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For a while, neither of them spoke.
It was a familiar and cozy space. Perhaps because they had always come here together, even Hunter felt like a part of the treehouse.
A heavy rain hammered noisily against the wooden roof of the treehouse. Raindrops fell rhythmically through the gaps, pooling briefly on the round tea table before trickling over the edge.
"Kissing my wrist doesn't have much of an effect anymore."
Hunter broke the silence, blurting it out abruptly.
Caught off guard by the unexpected comment, Jiyu blinked and stammered.
"W-why? Last time, you definitely said you won..."
After handing Jiyu a first edition of Douglas Adams as a gesture of reconciliation, Hunter had only managed to reach the quarter-finals of the tournament he entered. Consequently, he claimed that palm kisses were no longer effective.
"Nothing in this world lasts forever. I've used it too often over the last few years; the energy of the winning Jinx has clearly been exhausted. It's depleted."
He added this absurd analysis. Then, he began to pester her, asking if there were any other methods recommended by that famous psychologist whose book Jiyu had mentioned.
When Hunter wanted something, he was relentlessly persistent to a staggering degree. Whenever they crossed paths, he would tease, threaten, and beg. He followed her around, demanding a solution, harassing her with the brazenness of someone who owned her.
"Jewel Parker, it's no use avoiding me. Hurry up and think of another way. Then I'll stop bothering you. Is there really no other method in that book by the famous psychologist? By the way, what's the title of that New York Times bestseller? I want to read it too."
Terrified that he might discover the book was actually a children's storybook for toddlers with separation anxiety, Jiyu blurted out whatever came to mind in a moment of improvisation. And she regretted it bitterly.
"Um, how about trying a kiss somewhere else instead of the palm?"
"...Somewhere else? Where?"
Her face turned pale as she saw a mixture of shock and curiosity flicker across Hunter's face. Her heart skipped a beat.
'I'm crazy. Kissing somewhere else. Where on earth!'
Avoiding his gaze, her eyes darting around, she squeezed her brain as if trying to get the last bit of toothpaste out of a tube. She answered with a hesitant tone, almost like a question.
"Uh... the wrist?"
"The wrist?"
Hunter stared at her, raising one eyebrow high.
"Yeah..."
"Hmm. The wrist, the wrist... Fine. But if this doesn't work, you have to promise to come with me to the next tournament."
Jiyu nodded reluctantly. At that, he slid his arm out in front of her face. Kissing his wrist instead of his palm felt truly strange. Afterward, her face grew so hot that she couldn't lift her head for a while. Because of that, she didn't see that Hunter's face had also turned bright red.
Regardless, after receiving that kiss on his wrist, he continued his winning streak for a while. But now that the effect of that had worn off, it seemed he was going to demand something else.
Jiyu glared at him with narrow eyes. Hunter, with a brazen expression, tilted his head and gazed steadily at her.
What kind of ridiculous thing is he going to say this time to mess with me?
"Maybe you're not my winning Jinx anymore, Jewel Parker."
He declared in a solemn tone.
Jiyu froze, unable to find words to respond, only blinking. A swirl of complex emotions, difficult to put into words, surged within her.
'Did he only realize that now? Does that mean I don't have to play this tedious role of a Jinx anymore? Is this really the end?'
So many emotions were intertwined that even she couldn't tell if what she was feeling was relief or disappointment.
Tap, tap, pitter-patter.
As the sound of the rain hitting the roof weakened slightly, the sound of the raindrops falling onto the table seemed exceptionally loud.
Hunter, who had been staring blankly at the table with his elbows on his knees and fingers interlaced, slowly straightened his upper body.
"No, thinking about it, you are statistically my Jinx. It's just that for high-level tournaments, kissing the hand or wrist might not be enough."
Jiyu's shoulders slumped. Of course.
In the dim light, Hunter whipped his head around to face her.
"Try somewhere else this time."
"W-what...?"
In the faint light filtering in from outside, she could see him frowning.
"Why are you asking when you know? I'm saying kiss me somewhere else."
Jiyu's heart began to race.
"W-w-where?"
Her voice trembled thinly.
"...I don't know that either."
Biting her lower lip and racking her brain, Jiyu thought of various body parts related to tennis.
'Fingers? Forearm? Elbow? Shoulder? They're all weird. Ugh... I'm going crazy.'
Then, she looked up and asked him, clinging to a sliver of hope.
"Um, how about the palm, like before? It's been a while."
"Are you kidding? Don't you know the palm lost its effect last year?"
Hunter rejected her immediately and coldly.
"The back of the hand?"
He snorted and shook his head.
"The hand area is useless now."
"Then, where on earth should I—"
Jiyu turned her gaze toward him resentfully, then flinched. Hunter's face was too close. She stared at him, frozen.
Hunter blinked silently and swallowed hard. Then, moistening his dry lips, he spoke.
"That..."
The weak light entering through the two entrances and one window illuminated half of Hunter's face. In the monochromatic space, it felt as if only his pupils were emitting a bluish glow. That deep blue gaze slowly traveled down her face and stopped at her lips.
Jiyu gasped and instinctively covered her lips with the back of her hand.
Suddenly, she remembered a PE class on a rainy day last year. Even without touching, she could feel her pulse pounding wildly at her pulse point.
Probably around 125 beats per minute.
She lowered her gaze and awkwardly dropped her hand.
'There's no way Hunter would...'
Jiyu looked up again. Hunter's eyes, looking at her with an expression she had never seen before, wavered unstably.
The meaningful silence was louder than the sound of the rain. For some unknown reason, she felt a sudden surge of fear. Her heart thudded again with the anxiety that something uncontrollable was about to happen.
"...I'm leaving!"
Jiyu shut her eyes tight to avoid his gaze, then carefully opened them.
Keeping his eyes fixed on her, Hunter nodded and spoke in a slightly cracked voice.
"Right, then there..."
He stopped mid-sentence, tilting his head slightly and frowning.
"...What did you just say?"
"That I'm leaving."
"I mean, where to."
Having run out of patience, Hunter pushed the words through his teeth.
"Your tournament!"
Jiyu raised her voice as well.
"...My tournament."
She gave a small nod. In an instant, Hunter's raised shoulders dropped slightly.
He slowly straightened his upper body, which had been leaning toward her, and leaned back against the sofa. Then, resting the back of his head against the wall of the treehouse, he let out a long sigh.
Jiyu also turned her head in the opposite direction, letting out a sigh of relief, feeling a sense of liberation from something she couldn't quite name. Her heart hammered violently, as if it were crashing against her ribs.
The rain began to beat mercilessly against the roof again. The rhythm of the raindrops falling on the table continued like staccato.
Hunter stood up abruptly.
"Sunday, 9 AM. Be in the lobby."
Then, he went to the entrance with the slide, grabbed the pole with one hand, and leaped down. The tension released, Jiyu collapsed onto the sofa. The roaring sound of the rain drowned out Hunter's receding footsteps. The rain pouring relentlessly onto the treehouse roof resembled her own pulse.
✾ ✾ ✾
Three minutes before nine in the morning. Jiyu stood before the front door, a canvas bag containing her reading materials and homework slung over her shoulder.
"I'm heading out."
"Oh, have a good time. Study hard. Call me if you think you'll be too late. I'll tell your dad to pick you up."
Ae-jeong, who was lounging on the sofa watching a Korean drama on NetfliX, nudged Alan in the side as he read the Wall Street Journal. Alan nodded.
[Have a good trip, Libby-derby. If you're late, Daddy will pick you up.]
Alan couldn't speak a word of Korean, but surprisingly, he seemed to understand the general nuance of the conversations between Ae-jeong and Jiyu.
"It's alright, Daddy. He said... a friend would drive me home when it's over."
Only then did Ae-jeong tear her eyes away from the TV monitor with a curious look.
"Really? Who is it? A friend from a rich family?"
"Huh? Uh, yeah."
Jiyu glossed over it, feeling a pang of guilt. After all, Hunter was a rich kid.
At that, Ae-jeong smiled brightly and waved at her.
"Alright. Hurry up and go. You'll be late."
Alan also put down his newspaper and smiled, creating wrinkles around his pursed lips.
[Have a good trip, Libby!]
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