The Giantess and the Elevator
Dohyun's heartbeat echoed so loudly that even riding the elevator felt like anything but ordinary. Every time the doors opened, the people inside would freeze with dumbfounded expressions at the sight of the two of them. There was Noah letting out a startled “Hic?!” from pure fear, and Dohyun awkwardly poking just his head out from between the collar of her clothes with an embarrassed smile while murmuring, “Sorry… please go ahead and take the next one.”
Given Noah’s current state, sharing the space with anyone else was simply impossible. For one thing, the combined volume of Noah and Dohyun left no room for anyone else. And besides…
“Noah.”
“What?”
“…Never mind.”
“…?”
He had almost asked about her weight on impulse but decided to drop it. Yeah, asking a girl her weight was definitely not the move. Anyway, it felt like the elevator would probably flash an overload warning if anyone else tried to get on. …In the middle of that thought, he accidentally pictured a walrus sitting on a scale next to Noah, but he quickly shook his head to banish the image. Still, she definitely wasn’t a walrus.
After skipping several elevators that had already arrived, the two of them finally managed to reach the first floor. The elevator stopped at other floors along the way, but the people waiting outside took one look at their condition and apparently lost all courage to board. They simply stood there with their mouths hanging open until the doors closed again. One delivery driver even dropped the package he was holding with a dull thud.
‘Sorry about that…’ Dohyun apologized silently in his heart for the unintentional trouble he’d caused the poor guy.
Next came the walk to the pharmacy.
“Do we really have to go?”
Between the entrance and the outside, between sunlight and shadow, Noah hesitated again and again. Her chest heaved violently against his own, and the rapid, powerful thump of her heartbeat—thud, thud, thud—shook Dohyun’s entire body.
“It’s okay, Noah,” Dohyun whispered as gently as he could, reaching a hand out from under the blanket to stroke her cheek. “You can do this. Let’s walk slowly. I’m right here with you.”
After a long moment of hesitation, Noah finally stepped out into the sunlight. One step. Then another.
“You’re doing great, Noah. You’re doing so, so well.”
Every time she took a step, Dohyun stroked her cheek and the curve of her chest, showering her with sweet, nonstop praise.
“Am I really doing okay? I’m just walking…”
“Even that is amazing. You’re doing incredibly well, Noah.”
“Hehe… hehehe…”
Under his touch and endless compliments, Noah’s expression melted into a sloppy, blissful smile and her steps grew lighter.
Then—
“Ow…”
Her head bumped into a low-hanging tree branch.
“Are you okay?”
“Yeah… it was just a light bump… ah…”
“What’s wrong, Noah?”
Her heart started pounding again—thud, thud—and her breathing grew ragged.
“Th-those people… they’re staring at me. I must look weird. I look weird, don’t I? I’m too dirty. I smell too bad…”
“No. That’s not it at all. People aren’t paying attention to any of that. They don’t care about other people like that.”
“But… but still…”
In reality, Noah’s bizarre behavior had drawn quite a few stares, but—
“Noah. Look at me. Just look into my eyes. That’s right. Only my eyes. Okay, deep breath now. In—out. In—out. There’s nothing scary. Nothing hurts. I’m right here. So let’s breathe together. In—out.”
Dohyun desperately pulled her focus back to himself, trying to block out everything else.
“S…hic… haa…”
Her rough breathing soon calmed down remarkably fast.
‘Maybe just not looking is the answer…’ Sometimes it really was better not to see the things you didn’t want to see. After organizing that thought, Dohyun spoke again.
“Noah.”
“Y-yeah…”
“If it’s too hard, do you want to walk with your eyes closed?”
“Isn’t that dangerous?”
“Lift me up a little more.”
“Okay…”
Noah raised the arm supporting him a bit higher.
“Yeah, this height lines up perfectly.”
Their eye levels matched. Their cheeks pressed close together, side by side. In this position, Dohyun ended up perched lightly atop the swell of her enormous breasts.
“This… feels really weird.”
“Who cares?”
“It’s like that character with two heads from that one game…”
Noah was referencing a two-headed character from some game. The fact that she still had the energy to joke around suggested her composure was returning somewhat.
“I’ll be your eyes from now on, so just close yours and move.”
“Won’t that be dangerous?”
“It’ll be fine. I saw it in a game once—those two-headed guys walked around just fine.”
Dohyun returned her joke with one of his own.
“Hehe…”
Noah let out a bright little laugh, then said, “Then I’ll close my eyes…” and took a step.
“A little more to the left. Yeah. Good job. You’re doing great.”
Dohyun kept their eye levels aligned and guided her.
“Stop here. There’s a curb. Lift your foot a little higher. There you go.”
He directed her steps.
“Tree branch ahead. Duck your head a bit.”
He guided her movements.
“Crosswalk. There’s a crosswalk. Step back a little. Yeah. Just like that.”
He became her eyes, directing her position every step of the way.
…
Their pace was so slow that they got caught in the middle of a crossing when the light changed. A car blared its horn angrily—beep! beep!
“Hic?! Hic?! What do I do?! What do I do!!”
When Noah’s body began to shake violently, Dohyun swung his arm and roared at the top of his lungs.
“You fucking asshole! Can’t you see someone’s crossing?! Hey, you piece of shit! Don’t you know pedestrians have the right of way?! Who the hell honks at someone in the middle of the crosswalk?!”
He knew he was acting like a total asshole, but what else could he do?
“It’s okay. You didn’t do anything wrong, Noah. Pedestrians always have the right of way.”
Given her current condition, it was like watching an eighty-year-old grandma crossing the street with a walker—except in this case, the walker was Dohyun.
“That guy was the one in the wrong. You didn’t do anything wrong at all.”
Rationalizing to himself, Dohyun continued stroking her cheek and brushing her hair back while whispering soothingly.
“Half a step. No, half a step by your standards. Yeah, now curve around this pole like this…”
They had to keep moving somehow.
“Stop. Let’s pause here and breathe with me. In—out. In—out.”
Using the rhythm of her heartbeat and breathing as a gauge, he stopped her whenever a panic attack seemed imminent, letting her catch her breath in between.
…
At first, the massive difference in their sizes made it hard to read her heartbeat and breathing, but he was gradually getting the hang of it.
“There… we made it. You did so well, Noah. Lower your head. A little more. Whoosh.”
What should have been a five-minute walk had taken them over twenty minutes. And that was despite Noah’s much longer stride.
Without a word, Dohyun wiped the sweat from Noah’s face with a towel. He wiped his own while he was at it. Her sweat carried the sharp, slightly pungent scent typical of Caucasians, mixed with a cheesy, buttery fermented aroma and a deep, sweet musk. If he had to describe it, he’d say it was one of those love-it-or-hate-it smells—but for him, it fell firmly in the “love it” category.
“Um… excuse me.”
It was already late afternoon, and thankfully the pharmacy wasn’t crowded.
“I’m really sorry, but… we’re not exactly in a position to come inside…”
The narrow pharmacy inside the hospital shopping area was cluttered with chairs and all kinds of medical supplies. If they tried to step in, it would cause an absolute disaster.
“I see…”
Fortunately, the pharmacist seemed to understand their situation and awkwardly stepped out from behind the counter.
“Here…”
Dohyun handed over the prescription from between the folds of the blanket. Still pressed cheek-to-cheek with Noah, cradled like a doll in her arms while she hunched over to avoid hitting her head on the ceiling.
“Please wait just a moment.”
As the pharmacist returned to the dispensing room, Dohyun praised her softly.
“You worked really hard, Noah…”
He fanned himself with one hand. His whole body was drenched in sweat. The weather was rather chilly, but being wrapped up tight in a blanket like this… ‘Looks like that Namu Wiki article was right…’ He remembered reading something while killing time before: ‘Giants have higher body temperatures.’ It seemed to be true. Noah’s body heat was much higher than average. And because she was so tense with anxiety and fear, it was even higher than usual.
“Dohyun, are you hot?”
“Huh? No. Uh… maybe a little?”
He tried to act like it was nothing in response to her worried question.
“Mmm… mmm…”
Noah rubbed her cheek against his a few times, gauging his temperature, then nodded to herself.
“You’re really hot.”
She had come to her own conclusion. Then she slightly lowered the mask covering her face and blew gently on him.
“Wait, hey, people are watching…”
“It’s fine.”
Noah smiled brightly as she answered.
“Right now, I can only feel you, Dohyun.”
She pointed at her tightly shut eyes with a little poke.
“Still…”
“Come closer.”
She must have picked up the line from somewhere. Noah kept blowing cool air on him with a steady whoosh, whoosh.
…
There was nothing unpleasant about her breath. Well, some people might find it strange, but to Dohyun it smelled warm, sweet, and pleasantly fermented—like a comforting scent of gentle fermentation.
Whoosh. Whoosh.
Her lungs must have been huge, because the powerful gusts quickly evaporated the sweat soaking his face and chest, leaving him feeling refreshingly cool. The only problem was—
‘She’s way too close…’
Maybe it was because her eyes were closed and she couldn’t judge distance, or maybe she was doing it on purpose. Either way, her puckered lips were positioned right in front of his eyes, close enough that it looked like they might kiss at any moment.
“Huh?”
Suddenly Noah tilted her head.
Then—
“Hehe… hehehe…”
She pressed her cheek against his chest.
“I can hear Dohyun’s heartbeat.”
Her tightly scrunched face relaxed into a soft, languid expression.
“So you’re the same as me, Dohyun.”
Thud. Thud. Thud. She compared it to her own heartbeat.
“You’re just like me.”
Noah nuzzled her cheek against him, acting cute like a giant beast that had been tamed by humans.