The Cutting Edge

018

When Hyunwon woke up the next day, he was the only one left in the room. Glancing over at his watch, he noted that it was only seven in the morning—a little on the early side.

After getting dressed, he stepped outside and took a deep breath of the fresh countryside air. One thing he liked best about this place was how the air smelled like dewdrops in the mornings, unlike the exhaust-filled air of Seoul. Looking around, his brows furrowed a little when he couldn't see any sign of Hyejin anywhere.

Where has that girl gone...

Stuffing his hands into his pockets, he sauntered down the pebble path in search of his delinquent mentee.

Before he managed to see her, he could already hearher. A loud burst of laughter suddenly erupted out of nowhere, followed by the excited chattering of a familiar voice. Following in the direction of the laughter, Hyunwon pushed open the small, wooden gate at the left perimeter of the church compound, emerging at a small vegetable patch that was used to grow a whole range of veggies for church-goers. When he wasn't too preoccupied with ministry, the priest spent his time at the vegetable patch together with some of the other church members, working hard to grow fresh produce for the community.

The first thought that crossed his mind when he saw her squatting in the middle of the vegetable patch yanking radish from the soil was that he was going to strangle her. Because she was wearing a blue and white checkered shirt with jeans... and that was exactly what he was wearing too.

"No damn way," he muttered angrily to himself, wondering if the Lord had put Song Hyejin on this earth to test his patience.

When Hyejin looked up and saw a shadow standing there watching her, she raised her hand to her shield her eyes from the sun's glare so she could make out who the person was. The first thing she saw was the unmistakeable scowl on his face—and then she noticed the uncanny coincidence that had resulted in that scowl.

"Did the two of you plan this?" Yubin, the church's hired help, pointed at the two of them and chuckled. The other old ladies helping out at the vegetable patch looked up and erupted in peals of delighted laughter.

Both Hyejin and Hyunwon immediately flushed a brilliant shade of pink, embarassed by all the attention that had suddenly been thrust upon them. Hyunwon walked up to Hyejin and dragged her up by her sleeve, pulling her to one side.

"Don't you have any other clothes to wear?" he hissed angrily.

Hyejin shook her head. "Nope. You only said to pack for two nights! I was going to wear this today and tomorrow."

"Then why don't you just wear what you wore yesterday!"

"I dirtied that outfit while I was washing the dishes last night," Hyejin said, slightly annoyed with Hyunwon's exaggerated response. "If it matters so much to you then why don't you go change then?"

"I don't wear the same set of clothes on two days. It's dirty," Hyunwon retorted, wrinkling up his nose in disgust. "Besides, this shirt is Armani. Why should I change out of it because of your pirated version."

Hyejin was mildly confused and it was clearly registered all over her face. Hyunwon took one look at that expression and was pretty much resigned to his fate. Waving his hand dismissively, he said, "You know what? Forget it. I'll just take it that today's a bad day and I stepped on dog shit."

Before Hyejin could open her mouth to say something in return, Yubin had shouted, "Leave the radishes to us, Hyejin! The two of you should stop by Granny Kim's shop and have some of her world famous fish stew! I had some myself this morning and today's seems especially tasty."