🏆 THE AMBY AWARDS 2023 TOP PICK - DIVERSE LIT 🏆
It's Rin and Hye-jin against the world. Or so it should have been.
Nagara Rin and Joon Hye-jin, college sweethearts and passionate gamers, have lived a fairytale marriage. Not even a decade after did...
Oops! This image does not follow our content guidelines. To continue publishing, please remove it or upload a different image.
The mass of people streaming across the mall's polished floor should have told Rin to stay hunkered in his house. Instead, he was out here, trudging along with them.
"Hey, you alright?" Hye-jin said beside him, giving his hand a small shake. His fingers tightened around hers as if he was afraid he'd lose her in the crowd. Or was it because he was afraid of losing himself? Being apart from Hye-jin, in a place this big, was enough of a nightmare.
Rin threw a small smile in her direction. With a light yank, he drew her closer and stuck their intertwined fingers in the pocket of his coat. "All good," he said, the words slowly becoming true as he watched Hye-jin's eyes brighten. "You?"
Hye-jin stuck her lip out. "Aside from my feet killing me? All good."
"You shouldn't have insisted on wearing those torture devices then," he rolled his shoulders, his thick coat rustling against her sleeve. "You're the one to tell me this place is huge."
She clicked her tongue. "No fair! I want to be pretty for once."
Rin stopped walking, forcing Hye-jin to follow. Behind them, a couple of annoyed grunts resounded. From his periphery, people swerved and overtook them. He didn't mind, though. He looked down at Hye-jin who looked at him like he had just grown pointy ears.
"Tell you what—you don't need those shoes to be pretty," he said. "Whatever you wear or slap into your face, you're gorgeous."
He dropped his voice, hoping the clamor of the crowd and the mall music blasting through the speakers hid what he muttered next. "At least, to me."
A strangled laugh tore through Hye-jin's lips as they resumed their walk. "What the hell was that?" she said. Still, a smile pulled at the corners of her lips. When Rin didn't answer and continued looking ahead, she backhanded him on the arm. "Rin!"
He took out their hands from his pocket and threw an arm around her shoulders. He did feel more comfortable doing things like they're friends more than like they're what they were now. "I'll buy you flats," he said. "Come on."
Before Hye-jin could protest, he dragged her to the department store. "Don't make me carry you all the way to your house," he said. "Your father will kill me if he sees your feet all blistered. You know how he is."
Hye-jin rolled her eyes as they tore through aisles upon aisles of clothes. The shoes section wouldn't be in the end of the store. "Tell me about it. I lived with that man for a lifetime."
"Won't be for long though."
She whirled to him. "What does that mean?" her eyes widened. "You're saying—"
Heat rushed to Rin's cheeks, making him shake his head vigorously as soon as what must have come across Hye-jin crossed his mind. "N-not that," he cleared his throat, averting his eyes towards the watches displayed behind glass cases. "I meant moving to the city, living on your own as a young professional. You know. That."
