Chapter 2
In the spot where Youngbaek had disappeared, only the old car, the mechanic she had met for the first time today, and Lim Jisoo remained.
The fragments of reason that occasionally returned only made her deny reality.
What is this? Is this some kind of hidden-camera prank?
And on top of that, the mechanic she had never seen before had called her by name.
Well, he could have learned her name by listening to her conversation with Youngbaek. But then, he was speaking informally to her.
“Let’s go, Lim Jisoo. It’s hot.”
“W-Where are we going? What about the car?”
“My shop is just up ahead.”
“……”
Right.
She could figure out whether he was someone she knew a little later.
Besides, she was back in her hometown. He could be a former classmate she didn’t remember or someone her mother knew.
They walked along a dirt road beside the car for about ten minutes before arriving at the repair shop. The man deliberately matched his pace to hers, then had Jisoo sit in the coolest spot inside the shop. He took a can of ionized sports drink from the refrigerator and held it out to her.
“Oh, thank you.”
“You haven’t changed.”
“What haven’t I changed…?”
“Just something.”
She was already embarrassed because it was hot and because receiving her favorite drink had put a faint smile on her face. The man had seen that expression in its entirety and chuckled.
Jisoo moistened her throat with the drink while watching the man busily move around inside the office.
That handsome man knows me? Then why don’t I know him?
Now that she was somewhere cool and could think straight, she couldn’t shake her confusion over the fact that the man was quite handsome.
Forgetting a face like that would practically be a serious crime…
Her mind was busy digging through her memories.
Even in this bewildering situation, which was nearly as shocking as getting dumped, she couldn’t help noticing a handsome man’s face. Feeling embarrassed by herself, she shook her head.
Right now, she had to figure out what to do about the situation Kim Youngbaek had left behind.
“I’m going to take the tow truck out and bring your car here. I’ll be back in five minutes, so just rest.”
For the first time in her life, she was left alone in someone else’s repair shop office.
Sitting in front of the air conditioner with the faint smell of oil drifting through the room, she finally had to think seriously.
Her mother was probably extremely busy right now.
To her mother, Jisoo was the smart daughter who had graduated high school as the top student, gone to university in Seoul, effortlessly received scholarships, lived in a dormitory for all four years so she wouldn’t burden her mother with living expenses, worked nonstop as a private tutor, and had lived without knowing even the first syllable of romance.
But a few days ago, Jisoo had dropped a three-part bombshell over the phone.
I have a man I’ve been dating for six years. We’re going to get married. I’m going to bring him to meet you soon.
She could practically see how flustered and busy her mother must be right now, as well as all the questions she would ask once they met.
“Ha… This is a disaster. What am I going to do?”
There was no answer no matter how much she thought about it.
Just then, the sound of a car coming from outside stopped.
Jisoo awkwardly stood up, but the mechanic from earlier gestured for her to sit down again.
With efficient movements, he picked up a round plastic stool from the corner, placed it down with a thump, and sat directly across from her at close range, staring intently at Jisoo.
“Um, don’t you think you’re sitting a little too close?”
“You’re exactly the same. Amazingly.”
There were too many things she needed to think about.
Who on earth is this man?
“Wow, your thoughts are written all over your eyes, too. You’re looking at me like, ‘Who the hell is this guy, and how does he know me?’”
“Uh…”
It was so accurate that she couldn’t even argue.
She simply stared blankly at him.
The man asked with an amused expression,
“So, what are you going to do about that Korean beef and those Cheongsong apples?”
Ah.
She hadn’t even gotten that far in her worries.
Seriously, what am I going to do with those?
It would be strange to show up at her mother’s house alone carrying everything without her boyfriend.
“Your engine compartment needs quite a few things replaced. Rather than replacing all those parts, you’d be better off replacing the engine. And if you’re going to do that, you might as well buy a new car.”
“……”
“Let’s throw it away.”
The car wasn’t something she desperately needed. Youngbaek had given it to her as a gift, so she had been grateful and occasionally driven it.
If she didn’t have a car, she could live without one.
The problem was that the car was registered under her boyfriend’s mother’s name.
She couldn’t simply do whatever she wanted with it.
“Have you called your mother?”
“No… But why are you speaking informally to me…?”
The man gave her a beautiful, almost perfectly drawn smile before getting up from his seat.
Then he held out his hand to Jisoo.
“I’ll help you.”
“……”
“Come on. Let’s go greet your mother.”
This can’t be right.
“No, thank you. It’s okay. This is the first time something like this has happened to me, so I was really at a loss back there. And I’m grateful that you approached us first. I’ll figure things out on my own.”
“……”
“As for the car… Um, please just fix it for now. As for the cost—”
“I told you to throw it away. I’ll send it straight to the scrapyard from here.”
He wasn’t particularly angry, but the faint smile that had remained on his face had disappeared.
“The thing is… It’s not completely mine, so I can’t just throw it away.”
“Oh, really? Is it that whiny guy from earlier?”
“……What do you mean, ‘whiny’?”
“Then a pathetic loser?”
“No! You seem to have heard everything we said earlier, so please forget it. And it’s my business, so I’ll take care of it myself. Thank you so much. If you could just tell me the cost and your bank account…”
The man let out a deep sigh before speaking.
“Gyechon High School, 70th graduating class.”
“……What?”
“You stood on stage as the student representative and gave the graduation speech. You wore your hair tied up like this, with a headband. I applauded you really hard.”
“Ah…”
So he’s a former classmate.
“I’m sorry, but I don’t remember you.”
The man held out his hand again and continued indifferently.
“Seventieth graduating class. No, actually, was there anyone in the entire school who didn’t know about your family’s circumstances? You were your mother’s pride, the pride of Gyechon-eup, and the pride of Gyechon High School. Lim Jisoo, top-ranked admission to Hankuk University Business School.”
He paused.
“And I think you just told your mother you were bringing that pathetic loser home.”
Jisoo held back the tears that threatened to well up again as the hurt inside her surged.
This man, too, knew why she couldn’t bring herself to tell her mother about what had just happened as though it were some trivial little mishap.
Because she was her mother’s pride.
If her mother found out that the man Jisoo was supposed to marry had treated her like this, she would be hurt and worried.
Jisoo didn’t want to see that expression on her mother’s face.
A former classmate whom she couldn’t even remember knew that.
Yet the man she’d been with for six years hadn’t spared a single thought for her feelings. He had simply taken a taxi back to Seoul.
He was the kind of man who had grown up being treated like a prince, never having to worry about practical matters like the cost of a taxi.
“But I really don’t remember you.”
“I can see that.”
“……I’m sorry.”
“If you’re sorry, shall we go now? To greet your mother.”
In the end, her desire not to make her mother sad won out.
She took the hand the former classmate in front of her had extended.
The mechanic, her former classmate, moved without the slightest hesitation.
He took the luggage out of the trunk of Jisoo’s car and carried it toward the parking lot behind the repair shop. He transferred everything into a sleek black luxury sedan and opened the passenger-side door for her.
“Let’s stop by my house first. I’m going to meet my mother-in-law. How can I go dressed like this?”
He looked down at his work clothes as he spoke.
Jisoo didn’t even notice that he’d already changed the way he referred to her mother from your mother to my mother-in-law. She simply apologized once more.
“I’m sorry for causing you so much trouble after meeting again after all this time. I’m sorry for making things difficult in so many ways. I’ll pay you back for all of this later…”
“You’re going to transfer the money?”
“Yes.”
Without another word, the man closed the car door, lowered the repair shop’s shutter, and immediately drove off.
The inside of the car was silent.
What Jisoo couldn’t endure wasn’t the silence itself, but her curiosity about the man beside her.
“What’s your name?”
She asked his name, but received no answer.
After leaving the town center, the car drove along a narrow national road for about ten minutes before turning onto the road above Gyechon Reservoir.
It was the road leading to a neighborhood filled with beautiful houses, an area that had long been famous for its scenic views and where wealthy people had gathered to live.
But the label wealthy neighborhood wasn’t attached to the area solely because of the scenery.
The fact that no buses came this far and that the neighborhood was located on a hill, making it difficult to live there without a car, also played a very practical role.
Because of that, even Jisoo, who had been born and raised in Gyechon, had only visited this place a few times.
“……Even if you don’t recognize my face, do you think you’ll remember me if you hear my name?”
“You never know.”
They stepped into a sophisticated house that looked as though it had only recently been built.
Before entering the house, Jisoo noticed some mail carelessly placed on the key table in the entrance hall.
She hadn’t deliberately looked at it, but the recipient’s name immediately caught her eye.
It seemed to be the man’s name.
“Yoon Jaegyeom…?”
