Lee Hyun walked with Seo-yoon all the way to his house.
The men who saw her on the street stood dumbly and rubbed their eyes several times before staring at her again. Both men and women were unable to take their eyes of them. They looked like they couldn’t believe their eyes as they stared at the far too beautiful Seo-yoon. Their gazes stolen by Seo-yoon, they couldn’t overcome their curiosity and studied the man who was walking by her side.
‘Just what kind of lucky person is walking around with a woman like that?’
Lee Hyun was extremely normal, and was wearing a well worn t-shirt and faded blue jeans.
‘Why is a bastard like that… did he seize some kind of vulnerability?!’
‘He’s rich! His family is definitely rich. He’s either a wealthy person with thousands of millions of Won at a young age or his inheritance is enormous.’
‘The power of love is great.’
Looks of jealousy and envy shot at him, but Lee Hyun stood firm whenever that happened. “Appearance isn’t everything in the world. The heart is important.” He knew Seo-yoon’s true identity. She was vicious, violent, and even underhanded. The worst, as far as her humanity went!
Even if her face was so pretty that it made breathing difficult, it was absolutely no good if you fell for her because of that.
“Even if a woman can cook pretty well, has a lot of money, is skinny, has a good figure, and is pretty, wears some pretty good clothing, and is smart, it’s not necessarily good.”
If she was bright enough to get into the University of Korea, then she had to be considered brilliant. Even though they took math together, Seo-yoon solved the practice problems in the workbook way too easily. She was even quick to understand and solve parts that the class was going nowhere with.
“In some ways, it’s more regrettable for me.” Lee Hyun walked with his head held high.
Seo-yoon was unexpectedly following him well. That she wasn’t wearing high heels was part of the reason, but her stride was also quite fast. At the simple thrill of going to Lee Hyun’s house, her face was flushed to the point where it was obvious. It was her first time visiting a man’s house, and she had happy expectations on what kind of chicken she should bring as a friend.
“We’re here.”
Lee Hyun went into a secluded neighborhood opened his own house’s door lock by lock. There were a whole 7 locks on the front door! A separate password and even a card key were required.
As Seo-yoon approached the doorway, Lee Hyun blocked the entrance with his body.
“I’ll say this in advance, but you can’t go into my house and just touch things. I know where everything is, okay?”
Lee Hyun was suspicious and even treated her like a thief! That was primarily because outsiders didn’t often come into his house. Choi Ji-hoon had sometimes visited while meeting Lee Hye-yeon, but she didn’t bring him that often after the electronics repairs ended.
Lee Hyun was on full guard.
Seo-yoon nodded. “…”
“Come in for now.”
Seo-yoon walked through the door.
Woof, woof, woof!
A big dog the size of a calf swiftly ran over, lay on his belly, and barked cutely. His adorable bark didn’t match his large physique.
The charm of Dogmeat, the name that Lee Hye-yeon had given him himself!
Lee Hyun explained hurriedly, “He’s a dog we’re raising. He’s an extremely dangerous fellow, so it’s safer to stay back.”
When Seo-yoon extended a lovely hand, Dogmeat even wagged his tail fiercely.
A dog’s sense of smell is 10,000 better than a human’s. He smelled the subdued fragrance of the short rib patties and the smell of the previously departed Half Sauce Half Fried on Seo-yoon and was going to be friendly with her.
Just like when dogs become instinctively wary when they see a dog meat trader, when he saw Seo-yoon, he came running in at the good feeling she gave off and was writhing in welcome. He was prancing around Seo-yoon wagging his tail as he enthusiastically marked his greeting of welcome.
Lee Hyun shouted, “Hey, hey! Stop that, Dogmeat, you’re gonna bite someone again, right? Just last week you bit someone and hospitalized them. No. Go away!”
Woof, woof.
Dogmeat just wagged his tail and quietly returned to his doghouse. Even after being falsely accused of having bit someone, Dogmeat was utterly docile.
‘A chicken is a few thousand Won at the market, but you can get 200 thousand Won ($~200) for a dog! Not on your life!’
Dogmeat had extraordinarily plump flesh and was exercised, so his muscles were good. They hadn’t even sold him when a dog meat dealer came and offered 350 thousand Won (~$350), so there was way too much of a shame to give him to Seo-yoon.
“…”
Seo-yoon approached a wire meshed enclosure with hasty steps. Within the wire mesh, rabbits were hopping around.
Seo-yoon quickly wrote on a note with a pencil.
Can I touch them? This is my first time being this close to a rabbit.
“Go ahead. Ah yeah, be careful ’cause it hasn’t been long since the rabbits gave birth to babies.”
Babies? Where?
“They’re inside the pen.”
Seo-yoon looked at the rabbits in fascination, like a kid eating a hamburger for the first time.
Lee Hyun was OCD about sanitation, so the inside of the mesh was very clean and in good shape. There was a generous heap of grasses for the rabbits to eat, and baby bunnies with bodies about 2 or 3 fingers wide were wriggling in a shaded corner. Even though they were just babies, they had long ears and their hind legs were moving as if to hop around on the ground!
“Aahhhh.”
As if she were singing, an exclamation flowed from Seo-yoon’s lips! It was like a pretty and clear whisper.
She clung to the rabbit hutch, peering in with sparkling eyes. Unable to touch the babies because they might get scared, her expression was one of extreme regret.
“You can touch them.”
“…”
However, Seo-yoon was unable to readily touch them.
“It’s okay. They’re babies who haven’t even opened their eyes yet.”
That wasn’t why Seo-yoon was worried, but Lee Hyun put his hand through the mesh and pulled out a baby.
“Here.”
When he lowered it onto the back of Seo-yoon’s hand, the baby bunny kicked weakly as it wriggled. Seo-yoon embraced the baby bunny as if it were precious and stroked it. But she soon put it back into the rabbit hutch, because the baby bunny might feel anxious.
Even afterwards, Seo-yoon didn’t leave the rabbit hutch and squatted there to no end.
‘Surely she won’t ask me to give her one!’ Lee Hyun became increasingly alarmed. His little sister hadn’t returned from school yet. ‘Alone at home with a girl… I absolutely must be careful!’
A guy and a girl.
It was a preposterous situation.
Lee Hyun said firmly, “Let’s hurry and go see the chickens!” He did his utmost to make his intention to pull her away from the rabbits clear.
Seo-yoon wanted to keep looking at the baby bunnies that hadn’t even opened their eyes yet. She had fallen in love with the adorable sight of them curled up with the mommy rabbit. The sight of nonchalant mommy rabbit with its cheeks stuffed with carrots! However, Seo-yoon left behind her great regret in order to let the rabbits rest comfortably and went to the backyard where the chickens were.
Clu-clu-cluck.