Chapter 85

Chapter 85: Chapter 85

If she sold them to the dealer, she could receive less money, but this kind of transaction had the additional effect of collecting the trash. Otherwise, she would have had to pay for an out-sized trash bag.

It was the first time that she felt better in a long time while taking a shower.

“Ah!”

She looked at her Eye of Horus necklace that Hojoon’s father gave her. It was a kind of patron necklace that defended her. He told her that her luck could change when she cleaned it.

When she thought of that, she wiped it with clean water.

Can this really defend me?

On her way back after covering the Kongyu Kitchen, she asked Hojoon, “Like your aunt said, is this necklace really effective?”

Pointing at the round stone in the necklace, he said, “Do you see this?”

He was referring to the black eye.

“Yep.”

“It is called the Tiger’s Eye stone. If you look at it carefully, the color of the jewel changes, depending on where you look at it. Try it.”

As instructed, she raised the Eye of Horus in her necklace and looked at it from various angles.

“It will move based on the way you tilt it. This is called chatoyancy.”

As she never heard it before, so she asked back, “Chatoyancy? What is that?”

“It is also called the effect of a cat’s eye, just like a cat watching me.”

“I’m scared!”

“Don’t you think it should be attractive enough to defend you from evil, deception or curses?”

She recalled what Hojoon told her about the Eye of Horus in her necklace.

After she wiped it well, she made eye contact with the eye.

“Let me give you the benefit of the doubt. Let me see if you can defend me or not.”

It seemed like the tiger’s eye stone gleamed.

At 2PM on Saturday, Arum woke up because of the buzzing noise on her cell phone.

She could hardly move to pick up the phone as she was too tired.

When she cleaned the house, getting rid of all the junk, she was really thrilled, but she ached all over once she was done as it was the first time she used the muscles she hadn’t used for some time.

She barely touched it and turned it on, “Hello?”

“What the heck did you do?”

It was a man’s call.

As she heard it while she was in between sleep and wake, she couldn’t clearly hear it, “Who is it?”

“Don’t you know who I am?”

As she didn’t confirm the caller’s number, there was no way she could know who he was.

“Who are you?”

“Oh, I’m sorry to hear you say so.”

At that moment she rolled her aching body over to the phone and confirmed the caller’s number.

The caller was Hojoon.

“Hojoon?”

“Have you already forgotten my voice as I haven’t contact you for one week?”

She was embarrassed. This guy disappeared for one week without even contacting her. And now he was asking her if she forgot him.

She wanted to ask, Wasn’t it you who forgot me?

Hojoon went on, “I feel hurt as you don’t recognize my voice. Haven’t you missed me?”

What the heck is he talking about? Feeling hurt? You’ve been to France with Soran for one week, and now you are telling me you are hurt because I didn’t recognize your voice? Wait a minute. There is no evidence that he has come back to Korea. He could still be in France.

“Arum? Arum Yang?”

Though he repeatedly called her, she didn’t want to reply as she couldn’t think straight.

“Haven’t you missed me at all?”

She wanted to answer, “Nope, not at all,” though it was a lie.

Her pride was offended when she had to say she missed him.

“Aren’t you curious where I’m now?”

His voice was as sweet as ever. She got upset when she imagined that he enjoyed a secret love with Soran Cho with that sweet voice. Was she jealous?

She thought she would feel betrayed if he replied he was in France when she asked where he was.

You would rather have not called me.

She didn’t reply to his question.

“I’m sorry. Have I come back too late?”

She burst into tears.

“Sorry, Arum.”

You’re a liar. You can’t lead me on this time. You promised me that you would come back quickly.

Hojoon continued, “Haven’t you missed me at all? I’ve missed you so much.”

Even if he were lying to her right now, she liked it.

The moment she heard that all her grudges against him melted away instantly.

“Won’t you see me now?”

She felt relieved that he came back to Korea, but she didn’t want to see him now because she would most likely complain to him.

Fighting back tears, she said as calmly as possible, “Not now.”

She didn’t want to have him notice her emotional feelings.

Ding dong!

The doorbell rang.

Arum looked at the front door.

It can’t be! Did he come here?

“Please open the door! I’m going to go crazy because I miss you so much!”

Ding dong!

The doorbell rang again.

Grabbing the doorknob, she took a deep breath. The moment she turned the doorknob, she wondered whether she did the right thing.

Can I send him back even now? Her wish to see him overwhelmed her. What do you want to do now?

Just once.

Can I see him just one last time? Then, we can break up. As we have to break up anyway, we have to see each other at least one more time. We can’t break up over text like children, can we?

Now, she knew the clear reason why she opened the door.

The door was opened.

When she was about to ask how he was doing, he kissed her.

His lips were hot with how much he missed her and silenced all her complaints.

***

Sitting at the table, Hojoon stared at the pile of trash bags in front of the front door. He couldn’t seem to believe that Arum had done it.

“Did you clean all this stuff?”

“Yep. I cleaned the whole house all through the night. My whole body is aching now.”

“All through the night?”

“Yeah.”

She brought two cups of iced coffee. Handing him one, she sat beside him.

“When I was done with cleaning, I felt that I put my house back in a neat condition. I even felt thrilled while dumping all that stuff.”

At that moment, he extended his hand and caressed her hair.

“Good job! I guess you didn’t cry while doing it. By the way, wasn’t it hard?”

Of course, it was hard for her to do all the cleaning by herself because she didn’t know what she should dump first, but she wanted to put on an air on purpose.

“Cleaning is not a big deal, as you know.”

“Did you happen to watch my online lecture on this?”

She felt a prick in her heart. She pretended not to have watched it.

“Why should I watch it? Do you think you can change your life just because you cleaned?”

Oops, that was his key point in his lecture.

“Great. It looks like you are good at cleaning. Won’t you join my company?”

“I’m not in the mood for cracking jokes with you.”

Arum was still out of sorts.

“I thought you blew off steam when I kissed you a minute ago. Didn’t you?”

“Don’t try to lead me on with your kiss. Do you think I’m a sucker?”

“Didn’t you like my kiss?”

“Oh my god…”

Arum was frustrated. Is this guy trying to avoid the situation with a kiss?

“Do you want me to keep kissing you until you’re satisfied?”

Hojoon pretended to stand up for another kiss, but she stepped back.

“How reckless you are! Are they all like you in France?”

When she mentioned it, Hojoon made a perplexed expression.

“You knew I went to France?”

She nodded instead of replying.

“So, did you misunderstand me?” he asked, looking into her eyes.

“How couldn’t I when I heard you and Soran went together?”

“I see….” he lamented.

Arum’s heart was beating hard with anxiety about his reply.

“I was staying at the hospital where Soran was hospitalized. She got counsel there and received prescriptions that worked very well for her.”

This guy is making plausible excuses.

While touching her coffee cup, she gave him an icy glance as she asked nonchalantly, “Good job. We have to help each other when we’re badly needed. Is her condition okay now?”

“Yes, she is in stable condition now. She is in Seoul.”

“Really?”

She stopped touching her coffee cup.

“That hospital is in Seoul. Soran was treated at the hospital, and I came back to Seoul. I flew to Paris alone because of my business. I originally planned to go there, but my plan was advanced a bit.”

“Why couldn’t you contact me then?”