Chapter 158 - Bubbles and Candles

Jun Hyeon arrived and found Ye Rim in the lobby of his building, staring off into space, without a coat. He picked up his pace, and stopped in front of her,

"Hey, what happened?"

She raised her red eyes to him, and there was no doubt that she had cried.

"Hey, hey, have you been crying?" he took his hand to help her up from the couch.

"You said that we are friends and that in difficult times they support each other," she whimpered, clutching her purse. He stroked the top of his nose, worried about what he saw. She was the type to deny her sadness, but now she wasn't doing it.

"Okay, let's go up. You tell me what happened and we order food. You didn't have dinner, did you?" he remembered that she had hung up on him a few hours ago.  She hadn't had time to dinner with her friends and come to his building unexpectedly.

"What happened to your coat?" he asked when they got into the elevator, but she didn't reply. She looked up from her shoes to the mirror, but he quickly turned her towards the door.

"Am I really that bad?" she asked, and he ostensibly smoothed the frizz in Ye Rim's hair,

"No. Now everything is fine."

She smiled, "You are a bad comedian."

"Yes, I know. I don't have the right face and my mood is very childish," he conceded. When they entered his apartment, Ye Rim looked around the room as if scrutinizing every corner. Perhaps she still remembered the dream about the thief, he thought.

"I'm sorry for doing that. Come running to disturb ..." she started some sort of apologies, but he dismissed her efforts,

"Shhh. Forget it. We will leave the problems out there tonight, promise? "

Ye Rim nodded.

When Jun Hyeon asked her to come, well he had plans. He thought he might tell Ye Rim what he felt before he started teaching dance to her again. 

He also wanted to tell about the runway show's night's adventures. But now that she looked shaken by something, it again felt like a bad time. Why would he talk about demons, or even once again regret his sad stories about his sister? To be honest with himself, in the last few days, precisely since the day he had kissed her, he felt refreshed and energized. Kissing her again would be great! 

Jun Hyeon found himself saying,

"You better get undressed ..."

"Uhn?"

"Your clothes. It's damp. Take a hot shower, put on a robe while your clothes dry," he corrected himself, with a grimace.

"HMMMM!" Ye Ri reacted with a disapproving look.

"I swear it wasn't a joke. Relax in the bath."

"Won't you want to know what happened?" her expression was priceless. Didn't she really know that he was trying to control himself and keep civility?

"To be honest, no. You were going to have dinner with your friends, but then you came running over here. I wasn't even invited to dinner. I'm just a hanger-friend, someone you look for when your real bestie isn't available," Jun Hyeon took her by the hand and led her to the bathroom in his master suite, handing out towels and a robe. The doctor was sure it would be a long night if he let her really make him a genderless friend. He could respect the moment, but he couldn't let that joke get out of hand again. He couldn't become the confidant of all moments.

His response shocked Ye Rim, but after a moment, looking at the bathroom, she asked,

"Can I really use your bathtub?"

"Uhum," he turned to fetch the bath salts from a drawer. It always worked. The architect said that he would have a bathroom that would drive women crazy, and until then, his bathtub had really been a "pantie-dropper". He almost felt ashamed to use his technique so automatically, even when it wasn't his intention.

"Do you really feel totally safe with me? Like I'm a genderless friend?" Jun Hyeon asked casually as he turned on the water and prepared the bathtub. Ye Ri looked at him sideways,

"You? No gender? Why would I think something like this? You even kissed me!"

"OH! How can you talk like that? Was it a 'kiss robbery'?" it was good to make sure she wasn't thinking anything bad about that kiss.

"No, it wasn't a robbery. It was good. It was ... unexpected. It was a magical moment, the dawn and everything ... Ahem, we need not be ashamed of that, do we? We are a.d.u.l.ts. We kissed. It was good," she replied looking again at everything around her.

Internally satisfied, because he was sure she was minimizing, Jun Hyeon kept up the pressure,

"Aishh. What a mild reaction. You probably had kissed a lot of men to just classify my kiss as 'it was good!'"

"Ah, not that many. And I'm not ranking kissers either."

"Liar."

"I know you are trying to tease me. What you want? Another kiss for comparison? Is that what your conversation is leading me to?"

"No. My kisser ranking is already very high and your evaluation wouldn't change anything. We're a.d.u.l.ts, like you said, so I don't mind saying it. I'd repeat it anytime you wanted it again," he turned to face her, knowing what to expect. She got red to the ears. That was a great sign.

"I'm going to get some candles, get in the water in the meantime," he proposed casually, drying his hands.

Ye Rim looked around, bewildered,

"Are you trying to seduce me?"

"Of course not. First, I certainly never try to seduce. This is natural," he boasted himself with a wink. This game was fun, and at least he didn't think about anything outside while he was with her. "And, we have an open game, don't we?"

"Do we?"

"Of course yes. Since we can act with sincerity and without games," this whole phrase was a brutal lie, but he spoke with the most sincere expression in the world," if there was something between us, two a.d.u.l.ts who trust each other, that would leave us uncomfortable, we would say, wouldn't we?"

"Uhum," she agreed.

"In short, as much as I want you, and you know it, just as you want me, and I know it ... We would still know when to stop, wouldn't we?"

Ye Rim blinked, and he wanted to hug her and tell her not to listen to a guy like him.

"When to stop ... what?"

Jun Hyeon did not answer, and let her imagination answer the question itself. Later, he returned with some candles, which of course, he had at home for special occasions. Since her delay was deliberate, she was in the bathtub, under a cloud of foam. He spread out the lit scented candles and dimmed the lights, sitting on the edge of the bathtub,

"You said you don't see me as a genderless guy  or a guy who you feel totally safe around. And yet you are n.a.k.e.d in front of me."

Ye Rim thought for a while, and then gave him a knowing look, 

"We are always n.a.k.e.d in front of each other, under clothes. Only now I'm under foam."

"So, are you trying to seduce me?"

She raised an eyebrow in a funny grimace,

"If you don't try  hard seducing women and are just yourself, why do you think I'd be trying hard?"

He threw his head back in a loud laugh, "Ye Rim Ye Rim, as always, her 'Queen Syndrome' makes her very arrogant. It's not because you are naturally beautiful and desirable that you should not try a little to seduce a man. You are very good at refusing them, but are you good at attracting them?"

"Hmm, now you are being arrogant, Dr. Kim! You are very used to women chasing you ..."

"Indeed! But I have a seductive gene, after all I am the grandson of Go Ha Kyun!"

She laughed, probably remembering what he told her about his grandpa, and threw some foam at him. So Jun Hyeon was able to deliver his masterstroke,

"I challenge you. Three rounds of seduction!"

"What?" she laughed again, incredulous.

"A little game for a.d.u.l.ts. I will rate your attempts at seduction, and you at mine."

"And what is the prize?"

"The final prize for seduction?"

"You are too brazen!" she found out for herself what his naughty smile meant, and poured more water on him. Jun Hyeon pretended to defend himself, and teased,

"Didn't we agree that we are a.d.u.l.ts enough to know when to stop?! Where is the seductive and ravishing Queen?"

"Uhn… I don't want 'it' to be the prize. This is ridiculous."

"Ok ... Suggest a prize yourself," Jun Hyeon could barely contain his smile.

She was thoughtful, and her face showed what was going through her head: serious ideas that she refused, then bold ideas that tempted her, but common sense judged and suppressed. The indecision between speaking and being judged by him. 

"Speak your mind. I can refuse if I don't like the idea. But show me your unleashed and unrestrained imagination, don't let me down," he encouraged, since he was curious. Thing were heating between them and Jun Hyeon was sure that his favorite woman's diabolical mind was planning to play a trick on him. 'Great, since it means she's going to play for real,' he celebrated internally, full of bad intentions.