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His answer, that it would be troubling if they broke off the engagement, was no different from saying that this relationship would only connect their bodies, not their hearts.
My heart, which had been pounding, stopped beating as if it had instantly been encased in cold ice.
Would it feel like this if a bullet pierced your body? It felt like hot blood was gushing out of my chest, and my body was chilling.
It also felt like my body was slowly sinking into water.
“Can I keep coming here?”
Eun-chae didn’t answer.
Maybe Seok-kyung didn’t expect an answer either. He buried his face in her neck.
Only the part where his breath touched felt like spring.
________________________________________
The next day at dawn.
I heard Seok-kyung quietly getting up, washing up, and changing clothes.
Eun-chae, who had fallen asleep in his arms all night, woke up as soon as the warmth that had been enveloping her body disappeared, but she didn’t open her eyes.
She felt Seok-kyung looking down at her from the head of the bed after he finished changing, but she pretended to be asleep.
Only after he closed the front door and left did she open her eyes.
Tears soaked the pillow, trickling down her cheeks and nose.
Foolishly. What was she doing?
It wasn’t like he loved her and kept her by his side, yet she maintained this ambiguous relationship with her ex-husband.
Seok-kyung’s answer yesterday made her position clear, which made Eun-chae very sad.
She needed a change of scenery.
Eun-chae jumped up.
She decided to start looking around the house now.
There were a total of six rooms. Four of them were rooms she hadn’t opened yet.
She opened the door to the room next to the kitchen first.
“Wow-”
It was a library that was so wide, her mouth fell open.
It wasn’t as big as the library at Seok-kyung’s parents’ house, which was their honeymoon home, but it was just a little smaller. The antique furniture and books filling the bookshelves were the same.
What was more surprising was that most of the books were literature. And they were not translated versions in English or French, but original texts.
It must have been Seok-kyung who read these books, as it was decorated according to the owner’s taste, but it didn’t seem to fit him.
For such a cold man to read novels or poetry collections.
She smiled wryly and moved to the next room. It was a room with an entire wall of mirrors and various exercise equipment. Yoga mats were even laid on the floor, making it practically a personal fitness center.
The room opposite it was a guest room. There was no bed, but it seemed like a room for that purpose, given the small closet and attached bathroom.
Wasn’t there a bed because he was afraid she would tell him to sleep separately?
Eun-chae shook her head, thinking that Seok-kyung would probably do that.
And the moment she opened the door to the next room, she stopped walking.
A piano.
A white grand piano stood alone in the middle of a large room.
A single red rose on the keyboard cover was withering at the ends, turning black.
“You can do it. Don’t give up.”
She heard her mother’s voice.
“You can do it? Look at my hand. One nerve is completely stiff, and I can’t move it freely.”
“It’s just your left pinky finger. How can you give up when you’re just starting to rise as a pianist?”
That was because her mother didn’t know. There was no finger that wasn’t precious to a pianist.
It would be different if it was a finger she had never used from the beginning, but a finger that used to work perfectly not moving properly required much more painful effort than before.
But Eun-chae knew that she didn’t have such outstanding talent for the piano.
As her mother said, the reason she became known so late was because she wasn’t a genius.
“I can’t be the pianist my mother wants anymore.”
“What?”
“I’m going to start a music academy and teach children...”
“Shut up!”
Her mother screamed, crying.
Being a pianist was her mother’s dream. It was also a dream her mother couldn’t achieve.
Eun-chae was the one who fulfilled that dream, but it all ended when her arm got caught in a car in a traffic accident.
Despite her mother’s anger, nagging, and frustration, Eun-chae prepared to open a piano academy. But that also ended with her divorce from Seok-kyung.
JC Trading Company’s bankruptcy didn’t allow her to live a life of teaching children in a classy piano academy.
So, since the accident, for nearly four years, she hadn’t touched a piano.
She picked up the flower, opened the lid, and touched a note with her finger.
Sol-
At the clear sound, birds suddenly flew around, butterflies fluttered, the wind rustled through the bushes, and the stream flowed gently.
Do-re-mi-fa-sol-la-si-do.
The well-tuned piano sound brought peace to her heart.
She thought about playing a favorite piece, but Eun-chae shook her head. She still hesitated to put her left hand on the piano.
She had lived with the piano for almost half her life, but now she didn’t have the confidence to face it fully.
In the end, she closed the piano lid and placed the withering rose on top again.
As if no one had touched it from the beginning, the room returned to silence.
As she closed the door and tried to calm her breath, which had been disturbed by memories, the doorbell rang.
A familiar man’s face appeared on the intercom. It was the security guard who had greeted her at the reception at the apartment entrance before.
“Yes?”
• I brought the things you left at the management office.
“Things?”
• Yes, ma’am.
The luggage was unfamiliar, and the title “ma’am” was unfamiliar, but Eun-chae opened the door for now.
The security guard came in with a cart full of luggage.
Some of it was familiar to Eun-chae. It was her books from her basement studio apartment.
But the rest were things she didn’t know at all.
“What is all this?”
“CEO Baek asked me to bring it. He told me to bring these books along with them.”
“Ah...”
“I’ll put it on the dining table and go.”
“Thank you.”
The security guard went back and forth several times, placing the books and the rest of the luggage on the dining table.
Eun-chae pushed the books to one side and unpacked the rest of the luggage.
“What is all this?”
An enormous amount of things popped out of the shopping bags and boxes, making her eyes widen.
A set of Gongjin-dan from a famous oriental medicine clinic, black goat extract, and various medicinal herbs that were good for the body. Not only that, but expensive food ingredients such as mushrooms, abalone, and nuts were also piled up.
Eun-chae quickly called Seok-kyung.
• Yes, Baek Seok-kyung...
“What is all this?”
Eun-chae asked bluntly, interrupting Seok-kyung’s words.
• What do you mean?
His answer, that it would be troubling if they broke off the engagement, was no different than saying that this relationship was just about connecting their bodies, not their hearts.
My pounding heart instantly stopped, as if it had been encased in cold ice.
Is this how it feels when a bullet pierces your body? It felt like hot blood was gushing from my chest, and my body was chilling.
It also felt like I was sinking deeper and deeper into water.
“Can I keep coming here?”
Eun-chae didn’t answer.
Perhaps Seok-kyung didn’t expect an answer either. He buried his face in her neck.
Only the spot where his breath touched felt like spring.
________________________________________
The next day at dawn.
I heard Seok-kyung quietly get up, wash up, and change clothes.
Eun-chae, who had fallen asleep in his arms all night, woke up as soon as the warmth that had enveloped her disappeared, but she didn’t open her eyes.
She felt Seok-kyung looking down at her from the head of the bed after he finished changing, but she pretended to be asleep.
Only after he closed the front door and left did she open her eyes.
Tears soaked the pillow, trickling down her cheeks and nose.
Foolishly. What was she doing?
It wasn’t like he loved her and kept her by his side, yet she maintained this ambiguous relationship with her ex-husband.
Seok-kyung’s answer yesterday made her position clear, which made Eun-chae very sad.
She needed a change of scenery.
Eun-chae jumped up.
She decided to start looking around the house now.
There were a total of six rooms. Four of them were rooms she hadn’t opened yet.
She opened the door to the room next to the kitchen first.
“Wow-”
It was a library that was so wide, her mouth fell open.
It wasn’t as big as the library at Seok-kyung’s parents’ house, which was their honeymoon home, but it was just a little smaller. The antique furniture and books filling the bookshelves were the same.
What was more surprising was that most of the books were literature. And they were not translated versions in English or French, but original texts.
It must have been Seok-kyung who read these books, as it was decorated according to the owner’s taste, but it didn’t seem to fit him.
For such a cold man to read novels or poetry collections.
She smiled wryly and moved to the next room. It was a room with an entire wall of mirrors and various exercise equipment. Yoga mats were even laid on the floor, making it practically a personal fitness center.
The room opposite it was a guest room. There was no bed, but it seemed like a room for that purpose, given the small closet and attached bathroom.
Wasn’t there a bed because he was afraid she would tell him to sleep separately?
Eun-chae shook her head, thinking that Seok-kyung would probably do that.
And the moment she opened the door to the next room, she stopped walking.
A piano.
A white grand piano stood alone in the middle of a large room.
A single red rose on the keyboard cover was withering at the ends, turning black.
“You can do it. Don’t give up.”
She heard her mother’s voice.
“You can do it? Look at my hand. One nerve is completely stiff, and I can’t move it freely.”
“It’s just your left pinky finger. How can you give up when you’re just starting to rise as a pianist?”
That was because her mother didn’t know. There was no finger that wasn’t precious to a pianist.
It would be different if it was a finger she had never used from the beginning, but a finger that used to work perfectly not moving properly required much more painful effort than before.
But Eun-chae knew that she didn’t have such outstanding talent for the piano.
As her mother said, the reason she became known so late was because she wasn’t a genius.
“I can’t be the pianist my mother wants anymore.”
“What?”
“I’m going to start a music academy and teach children...”
“Shut up!”
Her mother screamed, crying.
Being a pianist was her mother’s dream. It was also a dream her mother couldn’t achieve.
Eun-chae was the one who fulfilled that dream, but it all ended when her arm got caught in a car in a traffic accident.
Despite her mother’s anger, nagging, and frustration, Eun-chae prepared to open a piano academy. But that also ended with her divorce from Seok-kyung.
JC Trading Company’s bankruptcy didn’t allow her to live a life of teaching children in a classy piano academy.
So, since the accident, for nearly four years, she hadn’t touched a piano.
She picked up the flower, opened the lid, and touched a note with her finger.
Sol-
At the clear sound, birds suddenly flew around, butterflies fluttered, the wind rustled through the bushes, and the stream flowed gently.
Do-re-mi-fa-sol-la-si-do.
The well-tuned piano sound brought peace to her heart.
She thought about playing a favorite piece, but Eun-chae shook her head. She still hesitated to put her left hand on the piano.
She had lived with the piano for almost half her life, but now she didn’t have the confidence to face it fully.
In the end, she closed the piano lid and placed the withering rose on top again.
As if no one had touched it from the beginning, the room returned to silence.
As she closed the door and tried to calm her breath, which had been disturbed by memories, the doorbell rang.
A familiar man’s face appeared on the intercom. It was the security guard who had greeted her at the reception at the apartment entrance before.
“Yes?”
• I brought the things you left at the management office.
“Things?”
• Yes, ma’am.
The luggage was unfamiliar, and the title “ma’am” was unfamiliar, but Eun-chae opened the door for now.
The security guard came in with a cart full of luggage.
Some of it was familiar to Eun-chae. It was her books from her basement studio apartment.
But the rest were things she didn’t know at all.
“What is all this?”
“CEO Baek asked me to bring it. He told me to bring these books along with them.”
“Ah...”
“I’ll put it on the dining table and go.”
“Thank you.”
The security guard went back and forth several times, placing the books and the rest of the luggage on the dining table.
Eun-chae pushed the books to one side and unpacked the rest of the luggage.
“What is all this?”
An enormous amount of things popped out of the shopping bags and boxes, making her eyes widen.
A set of Gongjin-dan from a famous oriental medicine clinic, black goat extract, and various medicinal herbs that were good for the body. Not only that, but expensive food ingredients such as mushrooms, abalone, and nuts were also piled up.
Eun-chae quickly called Seok-kyung.
• Yes, Baek Seok-kyung...
“What is all this?”
Eun-chae asked bluntly, interrupting Seok-kyung’s words.
• What do you mean?
“The things you asked the management office to bring. What is all this?”
• Can’t you tell by looking? It’s food.
“I know that, but...”
• You’re too weak. How can you get sick after just one time of sex? People will think I’m tormenting you all night...
“S-stop!”
Seok-kyung, who spoke about sex so casually as if no one was around, made Eun-chae’s face turn bright red.
“There’s too much. Who’s going to eat all this?”
• Call me sometimes...
“Yes?”
• You said there’s a lot.
We can eat together if there’s a lot. So, just call me when you cook sometimes.
Seok-kyung answered as if it was a simple math problem, but it wasn’t that simple.
“Stop making me repeat the same thing. What if someone finds out?”
What if you break off the engagement?
For any reason, I can’t forget that I’m interfering in Seok-kyung’s life again.
• Who would find out?
“Yes.”
• You keep testing me.
Testing?
Eun-chae tilted her head, wondering what he meant.
• I’ll pick you up within an hour, so wait.
“Yes?”
Seok-kyung hung up immediately after saying what he wanted to say, so Eun-chae’s question ended as an echo.
An hour later.
Eun-chae was pulled by Seok-kyung’s hand and got into his Bugatti. The car was darkly tinted, so no one could see inside from the outside, and they headed to where he was taking her.
The first place they headed to was the Cheongdam-dong shop of the fashion designer Eun-chae liked the most.
“Oh my? It’s been so long!”
The designer approached Eun-chae with an awkward smile, then paused, stunned, upon seeing Seok-kyung following behind.
“Uh, how are you two together...? CEO Baek, or should I say Director Baek, you told me to clear out the shop for someone, and it was Eun-chae-ssi? Not Joo-eun-ssi?”
“Are you just going to keep asking questions?”
“Ah, no, no.”
The designer took Eun-chae and had her try on various outfits, getting approval from Seok-kyung.
Eun-chae put on a dress that she would never wear for her daily commute to work.
“Send the clothes she came in here. And the rest of the outfits we picked out as well.”
Seok-kyung took out a platinum black card from his wallet and handed it to the designer, along with a piece of paper with Eun-chae’s apartment address.
“O-okay.”
The designer quickly took the card and paper and headed to the store counter to pay.
“What if that person tells someone?”
“Don’t worry.”
Seok-kyung cut off Eun-chae’s worries with a single sentence.
“You don’t have to buy me clothes. I have plenty at home.”
“I don’t like your date outfit today.”
Eun-chae bit her lip and looked down at the purple dress she was wearing. After putting on the shoes and handbag the designer had coordinated, she looked exactly like her old self.
“Here’s the receipt. Looking at you in these clothes, you’re just as beautiful as before, Eun-chae-ssi, except you’ve lost some weight.”
The designer styled Eun-chae’s hair to match her outfit.
“I’d appreciate it if you didn’t say anything outside.”
“Of course. My lips are sealed.”
The designer winked at Seok-kyung’s words.
Next, Seok-kyung took Eun-chae to a movie theater. She thought this time she would definitely be seen by people, but as always, she was wrong.
When they arrived at the movie theater, they took the employee elevator, which was not used by the general public, and found that the huge screening room had only two people in it.
“Did you really empty the entire screening room?”
“It’s not a difficult task.”
It might not be difficult for Seok-kyung, who was the heir to the Baekdo Group, but it was for everyone else.
And for Eun-chae too.
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