Peninsula's Life Begins in 2016

Chapter 31 goes around in circles for ages

Jiang Yan glanced at her, put his phone back in his pocket, and said matter-of-factly, "She's all alone in Seoul and doesn't know anyone. I'm the only person she knows. It's only right that I take care of her."

"That's right, that's right." Choi Sulli picked up her beer can and took a small sip. "But Kang Yeon-ssi, have you ever really thought about this?"

"What's the problem?"

"You care so much about a fifteen-year-old girl, arranging everything for her and taking care of every detail. She may not understand now because she is young, but when she grows up in two years, she will easily feel that you are the best man in the world to her besides her father."

Jiang Yan's grip on the mineral water bottle suddenly froze in mid-air, and the expression on his face visibly stiffened little by little.

"A few years from now, every time I open my eyes, there will be a handsome, tall, gentle, and reliable guy by my side who will pick me up from work every day, cook for me, and shield me from all my troubles..."

Choi Sulli deliberately paused halfway through her sentence, gently placed the beer can on the ground, wrapped her arms around her knees, rested her chin on her knees, and tilted her head to quietly observe Jiang Yan's reaction. Her almond-shaped eyes were full of a sly smile, as if she were watching a good show: "Do you really think she won't be moved?"

Jiang Yan remained silent for a full three seconds before slowly putting down the mineral water bottle and looking at her with a dark expression.

"Choi Jin-ri-xi."

"Um?"

She's only fifteen.

"so what?"

"I'm already twenty."

"So what if you're twenty?"

Jiang Yan raised his hand, palm down, making a stop gesture, and sighed helplessly: "What kind of melodramatic scripts are you imagining every day? I watched her grow up since she was little. She used to follow me around when she was a kid. In my eyes, she's just a little girl, no different from my own sister."

He paused, then added seriously, "She calls me Oppa, but I only see her as a younger sister."

Seeing his serious and righteous demeanor, Choi Sulli couldn't hold back any longer and burst out laughing.

She laughed so hard her body bent slightly, her shoulders bouncing, her light chestnut hair sliding down her shoulders, half-covering her pretty face.

"Hey, Jiang Yan, you'd better keep your word."

"What do you mean by 'keeping your word'?"

"I only see her as a younger sister." Choi Sulli straightened her legs, picked up the can of beer that had cooled down, tilted her head back and drank it in one gulp. Her tone was a little willful as she slowly said, word by word, "I met you first, she met me many years later."

Jiang Yan stared at her for a moment, then leaned back on the sofa with a sigh of relief. His back ached slightly from the sofa springs, so he quickly sat up straight.

"No, why are you arguing with a fifteen-year-old girl?"

"Who's arguing with her?" Choi Sulli turned her face away, feigning disdain. "I'm just doing some risk management for you. You're a producer at SM now, and you'll be surrounded by beautiful female idols and actresses in the future. You're so nice to everyone, do you think that girl can handle it?"

"What beautiful female idol actress? Aren't you just talking about yourself?"

"ah!"

Choi Sulli raised her hand and slapped his arm hard. Jiang Yan hissed and moved to the side, clutching his arm.

"That's not what I meant!" Choi Sulli glared at him, a faint blush creeping onto her cheeks. "Don't try to change the subject. I'm serious. Your sister..."

"Her name is Kim Minjung."

"Arasso, Arasso! Whatever you call me, you have to be careful what you say."

"What do you mean by 'no boundaries'? Cooking for her, picking her up from get off work, making her bed, buying her snacks—is that considered lacking boundaries?" Jiang Yan leaned back on the sofa armrest, looking utterly hopeless. "Are you suggesting I just leave her in her dorm and ignore her?"

Choi Sulli thought about it seriously for a moment, then her tone became more serious, no longer joking: "At least don't do everything for her. Let her learn to be more independent. Otherwise, her first reaction when she encounters a problem will be to turn to Kang Yeon oppa. If she relies on him for too long, she'll easily go astray."

Upon hearing this, Jiang Yan vividly recalled the image of Kim Minjung pushing his hand away and walking into the SM building alone that morning.

The little girl had her hair tied in a high ponytail, her back straight, and she never looked back.

That phrase, "Oppa, I've grown up," still echoes clearly in my ears.

He lowered his eyes, a smile unconsciously creeping onto his lips: "She's much stronger and more sensible than you think. Today, when she went to the company to sign a contract, she wouldn't even hold my hand; she just walked in confidently on her own."

As Choi Sulli looked at his gentle expression when he spoke of the little girl, a slight smile appeared on her lips: "Then she seems to be a very well-behaved child."

"She's always been well-behaved." Jiang Yan picked up the mineral water, finished the last sip, screwed on the cap, and said lightly, "After all that beating around the bush, you're just worried that I'm too nice to her and you're getting jealous, aren't you?"

"What?!"

Choi Sulli suddenly looked up, her eyes wide with disbelief.

Jiang Yan immediately raised his hands in a gesture of surrender: "Just kidding, just kidding, don't hit me, beer cans hurt a lot."

Choi Sulli slowly put down the beer can she had just raised to smash him, rolled her eyes at him, and said with a hint of reproach in her tone, "You, apart from being broke, are perfect in every way—height, looks, personality—and you're so gentle and considerate to those around you. Your type is the easiest to attract bad romantic attention, and you don't even realize it. Really..."

"Hey, you're wrong about that." Jiang Yan immediately waved his hand and corrected him seriously, "I'm not poor anymore. I just received a payment for the arrangement a few days ago, and I have money in my account."

"you……"

Choi Sulli's hand, which was pointing at him, froze in mid-air. She opened her mouth, but in the end, she was amused by his nonsensical and unreasonable arguing. She tossed her long hair and sighed in exasperation, "Forget it, there's no way to reason with someone like you."

After making the joke, Choi Sulli stood up, walked to the easel, and turned the painting that had been turned away back to her.

The unfinished acrylic painting was once again exposed to the warm yellow light of the studio.

On a deep blue, almost black background, white and silver-gray paint was smeared indiscriminately to create a blurred coastline.

The shape of the wave was only half-drawn, abruptly ending at the right third of the canvas. The irregular dark red blob in the lower left corner resembled a setting sun or the foam that crashed against the rocks.

Jiang Yan walked up to the easel: "Is this a painting of the sea off Busan?"

"Yes, it's from Taejongdae." Choi Sulli picked up a paintbrush and rinsed it in a turpentine can. "Last time I went back to Busan to see my grandmother, the wind was really strong, and the waves were splashing more than ten meters high. When I came back, I wanted to paint it, but I just couldn't continue painting the waves."

Jiang Yan stared at the blank sea and smiled: "You're still the same as when you were a child. You used to draw the sea in the back mountain. You also said that the waves were too difficult to draw. They would die as soon as they were drawn on the paper. You didn't want dead waves. I've seen at least three unfinished sea drawings in your notebook."

Upon hearing this, Choi Sulli paused, a drop of turpentine running down the pen and staining the wooden floor, leaving a dark circle: "You even remember this?"

"Of course I remember," Jiang Yan shrugged. "So, should we keep this one as a work in progress?"

Choi Sulli shook her head without answering. She stood in front of the easel, her fingers unconsciously twisting her cuffs.

After a while, she suddenly picked up a clean paintbrush and a tube of white acrylic paint and handed them to Jiang Yan: "You finish the painting."

Jiang Yan looked down at the paintbrush and paints in his hand, his eyelids twitching. "Wait, Choi Jin-ri, you've known me for so many years, have you ever seen me paint?"

"You don't know how? That's perfect." Choi Sulli put her hands behind her back, tilted her head to look at him, and had a mischievous smile on her lips. "You only need to learn if you don't know how to draw. I'll teach you."

"no……"

"Jiang Yan." Cui Xueli suddenly called out his full name solemnly, "You said that if it's something I don't want to do, I shouldn't do it. Now, what I want to do is finish painting this sea. But I can't finish it by myself, so you have to help me."

Jiang Yan looked at the light and his own shadow reflected in her almond-shaped eyes and sighed, "Fine, fine, you teach me, just don't blame me if you ruin the painting."

Choi Sulli's eyes lit up, and she pulled him to the easel. She stood beside him, her left hand on the easel, and her right hand naturally covered his hand holding the paintbrush.

"Waves aren't drawn, they're created by pushing them. Use the side of the brush, keep your wrist relaxed, like this..."

As she spoke, she took his hand and gently touched the deep blue background.

The paint spread out, leaving a semi-transparent white line with a touch of blue at the edge, looking quite like foam splashing from ocean waves.

Jiang Yan's arm was initially stiff as a log, but he could clearly feel the warm and soft touch of her palm. He took a deep breath, forced himself to focus on the canvas, and slowly relaxed his wrist.

Her brushstrokes gradually became more directional as she went from clumsy and awkward to the largest wave in the center of the canvas. Suddenly, Choi Sulli's hand stopped.

This was exactly where she had been stuck before; the upper part was finished, but the lower part was still a blank outline.

"This flower was the hardest to draw. If it's too thick, it looks fake, and if it's too thin, you can't see it. I tried seven or eight times and it still looked ugly."

"Then don't worry about whether it looks good or not. You just said that if you want the whole sea to surge, then push it out first."

Choi Sulli looked at him silently for a second, then her hands started moving again.

This time, she applied very light pressure, using only a small amount of white acrylic paint, layering it on top of each other until the waves gradually became fuller, acquiring a transparent texture and a surging direction.

With the last stroke, she released her grip.

"alright."

The two looked at the canvas together. White waves surged up from the lower right corner, one after another, and finally crashed into the unseen reefs, splashing up a fine mist.

"It's finished. Thank you for helping me."

Jiang Yan put down his pen, shook his wrist, and just said, "You're welcome."

The conversation abruptly stopped. In his field of vision, Choi Sulli remained motionless, still looking at the painting, like a statue frozen in time.

The light and mist he had seen on her in the elevator during the day were slowly dissipating from her body at a visible speed.