Chapter 116

***

In the quiet café, only the sound of pencils moving could be heard.

“It’s all done!”

She looked at her paintings like she really was proud of them.

She was already doing a few sketches with a model for the sleeping owner and Labong.

“… What do I have to draw now?”

Sun looked around with a shallow sigh.

“Huh?”

Then the rain started to hit the window.

It started to sprinkle before turning into a torrential downpour.

‘Shua…’

The heavy rain swept over the world in an instant.

“It was raining too back then…”

Sun remembered him.

‘Do you really think you’re worthy of me?’

His mean and sharp words were still hurting her heart even after so much time had passed.

She closed her eyes and tried to force his memory out from her mind.

She tried to forget him no matter what, but her mind was already filled with thoughts about him in an instant. No matter how much she tried to focus on other things to distract herself, she was just continuously connected to the memories of him.

Sun smiled with a bitter smile.

“… Is he gone yet?”

She looked out the window, mumbling to herself powerlessly.

***

In Gyeonhui’s car.

He heard the heavy rain.

“Hmm.”

He closed his eyes and thought.

‘There’s another hidden meaning in the coffee tree flower.’

After that, she spoke the meaning clearly, but Gyeonhui could not remember it at all.

“What was it?”

As he mumbled to himself as he opened his eyes. He became frustrated and thought about having a cup of coffee.

‘Shua…’

He saw the rain shower outside through the car window. He hated getting wet, so he would never go out, but he ended up out of the car with an umbrella.

“Hmm…”

Soon, the symptoms of his obsessive-compulsive disorder were getting better.

“Is it because of her…”

Smiling bitterly, he slowly stepped toward the café.

Then, his cell phone rang.

It was Sister Andrea. After a while, he slowly picked up his phone.

“Sister Andrea.”

“How lucky. Are you not sleeping yet?”

Andrea asked in her usual bright voice.

“I’m still working. What’s going on?”

“No, nothing special, just wanted to call you to see if you’re feeling any better.”

Gyeonhui remembered how he fell on the floor of the orphanage a few days ago.

“It’s not a big deal.”

“It’s a big deal, Ojae worried about you a lot.”

“You know he always exaggerates. It’s really not a big deal. I’m okay now.”

“Okay, I’m relieved now after hearing your voice,” Andrea spoke in a warm tone. “Then sleep well, and contact me anytime you need help.”

“… I will.” As he tried to hang up the phone, he suddenly remembered what Andrea had said in the past.

‘God sometimes does things that make no sense. We call that a miracle, or sometimes a curse. However, what matters is not the result of that miracle or curse. It’s important to think about why it happened, the reason.’

“Sister…”

“Yes?”

“… You’ve said once that God sometimes does ridiculous things, and it’s more important to understand the cause rather than the ability to identify if it is a miracle or a curse.” He stopped for a moment, seemingly summing up his thoughts. With a slight sigh, he struggled to start speaking again. “If I am the cause of everything… should I give her up? Is it the right thing to do?”

A moment of silence fell across the phone.

She seemed to be lost in thought, trying to understand his mind and also to give out the wisest advice to him.

“… Do you want to give her up?””

He stopped after hearing her question. He closed his eyes and thought for a moment before struggling to answer.

“… I think I have to.”

Gyeonhui remembered Sun’s struggling face. Her pain then came to his mind.

“I’ve asked if you wanted to give her up. Do you really want to do so?”

He bit his lips.

‘Dring.’

Then, with the sound of the doorbells, the café door opened.

A woman with dark hair and a calm white face came out of the café.

It was her, Cheonsun.

Gyeonhui looked at her, stopping at the unexpected situation.

“I’m sorry…”

Sun, unaware of him, avoided him to get out of his way inside. However, he couldn’t move his body even for an inch while he was holding his cell phone.

She slowly looked up to observe him as she felt something strange.

Her expression was immediately hardened when she realized that it was him.

She panicked at that moment, so reflexively, she closed the door.

‘Kung.’

The door closed with a loud bang.

He was still holding her cell phone while looking at her. Sun stood with a firm expression and froze. There was only one transparent glass between him and her.

After a while, she seemed determined to reopen the door and step outside. She opened her umbrella and walked past Gyeonhui without saying anything.

“Hey, Gyeonhui, are you okay?”

Not hearing him on the phone for a while, Andrea’s voice was heard over her cell phone.

“What’s going on?”

“…No, nothing happened.”

He took his eyes off of her and mumbled to himself.

‘Please don’t get hurt anymore because of me…’

He closed his eyes and cried it out in his mind, uncontrollably.

If she was still sick because of him, he wouldn’t have forgotten her because it meant that he was still in her heart.

He raised his hand over the doorknob, but he could not open the door.

His distorted expression revealed the pain in his heart.

“Hah…”

The unbearable pain leaked from his mouth. She was still sick because of him.

‘Why are you still sick… you said it’s all over…’

He bore the pain with one hand on the wall. Enduring the pain while biting his lips tightly, he felt a feeling of unbearable sorrow.

He suddenly turned and looked at her walking away in the rain. He slowly started speaking as he watched her with his unwavering eyes.

“… Sister Andrea.” He took a moment to breathe and said, “I’m not going to… I don’t want to give up. The cause doesn’t matter anymore. I don’t care why this is happening or why this misfortune has happened to me. All I know is what I’m going to do next. That’s it.”

He hung up as if he were talking to himself.

At once, he started running toward her.

***

Her shoulders and trousers were already wet because of the heavy rain.

She stepped forward, protecting only Labong in her arms.

His sullen face that she just saw came to mind.

‘Why is his face… why…’

Her heart was broken again.

Then following her, he stopped and stood in front of her. His body was soaked in the rain because he ran at her without an umbrella.

“… Sun.”

She tried to get out of the way without answering, but he again blocked her.

“Why are you doing this?” Sun said.

“… I wanted to see it.”

Her eyes were shaken. “… It’s over.”

“I thought it was over too. I thought I’d sorted it out. However, no. I knew that we were not over the moment I saw you.”

“Gyeonhui…”

“I can’t live without you.”

His voice echoed in her ear. She had to turn her body to hide her bottled anger.

Watching her, he slowly approached her.

“… I’m so sorry that it was already too late when I’ve realized it.”