ilwoo’s got the fan cranked up past high, in that way where it starts making this grinding whir-click of a noise, protesting the idea of living. it’s unavoidable though, because once summer hits the garage starts feeling a little closer to hell than anything else. the heat seems to pool on the concrete floor, steam spilling out from the engines and sticking to his skin. he’s got a good month left until it becomes unbearable, but he still has himself sat down right in front of the fan anyway. it’s basically a break, so it doesn’t matter much. he’s the only one on shift at the moment, and the only thing left for him to do is finish the repairs on some old farm equipment dragged down from the ginseng farms. he’ll get to it before the sun sets.
or that was the plan, but now there's a car rolling its way up slow to the garage, groaning and wheezing the way most of the cars do that pull up a couple of hours before it closes. he lifts his hand to shield his eyes from the sun still lingering above the treetops, watches as jiyeon pops the door open and climbs out. it’s not all that surprising, by now and ilwoo could match every car in onyang with the person who drives it. it’s not like there’s an abundance of garages around for people to be picky about. he bets jiyeon would’ve preferred to be picky about where she brought her car to. but it’s onyang, so she’s stuck here bringing it to him.
ilwoo smiles when she gets close enough that he can drop his hand. it lacks in kindness, and so it reads as something unsettling instead. like it should be crooked, sliding into a frown. but it doesn’t change, it just stays as that not-smile on his face as ilwoo leans back enough to balance his elbow on a cart behind him. “now, you know i can’t drop all my work at a moment’s notice just because you want to come see me.” the only reason that ilwoo says it is because he thinks it might get a rise out of her. that’s how he’s learned to deal with most everything in his life, good or bad, talk at it until something happens. enough times and it starts to become a pattern, one that can all but be used as a blueprint for their relationships now.
ilwoo says something that makes jiyeon annoyed, and so she gets annoyed. maybe she takes a jab at him right back. like a game, only without any of the fun.
“oil changes aren’t that hard, i bet you can manage.” ilwoo finally drops the smile as he says it, doesn’t bother asking the real reason she brought it in, either. with no other options around, she’ll be liable to tell him. the same way he’ll be liable to fix it for her, because he’s not above taking the money.
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