Outing
The moment she stepped into the first store, Jung Na-yeon's eyes began sweeping the displays.
She scanned them thoroughly.
Pulling a linen shirt from the rack, she held it against Hyun-soo's shoulders and gave a satisfied nod.
“Try this on. Size 100 should fit.”
Next she grabbed a pair of khaki pants and measured them against his waist, then selected two plain white T-shirts as basics. When a clerk approached, Na-yeon spoke with easy naturalness.
“Just looking at some clothes for my little brother.”
As soon as the clerk turned away, she shot Hyun-soo a wink. Calling him her little brother was a little ridiculous, but it was the safest cover they had.
She settled onto the sofa, crossed her legs, and idly scrolled through her phone. Every time the rustle of fabric came from behind the curtain, her gaze lifted.
“Come out when you’re finished.”
“Okay.”
“I need to see it myself, so don’t just decide by looking in the mirror alone.”
“Don’t worry.”
At the sound of Hyun-soo’s reply from inside, Na-yeon nodded and returned her attention to the phone. Yet the look in her eyes as she waited for him to pull the curtain open was unmistakably full of anticipation. She wound the strap of the handbag resting on her knees around her fingers, a small smile playing at the corners of her mouth.
“Does it look good?”
The instant the curtain parted, her fingers stilled on the strap.
“Ah…”
A soft gasp escaped her before she could stop it.
The way the linen shirt fell along Hyun-soo’s shoulder line was far better than she had expected. The khaki pants sat perfectly at his waist, the hem breaking cleanly just above the ankle. Na-yeon rose from the sofa and slowly circled him once, taking him in from head to toe. Her gaze lingered for a moment on the line of his hips before traveling upward again.
“Turn around. One more time.”
She spun a finger in the air, fully in stylist mode.
“How is it?”
When Hyun-soo turned for her again, she nodded.
“It suits you.”
Then she reached out, took hold of the shirt collar, and straightened it neatly. The brush of her fingertips against the skin just below his throat made her pause, but she kept her expression carefully neutral. There were staff eyes nearby.
“Undo one more button.”
“Like this?”
“Mm. Buttoned all the way up like that, you look like you’re heading to a job interview.”
She undid the second button herself, letting a hint of collarbone show. Stepping back, she folded her arms.
“Not bad.”
Her eyes were full of quiet satisfaction. The unemployed man who had been wearing the same clothes for days now looked like someone else entirely.
“I like this shirt color. You can throw it over a white tee, too.”
“It really does, right? It’s got a vibe.”
Hyun-soo checked himself in the mirror and seemed pleased as well.
Na-yeon lifted the white ribbed T-shirt she had set aside earlier and held it against his chest.
“Try this one too. I need to see how you look in just this, without the shirt.”
“I’ll change.”
He disappeared back into the fitting room and drew the curtain shut. Na-yeon sat down again and crossed her legs. From a nearby rack she pulled a pair of light-gray cotton pants and a black collared tee, then tossed them over the top of the curtain.
“These as well.”
“Is the size all right?”
When the clerk came over to ask, Na-yeon smiled.
“Yes, my brother says it fits perfectly.”
Brother.
In truth he was the tenant living alone on the third floor.
Calling the man who had begged her to put it inside him the night before her little brother felt both absurd and a little guilty. Na-yeon opened her phone again and searched for highly rated spots in the food court while she waited for him to emerge in the next combination.
Beneath the music drifting from the mall speakers, she tapped her foot in time with the rhythm.
“How about this?”
When the curtain was drawn aside, Na-yeon’s gaze traveled slowly from the floor upward.
The light-gray cotton pants cleanly traced the line of his thighs, while the white ribbed tee floated just enough across his chest yet fell cleanly at the shoulders. Still with her arms folded, she tilted her head slightly and let the corners of her mouth lift.
“This is better.”
More casual than the shirt combination, yet it brought out his build even more.
Confirming how different a single white tee could look, certainty lit her eyes.
She rose from the sofa and stepped right up to him. Catching the hem of the tee between her fingers, she tugged it gently toward his waist to check the fit.
“Good thing you don’t have a belly. Once that starts showing, this kind of shirt is finished.”
The back of her hand brushed his side. She withdrew it as if nothing had happened, though the skin around her eyes had flushed faintly. Circling behind him, she checked his back and gave the center of it a light tap with her palm.
“Back looks clean too. This one’s a definite.”
She steered him over to the full-length mirror beside the fitting room and stood next to him.
Looking at the two of them reflected there, Na-yeon’s expression wavered ever so slightly. Herself in the beige knit and Hyun-soo in the white tee, standing side by side—they looked right together.
Like a married couple. Or like lovers.
She tore her eyes from the mirror and cleared her throat.
“Try the black collared tee as well. You haven’t put that one on yet.”
Her voice came out a touch higher than usual.
As she tidied the clothes still hanging on the rack, Na-yeon had already finished the mental tally.
One shirt, two tees, two pairs of pants—that would cover the basics. Socks and underwear still needed buying, and a pair of sneakers would be nice too.
She hadn’t said any of it aloud, but the shopping list kept growing.
When a clerk glanced their way from a distance, Na-yeon offered a practiced smile and a small wave that said everything was fine.
Then she passed the black collared tee over the curtain and spoke in a low voice.
“Put this on and come out. I’ll buy you lunch.”
“Really?”
“Mm. Hurry up and change. I’m hungry.”
While she waited, the image of the two of them in the mirror kept rising unbidden, and she gripped her handbag tightly.
The curtain opened and Na-yeon’s mouth fell half open. The black collared tee followed the clean line of Hyun-soo’s neck and made his face look sharper still. If the white tee had been the fresh brightness of youth, this was something else—neat, yet unmistakably masculine. She uncrossed her arms, stepped half a pace closer, and lifted the tips of the collar with her fingers to set them properly.
The moment her fingertips touched the skin beside his neck, the sensation from the night before flooded back. She pulled her hand away quickly.
They were still inside the store.
“This is the one.”
“Does it look okay?”
“Yes.”
Her voice was firm.
She pushed him in front of the full-length mirror and peered over his shoulder from behind. The combination of black and light gray cleaned up his silhouette perfectly.
Standing at his back, she tugged both sleeves straight to smooth the wrinkles and murmured almost to herself.
“They say clothes make the man… he really does look like someone else.”
“I’ve always looked good in clothes.”
Hyun-soo laughed as he said it, and Na-yeon simply nodded.
“You do.”
In the mirror she could see herself standing behind him.
Because of the height difference, if she rested her chin on his shoulder it would fit just right.
The thought made her take half a step back.
“Over here, please.”
She called the clerk and laid out every piece she had chosen on the counter: the navy shirt, two white ribbed tees, the black collared tee, the khaki pants, and the light-gray cotton pants. The clerk read out the total.
“That comes to three hundred forty-eight thousand won.”
Na-yeon took out her phone, brought up the card screen without hesitation, and completed the mobile payment.
The clerk took her phone and finished the transaction.
“Thank you.”
Once the payment was done, the clothes were packed into shopping bags and handed over.
“Here.”
“I could have paid with my own money.”
“I’m buying them because they look good on you.”
“I’ll wear them well.”
As Hyun-soo accepted the bags, Na-yeon linked her arm through his and raised one eyebrow.
A simple silver watch in the accessory corner beside the register caught her eye, but she turned her head away.
“There’s a highly rated Chinese place in the food court on the fourth floor.”
“You want jjajangmyeon?”
“You said you were craving it.”
“Is that all right?”
“I like it too.”
Knowing it was consideration for him, Hyun-soo couldn’t help smiling.
“Your domestic support is something else.”
“Don’t say weird things.”
As they left the store, Na-yeon glanced up at his profile. The clean line of his neck above the black collared tee stood out sharply under the store lights. The warmth that had touched her fingertips when she fixed the collar still seemed to linger, and she tightened her grip on the shopping-bag handles.
“We’ll pick up socks and underwear on the way up to the fourth floor. I saw the store earlier when we passed.”
Standing side by side on the escalator, she felt the gazes of people looking up from the floor below.
Unconsciously she put half a step of distance between them.
By the time they reached the fourth-floor food court, the lunch rush had just begun and people were streaming in. Na-yeon quickly claimed an empty table and set the shopping bags down beside a chair.
“Two jjajangmyeon. Mine regular. Yours is the large, right?”
“Of course. A regular won’t fill me up.”
“Honestly…”
She was a little startled to realize she already knew how big his appetite was, but she didn’t let it show.
“Since I’m treating, I’ll get the meal too, noona.”
The word “noona” slipped out naturally.
She had introduced him as her little brother, so “noona” was correct.
Na-yeon turned away and steeled herself.