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?”
“I’ve 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 sister’s 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.”
“She’s welcome anytime. You still have my business card, right?”
“I do, but…”
“Just tell her to come. But in exchange, today’s soup is on the house, right?”
“Of course! I’ll 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, you’ll be bankrupt.”
“Even if I go bankrupt, I’ll still pay your rent, Mr. Moon, so don’t worry.”
“I’m not worried about that part. I’ll 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, you’re scarier than a loan shark.”
“You’re not scared at all. No need to pretend.”
“…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 location—right 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 haven’t been dating long. But we’ve 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? You’re so handsome, I thought you were an actor. You look familiar somehow. Anyway, why’d you pretend not to have a boyfriend when he’s this good-looking?”
“Ji-won is in the middle of breaking up with me. She says she doesn’t like me anymore.”
Ji-won lightly kicked Tae-jung under the table to shut him up. Though it wasn’t a hard kick, Tae-jung frowned exaggeratedly.
“Sounds like you two are having a lover’s 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 it’s true.”
“You’re my boyfriend now?”
“Then am I your girlfriend?”
“Wow… you really know how to shut someone up.”
“If you’re 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 him—someone so used to fine dining—but 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, she’d 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 couldn’t 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.”
“Aren’t you going back to the office?”
“Yeah, I am.”
“I’m headed that way too.”
“Why?”
“I parked my car there. Let’s go together.”
I should’ve said I was going straight home.
She couldn’t 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 again—something 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-jung’s 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 don’t 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 handwriting—she 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.”
“…….”
“Let’s 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 States—someone 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?
“……Aiden?”
“Now you remember.”
“How could you possibly be Aiden…?”
Of course he could.
“You really forgot about me?”
“Well…”
Ji-won hesitated. She couldn’t tell him she’d been disowned. She had always said her parents passed away when asked.
She had even told Tae-jung that.
She couldn’t 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 didn’t come back to me right away. I’m really sorry.”
“That’s 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 didn’t recognize him?
But Ji-won still couldn’t 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-kyun—who had been appearing in the media frequently lately—had never met Tae-jung.
She was relieved.
She didn’t want the man she once liked to know her darkest secrets.
“Anyway, now you understand, right?”
“…Understand what?”
“Why I want to marry you.”
Tae-jung’s lips curved into a soft smile.
