Chapter 19 (1/1)

The days that followed were busy for Hyun Joong with only three weeks to go before the big fundraiser and with only two weeks left in Yejin’s summer holidays she tried to make the best of her time, working at the café and finishing assignments, leaving little time for other matters.Despite the stressful days at work Hyun Joong soon found himself gaining instant pleasure from the simplest things such as seeing Yejin leave in the morning from his room window or hearing her voice when she came home. The few times they did meet he allowed himself to be more approachable, mentally scolding himself for every time he was ever rude to her.One evening after a shower he was wiping his hair when he heard a knock on his door, the one attached to the rest of the house. Hoping it was Yejin he opened the door trying not to look too excited and felt a bit disappointed to find her grandmother standing there instead, but Hyun Joong didn’t mind too much. From the day he had met her she had always been nice to him and seemed comfortable when talking to him despite his off handed attitude.“I thought you might like a home cooked meal once in a while so I made some extra dinner today for you as well. Would you like to join us ? ”, the old lady said.Hyun Joong blinked and felt a rush of many emotions but it wasn’t as overwhelming as he’d expected and realized that over the last month or so such emotions had once again become part of his life. Yet the lady’s kindness still touched him. “Or I could get you a plate and you could have it in your room”, halmeoni said interpreting the silence as discomfort. “No! I would be happy to join you for dinner. Thank you”, Hyun Joong said quickly hoping he hadn’t offended her.“That’s wonderful dear, I’ll be done in a bit so you can come and take a seat inside.”Nodding, he threw his towel over a chair and followed her into the house glancing around for a certain someone. Although her back was turned it seemed as if halmeoni noticed his wandering gaze,“Yejin is on a call with one of her friends but she’ll be down for dinner soon.”Feeling a bit embarrassed Hyun Joong took a seat at the dining table and watched as the lady wandered around the stirring some meat on the stove and getting plates from one of the cupboards.Feeling useless he got up and walked over,"Maybe I can set the table while I wait” he said quietly, reaching for the plates on the counter.“Oh yes, the glasses are by the sink and there should be a jug of water somewhere around as well”, she said while she took a dish and began filling it with noodles.Grabbing the plates Hyun Joong set them on the table and then went back to get the glasses. By the time he had finished filling the glasses halmeoni had set the food on the table as well but Yejin still hadn’t come down.Noticing her granddaughter’s absence she glanced towards the staircase,“ I’ll just go and check on her”, she said making her way to the staircase.Hyun Joong walked over and held her arm lightly to stop her. When she looked he said, “I could even go if you want."" Oh that would be good. At this age even climbing the stairs seems like a chore" She replied chuckling.There were two doors closed and one was slightly ajar letting some light cross into the hallway and he heard faint music coming from it. Hyun Joong knocked on the door and waited making sure his nervousness didn’t show in his expression. Initially he had just wanted to save the old women the trouble of going up the stairs herself but now he was nervous because he felt as if this was another step closer to Yejin and he was mildly curious to see how her room looked like.The door opened and he found himself looking into a pair of suprised brown eyes,blinking he refocused to look at her.“Um, dinner’s ready”His voice had come off a bit shaky but he didn’t think she noticed since she still looked surprised.Stuttering she managed to say,” Yes, thank you”She stepped forward and closed the door behind and found her nose an inch away from Hyun Joong’s collar bone. Noticing the proximity he quickly stepped away and they both made their way downstairs.As he took a seat at the table he saw Yejin talk to her grandmother. Thinking back to a few minutes ago he thought her room was just like her, orange and butter yellow with simple furniture and lots of books everywhere and seeing her standing there she seemed to just fit in with it. When she had unconsciously stepped too close he had smelled the peach scent from her hair and -Before he could get too lost halmeoni’s voice rang out.“Hyun Joong can I serve you some meat?”“Oh yes, thank you”, he held out his plate for her to serve and caught Yejin’s eye and she smiled at him and he instantly smiled back before digging into the food, missing the shock on her face.