“Are you going to live with somebody all your life if you don’t forget him then? You stupid girl!”
“When should I break up with the Chief then?”
“You’re really driving me nuts. Why don’t you be more honest to yourself? Can you say you really didn’t know his romantic feelings about you? You knew it, right?”
“Well, as I grow older, I think I’ve come to know what love is. In other words, I don’t want to jump into love without thinking hard about it first. I find myself thinking first before deciding to date somebody, even comparing them with Konsu. Still, I am not so sure whether this is really love.”
“So, do you love the Chief?”
“Not yet.”
“If you don’t yet, then when are you going to love him?”
“I think I will be able to love him gradually. Maybe.”
Only now was Arum able to laugh while looking at the small room.
***
The first morning of the next day after she made a boyfriend.
How did she change? She didn’t at all.
Because she was late for an appointment, she became flustered.
“Dang it! Where is my cell phone charger? Oh dear…”
As her smart phone’s battery was discharged long ago, she couldn’t call Hojoon to say she would be late.
“I’m already too late. Where is the charger?”
She took out the blanket, but she couldn’t find it there.
‘It can’t be there!’
She rushed to the multi-purpose room, opening the washer and looked into her laundry. She could barely find a thin wire after a long search.
“Found it!”
She couldn’t understand how she put it inside the washer along with her laundry.
Putting on her shoes, she locked the front door.
When she moved her step, it seemed someone was pulling her back.
When she turned around, she found the tip of the charger wire stuck in the door.
As she was already 30 minutes late for the appointment, she became absentminded. She opened the door again and took it out, but the elevator she was waiting for already went down. She had to use the stairs to walk down.
Puffing and huffing, she went out of her villa, dripping with sweat.
Honk honk!
“Oh, my!”
Calming her pounding heart, she turned around.
Hojoon was in the car, looking at her.
“Get in, reporter Yang! You perennial latecomer!” he said, rolling down the car window.
She got embarrassed when he teased her jokingly.
“Oh, I’m sorry. I didn’t know my cell phone was turned off.”
“I thought as much,” said Hojoon.
Sitting next to him, she stared at him. He intentionally avoided her eyes and turned the steering wheel.
“Why are you here? What if I don’t see you at the appointed place?” she asked.
“Not a chance. I’ve been waiting for you here since 6PM.”
“Really? Why didn’t you give me a call? Oops, sorry. Why did you wait here?”
“Because I missed you.”
“Good heavens! We just met last night!” she answered, pretending not to know. But she couldn’t hide her joy on her face.
‘This guy knows how to please my ears.’
Hojoon was even cheeky enough to say, “I wish I had slept here last night.”
“Are you crazy? Wake up!”
“Well, I would like to taste the feeling of dating you.”
She couldn’t control her laughter upon hearing that.
He went on, “By the way, don’t call me ‘Chief’ when you and I are together. Just call me Hojoon like you used to. Or you can give me a nickname.”
“Nickname?”
“It’s too childish, isn’t it?”
“Yeah, I guess so.”
“Good, Arum.”
“Why don’t we stop by a shop specializing in home furnishings?”
“Sounds good.”
He put in the address of the shop on the car navigator, and then drove one hour to reach there. The shop was famous for displaying a variety of home furniture, ranging from curtains to wallpapers. It was ideally equipped with all the interior accessories for consumers, such as furniture, lightings, wallpapers and other accessories.
The items Hojoon had to buy today were exactly the same as a newlyweds’ shopping list.
Though the beds, blankets, plates, wallpapers and curtains were sponsored by Sola Electronics, he had to buy other accessories out of his own pocket.
Arum stopped before a picture in the shop.
As Yuyoung’s disengagement with Konsu was prompted by the picture Arum gave to her, she naturally stopped before it.
“Chief! Oh, right… Hojoon!”
She felt awkward when she called his name.
“Can I just call you ‘Chief’? I’m more comfortable with that.”
Frowning, he said, “No, that’s non-negotiable.”
“What? I don’t care.”
He grabbed her by the wrist when she was about to run away.
“Please call me just Hojoon.”
“Don’t whine, please.”
“Arum Yang. I called your name so easily. You can do it like me.”
“Pardon? I really can’t now.”
She avoided his eyes, feeling embarrassed. In fact, she felt ashamed.
“I am not asking you to call me brother or honey. Just my name, Hojoon Lee. Is it so hard to call me by my name?”
“Let me do so after I’m done today.”
In the end, he gave in and said, “Okay. I want to separate public from private matters. So, call me Chief from 9AM to 6PM. After that, call me Hojoon. How about that?”
“Why are you so serious about it? I got it, Chief.”
Arm in arm, he got her reassurances.
“I told you clearly that even your words had energy force. When you call my name often, you and I get closer and our chance of love luck will also go up.”
“Oh, I didn’t know that you’re such a nagging person! Chief, are you going to hang the picture?”
“Of course. A picture is a symbol in geomancy. If you put a picture of a mountain on the wall, that area is a mountain in your house. What if you hang a picture of the sea?”
“Sea?”
“A picture is not just a symbol. It is the picture that draws the energy force of the object. You have to pay special attention to the picture as it is hung on the newlyweds’ house.”
Looking intensively at a modern-style abstract drawing on the wall, she asked, “So, did you find one?”
“Not yet.”
“This one is….”
She tilted her head before an abstract picture with a dizzying array of red, blue and yellow squares.
“Isn’t it better for us to draw our own?”
“Can you draw well? Can you take responsibility if a newly married couple divorces because of our picture?”
“Oh, I was kidding, Chief.”
Arum was pretty sensitive to the word ‘divorce.’ As she had to pay attention to the matter of Konsu’s disengagement, she didn’t have the nerve to visit his father.
“I think the leaves or flowers in the picture have no problem. But the size of the picture frame is important. Too much is as bad as too little, you know.”
He picked up several big and small frames and put them in the cart. And then he bought candles in different colors at the candle shop.
“Oh, these candles! Do you know that since you mentioned the value of candles to my editor, she has been religiously lighting the candle in her office?”
“Well, do you not know how many civilizations were developed by this primitive light?”
“Yeah, I know it too well. If I light a candle, I just feel relaxed and calm down.”
“Why don’t you light some incense as well? It’s especially good to light a candle or burn incense in a damp place. It has the effect of lighting up, too.”
“After that, do I have to fill it up?”
“It’s different. Filling it while emptying it? In the end, smoke and light are supposed to disappear. You can enjoy a high effect at a low cost.”
“Really?”
Arum hesitated before the candles.
“I just wonder how many candles I need.”
“Are you going to fill your house with candles?”
“Nope. I just hate my current house.”
It was a house she sought as a refuge, so it was far from a resting place.
“I’m getting hungry since I skipped my breakfast. How about lunch before going further?”
“It’s a bit early to have lunch. We still have a lot of other stuff to buy, don’t we?”
“Well, I feel like it’s hard to shop when I’m hungry. I know a nice restaurant nearby.”
She couldn’t refuse his offer to have lunch first.
Carrying several accessories in the trunk of his car, Hojoon drove to a restaurant with Arum. He didn’t ask which food she liked.
“Is the food here good enough?” she asked.
“Yes, this is a special restaurant that has never disappointed me,” he said proudly.
When he drove the car for about 20 minutes, they were out of Downtown Seoul.
“Wow, I feel so good!” she said excitedly. When she rolled down the window, she felt a cool breeze coming in.
“I feel like I’m getting off work a little early today,” she said.
In fact, she worked many nights while she was on the geomancy project. His car headed toward Yangsuri in the outskirts of Seoul.
“Here we are,” he said cheerfully.
It was a remote place outside the boundary of Seoul. While he was parking his car, she looked around.
“Is this the restaurant you mentioned?”