***
Gyeonhui looked at his hand with a firm expression.
Sun’s little hand was no longer on his hand. His hand looked so lonely, he clenched his fist while he was staring at it.
“… What was the other meaning of the coffee tree?” He sighed painfully.
He didn’t want to go home like this; he couldn’t go. He felt like he wouldn’t be able to fall asleep because of his thoughts about Sun.
Suddenly, he remembered the place he had visited with her.
The place filled with the smell of coffee, where they spent a long time together.
He slowly turned the steering wheel with a sinking expression.
***
“Labong, why don’t we go home?”
Sun said, hugging Labong, who looked a little tired in the dark alleyway.
It had been a long time since Labong went on a long walk, so he soon fell asleep in her arms.
“You must’ve been very, very tired.”
Sun looked at Labong with a smile.
There were only a few people on the street, and it was time to go home.
Sun walked carefully to not wake Labong up.
As she walked around the corner, she noticed a car that had stopped at the end of the alley. When she saw that it was similar to Gyeonhui’s car, she stopped walking.
“… Gyeonhui?”
Over the past few days, he had come to her house every night.
His car stopped at the entrance of the alleyway and did not leave until midnight.
“Hah…” She stopped with a sigh.
She thought that if she kept walking this way, she would probably encounter him.
She turned around and exited the alley with a firm expression.
She tried to get away as far as possible from him.
However, her heart kept shouting for her to go to him. She forced herself to ignore the inner voice in her mind, with her eyes closed.
How long had she been walking?
She looked around at the familiar places.
“This is the place…”
She was in front of a café that she used to visit frequently.
“I used to love to go in there…”
Sun nodded as she remembered the café.
She didn’t feel like she was going to go to bed early, and actually, she couldn’t go to bed. Thus, she needed a place to sit back and relax for a while. Above all, this place was one of the areas that Gyeonhui would not enter.
With a slight sigh, Sun slowly stepped toward the café.
78. Your boyfriend
“It’s been a long time since you have come.”
The elderly owner of the café recognized her as he greeted her with a generous smile.
“… There’s a lot of work going on these days.” Sun responded with an awkward smile.
She was waiting for the owner to ask about Gyeonhui, but he luckily asked no more.
“Well, here’s your usual order.”
With a smile, the owner placed a cup of coffee in a mug on the table.
“I’m sorry, I’ve ordered a coffee to go.”
“You were going to leave and drink it because of your dog?”
“Actually, yes.” She smiled awkwardly.
“You can stay here inside as long as your dog doesn’t bark.”
The owner looked at Labong while he was already sleeping.
“Thank you.” Sun appreciated his offer and replied with a smile.
“Everything is still the same here…”
The last time she came with him here was a visit in her memory, so she looked around.
The owner who was falling asleep after serving the coffee was still here, and the surrounding was just as silent since there are no other customers around.
Suddenly, she remembered the time she had spent here with him.
She tried to forget him, but the more she did, his face, his body, his voice would pop to her mind clearly.
“Hah…”
She closed her eyes and sighed.
She remembered what Eunwoo had said.
‘That’s how thought works. It comes back to you stronger the more you try to force it out of you. The more difficult the memories you have or the more people you want to forget, the more clearly you think about them.’
She nodded and pulled out a note from her bag.
“… Okay. Let’s focus on something else.”
She hadn’t grabbed a pencil in her hand in a long time but was seemingly determined to do something.
***
At the bar.
There were several empty bottles on the table.
Ojae looked at Eunyoung, filling the soju glass again, silently.
‘Bzzzz,’ then Eunyoung’s cell phone on the table rang.
However, Eunyoung stopped at that moment and refused to even look at the phone.
Ojae looked at her and started speaking. “Hey, are you not answering that?”
Surely she had heard Ojae, but Eunyoung seemed unwilling to answer the phone and just kept filling her glass.
“Somebody keeps calling you, take the call!” Ojae said again.
“No, I’m not taking it because I’m a little busy now.”
Her pronunciation was all swirled because she had been drinking heavily.
“What do you mean, you’re busy?” Ojae asked, seemingly incomprehensible.
“Are you blind? I’m busy drinking now.”
Eunyoung opened her bleary eyes and looked at the empty soju bottle.
“Huh? It’s already gone. Excuse me!”
Eunyoung was so drunk, so she could not hold her body up, but she tried to drink more. As the server heard her voice, she approached, but Ojae sent the server away.
“I’m sorry. We’ve had enough.” Ojae said while sending the server back.
“What? What the hell are you doing?” Eunyoung asked while furrowing her brow.
“Stop drinking. You’ve already drunk too much.”
“Hey, I drink to be drunk! Why the hell then do you drink? To pull yourself together?”
“No, but you’re so drunk, anyways.”
“Order one more bottle for me. Come on.” Eunyoung said it like she was ordering him, but her drunken tone of voice made him question her leadership as usual.
“Stop drinking and get up. I’ll take you home.” Ojae spoke in a pleading tone.
“I said order more.” She spoke in an angry, subdued tone.
“Hey, Eunyoung.”
“Just order it!”
Eunyoung knocked on the table and shouted out loud. Because of that, people in the bar all looked at Eunyoung and Ojae.
“Excuse us. We’re so sorry.” Ojae seemed embarrassed, apologizing around him and staring at Eunyoung again. “Why the hell are you doing this?” Ojae said.
“Why are you taking me home? Are you my boyfriend?”
“No, I’m just trying to…” Ojae stuttered in embarrassment.
“Then, just drink more and stop saying useless things,” Eunyoung repeated like she was belligerently yelling at him.
Ojae had no idea what to do with her. He was so embarrassed and looked at her outraged.
‘Bzzz,’
Then, on the table, her cell phone vibrated.
‘Unknown number.’
Her face sank immediately as she checked the phone. Surprised by the change in her expression, Ojae looked at her and her cell phone alternately.
‘Tak!’
She flipped her phone loudly and clutched her head in pain.
Then she suddenly got up and opened the store refrigerator by herself and brought more soju to the table.
‘Trickling.’
She poured the alcohol into a glass, not a shot glass. She then started to gulp it.
“Hey, Eunyoung.”
Ojae tried to stop her, but she refused, and finally emptied the glass that was full of soju.
“This is none of your business.”
She poured more soju again and again.
‘Bzzzz,’
Meanwhile, her cell phone rang again.
She bit her lips tightly and drank again. She didn’t even pause and finished the glass as if it were an anesthetic drug.
Watching her, Ojae recalled what she had said in the past.
‘I’m glad that you broke up with your girlfriend before marrying her.’
She pretended to be calm, but Ojae could feel her pain.