New Normal - Chapter 20

Confusion. Awkwardness. And… a flicker of caution.

Seeing every bit of that mixed into Shin Jisoo’s face, Juwon’s lips curled into a crooked smirk.

Usually, people ask ‘when’, don’t they?

Watching her, he realized something — Shin Jisoo didn’t really care. She didn’t look curious, or excited, or even a little nervous. She just picked the topics that interested her and ignored the rest.

Juwon had a tiny moment of self-reflection: Am I really that forgettable?

He decided that whining about it was pathetic and ditched the thought.

“The Space Art Shelter competition. That’s where we first met.”

“Space Art…? Oh! That architecture contest. So you’re an architect?”

Wow. Took her long enough to ask.

“Yeah. I do architecture.”

He kept his calm smile, but Jisoo clapped her hands together like she’d just heard something amazing.

“Wow, an architect. That’s impressive.”

It was so obviously forced that Juwon actually let out a dry laugh. He’d told himself to stay cool, but she was starting to get under his skin.

“So we’ve got this little twist of fate… I can’t believe I didn’t recognize someone like you. I’m sorry, my memory’s terrible.”

Right. And now the generic flattery.

When he didn’t react, Jisoo just shut her mouth again. For some reason, that annoyed Juwon more than it should have.

If I throw a topic, you could at least toss it back. What am I? Your interviewer?

It was the first time he’d ever felt this kind of indifference from someone. Usually, women were eager to grab onto anything he said — drag it out, turn it over, dig deeper. She’d been the one who gave him her number. She’d been the one to text him first, too. So why did he feel like he was putting on a one-man show?

He shot her a sideways glance, frowning slightly.

Is she uncomfortable? Was it too late to drag her out? But she came, didn’t she? Or… is she planning something?

Then again, he had plans too, so he pushed the paranoid thoughts away.

Screw boring small talk — maybe it was time to loosen the mood instead.

“Aren’t you curious where we’re going for drinks?”

Jisoo just shifted her eyes toward him, silent. The awkward giggle from earlier was gone — her dark eyes were steady now, almost dry.

Not a hint of flirtiness anywhere.

Okay, so that’s not it.

She was definitely the same woman who’d talked about “big ones,” so what was her deal? He was trying to figure her out when she hesitated.

“So… where are we drinking?”

“Do you like wine? My cousin runs a wine bar. If you’re up for it, I thought we could go there.”

Juwon planned to take her to his cousin Chae Moongyu’s place. Moongyu, his uncle’s second son, was technically an interior designer — a top talent from the School of the Art Institute of Chicago — but ever since he’d gotten hooked on wine, he’d poured all his energy into running that bar instead.

A pretty, cozy wine bar was a safe bet — no woman ever hated that. Most places Juwon took people to were similar, and Moongyu’s place was basically his little secret base.

He was waiting for her answer when she bit her lower lip, thinking it over, then blurted it out.

“How about a hotel?”

Juwon almost hit the gas instead of the brake. He barely eased the car to a slower pace, staring at her in surprise.

This… was not the direction he’d expected. For a second, he realized he might have seriously underestimated her.

His eyes swept over her like he was asking if she even knew what she’d just suggested. Jisoo, unbothered, turned her gaze back out the window.

“Like a lounge. Somewhere we can actually talk, you know? Somewhere quieter.”

Juwon blinked, a little dazed.

What is this? Sure, he’d thought about it — hell, he’d wanted it — but…

“So… you want to try it?”

He’d asked her that once before — half joking — and she’d turned him down, and that was the end of it.

Now she sat there, staring at the passing streets, acting like she hadn’t just flipped the whole game. Her fingers were twisting the fabric of her shorts on her knees, over and over again.

Shy one second, bold the next — she was impossible to pin down. Something about it made Juwon feel like he was slowly getting pulled into her pace.

He swallowed hard.

“…Alright. Then let’s go to the hotel.”

Juwon tried to hide how thrown off he was, but Shin Jisoo nodded without a second thought.

The car headed for a hotel on Teheran road, not too far from where they’d originally planned to go.

Even when they stepped into the 24th-floor lounge, following the staff’s polite lead — even when, since they’d walked in without a reservation, they had to sit at the bar instead of a cozy table — Juwon still couldn’t read her mind at all.

It was the same when she ordered her drink. Her calm voice, picking a strong liquor, only made her seem more cryptic.

Juwon licked his lips, glancing sideways. Jisoo tapped the bar lightly with her fingertip — so lightly, like she was trying to hide some small flicker of nerves.

Yeah. Impossible to figure her out.

But he tried not to dwell on it. Unlike at the start, when he’d basically been one step away from pouncing on her, he’d pulled himself together now.

Mostly because her unexpected boldness had sobered him up — and besides, when someone pushed forward this directly, you were supposed to pull back a little. Charging in together just looked desperate. More than anything, he needed to watch her a bit longer.

Anyway, tonight wasn’t the night for it. He’d missed the chance to pick up condoms, and he wasn’t going to push it without one. s3x for him was always, always safe — no exceptions. He was too old for reckless one-night stands. He reminded himself firmly and then spoke with an easy smile.

“So, what did you want to talk about?”

Jisoo waited until the staff who’d brought their drinks were out of earshot, then quietly toyed with her glass before lifting her eyes to him.

“Juwon, when do you usually sleep with someone? Like… after how many dates?”

His mind went completely blank. Of all the things she could have asked, that one knocked the wind right out of him. It rattled the self-assurance he’d had about having her all figured out.

A tight tension snapped down his back. He clenched his teeth, the muscles in his jaw twitching. But he forced a small grin and threw it back lightly.

“Hm… well, I’ve never been asked that before.”

His damn fingertips actually trembled a bit. Juwon picked up his glass to cover it.

So she really meant it — that talk about “big ones” before wasn’t just a joke.

Had she been thinking about it in the car the whole time? Did she come here only for s3x? It was a real possibility.

A weird, mixed feeling settled in his gut. He’d considered the same thing, sure — but usually he was the one steering the flow, not being dragged by it. He had his pattern: get to know each other a bit, maybe kiss tonight, then build the tension over a few more dates until s3x just naturally happened.

No rush, no mess — that was his style. He didn’t mind moving faster sometimes, but a sloppy one-nighter with Jisoo wasn’t what he wanted tonight.

When had he gotten so conservative? He wasn’t sure anymore.

“Got it. So… do you have a girlfriend, Juwon?”

She jumped to a whole new topic with no warning — all out of order. It was so random it almost made him laugh, but the more confused he got, the more he couldn’t help feeling drawn to her.

“…No. If I did, I wouldn’t be drinking at a hotel bar with you at this hour, would I?”

Jisoo nodded seriously. The obvious gap between her innocent face and this blunt attitude kept pushing him to the edge in a way he wasn’t used to.

“Let’s toast.”

He flashed a bright smile and lifted his glass to steer the mood somewhere lighter. Soft lounge music floated around them as their glasses clinked together with a clear ring. He was about to take a sip when Jisoo asked:

“Yours is just a shot, right?”

She’d ordered a cocktail mixed with tequila, omija, lemon juice, and Tabasco. It was a straight shot — golden liquor in a clear glass, with a wedge of lime and a pinch of salt on the side.

“…Yeah, why? Looks better than yours?”

She nodded. Without missing a beat, he pushed his tequila toward her.

“Do you know how to drink it?”

“How do you drink it?”

“Here — make a fist.”

She made a loose fist, and he reached out to hold her wrist. Even in the middle of summer, her skin was so cool it sent a faint shiver up his spine. He’d been the one to touch her first, but the only one who seemed startled by it was him. Jisoo slowly lifted her head, staring right into his eyes.

“And then?”

There was something disarming about the way she waited for him — calm, those wide eyes shining with innocent curiosity. It almost felt like he was the one being tested now. Like she was pulling him in, making him lose his footing.

He bit the inside of his cheek, eyes drifting to her lips. They parted slightly every time she whispered, showing the edge of her white teeth. His throat bobbed.

“So what now?”

Just then, Jisoo’s fingertip brushed his skin — so lightly it was probably an accident, but his heart thumped like a drum.

Juwon almost let go of her wrist, then hesitated. He didn’t even know why he was so thrown off. He’d had a plan, but it was all scrambled now.

An image flashed through his mind — him licking the salt off the back of her hand, tracing over her knuckles with his tongue before moving to her lips…

The way his brain kept spinning off into these dirty imaginings, he had to shake it off. He flagged down the staff.

“Excuse me — just a sec.”

Instead of showing her how to take the shot with his own, he ordered another round. But his eyes couldn’t stop flicking back to Jisoo, who just waited there, looking at him with that curious calm.

She probably already knows exactly how to drink it.