Chapter 22 - Girl Meets Boy

Ye Rim made it safely to Dr. Kim's car parked across the street. He was waiting outside the vehicle, and the couple awkwardly greeted each other.

"Hello."

"Hello."

"Ready?"

"Ready."

The doctor opened the passenger door for her before taking his seat in the driver's seat. Ye Rim used the cell phone light to check if she was fastening her seat belt the right way, as she didn't want to go through another vexing moment inside Dr. Kim's car. He noticed this, and to help her, he turned on the car's interior lights as he started the engine.

He noticed in the rearview mirror that his company for the night wasn't wearing any makeup and that her left eye was red and a bit swollen.

"Sorry I'm late". She finally spoke, as they drove by the first corner. "A lot of crazy stuff happened."

"That's alright. We still have time for dinner before the show if we don't take too long to pick dishes. "Dr. Kim sounded calm. "I sent message to the maitre about we being late."

"Are we really going to make it in time?" Ye Rim was surprised. She was prepared for some acid ranting considering their previous encounters, but he looked like he wasn't really going to talk about it. But her mind still suspected Dr. Kim. "This is very good. I'm relieved." she said.

They entered into a full minute of silence inside the car, after it.

"Do blackouts happen often in your neighborhood?" he broke the silence and asked casually as soon as they entered a zone with street lights on.

"Uh… Not lately. But don't even remind me of it, please." She was still with a sore eye, and feeling exposed and ugly without makeup. Her outfit was wrinkled and she felt disheveled and a total mess. Ye Rim would have preferred a thousand times not to go out like this, but she wasn't going to be the one who give up first. Dr. Kim, on other hand, looked immaculate, she eyed him again as he drove: tasteful casual clothing and accessories from head to shoes, a manly, discreet cologne scent, topping with his expression of one in control. 'Ah, he's so annoying!'

About two more minutes passed in silence until Kim asked:

"Any problem?"

"No…" she said looking out the window, trying to understand the change in Kim Jun Hyeon.

"I'm sure something happened." he insisted.

'Aigoo, how annoying…' she thought. 'If he really needs me to say it, I going to say it.'

"I just thought it was funny… You, opening the car for me, Dr. Kim. It's a little..."

He tried to guess, sounding intrigued in a good way." Old-fashioned?"

"Uhn... It just doesn't seem to match Dr. Kim. " Ye Rim tried to taunt him.

"I'm just trying to do the full job," he said in a confessional tone and a bad boy sneer. "I'm sure my grandfather has a checklist of every step he thinks I should make to score a perfect night out with his sweet protegée. So I believe I must try to tick at least 80% of the list to make sure I pleased both him and you, during my atonement duties."

What he was saying was weird but was plausibly logic too, and was funny, but Ye Rim didn't want to lower her guard to him, and just smiled slightly. A new silence fell between them. Ye Rim felt her bruised eye tear involuntarily, and quickly wiped her cheek with the side of her hand.She also felt that the eye itching was affecting her nose, that felt humid and swollen.

Suddenly the singer noticed that he was pulling over the car so she turned, sniffling, to ask why. He was already turning off the keys and taking off his seat belt. "What's it? Why did we stop?"

Dr. Kim turned on the interior light and grasped her shoulder firmly. "Stay still."

"Uhn?!" Ye Rim was startled. 'What's this crazy man trying to do? If he tries to lay his hands on me as a cheap macho seducer, I'll kill him', she nervously grabbed her metal clutch with both hands, but prepared her resolve to fight back. While this sort of things were crossing her mind, Jun Hyeon leaned over and reached for the glove compartment, fishing for a small flashlight, which in a swift motion, he turned on and flashed at her injured eye. As natural consequence, her pupil dilated and she was blinded for a moment.

"Quiet, quiet." His soothing tone had an effect on her, which at last understood that his medical instincts must've been ringing ever since he started the car.

"Just stay still a little bit more. If you keep tilting I won't be able to see what is going on." He mumbled while checking her ocular globe.

"Ah, I… I almost pierced my eye while trying to apply a mascara. That was one of the reasons I was late." While he was busy doing it, Ye Rim justified herself, and immediately regretted doing it, feeling silly for talking about being late, and for looking like she was trying hard to look pretty for this date. It wasn't really a date after all. What name could she give it, then?

He shook his head and clicked his tongue in disbelief, holding her chin between two fingers and turning her face to and fro as he tried to examine Ye Rim's eye within the limited environment and precarious conditions available. "Uhn, it really sounds like a mechanical injury irritation. I guess it's not going to be an issue, but it needs more cleaning and a soothing agent. Let's go to a drugstore. If by tomorrow it's not better, then you should go to an expert."

Ye Rim was confused by her own feelings . 'When you expect almost nothing from someone and he… Seems to care… Wait! What is it, Ye Rim? He was just being a pro and following his medical oath. The tender way, the touch of his fingers on her chin… it was just a medical evaluation.'

"That's it?"

"It's done. You're free at last" He let her go and leaned back, turning off the flashlight.

"We don't have to go to the drugstore, Dr. Kim. It's going to heal by itself right away."

"It will cure faster with an eye drop. If that's going to make you not to argue back about what this doctor is saying, just think we should be trying to make a good impression on each other."

That was what he said while turning back to his place in the driver's seat and starting the car again, as if that were nothing. But .. Ye Rim thought to have spotted him eyegoggling her legs, as he pulled the gears. He even seemed to narrow his eyes and then stiffly turn forward as if remembering that he should at least pretend he wasn't ogling.

'Seriously?! It isn't even the first time! What a perverted guy! He doesn't miss a single chance! When you think a person really is different from the bad impression he gave you beforehand, he does nasty things…'

"Hmpf!" She crossed her arms ostensibly, turning her face to the other side in comptent, showing that she knew what he did. Kim quickly checked on her, and came to the conclusion that she had possibly misunderstood what had caught his attention down there.

"You think poorly of me again…" he chided softly.

"Uhn?" Ye Rim looked in the same direction, to check what he had seen, after all she wasn't even wearing a particularly short outfit. But then she realized what he had seen. Her mismatched pumps. One of then was silver and the other was the one she had chosen to go with the clothes she was wearing on, royal blue.

"My shoes!" She instinctively put her feet back, trying to hide them behind the seat. I'm going to die…'

Coincidentally _or not_ the driver turned off the interior light as soon as she realized her mistake.

"I was wondering if it was a new trend… But they are both beautiful; I think I would also have a hard time choosing, if I were you." He commented, although he was paying attention to the traffic right now.

"Aigoo, how did that happen…? My shoes... Dr. Kim, I can't go out with you. I put my shoes in the dark, and… I'm so sorry."

Kim from his bank just set up the GPS's search for a drugstore, and diverted the route to the nearest one. He recalled casually, ignoring the distressed tone of Ye Rim's words:

"I once did that. I mismatched my shoes before an important event. I was a kid and I was very embarrassed because of it. Believe me, I was. But as I said, I was a very silly boy, not the woman who came out my car in a shirt-turned-skirt, ready to walk a mile on it. In addition, we can go in with the theather's lights off and leave quickly after the show. What do you think?" He presented an alternative, apparently unaware that she expected him to take her home as the only obvious alternative.

"I don't know…"

"I know you are between the devil and the deep blue sea here, but let me say something: Mr. Go, my grandfather, is a lovely old man, right? But here I am, paying my dues. Don't wish to be the one in my place. Don't think that is going to be any exceptions for you just because you are his dearie. I was his dearie once, too." The man started in a serious tone as he maneuvered to park at the drugstore, but soon it became clear he was mocking on her.

That comment was really funny and Ye Rim laughed. "Omo, don't talk like that. Mr. Go is lovely."

"Yes, he is. And everyone has two faces."

"Uhn… " She made a pout to show she was considering his remarks, specially the last part. 'I know. Look at you. Why can't you behave like this more often than the other way?' She thought, peering at the handsome doctor as he drove.