Chapter 59

Chapter 59: Chapter 59

Looking back at the past several days when she earnestly waited for him, Arum was so ashamed of herself.

It was Hojoon who seemed worried most while listening to them having a dialogue.

“Now, let’s go.”

Hojoon wanted to end the awkward atmosphere as soon as possible.

“I think we’re staying too long here in the newlyweds’ house.”

Oops! The staff quickly wrapped up their packages and got out.

While walking down to the basement garage, Arum didn’t say a single word.

Hojoon opened the door of his car.

Arum was standing outside the car blankly. She felt like what she saw a moment ago was like a dream. Holding the knob on the passenger seat, she was sitting with a blank face.

Hojoon got off, saying, “I left my cell phone in her house as I got out urgently. Just stay there until I get back.”

But Arum didn’t respond.

Hojoon was nervous.

“You really should stay put here. Don’t ever go out!”

But she still had a blank look on her face, saying nothing.

He ran back to her house to pick up his cell phone.

When he came back, he could not see Arum in his car.

He regretted he left her alone.

He opened the emergency exit door to look for her, but she was not there.

‘How far could she go from here, with mincing steps?’

He felt he could catch up with her by using his car. So, he quickly started the engine and got out of the garage.

He drove straight, but couldn’t find her. He hesitated at the intersection of the streets. He couldn’t find which street to take as he was not familiar with the place. Fortunately, he noticed a blue intra-city bus. Last time, she told him that she took a bus to go home. He drove after the bus.

The bus stop was empty.

As his nervousness went up, he pounded on the steering wheel with his hand.

While he was hesitating at the bus stop, a bus driver behind his car honked his horn.

Because he was impatient, he drove straight and took a right turn. At the same time, something bad came to his mind all of a sudden.

‘Did she go back to Yuyoung’s house?’

He stopped the car and called Yuyoung.

“It’s me, Hojoon. Thanks for your nice job today. By the way, did you happen to…”

“What’s wrong with you today? I know you’re a meticulous person, but you left your smartphone in my house. What else did you leave here?”

Hojoon couldn’t bring himself to ask whether Arum came to see her again.

“Really? Didn’t she say she was on her way to eat dinner?”

“Yeah, she said she was going in that direction.”

Obviously, Arum didn’t go back to Yuyoung’s apartment unit.

“Okay. Have a nice evening.”

This time he called Arum, but she didn’t answer, as expected.

“Where did she go? Dang it!”

Arum acted impulsively. She was faithful to her emotions. She was a very instinctive woman. So, Hojoon was worried over how she would act at this hour.

He got nervous.

He should find her before she could run into trouble. He called her again. At that moment, he saw a light shining in the playground ahead. Arum was standing there. After confirming the caller on her smartphone, she put it back in her handbag.

“What the heck! What’s she doing there?”

Pretty upset about her, he ran down to the playground.

The playground, which was covered with a veil of darkness, was eerie. Arum was sobbing there, burying her head in her arms. Sometimes, passersby looked at her but pretended not to have seen her.

There was a guy approaching her. He stood before her. She raised her head.

“Why didn’t you answer the phone?” Hojoon asked in an angry tone.

He was pretty pissed off.

“How come you disappeared without any notice? Don’t you know any common sense? How come you don’t have basic manners or etiquette? Didn’t you think that someone is waiting for you?”

“…..”

“Do you know how long I’ve been searching for you?”

“…”

“Arum Yang!” he shouted at her in the end.

Her voice grew hoarse since she cried too much.

After clearing her throat a bit, she began to respond.

“Why did you ask me to go for a drive?” she asked unexpectedly. Fully convinced about her educated guess, she asked, “You saw him there, right?”

Hojoon could not avoid her resentful eyes. That was true.

“Do you regret that you didn’t go out for a drive with me?”

She nodded strongly and said, “Why didn’t you drag me into your car? I regret that I was there to see all that ugly thing between Konsu and Yuyoung.”

“That’s why I’m telling you now. Just trust and follow me. You can count on me at least once.”

“I don’t want it,” she answered without any reservation. “Why should I follow you?”

“Good heavens! Just follow me like I wish you to,” said Hojoon.

And then he told her what he wanted to say, “You’re exactly like me in terms of stupidity.”

“Like you? Do you know how heartbroken I am now? How many women do you think there are who have seen their boyfriends proposing to other women?”

That was obviously a tragedy for Arum. But Hojoon had a similar experience.

“I actually went to Soran Cho’s wedding ceremony. All the major TV networks broadcast the event. Do you think that makes sense? I received her wedding invitation card when I was in Paris and came to Korea to attend it. I thought I completely broke up with her. But when I heard that she was getting married, I felt like I was going crazy.”

“So, did you meet her again?”

Hojoon shook his head.

“I was in for all kinds of insults like a crazy guy or a stalker. Soran even reported me to the police, so I was investigated by the police.”

“Did she directly report you to the police?”

“Yes, she said that she felt I was threatening her safety.”

Arum felt aghast at that.

“When I was sitting in the police box with a blank expression, I suddenly came to my senses. This is not the love I want to seek. My love with her is over. I was greatly mistaken.”

“…”

“Do you know what I thought of next?” Hojoon asked her, thinking she could never figure it out.

But she quietly answered, “How fortunate I am…”

That was actually what he was thinking of at that time.

He was quite surprised that she felt the same way.

“Yeah, that’s right. I thought it fortunate that she forgot about me. I’m glad to know that she is doing well. After that, I burst into loud laughter.”

“Chief, that’s my frame of mind at the moment. How fortunate you are, Konsu, as you are now happily married!”

Instead of comforting her, he patted her on the back gently.

“By the way, I just don’t know why I feel so sad. Konsu is getting married to another woman, not me. He told me he loved me, and now he says he loves another woman. How can he do that?”

She had no more tears to shed. She was just dumbfounded.

“Let’s assume it’s like disinfectant. Though it stings, hurts and it’s hard to swallow the pain, the wound doesn’t get infected any more once you go through it. It will hurt a lot until your wound scabs over. That’s what I have experienced.”

“I don’t have any confidence, though,” she said in a depressed voice. “I gave up the expectation that I could see him again. I don’t expect anything like that.”

“Why do you think there is only one man in the world for you?”

“Because he was the only man that I wanted to marry.”

“You can’t register all the memories in your heart.”

“…..”

He sat on an empty swing like her. They didn’t say anything until the pendulum that their swings were gradually came to a stop.

“I thought that feng shui was just superstition when I first learned it from my father. In the end, I became involved in this feng shui business because of the pressure from my father, who wanted me to continue the family business. One day, I followed my father for an on-the-job training and met a very strange couple.”

The couple said they collected all the receipts, including those of their son’s powdered milk.

Arum pricked her ears and listened to his interesting story.

“The couple even collected their son’s shoes out of their extreme love. The shoes their son put on from childhood until their high school days. Their love for their son was endless, to say the least. Do you want to know their relationship with him is like now? It’s been more than ten years since they have seen each other. And they lost contact.”

“Why? The son fully knows how much his parents loved him…”