Chapter 39

Chapter 39: Chapter 39

Hojoon recommended that one should change the bed when one’s spouse or family had died there, or when lovers or couples ended their relationship, or when a sick person had used it or the one who had an accident had used it.

If one couldn’t afford to buy a good bed, it would clear away the bad energy force by simply changing the bed sheets or the mattress itself.

He continued, “If it is not necessarily related to love affairs, buy a new bed if you want a change without paying too much. You can also change the location of the bed. Don’t you feel tired all day long if you sleep incorrectly? If you are tired of your life, your bed is the problem.”

“Thanks so much! I’ll call you again!”

Arum went to the bedroom.

It was difficult for her to move it alone. If she felt pain in her legs again, she would be in big trouble.

Instead, she decided to change the sheet.

She rolled up the blanket first and threw it into the living room. Lots of dust flew all over. When she too off the sheet, there was more dust from it.

She decided to clean the blanket and sheet by putting them into the washer.

First of all, she poured lots of detergent into the blanket and pressed the button. She felt fresh even though she was not done cleaning it. She felt like she did something great.

“That’s why they wash the blankets.”

On TV soap operas main women characters sometimes wash the blankets. When they feel stuffy or do something new, they wash the blankets without exception. Instead of the washer they use a large bathtub or rubber container.

But never follow them.

The weight of the wet cotton is beyond imagination. The more one treads on it, the heavier it becomes. Both legs tread on it sink deep, and it’s very difficult to turn it over. Drying it is so tough.

Once she pushes the blanket with water still dropping into the washer, not only the washer but also she is soaked with water.

As she used to help her mother with cleaning the blanket, she learned the lesson.

Anyway, Arum wanted to get out of her depressed moods. She wanted to start anew. She wanted to observe Monday in a different mood.

She cleaned underneath her bed with a clean wet mop. She used a vacuum to clean when she put the clam, but there was lots of dust already.

“Where did dust collect like this?”

She wiped it several times. The mop was already dirty. The moment she was about to go to the restroom to clean the mop, she heard her cell phone buzzing.

She threw herself into the sofa to pick up the phone.

‘Konsu’s call?’

But she was disappointed to confirm the caller.

“Why did you call me, mom?”

Her mother felt sullen at Arum’s blunt reply.

“Are you home now?”

“Yes. Why?”

“Don’t ask me why. Stop by this place and take some kimchi. What are you cooking these days?”

“I’m keeping well, mom,” Arum answered reluctantly. Come to think of it, she didn’t stop by her mother’s house for a few weeks.

Her parents, who were divorced when Arum was in high school, lived in their own house. Fortunately, the original house they lived together disappeared as its area were redeveloped.

It was like a hometown to Arum.

She was born in that house. Her parents got divorced as she almost ended puberty.

When she sometimes passed by that neighborhood, she felt nervous and sad. If their house had been there, she would have felt more depressed.

When it was announced that its area would be redeveloped, her parents were happy because they would receive compensation, but she was happy because she could erase her dark memories.

Her mother’s house was a small two-room unit that she bought with compensation. Arum lived with her mother in that house until she graduated from high school. She went out after she went to college.

She used to stop by her mother’s house to get homemade side dishes. After she got a job upon graduation, she got independent from her mother. If she had got married, she would have been completely independent, which she regretted.

“Are you really not coming here again?” her mother demanded.

“You’re going to force me to have a blind date again, right? I’m not coming, mom.”

“Do you think you have a blind date like this all the time? Just stop by when you have time. I’ve got something to ask you a favor.”

“Just tell me about it over the phone now. I’m busy today.”

Disappointed by Arum’s curt reply, she hung up the phone without finishing her words.

Whew! Arum sat slumped on the sofa.

Was it because the call was not from Konsu? She felt wobbly all of a sudden. She just felt she was spent up even before she cleaned up the house.

‘Am I waiting for him?’

She just felt ashamed of herself, looking at her stupid face.

She lay on her back on the sofa. At that moment, her phone buzzed again.

‘It might be a call from mom again. Mom, I don’t want to answer your phone now.’

But her cell phone rang again.

As she was not such a bad girl to her mother, she answered the phone.

The caller was Konsu!

“Oh my god!”

The moment she, sunned, was about to answer the phone, the phone cut off. She got annoyed.

“My mom is so annoying!”

She blamed her mother when, in fact, she was to blame. She quickly pressed the missed call number.

Konsu answered the phone quicker than expected.

“Sorry, I missed your call.”

She tried to explain even before Konsu could talk.

There was a brief silence over the phone. She sweated in her hands from nervousness.

She felt the same when she was dating him.

He flew off the handle when he couldn’t contact her.

And it took some time for him to blow off steam.

At that time she thought that’s the way of a man’s love. Only when she broke up with him did she realize that he had a selfish and pin-prick character.

Despite his deficiencies, she recalled what he liked or didn’t.

‘Konsu doesn’t like this.’

The moment she was worried about it, Konsu said in a calm voice,

“That day…”

He was referring to the day he met her at Yaksu.

“You were pretty much upset about me, right? I’m sorry.”

“Oh, that was…”

“Did you wait long?”

“No, I just left the place. Jina called her sister delivered a baby. It’s fine with me,” she said.

“I was really sorry that day. We met in such a long time. But I was in a difficult situation at that time.”

“….”

She couldn’t reply properly.

“Can we meet again today?” asked Konsu.

“Today?”

The way she spoke suggested that she might not be available today. She wanted to see him, but she couldn’t move freely because of her legs. What about the blanket in the washer? Definitely she felt she couldn’t see him today.

Konsu, who thought she would respond in the positive, seemed embarrassed.

“Do you have a boyfriend? I’m sorry. I didn’t know that.”

“No, no. I don’t.”

“Really? Where shall we meet? Where are you now? Let me come to your place.”

“I’m home now, but…”

She wanted to say her condition was not good enough to see him, but she didn’t.

“Okay, can I come to see you at home?”

“Sure, but…”

She was already faltering with his sweet talk.

“Why? Are you uncomfortable?” he asked again.

At that very moment she had a lot on her mind. She clearly said he could come, so she felt it unnatural to tell him not to come. At the same time she couldn’t let he ex-boyfriend into her house recklessly.

Deep inside, however, a naughty devil in her brain shouted at her, ‘Why not? Why can’t you let him in?’

That was true. She had no problem at all with letting him in.

If she felt it uncomfortable to invite him to her house, he would think she was hiding something.

‘What do you expect from him?,’ whispered the devil to Arum.

Holding hands, hugging or some other physical contacts.

She felt dizzy at the moment, but she already gave him her address.

“I’ll be there in an hour,” said Konsu.

“Okay. See you then.”

After she hung up the phone, her heart began to beat. She felt she did evil.

‘Why? You didn’t evil. In the end, he was the man you wanted to live with.’

She was deceived by the devil’s whisper.

Her clean-up turned into a cleaning for the guest.

‘You are great, Hojoon! You told me to move the bed to change my life. Yes, that’s worked out well. Let me take that as my next column.’

Shouting for joy, she came into the main bedroom for clean-up.

Oops!

The bedding was a mess, with the mattress bare without any bedspread.

“Can I leave it alone?”