopped.
Or, more precisely, a black long umbrella was placed over Eun-jin's head.
When she stopped walking and turned to the side, she saw that it was none other than her brother's friend Cho Min-seong who had put the umbrella on her.
"Ah......."
"You don't even say hello."
Cho Min-seong, who was dressed in a suit, looked at Eun-jin with an impassive face.
"......Hello."
Eun-jin reluctantly greeted him. He had become more uncomfortable with Cho Min-seong since their chance encounter in front of his house a few months ago.
Cho Min-seong was graceful even as he carried his long umbrella. He was over 190 centimeters tall, and his broad shoulders made him look like a model in a suit.
His deep black eyes looked at Eun-jin. The high bridge of his nose, which seemed to have been delicately molded by a sculptor, gave him an even stronger sense of power. His chiseled jawline seemed to reflect his sharp personality.
"I see you often."
Eun-jin didn't want to talk to him much.
No matter how noble he looked, he was nothing more than a thug.
While Eun-jin's brother was out front doing the dirty work, people like him sat dignified in the back, sweeping up the black money they brought in.
It wasn't that she didn't have a soft spot for her blood relatives, but she was still uncomfortable with Cho Min-seong taking advantage of the people.
"Yeah, I see you often enough, but you don't have to use an umbrella on me, I'm soaked anyway, so go on your way."
Eun-jin said harshly, but Cho Min-seong replied nonchalantly.
"I'm on my way to meet Ha Dong-jin."
"......."
Cho Min-seong was going to meet Ha Dong-jin, who was probably at home getting ready to go out by now, which meant that Eun-jin had to walk with him side-by-side with an umbrella.
No matter how fast she walked, she wouldn't be able to escape his long stride, and no matter how slow she slowed down, she wouldn't be able to keep up with him as he matched her pace.
"I heard you couldn't get a job?"
She didn't know if he'd heard from Ha Dong-jin, or if he was asking her, but she didn't answer.
She had been working at Taewon Electronics for two months now, but she didn't want to share her personal life with Cho Min-seong.
"Do you want to join my company?"
At his next words, Eun-jin stared at him blankly.
"You don't answer. I guess you are not desperate for a job. Do you hate Kyunggeum Construction?"
Cho Min-seong asked sarcastically, wondering if Eun-jin's dislike for Kyunggeum E&C was reflected in her face.
"Yes, I hate it."
"Why? Because it's a den of thugs?"
Eun-jin didn't deny Cho Min-seong’s blatant question.
"Yeah."
The sound of wind escaping from Cho Min-seong’s mouth was heard as he watched Eun-jin's cheeky remark, but didn't remove the umbrella over her head.
It was only a short walk home now. She slowed her pace, eager to avoid the uncomfortable company of Cho Min-seong as soon as possible, but his voice stopped her.
"By the way, you didn't answer?"
"I told you, I don't want to work for Kyunggeum Construction. I have been working at Taewon Electronics for a while now."
"That's not what I asked you."
She thought he was going to offer her a job again, so she told him that she had gotten the job at Taewon Electronics, and he opened his mouth.
"I asked you last time, are you going to sleep with me?"
Eun-jin dismissed his words as unworthy of an answer and slipped out from under the umbrella. As she ran across the rain, Cho's long arm snatched her around the waist.
Eun-jin spun around, helpless as he pulled her toward him.
In an instant, his lips were on hers. Before she had a chance to resist, his tongue pierced her lips and pushed in.
"Hmph!"
Panicked, Eun-jin froze on the spot.
With a thud, the black umbrella fell to the floor.
Cho Min-seong continued to kiss Eun-jin, holding her in his arms, suit wet or not.
Their lips were fused together. She was strangely unmoving as the hated Cho Min-seong stole her first kiss.
Sparks of electricity exploded across her heated lips. The movement of his tongue in and out of her mouth was breathtaking, like a metaphor for something.
Min-seong gripped Eun-jin's waist with one hand, immobilizing her, while the other gently stroked the nape of her neck.
With each touch, each breath, she felt weak in the knees.
Eun-jin's breathing grew ragged. She couldn't open her eyes, but she couldn't close them either.
I should push him away.
She knew she should slap Cho Min-seong, but it was impossible to escape the erotic pleasure.
It was then.
A sight of someone swept past the two of them, and Eun-jin pushed a in-seong away with both hands as hard as she could.
"......!"
The person who disappeared with a gasp was none other than Eun-jin's mom.
Eun-jin's first kiss had been caught on camera by her mom.
She blushed with shame.
Both Cho Min-seong’s unannounced kiss and her mother's unawareness of Eun-jin were shameful.
Recovering her senses, Eun-jin raised her hand to slap Cho Min-seong’s cheek, but he gently grabbed her wrist and restrained her.
"You're enjoying yourself too, you little punk. The kiss was worth it, wasn't it?"
"Never mind it."
"So the answer is."
"That's it, I'm done with you, and don't you ever pretend to know me again!"
Eun-jin wiped her lips with the back of her hand and stomped through the gate of her house. She stood on the porch and didn't open the door for a long time.
She wasn't sure what to make of her mother's face after witnessing her kiss.
Even so, her pulse still raced over the flesh where Cho Min-seong’s lips had touched.
***
Was it a dream?
Eun-jin nodded off, thinking about Cho Min-seong, who had been buried in the back of her mind for a while.
She slept through Saturday and woke up lazily on Sunday. Eun-jin picked up her cell phone, her heart ashen.
Over the course of the day, her muddy mind calmed down. The distorted face of the mother who had sold her organs for her son floated on the calm surface of the water.
Eun-jin picked up a rock and threw it into the calm lake. Her mother's face disappeared, then reappeared in her mind.
That was what being a daughter was like.
She hated her mother and loved her at the same time.
She wanted to be a bitch, but Eun-jin was weak.
She knew her mother was manipulating her, but she was too weak to stop it. She didn't have the courage to cut her mother out of her life.
Eun-jin pulled down the screen, checking the contacts on her phone one by one.
People who had lent her money, people who wouldn't lend her money, and people who had asked her to lend them money but had already cut her off.
Eun-jin's contacts could be categorized into three types of people.
There were no more acquaintances to borrow money from.
If she had, she wouldn't have bothered to go through her contacts to find someone who could lend her money.
There was even a text in her inbox from her landlord reminding her that she was behind on her rent this month.
[Landlord: Please deposit this month's rent by today, I can't keep doing this].
The landlord's "today" was already several days past. Eun-jin's own credit was shaky because of her family.
Reluctantly, Eun-jin looked through her cell phone contacts again. She didn't know why she hadn't deleted Cho Min-seong’s number before, thinking it was a number she would never need.
She wouldn't answer a call from unknown contacts.
When she was younger, she'd run into him from time to time as a friend of her brother's, but she wasn't close enough to him to grant his request.
***
To donate for extra chapters for my series or to tip me visit my personal kofi page
Write a comment