Chapter 113
Ga-eun looked at Kim Juhan with an equally startled expression.
“Oppa, how did you end up here…?”
“I was invited by a business client. I just arrived and got a bit lost, which is how I ended up in this room. What about you?”
Juhan’s gaze drifted to the large jacket draped over Ga-eun’s slender frame. His voice trembled almost imperceptibly.
“Are you… here with your husband?”
“Yes.”
As Ga-eun nodded and gripped her collar tightly, Juhan felt a sharp pain pierce his heart. Yet, he forced a smile, concealing his emotions.
“I see. Since we’re here, I might as well say hello.”
“Oh…”
“Don’t worry. I won’t bring up old stories. Just a childhood neighbor we were close to for a brief moment. That’s what I’ll say if anyone asks.”
Si-heon would be coming this way soon, so avoiding Juhan was impossible. And she couldn’t ask him to leave either. If anyone began to suspect something between them, the entire arrangement would fall apart. Her aunt was still in the Gye Young-cheol family’s grip. Such a situation must not occur.
Hesitating, Ga-eun finally nodded.
“I’d appreciate that.”
“No need for thanks. But you don’t look well. Are you feeling sick?”
“No, just a slight physical imbalance.”
Then Juhan noticed the cast on her wrist.
“What happened to your wrist? Are you injured?”
“Oh, yes. It’s nothing.”
“Nothing? You have a cast. What did the hospital say?”
“They said it would heal with time. I’m really fine.”
“I’m glad to hear that.”
Watching Juhan look at her wrist with concern, Ga-eun thought of Si-heon.
How wonderful it would be if he looked at her with such an expression. Even in a place where no other eyes could reach them.
‘This is bad. These useless thoughts keep multiplying.’
This was all because of Kwon Si-heon’s inexplicable actions earlier.
“Ga-eun?”
Oh.
She suddenly came back to her senses.
It was troublesome that she kept thinking about Kwon Si-heon, even when with someone else.
“I’m sorry. I was lost in thought for a moment.”
“You should go back soon. You look like you’re coming down with something. You were always like this, even when we were young. Pale-faced, staring blankly into space, lost in thought.”
Was I really like that?
Listening to Juhan’s words, her vision suddenly began to blur and spin.
Ga-eun clutched Si-heon’s jacket like a lifeline.
“Do you still have that soft rabbit plush? The plump one?”
She shook her head. She had left it in her aunt’s hospital room.
Just like herself when she was young, her aunt would sleep every night hugging it.
“When you would lie holding it, Aunt Won-mi would pat your back. You’d fall asleep instantly and get better right away.”
Kim Juhan called his mother “Aunt Won-mi” and her aunt “Aunt Seon-mi”.
Her vision grew hazy.
Her head increasingly burning.
Amidst Kim Juhan’s stories about Byeolnaeri village, her grip on consciousness began to crumble, sliding back to memories of those times.
A smile formed unconsciously.
“I’m grateful. That at least someone remembers my mother and aunt.”
“Of course. They were like family to me. And you… are the same.”
“Thank you, Oppa. Is there anything else you remember? About my mother or aunt?”
“Do you remember the day Aunt Won-mi scolded me terribly? When I sneaked to the stream after dinner and got completely soaked?”
Ga-eun nodded. She recalled how her mother shouted at her for the first time, shocked by her sudden disappearance.
“And then you sang a song about catching crayfish, which made Aunt Won-mi even angrier. Her face turned completely red.”
“Yes, I remember.”
“If Aunt Seon-mi hadn’t intervened, we would have been in serious trouble. The marks might still be there.”
Just as Ga-eun was laughing with her eyes closed at Juhan’s words, the lounge door opened.
“Ga-eun.”
At the deep voice, Ga-eun turned her head, her laughing expression still intact.
Her eyes met Si-heon’s.
Was it an illusion?
It seemed like his body had flinched.
No, it must have been a mistake.
Kwon Si-heon never gets surprised or flustered by anything.
Even less so if it involves himself.
“How are you?”
As expected, Si-heon approached with his usual expressionless face, as if nothing had happened.
Yes, it was definitely just a mirage.
Ga-eun tried to straighten her slightly tilting body.
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