Episode 6
Tae-jung grabbed the certificate of registration, slipped it into an envelope, and stood up. Looking at Ji-won, who was sitting with a blank expression, he spoke.
“Let’s have dinner together.”
“Dinner?”
“You don’t eat?”
“……”
“You can at least have one meal with me, can’t you?”
Right next to the office was a traditional market.
Ji-won took Tae-jung to a small restaurant that served rice soup (gukbap). As soon as they entered, the friendly-faced restaurant owner greeted her warmly.
“Oh my, our lawyer! Why haven’t you been around lately?”
“Iāve had a lot on my mind recently.”
“Have you been very busy?”
“Why? Did something happen?”
Sensing the restaurant owner had something to say, Ji-won perked up her ears.
“My younger sisterās having a bit of a problem. You remember her, right? She helped out at the shop for a while.”
“Oh! I remember. The woman with the short, permed hair!”
“Wow, such a good memory. Anyway, she wouldn’t tell me what’s going on but asked if she could come see you.”
“Sheās welcome anytime. You still have my business card, right?”
“I do, but…”
“Just tell her to come. But in exchange, todayās soup is on the house, right?”
“Of course! Iāll even give you extra meat.”
As the restaurant owner went into the kitchen, Ji-won and Tae-jung sat at an empty table.
It was still before dinnertime, so they were the only customers.
“You accept legal fees in soup?”
“Yes.”
“That explains why you can’t pay your rent on time.”
“This is how people help each other out when times are tough.”
“If you help out two more times like this, youāll be bankrupt.”
“Even if I go bankrupt, Iāll still pay your rent, Mr. Moon, so donāt worry.”
“I’m not worried about that part. Iāll make sure to collect every last cent.”
Tae-jung smiled as he handed her a spoon.
When she took the spoon from him, Ji-won shuddered slightly.
“Geez, youāre scarier than a loan shark.”
“You’re not scared at all. No need to pretend.”
“ā¦Anyway, why did you buy that building?”
“Why do you think?”
“Don’t tell me you’re planning to demolish it and build something new?”
Ji-won looked uneasy.
Her office was in an old three-story building, but it was in a prime locationāright next to a busy market with a subway station just five minutes away on foot.
Tearing it down to build a new one, opening a cafe on the ground floor, and leasing the upper floors to clinics or offices would be ideal for any landlord. Or maybe he was planning a larger redevelopment of the entire area?
Since Tae-jung was an executive at Seonil Construction, the latter seemed more likely.
“I have no plans to rebuild it.”
“Then why?”
Just as Tae-jung was about to answer, the rice soup arrived.
The owner placed two steaming bowls generously topped with meat in front of them, looking between Ji-won and Tae-jung.
“Is this your boyfriend, lawyer?”
“Yes.”
Before Ji-won could deny it, Tae-jung answered first. Ignoring her startled expression, he continued with a calm face.
“We havenāt been dating long. But weāve known each other a long time.”
“Oh, they say couples who were like siblings before dating tend to have the happiest marriages. Is he also a lawyer?”
“I work for a company.”
“Really? Youāre so handsome, I thought you were an actor. You look familiar somehow. Anyway, whyād you pretend not to have a boyfriend when heās this good-looking?”
“Ji-won is in the middle of breaking up with me. She says she doesnāt like me anymore.”
Ji-won lightly kicked Tae-jung under the table to shut him up. Though it wasnāt a hard kick, Tae-jung frowned exaggeratedly.
“Sounds like you two are having a loverās quarrel. Whatever the problem is, talk it out over some hot soup.”
After the owner left, Ji-won growled in a low voice.
“Why the hell did you say that?”
“Because itās true.”
“Youāre my boyfriend now?”
“Then am I your girlfriend?”
“Wowā¦ you really know how to shut someone up.”
“If youāre out of things to say, just eat. It’s getting cold.”
Tae-jung took off his suit jacket, rolled up his shirt sleeves, and began eating.
Ji-won had expected him to find this kind of food beneath himāsomeone so used to fine diningābut he devoured it like it was the best thing in the world. Watching him eat so heartily made her nearly gasp in admiration.
The old, narrow diner suddenly felt like a set from a movie.
If I could sit down like this and eat with a man like him every day… maybe that wouldn’t be so bad…
Snap out of it, Dong Ji-won.
For a moment, sheād been so dazzled by his looks that she imagined what it would be like to marry him.
Startled by her own thoughts, she quickly drank a glass of water.
After that, she couldnāt even remember whether the soup went into her mouth or her nose.
After they left the restaurant, Ji-won said goodbye.
“Well then, take care.”
“Arenāt you going back to the office?”
“Yeah, I am.”
“I’m headed that way too.”
“Why?”
“I parked my car there. Letās go together.”
I shouldāve said I was going straight home.
She couldnāt think of a good excuse to refuse, so Ji-won walked beside Tae-jung. Despite walking faster than usual, the short distance to the office felt several times longer than normal.
She was nervous he might bring up marriage againāsomething ridiculous he often said whenever he opened his mouth.
When they finally reached the office, Ji-won pointed at his neatly parked car.
“You can go now.”
Tae-jungās gaze, as he looked at her face while she tried to indirectly urge him to leave, suddenly felt unnervingly intense.
Was he going to bring up marriage again?
Tae-jung suddenly stepped forward, closing the distance between them.
“You really donāt remember who I am?”
“What… what do you mean?”
“I recognized you as soon as I saw your picture.”
Ji-won looked at him like he was crazy, unsure what he was talking about.
Tae-jung ran a hand through his hair and suddenly pulled something from the inside pocket of his jacket. When she saw the glossy, laminated paper, Ji-won froze.
Colorful hearts and crooked handwritingāshe knew it instantly. Of course she did. She had made it when she was a child.
[Wish Coupon]
Below the words promising to grant any wish was the English name she used as a child.
Tae-jung placed the coupon in her palm.
“I’m using this now.”
“ā¦ā¦.”
“Letās get married.”
“Why do you have this?”
“Because you gave it to me.”
“I did?”
Ji-won frowned.
She had only given those coupons to three people.
Her mother, her professor, and…
A Korean kid she went to school with in the Statesāsomeone she had even dated. Though the shock of being disowned had erased his face from her memory, his name remained crystal clear.
Could it really be Moon Tae-jung?
“ā¦ā¦Aiden?”
“Now you remember.”
“How could you possibly be Aiden…?”
Of course he could.
“You really forgot about me?”
“Wellā¦”
Ji-won hesitated. She couldnāt tell him she’d been disowned. She had always said her parents passed away when asked.
She had even told Tae-jung that.
She couldnāt suddenly explain that trauma from being disowned had erased most of her childhood memories. After a moment of internal debate, she smiled and said,
“I was so young then. It didnāt come back to me right away. Iām really sorry.”
“Thatās disappointing.”
Tae-jung looked genuinely hurt.
Of course he would. They had been close, like siblings. In a neighborhood where there were almost no other Koreans, he had been her only Korean friend.
They were inseparable for two years. How could he not be hurt by the fact that she didnāt recognize him?
But Ji-won still couldnāt confess everything. Her mother might be harmed if the truth came out.
“After my parents passed away, the trauma made a lot of my childhood memories fuzzy.”
“Ah, I see.”
Tae-jung furrowed his brow.
Did he suspect she was lying? Ji-won tensed up. Thankfully, she remembered that her adoptive father, Professor Cha Young-kyunāwho had been appearing in the media frequently latelyāhad never met Tae-jung.
She was relieved.
She didnāt want the man she once liked to know her darkest secrets.
“Anyway, now you understand, right?”
“ā¦Understand what?”
“Why I want to marry you.”
Tae-jungās lips curved into a soft smile.
