IHMSFL-05

CHAPTER 5

The city’s night scenery passed by outside the window.

But when a man’s reflection appeared in the car window, Seo-eun drew a startled breath.

She still couldn’t believe that she was sitting in the car of her first love, who had suddenly appeared out of nowhere.

What on earth am I doing?

The navigation screen displayed her parents’ home address.

Seo-eun herself had asked him to drive her there so she could catch her cheating boyfriend in the act.

“Oppa, I’m sorry, but… can I ask you for one favor?”

There was no other way to explain it except that she had completely lost her reason.

But even though the situation had become ridiculous, Seo-eun couldn’t give up.

“How have you been?”

The sudden greeting was painfully awkward.

“I’ve been well.

“How about you, Oppa?”

It had been so long since they had been close that calling him Oppa felt embarrassing.

If so, was she really close enough to ride in his car?

Seo-eun asked herself that question, then rationalized it by telling herself that at least she knew who he was.

What else could I do?

I feel like I’ll go crazy if I don’t meet Kang Do-yoon right now.

I feel like I have to hear the truth directly from his own mouth.

“How have you been?

“I actually came back to Korea today.

“I’ve been living in America all this time.”

So he had been overseas.

It was something she had known absolutely nothing about.

After Ji-yu went on the date with Hee-mok in Seo-eun’s place, she had gone out several more times, saying she was going to meet him again.

She had even asked Seo-eun to keep it a secret from their parents.

After a few months passed like that, Ji-yu had said that she no longer liked Hee-mok.

She said she didn’t intend to see him anymore.

Perhaps it had been because of studying abroad.

“…Didn’t you graduate from S University in Korea?”

“I took a leave of absence and went straight to America.”

“Oh, I see…”

There had been times when Seo-eun felt hurt by Ji-yu, wondering why she had asked to be introduced to Hee-mok if she was going to lose interest so quickly.

Looking at the man who had become even more impressive than before, Seo-eun figured that her taste in men hadn’t changed.

Both Kang Do-yoon and Cha Hee-mok.

Apparently, both men had fallen for Ji-yu, of all people.

Hee-mok stopped briefly in front of a crosswalk and glanced at her before asking,

“Is your company around here?”

“Yes, it’s nearby.

“What about you, Oppa?

“What brings you this way?”

“My cousin works nearby.

“I went to a café after meeting him, and suddenly I bumped into some woman.”

Hee-mok glanced down at his shirt.

The moment Seo-eun noticed the stain on his shirt, the man’s voice from earlier flashed through her mind.

“Ouch, hot…”

Seo-eun covered her mouth in surprise.

“That was you, Oppa?

“I’m sorry.

“I was so distracted that I didn’t realize…”

Seo-eun realized once again just how consumed she had been by everything involving Kang Do-yoon.

“How urgent was it that you couldn’t hear me even after I called you several times?”

“Ah, it was just something like that…

“I’m really sorry…”

There was nothing else she could say except that she was sorry.

Just like before, she kept finding reasons to apologize to Cha Hee-mok.

Just as she had when she sent Ji-yu instead of herself on the movie date that he had suggested first.

But her guilt quickly faded.

After returning from the movie with Hee-mok, Ji-yu had said,

“I’m going to meet Hee-mok Oppa again next time.

“He likes me too.

“He says I’m cute.

“Thank you, Unni.”

Maybe it really was my fault.

Maybe it was because Ji-yu had something that Seo-eun didn’t.

Some kind of charm.

What exactly was that charm?

This man probably knew.

Perhaps it was some unknown territory that Seo-eun could never reach.

“But you said you’re going to your parents’ house.

“You don’t look very happy.”

“Ah, no, it’s nothing like that.

“I was just really busy today.

“I’m a little tired, that’s all.”

That’s all it is.

The thought that he had once been Ji-yu’s man made Seo-eun want to distance herself from him.

As if there were no reason to explain anything, she lowered her head and stared at her phone.

Hee-mok glanced at the suddenly cold Seo-eun before starting the car again.

Seo-eun was checking the message she had sent Kang Do-yoon.

[I know all about you two-timing with Ji-yu.

“Get out of my house right now.

“If you don’t, I’ll come in myself.”]

The read receipt appeared, but there was no reply.

Some time later, the car entered the apartment complex.

When the familiar scenery came into view, Seo-eun’s heart began pounding as she anticipated what was about to happen.

The moment the car stopped, Seo-eun hurriedly pulled the door handle.

“Thank you.”

“Seo-eun.”

At Hee-mok’s call, Seo-eun paused.

She stopped halfway through opening the door and turned to meet his eyes.

His gaze looked somewhat gentle, yet there was an unwavering firmness in it as he asked,

“…Should I wait?”

His voice was so sweet that it almost made her lose herself.

Unlike his gentle voice, his tone carried the implication that he would wait right there for her no matter how long it took, warming even the rationality that had gone cold inside her.

But she quickly came to her senses.

He was always this kind of man.

The kind who gave everyone hope and fell in love with just anyone.

“Hee-mok Oppa once told me something, you know?

“He said he’d actually been interested in me, but he was too shy to say it himself, so he asked Unni to meet him instead.”

He hadn’t changed.

Seo-eun had no intention of falling for the advances of such a careless man.

His reason for acting this way probably hadn’t changed either.

Perhaps he simply needed a woman to sleep with while he was in Korea.

“No, it’s okay.

“Thank you for giving me a ride.”

Her violently pounding heart finally settled back into place.

It was a shame, but goodbye to her first love of the past.

In any case, Cha Hee-mok was a man who had a connection with Ji-yu.

All the more reason not to give him any hope.

Seo-eun stepped into the darkness.

She had no idea that this very day would once again turn her life upside down.

—

“Mom, Oppa is so handsome, isn’t he?”

Ji-yu wrapped her arms around Do-yoon’s arm and rubbed her cheek against it.

Watching them, her mother, Mi-ri, gave a faint smile.

“You really like your Oppa that much?”

“Yeah.

“He’s so good to me.

“I guess it really is true that the wounds caused by one person can be healed by another.”

Ji-yu spoke with a bright smile.

Ever since Ji-yu had returned home after disappearing, it was the first time Mi-ri and Myeong-hun had seen her looking this happy.

“Oppa, can’t you sleep here tonight?”

“Come on, Ji-yu.

“That might be a little…”

“Why?

“I want to see Oppa wearing Dad’s pajamas, brushing his teeth with the toothbrush from our house, and sleeping under our blankets.

“And I want to have breakfast together tomorrow morning.”

“Still, Ji-yu…”

Do-yoon gently pushed away the clinging Ji-yu while nervously glancing at Myeong-hun and Mi-ri.

Wanting to help her daughter, Mi-ri intervened.

“Go ahead, Kang Seo-bang.

“Stay the night.

“What’s the problem?

“You can go to work together tomorrow.”

“Still, I’m a little cautious about it.

“No one at the company knows yet.”

As though promising to protect her until the very end, Do-yoon gazed affectionately at Ji-yu.

When Seo-eun had dated Do-yoon, she had always kept her personal and professional lives strictly separate.

So Do-yoon had been certain that Ji-yu would think the same way.

But Ji-yu’s expression suddenly stiffened, and her eyes reddened.

Tears streamed down from her large eyes.

“Sniff, sob…”

Mi-ri’s face went pale.

Myeong-hun was just as startled.

When Ji-yu lowered her head and began shedding tears, Do-yoon examined her with concern.

“Ji-yu, why are you suddenly like this?

“Hm?”

“Sniff, ha…

“I’m sorry.

“I’m sorry.

“Now that the whole family is together, I just thought of Unni…”

Mi-ri asked worriedly,

“Ji-yu, did something happen between you and Seo-eun?”

Lately, Ji-yu had often said that Seo-eun had changed since moving out.

Aware of everyone’s attention on her, Ji-yu wiped away her tears.

Then she pressed the ‘End Call’ button on the phone she had placed on the chair.

Ji-yu quickly hid the phone beneath her thigh and raised her head with reddened eyes.

She saw her mother’s pale face.

She also saw the look on her father’s face, as though he might jump up from his seat at any moment.

And she could feel Do-yoon’s gaze fixed solely on her.

Feeling those worried eyes upon her, warm blood seemed to course from the top of her head to the tips of her toes.

This feeling, as though her hollow heart were finally being filled.

So this is what it feels like to be loved.

“Wouldn’t it have been wonderful if Unni had been here on this happy day too?”

Feeling an ecstatic satisfaction filling her chest, Ji-yu wiped away her tears.

“Seo-eun must have had her reasons.”

“Hm.

“I should have realized something was wrong when Seo-eun said she was moving out…”

When Myeong-hun expressed his displeasure about Seo-eun moving out, Ji-yu secretly sneered.

Ji-yu had lied that Seo-eun hadn’t come to the gathering to introduce Do-yoon to the family because she herself had refused to come.

Do-yoon, who had also betrayed the bond between the sisters, had agreed to this lie.

She had succeeded in making Do-yoon her man and even persuading her parents, but there was one problem.

A person’s feelings did not change overnight.

Even after giving herself to Do-yoon and obtaining his promise that he would break up with Seo-eun, he kept postponing the breakup.

Unable to wait any longer, Ji-yu decided to take matters into her own hands.

“I think it’s probably because of me.”

“Ji-yu, how can you say that?

“What did you ever do wrong?”

“Actually, I’ve been thinking about something lately.

“Should I just disappear again…?”

“Ji-yu, what are you talking about…?

“You’re going to disappear again?”

Mi-ri slowly rose to her feet, her face pale.

The pain she had felt when she lost her daughter came rushing back.

Ji-yu continued in a trembling voice.

“Because of me, Unni lost our parents’ love too.

“She must hate me.

“I shouldn’t have come back at all.”

“Ji-yu, what are you talking about?!”

“Honey, why are you raising your voice at Ji-yu?!”

Mi-ri scolded Myeong-hun sharply.

“Ji-yu.

“We waited for you for so long.

“There wasn’t a place we didn’t search for you.

“We wandered through mountains and fields together, your father and I, searching for you…

“How can you say something like that…?

“Waaah…”

In the end, Mi-ri burst into tears.

Myeong-hun stood up and embraced his sobbing wife.

But Mi-ri pushed herself out of Myeong-hun’s arms and clutched her chest as she cried out,

“Mom won’t ever let you go again!

“Do you know how hard it was to find you, my daughter?!”

“Mom, but I…”

“Mom is always on our Ji-yu’s side.

“Mom doesn’t need anything else.

“As long as I have our Ji-yu, that’s enough.”

On my side.

A dependable shield.

After confirming that her family was completely on her side, Ji-yu felt satisfied.

She was getting excited at the thought that she would soon be wearing a wedding dress when—

Buzz—

The sound of the front door opening reached them.

It seemed the person they had been waiting for had arrived.