Chaekyeong was as wealthy as Gyeonhui, so he couldn’t use his money to his advantage easily, seeing as she was already born with a high social position.
“Look. You have nothing to give to me. Is this negotiation going to work out?” She looked at him with a giggle.
“Isn’t there seven times left? Having a date with you, that is.”
“Oh, that suggestion has expired.”
Her words made his face harden.
“I can’t be satisfied enough with the old suggestion anymore. My value has increased since you have become more desperate.”
“… This is a waste of time.”
Still watching her, he rose from his seat when she suddenly spoke with a smile.
“Gyeonhui.”
She called him while turning away to leave the apartment.
“Seven times. That’s the deal. There’s one more condition as well.”
He turned his head and looked at her.
“I have to decide where and when we should meet, so whenever I call, you just have to come to me. Anytime wherever you are.”
Gyeonhui furrowed his brow. Glaring at her, he opened the door and walked out of the apartment without saying anything.
‘Bang!’
After a while, she heard the rough sound of the closing door.
She frowned cutely and tilted her head. “Did I push him too much?”
However, unlike her words, her face seemed more relaxed.
Then, the phone on the sofa rang.
When she checked the caller, she answered it with a smile.
“Yes, Mrs. Shin. I just met him here.”
She was nodding for a moment and listening to her opponent. She started speaking again.
“I think it’s going to come out great. Don’t worry. Yes, I’ll contact you again.”
When she hung up the phone, she stood up from her seat, stretching her body slowly.
“When do I have to call him…”
A smile crept up her face like she was in a win-win situation.
***
Late at night in a bar at Hannam-dong.
Gyeonhui spun a whiskey glass with a firm expression.
Golden whiskey shimmered in the light, creating a beautiful wave in the glass.
‘I have to decide where and when we should meet, so whenever I call, you just have to come to me. Anytime wherever you are.’
Chaekyeong’s words did not leave his mind.
“Such an arrogant…”
As he glared into the air, he inhaled the whiskey at once.
The strong liquor went down his throat, but it was not enough to calm his mood.
“Relax yourself. It’s just a joke. You know that she is sometimes a little mischievous to you.”
Ojae, who was sitting next to him, carefully tried to comfort Gyeonhui as if he were dealing with a bomb that might explode soon.
“A joke? Since when did I become the punchline of a joke?”
Gyeonhui seemed to be more annoyed after hearing Ojae’s comment.
Ojae was embarrassed and didn’t know what to say to him while biting his lower lip.
“How do I have to deal with this…”
Gyeonhui thought about it again while inhaling the whiskey.
“… Why don’t you just meet her the way she wants?”
“What did you say?” Gyeonhui frowned like he didn’t like Ojae’s words.
“You don’t have to marry her, and you just need to see her seven times. Once you find out the DNBM CEO’s location, then you have no more business with her.”
“So, you’re telling me that whenever she calls me, I have to run to her no matter where I am?”
“That’s…”
Ojae breathed a long sigh, unable to find the right answer,
When Ojae contemplated for a while, he asked Gyeonhui again.
“What do you want to do with this?”
“Hah…”
Instead of answering, Gyeonhui sighed a long sigh.
Meanwhile, he began to feel a pain in his heels.
Looking at his heels, he started speaking with a bitter smile.
“Where is she going?”
“Sorry?” Ojae asked after hearing his unexpected question.
“Is she on her way to have a drink with someone? Is she just going home from work? Is she taking a walk with Dr. Park?” He mumbled to himself in a slow tone into the air.
Ojae understood his words and looked at him with sympathy.
“You’re still feeling her pain.”
“… Not even missing a minute or a second.”
Gyeonhui’s expression hardened.
“I feel her pain constantly until she falls asleep, so I’m going crazy. She wouldn’t leave my head even for a second.”
He struggled to say after drinking whiskey to comfort his mind.
“… I really can’t find the answer.”
He had never regretted his own choice before.
The reason why he couldn’t deal with this anymore was that he could always find the answer.
This time, however, all of his abilities were not working in his favor.
“Now, I think that there was no answer from the start.”
He exhaled a sigh of frustration.
Ojae tried to say something to him but didn’t.
“Go home. I would like to be alone.”
Hearing this, Ojae rose from his seat slowly. However, after contemplating for a while, Ojae stopped walking away and turned toward Gyeonhui.
“… Maybe you’re right.”
After hearing Ojae’s voice, Gyeonhui slowly opened his eyes.
“She is not the problem, she is just a person. There may be no answer in the first place.”
“Well, what’s the problem?”
When Gyeonhui asked while furrowing his eyebrows, Ojae took a moment to breathe.
“It’s you.”
A smile burst out of his face as he slowly rose from his seat.
He took a few steps and opened his mouth while staring at Ojae.
“I think you’re crazy.”
His cold and chilling voice crushed Ojae.
However, Ojae tried to talk to him in the calmest tone possible.
“To be more precise, it could be a problem that’s been hanging around you for a long time.”
“A problem that’s been around me for a long time?”
“Yes, your problem.”
Ojae’s words and eyes were full of confidence. However, after seeing Gyeonhui’s expression, the only thing he could muster was anger and embarrassment that he couldn’t hide.
“Explain it to me more.”
“… I’ll ask you one thing. What do you really want?”
“I don’t know what you mean.”
He looked at Ojae while furrowing his eyebrows.
“Answer me, what do you really want?”
“Of course, it’s Cheonsun.”
“So, what do you want from her?”
“Going back to our relationship like before. Isn’t it obvious?”
“Yes. Like before. What does it mean to you?”
“That’s…”
Recalling his old memories, Gyeonhui became speechless.
“She waited for you and came to you whenever you wanted because you demanded her to do so. She was always standing by because you made her do so. Is that really a relationship that you want to have again? You also said that you wouldn’t marry her.”
Gyeonhui’s mouth closed tightly, slightly flinching after hearing Ojae’s words.
“If you were her, do you think you would like to go back?”
Gyeonhui didn’t answer.
“I don’t think so. She knows that if she starts seeing you again, then she would just go back to where she was in the past. Why would she do that? Because you haven’t changed, not even a bit. You’re still the same. She certainly knows that too.”
Gyeonhui remembered the day of the accident.
‘Wait until I contact you.’
He recalled her instantly sunken face like she just lost her last hope after hearing his words.
His eyes started shaking like he had just realized something that he had never thought about before.
Gyeonhui rose from his seat like it was unbearable for him to stay.
“Where are you going?” Ojae asked, seemingly anxious.
“… To her, to remove this misunderstanding.”
At the same time, he was already exiting the bar.