If Silk Flowers Bloom by the Water’s Edge Chapter 91

The mountain peak wearing a white snow hat was like a picture postcard received at the end of the year. Thump, thump, the sound of waking up small mountain beasts from their winter sleep was echoing through the entire mountain. Holding Chaehwa, who was curled up like a shrimp and trembling, Yirok was in the middle of pushing the door with his shoulder.

The identity of the light that led the two could well be considered a mountain cabin, or rather a hut. The relief of being alive was only brief; the door was frozen and wouldn’t open no matter how much they shook it. Having come out after falling into the icy water, the two whose body temperatures had dropped pushed the door for dear life.

In particular, Yirok, as if thinking he shouldn’t leave Chaehwa who was falling into sleep any longer as she was, literally lunged at the door. Even in the midst of her fading consciousness, Chaehwa’s chest tightened. Her body felt as if it were still plunged into the icy river, but her heart was a ball of fire. It was pitiful to see Yirok putting in effort to the point that the veins stood out on his neck.

“Don’t sleep.”

“Yeah…”

“If you feel like falling asleep, bite me. Got it, Chaehwa?”

“Yeah…”

Even if the words he spoke were always cold, he was a man with deep inner affection. As if moved by Yirok’s effort, the cabin door, which seemed blocked from the inside, was pushed back with a huge roar. The snow that had been sitting on the roof came down as a group and covered Yirok’s head. Yirok, worried about the life or death of a frozen-solid Chaehwa, closed the door as soon as they entered. Because the inner latch was broken, he roughly wedged a piece of broken wood from the floor.

As if the faint light seen from the outside was a mirage, inside, a few blocks of wood and a floor that looked like a fireplace were all there was. Though it’s a better situation than the outside where the blizzard is raging. In an environment harsher than expected, the breath of the two is white as if its complexion had vanished. Yirok’s gaze, which was scanning the inside of the cabin constructed haphazardly with planks of different sizes, tilted sideways. Seeing Chaehwa crouching on the floor and shaking like an aspen leaf, he began rummaging through his pockets.

“Me too… wait a bit.”

Seeing Yirok fishing out a wet matchbox and beef jerky from his coat, Chaehwa put her hand inside her coat. In her coat pocket, which had become stiff as if starched, there was cash, coins, and a letter. If the voice heard in her memory wasn’t a lie, it must be a letter from the person she was supposed to meet at the cabin.

“The content is all smudged so I can’t recognize it…”

While unfolding the letter with hands shaking as if afflicted with tremors, she tore off a corner. Chaehwa, getting vexed, tightly crossed her arms and closed her eyes. If it hadn’t been for the ch-chk, ch-chk, ch-chk sounds heard in succession, she would have helplessly fallen asleep.

Yirok, who had taken off his wet coat, was pulling out a matchstick and striking it. Not even leaving a gap to start a conversation, his flashing glint didn’t match the shabby cabin. It was just when the words that the matches were wet so a fire wouldn’t catch rose right up to the tip of her throat.

From the tip of the matchstick, which carried on the friction patiently, a spark was caught. Yirok, who quickly threw the match into the temporary firepit made of earth and stone, used the remaining planks as firewood. In a situation where it was hard to look after his own single body, the flame Yirok made was simply precious.

Still, whether they hadn’t built the cabin entirely in vain, once the fire rose, the tops of her feet became hot. Yirok, who was throwing in firewood, came in front of Chaehwa only after the flame was stably caught.

“Let me see.”

Since she had been carried on his back, held in his arms, and had clung to his neck in an embrace, she thought there would be no more awkwardness. However, the top clothes of Yirok, who had thrown off his heavy and wet outerwear and come over, were clinging to his upper body. Though she knew with her head that he was a man, she hadn’t had a chance to see it with her eyes. Being tall, having broad hands, and strong lines draw Yirok. While stealing a glance with her eyes at the points different from a woman, a hand approached. After measuring the heat on the forehead of Chaehwa, who had become quiet, it detached neatly.

“You, from your clothes…”

“…Huh?”

“I mean, the clothes…”

She knew perfectly well that only by taking off the outerwear and skirt, which were thoroughly soaking up the frozen river water, would her body temperature rise quickly. However, the youth full of bashfulness could not bring themselves to put those words into their mouths. Yirok’s gaze traveled down the white stockings wrapping her thighs, before getting stuck on her western-style shoes as if he had seen something he shouldn’t see.

She was to the point of missing Yirok’s sharp tone of voice, when he used to sting like a bee saying what he had to say regardless of status. It was a big trouble because Yirok, who lowered his gaze as if being considerate, felt like a man. Chaehwa took the initiative to put her fingers into the heels of her black shoes. She even took off the cold stockings that tormented her skin, while minding his presence.

While placing her hands on the coat buttons, she subtly raised her eyes. Just then, her eyes met with Yirok, who was turning his head. It was a question whether they were even breathing comfortably. At the blush spreading from the bridge of the nose, the two gazes divided. Yirok sat looking at the flimsy fireplace and showed his back.

Even looking and looking at his shoulders rising and falling heavily, she wanted to look again. Instead of firewood, Yirok must be burning. The heat rising from him was warming her bare skin. Leaving a single piece of laced undergarment worn inside for conscience’s sake, she quietly called him.

“You too… if possible, take off the wet things. There’s something like a blanket in poor condition over there. We can just cover ourselves with that together.”

If people stick together, wouldn’t they be able to hold out even in the North Pole? Yirok, who had been staring only at the firewood flame without replying, slowly brought his hand to the buttons of his top clothes. Thump, thump, the sound of unbuttoning echoed loudly like an auditory hallucination. Yirok, leaving the last button, stood up and picked up the blanket she had just mentioned.

Bringing the blanket from which dust was fluttering, Yirok handed it to Chaehwa without even looking. Although it was a state of wearing only undergarments that were no different from underwear, she couldn’t leave Yirok to freeze to death. Chaehwa, fluttering the blanket which was spacious enough for two people to enter, cleared her throat.

“You come in too.”

Yirok, who was roasting beef jerky that had fallen into the water over the fire, answered in a low voice.

“Warm your body first.”

“Is it because you’re embarrassed?”

She understands that he dislikes wrapping himself in a single blanket with her who is wearing only undergarments, but it’s a world where it would be troublesome if either of the two went wrong. Chaehwa, tapping the wooden floor, urged him half in jest and half in earnest.

“I won’t look at Yirok’s bare body. I’ll turn my eyes elsewhere. Come quickly.”

“You really…”

Yirok, who turned to look at her while knitting his brows, whipped his head around as soon as their gazes were about to mix. The atmosphere becoming unbearably awkward is entirely Yirok’s fault. Chaehwa, who quietly moved her spot bringing the blanket along, placed her hand on his shoulder as if launching a surprise attack.

“Come in…”

No matter where she touched, her hand did not detach from the shoulder that was like a steel plate, lacking any soft or tender corner. Yirok mastered his inner self with a sigh and came under the blanket. It wasn’t that they were living under one roof covering themselves with a duvet. He was a man who sat looking only at the fire frostily as if he had fought with her. Yet the heart of Chaehwa, whom her grandmother had nurtured and raised, beat thoughtlessly.

Even if she only turned her eyes to look at the beef jerky being roasted, Yirok’s bare shoulder was visible along with it. She grew up clearly seeing the semi-nudity of Chaho, Shinwoo, and the workers playing in the river. On the day she was bound by the spirit covenant, there was also a time she directly bared Yirok’s calves and applied medicine for him.

Though she didn’t look closely, a faint scar was reflected near Yirok’s chest and shoulder. Her heart became stinging. It’s a pain that she doesn’t know whether it’s hurting or sorrowful. Pressing her stomach which was thundering, Chaehwa opened her mouth with difficulty.

“The letter is wet so the writing can’t be seen. It seems I was supposed to meet someone here. Since I entered the body of a woman who died harboring a grudge… maybe it’s not a good person?”

“What should we do. Hold them down?”

“After listening to what they say. Since we’ve kept the door closed, they can’t enter recklessly anyway…”

“I get it.”

Hearing Yirok’s words ‘I get it’, her mind becomes relaxed as if gaining a great army. It feels solid as if he would become her side even if she stood at the edge of a cliff. Chaehwa, moving her hand like an earthworm wriggling on the ground, caught his pinky finger. She felt with her skin that Yirok’s movement stopped instantly.

“That’s… don’t do it too much all by yourself, let’s do it together. I want to roast beef jerky too.”

Yirok, after slowly drawing back the beef jerky he was exposing to the fire, couldn’t raise his head. Hanging his face low, he handed only the warmed beef jerky toward Chaehwa. At the beef jerky given without even a word to eat, Chaehwa pulled his pinky finger firmly.

“I’m saying let’s eat togetheroo.”

“…If you don’t want to eat, forget it.”

“Do you dislike me that much?”

Of course she knows where the heart of the person who jumped into the river to save her and came all the way up the mountain carrying her on his back is heading. It must be a heart hotter than fire and tougher than a blizzard. She knows it, but it was sorrowful that he sat frowning his brows like this and looking only at the fire. Even if it wasn’t to embrace and care for each other, she wanted to spend this moment smiling.

Yirok, who was hooked by the question chosen upon deep consideration, turned that lofty neck of his for her. And there was something she realized only after reflecting herself in Yirok’s black pupils. The expression of herself sitting and wearing only a white laced undergarment looks exactly as if she’s about to cry.

“Yirok, do you know that?”

As if it was arduous to say even a single word, Yirok didn’t even move his pupils. The warm light was flickering above his beautiful upper body. Taking advantage of such a beautiful atmosphere, Chaehwa’s mouth played a trick.

“To create a rift in the vision grass, you know, there are times when it has to go by a completely unexpected development…”

“…What kind of development.”

“For example…”

His upper body is full of scars and the glint in his eyes isn’t gentle either. He’s expressionless consistently and on top of that, how fierce his tone of voice is. The outsider who came in from the outside was harder to become close with than a stray dog. Despite that, Chaehwa’s gaze went down to his lips clad in the color of the flame.

“You are an enemy soldier… and no matter how I look at it, I am a person doing independence movements… and also…”

Yirok would probably come out as a supporting role and have the role of arresting her. It was an unknown whether a rift in the vision grass would widen. Therefore, it’s pure greed. Chaehwa, without dropping her gaze, said shyly,

“Shall we… try a kiss?”