adora • lookism

5. Grimm Plastic Surgery Tower

Which reminded her---Ari quickly said her good-byes and hurried over to the room where her client would be waiting for her.

"Sorry, I hurried over as fast as I could. Did you wait long?" she asked, quickly drawing her things from her bag and bustling towards the supply cart that had already been prepared.

"No. I also just arrived."

"Then shall we start right away?" said Ari, smiling at the shirtless Taejin Cheon sitting on the treatment table.

• • • •

Having finished inserting needles into Director Cheon's abdomen and shoulders, Ari was just about to settle in for the usual wait when she received a call from her parents.

"Excuse me, Director," she told the man lying on the bed. She kept her voice quiet; she didn't want to wake him if he was falling asleep. "I'll be right back."

He let out a deep grunt of acknowledgement, his eyes closed. Ari slipped out of the room with a tiny pat of his arm.

"Hiya dad," she said. Pressing the phone to her ear, she leaned against the wall at an angle where she could still see Director Cheon through the small opening she'd left in the door.

"Hi Ari," said her dad. "Did you get the package I sent you yet?"

Staring sightlessly at the door, Ari maintained a subdued voice so it wouldn't bother the director while he was trying to relax. "I got it, but I haven't opened the box yet. What's inside?"

"Just dried foods from home, and some stuff from mom's clinic. I added extra burn salve and moxa sticks, since you said you were running low. Mom also told me to add another supply of herbal tonic; she says you should be out by now."

Ari pushed her mouth out into a pout. "I don't want more herbal tonic." And actually, she still hadn't even touched the last set her mother had sent her. Herbal tonic just tasted awful, and she never had any when she wasn't under her mother's watchful eye.

"It's good for you, honey," her dad said automatically. Her mother must be next to him, because Ari knew for a fact that he hated it almost as much as herself. "Anyway, your mom wants to talk to you, just a second." Yup, as expected.

There was a shuffling sound for a moment as the phone changed hands. "Hi baby," said her mom. She sounded cheerful. "Did you eat yet?"

"Yup, I ate just now," Ari lied, curling a strand of hair around her finger. "How about you and dad?"

"Oh, we're actually trying out a new recipe for boar right now! I'll tell dad to save some for when you come home, I think it's one of his best dishes to date."

"Mom," Ari said, grinning fondly. "I'm in Seoul, remember? I probably won't be back home until the end of the month."

"Oh, it's already September!" Ari could hear the faint click of her mom snapping her fingers. "Your summer break is already over, isn't it? I was wondering where you'd been these past few days."

No wonder her mom hadn't made a fuss while she was leaving home last week. "Is there anything going on at home? How's dad's heart?"

"Oh, I'm the same as always, just running the clinic. Your dad's heart is fine too, I've been taking care of it. But he actually ended up hurting his shoulder the other day, trying to fix the leak in the roof! You know, I told him to just call your cousin over and let a young man do it, but he insisted on doing it himself, the silly goose."

In the background, she heard her dad's voice crying, "Men should solve their own problems!"

Ari stifled a low laugh behind her hand. She could almost hear her mom's eye roll.