Peninsula: I run a bed and breakfast on Jeju Island

Chapter 73 Toes

Lee Ji-eun looked away and stopped talking about the topic.

She took two steps forward, then turned back to urge him, "Let's go."

Li Ran caught up, and the two continued walking along the dirt road.

The roadside weeds were still wet, with one or two drops of water occasionally sliding off the tips of the grass and falling into the mud with a splash.

They turned another corner.

The cherry blossom trees in front first revealed a few tips, their pink and white blossoms standing out against the clear sky.

The main cherry blossom in Jeju Island is the royal cherry, which turns pinkish-white when it grows a little bigger.

When Li Ran and Cui Zhenli came to see it, it was still in its early stages, and the petals were all pure white.

Li Ran and Li Zhi'en took a few more steps closer, and the entire row of trees finally came into view.

Seven or eight cherry blossom trees of varying heights stood along both sides of the dirt road.

It rained yesterday, and some petals fell to the ground, clinging wetly to the dirt road, leaving pinkish-white marks when stepped on.

The flowers on the branches were still blooming densely, and when the wind came, they trembled and a few petals fell down.

Lee Ji-eun stood at the intersection and looked up for a while.

"It was indeed a good drive." She took out her phone.

She walked a few steps under the tree, tilted her head back to take a picture, glanced at it, wasn't satisfied, and changed the angle.

Li Ran stood by the roadside and glanced at the sky.

The clouds hadn't completely dispersed, and the light was intermittent. She pressed the shutter when it was bright, taking several photos in a row.

"Come stand here for a bit too," she beckoned.

Li Ran didn't move. "Just take pictures of the tree, what would I be doing there?"

"I'm using it to compare sizes, not to photograph you," Lee Ji-eun pouted. "Hurry up, we need to send it to Jin-ri later."

He pursed his lips and moved closer, standing beside the tree, but without striking a pose.

Lee Ji-eun raised her phone, framed him in the frame, and pressed the shutter.

"Alright." She turned her phone over and showed it to him. "See, with a reference point, doesn't it look much better?"

In the photo, he stands next to the tallest cherry blossom tree, his expression calm, the canopy of the tree towering over his head and pressing down towards the camera.

"It's alright. In the end, it's my good looks that's holding me back." Li Ran glanced at it and nodded.

Lee Ji-eun rolled her eyes and lowered her head to start selecting photos.

She picked out a few of the best ones, put them together as a set, and then sent them to Choi Jin-ri.

Choi Jin-ri had talked to her before and asked her to take some pictures of cherry blossoms and send them to her when she had time.

It's a bit of a pity that she missed the best time to view the cherry blossoms.

After posting the photos, Lee Ji-eun put her phone back in her pocket and stood under the tree for a while.

Another gust of wind came, and a few petals fell from above. One petal clung to her shoulder, and she looked down and flicked it away.

Li Ran glanced at her shoulder, then looked up at the cherry blossom tree again.

Lee Ji-eun looked up at the tree canopy again, "I don't know when I'll be able to come back next time, and I wonder if the cherry blossoms will still be in bloom."

"To the beach?" she asked, turning her head.

"Let's go." Li Ran shrugged.

They returned to where they started.

The receding tide left faint watermarks on the sand.

The sea in the distance is a deep blue, even darker than the sky.

Lee Ji-eun stepped onto the sand, and her legs went weak.

She didn't rush forward; she looked down at the soles of her shoes, which were covered in a layer of fine sand.

The wind was stronger than on the dirt road, blowing her hair around. She raised her hand and gently smoothed it down.

Lee Ji-eun slowly walked eastward along the shore, her eyes scanning the sand.

Li Ran followed silently behind.

After walking for a while, she suddenly squatted down and dug a seashell out of the sand.

The dark orange shell wasn't very big, just a little larger than a thumbnail.

It has several small notches along its edge.

She flicked the sand off with her finger, turned it over to look inside, and then threw it away.

She continued walking and then picked up another piece.

I looked at it, then threw it away.

"What are you looking for by picking and throwing things around like this?" Li Ran asked.

"I wasn't looking for anything, just browsing. I'll take a look at whatever looks nice." She put her hands back in her pockets.

Two seagulls were still perched on the rocks; one had moved to a different spot, while the other remained still.

"Do people come here often?" she asked.

"There shouldn't be many."

"No wonder it's so clean."

She kicked the wet sand twice. "Some tourist beaches are really dirty; you can find all sorts of things there."

Li Ran didn't respond to that, and stood next to her.

Lee Ji-eun looked towards the sea for a while, but didn't really have anything in mind to do.

"Let's go back," she said. "That's enough."

"Um."

The two walked up the slope.

Back at the guesthouse, Lee Ji-eun sat down on the shoe stool by the door and bent down to untie her shoelaces.

Her shoes were covered in wet sand and mud. She took them off carefully, placing them on a mat by the door before stepping barefoot onto the ground and slipping on her slippers.

The cool tiles made her curl her toes slightly, then she stood up and walked towards the bathroom. "I'll wash my feet first. The sand is uncomfortable."

"Me too."

After changing her shoes at the door, Li Ran moved them aside to prevent Xiao Hei from snatching them away, and then headed towards the bathroom.

"Go soak your feet in the living room for a while. You can also watch TV or something," he said, carrying a foot bath.

Lee Ji-eun looked at him with some suspicion, "I'm increasingly suspecting that you have a foot fetish."

"What are you talking about! What are you saying!" He rolled his eyes. "What kind of blatant foot fetish is this?"

"I was just making a suggestion, whether you listen to it or not is up to you. Anyway, I personally quite like foot baths."

"Okay." Lee Ji-eun took the basin.

The two of them each carried a basin of hot water and sat down on either side of the sofa in the living room.

Li Ran turned on the TV and casually changed the channel.

He breathed a sigh of relief as the hot water washed over his feet and leaned back on the sofa.

Lee Ji-eun dangled her feet in the basin a couple of times, then looked down at it.

The sand was rinsed off before soaking my feet.

She put her feet together, stared at her toes for a while, and then began to try to spread her toes apart one by one.

Her toes were slender, her nails were neatly trimmed, and her skin glowed with a faint pink hue when soaked in hot water.

The thumb and forefinger separated first, but the middle toes were still squeezed together.

She frowned and strained, and the middle one slowly moved to the side a little.

Li Ran glanced at it out of the corner of her eye and paused for a moment.

He raised an eyebrow, looked down at his foot, and tried it.

The thumb moved, but the toes next to it remained completely still.

He pushed it outwards again.

"Hiss~"

He felt a sudden tightening in his calf, and instinctively lifted his foot out of the basin, his arch straightening into a straight line.

"What's wrong?" Lee Ji-eun turned her head to look at him.

"I got a cramp." He grinned, put his foot on the edge of the coffee table, and pressed his toes down.

"How did you do that?" She looked down at his feet, suppressing a laugh.

"How should I know? I was just imitating you."

He continued to press his toes down, and the tension in his calves slowly eased.

He breathed a sigh of relief. "Alright."

Lee Ji-eun blinked. "You just casually spread your toes and you got a cramp?"

"I used too much force." He put his feet back in the basin, and the hot water rose up, relieving some of the soreness.

Lee Ji-eun looked down at her toes again and repeated the movement, spreading her five slender toes wide apart.

"You've practiced this before?" He glanced at it.

She pulled her toes back. "I just practice them for fun when I'm bored."

"Practicing this out of boredom?"

"Is there a problem?" She looked up at him.

"No." He looked away.

There was some kind of variety show playing on TV, and a few people were shouting and yelling at the outdoor filming location, making quite a bit of noise.

Li Ran turned the volume down two notches.