Chapter 27

Chapter 27: Chapter 27

“Yes, right away!” said Arum.

“What will happen to you then?”

“I’m going to be fired, probably. Well, I’m damned if I do and damned if I don’t.”

“It doesn’t matter to me.”

Arum couldn’t figure out his intention.

“Why? Don’t you think you are now mostly stressed out because of this?”

“Why do you think I am? Soran Cho, my ex-girlfriend and the granddaughter of the CEO of Sola Electronics, has singled you out as the target because she feels you are my girlfriend.”

“Oh, I see.”

She felt as if she became the tragic heroine of a crazy TV soap opera.

“It’s up to you, Arum.”

She drank a sip of coffee thoughtlessly.

‘Dang it! This is espresso!’

Hojoon asked, “Is this the first time you tasted espresso coffee?”

“Nope.”

Though it was the first time she had espresso coffee, she lied to him nonchalantly.

“This is the way you taste espresso. Put a lot of sugar in the cup and then spread it out two or three times. But you shouldn’t stir the sugar in it. That way, you can enjoy the sweet taste after its bitterness. Just taste it. This was my favorite coffee when I was in Paris,” he said.

‘Are you teaching me how to drink coffee?’

Arum just drank it as if she was resisting his preaching on coffee.

“This is how I sip coffee,” she said.

It was so strong. Her face turned red. But she couldn’t be beaten.

“Let’s get down to business now,” she said in a sullen voice.

“Sure.”

Hojoon resumed the meeting.

He looked like a man born for the sake of work.

He gave her a detailed briefing about what Sola Electronics wanted exactly. When she came back to the office after meeting with him, her editor would obviously call her. So, she felt it would be wise to consult with him about the concept of the new project in advance.

According to him, Sola Electronics had proposed to host a variety of events not just limited to model houses, but covering things such as shooting for the magazine and the invitation of newlyweds through the feature stories in the major dailies and SNS outlets.

While she was listening to Hojoon’s explanation, she remembered Konsu on and off. She couldn’t focus. Though she tried her best to pull herself together, she couldn’t help thinking of Konsu.

Bang!

As if he couldn’t stand it any more, Hojoon hit the table hard with a ball-point pen.

“Let’s focus!”

“Yes, I do. Please go ahead.”

Hojoon stared at her sternly.

“Well, I can focus well. Yes, very well.”

Obviously, she wasn’t focused, so her voice was inaudible now.

“Did you see him?” asked Hojoon.

“You mean Konsu?” Arum mentioned his name before her brain caught up to her mouth.

Since Hojoon found out she was absorbed into thoughts of Konsu while listening to his explanation, she blushed.

‘Is this guy a fortune teller? How did he know I met Konsu?’

She marvelled about it because she suspected it was what he meant by the geomancy of love.

“Yeah, I met him a few minutes ago at Kwanghwamun. This is the effect of geomancy , isn’t it?”

Hojoon wished that he hadn’t figured it out, because he didn’t care whom she met.

But he did. He felt bad.

Though she sat face to face with him for the meeting, Hojoon clearly saw her attention being distracted by Konsu.

Her attention span was short, and her reply was not serious. So, he couldn’t stand it anymore.

“Nope, it has nothing to do with geomancy.”

“Really? I just did as you instructed me.”

“Well, you can’t see the effect of geomancy love so quickly like this.”

Of course, he lied.

He knew a man who had a call on the publishing contract right after he moved to another desk. He had a call from a client who said her daughter was admitted to the university she wanted after she moved to a different room.

Nobody knew how long it would take for their wishes to come true. It was meaningless to try to predict it.

Obviously, Arum’s dramatic reunion with Konsu today was the effect of geomancy.

“I believe in geomancy,” said Arum.

She had no other choice but to believe that it was geomancy that made her meet Konsu.

“By the way, no matter whom I meet, does it have anything to do with the current project?” asked Arum.

“Yes.”

“You told me I could work with you when I believe in geomancy, right?”

“Yes.”

“Then, why are you mean to me?”

Hojoon responded resolutely, “Who would want to collaborate with the woman who goes out quickly to follow her ex-boyfriend?”

She quickly blushed at that and protested, “You can just tell me you saw me meeting him. Why are you beating around the bush like this?”

Arum was offended.

Hojoon couldn’t control his anger, either.

Hojoon got upset because she went out to see her ex-boyfriend Konsu, forgetting her scheduled meeting with him, when, in fact, she was treated as an intruder because of Konsu, and even forced to come to the police station for questioning.

In fact, the moment he came into the coffee shop, Hojoon saw Arum.

“Arum!” he called.

But she didn’t see Hojoon and continued running out.

And from upstairs, Hojoon noticed her standing behind a man.

‘That’s the very guy she wanted to meet again.’

Hojoon had a hunch. The reason he could find her table immediately upstairs was not because he noticed a company file on the table, but because her ex-boyfriend came into his view from that table.

Hojoon blamed himself, murmuring, ‘Why did I choose this coffee shop as the meeting place?’

At the same time, he was curious about this guy Konsu.

He carefully examined Konsu’s face.

‘Just the common face of an ordinary man.’

At a glance, Hojoon felt that Konsu didn’t welcome her. Even though Hojoon was looking from a distance, he could feel it. Nonetheless, she came back, excited, which made him upset.

Hojoon wanted to tell Arum to face the music; Arum who felt happy while thinking about Konsu. He wanted to tell her that she was being taken in.

He wanted to tell her this: ‘A man reads a man’s mind.’

But he didn’t say it.

“How can I collaborate with a woman like you?” Hojoon responded strongly.

As if reluctant to be beaten, Arum said, “Let me transfer my project to some other reporter. Is it enough?”

“I won’t participate in this project if you do so.”

“Don’t do it then! Go and work with that that you can trust! Okay, bye.”

She went out of the coffee shop right away.

Her happy mood after meeting Konsu lasted only briefly, and now she felt dizzy because of Hojoon. Tears streamed down her cheeks.

“What a bastard!”

She felt her legs go wobbly. She wanted to give it up, but had to hang on.

‘How come my shameful past, that I kept to myself, was discovered by this guy? Why is he making me feel miserable often? What the heck is this ill-fated relationship with him?

And why do I keep exposing my miserable past to him?’

***

Back to the office, she felt that her head was spinning like a top.

She couldn’t focus on writing an article, nor choose the right pictures for it.

In a situation like this, the best solution was to organize her messy drawers.

When the deadline was approaching, each editor showed their unique habits. One editor kept piling her paper cups pretty high. Another editor painted her fingernails with different colors. One of her juniors would keep wiping her desk with tissues and disinfectants, even though it was already dust-free.

When they showed this kind of symptoms, that meant the deadline for their article was around the corner.

How much could Arum’s desk look different?

Typically, her desk was littered with various stuff, looking as if it were bombed.

‘Yeah, Hojoon’s description of me as a ‘trash can’ was exactly right.’

Arum made a fake smile when she looked at her messy desk.

A sandwich bag, a beverage can, some leftover coffee, etc. Plus, a pile of mail and subscription magazines here and there on the desk. All this garbage on the desk showed that she had been absentminded for the past several days.

During her high school days, she really wanted to keep her messy desk spick and span. She couldn’t focus on textbooks, nor understand worksheet books. Out of nervousness, she began to clean up her desk drawers back then.

When she was caught doing it by her mother who had come in with some snacks, she was given a sound scolding.

“Are you crazy, girl? What the heck are you doing now? You’ve never cleaned it before, and why now? Clean it up after you finish the exam! You’re really driving me nuts, stupid girl!”

She was absolutely right.

However, whenever she sat before the desk to cram for an exam, she just got nervous. She couldn’t think straight because of the untidy drawer and the books randomly placed on the shelf.

Without caring about them, she tried to solve the worksheets. After she solved one problem, she couldn’t resist the urge to clean it up.