While Hojoon and Jina were chattering about her, Arum was preparing a romantic date with Konsu.
She received a sudden call from Konsu in the afternoon.
“Can we have dinner together if you’re available?”
And she was now heading for the appointed place.
“Where shall we meet?”
When Konsu asked that question, Arum instantly visualized the map of Seoul in her head.
She wanted to avoid the places where she had met him before. Instead, she wanted to meet him in an outdoor place where she could feel nature, such as one where the river ran and the atmosphere was windy.
Where was a pleasant place where she could chat with him about the stories of their past with laughter? She wanted to find the location where she could make up for her unhappy memories through this one-time date with him.
‘Shall I meet him at the Han River?’
But access to the Han River was difficult without a car. If she were to ride a car with him, he would most likely make explicit contact with her body. Ultimately, she would accept his sexual advances, but not today.
‘How about a restaurant with an aquarium?’
She recalled the first place where Leonardo Dicaprio met Claire Danes in the movie . They locked their eyes through a fish tank bathed in a mystical blue.
But the restaurant she had in mind was too expensive. She felt that it was not the right place for their reunion as it was not for his proposal. ‘Let me reserve that place for it.’
Now, the only place she could think of was the Chongyechon Stream.
Like Hojoon said, Kwanghwamoon was a good place where the roads ran in all directions. It’s also a dynamic place teeming with not only office workers, but also families and friends. If the Han River was a place for lovers, Kwanghwamoon looked like a meeting place for everybody.
So, she decided to meet him at the Chongyechon Stream near Kwanghwamoon.
Though she would see him there, she couldn’t dine with him on the streets of Chongyechon.
That’s why she chose the Sky Lounge of Tower Building. Though she felt the expensive price there was a bit burdensome, she decided to foot the bill as she would date him in three years.
“Why don’t we meet at Jonggak Station?” she said, without specifying the restaurant on purpose for fear that he might feel pressure.
She headed for Jonggak Station with a light gait.
The moment she arrived there, she felt that something was wrong.
She sent him a text message like that, but didn’t receive any reply for 30 minutes.
Konsu was not there when Arum hopped up the stairs to the entrance. Thirty minutes had already passed.
“Oh my god…”
She was standing there, indefinitely waiting for Konsu.
As she couldn’t contact him, she could not leave the place.
At first, she got angry. She resented him for spoiling the mood.
‘I thought as much. It’s just me who is to blame for accepting his request thoughtlessly.’
She regretted it. But she began to be worried when he didn’t appear after more than 30 minutes.
‘Did he get into an accident?’
‘Is his meeting at the company longer than expected?’
‘Does he feel it burdensome to meet me?’
‘Has he forgotten this appointment?’
She was getting worn out now. What distressed her all the more was the way the passersby looked at her. It looked as if everybody was looking at her now.
‘Looks like she got stood up.’
‘Was it true that her date was her ex-boyfriend?’
‘Doesn’t she have any pride?’
‘She should have sensed that she got stood up when ten minutes have passed.’
It seemed that as they passed by, they were commenting on her like that.
Arum decided to block her ears.
‘What’s most important now is Konsu and I.’
But she couldn’t wait there all throughout the night.
‘Okay, let me give him one more call.’
The moment she was about to press the button, she received a call from Konsu.
It was already 50 minutes later than the appointed time.
“I’m sorry, so sorry.”
She felt that he was genuinely sorry to her over the phone.
“My meeting suddenly got longer. I couldn’t contact you. It was an important meeting. I have kept you waiting for so long, right?”
“It’s fine with me.”
Instead of expressing her bitter feelings, she responded casually, “I was reading a book at a bookstore while waiting for you.”
She eased his mind with a lie.
“How did the meeting go?”
“Yeah, it did go well. By the way, I’m going to be late a lot if I go your place now. Can we meet at the half-way point? Can you come to Chungmuro Station?”
She got upset at that.
If he were really concerned and felt sorry, he could catch a taxi to come to her place right away. But he was telling her to come to Chungmuro.
Konsu Han.
‘That’s why we broke up. You never changed!’
She wanted to give him a piece of her mind, but she didn’t want to repeat the same mistake.
“Chungmuro?”
“No, not there. As I am leaving from Kangnam, Yaksu Station is the half-way point. Why don’t we meet at Yaksu?”
He could come to Chungmuro Station, only a few metro stops from Yaksu.
‘Why is he insisting on the half-way point?’
Though she was outraged by his selfish behavior, she decided to forgive him as she was determined to show him that she had changed into a generous woman.
She was already moving back to the ticket gate of Jonggak Station to head for Yaksu.
“Send me a text message for our meeting place,” she said.
“Got it. Let me go to you as soon as possible. You can have whatever food you want there. Sorry.”
He sent her a message showing the map of the restaurant near Yaksu.
She was now on the metro.
Curry. It was not bad. But she didn’t like it much.
She was not meeting him just for a meal. If eating together was the main purpose of her meeting, she would meet him near her house or company, not Jonggak Station.
‘I wanted to receive a good energy force from him, but I was overzealous. I should be patient.’
Her sullen and distorted face, as she tried her best to control the surge of anger in heart, was mirrored in the metro glass.
Obviously, she came out with a light mind for a pleasant date with Konsu.
But her look in the mirror was a fatigued 30-year-old office worker.
‘Let me be patient.’
She forced a smile.
She laughed at herself while managing a smile.
Though she asked herself, ‘You are happy to meet him again, right?’, she felt resentful about him. She was mistaken when she expected that Konsu would go to the effort of coming to a place near her company, when, in fact, he didn’t. And she was even imagining a romantic reunion with him at the Sky Lounge, when, in fact, he didn’t think of it at all.
“Yeah, it’s not his fault. This is also my obsession with him. How stupid am I?!’
She got off at Yaksu Station after that.
The restaurant Konsu mentioned as their meeting place was an Indian curry house in the underground arcade.
Underground?
She got annoyed while walking down to the underground with a heavy heart.
‘What the heck? Is he trying to hide me from others? Is he meeting me in the underground because he doesn’t want to be caught by someone else?’
She felt these accusations deep inside.
As expected, there were not many people at the underground arcade as it was already past the rush hour. There were no lovers dating there.
‘Let me focus on the meeting…’
Chanting an incantation, she opened the door of the curry house. Konsu was there already, waiting for her.
“Arum!”
He waved at her with a smile. Looking at his face, her depressed feelings disappeared. She even forgot that he didn’t arrive at the appointed time. How desperately she missed him for the past three years!
So, she wondered how she would react on the first day of her reunion with Konsu.
‘Can I shed tears like they do in the movies as soon as I see him? Can I hug him and kiss him passionately? Will I feel too awkward to look him in the eye? Or can I just look at him silently?’
Did she imagine too much?
She didn’t feel any excitement the moment she saw him, the moment she had been looking forward to for the past three years.
Instead, she felt very hungry.
Having a large bowl of curry, she looked at Konsu.
“Why are you looking at me like that?” he asked playfully with a smile. “Didn’t you miss me?”
Konsu smiled instead of replying. Obviously, her face was familiar to him, but he felt like she was a stranger. Though he constantly chatted and laughed over curry with her, he felt that something was lacking.
“You are well, aren’t you?” asked Konsu in a low voice.
“Sure, I am.” She gave a bright smile, as if to show him that she was well.