The Cutting Edge

021

Just seconds before the curling iron would have come in contact with Hyejin's palm, someone stepped in and grabbed hold of it, throwing it onto the ground immediately.

Hyunwon frowned as he looked down at the curling iron before turning to Hyejin and saying, "Can you just stay out of trouble for once! Don't you know that curling irons need at least fifteen minutes to cool back down to room temperature?"

Hyejin's immediate reaction was one of indignation. She hadn't meant to catch hold of the curling iron on purpose, all she had done was to instinctively reach out to catch whatever she could, since everything was raining to the ground. How was she supposed to know that the curling iron— "Wait," she suddenly snapped out of her own thought bubble and grabbed hold of Hyunwon's hand, "are you alright? I mean, that curling iron..."

There was a huge, angry, red burn on Hyunwon's right hand where the curling iron had done its nasty work.

"Oh no!" she exclaimed in dismay, all her earlier indignation vanishing without a trace.

"I'm fine," Hyunwon replied drily, quickly extricating his hand from her grip. He looked around them, noting with displeasure that Hyejin's exclamation had drawn some attention and odd looks their way. He hurriedly went back to what he was doing and put the final touches of hairspray onto Soojin's hair using his good hand before checking the final look once over and sending the girl on set.

Hyejin waited for him to be done, and the moment she saw him set down the spray can, she immediately grabbed him by the arm and dragged him out of the studio.

"What do you think you're doing?" Hyunwon demanded.

"Stop being stubborn and come with me," she replied, using both hands to pull him along so that he wouldn't be able to break free. "You were the one who told me that a stylist's hands are his most important asset, so you should practice what you preach and take care of yourself!" In the few minutes while Hyunwon was finishing up his work, she had managed to ask one of the magazine's employees for the whereabouts of the nearest first-aid box—it was apparently in the pantry four doors down. Although they were getting a couple ofc queer looks from people down the corridor, she barely noticed.

Hyunwon looked at her, slightly surprised that she still remembered what he said when he had pretty much forgotten that he ever said anything of that sort. He let her drag him along to the pantry and forcibly sit him down on a chair.

"It looks quite bad," Hyejin murmured, a frown setting in across her forehead. She carefully examined the burn that Hyunwon had incurred before placing his palm under a running tap.

Hyunwon winced when the water came into contact with his skin, an awful sting hitting him all of a sudden.

"You need to get it properly cleaned otherwise it could get infected," she rambled on, rummaging about the first-aid box for some antiseptic lotion.

"I can do it myself."

"No you can't," Hyejin retorted, waving the tube of antiseptic lotion high in the air so that it was just out of reach. "Just be a good boy and sit still while I put this on for you. It's not going to hurt, I promise. After that we just need to get a bandage round it and then it'll be done."

Be a good boy? Does she seriously think I don't want to let her do it because I'm scared of the pain? Hyunwon looked at Hyejin incredulously, all of a sudden remembering how brazen this girl could be. He had almost forgotten that he had been slapped by her before—even his grandmother had never slapped him before.

He watched as Hyejin carefully applied some antiseptic lotion onto his palm, the cool sensation of the lotion immediately taking away the sting that had been there before. At that moment, he suddenly felt like laughing (although he did well to maintain his stern look). After living on his own for so long, he couldn't even remember when was the last time he needed someone else to help him do a bandage.