In Circle of Emotion

Awkwardly Eunji handed him a clean towel and a set of black tracksuit pants and a t-shirt. His gaze questioned her, Yongguk was sure he wasn’t asking any of them. True, he didn’t bring any clothes except his uniform inside his bag thinking that at least he could wear his father’s pajamas but he believed he hadn’t spoken since he entered her house.

“Well, if you want to have warm shower, the bathroom is over there,” replying immediately, she pointed a room next to her dining room. “And these are new, they’re concert merchandise, I have more, and there are other sizes too if these are too small or too big for you,” finished her.

Her smile remained, trying to implying how friendly she originally was. Despite all her effort though, the male still wasn’t sure if all of this was necessary, he thought he would just sleep and voila morning came.

“Thank you,” he replied quietly, yes, he was smiling too. Yongguk at least knew enough how to act as a guest. No matter how strange his situation right now, he was always a polite person, of course name and reputation would be another case, but now he badly needed a bed, and maybe indeed warm shower.

Eunji nodded, “you’ll see a cabinet inside, and the clean towel is on the second drawer and there is also a new toothbrush inside the first drawer. You can use them, basically just use anything you need inside.”

“Thanks, Eunji-ssi.”

For now, he would settle with her scenario, he should start stopping himself from questioning anything. His body had been trying to tell him how much he needed a proper rest. His muscles were aching, his eyes felt heavier and more than anything, his concentration seemed to decrease so much. All of this still didn’t make sense, yes, staying at her place was surely not appropriate, that’s yes too, but it should be fine just for a couple of hours, that too, yes.

After dropping his bag inside the guest room that Eunji showed him, Yongguk immediately took the warm shower she suggested. And it felt that all the sore muscles had finally gotten paid. He felt like he could breathe again as soon as the warm water met his shoulder.

His eyes naturally shut closed, trying to feel each second the heat tried to ease his skin, a savior he would describe. The pain on his neck from the long travel seemed gone, as if it never was there. A smile, very blissful one, formed on his lips. He’s glad he was following her word.

Yongguk really wanted to stay longer under the warm water, but realization hit him, that it wasn’t his place, he’s not supposed to feel like home. Well, it might be shorter than his usual home shower, but it was more than what he needed, he didn’t even get this pleasure at his camp. It’s perfect, he just needed to lie down and sleep, he thought.

Stunned in front of the bathroom mirror, he couldn’t believe what he was wearing.

… they’re concert merchandise.

Right, she mentioned that. And of course, he wasn’t suspicious of the word. But he didn’t expect there would be a huge pink panda head on his chest. He looked ridiculously … cute, that’s probably the perfect word to describe thirty something man wearing a t-shirt with cute pink panda head on it. If s saw him, no, if anyone saw him, he bet they would have problem in holding their laughter. Especially with his military haircut, his bang was too short to cover his blushing cheeks, it’s just … he preferred to not finish the sentence. Heavily sighing, Yongguk continued drying his hair instead, the night would soon be gone, he whispered to himself.

Five minutes later. She wasn’t laughing, but he 100% believed she was holding herself.

“You look—

“Cute. I know.”

That’s when she eventually burst into laughter. As she laughed her eyes shaped like a pair of crescent moon. And what a melodic sound, her laughter was. Another expression of her he learned today, not that it looked unfamiliar, he saw this expression couple of times on the television, but seeing this close Yongguk couldn’t just unseen it. He waited with a soft smile, expecting the reaction already. No. She actually looked cuter. A white long sleeve oversized t-shirt, navy long silk pants, a pair of spectacles and loosened hair. This girl surely had no idea how cutely dangerous her look right now.

“I guess, it’s goodnight?” he tried to save her. Or himself, frankly.

“I made you tea,” still smiling, clueless and cute, Eunji handed him a black cup filled with seemingly chamomile tea, at least the scent told him so.

It’s warm when he touched, and smelled so nice that his smile stayed a bit longer. The scent successfully distracted his mind from thinking of something else. This was a good escape.

Checking her expression, he then sipped the tea and the drink was perfect. “Thank you,” he muttered with sincerity.

“You look better when you smile, do you know that?”

There, his forehead immediately furrowed again, his stern gaze returned, questioning. “Yes, heard that a lot. Good night,” he finished quickly and bowed slightly, not wanting to get dwelled into this type of conversation. He remembered he needed to sleep, things might lead to scenario he disliked the most if they didn’t stop there.

“And when you look at me like that, like right now, with that furrow on your forehead, you really look like a scary person.”

He took a heavy breath and exhaled tiredly. When will this female stop? He wondered.

“Eunji-ssi, thank you for the tea, but I’m really tired right now. Can we say good night already?” He did sound like someone who didn’t just get a cup of chamomile tea, a free room and a blissful warm shower.

“Right, of course,” she awkwardly bit her bottom lips, clearly feeling apologetic and he immediately felt guilty.

“I’m sorry, I’m really tired,” he fixed.

“And did you realize, that you have this tendency to back and forth from being so nice to being so scary? Like right now, apologizing right after hurting. Fascinating,” she commented, the last word was a whisper, sounded more to herself rather to him. From her eyes, Yongguk could tell the girl wouldn’t stop the conversation anytime soon, she’s enjoying this and he wasn’t. Now that he was more awake, Bang Yongguk might get into trouble if he stayed for too long in front of this petite figure.

Jung Eunji was a new book to him, yet he felt like he read so many interesting pages as he just started. Her smile, her laughter, her casual look, her kindness, everything this female did led to uncomfortable beat inside his chest. He wasn’t a kid, he knew what it was, a trouble. That was why he had to stop.

Remembering her previous reaction, his plan required short proximity. So, he took a step closer and leaned down, careful yet dangerous. His left hand tightened the hold on his tea while the other one greeted her cheek. A tender , yet intimidating. Too close. His gaze traveled down, from her surprised eyes, to the bridge of her nose, to her perplexed lips.

“Yet did you realize, it’s late and I am a man?” He whispered slowly, as if spelling each word so that she understood the meaning implied.

Frozen on her feet, silence indulged them in each other’s perception like how he thought he finally shut , and like how she thought he’s in disguise.

“Great, good night.”

Well, he guessed. He hadn’t finished the book though, not even half reading. Jung Eunji was never a weak opponent, especially when she’s provoked. It might be his stupidest decision to belittle her.

Quick in move, she tiptoed, grabbed his clothes for a support, and kissed his bottom lips instead. So gentle with enough pressure. It might be less than three seconds, but she’s sure she let him know who had the upper hand in this place.

“Good night,” she let his lips tasted the words as she whispered on it. When she leaned back she caught his flustered look. For a short moment their eyes locked with each other, not saying anything. Someone needed to break the silence, and Eunji did instead.  She leaned closer one more time and pecked him on the cheek before leaving the male standing in a daze in the middle of her spacious living room. Not even glancing back, she marched to her room with a weird pain on her chest and locked her door right after she closed it.

Eunji might not know this, but Bang Yongguk just cursed.

Maybe it’s the tea, or maybe it’s the warm shower, or just maybe, it might be really her lips, surprisingly enough Yongguk slept really well that night, not even dreaming. He remembered he went in the room with frustration, not believing he just tasted his own attack plan. But now that he woke up with a soft smile, he wasn’t ready to admit his defeat last night.

It was embarrassing.

But frankly it was understatement if he hated the kiss. There was something about her lips that kept him recalled the touch vividly. They were so soft, so gentle and if only he wasn’t a gentleman he might have replied her even bolder. Yes, he almost did.

Sighing, now he had to deal with awkwardness as morning came. He turned his body to the side, his gaze locked with the white ceiling, and he had another sigh. Right, it was morning already. He wished he could just suddenly disappear rather than seeing her.

Well, there was a chance Eunji hadn’t woken up though. Thinking about the possibility, Yongguk immediately got up. Right, it’s pretty early now, he’d better to clean up quick and leave quick. He dragged his body to the bathroom to clean himself. Being trained for almost a year now, he managed to quickly wash his face and brush his teeth. But no matter how fast his move was, he heard movement from outside the room. Jung Eunji had woken up. Of course.

Sighing, he put back his toothbrush on the cup in front of the mirror. As if mocking him, his eyes locked with the pink panda head on his chest. Another sigh, yes, he still looked cute, he confirmed.

It seemed that the train of coincidence hadn't really left. Flustered, Bang Yongguk stood frozen right after he opened the bathroom door. He lost in words, his brain failed processing anything. A woman looked