Chapter -4 A strange old man approaches

She went directly into a laundry shop.

There, the shop owner informed her, "It is suitable for dry washing only."

Ara confusedly looked at her and asked for the cost hesitantly.

"10,000 won," she said.

"Huh?" Her dumbfounded eyes checked her purse.

"Then, add it to that," she said, taking off her jacket and handing it over to her.

"Okay, ma'am," the shop owner said, going in.

She came out of the shop with depression, looked at the bright sky, and Exhaled. At the same time, her stomach murmured too.

Then, he walked forward along the roadside without the jacket.

Meanwhile, "Hey, girl!"

"Hey, here!" she heard an old, rude voice. So she turned to that voice.

On the empty route, an old fellow was standing beside the trolley, which was filled with full loads of waste papers, empty cans, and water bottles.

"Can you help me with this?" he asked rudely.

She wrinkled her eyebrows and mumbled, "Did he just ask for help?"

"Hey, girl, come on!" He waved as if he knew her.

She nodded hesitantly and helped him push the trolley.

She adjusted her dress and pushed it. She adjusted it and pushed it again.

That old man kept watching her and got annoyed with her attitude. So, he took off his working man's jacket, gave it to her, and said, "Here, wear it!"

"Thank you, it's okay," She refused to take advantage of this while her hand pushed the trolley.

He frowned at her and yelled, "Are you going to take it or not?"

She shivered with a little bit of fright and got it from him without having an option.

Then, they moved forward with pushing the trolley.

It's been 30 minutes since she started to push it. Her sweat fell through her side foreheads, while the old man was fresh as the freezer foods.

"How much longer do I need to push it?"

"Didn't we reach our destination yet?" She spoke tiredly, breathing in and out.

"Our destination..." that old man continued to pull out his words as she kept pushing along the home routes.

"Came!" dropped his long word.

"Here we are!" He greatly introduced his small, tiled house, which was right behind Ara's house.

She was stunned with her eyes showing white, staring at her house right behind his.

If we look at the way he traveled, he used one of the longest ways to reach his home instead of using a short route.

"Is my house this far from the laundry shop?" She questioned herself, feeling doubtful.

"Hey, what are you doing inside?"

"Come and check who I brought here!" He shouted while pushing the trolley into that gate.

Her eyes moved straight at the damaged, closed door of the house. The house was 15 feet away from the gate.

A grandma came out; she looked old oly, but she had energy like a middle-aged woman.

That grandmother's depressed look changed in a fraction of a second upon seeing Ara standing near the big gate.

"Ara!" She was surprised as hell and moved fast toward her with blooming excitement.

"How are you, Ara?"

"Are you eating or not?" she asked, showing a worrying face over the confused ara.

"Y-yes," she hesitantly said, and also her body refused to move with the grandma when the grandma held her hand and pulled her towards the house.

So, that old man pushed Ara and gestured for him to move forward.

She agreed with fear in her eyes.

"Come, come,"

"Sit here!" the grandmother said, as she cleaned the floor and asked her to sit there.

She took every step with hesitation.

Grandma came out of the kitchen and arranged a lot of food in front of her, which made her drool.

A thought ran through her mind: "Is it right to have it or not?" She looked down at her hands, also hesitating to take them.

So, she glanced at the old man gesturing to her with a knife, and moving his mouth, he says, "If you don't cooperate with her, I will smash you down."

She was scared to death.

Grandma seeing her husband acting rudely toward her, advised, "Don't be like that. She is afraid."

After noticing the food and the grandma's convincing voice, she started to eat breakfast like she was about to die tomorrow.

The old man gave her a weird look while Grandma was admiring her cuteness.

"By the way, do you know me before?" She talked with a mouth full of food.

"Yes," she said.

"How?" Ara stopped mincing.

"You are living next to us, how can we not know you?" Grandmother smiled.

"No, it's not common to let someone in and give food unless they are known for a long time," she queried with a doubtful face.

"Eat first," the grandmother said, adding some meat for her.

Grandma noticed the jacket wasn't hers. So, she went into a small room that looked like a storeroom while Ara was about to finish her dishes.

Grandmother stretched a beautiful, clean, and neat grey jacket to her while she turned to her after washing her hands. "Wear it," she said.

"It looks expensive," she said, admiringly wearing it.

They smiled at her.

"I have to go now, bye."

"Be safe, grandma," she frilled, waving her hand and leaving there.

"One second," she stopped to take a further step away and looked back at their house. She came too far away and said, "They didn't answer my question."

She shook her shoulder carelessly and moved forward.

On the fourth floor of DGI Entertainment, the FFB band boys were practicing hard as their sweat filled the room.

A few minutes later, the song paused. They lay down on the floor, breathing heavily.

Dae-Hyun asked Dae-Seong, "Why do you select this dance move?" and took a deep breath.

He was on the floor too. "I don't," he exhaled, saying that he regrets it now.

Do-Yun got up, looked at his leader, and said, pointed out Bitgaram who lost balance to sit straight, "Look at our leader, Hyung."

He was laying on the floor like he was going to die.

They laughed at him while they struggled to take a breath as a result of their hard dance movements.

Their laughter filled the practicing room with noise.

Dae-Seong stood up, tapping his backside like he had got dust in his pants, and ordered, "Okay, let's get ready for another round." He turned to them, and tilted his head to one side, narrowing his gaze at them as they refused to get up, joining their palms like praying, and asked Dae-Seong to leave them alone for an hour with tired faces. Dae-Hyun requested, panted, "Let us breathe for a second!"