A Marriage with A Reason - Chapter 33

“Huh? Huh?!! Eek!!”

Hearing her scream, Jaehoon had no choice but to rush again. Where to? Directly to the sea where she was.

“Are you okay? Are you alright, Dayun?”

So shocked, Jaehoon ran toward her like he was Usain Bolt, sprinting madly. He quickly lifted her up as she had fallen and shouted.

“Ugh, that was scary!! How could you just jump into the water like that? Besides, Da-on said you can’t swim. And you’re jumping in here?

Just because of a ball?”

“Ah, well… that’s… um…”

“Let me see, are you really okay? No injuries?”

“Senior…”

“Are you really alright?”

Jaehoon wrapped his big hands around Dayun’s shoulders and started checking her body, worried that she might have hurt herself.

Maybe she hit a rock, maybe there were glass shards in the water, or maybe she swallowed a lot of water when she fell. He was worried about so many things, almost thinking it was a mistake to come to the sea.

Dayun, feeling awkward about his excessive worry, felt a bit embarrassed. It wasn’t that she felt bad, in fact, she felt a little happy, but it still felt strange and made her shy.

“Senior, I’m fine. More than that, the water isn’t very deep here…”

“What?”

After calming down and collecting his thoughts, Jaehoon felt embarrassed. Just like Dayun said, the spot they were standing in wasn’t deep at all. It was only a little deeper than her knees, which was actually shallow for him.

“I ended up getting wet because of you. Sorry.”

“Ah, it’s fine… The important thing is you’re not hurt.”

Jaehoon felt like finding a hole to hide in. His concern had been too much. Meanwhile, Dayun felt grateful and happy for his care.

Honestly, she wasn’t as shocked by falling into the water as she was by how quickly he rushed to save her.

“Should we leave now?”

“Huh? Ah, sure.”

They hurriedly left the water. Dayun approached the little boy, who seemed a bit scared, and smiled as she handed him the ball.

“Here, little one. The ball.”

The boy, either feeling sorry for Dayun or thinking that Jaehoon was angry at him for making Dayun wet, just hesitated.

“It’s okay, you can take it.”

“…”

Despite hearing that it was okay, the boy kept hesitating, which Dayun found oddly cute. Eventually, she playfully said as if to reassure him.

“Auntie came all the way here to get the ball for you. Are you sure you won’t take it? It would make me a little sad.”

The boy thought for a moment before accepting the ball and bowing his head to thank her.

“Thank you, older sister, for finding the ball.”

“Older sister? Huh?”

Dayun was amused. It was so cute that the boy called her “older sister.” After thanking her, he quickly ran off, and Dayun couldn’t help but smile as she watched his retreating figure. Despite being wet, the fact that the little boy had called her “older sister” made her feel warm inside.

“Senior, did you hear that? That little kid just called me ‘older sister’! Wow, I guess I’m not that old yet.”

She was four years younger than Jaehoon, so the idea of being called “older sister” didn’t make sense. But…

“Huh?”

At that moment, Jaehoon wasn’t paying attention to her words. In fact, he was too embarrassed to hear anything. The only thing on his mind was Dayun, who was smiling brightly and walking towards him.

“Wait! Wait a second! Don’t come any closer!”

Dayun was startled by his sudden reaction. She wondered what was going on.

“Huh? Senior, what’s wrong?”

“I said, don’t come any closer!!”

Surprised by Jaehoon’s loud voice, Dayun froze and stopped walking. It seemed like he was truly upset.

“I’m not going! I won’t go! But could you at least tell me why? You can’t just tell me not to come close…”

“Ah… it’s just that…”

Jaehoon hesitated, and Dayun, feeling a little hurt, wished he would just tell her the reason. It was frustrating not knowing why he was acting this way.

“Can’t you tell me? Why are you acting like this?”

“Sigh…”

Jaehoon was momentarily silent, clearly struggling with how to explain himself. But he couldn’t just let her keep misunderstanding him.

“It’s not that… It’s your clothes… Your clothes are… um…”

“My clothes? What’s wrong with my clothes?”

Dayun looked at herself, confused, wondering what was wrong with her outfit.

“Ah…”

That’s when Dayun realized why Jaehoon was so flustered. Wearing a white dress and jumping into the water was already a problem. But now, her wet dress clung to her body, revealing her figure. The real problem, however, was that her underwear was clearly visible. Luckily, she had worn shorts underneath, but still…

Feeling embarrassed, Dayun’s face turned bright red. She had been upset with Jaehoon and smiling without realizing the situation, which now seemed so awkward.

Trying to cover up, she fumbled with her small hands, unsure of what to do. Just then…

“Here, at least cover yourself with this.”

Jaehoon took off his jacket and draped it over her shoulders.

“It’s not even summer yet, and you’ll be cold with your wet clothes. Well, mine’s not completely dry either, but the top is a bit better. And you might not realize it, but before being a senior, I’m also a man.”

His words made Dayun blush even more. She felt so embarrassed she couldn’t even say thank you, instead fiddling with her fingers.

“Now what do we do? We’re both wet, so it’s awkward to get in the car… and there doesn’t seem to be any clothing stores around here…”

Jaehoon was feeling incredibly awkward. While taking a warm car home didn’t seem like a bad idea, he wasn’t sure he could tolerate it.

And besides, Dayun was soaked from head to toe from falling into the water, so he didn’t want her to stay in wet clothes.

“Sigh… what do we do?”

There was just the sea and a few small houses and restaurants. Jaehoon was starting to regret coming to this quiet place. He had thought it would be a nice, peaceful spot to spend time alone with her, but now he was beginning to wish he hadn’t come. Lost in his thoughts about what to do, he suddenly heard a voice.

“Hey, young man!”

An unfamiliar voice, a grandmother’s voice, called out to them. Both Dayun and Jaehoon looked in the direction of the voice, and there they saw the little boy from earlier, now holding hands with an elderly woman.

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