Annyeongz One-shots

41. Torque

The workshop wasn’t loud like Wonyoung expected.
Instead, it was calm — quiet humming from machines, the faint smell of metal, and sunlight spilling across the concrete floor.

Wonyoung stepped inside, holding her car keys nervously. Her sedan had been making a strange clattering noise since yesterday, and she had no one else to ask for help.

“Hello?” she called softly.

A figure straightened up from beside a car.

Ahn Yujin.

Tall.
Good-looking in a quiet kind of way.
Hair pushed behind one ear, a few strands falling softly over his forehead.
Grease on his hands, but everything else about him looked… clean. Calm. Gentle.

His voice, when he spoke, was soft — but deep enough that she felt it in her chest.

“Hi,” he said, wiping his hands on a cloth. “Are you looking for a mechanic?”

Wonyoung blinked. Hard.
That voice could make instructions sound like a lullaby.

“Uh— yes. My car is making a weird noise.”

He smiled politely, not too much, just enough to make her feel safe.
“Can I take a look?”

But the moment she stepped forward, she didn’t see the small socket wrench on the ground.

Her shoe caught.

She stumbled forward— “Ah—!”

Yujin reacted instantly.

His hands caught her arms gently, pulling her against him before she hit the floor.
Not rough, not startled — just calm, steady, like he’d done it a thousand times.

“You okay?” he asked softly, his voice close to her ear.

She could hear the warmth in it, the concern.

Wonyoung nodded too fast. “Y-yeah. Sorry, I didn’t… I didn’t see that.”

He let her go slowly, making sure she was balanced before he stepped back.

“No need to apologize,” he said with a small, reassuring smile. “It was my fault for leaving tools on the floor.”

He bent down to move the wrench out of her way.

“Just glad you didn’t get hurt.”

Wonyoung’s heart did a strange flip.

Why was he like this?
Why did a stranger’s voice feel so gentle?
Why did she feel more embarrassed now than when she almost fell?

He stood up again, wiping dust from her sleeve with the back of his hand — carefully, respectfully, as if asking permission with his eyes.

Her breath hitched at the small gesture.

“There,” he said softly. “Better.”

She nodded, unable to speak for a moment.

Yujin walked toward her car, motioning for her to follow.

“Show me what sound it’s making,” he said, tilting his head slightly. “I’ll listen.”

His tone was polite.
No attitude.
No teasing.
Just a gentle guy doing his job with kindness.

But Wonyoung could feel the heat rising to her cheeks.

And as he leaned over the hood, listening intently with that deep voice explaining what he heard, she realized something:

She wasn’t flustered because she fell.

She was flustered because the man who caught her
felt safer than anyone she’d met in a long time.