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Chapter 4 A Strange Old Man Approaches Her

  • She went directly into a laundry shop.
  • There, the shop owner informed her, "It is suitable for dry washing only."
  • Ara confusedly looked at her and asked for the cost hesitantly.
  • "10,000 won," she said.
  • "Huh?" Her dumbfounded eyes checked her purse.
  • "Then, add it to that," she said, taking off her jacket and handing it over to her.
  • "Okay, ma'am," the shop owner said, going in.
  • She came out of the shop with depression, looked at the bright sky, and Exhaled. At the same time, her stomach murmured too.
  • Then, he walked forward along the roadside without the jacket.
  • Meanwhile, "Hey, girl!"
  • "Hey, here!" she heard an old, rude voice. So she turned to that voice.
  • On the empty route, an old fellow was standing beside the trolley, which was filled with full loads of waste papers, empty cans, and water bottles.
  • "Can you help me with this?" he asked rudely.
  • She wrinkled her eyebrows and mumbled, "Did he just ask for help?"
  • "Hey, girl, come on!" He waved as if he knew her.
  • She nodded hesitantly and helped him push the trolley.
  • She adjusted her dress and pushed it. She adjusted it and pushed it again.
  • That old man kept watching her and got annoyed with her attitude. So, he took off his working man's jacket, gave it to her, and said, "Here, wear it!"
  • "Thank you, it's okay," She refused to take advantage of this while her hand pushed the trolley.
  • He frowned at her and yelled, "Are you going to take it or not?"
  • She shivered with a little bit of fright and got it from him without having an option.
  • Then, they moved forward with pushing the trolley.
  • It's been 30 minutes since she started to push it. Her sweat fell through her side foreheads, while the old man was fresh as the freezer foods.
  • "How much longer do I need to push it?"
  • "Didn't we reach our destination yet?" She spoke tiredly, breathing in and out.
  • "Our destination..." that old man continued to pull out his words as she kept pushing along the home routes.
  • "Came!" dropped his long word.
  • "Here we are!" He greatly introduced his small, tiled house, which was right behind Ara's house.
  • She was stunned with her eyes showing white, staring at her house right behind his.
  • If we look at the way he traveled, he used one of the longest ways to reach his home instead of using a short route.
  • "Is my house this far from the laundry shop?" She questioned herself, feeling doubtful.
  • "Hey, what are you doing inside?"
  • "Come and check who I brought here!" He shouted while pushing the trolley into that gate.
  • Her eyes moved straight at the damaged, closed door of the house. The house was 15 feet away from the gate.
  • A grandma came out; she looked old oly, but she had energy like a middle-aged woman.
  • That grandmother's depressed look changed in a fraction of a second upon seeing Ara standing near the big gate.
  • "Ara!" She was surprised as hell and moved fast toward her with blooming excitement.
  • "How are you, Ara?"
  • "Are you eating or not?" she asked, showing a worrying face over the confused ara.
  • "Y-yes," she hesitantly said, and also her body refused to move with the grandma when the grandma held her hand and pulled her towards the house.
  • So, that old man pushed Ara and gestured for him to move forward.
  • She agreed with fear in her eyes.
  • "Come, come,"
  • "Sit here!" the grandmother said, as she cleaned the floor and asked her to sit there.
  • She took every step with hesitation.
  • Grandma came out of the kitchen and arranged a lot of food in front of her, which made her drool.
  • A thought ran through her mind: "Is it right to have it or not?" She looked down at her hands, also hesitating to take them.
  • So, she glanced at the old man gesturing to her with a knife, and moving his mouth, he says, "If you don't cooperate with her, I will smash you down."
  • She was scared to death.
  • Grandma seeing her husband acting rudely toward her, advised, "Don't be like that. She is afraid."
  • After noticing the food and the grandma's convincing voice, she started to eat breakfast like she was about to die tomorrow.
  • The old man gave her a weird look while Grandma was admiring her cuteness.
  • "By the way, do you know me before?" She talked with a mouth full of food.
  • "Yes," she said.
  • "How?" Ara stopped mincing.
  • "You are living next to us, how can we not know you?" grandmother smiled.
  • "No, it's not common to let someone in and give food unless they are known for a long time," she queried with a doubtful face.
  • "Eat first," the grandmother said, adding some meat for her.
  • Grandma noticed the jacket wasn't hers. So, she went into a small room that looked like a storeroom while Ara was about to finish her dishes.
  • Grandmother stretched a beautiful, clean, and neat grey jacket to her while she turned to her after washing her hands. "Wear it," she said.
  • "It looks expensive," she said, admiringly wearing it.
  • They smiled at her.
  • "I have to go now, bye."
  • "Be safe, grandma," she frilled, waving her hand and leaving there.
  • "One second," she stopped to take a further step away and looked back at their house. She came too far away and said, "They didn't answer my question."
  • She shook her shoulder carelessly and moved forward.
  • On the fourth floor of DGI Entertainment, the FFB band boys were practicing hard as their sweat filled the room.
  • A few minutes later, the song paused. They lay down on the floor, breathing heavily.
  • Dae-Hyun asked Dae-Seong, "Why do you select this dance move?" and took a deep breath.
  • He was on the floor too. "I don't," he exhaled, saying that he regrets it now.
  • Do-Yun got up, looked at his leader, and said, "Look at our leader, Hyung."
  • He was laying on the floor like he was going to die.
  • They laughed at him while they struggled to take a breath.
  • Their laughter filled the room with noise.
  • Dae-Seong stood up, tapping his backside like he had got dust in his pants, and said, "Okay, let's get ready for another round."
  • They refused to get up, joining their palms like praying and asked Dae-Seong to leave them alone for an hour with tired faces.