Seriously Yours

Chapter 34 - Boating

Alarm is evident in their eyes when I suddenly rush outside of the room, the door banging loudly behind me. Officer Pyo's neck pops out from his cubicle, while the other officers straighten up, mistaking it for an emergency. The most talkative, Officer Ju Meok, even stands up waiting for instructions.

Which didn't come.

I can see them exchanging glances with each other as I leave them without a word.

I am confused too, but at this moment, Se Ri's safety is all that is on my mind. If I could only fly my car to where she is, I would have done so, in order to be on her side any minute by now.

The agitation rises even more as I reach the beach. An empty boat is on the shore and there's one far away already in the middle of the sea.

"Oh, Jeong Hyeok-ssi! There you are!"

"Oppa! You came!"

The village head's wife and Yoona's cheerful faces appear from a nearby hut. They stroll towards my direction, but I have no time to stall, thus I run immediately to the empty boat.

"The rider left because we thought you were not coming, but we- Oh, Jeong Hyeok-ssi. Wait!"

The village head's wife's words are left unfinished as I start the motor of the boat.

"Oppa, wait for me!" Yoona yelps, which only makes me rush more.

"Jeong Hyeok-ssi! Ay! what's with him?"

The voices fade as the boat moves forward. Its direction is heading to the tiny object far ahead. Is it him with Se Ri? My heart thumps harder and my throat thickens.

A few meters behind, I can already figure Se Ri's face, while the man has his back towards me. Looking surprised as I inch closer to their boat when she noticed the boat behind them, she squints as she sees me and mutters something indistinct.

As I move beside theirs, I can already hear her voice.

"Jeong Hyeok, what are you doing here?"

Instinctively, I look at the man who is only a meter apart from me, but he is not what I expected to see. A man around 40's with a mustache meets my gaze, his face blank. I have seen this man before, but the consolation that he isn't the person I am expecting places other thoughts aside.

"-I mean, where is Yoona?" Se Ri continues, studying me and the boat as if Yoona would come out from hiding.

"You didn't push her in the water or something, right?"

If that's supposed to be a joke, I'm not getting it, and the emotions I have been feeling until now have left me too dried up to even give a witty reply.

I am just relieved.

"Hey! Jeong Hyeok, speak up!"

And words have escaped my lips.

"I think you two should talk... alone," finally the boatman says.

* * *

Stopped in the middle of the sea, one or two pulls on the motor cord of the boat could bring us back to the shore. Yet an unspoken agreement to stay still brought us two together, facing each other, without words to say.

It is awkward like the blind dates I had to go through to keep my profile low-key. But well, I wouldn't even say those were awkward, since I just sat there like an uninterested investor, who ended the meeting by exchanging calling cards, that would later be added to my desk, left untouched unless just in case, I would need their help in my future operations.