Left Uncovered
After stepping into the room I stood there for a long while, unable to do anything at all, before finally lifting my head to face the mirror.
It was a familiar face and a body I saw every day, yet somehow it felt awkward.
The atmosphere is gradually…
I had the sense it wasn't simply because of what I was wearing.
The events of the past few days rose unbidden, along with the image of myself surrendering to pleasure until my initial resolve looked almost laughable.
I scanned the figure in the mirror once more. Details I normally never noticed stood out with sharp clarity, and with them even the lines and balance of my body felt newly alien.
I never would have thought of putting on underwear like this…
Had it been a fatal mistake to believe I could handle it and take that café job…
From the moment I first learned a man's touch, a strange heat had been rising constantly from deep inside me.
Yet I could feel it instinctively.
"Alone… it's impossible."
Perhaps I had already crossed a line of no return long ago.
In the end I let out a short breath and turned my head away. If I kept staring any longer I felt I would end up acknowledging every emotion I was feeling right now.
My phone quietly lit up on the desk.
I picked it up casually to check, but the instant I saw the name on the screen my hand froze for a beat.
Choi Deok-hun. A single short message.
The words hinted that he would cling even tighter starting tomorrow. For a long time I could only stare at the screen, unable to reply.
If I say I'm not going…
The moment I tried to picture what would follow, the thought cut off of its own accord.
I already knew the conclusion. After a short sigh my fingers finally moved.
The next day. My eyes opened a little earlier than usual.
I lay staring at the ceiling for a while before the alarm even rang, then finally pushed myself upright with slow reluctance.
Today was a café shift. On paper it was the same schedule as always, yet somehow the meaning of it felt completely different.
It no longer felt like I was simply going to work; it felt like I was going to hand my body over to him again.
I paused with my hand on the closet door.
Wondering what to wear wasn't new, but today the criteria felt different. I was conscious of how I would look, not merely of comfort, and I knew it.
…There's no need for this.
I muttered the words inside my head, yet my eyes were already drifting slowly through the clothes.
In the end I pulled out something ordinary, pretending it was no different from any other day. I knew full well the process was anything but ordinary.
With a restless heart I left the house and headed for the café.
The moment I pushed the door open, the familiar scent of coffee rose with a wave of tension that climbed my spine.
I looked toward the counter.
Choi Deok-hun lifted his head first. Our eyes met.
It was only a brief instant, yet that gaze refused to let go easily.
He said nothing, but I could feel the lust flickering in his eyes.
"…You're here."
The same casual tone as always. Yet the meaning inside it no longer sounded light at all.
"Yes."
I answered shortly and looked away.
If I held his gaze any longer, everything that had happened between us would come flooding back.
I headed straight for the changing room.
Today, just like always, I would change clothes and work as if nothing had happened.
That was what I tried to tell myself. Inside the changing room, top already off, I stood still for a moment.
The look he had given me moments earlier refused to leave my mind.
Then the door opened behind me. I turned on reflex.
It was Choi Deok-hun.
He stood blocking the entrance. Before I could speak he opened his mouth first.
"Today… you're not covering up, are you?"
I faced him in nothing but my underwear. His expression held genuine surprise.
"What… it's not like you haven't seen it once or twice."
My heart was hammering wildly, yet I kept my tone as nonchalant as I could.
"Doesn't matter to me. More importantly, A-yeong…"
"…Yes."
"Today, you know… that…"
His finger drifted slowly toward my chest. For a second I didn't understand and followed the path of his finger across my own body.
"Don't wear that underwear. Of course… the bottom either."
"What… did you say?"
I barely managed to open my mouth, but his actions didn't change. Instead he stepped closer and held out a USB drive.
"Here. The second batch of files. Not much left now."
I stood frozen, unable to speak. The thought that I ought to refuse rose first, yet my eyes fixed on the USB in his hand.
This was clearly a demand that crossed the line. That was what I thought, and yet…
"…Just for today?"
I spoke as if tacitly accepting. I told myself it was all for those files and tried to move past it.
"That depends on how well you keep following my requests, doesn't it?"
With that he placed the USB on my palm and left the changing room.
The door closed behind him, leaving me alone in the small space.
The weight of his gaze and words from moments earlier still seemed to hang in the air; I stood motionless for a long time.
The USB in my hand felt heavier than it should. This was no ordinary object.
It was both the reason I had endured this far and the evidence that kept me shackled.
My eyes slowly dropped.
Still half-changed, my body frozen in an awkward pause. The places his gaze had lingered a moment ago rose vividly in my mind.
Just for today…
The words I myself had spoken earlier came back to me belatedly.
I had thought I was attaching a condition, yet I already knew how meaningless that condition was.
"…Hah…"
I exhaled shortly.
In the end my hands moved. The hesitation had not completely vanished, but I no longer stopped.
I simply moved quickly, as if refusing to think any further.
The moment I opened the changing-room door, the outside air touched my skin again. The sensation felt sharper than before.
I fussed with my clothes once more for no real reason, but nothing much changed.
…It won't show, right?
I asked myself the question and forced the most ordinary expression I could manage.
I walked to the counter and fastened the apron carefully so no one would notice.
While I was straightening my clothes I felt a gaze from somewhere. Looking around, I found Choi Deok-hun watching me.
I started to look away, then left it as it was. Dodging any harder would only make it more obvious.
"Finished changing?"
The same casual tone as always.
Yet the meaning inside it no longer sounded light at all.
"…Yes."
His eyes dropped for the briefest instant, then rose again.
That single movement felt far too clear. I turned my face away as if nothing were wrong.
I pretended to tidy the cups in my hands, deliberately shifting my attention elsewhere.
"Hmm…"
Choi Deok-hun stepped closer and, from an angle the customers could not see, closed his hand around my ass.
"…Ohh. Nothing in the way, is there."
A short murmur, as if confirming, laced with lazy satisfaction.
That reaction grated on me even more.
He closed the remaining distance. Suddenly we were far too close.
My body stiffened on reflex, yet outwardly I kept moving as though nothing had happened.
Knowing the customers could not see, his movements grew even more natural.
An unexpected contact registered. The tight grip on my ass.
My breath hitched. My body reacted first.
"…Ohh."
A low sound. His fingers twitched once, as if verifying. That brief second stretched strangely long.
"Nothing in the way at all."
He tossed the words out casually.
It sounded like a joke, yet the intent inside was unmistakable.
I pushed him back a little, putting space between us.
"Right now… there are customers…!"
I kept my voice low, but the tension I could not fully suppress still leaked through.
"Just a quick inspection to make sure."
He said it with a light laugh, as if it truly were nothing.
I could give no answer and simply looked away again.
Today the customers' eyes felt especially sharp. I tried to convince myself the atmosphere was no different from usual, yet it seemed people glanced a second longer, that their gazes lingered a little more.
Whether it was real or only my own hyper-awareness, I could no longer tell.
"My, young lady, aren't you cold?"
The sudden remark made my heart drop.
Outwardly I lifted my head as if nothing were wrong, yet I nearly flinched on reflex.
"Ah… I run a bit hot. And the weather's been warming up lately, so…"
I tried to sound natural, but the end of the sentence trailed off faintly.
"Still, girls ought to dress a little warmer."
The older woman's eyes swept me from head to toe in one quick pass.
That brief glance felt far too vivid.
I fussed with my apron again and looked away. I knew the motion looked unnatural, yet I could not stop it.
I tugged the fabric a little higher over my chest and lowered my head as if nothing were amiss.
"Yes… I'll be careful."
I answered shortly and returned to work, but my fingertips moved far more clumsily than usual.
Then a low voice called from inside the counter.
"A-yeong, come here a second."
It sounded like an ordinary work request, yet I already knew the meaning was anything but simple.
I hesitated for a beat, then stepped inside without a word.
A spot the customers' eyes could not reach.
Even that short distance made my breathing grow strangely quicker.
"Help me with this."
The words he offered were ordinary, yet his gaze was fixed somewhere else entirely.
I pretended not to notice and reached out, but concentration was impossible.
The simple fact of standing right beside him, the distance that was far too close, kept snagging my nerves.
Suddenly a hand closed over my breast. Through the fabric he roughly toyed with my nipple.
My body reacted first.
My legs nearly gave out; Choi Deok-hun caught me and held me up.
"Try to focus a little."
The quiet remark only scattered my focus further.
When I returned to the counter the gazes felt even more oppressive than before.
The customers' chatter, the clink of cups, the voices taking orders—none of it was different from any other day.
Yet I could not take any of it in fully. The slightest movement pulled my attention, and even standing still felt awkward.
His summons repeated several times.
Short, casual.
"This for a second."
"Come here."
Each time I stepped inside without a word.
Not because I could find no reason to refuse, but because I had drawn close to a state of simply not refusing.
My breathing grew steadily shorter.
That my body was reacting first had become harder and harder to deny.
…I should stop.
My mind kept saying the words, yet my actions never halted.
Then the little bell above the door chimed lightly.
Ding—
An ordinary sound, yet somehow the atmosphere seemed to shift in that instant.
I lifted my head on reflex.
Two people stood at the entrance.
Familiar faces. Se-yeong, and Hui-yeong.
My body locked solid.
The sensations of a moment earlier cooled all at once, replaced by a completely different kind of tension rising in their place.