The Cruel Beast’s Desire - Chapter 7

The child seemed startled by the blood on Hayeon’s t-shirt.

“Is this my fault too?”

“I bumped into her over there.”

Only now did Hayeon understand why the child was crying so much. The blood on her shirt, where the child had bumped into her, must have looked like a wound to the child. She needed to show the child that there was no wound to calm her down.

Hayeon checked that there were only women around and lifted her t-shirt.

“See, no wound, right?”

The child blinked her big eyes and checked Hayeon’s side. There wasn’t a single scratch on her smooth skin. Hayeon lowered her t-shirt and looked at the child.

“The blood flowed from here and got on my t-shirt.”

Hayeon pointed to her arm with the flesh-colored bandage and explained to the child.

“That’s a relief…”

The child wiped away her tears with the back of her hand, finally relieved.

“It’s not because of you that I’m bleeding, and I’m not hurt. So, don’t cry. Okay?”

“Yes.”

The child smiled brightly, as if she had never cried.

The smile was so pure that Hayeon felt a pang somewhere in her chest.

“You really need to be careful not to move your body too much today. Got it?”

“Yes.”

Nurse Jo reminded Hayeon once again.

-Rrrrrrrr.

Seeing her phone ringing, Hayeon remembered Ji-hye, whom she had forgotten about. She had told her to come at a snail’s pace, but it had been too long since she had hung up the phone.

“Hello.”

[Kang Hayeon! Where are you? What’s wrong? Huh? Are you okay?]

Ji-hye’s voice, raised an octave, echoed loudly outside the phone.

“Nothing’s wrong. I had some bleeding, so I went back into the blood donation room to stop it again.”

[Ugh, you really scared me! I was worried you’d gotten dizzy and fallen somewhere like last time.]

It had only happened once.

It wasn’t that she had lost consciousness, just a momentary dizziness. She hadn’t seen the person standing in front of the elevator doors and bumped into them hard, falling down and having trouble getting up, so she had to sit there for a while.

Ever since that incident, Ji-hye worried every time Hayeon donated blood.

She needed to go and show her that she was fine to put her mind at ease.

“I’m really done now. I’ll be there soon.”

[Take your time and don’t run, ever. Got it?]

“I got it.”

Hayeon hung up the phone and grabbed her bag. Then, she lowered her upper body to match the eye level of the child, who had been staring at her since earlier.

“I heard you had good news earlier.”

The child nodded her head shyly up and down.

“I hope it’s news that means you don’t have to come to the hospital often.”

“Why?”

“It means don’t be sick. If you’re sick, you have to keep coming to the hospital.”

“Ah…”

The child nodded her head up and down again.

“Don’t come to the hospital either, miss. Okay?”

The child must have thought Hayeon was coming to the hospital because she was sick too. Rather than explaining in detail, Hayeon chose to smile silently.

“Promise.”

“Huh?”

The child held out her small hand. All her fingers were folded except for her pinky.

“Let’s both not be sick.”

Not wanting to disappoint the brightly smiling child, Hayeon hooked her pinky with the child’s.

“Okay, let’s both not be sick.”

“Yeah.”

The two looked at each other and smiled brightly.

If she lingered here any longer, Ji-hye would run into the hospital. She had to go before that happened.

Feeling regretful, Hayeon released her pinky from the child’s hand and waved goodbye.

“Bye.”

“Bye, miss.”

The child waved back. Her steps felt heavy as she turned around. Strangely, she couldn’t shake the image of the child from her mind. Hayeon couldn’t go more than a few steps before turning back to look at the child.

The child was still waving. Hayeon raised her hand again and waved back. She was relieved to see the child’s face brighten with a smile.

Hayeon hurried her pace, worried that Ji-hye would worry if she delayed any longer.

Ji-hye was just as surprised to see Hayeon.

She thought it was nothing, but the red blood on the white t-shirt was too noticeable. As soon as she saw Hayeon, Ji-hye raised her voice.

“What’s with that blood! How much did you spill?”

“Ah, that’s a few drops dripped when they took the needle out. Really, I only spilled a little.”

“Wasn’t the blood you donated enough? What are they doing, making people spill blood all over the place at the hospital!”

Ji-hye glared into the hospital with her hands on her hips, as if she was about to chase after them.

“Don’t get excited. It was just a few drops, but it spread out, so it looks like a lot.”

“It’s not like your blood is common or anything, you shouldn’t have spilled even a few drops.”

Ji-hye frowned as if she didn’t like it. Hayeon pushed Ji-hye towards the driver’s side door.

“Get in the car quickly. We’re going to be late.”

Hayeon got into the passenger seat, fastened her seatbelt, and urged Ji-hye.

“Don’t frown and let’s get going. If we’re any later, the roads will be jammed with cars leaving work.”

“Director Ma was so happy when I told her I’d booked you. She said she’d buy us beef after the shoot.”

“Really? What’s up with the stingy Director Ma?”

The car slowly started moving, and Ji-hye’s words paused for a moment.

“Why else? It’s Director Ma’s grand plan to get you as her exclusive model.”

Hayeon shook her head as if she couldn’t help it.

“I told you I’m not doing exclusive.”

“Director Ma said that even if you were exclusive, she wouldn’t show your face like now. After the shoot, when Director Ma says something, don’t say you heard it from me, just say you’ll think about it.”

Hayeon had been working steadily as a fitting model. She hadn’t planned to work as a model from the beginning.

Ji-hye, who worked at a model agency, had invited her to visit the set, and it just so happened that the model didn’t show up without even contacting them. Hayeon, who was a similar size to the missing model, wore the clothes and took the photos instead, and that was how she had been working ever since.

Hayeon, who had been a promising swimmer in the past, was extremely wary of exposing her face because of an incident seven years ago. Hayeon only chose modeling jobs that didn’t involve showing her face. As a result, there were few jobs that Hayeon could do, and her income as a model was inevitably low. Nevertheless, the reason Hayeon continued to work as a model was because of her parents.

Like pouring water into a bottomless pit, all of Hayeon’s earnings went to her parents. She had to earn even a small amount of money, so Hayeon couldn’t quit this job.

When they entered the studio, it was more chaotic than usual. Instead of the latest K-pop hits, a children’s song she had never heard before was playing in the studio.

Director Ma greeted Hayeon happily as she entered.

“Hayeon, welcome.”

“Director Ma, how have you been?”

“I’m getting older every day. Days like today make me feel like I’m getting a year’s worth of wrinkles all at once.”

Director Ma started complaining as soon as she saw Hayeon.

“I didn’t like the model we were originally going to work with from the start, but I was so happy when you said you would do it, Hayeon.”

“The atmosphere in the studio today is like a kindergarten picnic. Did Director Ma’s taste change, perhaps?”

Hayeon asked, awkwardly looking around the studio, unable to adjust to the different atmosphere.

“We have to shoot with a child model today. I’ve been listening to that shark song or whatever it is more than twenty times now to match the child’s mood.”

Director Ma pretended to cover her ears with her hands, as if in pain.

“It’s not an aquarium. Ugh… what can I do, even if it’s painful? Adults have to cater to children.”

“A child?”

Ji-hye, who had entered later than Hayeon because she was packing her things, asked back in surprise.

“Suddenly, mother and child couple items were stocked today. So, I urgently brought them. I urgently booked a child model too. We only need to shoot five outfits.”

Hayeon stood there with a stiff face, unable to manage her expression due to the sudden situation.

Ji-hye was just as flustered. Ji-hye put down the luggage she was holding and raised her voice.

“You didn’t say anything about that earlier. You should have told us if the concept changed!”

“Do we have to tell you even about this? All you have to do is wear matching outfits with the mother and child and take pictures, why are you being so sensitive? It’s not like you’ve only been working as a model for a day or two.”

Director Ma seemed to be taking out her frustration on Ji-hye because she was annoyed from listening to the same children’s song over and over again.

“Still, this isn’t right!”

“So, are you saying you can’t do the shoot now?”

Director Ma raised her voice.

“Manager Lee, are you going to take responsibility for canceling today’s shoot?”

“It’s Director Ma who didn’t tell us that the concept changed in the first place!”

Hayeon blocked the two people who were getting emotional.

“Calm down, Director Ma. Ji-hye, lower your voice too. The child who came for the shoot will be surprised.”

Only after another staff member took Director Ma to the hanger with the clothes did the tense atmosphere subside a little.

It wasn’t just the fact that she had to shoot with a child that was the problem.

“What should we do? We have to show our faces when shooting couple items with the child.”

The photographer, who had a stiff face, approached and carefully said, and Ji-hye roughly swept back her hair.

“This is a clear breach of contract!”

“Ji-hye, please lower your voice.”

“The concept of ‘Witch’s Wardrobe’ itself was to not show faces. That’s why I recommended you. The concept changed without prior agreement.”

Despite Hayeon’s dissuasion, Ji-hye couldn’t contain her anger. Hayeon was just as embarrassed.

“Wait. I’ll call the CEO.”

“Don’t do that. Let’s talk it over again.”

“Do you think this situation can be negotiated? It’s a mother and child couple item, if the mother’s face isn’t shown, will the clothes sell well?”

That was true.

It was common for the concept to change on set depending on the situation. But it was the first time the contract had been changed.

Hayeon took a long breath and turned her head, and her eyes met the child’s.

“Ah…”

Hayeon let out a short exclamation as she looked at the child smiling brightly and waving her hand.

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