Chapter 3 – The Pine Tree and the Orchid (Part 6)

When Soo-yeon opened her eyes, it was dawn. She was lying on the mattress she used when she slept at her studio, wearing only a T-shirt and panties. Next to her, Hee-tae lay with his back to her, eyes closed. His back, which she hadn’t scratched because she clung to him instead of leaving nail marks, looked cleaner than before.

His muscular back, divided like a pattern, caught her eye. Soo-yeon carefully traced the ridges with her fingertips. She wondered what kind of picture she could paint on that canvas of a back, but she only traced the outline of what came to mind with her fingers.

“Are you drawing?”

Startled by the sudden voice, Soo-yeon stopped her hand. Hee-tae, now awake, had turned his head to look at her while his face was still buried in his arm. Soo-yeon, who hadn’t noticed him waking, awkwardly withdrew her hand. She felt caught, having scolded him for being inconsiderate, yet now acting the same way towards a sleeping person. As she wondered what teasing comment he would make, his unexpected response followed.

“You can draw.”

Hee-tae said, looking at Soo-yeon with a husky voice. Soo-yeon suddenly felt his face, veiled in the dawn light, looked unfamiliar. Whether it was because it was dawn or because he was acting differently, Soo-yeon felt strangely uneasy, unable to respond immediately.

He probably didn’t understand what offering his back as a canvas meant to her. Knowing it was an unwitting remark, her insides churned enough to make her toes curl, so she changed the subject.

“It’s not good for your skin.”

Soo-yeon wasn’t worried about Hee-tae’s skin to the extent that she couldn’t draw on it. She just didn’t want to, so she grabbed any excuse she could. In truth, she felt that seeing her drawing on his back would make her feel too strange. Hee-tae, noticing her sudden withdrawal, added in his husky voice.

“Is c*m good for the skin? Is that why you asked me to come inside without a condom?”

Hee-tae never said anything in a pretty way. He always had an outlandish way of speaking that Soo-yeon had never heard before, and strangely, talking to him made her feel like she was getting sucked in. Otherwise, she often found herself responding childishly while trying to match him. Hee-tae, lying on his stomach, glanced at her and spoke.

“Draw. I like your drawings.”

Soo-yeon felt awkward hearing praise she had heard many times before. Maybe it was because it came from such an unexpected person. A man who usually spat out mockery in a serious and straightforward voice created ripples inside her with his words. She hadn’t been particularly thirsty for praise, nor did she have a great desire for recognition. Yet, his words kept echoing in her ears. She soon got up to fetch her art supplies.

“Why did you lie down right away?”

When Soo-yeon returned with her art supplies, Hee-tae had flipped over. Instead of his well-defined back muscles, she was now looking at his abs. Supporting his head with one hand, he scanned the art supplies she brought and replied.

“To watch your focused face.”

Hearing that, Soo-yeon paused with her brush dipped in ink. Since her student days, she hadn’t shown her face while drawing to anyone. She didn’t want Hee-tae to see a face she herself had never seen, so she picked up the ink and spoke.

“……Turn over again. It’s hard to draw if the surface isn’t even.”

“What’s so bumpy about me? Ah, Chae Soo-yeon, do you like thick-chested guys? Pretending not to look while checking me out all sneakily.”

At the mention of an uneven surface, Hee-tae looked down at his own body and noticed his bulging pectoral muscles. He then lay back down, his hand supporting the back of his head, and made a mischievous remark to Soo-yeon. Instead of responding, Soo-yeon covered his eyes with a white towel she had brought, as if to block his view. Hee-tae, with a look of disbelief, pulled the towel down and sat up straight.

“Am I dead? Where did you learn the etiquette of covering someone’s face with a white towel?”

“Since you’re up, turn over.”

Soo-yeon grabbed his shoulder and turned him over as if she had been waiting for him to rise in indignation. Though he could have resisted her weak push, Hee-tae let her turn him over and lay back down.

Facing his back again, Soo-yeon picked up her brush. As the brush tip glided over his skin, she felt his back twitch. Hee-tae muttered in near amazement.

“Wow, that tickles.”

“I’ll be quick.”

Soo-yeon said, pressing down on his lower back. She became silent as she started to move the brush again. Each delicate stroke of the brush on his back made Hee-tae furrow his brows.

He had been unfazed when getting a tattoo on his arm, calmly looking at his phone with his other hand. But now, the soft trail of the brush on his back felt unbearably ticklish. It was even more so when he watched Soo-yeon’s concentrated face as she bent over his arm.

“Almost done.”

Soo-yeon spoke soothingly as she watched Hee-tae’s back twitch. She remembered how he used to say he was all the way in every time he thrust his member inside her. Now, she was the one saying those words. With nothing more than a soft brush, she was able to silence the man who couldn’t keep his vulgar mouth shut and make his solid body tremble while lying down. Finally, Soo-yeon lifted the brush and looked down at what she had drawn.

“What did you draw?”

Soo-yeon glanced reflexively toward the sound and found him watching her lazily like a lion, his arm bent under his head. She couldn’t tell how long he had been watching. The thought that he had seen every moment of her gently coaxing him with the brush made her throat feel tight. Not wanting to show her tension, she answered, “A pine tree,” and began to clean up the art supplies. Hee-tae covered her hand with his own as she tidied up.

“I know how meaningful pine trees are, having seen many old men who love bonsai. I noticed you took good care of the one I sent you.”

Despite being busy devouring Soo-yeon whenever he barged into her studio, Hee-tae noticed the well-maintained bonsai pine tree after their heated moments. Remembering how much she had hated it back then, he thought she would have thrown it away or shoved it into storage. But it was neatly placed by the window to get plenty of sunlight, its leaves shiny and well-maintained, which he found quite endearing.

“It doesn’t mean anything. I just drew it because it suited you.”

Soo-yeon ignored his comment about the bonsai, feeling too embarrassed to acknowledge it. But drawing the pine tree because it suited him was true. His back was covered in scars and stitches. Many were old and faded. The layers of scars accumulated since his childhood reminded her of the thick bark of a pine tree. A pine tree that doesn’t wither even in the cold winter, enduring all seasons.

“Chae Soo-yeon, sometimes you…”

Hee-tae started to speak as he sat up. Soo-yeon’s hand twitched in his grasp. They were so close. So close, yet not kissing or pressing their bodies together felt strangely distant.

His eyes, serious and different from the playful ones that teased her under the sunlight on the golf course, scanned her. Leaning towards her, Hee-tae whispered.

“You don’t seem to know how you look at people.”

Soo-yeon didn’t want to ask how she looked at him. However, she thought she understood how he was looking at her. His eyes, which had previously been filled with mischievous desire, were now so serious that her rational mind warned her not to go any further. This was the threshold of their relationship.

“…Do I need to know?”

Soo-yeon cowardly evaded. She wanted to pretend she didn’t notice before he confronted her emotions. She wanted to ignore the emotions he had deciphered in her. Soo-yeon had already experienced a devastating failure in love. She had even shown Hee-tae the foolish scenes of that failure. Thus, anything beyond mere physical contact in this relationship didn’t make sense. Moreover, Hee-tae was a person from the shadows, and she was not. Soo-yeon buried herself in the myriad of excuses flooding her mind.

“Oh, so that’s how you want to play?”