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Bathed in the bright sunlight streaming onto the bed, Hayoung wore a soft smile. The sunlight felt particularly pleasant today. As she rubbed her eyes against the silky spring breeze that gently enveloped her, she stirred to get up…
Oh? If I feel like this, I’ll be late.
Hayoung hurriedly stepped onto the floor, casting a resentful glance at the silent alarm clock.
Then, checking the turned-off alarm clock, Hayoung belatedly let out a sigh of relief.
Right, I’m unemployed.
Hayoung, who had instinctively tried to go to work, lay back down on the bed. But even after closing her eyes to sleep again, her wide-awake mind was filled with thoughts of Kwon Jisung.
“I used to be so tired when I was working...”
As soon as she officially started her unemployed life, how could she become this diligent? Hayoung picked up her phone to check if there were any messages from Jisung.
[Jisung: Baby, your oppa is going to work now. Don’t skip breakfast just because you’re resting.]
Checking the message from Jisung, Hayoung blushed and twisted her body.
“Why does he keep calling me baby, really... It’s so funny...”
She got annoyed with her family for treating her like a child, but strangely, seeing Jisung treat her like a baby made her burst into laughter.
Jisung’s one word made her giggle uncontrollably. It was more amusing than a comedy show, which bewildered her.
So this is why people in love don’t watch TV.
Even though she said she didn’t like it, her heart fluttered. She felt like a teenage girl who would laugh even if a fallen leaf rolled by.
“It’s really funny, you know...”
She chuckled to herself like a crazy person, looking at a message that wasn’t even funny.
Is this what love is? Just thinking about that person made her life beautiful. She would smile at the other person’s trivial words and feel happy with just a light smile.
Love was the only thing that healed the wounds she received from people.
Hayoung looked at the orange jasmine swaying in the spring breeze coming in through the slightly open window.
The pot Jisung had given her was full of blooming pure white orange jasmine flowers.
‘Hmm, it smells so good. What kind of scent is this?’
‘Well. The flower scent is strong. Is it Song Hayoung’s scent?’
That day they kissed in the apartment complex.
Remembering how Hayoung had casually sniffed the fragrance of the fringe tree and said she liked it, Jisung gifted her a potted flower tree with a scent as similar as possible.
‘It’s not a fringe tree, but it’s a tree you can grow at home. If you put it in the sunlight, it blooms and withers all year round.’
‘Are you giving it to me?’
‘Only smell good scents.’
She was touched by Jisung, who remembered even her trivial words and gifted her even a scent.
The citrusy scent of the orange jasmine filled a corner of her heart with the fullness of spring.
This weekend, Jisung was coming to greet Hayoung’s parents first. His determination to resolve his old feelings with Dooyoung was firm.
And soon, when Jisung’s parents came to Korea, his suggestion was to have a meal together with Hayoung’s parents.
Their parents had known each other well since their sons were young, but they hadn’t really interacted since Jisung’s parents immigrated.
She was secretly looking forward to how his parents would react if they knew Jisung and Hayoung were dating. At the same time, she felt anxious, wondering if they might oppose it.
[Oppa, I just woke up.]
Hayoung sent a message, but there was no reply from Jisung. He usually said it was hard to exchange personal messages during work hours. Especially this week, he had many trials, so she knew she would only get a reply after his work hours, but she couldn’t help but glance at her phone.
Feeling hungry, Hayoung washed her face quickly and sat down at the table. Even while eating her simple meal, her mind was entirely on her phone.
She wasn’t the type to exchange messages all day long even when dating. But strangely, she was waiting for Jisung’s reply.
Jisung’s phone must be constantly ringing with calls from lawyers and the police, and he would naturally have his phone on silent when attending investigations or trials.
It wasn’t like she was a child. Hayoung herself found it hard to even check a message when she was working. But now that she was unemployed, she felt restless, as if she had become addicted to her smartphone.
After aimlessly eating and doing the dishes, a reply came from Jisung.
[Jisung Oppa: Why did you wake up so late? Have you eaten?]
As soon as Hayoung checked Jisung’s message, she felt happy like a puppy that had been waiting for its owner all day in an empty house.
[I ate.]
[I miss you.]
After quickly sending the messages in succession, she received a reply from Jisung quite a while later.
[Jisung Oppa: Me too.]
[Oppa, shall we go on a date after you get off work today?]
As expected, there was no reply from Jisung for a long time. Hayoung told herself to throw her phone far away and not look at it, but contrary to her will, her mind was still on her phone.
[Jisung Oppa: I have a company dinner today, so I think it’ll be past 10 when it ends.]
Hayoung resolved to reply at Jisung’s pace this time. But waiting a long time to reply to Jisung’s messages, which came only once every 30 minutes, made her hands itch and she couldn’t stand it.
[Then shall we just see each other briefly tonight?]
In the end, unable to wait even three minutes, Hayoung sent another message to Jisung.
[Jisung Oppa: No.]
The smile disappeared from Hayoung’s face at Jisung’s curt reply, as if there was no need to even think about her suggestion to see him briefly.
She barely restrained herself from wanting to talk, feeling pathetic for sending messages like a child to someone who was working.
She knew very well that prosecutors had company dinners at least three times a week, but even though it was just one day without a date, she felt like she would go crazy with longing.
She naturally understood his short reply. She was grateful that he didn’t ignore her while working. Besides, she couldn’t possibly call out a tired person who had trials and a company dinner from Monday, adding to his exhaustion.
“I think I like Oppa a lot...”
Even though she thought it was obvious, her newly blossoming heart, fresh from the start of their relationship, was restless with longing for him.
“I should go buy some clothes.”
Hayoung got up and headed to the bathroom. She would need new clothes to start her new job in two weeks. Maybe she should get her hair trimmed and exercise for a bit...
Hayoung tried to soothe her vaguely empty heart and started her refreshing day.
________________________________________
[Hayoung: Then shall we just see each other briefly tonight?]
[No.]
While adult relationships don’t necessarily require the permission of the entire family, Jisung, with the upcoming meeting with her parents in mind, had no intention of calling her out late at night for the time being.
Dooyoung’s behavior of setting a curfew as if to interfere was absurd, but there was no good to be gained from upsetting Song Dooyoung, who might become his ‘brother-in-law’ someday.
Once their parents exchanged greetings, the next step would naturally be marriage.
While understanding the meaning behind Jisung’s suggestion, he planned to propose to Hayoung soon, grateful that she was going along with it.
He knew it was hasty. But he didn’t want to drag things out.
Kwon Jisung was thirty-two. He wasn’t at an age to have casual relationships with women.
They didn’t need time to get to know each other. They had known each other for twenty-four years, so now they only needed time together.
Most importantly, he wanted to keep Hayoung by his side before she completely overcame the pain of her broken engagement and suddenly decided she wanted to date freely and enjoy it to the fullest. He knew it was a bit cowardly to push forward before Hayoung came to her senses, but he wanted to have her even if it meant doing so.
“Prosecutor Kwon Jisung, hello.”
Just then. As Jisung waited for lunch in a private room at a Korean traditional restaurant in Seocho-dong, having been called by the Deputy Chief Prosecutor, he frowned at the sudden appearance of a woman.
“The Deputy Chief Prosecutor...?”
“Didn’t my father tell you?”
Jisung didn’t try to hide his displeasure. This was already the second time.
Prosecutor life was full of after-work gatherings. He couldn’t refuse Deputy Chief Prosecutor Hwang Minyong’s suggestion to have drinks alone. In the rigid culture of the prosecution service, refusing a superior’s invitation to drinks was practically the end of one’s career.
But sitting next to Deputy Chief Prosecutor Hwang Minyong was his daughter, Hwang Siho.
The drinking session had suddenly turned into a blind date, and Jisung had rejected her. Even after that, under his superior’s urging to see her again, he had lied, saying he had a girlfriend.
He had vowed never to be played by the father and daughter again after that absurd first encounter.
After he started dating Hayoung, he naturally showed that he had a girlfriend at a colleague’s wedding, but it seemed it wasn’t enough to shake off the father and daughter.
Deputy Chief Prosecutor Hwang Minyong had clearly seen with his own eyes that Jisung had a woman he was seeing, yet he created another meeting with his daughter.
“Yes. The Deputy Chief Prosecutor asked to see me, saying he had something important to discuss.”
“Is that so.”
Hwang Siho sat across from Jisung with a seductive air.
“Did you know you were coming here, Ms. Hwang Siho?”
“Yes, of course, I knew. My father isn’t the type to buy me lunch during the day while he’s working. And asking me to come all the way to Seocho-dong... it’s obvious, isn’t it?”
He had clearly rejected Hwang Siho before.
He couldn’t understand why the Deputy Chief Prosecutor’s daughter, who had no reason to be desperate, would come to this meeting even after being rejected.
“Since it’s obvious to you, I’ll also be obvious in what I say.”
The moment Jisung replied sternly, a knock sounded, and the sliding door opened as a server entered.
“Shall we start the course here?”
Hwang Siho cut off Jisung’s words and spoke to the server.
“No. Let’s stop here.”
But Jisung firmly stopped the server. The server, momentarily flustered by the tense atmosphere between the two, bowed and said, “I will come back later.”
As Jisung said there was no need and tried to get up, Hwang Siho’s words stopped him.
“My father is the Deputy Chief Prosecutor, you know.”
A despicable smile hung on the woman’s lips.
“So?”
Hwang Siho languidly lowered her eyelids, as if even Jisung’s abruptly shortened words were charming.
“How long are you going to rot in the Criminal Division 3? Wasting your life dealing with gangsters. You’re not someone who’s lived such a rough life, Mr. Kwon Jisung.”
Jisung’s brow furrowed with anger as he briefly considered her words.
“Are you threatening me right now? Is threatening someone and having them sit across from you for a meal your taste, Ms. Hwang Siho?”
At Kwon Jisung’s sharp words, Hwang Siho laughed in a strange tone.
“Yes. I want to have dinner with Prosecutor Kwon Jisung, even if it means threatening him. I have eyes too. If I’m going to marry someone in the legal profession anyway, I’d prefer a man like Prosecutor Kwon Jisung.”
Jisung turned away as if it wasn’t worth listening to anymore.
“Think about it carefully, Jisung. Who knows, if you align yourself well, you might get the youngest promotion to division chief? If you act stubbornly, well, I’ll have no choice but to tell my father. That you don’t seem like someone with ambition.”
The moment he opened the sliding door, a chilling remark that pierced Jisung’s back made him stop abruptly.
________________________________________
“I’m bored... Oppa, when are we going to see each other?”
Hayoung hadn’t anticipated that her dream of being unemployed would be this boring. Others wouldn’t believe her if she told them, but Hayoung actually wanted time to pass quickly so she could go back to work. The more free time she had, the more she disliked her own reflection, constantly waiting for Jisung’s call.
-I miss you too.
“Are you going to be late again today?”
-Yeah.
“Shall I come to see you in front of your house?”
-No.
“......”
-......
The silence between them felt awkward. Jisung only let out heavy sighs, as if he had something to say but was hiding it.
Did something bad happen?
Jisung’s behavior made her feel uneasy for no reason. Jumping to conclusions wasn’t a good thing, but a woman’s intuition always worked keenly.
“Oppa, is something wrong?”
-Nothing’s wrong.
His voice saying nothing was wrong only fueled her conviction that something was. Soon, Jisung spoke heavily.
-Hayoung-ah.
“Yeah?”
-Let’s postpone meeting your mother and father this weekend for a bit.
Hearing Jisung’s words felt like a heavy weight had been placed on her heart. He said nothing was wrong, but he sounded like someone with a big problem.
“What’s wrong?”
-It’s hard to talk about over the phone.
“I told you I’d go to your place, didn’t I?”
-I don’t know what time I’ll finish work today. Let’s see each other on the weekend.
“Okay...”
-I’m busy, so I’ll hang up now. Sorry.
“No, it’s okay. Work hard.”
She felt pathetic, just staring at Jisung’s text messages all day, unable to even get a proper call.
They had talked on the phone, but it was worse than not having contacted him at all. Hearing Jisung’s uncomfortable voice made Hayoung feel suffocated too.
She knew very well that Jisung often had late nights and company dinners, but these past few days, his voice on the phone had also sounded somewhat listless.
Has he gotten tired of me?
No. He’s not that kind of person.
“He must be tired.”
Even as she mumbled to herself, her feelings of disappointment grew day by day.
“Why won’t you even show your face when we live five minutes away on foot?”
It was the third day she had asked to see him briefly after work. Every time, Jisung had said they shouldn’t meet late until they formally greeted her parents.
He showed his face just fine when they were meeting secretly. But now that Song Dooyoung had found out about their relationship, she felt a surge of resentment towards him for drawing a line.
Intellectually, she understood, but like a naive teenager, a woman in love wanted to see her lover’s face.
“Don’t you want to see me?”
Am I a fish that’s already caught? Is that it?
He, who used to talk on the phone all night until his phone got hot, was suddenly acting cold, and she couldn’t understand why.
Was this what it meant to be a prosecutor’s partner? While she understood Jisung’s work, which seemed harsher than what she saw in the media, she also felt a sense of disappointment.
“I must be really crazy.”
Hayoung jumped up from her seat. A busy person hadn’t shown his face on a weekday for just three days because of work, and she was sulking, feeling disappointed, and making a fuss all by herself.
Love was heavy.
One person’s existence gradually seeps into your life, making you happy and increasing your laughter. But if you feel even a moment of that person’s absence, the empty space feels achingly painful.
“Maybe I’m not crazy, maybe I’m in love...”
Realizing her own feelings, Hayoung finally chuckled. But then, the wave of emptiness that followed wiped the smile off her face.
“I must be in love with Oppa.”
She didn’t know. Instead of getting worn out by her own impatience, she decided to just go see his face for five minutes. If they felt the same way, he would miss her too.
Hayoung quietly opened her door so her parents wouldn’t notice.
Click.
But somehow, Dooyoung heard Hayoung opening her door and coming out, and he emerged from his room as if he had caught her red-handed. Just like a schoolteacher. That old fox!
“Where are you going?”
Hayoung was about to make up an excuse about going to the bathroom, but then she thought, ‘Can’t a grown adult go out as they please?’ and said confidently, “Outside.”
“It’s almost 10 PM, where to?”
It was obvious where she was going at this hour, yet Dooyoung pressed her as if interrogating her.
“It’s none of your business.”
“Father! Hayoung is going out to meet Kwon Jisung. It’s past ten already!”
Dooyoung mischievously reported Hayoung’s late-night outing to their father. But their father, who was in the master bedroom, didn’t even open the door and just called out, “Okay, be careful.”
Hayoung stuck her tongue out at Dooyoung mockingly and walked briskly towards the front door.
Dooyoung, as if unable to bear it, strode to the utility room, picked up a barely full recycling bag, and closely followed Hayoung.
“Why are you following me?”
“Who’s following you? I’m going to throw out the trash. Don’t you know that?”
Hayoung scoffed and glared at Dooyoung. The elevator doors opened, and the siblings stepped into the elevator side by side.
A moment of silence filled the space. Dooyoung, who was rustling the plastic bag for no reason, finally couldn’t hold back and spoke.
“I know that Kwon Jisung guy is decent.”
“Huh?”
Hayoung’s eyes widened as she looked at him, surprised by the unexpected words coming from Song Dooyoung.
“Do you even know how tiring it is to be a prosecutor’s wife?”
Hayoung blinked, wondering what he was suddenly talking about. Dooyoung sighed deeply and said, “Every winter when we make kimchi, all the prosecutors’ wives get called in to flatter the superiors’ wives and make kimchi for them.”
“In this day and age?”
“It’s only kimchi these days; it used to be worse. Do you think that’s all? They have to attend to the superiors’ wives like maids, even accompanying them shopping at department stores. And if they make a mistake at the wives’ gatherings, their husbands’ promotions get delayed.”
“Is that why you were against it...?”
“Of course, I was also pissed off that that bastard was dating you, who’s seven years younger.”
“Then why are you telling me this?”
“The more Jisung gets promoted, the more your life will disappear.”
“......”
“If you live your own life, Jisung will be forever distanced from the promotion track.”
“I see...”
“Just know before you continue dating him.”
The elevator doors opened on the first floor, where they had already arrived. Hayoung couldn’t bring herself to step out and looked up at Dooyoung.
“I still like him.”
Dooyoung clicked his tongue and shook his head.
“That guy does have his charms. If you weren’t my sister, Kwon Jisung would be way too good for you.”
“Are you one to talk? I know that too!”
“Still, to me, you’re too good for him.”
His casually thrown-out words made the lingering resentment between the siblings melt away.
“I’ll be back.”
“Should I take you?”
“Do you want to meet Jisung Oppa with me?”
“No. I don’t want to talk yet.”
“Okay.”
Hayoung waved at Dooyoung and stepped out of the elevator. Still, she felt much lighter, as it seemed Dooyoung had somewhat acknowledged their relationship.
She felt gloomy because of Jisung, and then happy because of Jisung.
She couldn’t control this fickle heart.
Her heart, which had grown calloused from breakups, had become soft again due to this new relationship. A tender new sprout would grow vigorously, eventually blooming and bearing fruit. She would love him with her heart, which had become green again.
Hayoung hummed a tune as she headed to Jisung’s house. Why did the five-minute distance feel so far? She missed Kwon Jisung so much she couldn’t bear it for even a moment.
How happy would Jisung be when he returned home, exhausted, and found Hayoung waiting for him?
If she told him what Dooyoung had said earlier, he would surely be happy too.
Lost in these happy thoughts, she soon arrived in front of Jisung’s house. She knew the door lock password he had told her, but she waited for Jisung in front of the house. Even though Jisung had said she could come in and wait anytime, she felt it would be awkward for a newly started couple if she was waiting inside without any prior notice.
As she stood in front of the door, thinking she should surprise Jisung when he got off the elevator, the sensor light suddenly turned off, and silence fell.
Hayoung waved her hand, but the light, which had briefly turned on, went off again in less than 30 seconds.
[Oppa, when will you be done?]
Less than five minutes had passed, and she was already tired of repeatedly waving her hand at the sensor light in the dark.
Even though she had been told he would be late, she didn’t like her own behavior of coming all the way here and then impatiently sending messages.
She wanted to be a cool girlfriend, but even she thought her actions were those of a clingy one.
How much longer would she have to wait for Jisung’s reply? She hesitated, wondering if she should just go inside and wait comfortably, when she heard a noise from inside the house.
“Was Oppa home?”
Just as Hayoung was about to ring the doorbell, she suddenly realized that the voice she heard from inside was a woman’s.
A familiar sense of déjà vu made cold sweat run down her back.
Was he watching a drama? No. Oppa doesn’t have a television at home.
There was no way someone who said he was still working would be home.
Should she ring the doorbell? Should she open the door?
If he wanted to catch someone in the act, he should burst in. What kind of scene was he trying to catch anyway?
Kwon Jisung wasn’t Choi Jaehyung.
It was ridiculous of her to lump Jisung in with such thoughts just because she had been betrayed once. But who on earth was at the house of someone who said he was working late?
While her head was filled with all sorts of thoughts, Hayoung reached for the doorbell. She wasn’t a paranoid person. Jisung hadn’t done anything wrong, yet she was being absurd, suspecting him and thinking about barging in to catch him in the act.
There was no reason to make Jisung uncomfortable because of the hurt she had received from Choi Jaehyung.
Ding-dong.
As Hayoung pressed the doorbell, the front door opened, and a woman wearing only a bathrobe appeared. Hayoung’s breath caught in her throat at the sight of the woman, wet and clad only in a bath robe.
“Who are you?”
A woman who was beautiful at first glance appeared looking like she had just come out of the shower. The moment Hayoung saw her, she felt the blood in her whole body run cold.
Hayoung was speechless, her dry lips parted slightly. The woman, looking wary, opened the latched door halfway and scanned Hayoung from head to toe.
“Is... Jisung Oppa home?”
Even as she asked, the situation was too absurd. It was ridiculous that a woman wearing only a bathrobe, acting as if it were her own home, was asking Hayoung warily.
“He’s not here yet. Who are you and why are you here at this hour?”
“I’m...”
The words ‘Kwon Jisung’s girlfriend’ wouldn’t come out of her mouth. The way the woman inside his house glared at Hayoung was so confident that it made her feel like she was the one who had done something wrong.
“Ah, so you’re that woman? I heard about you.”
She heard about me? Cold sweat broke out on Hayoung’s forehead from the embarrassment. What on earth had Jisung told this woman? What had he said for her to look at Hayoung with such pitying eyes?
It felt like the woman in front of her was Jisung’s real partner, and Hayoung was the one having an affair with him.
“What... did you hear?”
Hayoung asked, her hands trembling. The woman scoffed and replied, “You want to hear about it from me?”
“......”
Hayoung turned around without realizing it and ran down the stairs.
“Don’t ever come to this house again!”
The woman’s voice came from above the stairs, but the woman in the robe didn’t follow her down.
Hayoung’s hands trembled violently. Her heart was being torn to shreds. It felt like her skin was being slashed with a knife.
Just as the elevator stopped, Hayoung got on and left the apartment from three floors down.
What on earth had happened?
Why was a woman undressed in Jisung’s house?
Why was she acting so familiar, as if it were her own home?
The situation was quite clear. Trying to find another reason was nonsensical.
Why were men like this? Was Song Dooyoung right when he said all guys were the same?
She thought she knew everything about Kwon Jisung, whom she had known for 24 years. But the side of him she had just seen was completely unfamiliar.
She was so sick of this. If he was going to do this, why did he even bother to stir her heart?
Why did he bother to open the heart of someone who was already hurt and in pain, only to trample on it like this?
Tears streamed down her face as she walked. Her legs gave out, and she wanted to go home, but she couldn’t bring herself to show her parents and older brother that she had been dumped again.
“Sob... huh...”
Hayoung sat down on a bench and buried her face in her knees. As she replayed the thoughts in her mind, the betrayal she felt towards Jisung now turned into resentment towards herself.
Was it because I’m not attractive enough?
A block of wood.
Choi Jaehyung’s voice echoed sharply in her ears again.
Other women met good men and had beautiful relationships, so why did only this happen to her?
Was she boring in bed, like Choi Jaehyung had said? Was she someone who didn’t deserve love?
Knife blades rained down on her heart. At the attack of daggers that mercilessly cut down the love that had just begun to bloom, Hayoung remained rooted to the spot, crying like a child.
Even her own situation, where she couldn’t let her family see her tears, felt pathetic. Why was her love life always a mess when everyone else seemed to manage it fine?
And what was even more miserable was the fact that she wanted to run to Jisung and hear his explanation.
“Ugh, this is really the worst, Song Hayoung.”
Hayoung wiped away her tears and stood up. She would never believe in love again. She would never again have the foolish thought of forgetting someone with love.
*** By Yoon I-ah
‘Think about it carefully, Jisung. Who knows, if you align yourself well, you might get the youngest promotion to division chief? If you act stubbornly, well, I’ll have no choice but to tell my father. That you don’t seem like someone with ambition.’
Jisung, who got out of his car after midnight, headed for the elevator.
Hwang Siho’s chilling words had been ringing in his ears for days.
That day, as soon as Jisung heard Hwang Siho’s threat, his eyes nearly rolled back in his head. If the person sitting there had been a man, he might have lost his temper and grabbed him by the collar like he used to do when he was young.
‘Are you telling me to sell my body to get a promotion? Ha, you bitch. Three years as a prosecutor and I’m hearing all sorts of ridiculous things.’
‘Prosecutor Kwon Jisung, watch your mouth.’
The moment Hwang Siho’s face flushed at Jisung’s muttered curse, Jisung held out the phone in his hand.
‘You watch your mouth.’
A voice recording application was running on the phone.
‘Did you just... record our conversation?’
‘You keep spouting such crazy things every time we meet. Let’s just call it a professional habit.’
Jisung was fed up with the increasingly outrageous behavior of Hwang Siho and her father. It was customary in the prosecution service to form tight-knit cliques through after-work drinks and create their own barriers, but he had no desire whatsoever to join that rotten system and rise through the ranks.
Jisung tilted his head and glared sharply. Hwang Siho, flustered, parted her lips and jumped up from her seat.
‘That’s illegal recording. You know it has no legal standing, right?’
‘No legal standing, maybe. But I can certainly make your life miserable.’
‘Wha- what are you going to do?’
Jisung walked closer to Hwang Siho. He gave a cold smile and put his phone in his pocket.
‘Well, if I take this to Chief Prosecutor Oh Seung-ho, who’s in an adversarial relationship with your father, things will get quite interesting. It’s too disgusting to even call it a threat. Telling a junior prosecutor to fucking sell their body.’
Jisung looked down menacingly at Hwang Siho, whose face had turned red, and bit out each word fiercely.
‘If you ever hover around my life again, not only you but your father will be completely disgraced. Do you understand me?’
‘...I understand.’
Jisung turned away like that.
Fucking hell. Is this the level of the Korean prosecution service?
He had thoroughly intimidated the woman so she would understand, but still, a corner of his heart felt uneasy.
Company dinners that he had to attend three times a week no matter what, even if there was an epidemic sweeping the globe. Unnecessary entertainment with powerful figures. Unfairness swayed by politics, regardless of philosophy. Even the superiors’ orders to push for indictments, regardless of justice.
He had endured all of that, but he was sick and tired of his superior’s arrogant behavior that even invaded his private life.
For the past four days, Jisung had been deep in thought. He had started his career as a prosecutor with a sense of justice, but the organizational life he had hoped for was quite different from the rigid reality of the prosecution service.
He had never intended to use the recording for blackmail. It was merely a way to get rid of the persistent father and daughter. If he had planned to stay in the prosecution service, Jisung, with his promising future, would have had no reason to be swayed by his superior’s interference in his private life. But the problem was Song Hayoung.
He knew that as long as he was part of the prosecution organization, he could never be the husband who could truly make his wife happy.
After much deliberation, Jisung was on his way back from submitting his resignation letter today. Ironically, he had become unemployed right before he was supposed to meet Hayoung’s parents.
Any law firm would welcome a prosecutor who graduated from Korea University, but he couldn’t very well visit his girlfriend’s parents without any affiliation. So, he decided to postpone the introduction for a while.
[Hayoung: Oppa, when will you be done?]
Checking his phone, Jisung hesitated whether to call her past midnight. Afraid that she might have fallen asleep, he couldn’t bring himself to press the call button and instead sent her a text message.
[I just finished.]
Seeing no reply, it seemed she had indeed fallen asleep. He was reluctant to bring up the issue over the phone with Hayoung. Even without that, he had felt uneasy about using Hayoung as a shield to greet Hwang Siho at his junior colleague’s wedding. He couldn’t bring himself to tell her over the phone that he had submitted his resignation after receiving a dirty proposal involving her.
And that wasn’t all. He had at least felt confident in front of her parents as a prosecutor, but now he was inwardly anxious that they might disapprove of him, a seven-year-older bum.
He had avoided bringing up work-related matters to Hayoung to avoid giving her unnecessary worries, but he would have to tell her about his resignation face-to-face.
After submitting his resignation, he opened the front door with a heavy heart in many ways, only to be greeted by the strong smell of soybean paste stew from inside the house.
The fact that someone had cooked for him after he came home from work reminded him of Hayoung again. Even at the moment of making a life-altering decision, his mind was filled with thoughts of Song Hayoung. To become a husband who could cook a delicious dinner for Hayoung when she came home from work, resigning was indeed the right decision.
“Young Master, you’re home?”
“Weren’t you asleep?”
“I couldn’t sleep after coming back to Korea for the first time in a while.”
“Where’s Hyung?”
“He’s asleep. He doesn’t really have jet lag, but he lives a very disciplined life. You must be tired. Let’s eat first.”
He was grateful to his older brother’s wife, Jaehee, for welcoming him so warmly. The day the incident with Hwang Siho happened, he had called his brother after a long time and mentioned that he might resign. His brother had strongly supported his decision.
Once, Jisung’s older brother, Junseong, had also been part of the prosecution organization. But while his sister-in-law was going through the pain of a miscarriage, Junseong was constantly working late and couldn’t take care of her. Overwhelmed by guilt, he couldn’t endure the organizational life and quit.
Back then, Jisung couldn’t understand his brother. He thought it was possible to balance family and career, and that his brother had given up his promising career as a prosecutor and even immigrated, becoming a partner lawyer at a large law firm’s Australian branch, just for money.
But now that Jisung had someone he loved, he could finally understand Junseong’s decision. Nothing could take precedence over Song Hayoung.
“Thank you, Sister-in-law. I’ll take care of my meal and clean up, so please rest.”
“Oh, right. Do you know that crazy woman came to your house earlier?”
“Pardon?”
Jisung, who was about to start eating after sitting down at the table, frowned at his sister-in-law’s words.
“I heard everything from Junseong. That Deputy Chief Prosecutor’s daughter has been bothering you, right?”
It seemed that what he had told his older brother had reached his sister-in-law’s ears. The brothers weren’t usually very communicative, but apparently, Kwon Junseong told his wife everything in detail.
“That woman came here?”
But something felt strange. He had had a few uncomfortable encounters with Hwang Siho, but he had never told her where he lived. Even if she had found out his address, there was no way she would come to his house after being so humiliated.
“Yes. She looked surprised when she saw me. She must have been shocked to see a woman coming out of your house.”
“Wait a minute. What did that woman look like?”
Jisung interrupted Jaehee.
“She was pretty. A bit short though. Maybe around 160cm?”
“Ha...”
No sooner had she finished speaking than Jisung rushed out of the house.
“Young Master? Aren’t you going to eat?”
He called Hayoung, but her phone was turned off. Could she have misunderstood something?
He had vaguely thought that he should talk about this in person. He didn’t want to burden Hayoung with the stress he received from his work life.
If there was a strange woman in his house, she should have called to ask who it was. To get hurt alone and even turn off her phone...
No. He had been so preoccupied with his resignation that he hadn’t been able to talk properly with Hayoung for the past few days. He had kept quiet because he didn’t want to show her his pathetic side, but from her perspective, she might have felt neglected.
Why were these thoughts only occurring to him now? Cold sweat ran down his back.
Hayoung’s recent broken engagement flashed through his mind like a panorama. It was perhaps natural that she wouldn’t question Jisung after being hurt by encountering a strange woman in her fiancé’s house.
Jisung ran towards Hayoung’s house, calling Dooyoung. But Song Dooyoung, who slept so soundly that he wouldn’t wake up even if someone carried him away, didn’t answer Jisung’s call.
Hayoung’s house was in sight in the blink of an eye. Jisung raised his head and looked up at Hayoung’s bedroom window.
The lights in Hayoung’s house had been off for a long time. It was a house where both her parents lived. He couldn’t barge in and ring the doorbell past midnight.
He wanted to throw a rock at her window, but if he threw a rock at a 16th-floor apartment window, not only Hayoung’s family but everyone in the complex would wake up.
“Ugh, I’m going crazy.”
Just as he was about to tear at his hair in frustration, Jisung’s phone vibrated. Thinking it was Hayoung, he felt a momentary relief and checked his phone, but the name on the screen was Song Dooyoung, not Hayoung.
-What is it?
Song Dooyoung’s gruff voice came through the receiver. He wanted to urgently tell him to put Hayoung on the phone, but he couldn’t act rashly.
Even though Song Dooyoung was already against their relationship, he couldn’t be labeled as ‘a man who upsets Hayoung’ right from the beginning of their romance.
“How are you doing?”
-Did you call at this hour just to ask that?
“Is Hayoung home?”
-......
Song Dooyoung kept his mouth shut at Jisung’s question. He felt like he was going crazy with frustration, but the fact that he couldn’t show it was even more terrible.
“I was working late. I didn’t see the text message from Hayoung.”
-Did you miss each other?
Only then did Song Dooyoung speak.
“Yeah. Her phone was off, so I was worried.”
-Hayoung packed a lot of luggage and went out, saying she’s staying at a friend’s house for a few days.
So she wasn’t home. Could she be pretending not to be home to prevent her from meeting Jisung?
“Which friend?”
-I didn’t ask. I thought you two were going on a trip somewhere, so I pretended not to know.
“Ah...”
-Do you want to grab a beer?
He was sincerely grateful to Song Dooyoung for extending a hand of reconciliation first, but honestly, he couldn’t think about anything like that right now. He was only worried about where Hayoung had gone on this deep night.
“My brother and sister-in-law are here from Australia right now. Let’s see each other next week. I’ll call you. Sorry and thanks.”
Jisung, not even knowing what he was rambling about, made a rough excuse and hung up. Then, he wrote a long text message to Hayoung, who still wasn’t answering her phone.
[Hayoung, I heard you came to my house. My brother and sister-in-law are here from Australia. The woman you met earlier was my sister-in-law. It seems she mistook you for someone else. Let me explain. Please answer your phone.]
But Hayoung didn’t even check the message.
Did she know his desperate heart? Was she misunderstanding and crying alone? How heavy his own heart felt because he couldn’t comfort her.
He remembered how broken Hayoung had been after witnessing her former fiancé’s affair. Could it be that she thought Jisung had hurt her today and was endlessly drinking?
Everything was a mess. Jisung stood blankly in the chaos, staring only at Hayoung’s window. As the surroundings grew darker, his heart burned black.
Where should he look for Hayoung? Come to think of it, he didn’t even know any of Hayoung’s friends’ names.
Crazy bastard. Stupid bastard. A bastard who deserved to be heartbroken.
Jisung was at a loss and endlessly waited for Hayoung to return home, even if it was late.
He should have resigned sooner. Before taking Hayoung to his colleague’s wedding and showing everyone she was his girlfriend. He should have quit when he realized this organization wasn’t for him.
What was so great about being a prosecutor anyway? He had hesitated in the face of social success and made things this way.
No matter how tired he was. No matter how much he worried. No matter how much he wanted to look confident in front of her.
Instead of just telling her the outcome, he should have told her every little detail of what had happened.
His way of filtering the story because he was worried she would get hurt might have actually hurt Hayoung.
It was all his fault. He was a piece of trash.
If he was going to pursue someone young and beautiful from the start, he should have become a kind man worthy of her.
And so, dawn broke. Jisung waited endlessly for Hayoung, who didn’t return until the sun rose, and he cried out in despair.
________________________________________
Leaving the Jeju airport, Hayoung swallowed hard, resisting the urge to turn on her phone, and got into a taxi.
She hadn’t intended to go to Jeju from the start. She had gone home but couldn’t bear to show her family her crying face, so she had made an excuse about staying at a friend’s house for a few days and run out.
But she didn’t have any close friends she could visit in the early morning. With rumors swirling about her broken engagement, she didn’t have any friends she felt comfortable telling about being betrayed by her new boyfriend either. There was a last bit of pride she wanted to protect, even among her close friends.
Then, she suddenly headed to Gimpo Airport. Since her university days, she had thought that once she got a job, she would be able to travel often with her own money, but once she actually got a job, she was swamped with work and satisfied herself with sleeping on her days off.
She had finally been given a precious two-week break after changing jobs. But she was annoyed at herself for being so hung up on a man that she couldn’t even enjoy her rest and had brought this mess upon herself.
She still couldn’t believe that a woman had opened the door of Jisung’s house so casually.
Just thinking about it made her feel nauseous, as if she were about to throw up, and her whole body trembled even though it was early summer.
Her heart ached with betrayal.
All men were the same.
If even Kwon Jisung, whom she thought was the most perfect man in the world, was like this, then there was no man to trust in Korea.
Come to think of it, there had been suspicious things from the very beginning.
The day Hayoung was dumped by her fiancé, the person who rushed over after working late naturally took out a condom. If he was so prepared as to carry condoms even while working, how many women had he had casual sex with? She was the crazy one for clinging to such a man and begging him to touch her.
It was the same the day Jisung was sick. Didn’t a condom appear from the nightstand as if it had been prepared in advance?
Any man who kept condoms at home was obvious. Even more so if it was a condom with stimulating lubricants full of protrusions, like a pervert.
She had known all of that and still dated him. It would have been stranger if a handsome, successful, unmarried prosecutor in his early thirties didn’t have any women. She had been blinded by his good looks and her judgment had been clouded.
Bad guy. He clearly knew women were lining up for him, so why do this to her? There were plenty of women to enjoy and play around with before breaking up.
He clearly knew she was hurting. He clearly knew she was a wounded person. Why would someone who lacked nothing do this to her?
Of course, she had made the first move and asked him to touch her... But he shouldn’t have said they should date in the first place. She should have given in and distanced herself when Song Dooyoung opposed it. Why did he act like they were going to have a formal meeting between families and make her have expectations?
He shouldn’t have acted like he would heal all the wounds in her heart from her broken engagement. Why did he have to hurt her heart even more?
She was too embarrassed to even face her parents. She couldn’t bear to look at Song Dooyoung’s face either.
Hayoung swallowed her resentment alone and checked into a guesthouse.
Why was love so difficult? She never wanted to do this again.
Like the orange jasmine that bloomed beautifully and then withered in just three days. The colorful jasmine scent that had tickled her nose had already faded pitifully, leaving no trace. Love was fragrant, but it couldn’t be eternal. She would rather live a plain life without pain in a colorless world.
Just as she was just a woman who passed by Kwon Jisung, Kwon Jisung was just a toy she played with for a while and then threw away.
You didn’t throw me away, I threw you away. If I ever think of the name Kwon Jisung again, I’m not a human being.
I’ll forget you. Since you’re someone I have to forget anyway, I’ll forget you as quickly as possible.
Left alone, Hayoung collapsed in exhaustion. She didn’t even have the strength to lift a finger.
________________________________________
Jisung ran over. He knelt down. He begged for forgiveness, saying he was wrong. They shared a beautiful kiss. Tears streamed down. Women undressing began to surround them. The women started glaring at Hayoung.
“Oppa!”
It was a nightmare.
Hayoung, who had jumped up from her seat, shuddered at the sight of herself crying in her sleep. Even after being treated like that, she was even talking in her sleep about Jisung.
Her heart throbbed with a pain that couldn’t even be compared to the pain of her broken engagement. Her empty heart ached, but her eyes were open and time passed.
She didn’t know if she had come on a trip or to cry her heart out.
Holding her phone in her hand, Hayoung hesitated whether to turn it on, but then threw it away. She didn’t have the courage to listen to Jisung’s lame excuses, and even less courage to check her phone, where there might not even be any excuses.
It had been a full 24 hours of waking up, crying, and falling asleep again on the bed. She couldn’t just stand by and watch her life be shaken by a man any longer.
Hayoung didn’t even have the strength to lift a finger, but she got up from her seat. The romance she had long imagined about guesthouses had been shattered in just one day.
Compared to the pleasant room condition of a hotel, the somewhat musty smell was disgusting, and she wanted to get some fresh air.
Staying cooped up in the room seemed to make her more depressed, so even though she didn’t feel like it, she forced herself to wash up and left the guesthouse.
Wandering aimlessly since dawn, she ended up at a gimbap (Korean seaweed rice roll) shop.
Apart from her aching heart, she was dumbfounded by the state of her stomach, which was faithful to its desires. She had no appetite, but she should at least eat something she wanted. Nothing else appealed to her, but she thought she could at least have a meal with the famous Jeju gimbap. It would be even better dipped in tteokbokki (spicy rice cakes), but she didn’t have the energy to go buy that too.
Hayoung, holding the wrapped gimbap, was about to go back into the guesthouse, but she thought she would just cry all day again if she was alone, so she took the plastic bag with the gimbap and headed to the sea.
Sitting alone sadly, looking at the sea, she only saw couples strolling along the beach.
Even though her heart ached, the gimbap was delicious. Even though the gimbap was delicious, her heart ached.
She wished her appetite would just disappear so she could lose weight, but she stubbornly ate all three rolls by herself, worried that the gimbap would go bad if she left it out in the early summer heat.
The process of breaking up was always messy. The jealousy that followed love and the pathetic state that followed a breakup were never as beautiful as in the movies.
But when she was in love, it felt like the whole world was moving for her. She had become the main character because of that person.
Now, she was just ‘pedestrian 1’ around the couples strolling on the white sand beach, looking for a place to throw away her trash.
“This is so annoying. There’s not a single trash can on this beach. What are they doing with all the taxes they collect? Where are they putting all the trash cans?”
She huffed and puffed like someone with anger management issues, looking around, when someone grabbed Hayoung’s shoulder.
A large, warm man’s hand.
Hayoung instinctively thought of Jisung. Suddenly, tears streamed down her face as if a dam had burst.
How did he find her? Was this fate? As expected, Oppa knew where she would be.
Only by Kwon Jisung’s side could she be the main character.
The moment she turned around, a half-naked man with a surfboard tucked under his arm spoke.
“Don’t throw that anywhere. The trash can is over there...”
Hayoung felt a surge of sadness that the person who had grabbed her wasn’t Jisung, and anger exploded at the fact that some random guy was treating her like someone who illegally dumped trash.
Main character, my foot. She was annoyed at herself for thinking of Kwon Jisung in such an absurd situation.
“Hmph, I was looking for the trash can too, you know?”
Hayoung vented her anger on the innocent man, threw the foil wrapper into the trash can, and turned away.
The man, surprised to see Hayoung crying at his words to throw away trash, turned pale.
Was her mind really going crazy?
Why did she suddenly think Jisung had come looking for her, causing her tear ducts to burst?
Even if Jisung had come, there was no reason to forgive him.
She had watched too many dramas. Why would a guy who brought this woman and that woman home bother to come all the way here to find her?
She had a problem controlling her emotions.
The sea she was looking at alone didn’t move her at all. The weather, which had become quite warm and made her sweat, the prickly feel of the sand that had gotten into her sneakers, even the voices of the Chinese tourists laughing and chattering happily.
Everything made her sad, and she turned back towards the guesthouse, tears streaming down her face, regardless of who was watching.
Should she just go home? She had come on this trip to try and pull herself together, but being alone made her feel achingly lonely. But if she went back home, she didn’t have the confidence to maintain a poker face in front of her family...
Suddenly overwhelmed, Hayoung squatted down on the spot. What a pathetic sight she was.
As she sniffled foolishly, lost in thought, a large shadow completely covered Hayoung. Her thought process stopped. A man’s hot body fiercely embraced her. Slowly, the world brightened, and her five senses, which had died, revived.
She could tell just from the scent. Just from the touch, just from the beautiful hair fluttering in the June sunlight, just from the panting breath, and just from the warm kiss that overlapped with hers.
She could tell that Jisung had flown all the way to Jeju to find Hayoung. The orange jasmine that had withered in three days was blooming again in his arms.
“Hayoung-ah. Why are you crying here?”
“Hmph, I really hate it...”
Hayoung blurted out whatever came to mind without realizing it, tears streaming down her face. Jisung’s eyes wavered, slightly shocked that the first thing she said was “hate.”
“The person at my house was my sister-in-law. You misunderstood, Hayoung-ah. My sister-in-law mistook you for someone else. Don’t you remember? You came to our Hyung’s wedding too.”
Hayoung was in high school then, she recalled going to Junseong’s wedding with Dooyoung to eat the buffet.
“Sister-in-law...?”
“Yeah. You saw her at the wedding too.”
“That was so long ago, how can I remember her face, hmph...”
He hadn’t even been told where she had hidden herself. Seeing Jisung, who had flown all the way here, made all her anger melt away.
She wondered if she had been a bit rash to go into hiding without even hearing the whole story, but she quickly pulled herself together. She didn’t want to get hurt again by being swayed by his handsome face.
“Okay, Hayoung-ah. Oppa is sorry.”
“How many women, hmph, does Oppa have coming to his house that my sister-in-law, hmph, would mistake me for someone else? Hmph...”
Hayoung tried to get up and turn away, but Jisung, a step faster, hugged her tightly again. No matter how much she struggled, she couldn’t escape Jisung’s broad embrace. The more she kicked and squirmed, the stronger Jisung’s grip became.
“You’re the first woman who’s ever been inside my house.”
“Don’t lie. Then why did she mistake me for someone else!”
“I quit my job, Hayoung-ah. I had reached my limit with my superior giving unfair work-related instructions, and then he started crossing the line in my personal life too. I think my talking to Hyung about resigning before submitting my letter must have reached my sister-in-law’s ears. You remember the girl from last time, right? The Deputy Chief Prosecutor’s daughter. That woman created an uncomfortable situation, which was the final straw for me to resign. It seems my sister-in-law mistook you for her. I swear, there has never been any other woman at my house besides you.”
“Hmph, what does that matter... I don’t need it. I absolutely hate men with lots of women, hmph.”
Hayoung’s body trembled with sadness. Jisung wiped away the endless tears streaming from Hayoung’s eyes with his hands and said, “Lots of women? You know better than anyone that I didn’t have time to meet women. You’re the first person I’ve ever dated seriously.”
“Hmph, don’t lie. Why would someone like that carry condoms around?”
“Condoms?”
As Hayoung brought up the old memory she had kept in her heart, Jisung frowned as if he didn’t understand what she was talking about.
“Hmph, the person who came to see me after working late, hmph, was carrying condoms. And the person who skipped work because he was sick, hmph, had a box of condoms in his nightstand.”
“Ah, that...”
Jisung closed his mouth as if there was no room for excuses.
Of course. There was no way someone who didn’t have women would have condoms piled up at home.
Hayoung shuddered with disgust and resentment. Jisung looked down at Hayoung, who was struggling, and barely managed to speak.
“Those are Song Dooyoung’s.”
“What?”
Hayoung felt like her tears had instantly dried up at Jisung’s words.
So those condoms back then...
...were my own blood’s?
“That day we first did it, there were no condoms, so I was going to go to the convenience store to buy some. But I was worried you’d fall asleep if I went out and came back, so I looked in Dooyoung’s room. I remember him jokingly saying he bought them directly from overseas.”
Those ribbed condoms, ugh... That perverted Song Dooyoung. This was really too much information about her own family to handle.
She wanted to forget. She wanted to erase it. She really didn’t want to know!
But now that it had been said, she couldn’t help but ask!
“But why did they appear again at Oppa’s house...?”
“If you knew I had opened a brand new box and used only one, you’d naturally suspect someone took them, right? So I took all of them to my house. I thought it would be better if they all disappeared, then you’d just think I misplaced them.”
“Hmph, so...”
“Yeah.”
“Ugh, that’s disgusting...”
She had used condoms her own brother had bought directly from overseas. Even though they were brand new and unopened, it felt so disgusting. But apart from the disgusting feeling, she smiled through her tears at the fact that she was the only woman for Jisung.
“I’m not the kind of guy who carries condoms around. You’re the only woman for me.”
“Then why did you even resign...?”
“My success is important, but being happy with you is more important to me. I quit because of you. Hayoung-ah, so you take responsibility for me.”
At Jisung’s last words, the misunderstanding that had been piled in her heart melted away.
She felt sorry for her foolish behavior of hiding without even hearing his explanation, and tears welled up again.
She hadn’t had the courage to turn on her phone. What had been sadder than seeing her fiancé with another woman was his sharp words blaming the breakup on Hayoung. She hadn’t dared to listen to Jisung’s excuses, afraid that he might blame her again for not being good enough.
“Hmph, I’m sorry, Oppa...”
“Why did you run away without even asking? Huh? Do you know how worried I was about you?”
“I was scared...”
“What were you scared of?”
“That you had another woman...”
Blood poured again from the wound that had barely healed.
She had given her whole heart. Was she so inadequate for him that he needed someone else?
“I was afraid you’d blame me..., hmph.... I was so scared that you were meeting other women because I wasn’t good enough. Hmph, I wanted to hide rather than face that confirmation...”
It seemed that Choi Jaehyung’s nightmare of blaming Hayoung for their breakup had left her traumatized.
“...That bastard said that?”
Jisung, who had been silent for a moment, asked in a low voice.
“Yeah.... Hmph, Oppa. I’m sorry. I won’t do that again.”
Jisung caressed Hayoung’s cheek and met her eyes.
“Hayoung-ah.”
“Yeah.”
“This won’t do.”
“Huh?”
Hayoung had felt relieved by Jisung’s explanation, but her heart sank at his words that it wouldn’t do.
Love was too precarious, like a flower blooming on a cliff, its petals withering and falling with just a single drop of rain.
“Seeing you so anxious makes me even more anxious.”
“Oppa...”
“So, let’s...”
“......”
Jisung’s eyes flickered deeply for a moment. Hayoung gazed intently into those eyes that held her entire being.
“Let’s get married soon. Next month, no, even this month is fine.”
Hayoung’s lips trembled, wondering if she had heard correctly.
It hadn’t even been a full month since her engagement was broken. The period she had been dating Jisung was the same.
It was too early to decide on marriage. But her heart only considered one possibility.
How happy would she be to live in the same house as Jisung, to fall asleep and wake up with him every day? How perfect would it be to have a moment where there would be no more misunderstandings or breakups?
“It hasn’t even been a month since my engagement was broken, Oppa...”
“I know.”
“Our parents told me not to act like a child...”
“It’s okay. I’m an adult, so they’ll give us their permission.”
“Ah, right. Did Dooyoung Oppa acknowledge us?”
Even in this situation, Hayoung mentioned that Dooyoung had acknowledged them. Half-crying, half-laughing. Hayoung’s face was a mess, but Jisung caressed her cheek as if she were cute.
“Let’s get married.”
“Dad might grab the back of his neck and say I’m being immature.”
“Let’s get married, Song Hayoung.”
“Mom likes Oppa though.”
As Hayoung rambled on incoherently, Jisung held both of her hands tightly.
“Baby.”
“Yeah.”
“I love you.”
Jisung showered Hayoung’s lips with quick, fervent kisses.
“I love you too, Oppa.”
A smile finally spread across Hayoung’s face.
“Let’s get married.”
“Okay, Oppa. Let’s get married.”
Jisung pulled Hayoung’s waist tightly. The sweet kiss made even the salty memory of their earlier separation a beautiful one.
The world that had lost its color shone beautifully again. The brilliant Jeju sunlight poured down on the protagonists of love.
Jisung embraced Hayoung, who smiled brightly with swollen eyes, with overwhelming emotion.
“But how did you know I was here?”
“I told you, we don’t need to get to know each other. Dooyoung said you left with a lot of luggage, so I figured you wouldn’t be back overnight. Song Hayoung, with her pride, isn’t the type to tell her friends something like that, so saying you were staying at a friend’s house was a lie.”
“Wow... Look at you reasoning, just like a prosecutor.”
“You sang about wanting to travel to Jeju after you quit your job. You said you knew a pretty guesthouse with a view of the Seogwipo sea.”
“There are more than one or two guesthouses. How did you find me?”
“Oppa knows everything.”
It felt strange that Jisung, whom she had known for so long, seemed to read her thoughts.
As if her heart hadn’t ached just moments ago, she felt happy walking hand-in-hand with Jisung.
“Shall we go eat gimbap?”
“Huh?”
“You said you knew a delicious gimbap place in Jeju.”
She couldn’t bring herself to say that she had eaten three rolls of tear-soaked gimbap by herself in the meantime.
“Yeah, later...”
The guesthouse owner opened the window and peeked out, looking at Hayoung suspiciously, but she only saw Kwon Jisung.
“Let’s go buy rings too.”
“Huh?”
“So we can’t go back on it.”
Jisung caressed Hayoung’s finger.
Hayoung thought that she wanted to be by Jisung’s side forever, unable to go back on it. She wanted to stay by his side always. Like the orange jasmine that bloomed and withered and bloomed again with just sunlight and water, she would bloom eternally brilliantly if she had only Jisung’s love. That’s what she thought.
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