Pygmalion

Sukyung rubbed her eyes with the tips of her fingers and watched the screen again. She looked very tired, but she was definitely walking much better toward the end of the lesson. Sukyung saw herself walking straight along the line without looking down. Her shoulders looked less slumped and she even looked more confident. But unfortunately, her back still looked slouched and her arms were spread too widely. 

She pointed out these mistakes, 

“But my back is still not straight. And my chin is way up, right?”

Sungwoo raised his eyebrows and turned toward her. He murmured, 

“I guess you can tell the difference now?”

When she nodded, Sungwoo looked at her for a few moments before placing his large hands on the back of her neck. Sukyung flinched, but he ignored her and began kneading her hardened neck muscles. 

He continued, 

“Since you at least learned to tell the difference, I guess your lesson today wasn’t a total waste. You’ll still need to take a few more hours of walking and facial expression lessons. We also need to continue your makeup lessons too. Walking and facial expression can’t be taught in one day. I couldn’t waste too much of Chief Song’s time today, which was why I asked her to finish today. But I know it’s not possible.”

His voice sounded unusually gentle today. Sukyung was about to thank him, but all she could do was groan. The knots in her muscles slowly began to relax underneath his hands. When he pressed the area between her neck and her shoulder, Sukying cringed and almost screamed.

“Ackkk!”

“I guess you did practice pretty hard. Your shoulders feel so tight. If you keep practicing diligently and get used to a good posture, your muscles won’t tighten like this.”

He turned her body to the side a little and began to massage even harder with both of his hands. His thumbs found the trigger points underneath her shoulder blades and circled. He massaged her small shoulders a few times before using his fingers to press all the trigger points along her neck.

“Ugh, ahh… Ngh. Haa!”

“Be quiet.”

His hands massaged the bottom of her neck. It felt like her whole neck muscles were spasming in pleasure.

“Haa… Ahh… Ngh…”

Every time his hands moved, Sukyung couldn’t help but groan. She tried, but the pain and the relief from it felt so amazing that she couldn’t stop. 

Sukyung remembered when Jaewon just graduated from high school and worked all day at the hair salon. His muscles ached so badly that she massaged his shoulders and legs a few times then. It was no wonder Jaewon was in pain because he had to sweep the floor and dry people’s hair all day. But when Jaewon offered to massage her shoulders, Sukyung always felt too embarrassed to say yes. 

She had never had anyone massaged her shoulders in her life. No one has ever held her hand warmly. But without these things, she had lived her 28 years of life just fine. 

Or was she really “living”? Or was she just “being”? Just existing? 

“Ngh! Haa…!”

As Sungwoo’s hands moved down her spine, Sukyung sighed. She leaned back a little and let him do what he needed. Was massage technique something hair designers learned as well? When she went to a hair salon before, whoever shampooed her hair used to give her a head massage. Of course, Jaewon never practiced on her. For a while, she had secretly hoped that he would. But he never did and she had forgotten about it. 

Suddenly, her body fell back. Her eyes opened wide and she flailed her arms. Thankfully, her head stopped at Sungoo’s chest and one of his hands supported her back. Blinking in confusion, Sukyung looked up at him.

“I told you to be quiet.” 

When Sungwoo murmured quietly, Sukyung protested,

“But it felt so good…”

Sukyung couldn’t finish her sentence as she saw Sungwoo’s face slowly coming closer to her. Even as she watched him, she couldn’t do anything. She just looked up at him in surprise. His stubbled chin touched his nose and his lips possessed hers. He bit her lips gently a few times before his tongue licked them. 

His tongue entered her mouth as he held her cheek and chin with one of his hands. His other hand, which was supporting her back, lazily rubbed her lower back as if he was massaging her. 

Was it because this was their second kiss? Sukyung didn’t feel as scared as the first time. In fact, she felt relaxed enough to enjoy the taste of him. Hesitantly, she touched his tongue with her own. When Sungwoo growled and deepened the kiss, she grabbed his shirt and raised her face up to get closer to him. 

Just then, they both heard the door open and a woman’s yelp. Sukyung tried to stand up, but she lost her balance and fell to the floor. She was still holding onto Sungwoo, so he also bent forward awkwardly. He turned toward the door and glared. 

Jungim, looking uncomfortable and shocked, bowed and apologized, 

“I…I’m sorry. I left something here, so…”