The Cutting Edge

027

"You must have been out of your mind, Song Hyejin," she said to feather duster she was holding in her hand.

Every now and then the memory of her ambushing Hyunwon with that kiss on the cheek would float back into her mind, and it would make her cringe. Thinking about the stunned look on his face the second after was both comical and embarrassing for her at the same time, although she didn't stick around long enough to figure out whether or not that initial shock would evolve into a complete Hyunwon meltdown. In any case, they kept out of each other's way for the rest of that day, and the day after, and perhaps that would need to continue until they managed to get over that awkwardness between them.

"But there's nothing wrong with kissing on the cheek, right?" she asked the porcelain pug she was dusting on the shelf. "People give each other kisses on the cheek all the time! My grandmother used to do to me when I was a kid, and so did my aunts from time to time. At the airport you see people exchanging kisses with friends and loved ones at the departure hall too. It doesn't mean anything! It's just a friendly gesture, right?"

The pug didn't seem to want to give her an answer.

Sighing, Hyejin flopped down onto the leather sofa and buried her face against one of the expensive-looking cushions lying on it. When she had somewhat come back to her senses, she looked up and surveyed her surroundings. "This place looks much too sterile to be someone's home," she remarked. Other than a few old photographs in photo frames and that lonely porcelain pug figurine sitting on the shelf, there was little else to distinguish this particular apartment from a showflat. Even the expensive furniture looked like they were display sets shipped directly out of a high-end furniture store, with no signs of the wear-and-tear that you would expect to see in the furniture of a lived-in house.

Ares was out having an interview at some radio station, so he had just given her the entry code to his house so that she could let herself in. He lived alone in a small (but undoubtedly luxurious) apartment in the Gangnam area, and given that he only used the place to sleep in for a couple of hours every day, there was hardly any mess to clean up at all. In one hour she had already dusted every possible corner in the house and mopped the floor once over.

Leaving the feather duster on the sofa, she picked herself up and walked over to the kitchen. She flung open the refrigerator door, wondering if she could make herself more useful by helping him stock up on anything that he was running low on—to her horror, the fridge was completely empty save for some bottles of mineral water and beer.

"This isn't anyone's home, it's a freaking hotel," she mumbled to herself in disapproval.

Shutting the fridge door, she moved on to examine the various kitchen cabinets to see if the situation was as bad as the fridge. Sure enough, almost all the cabinets were empty except for some loose pots and pans (that looked brand new) lying around. She shook her head and went out to dig around for a memo pad so that she could scribble down a shopping list—this house was in desperate need of a rescue.

When she was done listing down all the things she needed to get for the kitchen, she moved on to search other parts of the house for items to add to her list.

"Should probably get more shampoo and conditioner," she murmured as she picked up the shampoo bottle in the master bathroom and realised it was feeling rather light. Scribbling the brand and type of shampoo down onto her list, she backed out into the bedroom and looked around. She absentmindedly opened and closed cupboards and drawers, curiously snooping around Ares's impeccably coordinated room. He had a drawer for socks, a drawer for ties, a drawer for knickers (she slammed that one shut rather hastily) and even a drawer for branded watches, which she found the most impressive of them all. Inside his wardrobe hung the most extensive collection of suits, shirts and casual wear she had ever seen ("That has got to be enough to open a shop."), and her jaw dropped in amazement when she realised that the wardrobe rack could be rotated like an automated conveyor belt when you pressed a button on the side.