Chapter 18: The Bouquet He Never Came to Claim

It felt as though her heart had dropped.

There was a difference between him thinking the shop was old and him seeing her that way. Did he think she, too, was worn out and weathered?

“…What do you mean?”

“You look like you’re about to cry.”

“Me? Ah, this place?”

“You, and this place too. You both look like you’re holding back tears, as if one little push would make you break down.”

When she frowned, still not understanding, he elaborated.

“You’re damp.”

As if explaining further, Chae Ju-han splashed his bare foot through the fluid pooled on the floor.

The floor had become wet because her arousal had continued to drip. It had soaked his thick thighs and spread all the way across the flower shop floor.

The obscene sound made her face burn.

She could still feel the wetness running down her own thighs. The excitement hadn’t fully subsided yet.

And Chae Ju-han had been watching all of it.

She wanted to cover herself, but the only things on the worktable were ribbons and wrapping materials. So she crossed her arms over her chest and covered herself below.

“You know, the way you’re trying to hide yourself like that is even sexier.”

“I don’t know. Just go.”

Chae Ju-han laughed even harder and hooked an arm around her waist, carrying her back into the tiny room.

“Let go.”

“You can’t even take a step right now. No need to thank me.”

When the light came on, the first thing she saw was the bed in complete disarray.

She shoved the blankets to one side, rummaged through a drawer, and pulled out a dress to put on. She couldn’t possibly stand there searching for underwear while he was watching her.

“If you’re not wearing panties or a bra, is that supposed to be temptation? I can see those swollen n*pples of yours. Makes me want to suck on them.”

“Just leave.”

“Really? Your n*pples are standing right up. Looks like they’re asking for it.”

“…That’s because they hurt if anything brushes against them.”

“Because I sucked on them. Made them all soft and tender.”

Having tucked himself back into his briefs, Chae Ju-han ran a hand along the l*ngth of himself. The t*p, too large to fit entirely inside, glistened.

Yi-jae picked up his pants from the floor.

Turning her head away, she held them out to him, but Chae Ju-han caught her hand and made her grab him through the fabric instead.

“Seriously!”

She shoved him away, but the man who refused to budge merely chuckled and kissed her forehead.

She turned away with a huff, and only later realized he had merely thrown on a robe. She grew irritated all over again when she noticed he still hadn’t bothered to close the front.

“At least put your clothes on properly. It’s winter.”

“Want to tie the sash for me again?”

He asked teasingly, but Yi-jae ignored the tone and pulled the belt tight herself.

She hated seeing him walking around with his chest exposed.

Even if he looked exactly the same as he had when he appeared at the flower shop the night before, she couldn’t let him leave like that.

She pulled the belt tight and tied it twice.

“Call your car.”

“Gi-tae’s been waiting since last night.”

She froze.

That name.

Hong Gi-tae.

The man who had hated her.

From the moment she entered the old man’s house, he’d looked at her as though she were a thorn in his side.

The man sitting in the driver’s seat when she’d ridden in Chae Ju-han’s car before had probably been Hong Gi-tae. The shaved head made it almost certain.

Which was why she’d deliberately avoided looking at him. She knew exactly what kind of cold gaze she’d meet.

Hong Gi-tae had always acted as though Go Yi-jae was ruining the old man.

All she’d done was live in his house.

It had been unfair, but complaining about something so trivial had seemed ridiculous.

So she and Hong Gi-tae had always remained parallel lines.

Hong Gi-tae hated Go Yi-jae.

Go Yi-jae pretended he didn’t exist.

Chae Ju-han pulled aside the blinds and showed her the car parked across the street.

It was the same black sedan she’d seen before.

“Tell him to come over here. It’s too far.”

“What, are you worried I’ll freeze to death crossing the street? Ha.”

He laughed mockingly, but what could she do?

She couldn’t help remembering the old man who wore suits every day, even in summer.

It was beyond her control.

With a sharp sound, the blind slats tilted open, revealing the outside.

Chae Ju-han gave a casual wave, and the car engine started.

She glared toward the driver’s seat, and sure enough, she saw the shaved head.

“I’m taking this.”

“What?”

Chae Ju-han picked up the damaged bouquet.

The buds had been crushed beneath her hands the night before, and the arrangement had fallen apart. It wasn’t pretty anymore.

She had tied the stems together once in the middle, so it still vaguely resembled a bouquet.

But it could hardly be called one.

“I told you I’d pick it up in the morning.”

“What?”

This was supposed to be the bouquet for “the most beautiful woman in the world.”

She had ruined it while making it the night before, and had intended to remake it as soon as Chae Ju-han left.

But… the pickup time had indeed been set for the morning.

Surely Chae Ju-han hadn’t ordered this?

“This is the only thing in here that even resembles a bouquet.”

“N-no. You can’t. It’s not finished.”

Chae Ju-han pointed out that there were no prepared bouquets, but that was only because he’d interrupted her.

She’d been in the middle of finishing it yesterday when he’d walked in and completely distracted her…

“Just wait a little. I’ll make you a new one.”

Fortunately, she had plenty of flowers.

She’d bought extra so she could practice a new style.

As she opened the cooler, the front door bell rang.

She turned around in a panic, and he grinned.

“Take your time. I’ll come get it tonight.”

She stared blankly as he left the shop and climbed into the car.

He didn’t look back at her even once.

Even though he could clearly see her through the shop’s glass front, he never turned his head.

The car door shut.

She couldn’t see him through the dark tint.

Rubbing the back of her neck, she watched the car drive away.

He was coming back tonight.

She had to prepare the bouquet.

****

There was no particular reason she washed up and changed clothes.

Combing her hair and checking herself in the mirror was simply part of her routine.

She worked in a shop where customers came in.

It was always better to look presentable.

But the way her lips dried out as evening approached, the way her fingers kept turning cold, the way she found herself swallowing over and over, those things had no excuse.

The bouquet had long since been finished and placed in the cooler.

She had made it even prettier than the one from yesterday.

If he intended to give it to “the most beautiful woman in the world,” then she couldn’t make it ugly.

Prettier.

Even prettier.

By the time she’d finished muttering that to herself, the bouquet had become twice as large as the one he’d ordered.

Chae Ju-han had ordered a bouquet.

For a woman.

From everything she’d heard, he hadn’t met anyone except her since returning to Korea.

And they were exclusive.

By ordinary logic, there seemed to be only one possible person he could be giving flowers to.

Of course, she wasn’t expecting anything.

He had absolutely no reason to give flowers to her.

Still, Chae Ju-han always called her pretty.

“And you’re f*cking gorgeous.”

“You’re so pretty it kills me. There’s not a single part of you that isn’t sexy.”

If he’d said it that many times, then it meant he thought she looked pretty good.

So Yi-jae sat up straight.

She even put on the dress Madam Yoon had recently bought and then given to her, saying it suited a woman with a large chest better.

She prepared herself and waited for Chae Ju-han.

But time passed endlessly.

Before she knew it, it was long past dinnertime.

Her stomach growled.

She’d wondered if they might go on a date.

Apparently she’d been wrong.

As she clutched her empty stomach and prepared to make a cup of instant noodles, a black sedan entered the alley.

Yi-jae carefully controlled her expression and wiped down the worktable.

She checked the small mirror on the desk to make sure her lipstick was still perfect.

She didn’t want it to be obvious she’d been waiting for him.

No, that wasn’t true.

Of course it would be obvious.

He’d said he was coming to pick up the bouquet, and she’d waited until this late without even eating.

While she prepared something to grumble at him about, the car door opened.

She rubbed the worktable with her hand, pretending to work, when the bell above the shop door rang.

“Why are you so late? Ah.”

She raised her voice in annoyance, only to cut herself off.

It was Hong Gi-tae.

With his shaved head and pale face, his gaze seemed even colder.

Avoiding his eyes, Yi-jae looked past the glass front at the sedan outside.

The windows were so dark she couldn’t tell whether Chae Ju-han was inside.

“The bouquet.”

“Yes.”

She wanted to ask whether Chae Ju-han wasn’t coming in, or whether he’d never come at all, but she didn’t want to ask Hong Gi-tae.

There was no guarantee he’d tell her the truth.

There was a good chance he wouldn’t answer at all.

Hong Gi-tae hated her.

Pulling her cardigan tighter around herself, she opened the flower cooler and took out the bouquet.

Meanwhile, Hong Gi-tae laid several fifty-thousand-won bills on the worktable.

“It was paid in advance.”

“I’m just doing what I was told.”

If she had a problem with it, she should take it up with Chae Ju-han.

‘What an asshole.’

But after taking the bouquet, Hong Gi-tae stopped before leaving.

She tensed, expecting him to find something to criticize.

Then she noticed that one of the joints on the hand holding the bouquet was missing.

Before he’d gone overseas, he’d had all five fingers.

Definitely.

Her heart shrank.

Unlike in the past, when she’d never once thought of them as gangsters, now she couldn’t help noticing, over and over, that these people did not live ordinary lives.

“Are you out of your mind?”

📚 Also on NHV Novels

Enemies on a Single-Log Bridge

AcademyBattleBL

Read Now →
Not interested