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The issue with experiencing or doing something unusual is the unpredictability of consequences.
You don't know what that unusual will bring into your life and hence people fear taking risks. Jeongguk is a reckless risk-taker and the unusual in his life is Minhee. The catch: the moment Jeongguk thinks Minhee is unpredictable, the following actions are something he could have thought of if only he wasn't blinded by the mask of seeing the world with kindness.
"I am going to kill her." the managing director announces. Jeongguk sighs, stopping him.
"It isn't really her fault, Mr Jeong."
"What do you mean it wasn't her fault? Can't you see she did this on purpose?" Mr Jeong points towards Jeongguk, nostrils flaring and legs refusing to stay still. "You are allergic to peanuts and she made you eat an ice cream with crushed peanuts so you don't even get to know."
"It will be fine in two days."
"But we have to give the pictorial within three days." Mr Jeong groans. He crouches in front of Jeongguk, making Jeongguk shrink back on the chair. "CEO Jeon. I have never questioned your decisions, but must you date her? From what I can see, she is just trying to sabotage—"
"Enough, Mr Jeong," Jeongguk says, tone heavy and authoritative. The managing director loses his balance, taken aback by the CEO's change of tone and falls butt-down on the floor. "What I do in my personal life is totally up to me. Please be careful when you choose to speak about it, especially about someone you don't know about."
Jeongguk stands up and walks out of the conference room, leaving the managing director alone in the room. It's early in the morning, way before the office even opens because the consequence of the unpredictable has happened.
"Should we visit the dermatologist?" Secretary Kim says, inspecting Jeongguk's face. "That's a lot of inflammation for an ice cream that only has 14% crushed peanuts in it... did you eat something or do something else to increase this?"
Jeongguk shakes his head. "I just went home after that, did some work and slept after a shower. When I woke up due to itching all over and saw myself in the mirror, I called you up. How far can we push the deadline?" Jeongguk asks, hissing when his skin itches.
"We can't, they clearly stated they need it on time."
"Let's visit the dermatologist then, I will get some steroids to settle these down," Jeongguk says, standing up. The older man pulls him back, "No, no steroids. Your skin will become more sensitive, it will be awful."
"But this would affect the pictorial."
"We aren't getting the pictorial done on the cost of your health and skin, Jeongguk." Secretary Kim says. Jeongguk parts his lips and presses them back again, unsure of how to react.
"Get the defamation treatment done, some antibiotics and then go home and rest. I will come with you."
"No, you stay here and get things ready. We'll carry on the shoot as soon as my skin gets better."
Secretary Kim sighs, nods. "Okay, call your mother, get her help."
"No! She'll get worried. Don't." Jeongguk says, shaking his head. "I will go alone, I don't mind."
"Call her, she's a botanist, she'll know some stuff which will help you." Secretary Kim says, simultaneously ringing up Mrs Jeon on his phone. He ushers Jeongguk to talk, who makes a twisted face close to crying.
"Hello Mom, uh," He looks at Kim unsure of what to say, "I need your help?"
Secretary Kim facepalms.
...
"Nice, you are 25 and still can't keep track of which things have peanuts or not." Mrs Jeon says, pinching Jeongguk's ear.
"I can!" he defends, "But honestly I didn't taste any peanut in it so I actually didn't know."
The mother sighs, taking out the ointment and medicines the dermatologist gave them. "I finally thought that I won't have to worry about these things now that you have a wife. But look...I must have killed a lot of plants in my previous life."
Jeongguk snorts.
"Ahh, look at this house." his mother groans. "I hoped that next time I visit this place, it will be warm and will look like a home now that you have a wife. But look...I must have killed a lot of plants in my previous life.".
Jeongguk sighs. A wife? A home? Here, in this place?
Never.
It's absurd and of no use.
"You could have called Minhee to help you out," she says while applying ointment over Jeongguk's inflamed skin. "She is an expert in careskin, isn't she? She went to a beauty school too and now she is a CPU of that company...what was the name...Bird? Ah, no, was it fins? Anyway, she would know better for you."
"Mom...first of all, it is skincare, not careskin and she is the CEO of Wings. Please don't say this in front of their family." Jeongguk says, hissing every time his mother touches his face while muttering 'yeah the same thing, the same thing'.
"Here, get some sleep." She then cups his chin, "Ahh, look at how thin you have become?" Then she hits his chest, "What are these muscles. Huh."
"Mom!"
Jeongguk storms back to his room, and gets under the covers. His mother appears with some medicine later and places it on the table beside the bed. She sits down beside Jeongguk who has his lips in a pout, pretending to sleep.
"You did it on purpose, didn't you?"
Jeongguk opens his eyes, looking at his mother. "The dating thing. You did it because you didn't want her to move in."
Jeongguk scoots up, parting his lips to say something. But he can't lie to his mother.
"I know Jeongguk, you think this marriage won't change things, you'll be living the same life. I am not blind. I have seen and read the articles of you two being labelled as rivals. Your dad hesitated to let you marry her, only because he was worried about the consequences you would face. But we don't want to regret our deci—"
"It's not your fault at all, Mom." Jeongguk interrupts, scooting close to her. "I agreed to it. For whatever reasons, I did. Never blame yourself for it."
Before Mrs Jeon could say anything more, the bell rings. She blinks her tears away, walking towards the door to open it.
"Minhee?"
...
It's awkward.
Jeongguk is sitting on his bed, staring outside the window while Minhee is sitting on the chair, placed across the room, against the wall. The only sound in the room is of Jeongguk's humidifier and her legs tapping against the floor.
Mrs Jeon left as soon as Minhee arrived, too happy to see her in the house. Jeongguk had no option but to let Minhee in and ask her to sit. The silence is clawing Jeongguk, heavy tension filling the air. He's the first one to speak and Minhee almost falls down the chair.
"Why are you here?"
It isn't supposed to sound rude like it does. Jeongguk hisses internally.
"Mom called, she said you were sick and I.." Minhee sighs, "should at least visit and take care of you."
Jeongguk nods. "I am not really sick. It's just an allergy."
The conversation was gaining momentum, to fall into something usual. But then silence falls back again in the room and Jeongguk hits his head back to the bed's headboard thinking he has to start from square one again.
"Look...Jeongguk."
He opens his eyes, unmoving from his position.
"I am.." Minhee bites her lips and exhales. "So sorry. I didn't know you were allergic to peanuts, I swear. Didn't even know you were modelling for the pictorial yourself—I—Also for that day, the model thing..." Minhee looks up and when she meets Jeongguk's blank eyes, looks down on the floor again.
"I know."
It's a whisper. Jeongguk straightens his head and fixes his blanket, wanting to do something with his hands. "I am sorry for that day too. For whatever reason, I shouldn't have gotten your car damaged. My emotions got the best of me...as compensation, I paid for the damages and agreed to your itinerary too."
Minhee shakes her head. Oh, she's getting dizzy. "I knew you were looking for a chance to get Taehyung on board but couldn't. It was a misunderstanding from our side. We thought it was a collaboration between Wings and BE, that's why we contacted Taehyung. We wanted the best."
Jeongguk chuckles, it's filled with sleep. "Alright, if that's it—"
"—Is there..." Minhee interrupts. "A way I can help you recover from this.." she vaguely gestures towards Jeongguk's face.
The latter raises an eyebrow and laughs. "It's not because of peanut allergy, you dummy. Peanuts only give me rashes. This was because I used an expired alcohol-based toner in a hurry yesterday. Peanuts just worsened it."
"Oh."
"Yeah. My mom doesn't know it because I didn't tell her. She would cause a ruckus and hire someone to literally take care of me. Secretary Kim already goes through a lot because of her impromptu calls asking him to report to her, I wouldn't want anyone else to meet the same fate."
"Oh." Minhee laughs, it's broken and awkward. Jeongguk subtly smiles, "If you're done. Feel free to go back. There's not much you can do here anyway." He shifts to lie down, pulling the blanket up to his chest. Seeing Jeongguk like this, at his home makes Minhee breathless.
He looks so approachable, so soft.
Minhee sighs, removing something from her bag and then places it on the table beside Jeongguk's bed. "This is an anti-inflammatory toner and a soothing egg mask." she points at the items. Jeongguk looks over, unsure. "It is new, has no alcohol or peanuts."
He chuckles. "You didn't have to."
I wanted to. Minhee wants to say but instead, she removes a polythene bag. "Is that Neon Tetra?"
Minhee quizzically looks at the bag in her hand. "Is that what this fish is called?"
"You didn't even know and bought it for me."
"Do I have to know?" Minhee says, shrugging and placing the bag down. "Anyway, I noticed you have an aquarium inside your office. Consider it as a 'get well soon' gift. Wouldn't want to win a competition without any opponent."
Jeongguk smiles, nodding. His eyes have already closed halfway. Minhee decides to keep the fish in a bowl so that even if Jeongguk forgets to remove it, it doesn't die in the bag. Leaving Jeongguk to sleep, she finds an empty bowl placed on the dining table in the living room.
She pours some more water and leaves the fish inside before walking out of the door.
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