Jihoon stared at her, probably still thinking it’s his brain playing tricks on him. It was starting to get dark and cold outside,  and Jieun was starting to realize that she didn’t think this through. She was wearing a denim skirt and thin button down top, which wasn’t really enough to protect her from the cold in case Jihoon decides not to let her in.

“Earth to Jihoon!”

That seemed to do the trick. The tiny white dog also kept barking at her, and it made Jihoon snap out of his zone-out session.

“Hey. I thought you left with Si Eon.”

A few strides and he reached the gate to let her in.

“I did. But I changed my mind.”

Jieun knew she had to play her cards right. She can’t rattle this tall, stubborn man’s cage. She has to be methodical and subtle, for this to work.

“Huh..” was all he managed to say as he let her into the property.

“Yup..because I’ve never been to this part of the country. I thought, it would be nice to have a short tour.”

“Jieun, it’s almost evening. What tour are you talking about?”

Did she hear exasperation? Maybe a tinge of annoyance? Of course he would be. He made it clear earlier that he didn’t want to talk to anyone, and a part of her – the rational Jieun, kept telling her to mind her own business, that this isn’t something she could fix.

But no. She can’t just go without trying. Not even when Jihoon acts all cold like he’s doing right now.

 “You can take me to local restaurants. We can have dinner. Come on, I know you love to eat!” She ended with the cutest smile she can muster.

“Aish, aegyo won’t work on me Jieun. I’m not Hongshi.”

It took some convincing for Jihoon to let her inside his house. But even he knew that it would take Jieun atleast twenty minutes to get to the bus terminal, which would be too late to catch the last bus to Seoul.

**

Jihoon has been pretending that she’s not there with him – or atleast that’s what she thinks he’s doing because he hasn’t said a word since the moment they got inside his house.

No television. No music. And she wasn’t in the mood to pick up a book and read. Add to that her grumbling stomach, which was the cherry on top of this giant cake of a day.

She could start throwing a fit about Jihoon being a jerk, but there’s no one else to blame but her. She decided to take a swing at it, to try to talk to him. So instead of hosting herself an internal pity party for her bad decision making skills,  she tried to make conversation with the man whom she knew would rather be alone.

“You really chose the middle of nowhere, huh.”

He didn’t even budge;  sitting cross legged on the living room floor, he’s playing with the small white dog which he calls Sarangy. The other dog, which is brown and slightly bigger, lay on the corner, staring at her. She never had pets as a kid because her mother is allergic, but she always wanted one. Ignored by Jihoon, she decided to entertain herself by making friends with his dog. It started sniffing her hand, then slowly rubbed its nose on her. In no time, the brown dog was already jumping up to her face.

“Gosh you’re such a cute and friendly dog, aren’t you!”

She could tell he’s watching her.

“That’s Janguny. She’s nicer than Sarangy.”

Ah, the man speaks.

Jieun knew she had to work her way into Jihoon’s little cave. Take one small step at a time, before going in and actually talking to him about things she wanted to really talk about – like him being such a wuss and hiding and all that tough love talk. He’s been so tense since the moment he let her into his house. No trace of his old playful self, none of that cheeky banter she’s gotten used to while working with him.

Janguny kept on jumping up to reach her face.