Chapter 38 : Like a Duck

When the phone rang, I was deep in the bathtub, my body submerged in the water. 

I checked the screen with my wet fingertips. 

Kim Dohyun. 

I blinked slightly. 

…He made the call first? 

That fact felt strangely unfamiliar to me for a moment. 

We text each other often, but it was the first time he’d called me first. 

I always made the calls. 

It was strange. 

Usually, I would have thought, “What’s going on?” but at that moment, only one thought crossed my mind: I’m in the bathtub right now. 

Should I say that? 

No, should I even answer? 

I hesitated for a moment and finally pressed the call button. 

“Oh? Dohyun?” 

I spoke in a tone just like usual. 

But at that moment – tch 

A very small sound. 

A subtle movement, like someone swallowing their breath. 

And then, silence. 

I narrowed my eyes slightly. 

…What’s going on? 

It felt strangely awkward. 

I absentmindedly brought the phone closer to my ear. 

In the silence, I could clearly hear each breath Kim Dohyun took. 

It felt like his brain had gone blank in an unexpected situation. 

Then, I realized. He’s embarrassed. 

A playful smile crossed my face for a split second. 

I had just picked up the phone. 

I had only said one word. 

And he’s reacting like this? 

I could almost guess the reason. 

He probably felt unfamiliar with calling me first. 

But… this awkwardness, this hesitation. 

Why does it feel like— my heart is tingling? 

Slowly, I submerged myself deeper into the tub. 

Splash!! 

The lukewarm water wrapped around my arm, and the gentle waves brushed against my thighs.

“…Why did you call?” 

It was a natural question, but inside, I found myself starting to anticipate his reaction. 

What expression is he making? 

Is he still flustered? 

The sounds coming from the phone made me want to listen even more intently. 

Quiet breaths, faint sounds of swallowing, and a voice tinged with mixed emotions. 

I leaned against the edge of the bathtub, slowly stirring the water with my fingertips. 

Splash! 

I felt strangely elated. 

Kim Dohyun’s flustered reaction flowed through the call. 

Even without him saying anything, I could feel it. 

His breathing was slightly disordered, and there were brief silences as if he were trying to stay quiet but awkwardly making small sounds. 

I leaned slightly against the edge of the bathtub and closed my eyes. 

My fingertips moved slowly underwater. 

The warm water slipped through my fingers. 

I could clearly picture his expression. 

Slightly parting his lips, closing them, pretending to adjust his glasses, and fumbling about, not knowing where to put his hands. 

The more I thought about it, the more I felt my lips curl into a smile. 

But I didn’t change my expression. 

I moved my feet gently in the water. 

Splash!

His agitation flowed into my ears. 

His voice trembled with every word. 

This sensation was quite pleasant. 

A delightful excitement. 

A slightly ticklish atmosphere. 

I could clearly tell that he was shaken because of me. 

I lightly tapped the water with my fingertips. 

Small droplets splashed. 

Beneath my calm expression, tiny waves were stirring inside. 

Then, suddenly, as if an impulse, words slipped out.

“Tch” 

“I’m in the bathtub right now.” 

Like throwing a stone into a quiet lake. 

And then— 

Thud! 

I heard a dull sound, like someone hitting their head against a desk. 

My fingertips flinched slightly. I hadn’t opened my eyes, but I could clearly imagine the scene in my mind. 

Flustered, startled, trying to stand up, but then losing balance and bumping into the desk. 

It was so obvious that I quietly swallowed my laughter. 

He probably dropped a pen or something. 

Leaning one shoulder against the edge of the bathtub, I playfully splashed the water with my fingertips. 

I parted my lips slightly, speaking more slowly this time. 

“Pervert.”

My voice dropped lazily. 

I smiled faintly as I slowly moved my toes underwater. 

The bathtub was silent. 

So was the space between us, just subtle breaths and faint sounds filling the air. 

I think I heard the sound of pulling tissue, but it was probably just my imagination. 

I clearly pictured Kim Dohyun’s face. 

His mind was probably blank right now, just thinking he had to say something. He’d be trying to escape this situation somehow. 

And as expected— 

“Then… won’t your phone get ruined?” 

His words were thrown clumsily. 

Awkwardly, hurriedly. 

It was obvious that he wanted to end this situation. 

I smiled quietly, tapping the water surface again with my fingertips. 

The once calm water made a small ripple. 

“It’s okay. It’s waterproof. Very sturdy.” 

Clear and gentle waves followed my fingertips as they rippled. 

The water inside the bathtub seemed to move with my emotions, reacting to his responses.

Another brief silence. I stirred the water slowly with my fingertips. 

Then— 

“So.” I spoke first. “Why did you call?” 

Kim Dohyun seemed to hesitate for a moment again. 

And then, a brief and simple answer came. 

“Just.” “Just?” 

I tapped the water again with my fingertips. 

The calm ripples spread out.

His answer was brief, but the emotion behind it was not.

“I just wanted to.”

Strangely, a fluttering sensation spread across one side of my chest. 

The meaning and the emotion were not clear, but despite that, it felt like it was conveyed perfectly. 

I leaned a little further into the bathtub. 

The warm water soaked up to my chest, and the heat seeped into me.

After that, light conversation flowed. 

Simple jokes and casual questions. 

His voice, my voice, naturally followed each other.

Then, a soft click came from the phone. I narrowed my eyes and smiled.

“What are you doing right now?”

He didn’t answer.

Leaning my head against the edge of the bathtub, I slowly added, “Are you still picking up your pen?”

“…”

After a brief silence, his low voice came through.

“…I’m editing pictures.”

I chuckled softly. 

It felt like I was part of his everyday life. 

Like I was filling a small corner of his day. 

I didn’t dislike that feeling.

I slowly moved my toes in the water. 

Again, the gentle ripples spread out.

“What’s that?”

I spoke in a playful tone.

“Are you using me as a replacement for the radio?”

He didn’t say anything.

I lightly splashed the water with one hand and continued, “Is my voice really that nice to listen to?”

When he still didn’t answer, I added in an even lighter tone, “Did you call me just to hear my voice?”

And then, from the other side of the phone, a very quiet voice came through.

“…Yeah.”

At that moment, my fingertips froze. 

My body sank deeper into the water. 

Splash! 

My heart suddenly raced, so much so that I forgot to even breathe. 

Even though I was in warm water, his one sentence made my body feel even warmer.

I couldn’t say anything. I gently pressed the water’s surface with my fingertips. 

The ripples grew larger and then spread gently, matching the rhythm of my heartbeat.

I unintentionally tightened my grip on the phone, then relaxed it again. 

I opened my lips to speak but closed them.

The trembling in my heart spread, like ripples on the surface of the water. 

I could feel a faint trembling at my fingertips. 

That small tremor seemed to sink into the water, and the surface of the bathtub began to ripple slowly. 

Very quietly, yet clearly, the ripples spread out, forming small waves that met the edge of the bathtub and then came back.

It seemed like it would settle, but I knew that if I moved just a little, more ripples would form. 

The trembling that had started inside me was now reflected on the water’s surface. 

Every time I tried to breathe, the ripples would shake.

His voice came to mind again.

“Yeah.”

That one word shook my heart and the surface of the water strongly. 

He shook it up and then, as if nothing happened, calmly asked, “How’s the preparation for the competition going?”

Kim Dohyun’s voice quietly flowed through the phone.

I leaned my face against the edge of the bathtub. 

The cold surface of the tub was cooling my warm cheek. 

I tapped the water droplets stuck to the side of the tub with my fingertip and said, “It’s hard.”

The words came out so easily. If this had been a message, I wouldn’t have said it like that. 

I would’ve said something like, ‘Yeah, it’s okay,’ or ‘I’m fine for now.’

But this was a phone call. 

His voice came directly to me, and I could hear the concern in it.

“You look like it.”

That was such a Dohyun-like response. 

A smile involuntarily appeared on my face. 

It was his usual calm tone, but it felt like comfort, in its own way.

I slowly dipped my fingertips into the water and pulled them out. 

Water droplets fell from my fingertips.

“So, is it really, really hard?”

I said, with a slight pout, like I was whining.

At that moment, a very short, almost inaudible breath came through the phone. 

And then,”Your body? Your heart?”

I froze for a moment. 

My fingers, still submerged in the water, tensed up. 

The surface of the water rippled quietly. 

I opened my mouth to speak, then closed it again. 

I absentmindedly rubbed the smooth surface of the bathtub with my fingertips, feeling its warmth.

And then,

“…You’re feeling uneasy, aren’t you?”

Kim Dohyun’s voice came quietly, but it felt like it was deeply embedded in me.

That sentence, though, made one side of my chest feel strangely ticklish. 

I slowly ran my fingertips along the inside of the bathtub. 

I lightly flicked the water with my fingers and looked away.

I huddled in on myself more, burying my face in the water.

Shiver

The bubbles rose to the surface.

My cheeks grew warmer.

I tapped the bottom of the bathtub with my toes. I dipped my palm into the water, then pulled it out. 

Subtle unease kept creeping into my movements.

Then,

“Do you know?”

Kim Dohyun said, very quietly but clearly.

“I can hear everything.”

“—!”

I instinctively took a breath in.

Hiss!

Then I quickly grabbed the phone and hung up.

Thud.

I abruptly ended the call.

“Ughhhh—!”

I slammed my head against the edge of the bathtub, covering my face with both hands.

And then, without meaning to, I pouted a little.

“Are you getting revenge on me?”

Rubbing my face with my palm, I tapped the bathtub wall lightly.

I sank my body deeper into the bathtub, the hot water rising up to my shoulders.

Then—

Plop.

A small sound of water came from the quiet bathtub.

I slowly lowered my gaze.

A rubber duck floating.

It was floating on the surface with a tube around its middle, looking as though it was carrying all the peace of the world on its face.

Right, it was the character from the barley drink.

It seemed my sister had placed it there again.

Whenever I take a bath, she always puts it in with the excuse, “I thought you’d be bored if you bathe alone~.”

I’d grumble, “Why do you keep putting this in here?” but I never actually removed it.

I didn’t care that much.

Or, to be honest, I secretly liked it.

It was cute.

But today, for some reason, this duck was bothering me.

I folded my arms and glared at it.

The way it was just floating there, mindlessly swaying, irritated me for no reason.

I reached out with one hand and gently pressed down on the duck.

Squeeze.

The duck sank into the water and then popped back up.

I pressed it down again.

Squeeze.

It surfaced again.

And then, I realized.

This duck.

Floating with a tube around its middle.

That calm face.

That lazy attitude that never sinks, even in the shaking bathtub water.

It was just like Kim Dohyun.

I furrowed my brows for a moment.

He stays quietly observant, as though noticing everything, but then acts like nothing’s wrong.

With his calm tone and unexpectedly prickly way of speaking.

“…What’s this?”

I reached out and grabbed the duck firmly.

Then, Squeeze.

I pushed it down into the water.

As soon as I let go, it popped back up to the surface.

I pressed it down once more.

Squeeze.

This time, I held it longer before letting go.

It surfaced again.

I glared at it with a pout, then—

Thud.

I nudged it with my fingertip one more time.

“Must be nice, just floating around all carefree.”

Yet, despite my annoyance,the duck slowly floated back toward me.

I sighed and grabbed it again.

“Why are you just floating around like this?”

The duck poked its little face out of my palm.

I clenched my lips tight,and glared at the duck for a long while.

[Kim Dohyun]

Why did you suddenly hang up?

[Lee Ji-an]

→  Seems like my phone broke since I was in the water for so long, like you said.

The call suddenly dropped?

[Kim Dohyun] 

→  So the phone really broke, right?

[Lee Ji-an]

→ What do you mean by that?

[Kim Dohyun]

→ I just thought, if your phone was broken, how could you send a message?

[Lee Ji-an]

→ You’re just like that duck.

[Kim Dohyun] 

→ ?