Chapter 23
Heena grabbed the phone rolling on the floor and called Seo Yohan. It was because her body was in no condition to go downstairs. The ringing didn’t last long before it was cut off and his voice came through.
─What.
“I’m not going to eat.”
─No being picky about the side dishes.
“I don’t even know what the side dishes are, what do you mean picky? I just don’t feel well. I’m skipping breakfast.”
She couldn’t bring herself to say she couldn’t come down to eat because she couldn’t move her body. It was her last shred of pride.
Let’s just rest today. It’s not like I came down to Jinhong-ri for any other reason than to rest anyway. Today’s plan is to do nothing and stick to the bed.
Thinking that, she hugged a pillow and closed her eyes again. When her mind was a mess, sleeping it off was the best remedy.
Just as she was drifting off, the door swung open with a clatter.
“Jeong Heena, you should still eat… are you sleeping?”
It was Seo Yohan’s voice. The clattering of dishes could be heard, as if he had brought up a meal and side dishes on a tray. Then the sound of the tray being placed beside the bed.
“Looks like she fell back asleep already.”
“……”
Having missed the timing to open her eyes, Heena had to keep them closed and pretend to be asleep.
She had no idea how to interpret the heart of this guy who, even after spending the night tangling bodies, prepared breakfast as usual and even brought the meal all the way up here. Wasn’t this an action an ex-boyfriend would take? To be precise, it wasn’t an action an ex-boyfriend who had sex with his ex-girlfriend the night before would take. Or was he just being considerate and taking care of her as his friend’s older sister?
It was a moment when her thoughts were spiraling, one after another. She felt a hand brush her hair back and touch her forehead. It was gentle and warm. Like his body that had held her last night, like the hands that had caressed her body, like the moist breath that had explored the inside of her mouth. Remembering that moment again made her whole body flush.
“You have a fever, too.”
…She didn’t. She was just suffering from a hangover and the aftereffects of their encounter.
Seo Yohan lifted the blanket at her feet. This time, a hand touched her left ankle. He was examining the ankle she had sprained while drunk, comparing it to her right ankle to see if it was swollen.
“The ankle seems to be fine.”
By the way, it bothered her that this guy, who didn’t usually talk to himself, was muttering as if he meant for her to hear. Almost like someone who knew she was awake.
“Why is your face so red.”
Heena cautiously pushed open just one eyelid. And just as she expected, Seo Yohan was standing there with his arms crossed, staring down at her intently. As if he had been waiting for her to open her eyes.
“Ah, ahh, slept well.”
“Why were you pretending to be asleep?”
Following last night’s sex, she was now caught pretending to be asleep. Her ears burned with embarrassment. In times like these, denial was the best defense.
“I really was… sleeping?”
“If it’s hard to come down for breakfast, you could just say so. Why put on such a bad act?”
“I told you I wasn’t acting….”
“Stubborn till the end. Where does it hurt? Your back? Your legs?”
“Both.”
“That’s why I told you to get some exercise normally.”
Seo Yohan didn’t spare her his nagging. He had been worse than her own mom and dad since long ago. But didn’t they say nagging was a measure of interest and concern? As if to prove that saying wasn’t wrong, he left his spot and reappeared from somewhere with a backrest cushion.
“Sit up for a second.”
He helped Heena’s upper body sit up and propped the cushion between the wall and her back. Then, he unfolded a folding table on the blanket and placed the tray on it.
“Your hands are fine, so feed yourself.”
Warm barley rice, clear dried pollack soup, kimchi, and a fried egg were laid out neatly.
Heena picked up her spoon and chopsticks, sneaking a glance at Yohan.
“Thanks. I’ll eat well.”
It wasn’t bad, being taken care of by Seo Yohan. In fact, she was glad he was here. If she had to stay here without a single friend her age, she would have been itching all over with boredom.
“Let me know when you’re done. I’ll bring you a muscle relaxant.”
Whenever Heena was on her period, Yohan used to buy her painkillers and sanitary pads of all kinds. He would lay her down in bed and become her hands and feet. Honestly, she wasn’t in enough pain to warrant such a fuss….
When he treated her as warmly and kindly as he used to, she kept having the strange delusion that maybe, he still had feelings for her. The what-if of what would we be like now if I hadn’t broken up with you back then also came to mind.
But it was all useless. Reality was reality. Making such delusions or what-ifs wouldn’t change anything. Heena inwardly scoffed at herself. She just had to get along here and then go back to Seoul. They were fated to break up again. But it’s cheating for you to be this nice to me.
“I don’t need the medicine. I’ll be fine if I just get some good sleep. You go and get to your work.”
At Heena’s attitude of drawing a line, Yohan felt the back of his neck tense up.
“I’m just taking care of you because I’m worried, do you have to talk like that?”
“How did I talk?”
Her eyes truly looked as if she had no idea. Even if Jeong Heena’s words had no ill intent, from his perspective of offering kindness, it was quite upsetting.
“Forget it, forget it. What am I even saying to you.”
“No, tell me, what did I say? Did what I said upset you? Why?”
Yohan didn’t answer and stormed out, slamming the door, BANG. After taking a couple of steps, he seemed to think he had shut the door too hard, so he stealthily stepped back, opened the door a crack, and said,
“It slammed shut because of the wind.”
Heena, who had been spooning the pollack soup, let out a scoffing laugh, as if in disbelief, “Ha, you’ve got to be kidding me.”
✦⋆🍒.₊ ⊹
The renovation work on Mr. Jeong’s house was proceeding smoothly. Before the overall remodeling, the plumbing had to be replaced first. Yohan looked around the house under construction, checking if the work was going well.
Her grandfather’s door, which Heena could never open, was also wide open. Yohan’s steps led him there. The window was wide open, letting a spring breeze flow into the room.
If Jeong Heena had visited like this while he was still alive, he would have been so happy….
He recalled the conversation he had with Mr. Jeong before he passed away. It was a secret he could never tell Heena.
“If I’d known it’d be this hard to see my grandkids’ faces, maybe I should’ve followed them to Seoul, huh? Heh heh. No, then they would’ve had a hard time takin’ care of me, right? Just an old man bein’ a burden.”
He was the man who had raised Heena and Heetae with his own hands from elementary school until their high school graduation. Though they weren’t children he had birthed, he cherished his grandchildren, bound by the tough ties of blood, dearly.
If one of them got sick, he would immediately throw them on his back and run to the town clinic. That’s how he was when he was still hale.
He was a man who, even when neighbors pointed fingers and said, “Why do you dote on those grandkids so much when they’ll just leave for Seoul once they’re grown,” had blocked his eyes and ears and poured all his devotion into them.
At the time, Yohan hadn’t fully understood Mr. Jeong’s devotion, but after returning to Jinhong-ri, he saw many things.
The wrinkles etched on Mr. Jeong’s face deepened with each passing day. When he was looking down at the village scenery alone, his expression was full of worry and concern, but whenever Yohan appeared, he would give a bright smile.
That’s how much he lived while hiding his longing for his children. There was no limit to an old man’s waiting.
Mr. Jeong’s scent lingered strongly in his room. Yohan felt he could fully understand why Heena couldn’t enter her grandfather’s room. Even if they were far apart, her grandfather’s feelings must have been conveyed. It was because of that guilt that Jeong Heena had come to visit this place, however belatedly.
“I wish I could see those rascals’ faces to my heart’s content before I die!”
“Don’t say such things, Grandpa. You’re going to make a full recovery.”
“I know my own body best. Still, it’s a relief that you’re here in place of my grandkids. At least I won’t go lonely.”
At those words, Yohan could only hang his head. Mr. Jeong had made him promise not to tell his family that he didn’t have much time left, nor that he was shouldering such a great illness, so all he could do was keep his mouth shut and stand by helplessly.
Yohan walked over to the window. The village, covered in yellow cornelian cherry flowers, looked down at him.
A man who had lived his entire life here. A man who had endured the rest of his life with loneliness and longing.
What did he think while looking at the scenery that turned yellow every spring? How did he fill the emptiness when Heena and Heetae left Jinhong-ri?
Yohan rubbed the corners of his eyes. He couldn’t even begin to fathom Mr. Jeong’s heart.
“When I die….”
“I told you not to say such things.”
“…Please take good care of my grandkids. They were raised by this good-for-nothing grandpa so they talk tough, but they’re good kids.”
The last request Mr. Jeong left behind was still vivid in his ears.
“Especially Heena.”
“……”
“She’s adored and liked you a lot since she was little, so you cherish our granddaughter a lot too, ya hear?”
At those words, which sounded as if he knew everything, Yohan couldn’t give any reply.
