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.