Lights Don't Go Out in the Annex - Chapter 12
CHAPTER 12
With a slightly dazed feeling, she blinked his eyes, and Jin-gyeom urged her on. Leeseo was quickly brought back to reality.
“So, you’re going to do it or not? Twenty thousand won per question. How about that?”
“……”
“No matter how wealthy I am, twenty thousand won is not a small amount for you, right?”
Leeseo looked at Jin-gyeom with annoyance. Two hundred thousand won for a single question? She’d be lying if she said she didn’t feel a little sick, but she didn’t like Jin-gyeom’s materialistic mindset that money can achieve everything.
“If you promise not to smoke cigarettes here again.”
“What? Cigarettes?”
Suddenly, as if questioning what nonsensical words she was saying, Jinkyum narrowed his eyes.
“And clean all of this up before you leave.”
Leeseo pointed to the cigarette butts scattered where he stood. Looking down at where her fingertips were pointing, Jin-gyeom swallowed a barely audible curse and clicked his tongue. After briefly contemplating, he furrowed his brows with a thoughtful expression and parted his lips.
He frowned thoughtfully for a moment, then parted his lips.
“Alright. Cleaning shouldn’t be a problem. I’ll do it quick.”
“I might not even know the answers. It’s been a long time since I studied.”
“And now you’re making excuses? Look at the questions first before then tell me.”
“Give it to me.”
Jin-gyeom unfolded the part of the workbook he had folded and handed it to Leeseo. Under the fresh moonlight, she glanced at the page Jin-gyeom had spread out and closed the workbook with a thud.
“Follow me.”
Leeseo walked briskly towards the glass greenhouse. Jin-gyeom followed behind with a nonchalant attitude, hands in his pockets.
Leeseo opened the glass door of the greenhouse, stepped inside and switched on the light. Orange light poured from the ceiling lights.
Sometimes, when the gardener stayed in the greenhouse until late night to work, Leeseo would help him too. She walked over to the work table in the corner and sat down on a chair.
It wasn’t directly in the light, but it was much better than relying on moonlight. After looking around, Jin-gyeom found a round wooden chair and pulled it up next to her.
Unfolding the page he’d folded, Leeseo held out her hand, palm up.
“Do you have a pen?”
Jin-gyeom rummaged through his pocket. After tossing the lighter he had picked up first onto the desk carelessly, he took out a pen and placed it on Leeseo’s hand.
After reading the question twice, Leeseo began to explain. She had been working part time as a tutor before taking a break from school, so she didn’t face much difficulty in solving problems. Jin-gyeom was surprisingly serious and focused on her explanation.
When she finished explaining the problem, Jin-gyeom was quiet, seemingly lost in thought, and then he said, “One more,” and flipped through the pages. He quickly pointed to another question, one that was much easier than the first one he had asked. Leeseo raised her eyes and looked at him.
Jin-gyeom was gazing at Leeseo’s lips with a slightly unfocused look in his eyes. As she slowly parted her lips, his lips also gently parted. Leeseo lowered her gaze and began to solve the problem.
* * *
After parting ways with Jin-gyeom in the glasshouse, Leeseo walked towards home.
After finishing the problem, Jin-gyeom offered to walk her home in a much gentler tone than the before. While his tone had softened, his expression had hardened, as if he was angry about something. Leeseo had declined him flatly, and even though he had repeated his offer twice, she didn’t bother further and left.
Leeseo suddenly lifted her head. The darkening sky had begun to drizzle rain lightly. Tiny water droplets clung to her eyelashes.
She quickened her pace. She was neither walking nor running, but diligently making her way towards home. Suddenly, she stopped right in the middle of the path.
She spotted a large silhouette leaning against the wall of an annex. As far as she knew, there was only one man tall enough to lean his head against the wall.
She remembered the man’s emotionless eyes as he strolled past her earlier. Perfectly expressionless, devoid of any interest, concern, or emotion.
Leeseo let out a small, subtle cough as if a small thorn embedded in her throat and reassert its presence with a discomfort.
It had been quite a while since he had passed by Leeseo’s side when she was with Jin-gyeom. By now, he should have arrived at the annex. She couldn’t understand why he hadn’t entered his house and was standing in the drizzling rain instead. Despite her curiosity, she suppressed the unnecessary nosiness and resumed walking.
As she passed Kwon Tae-gyeom’s side, Leeseo kept her gaze straight ahead, just as he had done when he had passed by her earlier. Whether he stood in the rain all night or lay down on the path to sleep, it had nothing to do with her, so she decided not to care and pay no attention to him.
But as she passed by him, she unconsciously took a short breath. He smelled like fresh water.
Did he smell like this because he had been standing in the rain for a long time?
Even though the misty rain was drizzling heavily, there was something different about his scent.
A deep forest. His pleasant scent seemed to come from a damp, densely wooded area. Without realizing it, she took a deep breath. Along with the breeze, a faint scent of alcohol reached her nose.
Unable to resist her curiosity, Leeso eventually turned around. Her shoulders tensed. The man had been looking at her all this time.
His gaze was like a languid snake, coiling around her. It felt as if he had set a trap and was waiting for her to turn around. His intense gaze seemed to catch and pull Leeseo in like a noose. A moment later, she asked, a beat too late.
“Are you okay?”
Without tearing his gaze away, Kwon Taegyeom slowly lifted his head. A short exhale escaped through his slightly parted lips. It was hard to tell if it was a laugh or a sigh. The moonlight outlined only half of his face, casting the other half in shadow against the wall’s texture.
His prominent Adam’s apple visibly bobbed. Leeseo involuntarily swallowed dryly. His shirt was unbuttoned a couple of buttons, revealing his long, straight neck. Raindrops had settled on his smooth cheek, glistening translucently in the dim light.
Their gazes locked. It felt as though something within her was being drawn into the sensuous depths of his eyes. His sharp eyes, which had seemingly pierced through her inner thoughts, softened subtly. Kwon Taegyeom smiled.
Goosebumps prickled up her forearms. The fine hairs near her ears stood on end, feeling them rising. A chill ran through her body, as if she were possessed by a ghost.
He was unlike anyone she had ever encountered. He exuded an aura that was both dangerous and alluring. He seemed to erect sharp thorns unconsciously once someone approached his tough exterior like armor. But if you shied away from him because of his cold demeanor, he would reel you back in like a fish out of water.
The smile on his face that had been sharp and sarcastic to the point of being exasperating was incredibly charming. It left Leeseo feeling somewhat dazed.
Kwon Tae-gyeom never took his eyes off her. They stared at each other for a moment, on the edge of spring and summer. The light drizzle that fell from the night sky quietly brushed against their collars.s
There was a gleam of interest in his eyes, completely unfamiliar to his eyes that she knew of, that were tinged with boredom and apathy in everything. She realized he must be drunk.
“Are you drunk? Do you want me to call someone?”
Leeseo cautiously asked in a careful tone. Kwon Tae-gyeom’s lips slowly parted as he stared at her strangely, his crimson tongue visible inside. For some reason, it became uncomfortable for her to breathe.
“What’s your name?”
“…Me?”
“Yes, you.”
Tae-gyeom playfully imitated her tone. His eyes, drowsy and languid from the alcohol sparkled in the moonlight. He was probably just a drunk who couldn’t find his way home, yet for some reason, there was an odd sensation that he was peering into her mind.
Suddenly, she couldn’t fathom why he was asking her for her name. To Kwon Tae-gyeom, she was merely one of the workers at the mansion and even then, he had dismissed her out of his sight as if she’s some nuisance.
The awkward feeling she had experienced when she was informed by Mrs. Seo to not loiter around the annex anymore came rushing back. A faint blush colored her cheeks.
“Your name, what is it?”
He asked impatiently. His voice had a subtle hint of amusement as it settled into the still air. She had always known he was a strange person, but he was even stranger when he was drunk.
Was he always like this, tossing out flirtatious remarks disguised as inquiries about names with that seductive gaze?
“…Hyun Leeseo.”
Hyun Leeseo. The man repeated her name over and over in his mouth. Hearing her name in his voice felt unfamiliar. Leeseo looked at his slightly pursed lips, feeling a little dazed. A warm sensation tingled in her ear.
Kwon Tae-gyeom looked down at her with a slanting gaze and said,
“Miss Hyun Leeseo, I’ve heard that you’re not very perceptive.”
“…Pardon?”
Caught off guard by his cryptic words, Leeseo asked hesitantly. At her response, he suddenly straightened up from leaning against the wall. As if measuring the distance between them, her gaze traveled up along the side of the wall, finally reaching the top of his tall frame.
His eyes, which had been lazily closed in drunkenness, were now bright and clear, staring directly at her. It was as if he had been sober all this time.