Flirting Between the Glass Partition

Yeo Ri made her way to the correctional facility Hyuk was placed in with familiarity. She had been there a couple of times before with Gun so she knew the directions well enough.

She skipped and hummed happily along the way, excited over the prospect of finally seeing Hyuk after such a long time.

It was a weekday so there was not many people waiting to visit their incarcerated loved ones. After waiting for her turn for ten or so minutes, she was finally able to meet Hyuk.

She was assigned to a booth with a counter and a glass panel in-between. A telephone on her side of the booth was connected to the one on the prisoner's side. Both sides were soundproofed from the other one, so they could only communicate from that pair of telephones.

She waited for several minutes before the barred door on the other side opens to reveal Hyuk, accompanied by a prison guard. Yeo Ri stood up, keeping a smile constant on her face.

When Hyuk turned around to look at her, he was greeted by the smiling cute girl. He looked visibly delighted, and as soon as the handcuffs came off, he immediately sat himself down and picked up the phone. Yeo Ri copied him.

The clock was set to fifteen minutes. They now had fifteen minutes to speak and catch up.

"Oppa, how are you?" Yeo Ri started.

"I'm fine. What about you, Yeo Ri-ah? Did anyone bully you while I'm gone?"

Yeo Ri laughed, "Who would dare? You're here, and Gun-oppa's here, so no one would dare to bully me."

"I-I read your letters," he stuttered, his ears growing red. "I hope you're not overworking."

Yeo Ri stared at him for a moment, slightly tilting her head. "You're not mad? I thought you wouldn't like it if I joined the agency."

Hyuk kept mum. After several seconds of silence, he finally said, "As long as you're happy, Yeo Ri-ah."

It had taken him three days to come to terms with the fact that his Yeo Ri might be well-known one day. Given her looks, he was 100% sure that she would make it big. In the beginning, after he had read the letter she sent him, he was impossibly pissed. He was angry, but mostly jealous. It was selfish, but he would rather keep Yeo Ri to himself than share her with the rest of the world.

But nevertheless, since that was what Yeo Ri wanted to do, who was he to stop her? He could only support her from behind the bars.

"You've changed, Oppa," Yeo Ri sighed, a smile playing on her lips. After being in prison for so long, Hyuk looked more mature and calm compared to before. Perhaps being away from home was what he needed to curb his temper and impulsiveness. "I like it."

"You think so?" Hyuk mumbled, scratching his neck in embarrassment. Did he really change? He thought. Perhaps he did. If someone had told the him from several years back that he'd end up serving jail time for murder and that he was secretly dating Yeo Ri, he'd probably laugh in their face before giving them a solid knuckle sandwich.

Hyuk cracked a small smile, thinking, 'I've come a long way.'

"Now, if only you'd stop causing trouble so I can see you more frequently," Yeo Ri added. "I really missed you, Oppa."

"I missed you too, Yeo Ri," he mumbled apologetically. Again, he thought about how much things have changed. The old him would have never expected to be so close and intimate with this impossibly perfect girl in front of him.

Hyuk stared at the girl for some time, quietly admiring her beautiful visage. The soft and silky hair framing her face that was only as big as his fist, her big, doe-like eyes, her full, petal-like lips, her narrow shoulders and her slender neck—she was a masterpiece. It was like God envisioned perfection and thus Yeo Ri was created. Every part of her was perfect. 'And too good for me,' he ruefully thought. Too bad she was wasted on him.

A sudden urge to kiss her sprouted in his mind, and he just couldn't get it out of his head. 'D*mned hormones,' he silently cursed. Unable to stand it any longer, he looked away, avoiding eye contact. 'Stop acting like a horny teenager!' he scolded himself inwardly.

"What's wrong?" Yeo Ri asked with a hint of anxiousness. Hyuk was making a face as if he was irritated by something. She thought back to what had happened. He stared at her face, and then...

'Was it the makeup?' she wondered. All she did was put on a lip tint, though?

"Oppa?" She prompted him again.

"It's nothing," he replied, noticing her slight frown. "Did you put something on your mouth?"

"It's a lip tint. Why? You don't like it? Should I wipe it off?" Yeo Ri asked, slightly fretful.

"No, it's not that." He paused, his ears reddening. "No wonder it looked good."

"Oh." Yeo Ri blinked her eyes blankly. She did not expect to be complimented. An impish smile graced her face as she thought of a question.

"Does it make you want to kiss me?" She teased.

"...Yeah," he truthfully answered, "it does."

"Oh." Yeo Ri pursed her lips, restraining herself from screaming. Hyuk's bashful look was just too cute! Blood rushed to her face, her cheeks flushing with a deep red hue. "I see," she murmured. Deep inside, she had already etched the lip tint in her mind as her new favourite makeup product, thinking that if an opportunity comes up, she would definitely want to work with the brand behind it.

Yeo Ri suddenly glanced to her left and right. She was alone in the booth and no one was watching her. She took out the bottle of the lip tint she was wearing—a tint named 'Dolly Lip Stain'—and applied a new layer of it on her lips.

Abruptly, she got up and quickly planted a kiss on the glass panel between them while the product had yet to set.

Hyuk stared at the lipstick mark on the glass with widened eyes and in utter disbelief. Since when did his Yeo Ri become so daring?

"Hey—!" Hyuk scolded her, lowering his volume, hissing, "What were you thinking? Don't you know how dirty the glass is? Who knows how much bacteria was on it! And what if somebody saw this?!"

"It's fine; I'll wipe it off before I go back." Yeo Ri put on a nonchalant expression as she took out an unopened pack of wet tissues from her bag.

Her eyes widened when the mark didn't disappear, the wet tissues helping to further smear the glass with the reddish stain. The product was certainly true to its name, and was rather difficult to take off. She frantically wiped away, hoping to remove the embarrassing stain before somebody caught her. Did this count as vandalism? What if they made her pay damages?!

Yeo Ri fought to control her expression as she inwardly regretted her actions.

On the other side of the glass, Hyuk debated between laughing at the adorable girl, or cheering her on.

Yeo Ri smiled with relief as she managed to hide her crime. The slightest hint of redness could still be noticed if one focused hard enough, but the lip imprint itself has been completely erased!

She wiped her lips with a new wipe, clearing off the rest of the product from her lips. Then, she lightly reapplied it again.

Yeo Ri, acting as though her earlier faux pas never happened, batted her eyes innocently at him, "What? You were the one who said you wanted a kiss."

"You..." Hyuk scoffed incredulously, "Forget it."

Hyuk rolled his eyes at the shameless little girl. Who taught her this, he wanted to know. Maybe he should invite that person to talk about life for a little bit.

—It was probably Min Chae, he unabashedly accused in his mind.

In the end, Hyuk caved in.

He vigilantly glanced at the barred door, making sure that the d*mned guard wasn't peeking or anything. Then, he gave the glass panel a quick peck.

Yeo Ri laughed.