My Brother's Friend Wasn't a Guy - Chapter 5

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This chapter was translated by Lunox Novels. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com
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5.

“Pleased to meet you. I’m Mun Ganghyeon.”
Ganghyeon offered his hand first.
“Ah, I’m Cha Jihun. You wouldn’t happen to be the architect Mun Ganghyeon, would you?”
Jihun took his hand and asked.
Ganghyeon’s face had become fairly well-known, thanks to articles that appeared regularly in magazines and online. It seemed Jihun recognized him.
“That’s right. I see you’re interested in architecture, since you recognized me.”
“Well, you’re pretty famous in that field, after all.”
Jihun shrugged with a lukewarm expression—the attitude of someone who hadn’t wanted to know but couldn’t help finding out anyway.
He looked between Jin and Ganghyeon, then asked as if struck by sudden realization.
“Don’t tell me the project you mentioned taking on has something to do with this place?”
“How did you know? I haven’t said anything about that yet, have I?”
Jin nodded readily. In that same moment, Ganghyeon watched with quiet pleasure as disappointment flickered across Jihun’s face.
The outcome had been decided from the start—from the moment it was “brother” and “senior” over “she” and “he.” Ganghyeon asked Jin, his eyes alight with leisure, what Jihun’s purpose in visiting was.
“Senior’s become a professor at our alma mater, so he offered to have me work as a part-time lecturer. I was in the middle of declining because of our contract.”
“Right. Because of ‘our contract,’ it won’t work out.”
Ganghyeon took Jin’s innocent remark and pressed down on it like a punctuation mark. At that, Jihun’s face darkened noticeably.
The sight of her treating that man with more ease than she treated him left a bitter taste in his mouth.
“Still, it’s a good opportunity, so take a look at the documents. I should head out.”
He hurriedly gathered himself.
“Already? You haven’t even finished your coffee…….”
Jin tilted her head in puzzlement, as she’d never left this quickly after meeting Jihun before.
“I came to give you this. We can drink coffee next time. I’m going.”
“Oh, all right. See you next time.”
Ganghyeon let out a silent laugh as he watched Jin see Jihun out.
See each other again next time? He runs away like a dog with its tail tucked between its legs in front of me, yet he still speaks of another meeting.
His gaze grew cool and distant.
“Would you like some coffee too?”
But as Jin spoke, his eyes softened into a warm curve.
“Yeah. Pour me some coffee too.”
“Just a moment.”
While Jin went to fetch the coffee, Ganghyeon picked up the cup Jihun had been drinking from, went to the sink, and dumped out the rest of the coffee. Then he scrubbed the cup clean with a sound like squeaking, and set it far away.
“It’s nice having flexibility since I’m not taking appointments.”
Sitting across from each other and sipping their coffee, Jin remarked this. Then, as if it suddenly occurred to her that she hadn’t asked about Ganghyeon’s purpose for coming, she belatedly posed the question.
“By the way, what brings you by at this hour?”
“Just that I had some free time too. I was curious what you were up to, so I stopped by.”
Ganghyeon spoke casually, but after meeting Jin Aeran, his tangled thoughts had drawn him almost instinctively toward the Workshop.
Yet when he arrived, some other man was already taking up her time.
He’d entered the Workshop feigning ignorance, though he’d already glimpsed enough of the situation inside to piece together what was happening.
In fact, he’d succeeded in driving off the persistent nuisance from her side, so his purpose was accomplished.
“Sometimes when I see you, I can’t tell if you’re busy or just have nothing to do.”
Jin wore a puzzled expression.
Ganghyeon sometimes gave off the air of a seasoned businessman, but at other times he felt like a leisured gentleman—there was no reading him.
“Mostly busy, and mostly free.”
“What’s that supposed to mean?”
As Ganghyeon watched Jin laugh softly, his eyes grew intense for a moment before returning to an unbothered expression.
“I’m thinking of doing some work soon, to loosen up. What about you?”
It was a question of whether he’d stay in the Workshop or leave.
“Would it be all right if I worked alongside you? I’ve always wanted to try making pottery. If I learn whenever I have time, I could even assist you, couldn’t I?”
“I didn’t know you were interested in ceramics.”
Jin fundamentally enjoyed teaching.
She possessed an unpretentious joy in sharing ceramics, her greatest passion, with another person.
“For today it can’t be helped, but next time you should bring work clothes.”
Jin gave Ganghyeon’s impeccably neat attire a quick once-over before speaking.
“It’s fine. If it gets dirty, I’ll just wash it.”
Ganghyeon shrugged casually and rolled up his sleeves. Jin brought over a work apron.
Without a change in expression, Ganghyeon bent his head toward her.
When he declined the apron and tilted his head forward as naturally as if asking for her to tie it on, she hesitated only briefly before securing it around him.
In the process, Lee Jin’s fingertips grazed Mun Ganghyeon’s hair and the curve of his ear.
“Thanks.”
Mun Ganghyeon chuckled and tied the apron strings at his waist, then made his way toward the pottery wheel in the workshop.
The sensation lingering at her fingertips felt oddly delicate, but when Mun Ganghyeon acted as though nothing had happened, Lee Jin quickly brushed the awkwardness aside.
Lee Jin placed the prepared clay on the wheel and showed him the basic shaping techniques.
“This is more fun than I expected.”
As the wheel spun, the clay transformed beneath Mun Ganghyeon’s hands. His obvious interest made Lee Jin’s mood brighten as well.
“You can’t create a perfect form right away, so practice repeatedly. That way, it’ll become easier to get the balance and symmetry right.”
“Yes, teacher.”
His playful tone brought a smile to Lee Jin’s lips.
Since she’d been standing almost pressed against him to demonstrate how to work the wheel, their faces were close.
Their eyes met directly.
That instant stretched out as if time itself had frozen. Lee Jin had no experience with such a moment and felt flustered.
Mun Ganghyeon gazed at her rapidly blinking eyes and spoke with a subtle smile.
“Teacher, I think I’ve messed this up.”
Snapped back to her senses by his words, Lee Jin looked down at the wheel.
The bowl shape that had looked presentable moments before was now completely collapsed.
“Oh…….”
She let out a small breath and brought the wheel to a stop.
“We’ll have to start again.”
She smiled awkwardly and smoothed the clay down.
“I haven’t quite got the feel for it yet. Show me again?”
He extended his hand. Lee Jin stared blankly at it, not immediately understanding his intention.
“Help me, teacher?”
He waved his hand again as if prompting her. Only then did Lee Jin realize he was asking her to demonstrate the shaping while holding his hand.
When teaching pottery wheel classes, it was common for her hands to brush against students’ hands.
Yet somehow, touching Mun Ganghyeon’s hands made her hesitate.
It had been the same when her fingertips grazed his hair and ear earlier. Despite it being unintentional, she found herself oddly tense, her body stiffening slightly.
She couldn’t very well ignore his outstretched hand. She released a short breath and placed her hand over his.
“Like this—slowly shape the form.”
Lee Jin pushed aside her scattered thoughts, took hold of Mun Ganghyeon’s hand, and carefully refined the bowl shape as she spoke.
Mun Ganghyeon responded like a diligent student and appeared to absorb the lesson intently, but his gaze was busy tracing the downward curve of her lashes and the subtle movement of her lips.
Of course, he gave no sign of this, so he looked as though he were genuinely focused on the instruction.
“Now, try it on your own.”
She released his hand. The warmth slipping away was a loss, but he concealed his expression and spoke in a cheerful voice.
“Yes, teacher. I think I’ve got it now.”
Lee Jin laughed quietly and stepped back from him.
Mun Ganghyeon shaped the bowl carefully, then withdrew his hands and knitted his brow as if something didn’t quite satisfy him.
At that, Lee Jin stepped forward again and corrected the unsatisfactory parts for him.
As she bent forward, the hair she’d tied up came undone and spilled past her shoulders.
Mun Ganghyeon reached out as if to tuck the fallen strands behind her ear.
But his hands were covered in clay, and his fingers left a smudge across her cheek.
“Oh, no—what do I do?”
Mun Ganghyeon laughed harmlessly, as though he hadn’t meant any harm.
Lee Jin became conscious of his fingers touching then leaving her cheek, and reached up to touch the spot with the back of her hand.
But her hands were also covered in clay, and the mark on her cheek only grew larger.
“Oh…….”
She let out a small breath as she realized it belatedly. When she was first learning pottery, getting clay smudged on her face like this had been frequent.
But once she’d grown accustomed to the craft, such things rarely happened.
“It’s fine. I can wash it off later.”
As she tried to brush it off casually, Mun Ganghyeon suddenly leaned his face toward her.
“Go on, put some on mine too. That way it’s only fair.”
He tilted his face forward as if inviting her to do as she pleased, and closed his eyes.
Dark brows and thick lashes, a sharp bridge of nose, sensual lips, and a masculine jawline…….
Lee Jin swallowed dryly without thinking as she gazed at his heartachingly beautiful face.

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This chapter was translated by Lunox Novels. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com
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