CH 50

Muyeol entered Yiyoung’s studio apartment, carefully examining every inch of it. Three safety locks hung at the entrance, and Muyeol took them in his hands. “Have you had any bad experiences here?”

A guard from Sangu’s security company kept watch over Yiyoung’s place. 

Yiyoung took out her suitcase and began to fill it with clothes from her closet as she giggled wickedly. “No, Uncle Sangsu just wanted to keep multiple locks. He said I need to be careful because I’m so pretty.” 

Muyeol chose to ignore her brag. Instead, he asked, “You still call him your uncle?”

Her relationship with Sangsu began because Muyeol asked him to protect her. Through Muyeol’s help, she was able to build a family. 

“Yes. He’s my uncle. If he hadn’t been there for me, I probably wouldn’t even be here to fulfill my promise to you.” Her sorrowful words scratched at his heart, pricking him with pain. “I had a tough time after Dad passed away. I couldn’t find a reason to live, and I didn’t have the will to do anything, so I used to sleep all day.”

Yiyoung continued to calmly pack her belongings, and Muyeol watched her, wondering what would have happened had she continued to sleep like a hibernating bear after dropping out of school. If Sangsu hadn’t been there for her… 

“Now that I think about it, it was all because of you. You’re the one who sent Sangsu to me.” Yiyoung’s lips curved up, the smile reaching all the way to her eyes. “Thank you.”

Muyeol’s ears suddenly grew hot. Startled, he touched his earlobe. Yiyoung noticed it and burst into laughter. “Your ears are so red, they look like they’re on fire! Can I touch them?”

Yiyoung stretched her hand out, and Muyeold flinched away, almost as if he was scared.

Yiyoung laughed again. “I didn’t know you could be so cute.”

Muyeol didn’t respond. He silently waited for her to finish packing so he could move her bags to the entrance.

“Oh, by the way…” Yiyoung pulled out another suitcase. “Did Uncle Sangsu know who you were?”

“No, we only communicated over text messages. He doesn’t know my name.”

“Then, would you be fine with me telling him?”

“No.”

She hummed, “Well, I have to tell him I’m getting married to you. If he visits me someday, I can’t tell him I’m living with a man for no reason. He wouldn’t even believe me. And I don’t want him to think I’m living with you without getting married. And since we’re going to get divorced, he will find out eventually.” 

It seemed like Yiyoung had already adapted to the situation. It was just like Yoon Yiyoung. She didn’t only accept it, she even started to actively be in charge of the situation. She never lacked courage. Nothing could stop her from living the way she wanted. 

“We have to meet your grandmother as well, so we need to discuss what we’re going to tell her,” she said, her bright eyes seemingly sparkling.

“She’s the one who asked me to marry in return for fulfilling my request, so she’s not going to expect anything. Think realistically.”

“You told me she’s the only family you can trust, so what do you mean, think realistically? We have to think respectfully.”

Muyeol looked at her eyes as they glimmered with excitement. “You look like you’re enjoying this.”

“We’re not getting married for our entire lives, so what’s the harm in enjoying it?”

It was just like Yiyoung to not only accept the situation, but actively take charge of it, too. And now, she was even enjoying it. Muyeol scoffed. “So, what do you want to tell her?”

“This story should be plausible…” Yiyoung muttered. Goosebumps covered Muyeol’s body when Yiyoung turned to him excitedly. “Let’s tell her it was first love.”

Muyeol couldn’t believe it. “What?”

“Doesn’t it sound real? How many years have we known each other for? Your grandmother will probably believe it. I mean, I was always with you when we were young. We even clicked a picture together during the junior high graduation ceremony. Who else did you take a photo with? No one, right? First love sounds so realistic.”

“So I’ll be your first love?” asked Muyeol.

“No. I will be your first love. You even proposed to me!”

Muyeol could only laugh at her ridiculous claim. Yiyoung crossed her arms. “You have to do this much for me. I’m fulfilling my promise, right?” Then Yiyoung kept thinking hard. What should she say if Muyeol didn’t want to do it? 

‘Do I also tell her that I love him a lot and can’t live without him? I must tell Uncle I love in order for him to believe the story,’ Yiyoung continued to think up details to add into the story.

It was then that Muyeol suggested, “I guess we should buy wedding rings.”

Yiyoung smiled, her cheeks turning a rosy red.

* * * 

One week later, Yiyoung stood with tongs in her hand, waiting as the vegetable stock in it boiled. The ring that she and Muyeol chose together sat on her ring finger, glinting under the light.

Sangsu looked at her ring with a satisfied smile, but when he saw her reach for a meat dish, he asked, “Yiyoung… don’t we have a lot of time left?”

“No, not at all.” Yiyoung started putting the meat into the boiling pot. 

Sangsu took a furtive glance at Muyeol and then turned to Yiyoung. “It’s a special day…” 

“He already knows,” explained Yiyoung, “Uncle, have you ever seen me eat peacefully? I don’t know when I’ll be called into the ER, so I have to stuff myself whenever I can. Besides, you know I can’t stop myself if there’s meat.”

Yiyoung was about to dump eight servings of meat into the pot. Sangsu would have understood had it been any other day, but she was going to marry this man soon, and it was Sangsu and Honghee’s first time meeting Muyeol!

Honghee smiled and intervened in the situation, taking away the tongs from Yiyoung. “I’ll do it.”

“Why?” Yiyoung asked. Sangsu gaped at her; he really didn’t want her stuffing herself like a teenage boy in front of her future husband.