“Is Sun still in the office?”
“Yes, but she’ll probably go out soon.”
“To where?” Ojae asked anxiously.
“She has a dinner appointment with Dr.Park.”
“The vet? He’s here, isn’t he?”
“He just went up a moment ago.”
“What?”
Ojae’s voice raised involuntarily.
When people around them all looked at Ojae and Eunyoung, Eunyoung asked him, furrowing her eyebrows, “Why are you so surprised?”
“That’s…”
“What’s going on?”
Looking at Eunyoung as she asked him again, Ojae struggled to speak.
“Because… Gyeonhui just went up to see her too.”
“What… what?!”
Their faces both became rigid at the same time.
***
“Hah…”
When she finished up a draft of the design, she loosened her neck by moving her head in circles.
At that moment, she heard a knocking sound.
“Who is it?”
She wondered because no one was supposed to come into the office at night.
“Coming.”
The door opened at the same time she answered.
It was Eunwoo.
“Hey, Dr. Park.”
Sun was surprised and stood up from her seat when she saw him.
“I saw Eunyoung in the lobby. I told her that I was here earlier, so she gave me this visitor’s pass to go up to the office.”
Eunwoo shook the pass that Eunyoung gave to him.
“You should have called me. I’m sorry for making you wait.”
Sun quickly started cleaning up her desk.
Eunwoo calmly looked at the paintings she was working on after slowly approaching them.
There was a character that was helping his friends, holding an arrow.
“It’s him again, the same as last time.”
“You still remember him. Yes, people are very impressed with the character. Thank you. It’s all because of you.” Sun told him honestly.
The character wouldn’t have been created without Eunwoo’s encouragement.
Eunwoo started speaking in a muffled voice to himself after steadily looking at Sun’s drawings.
“I wish I had a friend like this character.”
Hearing his subsided voice, Sun stopped what she was doing and looked at him.
“Is everything okay with you?” She said in a caring voice.
Eunwoo looked at her while smiling bitterly. “… I don’t think I can see you as often from now…”
“Why? Are you going somewhere?”
“I have some stuff to do. I think I’ll be very busy..”
“Oh… okay…”
She looked at him, unsatisfied.
His eyes were shaken while he was looking at her sincere eyes.
“However, I still don’t know if I’ve made the right decision…”
“What decision was it?”
Hearing her question, he looked at her calmly.
As if he wanted to see her face one last time, he gazed upon her. He felt that the time he wastes in blinking his eyes was eating away the precious moments he needed to remember her face.
“I don’t know if I have to keep going or not…”
He hesitated to reveal his pure mind to her. However, on the other hand, he might have wanted her to know his mind.
When she heard the words that he struggled to speak, Sun’s face became grim too.
After agonizing for a moment, she smiled slightly as if she recalled something in her mind.
She searched out for her purse and held out her fist while holding something inside.
“Take it.”
Eunwoo hesitated to take what she had in her hand while he looked at her smiling face.
When her fist unfolded, he saw a small stone in her hand.
“This is…”
“Yes. At the church in Santiago.” Sun said.
Sun said while she was smiling at him, recalling the moment they had in Santiago.
Eunwoo flipped the stone without saying anything. He saw the phrase. ‘Go, you can.’ written on it.
“Whenever I wanted to give up on everything, this small stone helped me a lot. However, I think you need it more than I do.” Eunwoo raised his face and looked at her. Sun started speaking again with a smile. “Keep moving forward. You can make it. Whatever it is. I’ll cheer you on.”
She cheered him while squeezing her two fists tightly.
“… Do you really think so?”
Eunwoo asked her, looking at the stone in his hand.
“Sure.”
When he heard her answer, his eyes shook vigorously.
He slowly stood up from his seat and approached her with his mouth shut tightly like he had finally determined something.
He started speaking again while looking at her with his serious eyes.
“… Can I really make it?”
Sun awkwardly nodded while looking at his earnest eyes.
She couldn’t say anything. Eunwoo was still looking at her steadily and struggled to speak again.
“Sun… I’m…”
‘Bzzzz.’
At that moment, Eunwoo’s phone rang.
His phone kept ringing in his pocket, but Eunwoo only looked at her.
When the awkward silence laid down between them, Sun pointed to his pocket with her hand.
“Dr. Park… your phone…”
Eunwoo took out the phone from his pocket while smiling bitterly. When he saw the caller’s name on his phone, his face became more subdued.
“Excuse me.”
He went out of the office while he was answering the phone.
‘Bang.’
When she heard the door close, she exhaled a shallow sigh. However, his voice and the way he looked at her made it seem like the two of them were still together in the office.
***
As he went inside of the restroom, he leaned against the wall and exhaled a long sigh.
“I only make her struggle more.”
He knew that his mind could give her more trouble, so he tried to forget about her no matter what. However, it didn’t work the way he wanted.
He thought he was happy enough to stay next to her, but he wasn’t.
He wanted to see her, hug her, and be with her.
“… Can I really give up on her…’
He questioned himself again in pain while biting his lower lip.
‘Bzzzz.’
At that time, his phone started ringing again.
When he saw the caller’s name on the phone screen, his face hardened again.
It was Chaekyeong.
98. I’ll protect you from now
Still standing in the office, she waited for Eunwoo anxiously.
At that time, the office door opened wide with a knocking sound.
It was Gyeonhui, not Eunwoo.
“Gyeonhui?” Sun was surprised and asked him.
“What? Why are you so surprised?”
“I mean… because you came here without telling me.”
“Are you done?”
“Yes.”
“Have you eaten dinner?”
“I haven’t yet, but I have a dinner appointment…”
At that moment, her phone rang.
It was Eunwoo.
“I’m sorry, I have to go now. Something urgent came up. I’m sorry, Sun.”
When she saw the message, her face subsided.
Eunwoo had never canceled an appointment like this before, she was more worried about him.
“… What happened to him?”
Sun mumbled to herself anxiously when she read the word ‘urgent’ in his text.