Reunion (3)
The most important thing in conversation is the topic. Even with my pathetic English skills, if the topic was right, I could chatter away with my Dominican mercenary buddies for an hour or two without a problem.
“Ah, hello. Seo Haeun. Running into you again today. Three days in a row now?”
“Haa…”
“Whether you like me or not doesn’t matter, but sighing right in front of someone like that is a bit much, don’t you think?”
“Then I’ll just say it outright. You’re annoying. Seriously.”
Even when dealing with someone who openly dislikes you, as long as there’s a pretext and a shared topic, keeping the conversation going isn’t difficult. It’s not like I’m so shameless that I’d force my way through an awkward situation. Honestly, I couldn’t care less how she looks at me right now. While first impressions matter most when trying to win someone over, the difficult route has its own unique flavor. I happen to enjoy getting cheers from people who hate me.
“Instead of just finding me annoying, when exactly are you planning to give me that autograph you promised?”
“She’s busy. She’s not the type who can just make time whenever.”
“Ah, right. That makes sense. She does seem pretty swamped these days.”
In that sense, not getting the autograph today was actually a win. I had no intention of disappearing just because I got one useless signature, but it made it easier to keep a straight face. If she outright ignored me, there wouldn’t be much I could do, but unfortunately for her, Seo Haeun wasn’t the type to handle things that way. She was the kind who didn’t know how to back down when someone picked a fight.
“I have nothing to say to you today, so get lost. Please. And didn’t I tell you not to talk to me?”
“Isn’t that just an excuse to brush me off like I don’t exist?”
“God, you’re so loud.”
She grumbled under her breath like I was pathetic, but the more I looked into her eyes, the more that fighting spirit of hers hit me right in the chest. Even that kind of disgust or contempt was better than indifference. The fact that she answered at all meant she was willing to engage, as long as I didn’t cross the line. This woman only knew how to spit in someone’s smiling face—she had no idea that the simplest solution was to just not look at them in the first place. There’s no one easier to get close to than someone who answers every single time you speak to them, whether they like it or not.
“Don’t get mad. Then could you at least tell me when I might be able to get it?”
“…I’ll give it to you when the time comes, so please stop talking to me first and just stop paying attention to me. It’s irritating.”
“And when exactly is ‘when the time comes’? What if I suddenly stop coming to the gym? I don’t even have your contact info.”
“Even if you say that, I’m not giving you my number, so wake up from that dream.”
“I’m not trying to get your number either, you know? Ah, if it’s such a hassle, let’s do this instead. Hold out your hand.”
“What?”
“Give me your hand. Quickly.”
“…Why?”
“Just take it.”
Look at that—she stuck her hand out so easily. Of course, if I actually tried to hold her hand here, she’d probably freak out and start screaming, but she wouldn’t react that strongly to something as simple as me pulling a business card out of my pocket.
“I made this back when I was still a player, so I don’t really use it anymore, but you can see my phone number written here. If you’re going to give me the autograph, just call me. I won’t talk to you otherwise.”
“…I don’t need it. You can just tell me here.”
“Yeah, yeah. Got it. Just in case, take the card anyway. I might not be able to come out, you know? My body’s like that.”
“…”
The way to keep someone who’s waiting for you to cross the line so they can push you away is not to stay far away because it’s dangerous, but to walk the tightrope right on the line. The fact that she’s ready to shove me off the moment I step over means she’s paying attention to me as long as I hover near the edge. The more we focus on each other, the closer our bodies get. And when bodies get close, hearts follow—100% of the time. If you don’t want your heart to get close, you have to keep your body far away from the start. But even though this woman hated me, she wasn’t physically pushing me away out of some pointless competitive spirit. She probably believed there was no way anything could happen with a guy like me. But who knows. The way she’s glaring at me so fiercely, it feels like something’s definitely going to happen.
There’s a subtle difference between a liar and a con artist. A liar is someone who lies often, while a con artist is someone who lies well. Surprisingly, con artists don’t lie that frequently. They keep their promises, too. Until they’re about to scam you.
“…”
March 7th. Seven days since reuniting with Seo Haeun. Unfortunately, no call came, but she showed up at the gym without fail. I kept my promise too and didn’t say a single word to her. Just running into each other at the same time every day was enough to put pressure on her. Communication doesn’t only happen through words. Personally, I think the communication that happens through eye contact reveals a lot more. When I looked at her with increasingly harsh eyes day by day, she’d try to let out a fair amount of fear before swallowing it down and running on the treadmill with a straight face.
“Huu…”
Words might not work, but our bodies were close. If we recognized each other at the same time every day, at the very least she wouldn’t forget. Besides, it was her who brought up the promise first, not me. No matter how sharply I glared at her, she had no excuse to reject that gaze.
“Ah, my shoulder. Shit…”
Waiting for the moment she looked at me under the weight of that stare, I rolled up my T-shirt sleeve and rubbed my left shoulder. The surgical scar was vivid, the shoulder ragged and worn. Every time I saw it, I couldn’t help but wonder how it had gotten this bad in just a year.
“Hiss, haa…”
After letting out a few short breaths while acting like I was in pain, I made a show of gathering my things like I couldn’t take it anymore. Even from the corner of my eye, I couldn’t tell if she was still watching me since I wasn’t looking her way. But I was certain she was. Whether Seo Haeun was a person or a demon, there was no way she could just ignore it.
“This isn’t gonna work, fuck. Huu…”
After muttering a quiet curse, I clutched my shoulder and left the gym. I calculated in my head how many days I should wait for the timing to be right. If I stayed away too long, our bodies would drift apart—bad. If I came back too soon, there wouldn’t be much to gain. Five days seemed about right. Maybe a bit much. Well… unless the dog had quit shitting altogether, it definitely wouldn’t be short.
March 10th. I figured three days was long enough. During that time, I’d asked around with some players I knew just in case, but unfortunately, I couldn’t get any useful information about Seo Haeun. If she worked at the team that long, shouldn’t there be something? Other than the rumor that everyone started sucking up to her after word got out that she was the general manager’s daughter, there was nothing. I even searched her name, but it seemed like she wasn’t on social media either. It would’ve been nice if her phone had at least buzzed, but oh well. For now, I stepped into the gym. When I looked inside, she was walking in the same spot as usual, like it was the most natural thing in the world. Her outfit was almost the same, except she’d put on an outer layer over her tank top.
“…Ah.”
She was shaking her head while dripping with sweat when she spotted me and let out a small gasp. …The timing didn’t seem too bad. If she’d witnessed something on the spot, it would’ve been annoying since we weren’t exactly close enough to handle it smoothly.
“Hello.”
“…Ah, yes.”
Even though I greeted her confidently, she only responded half-heartedly, clearly showing that her attitude had changed. The reason was obvious. The way she kept glancing around at all the male hormones filling the place while answering me in a friendly manner said it all.
“Did something happen? Why are you looking around like that?”
“Ah, well…”
“Did a trainer try to sell you on PT sessions?”
“…How did you know?”
Of course, the moment someone with a body and outfit like hers wandered around the gym, guys like me would start hovering. Especially PT trainers who could legally hit on her—100%. Even if it was just someone mildly interested, considering her chest, they would’ve kept sweet-talking her with all kinds of flattery the second I disappeared. They just couldn’t come while I was still around bothering her.
“It’s always like that. Still, I haven’t heard anything about them digging through member addresses and contact info yet.”
“…”
I piled even more anxiety onto her already irritated state. It wouldn’t raise her favorability toward me, but it could lower her relative dislike. It was for a similar reason that I didn’t hate this woman that much either. If anything, the manager and general manager were worse. At the very least, Seo Haeun was something nice to look at. If I’d run into the general manager by chance instead, I would’ve switched gyms out of sheer disgust. It’s not like that guy was someone I could mess with anyway.
“That guy can’t teach properly, so don’t take lessons from him. Just saying.”
“…I wasn’t planning on taking any even without your advice.”
“You’d be better off asking other people. You can tell just by looking at their bodies who actually knows what they’re doing.”
“I’m not planning to take exercise seriously, so don’t worry about it.”
“If I don’t take it seriously, my body starts hurting.”
Unlike that, this seemingly incompetent woman was far too easy a prey to mess with. I set down my outerwear and naturally stretched while showing her the scar on my shoulder. This was enough. There was no need to explain why I’d taken three days off first—she wouldn’t ask anyway. Lying unnecessarily could cause problems later. If I just let her misunderstand on her own, she’d feel guilty all by herself. It meant she couldn’t push me away as aggressively as before. Even if she did try to push me away, it would only make the other guys who were even worse than me hover more.
“Well, that’s that. …I thought you’d contact me, but you didn’t.”
“What?”
“I was wondering if you weren’t going to keep your promise.”
“…Ah. I did get it, but I was going to give it to you when you came. I forgot.”
“That’s too much. I was looking forward to getting the autograph while I was resting.”
“Ah, sorry…? …No, I’m not sorry. Do you want it now?”
“I didn’t bring my bag today. I was just planning to loosen up a bit. Could you give it to me on your way home?”
Taking advantage of the moment, I shrugged with empty hands while she rummaged through her bag, lightly appealing to her. Bringing up that unsettling topic earlier had been a kind of setup too. It was the kind of line that normally wouldn’t work at all, but now that things had gone from worst to second-worst, it might actually sound reasonable. It would’ve been more effective if we’d exercised at night… but that was something that could be solved by having dinner together sometime.