Chapter 27 - The House on the Hill

They started walking slowly.

"I hope to get lucky. I met him today, this old friend of mine, and he said he would stay home tonight because he was tired from our squash match. But if he is not home, then you will have been uselessly walking up the hill.

"Funny that he was the only one getting tired after a squash match... Were you just watching or what?" Ye Rim no longer had any expectations about the rest of the night. So she was just enjoying the moment, or rather trying not to think she was walking uphill on a sloped and solitary street at night. All of this wearing high heels, and taking no money, doc.u.ments, or phone with her. But right now, she found Dr. Kim and his friends' lifestyle interesting. A Friday afternoon squash match with a friend ... It seemed very unrealistic to her.

"I had an appointment for this evening." Was his response, probably meaning he spared himself or something.

"That's not what I asked, Dr. Kim. I asked if the game wasn't tiring for you."

"No. I think I'm probably in better shape than him; that's it."

"Uhn. Mr. Arrogant. Carry me, " she demanded, after mocking the doctor's sincerity.

"What do you mean, 'carry me'?!" Dr. Kim turned to her, amazed at the singer's impudence.

"Carry me. Let's go. You said you aren't tired. You have this 'super stamina' of yours. I'm a convalescent person in high heeled shoes, and do you want me to go uphill by foot?"

He laughed in astonishment.

"Convalescent?! It wasn't even conjunctivitis!"

"Let's go. It's not easy to do that on pumps that don't even pair up. Besides,…" she started to laugh before she finished the sentence, because just thinking of it was hilarious. "You're going to look like a drama actor to your grandfather, saying, 'I even carried her on my back!' "Ye Rim tried to mimic his voice, which made him barely contain a laugh.

"Okay, let's do this." He bent down in front of her, waiting for her to climb onto his back. "Like a drama."

"YAY!" Ye Rim didn't wait for him to change his mind, and climbed him up, holding the pair of shoes in one hand as she huddled to his back and crossed her hands to her chest. 'Uhn, Mr. Smelling Nice! Pigback me!' She thought on a huff of manly expensive cologne on his collar.

He started up again, now with the singer on his back.

"Did you do it often, Dr. Kim? How many girls you carried in your back?"

"Not many and not often. This is tacky."

"Well, well, a pity for you that I think more of my comfort than I worry about looking tacky."

"Just surprised. There's this girl I met not long ago who said she would walk a kilometer or more if she had to, with or without high heels. And after just 15 meters of actually doing it, she already wants to be piggybacked."

"It's a slope. And after your huge sacrifice carrying me on your back like a fishmonger carrying a big tuna around, you will surely be forgiven by me and your grandfather."

"You're weird, you know that, Ms. Tuna?"

"Don't let this weird person be a burden on your shoulders." She said, and they both started laughing at that.

"And don't be shaking down there!" She protested, causing more laughter.

"Stop talking nonsense, otherwise I'll end up dropping you over because you make me laugh." He made a pained sound, rubbing his belly.

"It's comfortable here. I'm glad Dr. Kim has a fitness life, it's a comfortable back."

"Uhn… I bet you have been piggybacked countless times as you compares like a pro."

"Whatever you say, Dr. Kim? I'm pretty."

"My goodness, what a shameless person!" He pretended to be shocked.

"At school, I would be piggybacked all the time if I wanted to. The boys lined up for that. Really."

"Wow, you're the most unashamed woman I've ever met."

"I thought a plastic surgeon knew a lot of women. And that he knew them well."

"Is there such a thing?" He asked, helping her down the front gate of Lee Dae Won's house. It was an elegant and well-kept residence, matching the other upscale homes in the neighborhood. Kim Jun Hyeon took a moment to catch his breath as Ye Rim put on her shoes and recomposed herself. Then he rang the bell. While they waited, the two looked at each other, and laughed together at the fun walk they just had.

...

The blond-haired man opened the door with a smile, receiving Jun Hyeon's unexpected visit. Ye Rim was behind the doctor, curious to get a glance on the beautiful house's owner, but she didn't expect to recognize who the person was. Lee Dae Won was a name that emerged about a few years ago as a songwriter, mostly for soundtracks, and she had seen him three or four times as a guest juror in one of the popular TV music competitions. She didn't know much else about him, only that she liked it when he dimpled a cute but somewhat shy smile that was caught by the camera. And he was exactly with that smile as he looked at her with reciprocal curiosity.

"Dae Won hyung, this is Miss Tuna, I say, Miss Nam. Can you lend her slippers? She's convalescent." It was the next thing Kim said after greeting his friend, and apologizing for suddenly showing up at his door. Ye Rim would have pushed the impromptu comedian Dr. Kim Jun Hyeon if she was a close friend of him. But she just stood there behind him, beaming her best smile to the musician.

"Miss Tuna? Or Miss Nam? I've got curious about your dual identity. Welcome." They greeted each other, and she was pleased to see that up close he was not as artificially young and suave as he appeared to be on TV. He must be close to his mid-thirties or so, like his friend Dr. Kim.

Lee Dae Won went to the shoe rack in the foyer, and politely taking her shoes from her hands, he exchanged for comfortable slippers that would fit her. He ostensibly gave a good look at the mismatched pair of shoes in his hand before putting them in the rack, and his smile widened.

As he did so, Ye Rim noticed that the back of his left hand, and the visible part advancing across his wrist and up his arm, seemed to have a different and discoloured pigmentation. She thought she saw residual scars. The musician turned to her, raising his eyebrows in question, apparently curious to know the story behind her shoes.

But Ye Rim decided not to explain now; just shrugged and exposed her hands in a sloppy and summarizing gesture meaning that this was just as it was.

Lee Dae Won turned to his newcomer friend then, and Kim wasted no time explaining the bizarre situation he and Ye Rim were currently in.

As Kim spoke, Ye Rim looked around the living room, where a grand piano dominated the modern, clean ambient.

Some music related prizes were exposed throughout the ambients in sight, as well as some works of art. It might not have been the richest place Ye Rim had ever seen in person, but it was one of the most aesthetically beautiful in its subtly cozy and millimeter-calculated simplicity. At least she imagined that this room was a professionally designed place; and that even the piano on display here was not the piano where Lee Dae Won composed in his day to day life.

"It's not the most exciting Friday night in the world, is it?" The owner asked over her shoulder, making Ye Rim startle. She hadn't noticed him coming, and looking around, she also realized that Dr. Kim was not in sight.