Chapter 8. A Mysterious Date
The next morning, Jinhyun came out to the living room and did a light stretch.
Just as he was shaking off the stiffness in his body, Yeoul’s door opened. Jinhyun’s gaze reflexively turned to the clock. 7:40 a.m. She seemed to wake up around the same time as yesterday—probably her usual routine.
“Haaaaam…”
Yeoul let out a long yawn and trudged toward the bathroom.
As she walked, rubbing her eyes half-closed, Jinhyun gently grabbed her arm. Yeoul looked up.
Under her long eyelashes, her clear eyes stared blankly at him.
But only for a moment—she blinked once and muttered under her breath.
“Oh, eye gunk…”
Yeoul used her middle finger to skillfully remove the sleep from her eyes.
Seeing that, Jinhyun couldn’t help but let out a small laugh.
“Did you sleep well?”
Even if she didn’t answer, it was obvious.
“Yes. Good morning, oppa.”
Yeoul greeted him with a voice still heavy with sleep and entered the bathroom. Soon, the sound of brushing teeth and running water followed.
When Yeoul came out of the bathroom with her hair tied up, she looked much more refreshed. Watching her, Jinhyun spoke again.
“You’re up early.”
“So are you. Isn’t it a rule of life for working people to sleep in on weekends?”
“It’s time for my morning workout.”
“Didn’t you work out last night, too?”
“That was just to digest dinner. Real workouts happen in the morning.”
“Oh…”
Yeoul looked at him as if observing a different species. She was a woman whose face always betrayed her true thoughts, even if her words didn’t.
“Wanna join me?”
“I can’t go to the park.”
Not won’t, but can’t?
With a slight frown, Yeoul continued.
“There are too many dogs there.”
True. There were a lot of people walking their dogs at the park. Jinhyun easily accepted her reason and turned toward the front door. Yeoul flapped her hands at him.
“Have a nice run.”
He nodded and left the house.
Either way, it was a fresh start to the day.
Jinhyun returned exactly one hour and ten minutes later. The house was still as quiet as ever.
“You’re back?”
Yeoul greeted him, and Jinhyun tilted his head slightly in response.
“Going somewhere?”
Yeoul, who had been in her pajamas not long ago, was now fully dressed for going out. She even had on light makeup—it didn’t look like a casual outing.
“Meeting a friend.”
“At this hour?”
Yeoul just smiled and shrugged, clearly not planning to explain. Who was she meeting so early in the day?
As Jinhyun opened his mouth to say something, Yeoul beat him to it.
“Oh, oppa—if you’re going to shower, turn on the hot water in the master bedroom first.”
Before he could even respond, Yeoul turned away and started putting on her shoes.
At that moment, Sunwoo came out of the master bedroom and approached her.
“Where are you going?”
He gave her a once-over and tilted his head.
“That outfit means one of two things. Business or a date.”
“It’s the weekend.”
“Exactly. Which is why a business meeting would be more likely than a date for Na Yeoul.”
“Well, it’s that unlikely date. See you later.”
Normally, Yeoul would have snapped at that, but instead, she simply left with a casual goodbye. Sunwoo stared at the closed door with a baffled look.
“She’s really going to meet someone?”
“How would I know if you don’t?”
The two of them just stood there, staring blankly at each other.
Yeoul sat in a familiar café, waiting for the person she had planned to meet. The one who had summoned her out this early on a weekend morning was Hyeri.
Apparently, today was a must for hitting the department store’s opening rush.
And to top it off, Hyeri had promised to introduce her to a guy later in the evening, which was why Yeoul had to put on makeup at the crack of dawn.
Hyeri arrived carrying two cups of coffee and sighed deeply as she sat down.
“Yeoul. Should I change my name?”
“Why suddenly your name?”
“You know that older girl I know named Hyeri?”
Yeoul had heard about her a few times. A daughter of her mom’s friend, and she had the exact same full name—Kang Hyeri.
Gorgeous enough to get scouted by entertainment agencies, smart enough to never miss a scholarship even in med school. She was now working at a university hospital.
“She’s getting married soon. It was a blind date, and the guy’s apparently a successful businessman.”
That alone explained why Hyeri was suddenly talking about changing her name.
“I can’t believe two people with the same name can live such different lives. Maybe all the good luck for people named Hyeri went to her.”
Still slumped over the table, Hyeri pulled out her phone.
“What are you doing?”
“Looking up how to apply for a name change.”
She peered closely at the small screen and soon frowned.
“Ugh, why is this so complicated?”
“It’s not that bad. You can do it online these days.”
“But they say you have to write a reason. Can I just say my life sucks and I want to change my fate?”
“You’ll just have to word it a little more nicely.”
“Oh, I see…” Hyeri nodded enthusiastically, then stared at Yeoul. “You know everything.”
“I changed my name too.”
“Wait… what? When? You changed your name?”
Hyeri’s eyes widened in shock. Yeoul sipped her coffee and replied casually.
“When I was 11. After the accident when I was 10.”
“What was your original name?”
Yeoul paused for a moment, dredging up a name she hadn’t thought of in years.
“…Yeon.”
“Yeon?”
“Yeah. It was a single-character name. Na Yeon.”
She used to think of it now and then. She had even considered using it as her pen name, but dropped the idea in case her parents ever found out.
“So you changed it because of the accident?”
“Yeah. ‘Yeoul’ is a native Korean word, but it doesn’t have the best meaning for a name. Still, it matched my fortune, apparently.”
“The accident must’ve been serious. If your parents were scared enough to change your name.”
Yeoul nodded slowly.
“It was a big one. I was in a coma for nearly a week.”
“You were in a coma?”
“Yeah. They say when I opened my eyes, everyone called it a miracle.”
She had no memory of waking up.
She vaguely remembered lying immobile in a hospital bed. The memory was dreamlike, but she clearly remembered the rehab she went through afterward.
“The really dramatic part? I have no memory of the accident. None at all.”
“Huh?”
“Not just the accident—every school vacation I’ve had is gone too.”
The accident had happened about a week into her winter break. At first, they thought she had just lost a week of memory—but that wasn’t it.
From the age of 7 onward, she couldn’t remember a single summer or winter vacation.
The doctors diagnosed her with dissociative amnesia.
“I thought it would come back eventually, but it never did. Maybe I never had a good reason to remember.”
“Wow. You’re the first person I’ve met with amnesia.”
Hyeri looked stunned.
“I didn’t realize it was that serious. You only ever said you’d been in a car accident—you never mentioned all this.”
Of course, when she returned to school after being discharged, it had been difficult.
Back then, Yeoul loved soccer. But after injuring her leg, she couldn’t run like before. And strangely, she couldn’t connect with her friends the way she used to.
Sometimes, she’d have seizures just seeing a large dog. Other times, she’d be struck with panic attacks for no clear reason.
She had continued with treatment, but what really helped her heal was the attention and support from her family.
“After I met Lee Ji-hwan, not remembering stopped being a big deal. Who cares what I did during elementary school vacations?”
“True. It’s not like all your memories are gone. But still—why only vacations?”
“No idea. Maybe because the accident happened during a break.”
She’d wondered about that once too, but never found an answer. In the end, lost memories didn’t matter much anymore.
Yeoul stood up with her cup of half-finished coffee.
“Let’s go. If we leave now, we’ll be on time.”
Watching Hyeri bounce excitedly ahead of her, Yeoul smiled faintly.
They were going to do several laps around the department store. She’d definitely need a solid lunch later.
