Chapter 5

<No. 306 bus will arrive shortly.>

She came to her senses thanks to that pre-recorded announcement at the bus stop.

She felt deeply remorseful about herself as she couldn’t forget the nightmare three years ago.

Though the bus arrived, she gave it a pass. She had to catch a tax to report to work on time.

Fortunately, a taxi was approaching.

Meanwhile, Hojoon, who got out of the police station, also didn’t feel good. He found out that his house was once owned by a couple who broke off their engagement.

Arum’s reason for breaking into his house was more romantic than he thought.

How much she did love him if she couldn’t forget about him?

As the head of the company Famed House of Geomancy, Hojoon had to work late into the night everyday due to an increasing workload. He was on his way home after working through the night yesterday, too.

After he was done, he planned to travel to Hong Kong two days later, which he had put off, pressed for work. Though he took vacation leave, it was actually a business trip that included his attendance at a seminar and forum.

With his vacation just around the corner, however, he was snowed under more than before.

He could let his staff take care of some of his work or he could manage it after he returned from his vacation. But he decided to finish the work before his travel to Hong Kong.

That was the way he handled his work. He was satisfied only when he got on top of it.

So, when he returned home at around 3 AM after finishing his work, he found the lights were on in his living room.

He got suspicious. As he was a perfectionist, he had never made a mistake. And when he went to work, he turned off the light in the living room. He liked the sun rising through the dawn. He didn’t need any artificial light until after he took a shower, got dressed and brewed coffee. The windows faced the sun during mornings, and his room caught sunlight until he left the house for work in the morning.

Except for the period from late fall until winter, he didn’t turn on the light in the living room.

Robbery?

Definitely!

But he couldn’t report to the police recklessly.

Holding his breath, he walked up the staircase. His heart rate was palpable. The intruder broke the front door to get in.

The intruder was a pretty bold guy, Hojoon thought.

He suddenly freaked out. He futilely tried to find any dangerous tool to defend himself.

Oh! He noticed a mop in front of his neighbor’s house. He was stressed because of his neighbor who placed their garbage in front of the door. Today, the mop looked like a savior to him. He recalled the posture of fencing that he had learned in middle school. His hands, which were holding the mop, trembled.

What if the intruder had a lethal weapon and ran out suddenly?”

What about the danger of gas explosion?

Did he set up a homemade bomb?

With his heart pounding hard, he cautiously approached.

As the automatic sensor of his front door turned on, a big object was reflected in his eyes.

A big object covered with hair.

Woman?

‘What the heck? Is she a woman?’

Was she bleeding, stabbed in the body?

He got scared. Was she dead? He poked her in the arm with the mop.

She was moving, which meant she was alive.

Whew! He felt relieved to know the intruder was not a robber. Instead, he gave a fake smile.

As if she felt a knot in her stomach, that woman shifted her posture. She twisted, rolled, and then sat between the living room and the front door.

He stared at her vacantly.

She must be completely drunk, given she broke into a stranger’s house.

Then she curled up her body like a small child.

No, upon double checking, he found that she was not a small figure. She was tall and slender. If she were not drunk, she would be regarded as very sensual and unique.

The intruder was far from daunted.

When she felt someone’s presence, she narrowly opened her eyes and opened her mouth, “Are you Konsu?”

She called her boyfriend’s name under the influence of alcohol.

“Konsu!” she called him in a very doleful voice.

‘What the heck is she doing?’

She intruded into a stranger’s house and called her boyfriend’s name mindlessly.

Hojoon ignored her calls.

He was thinking hard about whether to call 119 or 112.

“Konsu!”

He was sick and tired of her repeated calling.

“Uh? It’s me,” he lied as if he were Konsu, after all.

At that moment, she burst into tears. It was the first time he saw a woman crying.

Tears were streaming down her cheeks all of a sudden.

He felt like he should not do so, but he still moved.

And then he held her in his arms.

‘Yes, let me treat her warmly with the spirit of benevolence. I’m hugging her not as a woman, but as a human being.’

He continued to justify his behavior.

‘This lady is like a woman living alone or a pet that needs love.’

It seemed that the woman really wanted to be hugged in somebody’s arms.

As if on cue, she sobbed while being held in his arms. Her words were inaudible due to her sobbing. Though he could hardly understand what she was saying, he silently patted her on the back.

Controlling her sobbing a bit, she opened her mouth again.

“Please…stay with me, will you?”

He was patting her on the back gently.

“Just don’t leave me!” she desperately begged, swallowing her tears.

“No, I’m not going to leave you.” Though he lied, he firmly promised that he would not.

Back home from the police station, Hojoon took off his shoes before the front door.

‘Yes, I won’t leave you.’

It seemed as if his own reply was echoing.

He laughed mirthlessly. How could he remember a drunken intruder?

Erasing that memory, he stepped into the living room. He turned on the light and threw himself onto the daybed.

“Oh my…”

Come to think of it, he had been sitting up for 24 hours. He couldn’t go to sleep at all. He was overwhelmed by fatigue.

The daybed was a piece of furniture on which he could sit or lie down. It’s often used for taking a nap in the western countries, so it’s called a daybed.

He purchased it one month ago. It was a low wooden bench with a mattress on top, so it was a good match with Korean furniture.

As the daybed was made with the solid wood of a walnut tree, one could enjoy its beauty fully.

‘Wait a moment. Why am I focusing on this daybed so much?’

He wanted to hit the sack as soon as possible, but he was becoming more sober.

Why?

He suddenly got up and sat down.

Damn it! He couldn’t go to sleep at all.

Her figure came into his mind often.

***

The taxi that Arum was in got stuck in the traffic congestion. Fortunately, she left the police station early in the morning, so she still had some time.

‘Why am I so nervous?’

Arum was holding her hands tightly because she thought she could calm down by doing so.

‘What is it?’

And she searched for her bag. She was going to tell everything to Jina who betrayed her.

“Oh my!”

She tried to find her bag and cell phone, but in vain.

Obviously, she left them in the taxi.

As she left the taxi empty-handed, she must have been pretty scared to be so out of her mind.

There was no point in regretting her behavior last night.

Her car, though it was a used one, was probably parked in the garage of Green Villa.

“Sorry, but can you go back to Yonsinnae Village?”

Her heart began to pound from then on.

She was nervous because the taxi driver might know she was broke at the moment. But there was no possibility that he knew it. As long as she could find her wallet, she could pay for the taxi fare. But things didn’t work out as she expected.

After all, she rode the taxi back to Green Villa, the place she vowed she would never come back to. Though she could step into her former house under the influence of alcohol, she felt as if she was being dragged into a slaughterhouse.

“Right there, please. Thanks.”

The taxi driver stopped the car in front of the villa.

“By the way, I’ve got a wallet in the house. Please wait here for a moment.”

She quickly got off and raced to the garage.

‘Ah, car key!’

Why did she hastily judge her car key to be in her pocket? She searched her pocket for the key, but she did not find it. Where did she put the key?

Nonetheless, she cherished some hope that she could open her car, so she pulled the knob of the door on the driver’s seat. But it didn’t open.

She didn’t receive any personal belongings from the police station, and neither did Jina.

‘Did I leave it in his villa?’