He saw her off and sat down again.
He received a call from Soran at that moment.
‘You’re really driving me nuts. Just disgusting!’
Though he once loved her, he just frowned whenever he received a call from her these days.
His phone buzzed again, but he didn’t answer it. He just turned it down on the table.
Soran Cho was a woman who strove to have her own way. He didn’t realize that she was such a woman when he stayed with her in Paris. In those days, he mistook everything that she gave him for love. He simply felt grateful to her for what she gave him.
As time went by, however, he realized that it was not love. Looking back, her feelings about him were a mix of her hatred for her father, jealousy of her sister, and obsession with her ex-boyfriends. She vented her filthy feelings to him. And he couldn’t stay with her anymore.
“Who else can I tell you this? Who else?”
Soran forced her love on him like a kind of hell.
As if her pride was stepped on by Hojoon, she got married to the youngest son of a business group, the rival of Sola Electronics. Because of their marriage of the century, the two rival groups ended their enmity and promised their everlasting mutual prosperity.
Then, Soran came to Hojoon suddenly and asked him to divorce her current spouse. With the excuse of a meeting, she held this strange motive of winning over his heart. She was in a totally different class from him from the beginning.
Hojoon vowed that he would answer her call.
Though it’s hard to predict the future of the relationships of people, there was a type that should never have been formed from the beginning. And that was the case of Hojoon’s relationship with Soran.
Hojoon’s phone kept ringing, which bothered him a lot.
Customers next to his table looked at him sometimes.
When he took the phone reluctantly, he found that the caller was not Soran.
“Hello?”
“Hi, Hojoon, are you still at the coffee bar?”
“Yes, I’m waiting for Arum.”
“Can you go to the hospital now?”
“Ob/Gyn hospital?”
As Jina told him that her sister delivered a baby, Hojoon got confused.
“No, I heard that Arum was injured and taken to an emergency room of a hospital. She needs a guardian for treatment. I can’t go now. Can you go there? It’s an emergency room near Hongik University. I’m sorry.”
“Got it.”
“Let me send you a text message for its location.”
Hojoon hastily left the coffee bar without drinking the coffee.
***
The emergency room of a general hospital in Sinchon.
Arum was on the bed, with her knees bruised and her face and arm wounded. As if she hated this world, she closed her eyes tightly.
“Hey, Arum!”
She opened her eyes at a familiar voice of a man.
‘This can’t be right!’
It was Hojoon standing before her.
“How come you’re here…”
She was glad to see him.
“What happened?”
He was bewildered to see her in such a miserable condition.
Lowering his body, he asked her in a low voice, “Did you drink alcohol again?”
Arum got upset upon hearing that, feeling like he was looking down on her.
“Nope!” she shouted at him.
He couldn’t understand why she shouted like that. She was bruised all over her body from head to toe.
“If not, then whatever. Why are you shouting? I was worried since Jina told me that you were injured. I’m relieved to see you well.”
She got angry at the way he spoke to her.
And he sensed her angry look at that moment.
“Did you expect I would comfort you kindly?”
“Who told you to come over here? Jina? Oh gosh…”
“I heard from her that her sister has given birth.”
That’s why Jina hastily hung up the phone.
Arum could now understand why Hojoon came here.
“Did Jina’s sister give birth to a boy or a girl?”
“I don’t know. From ancient times, delivering a baby has been regarded as sacred and noble. Don’t ever think of visiting her since you’re injured. How come you were injured like this?”
“I really have no idea. I don’t know.”
She really couldn’t recall at all what happened.
“I came out of the entrance of a subway station and went to the coffee bar near Hongik University. It was a familiar street, but there were only a few people who were there at that hour. At that moment, I heard a motorcycle from behind me, and then someone tried to snatch my handbag.”
“So, were you mugged?”
“No, it was a close call. I just ran from that place, holding my handbag tightly.”
Hojoon’s jaw dropped at that.
That’s why her pants were torn and her face bruised. Fortunately, she didn’t experience anything terrible such as being stabbed or r*ped. As there were so many terrible things happening these days, it was very fortunate that she didn’t go through that.
When he thought that far, he got angry. “Are you crazy?”
“Pardon?”
“Just forget about the money when you’re in such a situation. What if you were seriously injured?”
“I wasn’t injured!”
“How come you’re telling me that, when your body was covered with wounds like this?”
When both of them quarreled at the top of their voices, the nurse in charge stopped them with a sharp admonition. Both of them were staring at each other.
“Just go now if you’re going to continue treating me like this. I don’t need a guardian.”
“Oh, good for you! Since I’ve already confirmed that you’re well and alive, I’m going to go now.”
Hojoon turned around. He got upset about the recklessness of this woman who, like a garden tiger moth, jumped into danger without knowing how precious her body was.
“You need to take an X-ray. Is it hard for you to walk alone?” the nurse asked Arum.
“Yes.”
“Can you ride a wheelchair?”
“Yes.”
“Okay, then. Oh my… Did you put on shoes? The heels of your high heels were broken.”
“Doesn’t matter.”
When Hojoon turned back at the nurse’s remarks, he noticed her broken high heels below the bed. He was just dumbfounded to see the broken and tattered high heels.
The nurse helped her get up, checking her IV.
“Where is your guardian? Isn’t he your guardian?”
The moment she was about to say he was not, Hojoon came to her, pushing a wheelchair.
“Oh, he went out to bring a wheelchair. Just go out and take a left turn. You’ll see an X-ray room. Take an X-ray there and come back,” said the nurse.
“Yes.”
Arum felt awkward. Though she told him to go, there was nothing she could do just by herself in the hospital.
“Thanks.”
“You’re welcome. Can you sit here?” said Hojoon.
“Yes.”
Though her ankle felt sensitive, she, biting her lips, tried to sit on the wheelchair by holding the bed’s side.
“Ahhh!” she screamed with pain.
Hojoon held her in his arms and put her in the wheelchair.
“Oh god… You’re so heavy!” said Hojoon.
That was true.
Though he held her up with both arms, expecting her resistance, she was too heavy for him to lift up, combined with the gravity of her body.
Nurses at the emergency room giggled at that, and the patient next to her laughed uncontrollably.
Arum buried her face into her knees and said, “Let’s move quickly.”
He pushed the wheelchair.
Since it was late at night, it was quiet in the hallway of the hospital.
“How did you come here?” he asked.
“Ambulance came.”
“Who called for an ambulance? Did you catch the robber?”
“Nope. I called for an ambulance. Who could do that? There were only a few people on the street. I didn’t catch the robber.”
“Did you have a meeting at Yaksu?” he asked casually.
She forgot that she went to Yaksu because of the impact of the incident. And now, she began to remember why she held the handbag desperately. It was given by Konsu when he proposed to her.
Subconsciousness was such a terrible thing. She must have felt as if she would lose him if she let her handbag get snatched.
She felt like a fool.
What’s the big deal about this bag? She got injured while holding on to it, and now found herself taken care of by Hojoon.
Tears ran down her cheeks, but she swallowed them. If she cried again before this man, she would be seen as a silly woman who stuck out her neck for her ex-boyfriend.
But Hojoon knew at that moment what she did and where she went.
To his best knowledge, she liked the effectiveness of geomancy, and she met Konsu again in three years. So, she must have met him again.
“Did you see him?” asked Hojoon.
Instead of answering, her sobbing became louder now.
That was enough of an answer.
He could figure out why that happened.
There was a saying, ‘See one and you’ve seen them all.’ That was true. That’s why it’s important to know how to start.
Everything had a sign.