Chapter : 08

After leaving Jeonghyun’s residence, Taeha got into his parked car.

Just as he was about to start the engine, he glanced at his loudly ringing phone.

They say that when you talk about the tiger, the tiger comes to you. The call was from Junhee.

“It’s me.”

—Taeha, have you definitely decided to get a divorce?

The moment the call connected, Junhee’s sharp voice rang out. Taeha leaned back against the seat.

“I didn’t attend the confirmation hearing.”

At Taeha’s emotionless answer, a brief silence followed.

—Why? Did that girl beg you not to?

Junhee’s voice was sharp, as if every word were covered in thorns.

“No. Jaein wants to get divorced.”

—Then?

“Because I don’t want to.”

—You… are you crazy? Divorce isn’t some child’s game. How can you just reverse your decision like that? Don’t waste time talking and attend the second hearing!

Junhee, who always spoke with such elegance, raised her voice.

It was easy to imagine Junhee’s usually haughty face twisted with anger.

“I don’t want to.”

As he said that, Taeha gave a shameless smile.

“I can reverse it. That’s what the consideration period is for. I’m not divorcing Jaein.”

At first, he was definitely smiling. But at some point, the smile disappeared.

At the same time, the corners of his lips, which had been lifted into a beautiful curve, slowly fell without a word.

“I was a little neglectful because I was overseas. So Jaein was very lonely and had a hard time.”

—……

“I’ve handed the overseas work over to Jeonghyun now. I don’t have to go to America anymore. So don’t look for Jaein. Call me instead.”

His eyes, now cold, turned toward the phone screen.

“You understand, Mother.”

A change was about to begin.

And it was beginning at a frightening speed.

“Jaein, I’m sorry. I think I was only thinking about myself. Let’s go have a drink and talk.”

Jaein turned down Seongho’s invitation to go to a company dinner and left.

She hadn’t even decided that she wanted to do entertainment work yet, and she didn’t feel like going there, sitting face-to-face with Seongho, and eating together.

She remembered the phone call that had come right after Taeha’s message, and Jaein headed to the hospital.

It was the nursing hospital where her mother, Jiyoung, was staying.

Since Jaein often had to work overtime and could usually only visit on weekends, the nurses recognized her and greeted her warmly when they saw her walking down the hallway.

“Oh my, did you get off work early today?”

“Yes. I finished a little early today. Is Mom doing a little better?”

“Yes, yes. She’s eating a little, but she keeps looking for your father.”

“Ah, I see. I’ll go see her.”

Jaein smiled awkwardly and stopped in front of the hospital room.

Looking for her father, who had died a year ago, meant that her symptoms had gotten worse.

Taking a deep breath, Jaein opened the door, and the room came into view.

Her gaze slowly moved until it reached the window. There, she saw a familiar back sitting while looking outside.

“Mom.”

At Jaein’s call, Jiyoung, who had been sitting with her back turned, turned her head.

“My daughter came?”

“I got off work early today, so I came to see you.”

“Mm-hm. Yes. Have you not seen your father?”

Jaein stopped while putting the side dishes she had bought on the way into the refrigerator.

At the mention of her father, she struggled to suppress the tears welling up in her eyes.

“Phew… I feel a little awkward saying this to you. Your father didn’t come yesterday.”

“Dad didn’t come?”

“Yeah. I don’t know if he went home. Did you see him, daughter?”

After putting away the side dishes and straightening up, Jaein’s eyes met Jiyoung’s.

Seeing the worry-filled expression in her mother’s eyes, Jaein approached the bed and sat beside it.

“Oh, Mom. What should we do? You must have been alone in the room yesterday.”

When the father she looked for every day disappeared, Jiyoung thought that he must be wandering around outside.

Whenever her symptoms became worse, she would call endlessly and nag Jaein to find him and bring him back.

“So call your father. Where did that man go? I can’t get through to him.”

“……”

“Did something happen? I wonder if he got into an accident or something.”

Jaein moved her lips as she watched Jiyoung fiddling with her phone.

Of course you can’t get through to him, Mom.

He’s dead.

“Mom. Dad passed away, remember? He can’t come.”

“Hm? Your father died?”

“He passed away not long ago. You even went to the crematorium with us. You forgot?”

“Really? Did he? I didn’t know.”

The corners of Jiyoung’s eyes drooped sadly.

“I’m supposed to go first, but my husband went ahead of me.”

Jaein’s heart tightened as a thought passed through Jiyoung’s eyes.

“Don’t say things like that. I also bought the scones you like. Do you want some?”

“The ones from across the street? The ones from Algongdalgong?”

“Yes. Your favorite Earl Grey flavor. They had them today, so I bought a lot.”

“That sounds delicious. Give me one.”

Jaein took out a scone, spread a generous amount of strawberry jam on it, and handed it to Jiyoung.

Jiyoung bit into the scone and smiled, her eyes forming gentle crescents. Soon, it was as if she had forgotten about her father again.

Watching her, Jaein’s heart sank heavily, as though a weight had been attached to it.

I have to tell her now.

That she was going to divorce Woo Seobang, whom her mother adored and loved so much.

Although Jiyoung had only seen Taeha a handful of times during the marriage, she liked him strangely much.

“Does Woo Seobang eat properly in America? I should make the green-onion kimchi our Taeha likes.”

“Thanks to our son-in-law, Mom gets to use such a big hospital room. She’s being spoiled in her later years.”

Even after forgetting everyone else, whenever Taeha came up in conversation, Jiyoung’s mind would become a little clearer.

Perhaps that was why it was even harder to tell her about the divorce.

Every time Jaein visited the hospital, she would tell herself, I’ll tell her today.

I absolutely have to tell her today.

But whenever she saw Jiyoung’s face, her throat tightened and the words wouldn’t come out.

Yet just as Jaein moved her lips, thinking that she couldn’t postpone it any longer—

The hospital-room door opened with a knock.

At first, Jaein thought it was a nurse.

“Mom, do they need to check your blood pressure? Should we eat the scone a little later?”

“Hm? I want to eat it now.”

“Let’s eat it in a little while. Just wait a moment.”

As Jaein hurriedly tried to move the plate with the scones out of the way, Jiyoung looked disappointed.

After tidying up the area, Jaein stood up from the bed. Then, as she pulled back the curtain and stepped out, she suddenly stopped in her tracks.

The man who entered as the door closed behind him was Taeha.

He approached with an unhurried, purposeful stride and stopped in front of Jaein.

“…What are you doing here?”

“What else? I came to visit.”

With a calm expression, he lifted the fruit basket he was carrying.

It was supposedly fruit for Jiyoung alone, but the basket was so enormous that it looked like an extra-extra-large size.

Apples, Korean melons, mangoes. Colorful seasonal fruits seemed to fill it endlessly. The sweet scent of fruit was almost intoxicating.

“How is she doing?”

When he asked about Jiyoung, Jaein blinked both eyes.

His manner was so natural that, without realizing it, she almost answered him.

“She’s a little better today—”

She was about to say that looking for her father seemed to mean that her symptoms had gotten worse.

But she soon came back to reality and hurriedly stopped herself.

Just as she was about to grab Taeha by the collar, thinking that she needed to take him outside for a moment, Jiyoung suddenly pulled open the curtain, apparently having sensed someone’s presence.

“Oh! Woo Seobang? Our son-in-law came back!”

“Yes. I’m here, Mother-in-law.”

“How long has it been! Our son-in-law, come sit down quickly.”

Jiyoung took both of Taeha’s hands and led him inside, then spoke to Jaein.

“Daughter, if Woo Seobang was coming, you should have told me. I would have at least fixed my hair.”

“You already look beautiful.”

“Really? How can you always say such pretty things? Did you bring fruit too?”

“I didn’t know what you liked, so I brought a little bit of everything.”

“I like anything my son-in-law gives me. Shall I cut you some mango?”

“Yes, yes. That would be great.”

Jiyoung told him to wait a moment and took out a fruit knife.

Watching her, Jaein approached and took the mango from Jiyoung’s hand, putting it back into the basket.

“Mom, Sunbae doesn’t like mangoes.”

“He doesn’t like mangoes?”

“No. Apples are fine. I’ll cut them.”

Jaein took out several large apples, went to the sink, and washed them.

Over the sound of running water, she could hear Taeha and Jiyoung talking.

The gentle, friendly conversation between them made her heart sink heavily.

During their five years of marriage, the number of times the two of them had actually met could be counted on one hand.

It was still astonishing, strange, and heartbreaking that Jiyoung, who had only seen Taeha a few times, would regain some clarity whenever she saw him.

Of all the people in the world, why does it have to be that man?

Once Sunbae and I get divorced, it will be over.

Jaein swallowed a sigh and approached the bed with the peeled apples.

The closer she got to the bed, the closer the sound of laughter—“Ha-ha, ho-ho”—became.

“Do you have a baby? What about a grandchild? Not yet?”

At Jiyoung’s voice ringing in her ears, Jaein abruptly pulled open the curtain.