Chapter 52

Chapter 52: Chapter 52

Though there were many people at the observatory, they were enjoying the night view at a proper distance from each other. As it was late at night on a weekday, there were not many tourists at Namsan Tower. When the Chinese tourist next to them left, he felt as if he were left alone with her under the night sky of Seoul.

Since she was staring at him, he couldn’t answer properly. So, he hedged on purpose.

“Well, you were sort of…”

She couldn’t hear it well.

“What did you say?”

Now blushing with embarrassment, he felt she was being naughty enough to ask again. How could Konsu be fond of this type of woman who took his sincere proposal as a joke?

Without thinking further, he shouted, “I said you were beautiful!”

She laughed at that.

“Did you say I was still pretty even when I’m crying?”

She just gave a fake smile and then burst into tears in no time.

“How can I be pretty in that situation?”

In the end, she couldn’t hide her tears before Hojoon.

He pulled her shoulders close and said, “It’s just normal that you’re crying today. Don’t fight back the tears. Cry your fill. You still look pretty.”

Leaning on his warmth, she cried like a child.

Arum had never felt before that a day was so long.

It was only 9PM, but she was so tired. On the way back home, she fell asleep in Hojoon’s car.

“Good heavens!”

She woke up, startled at her falling asleep unintentionally. She was ashamed because she didn’t know when she fell asleep. Besides, Hojoon’s car arrived at the garage of her apartment before she woke up.

“Why didn’t you wake me up?” she felt embarrassed and lightly scolded him.

But he smiled broadly.

“Because you were having such a sound sleep. I’ve never seen one sleeping so soundly like you.”

“Well, I’m sensitive by nature.”

“Yeah, I know. You were snoring and drooling while sleeping.”

“Oh, I don’t believe that.” Though she didn’t believe it, she wiped her mouth with one hand quickly.

“How long did I sleep?”

“Around 30 minutes.”

“Did I sleep that long?”

“Well, sleep is the best medicine. Go and have a sound sleep.”

“Thanks so much for your help today.”

Bowing to him politely, she got out of the car. She thought about asking him if he wanted coffee inside, but she didn’t.

Was there another day like today when she showed excessive emotions? Obviously, she was exhausted because she spent a pretty turbulent day today after having led a dull life since she cancelled off her marriage. She needed time to sort out her life. Though she was helped mentally and physically by someone beside her, she had to solve the problem of her life by herself.

“When you’re stressed out, give me a call instead of stressing out alone by yourself. Let me stand by, just in case.”

“Are you serious? Stay alert on 24 hours for me? I feel good.”

“How would you rate my service today?”

“Let me give you five stars, of course. You’re doing great!”

Cracking silly jokes like that, she waved at him. But she still wanted to say something deep inside. ‘Do I have to tell him or now?’

“Okay, see you tomorrow!” he said goodbye to her first.

When he was about to start the car, she ran to the passenger’s seat and said, “Wait a minute.”

He stopped the car. Holding the door of the passenger’s seat, she spoke out what she had in her mind.

“I’m going to make a little more effort to win over his heart, Hojoon. Sorry.”

He understood what she was trying to say. Though he didn’t feel good, he knew that he couldn’t control her heart to follow his way. He couldn’t force her to love him.

“Why are you sorry for me?”

“…..”

She was at a loss for words when he threw such a logical question. But she always felt ‘sorry’ whenever she thought about this man. She couldn’t be more sorry today.

“Arum, do I make you uncomfortable?”

“….”

She couldn’t answer that, either. In fact, she felt uncomfortable. Though she liked him, she still found him uncomfortable. When she met him, she was nervous about how she looked to him, and when he was not around, she was curious about his whereabouts. She got upset about herself because of her repeated mistakes, so she wanted to be a perfect woman. One day she was full of the desire to win, and another day she felt a sense of solidarity with him.

Come to think of it, it was a short period from her first encounter with him until now, and she felt various types of feelings toward him during that time.

But her feelings toward Konsu was only her singular ‘love.’

“Tell me anytime if you feel I’m uncomfortable to be around. Like you said before, you can replace me with someone else.”

“No, that’s not what I mean. I just feel sorry for you. And I’m ashamed. That’s all.”

“Why are you so ashamed about?”

“Because I did silly things.”

He was surprised by her remarks.

“Though I insisted I was not, I was a trash can woman,” she said.

Whenever she mentioned ‘trash can,’ he felt sorry for her. Seriously. He just carelessly mentioned it at that time.

“Don’t you think so? After I suffered so much because of Konsu, I still like him. This shows how foolish I am, doesn’t it? And you witnessed all my silly acts from beginning to end. How do I not feel ashamed?”

He let out a deep sigh.

“Are you disappointed?” she asked, trying to read his mind.

“Well, why should I be disappointed when I don’t expect anything from you? I just feel that Konsu is so pathetic. What are you going to do? Are you going to take revenge on him? Or are you going to take him away from Yuyoung?”

“I don’t know yet. I just want to find out how he feels about me. I just want to hear it directly from him. I just want to know why he did that to me. I’m afraid I can’t get by with all these questions festering deep inside my heart.”

“So, are you going to ask him directly?”

Hojoon didn’t understand. She already knew he betrayed her again, but she wanted to verify it. She would be more hurt if she kept digging in like that. He wondered how long she could cling to the question to which she already knew the answer.

Come to think of it, when he was giving clients geomancy consultations about their problems, there were some he couldn’t persuade under any circumstances. For example, they wouldn’t be persuaded that if they didn’t throw away a certain thing, it would bring misfortune. Nonetheless, they didn’t dispose of the thing and even refused to change the space in their houses.

After all, it was the heart of the client.

It was the job of the geomancy consultant to wait until the client changed their mind.

“Just keep one thing in mind. Every thought comes back.”

“Thanks.”

Hojoon’s car drove out of the garage quickly.

She let out a breath she was holding back. She felt much more relieved now. She felt like she was alive again when she finally spoke out what she wanted to say to him. But she found herself standing there in the garage until the taillights of his car completely disappeared.

She was left alone again. Though she was always accustomed to loneliness, she felt scared because she had to face it alone.

‘Can I overcome this?’

She asked herself about it, but she was not sure if she could.

‘By any chance, he might.’

Hugging her handbag, she had a creative and shrewd imagination: Had Konsu cancelled off the engagement with Yuyoung and called her? What if he called her many times during her absence?

She hastily took out her cell phone.

She missed two calls during her absence and confirmed the caller quickly.

Both calls were from Jina.

Her expectation quickly disappeared. Konsu didn’t even send her a text message.

But strangely enough, she felt relieved.

‘This is good.’

Her relief was hard evidence that she still had a lingering attachment to Konsu.

There existed an unwritten rule between Konsu and Arum, like the Bible.

That was: ‘Never trust what others say.’

When they started dating, they pinkie-swore that they would never trust what others said. In particular, Konsu passionately requested her to do so.

“Never trust what others say. No matter what they say, no matter what rumors you hear, don’t believe it. I will do the same. I love you, Arum.”

There were always junior and senior women around Konsu who had the gift of gossiping. He was popular among the members of the advertising club that hosted many nightly meetings, as well as the peers in his department.