Hojoon laughed at that, too, and said, “I’m serious.”
She responded, “No thanks. Though I really appreciate your sincere feelings, I’m really okay now. All thanks to you, Hojoon.”
Honk, honk!
As he pulled over his car in the shoulder, he and Arum were exposed to traffic.
“Let’s get in first.”
He opened the door of the passenger’s seat for her.
Back in the car, they regained their peace of mind.
While he was driving to their destination, she spoke out what she really wanted to tell him.
“I’m really ashamed of myself. I just don’t know why this kind of bad thing happens whenever I’m with you. When I met you at the police station, I was really embarrassed. And today, you witnessed all the dirty things about me. I know how you feel toward me. I’m a poor and wretched woman. Oh god I’m a mix of misfortune and bad luck.’
“Are you so ashamed of that?”
“Do you think I should be proud of that?” she asked playfully.
“It’s interesting to me,” said Hojoon.
Hojoon really meant it. After he broke up with Soran Cho, he was always pessimistic. He couldn’t carry out his work properly nor meet with people confidently.
But Arum was different. Though she was shocked by Konsu’s double life, she didn’t lose her smile. Hojoon envied her positive attitude.
“Oh, you’re talking like that because this is none of your business. I admit I ended up being a funny woman today. By the way, are you going to tell Yuyoung about me?”
“Why? Do I have to tell her about you?”
“Well, I can’t tell it to her.”
“Why don’t you tell her directly?”
“Nope, I’m afraid I can’t. Konsu might have some reason for hiding me from her.”
“I think your only defect is that you’re too optimistic. How can you say that Konsu might have some reason when you were deceived by him? Are you going to give him a pass?”
“No, I won’t, but…”
“Okay. Let’s leave them alone. He’s created the problem already. Aren’t you curious about how Konsu will react?”
Hojoon’s question was provocative.
If she left him alone, she could find out his real intention. This guy, who cancelled off their marriage before, could break with his fiancé again.
‘Can he come back to me?’
When she was imagining the rosy future of her relationship with Konsu again, Hojoon threw cold water on that.
“Do you know? Those who like married men or women are doing it out of habit. A guy who once got divorced really feels that it’s pretty easy to get divorced again.”
Arum felt a sting in her heart.
“That’s what I call the dark energy force. Something hidden or unscrupulous. We’re trying to remove that kind of energy force. That’s the same to human relations. Should those who were once divorced get divorced again? No. They should try not to repeat it. The stream runs where it wants to flow when left intact.”
“Did I say I would meet a married man?” asked Arum.
She was embarrassed because she felt he read her mind.
“That’s why I’m reminding you about it. If you really learned your lesson, you shouldn’t meet with him again.”
“Well, I can’t do that. This as what I want,” she said feebly.
Hojoon couldn’t retort as she was downcast. He knew she wouldn’t meet Konsu again, who would be married soon.
“Well, you and I feel under the weather. Why don’t we go to a good place for a change?”
“Why should we go there?”
“Don’t worry. Let me escort you to a place where you can walk on air.”
“Oh my god…”
Though she stopped him, he was already driving his car out of a tunnel.
She repeatedly asked him about the destination, but he didn’t reply.
“Are you crazy? Where are you going?”
“Are you curious?”
“Absolutely. You’re kidnapping me, right? Has Yuyoung asked you to remove me without anybody knowing it?”
“Oh, I think you must have watched lots of movies, haha.”
“Don’t beat around the bush! Where are we going?”
“Mt. Namsan.”
“What the heck? Mt. Namsan? Why?”
“Don’t you know that there are many hotels out there?”
“Crazy, crazy. Who’s going to a hotel there?”
“I didn’t say that I would go there? There are lots of hotels there. I’m only telling you about this fact.”
He felt that her surprised look was cute. She was a fantastic woman who took his confession in stride, but also became tense when he mentioned a hotel.
Nonetheless, he felt it fortunate that she forgot about Konsu while they were chatting and laughing.
“We have come to our destination.”
Hojoon drove his car to the garage of Namsan Tower instead of a hotel.
“Namsan Tower?”
She looked up at the high-rise Namsan Tower.
“Yes, that’s right. Just for a change. You know, one regains one’s vigor by changing one’s bad energy force. In particular, if you come up to a high place with a good view, you will feel better. Let’s go.”
He pulled her hand. Though he expected her to shake off his hand, she didn’t. When she followed him obediently, he was rather embarrassed.
She couldn’t let go of his hand because it was so warm.
‘I would have been miserable without this man!’
She deliberately pretended not to have heard his proposal with a laugh, but she didn’t want to let go of his hand.
‘You’re so shameless, Arum!’ she reproached herself in her heart.
She vowed that she would only date him for just today.
“Let’s go!” she said. This time, she grabbed his hand and said, “This is the first time I’ve come here.”
“Are you serious?” he asked.
Even Hojoon, who lived in the remote village near Mt. Jiri, had visited this place before.
“In fact, if you live in Seoul, you rarely come to this kind of place. Have you been to Mt. Pukhan?”
“Of course. I’ve been to all the famous mountains in our country to study geomancy.”
“I think it’s difficult to study geomancy as you have to visit mountains. I’ve not been to Mt. Pukhan. If you live too close, you hardly go there. Oh my god. It’s going to be pretty hard to walk up there.”
She once again looked up at Namsan Tower excitedly as if she was on an outing.
When they looked down at Downtown Seoul at the observatory of Namsan Tower, it looked like a fantastic panorama that could be seen in a sketchbook. She could see no expensive houses, numerous people and cars on the streets.
With a deep breath, she enjoyed the night view of Seoul.
“How do you feel? Feel better now?”
“Yes, I feel much better,” she answered, her gaze fixed at the night scene outside the window.
“Gorgeous! I couldn’t understand why people were coming to this place.”
Obviously, she was carried away with the night scene.
“I’m just nothing when I look down from this high place. I’m just one of so many people. I wonder why I led such a busy life up to now. I just kept running forward in my life thoughtlessly.”
“Everybody is like that. They don’t know to which direction they’re going.”
“It’s right there, my house! And your house is at the end of that place over there. I don’t see anything now. It’s very expensive.”
“Stop your nonsense. Take this.”
He handed her cell phone to her gently, which he threw away in the rear seat in the car.
“I’m returning it to you since you feel better now.”
“Thanks.”
Without opening her phone, she put it in her handbag.
“That day, when I visited your house, you did erase all the videos with me, right?”
“Yeah, you already knew I did. You even saw one with Soran Cho. Not only you, but I was also ashamed of myself because you knew my secret.”
“I didn’t put on any makeup that day. Didn’t I look strange?”
“Pardon?”
He made a feigned smile, thinking he really couldn’t understand what kind of woman she was.
“You told me that I asked you not to leave. At that time, I didn’t put on any makeup. I think I must have been crazy back then. I wish I had put on makeup.”
“Are you sure?” he asked with a smile.
“What are you talking about?” she asked again as she didn’t know his intention.
“I mean, if you had put on makeup, you could have looked more beautiful.”
“Of course.”
“In my eyes, you are still the same.”
“How do you know?”
“I saw you many times, including your crying face a while ago.”
“Oh no…”
Actually nobody, not even her family and Konsu, had ever seen her crying with a runny nose like that before—except for Hojoon. So, she was curious about what he thought about her look.
“So, did I look ugly?”
He was embarrassed by her sudden question.
“Let me ask you again, ‘did I look lousy?’ Huh?” she demanded.
She went closer to him to ask for his reply when her eyes met his.
He felt a bit awkward at that moment.
Though he was confident enough to confess to her unashamedly when he pulled over his car on the shoulder, he wasn’t now.