Chapter 20
They had bought enough samgyeopsal to fill a large trash bag from the supermarket, but it quickly disappeared with all the villagers gathered. Since the makgeolli wasn’t nearly enough, they brought out a case of soju from the Jinhong-ri supermarket and shared it.
As the elders left one by one and the streetlight above the platform flickered,
“Let’s get going too.”
Yohan, his cheeks flushed from the alcohol, patted Heena’s back and stood up.
“Shall we?”
Heena, her eyes half-closed, wobbled to her feet and helped clean up. She wiped the grease off the grill with a paper towel and carried the portable stove and leftover side dishes to the kitchen. Wiping the platform with a rag seemed to sober her up a bit.
“Ouch!”
But that thought proved to be a delusion when she sprained her ankle while putting on her slippers after getting off the platform. Heena, unable to open her drunken eyes, collapsed on the floor, clutching her ankle.
“See? I told you you’re a child. Let me see.”
Yohan sighed and knelt down on one knee. He carefully held Heena’s sprained ankle and asked,
“Does it hurt?”
Heena gritted her teeth and nodded vigorously.
“It’s not swollen yet. Can you walk? Try standing up.”
Yohan put his hands under Heena’s arms and lifted her up. However, her left ankle couldn’t support her weight, and she tilted to one side. Yohan quickly caught her and clicked his tongue.
“Hop on my back.”
Heena saw Seo Yohan bending down, offering his back. Her vision was blurry, but she could tell it was a broad and sturdy back. The same back he had offered her countless times when they were dating.
Heena stared at his back for a moment, then bit her lip and carefully leaned against him.
“We’re leaving. Goodnight.”
Yohan, carrying Heena on his back with his legs fully extended, called out to the village hall kitchen, where the light was still on. “Okay! Get home safe!” came the reply.
The occasional old streetlights dimly lit the path. Amidst the ringing of insects, Heena, leaning against his back, could hear Seo Yohan’s heartbeat.
“Are you asleep?”
Yohan stopped for a moment, adjusted Heena’s position, and asked. Heena thought about pretending to be asleep because she was too lazy to answer, but she replied shortly, “No.”
“Don’t fall asleep. You’ll get heavier.”
“That sounds like you’re saying I’m heavy now… I hope not.”
“You ate so much and expect to be light?”
Heena, deliberately tightening her arms around Yohan’s neck, rubbed her sleepy eyes against the back of his neck. It was her way of trying to shake off her sleepiness.
“I only drank dew? The ladies and Mr. Park ate all the meat.”
“I think the dew you’re talking about and the dew I’m thinking about are different.”
“Dew is dew. There’s no such thing as your dew and my dew….”
She didn’t know what she was saying, drunk on sleep and alcohol, but it was Heena’s instinct not to lose an argument with him.
But he, perhaps equally drunk, chuckled at her words, which he would have normally ignored. His back shook with laughter, and Heena started giggling along with him.
“When you were little, you used to laugh like this at anything I said….”
His shaking back suddenly became still. Heena, oblivious, continued her drunken ramblings.
“You don’t know that I used to read joke books at the bookstore all the time to make you laugh, do you?”
“…You did?”
“Yes! You used to smile so brightly when you were a baby…. Why were you like that back then?”
“When?”
“Before we broke up.”
She could feel them walking up the slope towards home. Despite this, Yohan’s breathing wasn’t ragged at all. His heartbeat was still steady. His breathing was regular. His voice was calm. Heena found a sense of stability in it all.
“Before we broke up….”
Yohan licked his lips and carefully opened his mouth.
“We fought a lot, didn’t we?”
“Yeah.”
“We’d be perfectly happy together, then suddenly we’d be screaming at each other.”
“That’s true…”
“Did you still like me back then?”
“No.”
Yohan chuckled at the firm answer. Whether she was drunk like now or not, Heena’s answer would have been the same. They had fought each other with that much hatred. They had to search high and low to find even a speck of love.
“You hated me. No, not hate, but resented me.”
“…….”
“I resented you so much. I kept thinking, ‘Why doesn’t Seo Yohan understand my feelings? Why are you so complicated?'”
“…….”
Yohan didn’t say a word as he opened the gate and walked across the yard.
“Let’s not talk about it.”
That was what Seo Yohan used to say most often back then. As if he was too tired to even fight. Even in her hazy state, she could feel them climbing the stairs and the front door opening.
“We’re home.”
“Take me to my room.”
“I’ll let it slide just this once.”
“What if my ankle still hurts tomorrow? Will you carry me again?”
“We’ll go to the hospital.”
“Will you carry me to the hospital?”
“We’ll take the car.”
Heena chuckled at his surprisingly practical answer, so unlike the him she knew.
“See? You’ve changed.”
“I haven’t changed. I’m just acting like this because we’re not dating anymore.”
“…….”
Yohan climbed the stairs to the second floor and opened the guest room door. The spring breeze was blowing gently into the room because Heena had left the window open.
He gently placed Heena on the bed and reached out to close the window.
“Should I turn on the heater?”
“…….”
“Why aren’t you saying anything?”
He thought she had fallen asleep, but Heena was sitting on the bed, staring at Yohan with unfocused eyes. Yohan chuckled and poked Heena’s flushed cheek with his fingertip.
“Where did your answer go?”
“I’m not cold.”
“Then just cover yourself with the blanket and sleep.”
“I’m hot.”
“Then sleep without the blanket.”
“Take it off.”
Heena tugged at the front of her shirt. Her bra strap peeked out.
“What… are you asking me to take off?”
“My clothes.”
“Hey, Jeong Heena, you…!”
“Why? Is this also not allowed because we’re not dating anymore?”
Looking closely, Yohan saw a stubborn glint in Heena’s eyes.
Oh, this is going to be a headache.
No one could stop Jeong Heena’s stubbornness. Especially her defiance when things didn’t go her way. Even when he tried to let things go, she would nitpick at everything, eventually making him angry.
“Of course not.”
“Are you married?”
“What are you talking about?”
“Do you have a girlfriend? You don’t.”
Heena tightly gripped the hem of Yohan’s shirt. It was a sign for him not to leave. Unable to argue with a drunk person, Yohan sighed and sat down next to Heena. Relieved, she released his shirt.
They were too close. Moreover, they were alone in this house, in this room. No one would know what they did.
Once again, against his will, he started to get aroused. His thighs tightened, and he bit his lip, closing his eyes.
“I’m still not used to life without you.”
At those words, he slowly opened his eyes. Jeong Heena was looking directly at him, her lips moving slightly.
“I hated running into you when I came down here.”
“…….”
“But I’m also glad.”
Yohan couldn’t say anything. He understood her feelings perfectly. He felt the same way.
He had come down to Jinhong-ri, his most comfortable place, needing a break, and he had run into his ex-girlfriend, whom he had broken up with after countless fights. He wondered if it was some kind of cruel joke of fate, but at the same time, he felt relieved that he wasn’t alone and happy to see the familiar Jeong Heena.
“Are you just saying anything because you’re drunk?”
Heena didn’t even flinch at his lightly thrown joke.
“Do I look like I’m joking?”
“…….”
He swallowed hard. Yohan, taking in her slightly flushed cheeks, clear, sparkling eyes, and red, swollen lips, hardened his expression and asked back,
“Then.”
“…….”
“Should we kiss?”
Yohan gently grasped Heena’s chin. As he leaned in and carefully licked her lower lip, Heena closed her eyes as if she had been waiting for it.