Chapter 79

Chapter 79: Chapter 79

The problem was that he was driving on a country road with many curves in Kangwon Province, which burned up more gas. He was nervous. He had to pass by a place for a nap to drive up to the next rest stop.

Right at that moment his car slowed down gradually. It seemed that the whole world was coming to a stop.

“What the heck! Are you now slowing to a stop!”

She tried to start a dialogue with her car, “No, you have to run a little longer.”

In the end, the car stopped. Even Hojoon, who was composed most of the time, was embarrassed.

Both of them lamented. They didn’t want to believe it. They were speechless for a while. They couldn’t pull over the car on the shoulder forever.

“What should we do now?”

She was completely blank at the moment.

“We have to push it over there.”

Hojoon got out of the car first.

Fortunately, they were right at the entrance of the place for a nap, so they could push it inside the area.

The moment the car stopped, his heart sank.

What if somebody’s car was right behind his car? That would cause a big traffic incident. He didn’t want to think about it.

“Did you call the insurance company?”

“Yes, I requested an emergency fueling, and was told to wait for about one hour,” she spoke in a faint voice.

They would quickly send an emergency car to the incident area in downtown, but as Hojoon and Arum were in a provincial road, it took longer.

“I’m sorry.”

She couldn’t raise her head. Anyway, it was the fault of the car owner who failed to fill up the gas before starting.

“That can happen while we’re driving. Aren’t you cold?”

He took out her overcoat in the rear seat and gave it to her.

“Wear it quickly!”

But she looked up at him bluntly.

“You don’t want to take it? It’s cold out here!”

She folded his arms instead.

“Do you want me to dress you?”

Without any complaint he helped her with putting on the coat.

“Aren’t you pissed off?”

“For what?”

“I put you in a difficult situation like this, without any solution.”

“Can I change the situation if I get mad at you?”

“Well, someone I know got upset at me in the same situation.”

“So, are you feeling sullen because I am not mad about you?”

“No, I just wondered if you were kind by nature or if you’re a real person in this world.”

“Maybe I’m not.”

He cracked a joke, smiling at her.

At that moment, his phone buzzed.

“Is it a call from the insurance company?”

Arum checked her smartphone, but there was no buzzing from it.

“Looks like it’s on your phone.”

A flickering light of the smartphone came out of his jacket pocket.

“I don’t want to take it.”

“Why not? Just take it.”

“It’s a call I don’t have to take.”

He didn’t look good. It looked like he already knew who called him. Though he said he didn’t have to answer the phone, obviously he paid attention to it.

‘Is it a call from Soran Cho again?’

Suddenly, her name came to Arum’s mind. Was this a woman’s gut feeling? She couldn’t ask him directly, though.

The vibrations from his phone stopped.

And then his rigid face relaxed. Obviously, he was bothered by the call.

Arum folded his arms to change the atmosphere on purpose.

“Let’s get in the car. Wow, it’s pretty cold out here in this remote place in Kangwon Province, isn’t it?” she said.

When she was pulling him inside the car, his phone buzzed again. At that moment, she got chills because the sudden calls during the night usually implied the outbreak of an incident.

“Take it!” demanded Arum.

Reluctantly, he answered the phone.

“Wait a minute.”

He disengaged himself from her and turned around.

Because of the street light his shadow was long enough to cover her. She felt nervous.

“Yes, this is him.”

Though he said in a low voice, she could overhear it.

On hearing the conversation, he was talking with a man she didn’t know.

“Wasn’t it a call from Soran?”

She felt a bit awkward because she got nervous beforehand.

His voice became louder now.

“Soran? How about her condition now? Is she at the hospital?”

He hung up the phone. But he didn’t turn around easily.

‘Oh my god….’

She could hear him letting out a sigh.

Taking a deep breath, she was ready to ask him. No matter what he said, she was ready to listen. And she steeled her mind. She grabbed him by the shoulder and turned him around.

“What’s the matter?”

Her heart sank when her eyes met his.

As expected, he didn’t look good. She saw his eyes and even his heart swayed.

He seemed hesitant over whether to tell her about it or not.

“What’s wrong? Whose call was it?”

“…..”

She tried to make eye contact with him, who was trying to avoid her eyes.

A little later, he opened his mouth.

“Soran allegedly made a suicide attempt.”

That was an unexpected incident, a big scoop for Arum.

“Suicide attempt?”

Arum suddenly wondered, ‘Why? Why did she make a suicide attempt as a woman who had nothing to envy in the world?”

She was the granddaughter of the chairman of a big business group that everybody envied. She had money that an ordinary salaried person could never make in all his or her life. Founder of the company and her grandfather, Mookun Cho, was called the ‘god of business’ and a rags-to-riches man who started as an employee of a junk shop to build the biggest company in the country. Even the CEOs of the ten largest companies in Korea regarded him as their role model.

Namely, Soran was the granddaughter of the family with wealth and fame.

Despite that, she made the worst choice.

Though it was a big scoop, Arum didn’t feel good about it.

She called someone.

“Taxi company? I’m here on the highway. Can you come to my place? I’m going to go to Seoul.”

Watching her, his eyes were opened wide with surprise.

“What are you doing? Why did you call a taxi?”

“I want to send you to Seoul. They had a reason to call you because of Soran, right?”

Hojoon must have been troubled by that call, but she was just as worried because of him.

“They had some reason to call you, right?”

“Yeah…” he let out a sigh, which clearly showed he was troubled.

Arum thought instantly, ‘If I were not here, would he feel agonzined like this? Would he hesitate in this situation? Would he rush to her immediately?’

What if the same thing happened to Konsu? She would immediately run to him.

“Why are they looking for you?”

“Well…”

Though he answered, he was obviously trying to hide something.

“Did they call you without any reason?”

It was a sharp question.

“She allegedly left a will. When she came back to her senses, she was threatening her family with a suicide card, and she asked them to call me…”

“Then, you should go now.”

At that moment, he was trying to say, ‘Let’s go together…” but stopped because he felt it was not right to ask her.

“You’ve got to go and see her right away. Her life is at stake at the moment.”

“Are you okay?” he asked.

In a difficult situation like this, his voice remained kind and soft. Why did her heart sink then?

She answered strongly, so that he could not notice her lips trembling.

“Sure, I’m alright.”

She wanted to take this situation lightly. Since she always relied on him, she wanted to show him that she could manage it alone this time.

“You mean, am I okay even if I’m left alone here? Don’t worry about it. I was going to go to Kangrung alone, you know.”

“No, what I mean is if you feel okay if I go to see Soran.”

Arum couldn’t answer easily.

Obviously, Arum didn’t want to send him to her. Was there any woman who wanted to be left alone in a highway rest stop?

“If you don’t want it, I won’t go.”

He was sincere. It was true that he was surprised by the unexpected call. He would be lying to her if he didn’t feel he wanted to go and see her right away. Basically, it was his courtesy to the human named Soran. But he was now watching another woman who was turning to him alone. This woman was standing before him, trying to stay calm and not to show any nervousness.

He could read her mind, ‘Don’t go!’

In fact, she wanted to shout at him with that word. But she lowered her head without replying. She kicked at the asphalt road with her shoes.

She couldn’t make an expression where she didn’t want to send him.

‘Soran made a suicide attempt and barely survived…’

She smiled and asked, “You will come back to me, right?”

He answered without reservation, “I will, for sure.”

But little did he think he could not keep that promise.