🔊 TTS Settings
Chapter 7
Bright sunlight poured down from the sky from early in the morning.
It was such a beautiful day that it made my worries about the weather ruining our short trip seem pointless.
With the travel motto of “Local food instead of hotel room service!” Jinkyung and I had made a list of famous restaurants and were about to leave the hotel on empty stomachs when I saw a familiar face.
A man wearing a loose beige cotton shirt with a deep neckline that exposed his collarbone, paired with skinny light-blue jeans.
The man I had met yesterday.
Ren.
He was the kind of person who could pick up rags from the street and somehow make them look like designer clothes.
The stranger thing was…
Among all the people in the hotel lobby, I recognized him immediately.
Or maybe I just knew.
He knew exactly how he appeared to others, and what angles and poses made him stand out and look more impressive.
“Harin!”
As if he had been waiting for me, Ren approached and naturally took my hand.
I was startled by the way he grabbed my hand so casually, and Jinkyung stared at me with a shocked expression, as if asking when we had become that close.
No! It wasn’t like that!
I looked at Jinkyung with frustration, but she had already moved away to the sofa near the front desk, thinking she was being considerate.
“What are you doing? Let go of my hand.”
“Harin. I don’t know why you’re angry, but please calm down. I want to make you happy. I don’t want to upset you.”
“Excuse me… Everything you’re doing right now is making me angry, you know? And you were waiting for me here, weren’t you? Maybe I’ve developed some serious delusions and you just happened to be here because you had business too. By complete coincidence… a very complete coincidence… we ran into each other at this hotel, and I’m just misunderstanding that you were waiting for me, right? How did you even know I was staying here? What exactly are you?”
It was as if another version of myself had appeared inside me.
I fired questions at him like a machine gun.
Even I wondered where this bold side of me had come from.
“I was just worried whether you got back safely… I followed you when you left the club because I was worried the others might cause trouble. I didn’t feel comfortable letting two women go back alone. I’m sorry if it made you uncomfortable. I didn’t expect you to get this angry.”
When I heard his explanation, everything he said was reasonable.
Even gentlemanly.
…Then what did that make me?
But…
This hand.
The way he was holding my hand as if it belonged to him…
I needed to make things clear.
“If I spoke too harshly, I apologize. But I think you’re misunderstanding something. I’m not interested in you. I’ll be honest. I have eyes, so I know you’re attractive. But that’s all. I’m currently traveling, and I want to enjoy this precious vacation. But you appeared and you’re interfering with it. Look! Because of you, my friend is wasting this valuable time alone over there. I’m the same. Thank you for thinking well of me. I’ll remember you as a kind Japanese person. So please go back now… okay?”
Without hesitation, I pulled my hand away from his.
Ren lowered his gaze.
Usually, because he was taller than me, he naturally looked down when looking at me.
But this time, it felt different.
Then, the man who had been silently lowering his eyes suddenly raised them and looked directly into mine.
His expression looked angry.
Or maybe hurt and frustrated.
Meeting his overwhelming gaze was difficult.
I looked away and gave him a short farewell.
“Then I’ll be going.”
I turned around to go back to Jinkyung, but he suddenly grabbed my wrist.
With one hand holding my wrist and the other gripping my shoulder, he held me firmly enough that I couldn’t move.
Having my freedom taken away in an instant, I shouted.
“What… what are you doing?”
“You… have a man? Marriage? You’re saying this was only my misunderstanding?”
This time, Ren spoke quickly, as if he was the one who had lost control.
Whoa…
I didn’t expect him to react this strongly.
He looked like someone who had just been told by his girlfriend that she had found another man and wanted to break up.
He was holding my wrist so tightly that it started aching.
“…Do you really hate me that much?”
Ren moved closer and asked.
Thump.
A sweet and refreshing scent came from him.
His fragrance stirred up my thoughts.
A dangerous warning signal went off in my head, like I might get intoxicated.
I had forgotten for a moment.
This man was not ordinary…
He was the kind of man who could instantly paralyze my common sense.
I shook my head inwardly.
This was not the time to fall for his charm, yet here I was again…
I was rejecting him, and he was clearly unable to understand.
No matter what I said, it seemed useless.
So I explained everything again to this person who had become the symbol of poor communication.
“It’s not about liking or disliking you. I’m simply not interested in you. I’ll be honest. I know you’re attractive because I have eyes. But that’s where it ends. I’m traveling right now, and I want to enjoy this precious vacation. But you appeared and you’re disturbing it. Look! Because of you, my friend is standing over there alone wasting this valuable time. I’m the same. Thank you for seeing me positively. I’ll remember you as a good Japanese person. So please go back… okay?”
I had tried this hard to calm him down.
Surely he understood now.
Ren looked calmer than before.
At the same time, he looked strangely defeated.
I felt terribly sorry even though I hadn’t done anything wrong.
But I was someone who would leave soon, and he was not someone who suited me.
“Now please go. I have somewhere to be too. Goodbye.”
At my firm words, he released my arm.
A clear red mark from his fingers remained on my wrist.
My aching wrist…
What kind of situation was this?
I watched Ren walk away with his shoulders slumped.
I felt uncomfortable, but I didn’t have time to waste anymore.
I left the hotel with Jinkyung as we had originally planned.
“Auntie!”
“Harin! You must have had a hard time getting here. Did you get lost?”
“I’ve been here before.”
Even though it had been a long time, how could I forget this place?
This was the road I had walked countless times when I was studying abroad.
When I couldn’t find a part-time job.
When I couldn’t pay rent.
When I didn’t have money for food.
But my aunt probably didn’t know that I eventually always turned back.
My aunt ran a Korean grocery store in Kawaguchi.
Japanese supermarkets also carried similar products, but perhaps because of homesickness, Korean customers looking for products from home helped keep the store running.
My aunt offered me a chair inside the shop and prepared warm citron tea for me.
“Auntie, you’re not sick anywhere, right?”
“Don’t worry about me. What about your mother? Is your mother completely better now?”
“Yes. I was really grateful back then. Auntie.”
Worried that I might get pickpocketed, I carefully pulled out the bank envelope I had kept inside my coat and placed it on the table where the citron tea sat.
“Auntie, this is the money for my mother’s surgery that you lent us back then. I’m sorry it took so long.”
“Oh dear… I’m sorry. I couldn’t tell you not to pay me back…”
“I’m the one who’s sorry. I should have returned it sooner… You borrowed that money yourself to help us. I’m truly grateful that you even paid the interest all this time.”
Even thinking back on it, it had been a desperate situation.
My mother suddenly collapsed, and when the hospital said she needed surgery, we had no money to pay.
It happened right after that man I called my father died, and we were informed that debts we didn’t even know existed had been inherited by us.
At that time, my mother and I didn’t even have a single ten-thousand-won bill.
In the end, I borrowed the surgery money from my aunt in Japan.
After that, because I kept paying off my father’s debts, it took years to repay her.
To me, it was money I had saved without even going to a hair salon once.
But the fact that I was returning it so late made me feel embarrassed holding the envelope.
That was why I wanted to come personally and tell her how thankful I was.
“How is Jihyun unnie?”
“She’s probably preparing dinner at home right now. Since you were coming, she took ingredients yesterday because she wanted to cook Korean food after so long.”
“She didn’t have to do that because of me… Does your brother-in-law even like Korean food?”
“Hiroshi likes Korean food too. This is your first time seeing him since Jihyun got married, right? His first time meeting you too?”
“Yes. I really wanted to see them. My sister, my brother-in-law, and the children.”
I hoped my nephews would like the aunt they were meeting for the first time…
My heart was already overflowing at the thought of meeting my sister, who had now created her own family.
“Harin, this is the place. Let’s get out.”
Because I had come all this way, my aunt closed the store early and came with me to my sister’s house.
The sound of children coming from behind the front door immediately made me imagine what my nephews looked like.
“Why does that car keep going around like that?”
My aunt turned around with a puzzled voice.
Ding-dong.
“Jihyun! Open the door!”
My aunt knocked on the door and called out naturally.
Soon, two familiar faces appeared.
Above was my sister Jihyun.
Below was a little boy with bright, curious eyes wondering who I was.
“Unnie!”
“Harin! Come inside!”
Jihyun and I hugged each other happily.
The last time I saw her, she had been a young woman who loved dressing up.
But instead of her favorite rose perfume, she now carried the soft scent of baby detergent.
“This is my first troublemaker, Hikaru. This is my second stubborn one, Makoto. Harin auntie, say hello! Bow properly and greet her!”
Despite my aunt’s passionate effort to preserve their Korean identity through naming, Minwoo and Junwoo seemed much more accustomed to the names Hikaru and Makoto.
The nephews who hid shyly behind their mother’s legs because they were embarrassed to see me were unbelievably adorable.
“Hi, Hikaru. Makoto. I’m Aunt Harin.”
I held out my second finger and tried the ET-style finger greeting.
When Hikaru giggled and touched my finger, Makoto quickly copied his older brother and grabbed my hand too.
These cute little ones are my nephews…?
Just looking at them made me happy.
“Is your brother-in-law not home yet?”
“He said he’d come early because he wanted to meet you today, but I guess work delayed him.”
In the end, I didn’t get to meet my brother-in-law.
…
