Slowly Falling | LK Adaptation

Chapter 35

For better convenience, Lisa had specially packed a small wax melting stove into a large backpack, along with her other tools. With this, she was ready to visit Jungkook's home for a second time.

Today was Thursday, so her shop was closed. She would usually stay home and make some candles, but she figured it would be better to do it at Jungkook's house. She could show her face and allow her future mother-in-law to see what her job entailed.

Jungkook had a morning shift today, so Lisa didn't ask him to wait for her to arrive and instead entered the home with the key he had given her.

Mother Jeon had different clothes today, but she was sitting in the exact same spot as last time. It seems she knew that Lisa was coming. She raised her head when Lisa entered with her large backpack, but there wasn't any change in her expression.

Lisa placed her backpack on the couch and smiled. "Hello Auntie, I'm here again."

Mother Jeon looked at the black backpack she had bought. She seemed interested, but in the end, she didn't ask. Mother Jeon simply lowered her head and opened the book in her hand.

When Lisa came in, she had explicitly glanced at the book mother Jeon was holding. It was a different book from last time. This book was the latest work from Lee Juhan, titled 'Secret.' Lisa sat down in the same spot as last time and said: "This book has also been made into a movie. Kang Lehin and Kim Narim made it."

Mother Jeon was obviously not a fan of either of these people, because she was indifferent to Lisa's words. Lisa didn't mind. She poured herself a glass of water, then started to take out the stuff in her backpack one by one.

The melting furnace, wax melting pot, her electronic scale, thermometers, wax blocks, gypsum, paper cups....the small coffee table was instantly filled with Lisa's things. Her busy movements finally made mother Jen raise her head. She looked at the strange items on the coffee table, then looked at Lisa.

Lisa smiled at her and said: "I don't know if Jungkook mentioned it to you, but I opened an aromatherapy candle shop in Starlight Park. These are the tools I use to make candles."

Mother Jeon didn't reply. Lisa turned the electronic scale on, then poured some gypsum into a paper cup. "Don't worry, I work quietly, so I promise not to disturb your reading."

Mother Jeon's expression finally appeared to loosen a bit. It seems that she had never met such a brazen person before. She stared at Lisa for a while, but Lisa really did start making candles, so she could only go back to her book.

Lisa measured the amount of gypsum, then glanced at mother Jeon before adding the appropriate amount of water. Mother Jeon had wanted to use the move 'ignore her' to push Lisa back, but this sort of thing was ineffective to Lisa.

After all, her greatest strength was the ability to withstand solitude.

To her knowledge, mother Jeon had only started to ignore people in the last three years. Before the death of her husband, she had been a woman who cared for her family and knew how to live her life well.

Lisa had heard from Jungkook that she had been a dancer in an art troupe when she was young. His father had fallen in love with his mother at first sight during an art show. Mother Jeon was pretty and danced well. When she was young, she had been pursued by many men, but it was only Jungkook's father who succeeded.

After their marriage, although mother Jeon had divided her energy into taking care of Jungkook and Somi, her dancing skills didn't diminish. She would go square dancing with her friends, participate in regular dance competitions with teams, and even teach others dancing in her spare time.

Lisa was very different from mother Jeon. She had lived in self-imposed isolation for twenty-four years. No one knew how to live in solitude better than Lisa. If mother Jeon enthusiastically attempted conversation with her, Lisa might've been the one to back down first, but mother Jeon had instead chosen 'ignore her.'

In this silent tug of war, Lisa felt like she was in an excellent position to win.

Mixing the gypsum until it was in the most appropriate viscosity, she dipped some black pigment onto the mixture with a toothpick. The moment the toothpick touched the gypsum, the black pigment spread into the mixture like ink on a painting.

Lisa turned the paper cup to let the pigment dye a pattern onto the gypsum, and once she was satisfied, poured the gypsum into a mold. While waiting for the liquid gypsum to solidify, she placed the block of soy wax into the melting pot and put the pot on top of the preheated melting furnace.

It was as if she was performing magic. She didn't make much noise, but she still attracted mother Jeon's attention. When Lisa noticed the older woman's attention on her, she didn't feel uncomfortable. She just waited for the wax to heat up to the proper temperature, removing the gypsum container from its mold while she did so. When the wax was finally heated up, she poured it into the gypsum container.

Lisa inserted a wax core and fixed it in place with a clip. She pushed it aside, then asked mother Jeon: "Does it look nice? This kind of basic candle sells quite well in our shop. It smells good too."

She only brought two scents today, and they were both the most popular scents in her store. Many of her female customers had asked her if she sold any perfumes with the same scent.

The air became filled with a light flowery fragrance. As Lisa began weighing some gypsum again, she asked: "Auntie, why don't you learn to make a few candles with me? Instead of being bored at home, why not learn a craft to pass the time?"

Mother Jeon looked at her, then went back to her book.

Lisa stayed at Jungkook's home until the afternoon, making a bunch of fragrant candles, some with beehive wax, some with soy wax. When she finally decided to leave, she filled her backpack with only the candles she made. She didn't intend to take her tools home and instead packed them into a large paper bag and placed them in Jungkook's room.

After all, she intended to visit often. Leaving her tools here meant that she wouldn't have to lug everything along every time she came.

When Lisa exited Jungkook's room, she found that mother Jeon had already returned to her own room. Lisa walked over to her room and found her door open. She knocked on the door, and still standing outside, said: "Auntie, I'll be going back. See you next time."

Mother Jeon didn't answer, and Lisa didn't wait for a reply. She simply turned around and left.

When Jungkook came back that evening, he found the paper bag full of Lisa's tools on his desk. With a smile, he closed the bag, then found a candle next to his textbooks.

Compared to the many fancy candles in Lisa's store, this particular candle was the most basic kind of candle placed in a gypsum container. The container was hexagonal and had black paint randomly smudged on it. It looked very much like an ink landscape painting.

After finding a box of matches, Jungkook lit the candle. It's faint light gave off the tiniest bit of warmth. He turned off the lights in his room, leaving only the small lamp on his desk to illuminate the candle. He adjusted the lighting, took a photo of the candle, then sent it to Lisa.

Jungkook: Thank you for the candle. It's really nice. [picture.jpg ]

Lisa: Did you take the photo on your cell phone?

Jungkook: Yeah, why?

Lisa: It looks pretty good. Then I'll ask you to take photos for me from now on. (*'艸'*)

Jungkook: I can't. (－‸ლ)

Lisa: I don't think men are supposed to say they can't?

Jungkook:...

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I was suddenly taken for a drive...

(T/N: An internet slang basically about porn. Like, asking someone to drive you basically means 'yo share your porn stash with me.' It's a slang that references sex. I find it equal parts confusing and hilarious that this slang is in here. Basically, Lisa was like 'men aren't supposed to say they can't [perform], lol' and by perform she means sexually. )

----

Lisa: By the way, I've recently tried making a few dishes by myself. I feel like I've made a lot of progress, so next time you should come by and try it!

Jungkook's face heated as he replied with an 'alright.'

Every time he goes to Lisa's house, they don't just eat...

Lisa: Goodnight ☾

Jungkook: Good night, have a good rest.

As they both said their goodnights, Taehyung's business was at its peak time.

While Taehyung was playing billiards in a private room with Ah Mao, a flustered waiter ran in. With a voice shaking with panic, he said: "Brother Kim, Brother Mao, there are two guests outside..."

Taehyung put down his billiard stick and asked: "What's wrong?"

"I, I don't know. They act like they've drunk too much, but they haven't...." Thinking back to the two guests, the waiter thought that the situation might be more complicated than it looked. Initially, the guests weren't any trouble, and they didn't even drink much wine. But then they suddenly got excited and made a fuss.

"We'll go have a look." Taehyung called for Ah Mao, and the pair walked out.

The two people the waiter mentioned was a man and a woman. They definitely looked out of place in a bar, and it seems that they don't come to such places often. When Taehyung saw the two, they were already happily dancing in the middle of the dance floor, with half of their clothes on the ground. A crowd had gathered around them, whistling and applauding at the duo's antics.

Taehyung and Ah Mao squeezed through the crowd, picked up the clothes on the floor, and then tried to drag the man and the woman off the dance floor. The man and woman were so inebriated that when they saw people trying to drag them away, they shouted: "What are you doing? Don't pull me!"

He and Ah Mao signaled towards their other brothers to help forcibly pull them away. The two drunkards struggled and cursed the entire time, causing other customers to watch the commotion.

After the drunken duo was pulled away, the incident was soon forgotten by the other people in the bar. The dance floor soon changed the song, and everyone continued to drink and dance.

Back in the lounge, Taehyung threw a small plastic bag at Ah Mao with a thunderous expression on his face. Ah Mao looked at the small bag thrown at him. His face twisted as he asked: "Brother Kim...where did this stuff come from?"

Taehyung sneered. "It fell out those two people's clothes."

Ah Mao quickly knelt in front of Taehyung. "Brother Kim, this didn't come from us. We wouldn't dare touch these things! You told every single one of us that if we even looked at such things, we'd get ten punches to the gut!"

Taehyung snorted, then sat down on a nearby sofa. Ah Mao has been with him for a long time. He understood this little brother's personality. If he says it's not something from them, then those two customers bought it elsewhere.

When he first thought of opening a bar in this street, he made sure he understood the rules of Qingnan Lane. This....was someone on the brink of breaking the rules?

"Check out those two and see which stores they regularly visit."

"I understand." Ah Mao looked down at the little plastic bag again. "Uh...what about this thing?"

Taehyung replied: "Throw it in the toilet and flush it away! And those two people, they're not allowed to enter our store in the future."

Ah Mao quickly nodded. "Yes, I'll go do it now."