***
A little while ago.
As soon as the sound of vibration stopped, Gyeonhui turned around and closed the door quickly.
“… I’ll take you downstairs.”
He spoke as little as possible, so they would not be heard from inside.
“You’re embarrassed.”
“… Yes, I have been since you came here.”
Gyeonhui tried to change the subject, but Mrs. Shin smiled like she already knew everything from the beginning.
“Is it her?”
Mrs. Shin’s words shook his eyes. With a smile on her face, Mrs. Shin raised her hand and suddenly slapped his face violently.
‘Slap!’
With a loud sound, his head swung. Ojae was watching them and couldn’t close his mouth because he was freaked out.
“How much more are you going to disappoint me?”
Hearing her cold words, he slowly turned his head towards her.
“Are there even more ways I could disappoint you further?” His voice sank coldly.
“The W department is trying to pull you down every way that they can, and you’re doing this with the girl right now? If you want to lose everything, now is a great time. Just tell me now. I’ll take everything away from you.”
Her face was soon hardened, wryly.
Glaring at her with anger, Gyeonhui slowly started speaking.
“Don’t worry. I’ll have the Lasung, including everything you’re grabbing.”
Mrs. Shin’s eyes shook when she saw the anger in his eyes.
“… Okay. I’m glad to hear that.”
After regaining her relaxed smile, she turned and went down the stairs.
When he could no longer see her, he leaned against the wall, exhausted.
“… Hah…”
He staggered because of his high fever and dizziness.
“Gyeonhui…”
Ojae hurriedly grabbed his arm to hold him.
“… Keep quiet.”
Gyeonhui furrowed his eyebrows and spoke in a low voice.
When Ojae closed his mouth, Gyeonhui slowly started speaking again.
“Get inside. Take care of her.”
“… What about you?”
“I’m fine. Go on.”
“Hah…”
Because of Gyeonhui’s insistence, Ojae opened the door impulsively.
However, Ojae looked back at him several times before finally entering the room with concern.
‘Bang.’
When Gyeonhui heard the door close, he leaned his head against the wall, exhausted.
“Hah…”
He turned his head and looked at the door of the room and exhaled a long sigh of frustration.
It was clear that Sun had heard the entire conversation he had with Mrs. Shin.
“… It can’t be worse.”
He struggled to breathe while furrowing his eyebrows because of his surging dizziness.
***
‘Boowoong.’
Sun heard a car leaving the house through the window.
As silence came to the area, Sun took the blanket off and carefully stepped out.
A heavy sigh leaked from her mouth. Her heart became heavier amid the ridiculous situation. As she cleared her mind for a moment, she recalled what Mrs. Shin had said to Gyeonhui.
‘Is this because of the girl? Did you say her name is Cheonsun?’
Her shoulders shrunk when she recalled Mrs. Shin’s cold tone of voice, but what was worse was that Sun was suffering from a guilty conscience.
‘… Because of me…’
She felt that she alone was causing all these problems and making Gyeonehui sick from all the excessive stress involved.
In the end, her feelings for him that she hadn’t completely cut made it difficult for everyone.
She wanted to flee the place as soon as possible because of her unbearable feeling of guilt.
She tried to leave the room with a bag on the floor. Then, a familiar red material caught her eyes.
The red-colored image that remained in her head was like an imprint.
She slowly turned and looked at the red thing sticking out from beneath the nightstand. She leaned down and picked up the red scarf.
The familiar touch and color.
“This is…”
It was the gifted scarf that she had received and returned to him.
‘Bang.’
Then the door opened, and Ojae came in.
“She just left. Hah… I thought my heart would fall out.”
Ojae breathed a sigh of relief and struck his own chest. However, Sun didn’t move even an inch of her body and was still looking at the red scarf.
“… Sun?”
Ojae carefully called her name, wondering what was going on.
She slowly turned and showed the scarf to Ojae and asked, “Why didn’t he throw this away?”
Hearing her question, Ojae’s face distorted in embarrassment.
“That’s…”
Ojae hesitated for a long time, and he started speaking after he checked the door to see if Gyeonhui was coming.
“… In fact, I thought he had thrown it away.”
Ojae recalled the day when Gyeonhui woke up from his surgery.
***
When the pain in his stomach subsided, Gyeonhui looked at the ceiling weakly, lying in his bed in the hospital.
He pulled out his phone and called Sun, but she didn’t answer the phone.
“Hah…”
He sighed with frustration and turned his head to look at the trash can.
The scarf that he just threw away was in the trash can.
He frowned and looked at the scarf for a moment and started speaking.
“… Give it to me.”
“Huh? What?”
Ojae asked because he didn’t understand what Gyeonhui was saying.
“That.”
Ojae moved his gaze to where Gyeonhui was pointing.
“This?”
When Ojae picked up the scarf, Gyeonhui nodded.
“Didn’t you throw it away? Why are you taking it all of a sudden?”
“… Just in case…”
“Just in case of what?”
“… Why do you have so many questions!? Just do what I say! Ugh…”
Gyeonhui had yelled at Ojae, but he frowned because of the pain after his surgery.
“Okay, just relax.”
Ojae hurriedly gave the scarf to him. Gyeonhui grabbed the scarf by snatching it and put it away under the pillow after crumpling it. Gyeonhui seemed so awkward by doing that, he furrowed his eyebrow and closed his eyes. Ojae waved his head upon seeing his incomprehensible behavior.
***
“… He’s kept it since then. I saw it a while ago.” Ojae said it sadly.
“That’s not the only thing he still has. The coffee tree that you gave him at his office, he still has it in the office… At first, he told me not to water it and let it die. However, he often watered it himself.”
Ojae recalled roughly how Gyeonhui would water the tree with a cup of water.
“Gyeonhui might have…” Ojae paused for a moment and started speaking again while looking at her. “He might have been waiting for you more than anything…”
Hearing Ojae, Sun closed her eyes quietly.
Her eyes were trembling as she felt pain.