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Chapter 8
Ren was standing in front of the door, looking at me.
“Welcome back.”
“Have you been waiting for me this whole time?”
“Can you spare some of that precious time for me too?”
“…Tell me.”
“Let’s go outside for a moment.”
I followed Ren in the direction he walked, and we arrived at a park behind the hotel.
I had been worried that he might put me in a car and take me somewhere strange, but since it was right near the hotel, I felt relieved.
Ren sat down first on a park bench and tapped the seat beside him, inviting me to sit.
“Harin. Do you know anything about me?”
“…”
“If you don’t know me, how can you decide so firmly that I’m not the one?”
“Are we talking about the same thing again?”
“Watanabe Ren. Twenty-six years old. Height: 187 centimeters. Weight: 65 kilograms. Blood type…”
“What are you doing? Are you introducing yourself right now?”
“I wanted you to know something about me, even if it was only this way… And about that man. The one you said you were going to marry. Does he really exist?”
“Of course!”
“What’s his name?”
“…”
“It was a lie.”
“Kim Jinho.”
“How old is he?”
“Thirty.”
“What does he do?”
“He’s my coworker.”
“What company?”
“…Do I have to tell you that too?”
“So it was a lie after all…”
“No, it wasn’t! It’s Midream Pacific! Are you satisfied?”
“Fine. I’ll believe that you have a man. You haven’t actually set a wedding date yet, have you?”
“The wedding is…”
As I hesitated under the growing weight of my lies, Ren didn’t say it directly, but his expression clearly said:
So it really is a lie.
Fine.
Since I had already started lying…
I would do it properly.
I couldn’t retreat anymore after coming this far.
“The wedding is something we decided to skip. In Korea, ‘small weddings’ are popular these days. Couples think it’s better to save money instead of spending unnecessarily just to show off.”
And at this point, I needed to drive the final nail in.
I gently rubbed my stomach.
“My belly will start showing soon anyway, and it would be difficult to wear a dress.”
I added in a small voice while blushing as much as possible.
Now he would finally understand, right?
Please leave…
Seriously.
Oh right, you’re younger than me…
Let this older sister rest.
Twenty-six and twenty-nine are different when it comes to stamina.
“Are you saying you’re pregnant?”
That was the reaction I expected.
But wait…
Why was he smiling?
Unlike my expectation that his expression would change like it had that morning, Ren asked in a voice mixed with laughter, as if his feelings had completely changed over the past half day.
I was stunned by his reaction, but giving up is not something a woman like me does.
I pushed my stomach out to make it more believable.
“Yes. Even though it looks flat, there’s a life growing inside here!”
It wasn’t entirely a lie.
There was a life inside.
Mine.
“Harin, do you really think I’ll believe that? It would be better to be honest before this becomes even more embarrassing. I wouldn’t be attracted to a woman who comes to a club while pregnant.”
“But it’s still the truth.”
“I’m going crazy. What am I supposed to do with you?”
Despite his dramatic words, Ren smiled like he found me unbearably cute and took me toward the drugstore across the street.
What is he trying to do now…
Fine. Let’s go.
Even if I stubbornly refused, I was only going to exhaust myself.
As soon as we entered the drugstore, he quickly picked out something here and there, paid at the register, and handed me a large bundle.
Unbelievably…
I was holding five pregnancy test kits from different brands.
“Don’t tell me… this is what I think it is.”
“That’s exactly what it is. The bathroom is…”
“Are you seriously crazy? I’m leaving!”
Suddenly—
Smack.
Holding my face gently with both hands, he gave me a light bird kiss on the lips.
I stared at him with wide, shocked eyes.
You…
What did you just do to me?
When I stayed frozen…
“Was that not enough?”
“…Did you just…?”
“Yes, I kissed you. Are you really pregnant?”
“Yes, I told you I am…”
Kiss. Kiss. Kiss.
Ren’s lips kept coming close and pulling away repeatedly.
“If you keep lying, I’ll continue. Just so you know, from now on I’m going to make them longer. What are you going to do?”
“Where are you going tomorrow?”
Ren asked while sitting on the park bench, his lips pressed against my hand.
His breath traveled directly across the back of my hand.
I didn’t know how my lie being exposed had somehow turned into “let’s date” mode.
Ren wouldn’t take his lips away from my hand, like a baby sucking on a pacifier.
“My hand is getting sweaty. Let go.”
“Then can my lips go somewhere else?”
There was no way I could misunderstand what he meant.
The way he stared only at my lips was painfully obvious.
“Just stay like this.”
Today, this man was impossible to defeat.
He was acting like he had made up his mind about something.
“But… aren’t you going?”
“Why? Are you tired, Harin?”
“Yes, extremely. I’m freezing and I’m so sleepy I could die. So let’s go.”
“Should I get a room? Then I can stay with Harin longer.”
“Sometimes parks are nice too. When else would I get the chance to stay somewhere this cold, this empty, and with nothing to see until this late?”
“Okay. If Harin likes it, then I like it too.”
Seriously.
To endure sitting completely still for an hour…
What a stubborn man.
Whether he got a room or not, I couldn’t endure the cold anymore.
“Ren… can’t Ren go home now?”
I deliberately emphasized “Ren” and “home.”
It was something impossible for the bold me from earlier to do…
But I was practically begging a man who looked like he had no intention of going home.
“What time will I see you tomorrow?”
That meant he wouldn’t leave unless I agreed.
Sigh…
Fine.
I lost.
“Jinkyung!”
Hearing my unusual voice, Jinkyung rushed out with a facial mask on her face.
“Why? What’s wrong, Harin?”
“Sorry I’m late. I really wanted to see you! I thought I wouldn’t get to see you today…”
“What are you talking about? You were just sorry for coming late? I thought something happened. But… I think I might have to apologize to you tomorrow too.”
“Tomorrow? Why?”
“Well… actually, I contacted Ryosuke. You know, the person who helped me at the club yesterday? We got connected through SNS. So… would it be okay if I had lunch with Ryosuke tomorrow?”
After barely escaping from Ren and returning to our accommodation, my friend announced that she would abandon me tomorrow and go meet her new interest.
I felt a little disappointed, but since I had also left Jinkyung alone today, I decided to happily let her go.
“Oh, Song Jinkyung! Is tomorrow a date? Good luck!”
“Eating one meal together doesn’t make it a date…”
Despite her words, the raised corners of Jinkyung’s lips gave her away.
Then should I have lunch with Jihyun unnie tomorrow?
Since it was late, instead of calling my sister, I sent her a message through SNS.
Before going to sleep, I started another important task.
‘I should at least know how much I spent and how much I have left, right?’
If I spent carelessly, I would regret it when I returned to Korea.
So I took out the receipts and notebook I had collected in my bag over the past two days.
Even though I had tried to save money, when I counted the remaining yen, it felt like my money had grown legs and run away.
“Ah… leaving home really makes money disappear like water leaking out.”
Fortunately—or unfortunately—the only day left to properly enjoy the trip was tomorrow.
We had to leave for the airport the morning after.
Tomorrow I would meet my sister for lunch, reunite with Jinkyung, and spend the remaining day properly!
Ah! Ren…
What should I do about that man?
Ren had asked me to bring Jinkyung along so we could eat breakfast together, but there was no way I was going to force myself through such an uncomfortable meal.
Besides, if I met him in the morning, he wasn’t the type of person who would just eat breakfast and leave.
Ren was the type of person who would stay by my side all day.
I couldn’t meet someone like that from the morning!
Never!
Absolutely not.
Right.
I would avoid him as much as possible.
After tomorrow, I would return to Korea.
What could Ren do then?
I clearly rejected him, but he was the one forcing his feelings on me…
The bad person was Ren.
Whenever I met Ren, I felt uncomfortable and nervous.
My instincts were clearly telling me that I would get hurt.
They were screaming that he was dangerous, that I should avoid him, that I should run away.
But Ren kept approaching me.
He kept appearing.
After seeing him today, I realized he was completely self-centered and a little crazy.
Still…
Who brings pregnancy tests into a situation like that?
And who dares to kiss my lips without permission?
Tomorrow, I would wake Jinkyung up at dawn and leave.
I set the alarm to the loudest and most annoying sound possible before going to sleep.
“…Kyung! Jinkyung!”
Finally, Jinkyung opened her sleepy eyes.
“Jinkyung, let’s leave early today. There’s a famous market near the sea. It’s a place that’s best visited early in the morning! How about fresh seafood for breakfast?”
“Hmm… market? Seafood… five more minutes.”
“No, Jinkyung, wake up! We have to go! We absolutely have to leave right now!”
“Ah… do we really have to go now?”
“Yes. We really do.”
Hearing my desperate voice, Jinkyung let out a deep sigh, then suddenly got up and finished getting ready in fifteen minutes.
The efficiency of a fourth-year office worker was truly different.
Just before leaving the hotel room, I checked the time.
It was 5:50 a.m.
I had set my limit at 6:00 because I was worried Ren might come early.
I had barely made it.
Just in case, I looked around while walking through the hotel hallway, carefully took the elevator, took a deep breath, then quickly passed through the lobby and escaped the hotel.
It was practically a secret agent mission.
At this point, I could probably relax about Ren, right?
“Harin, who have you been looking for this whole time?”
“No, I was just worried we were going the right way. It’s my first time going there too… haha.”
I had forced my friend awake at dawn to go to a market that wasn’t even in our plans.
I had even made excuses while forcing a fake laugh.
I didn’t know what I was doing.
But I couldn’t exactly tell her everything about Ren.
Especially because of that damn Jinho!
It was already embarrassing enough that I had suffered because of him.
If I told Jinkyung that another strange man like Ren was chasing after me, she might think there was something wrong with me—that I was the kind of woman who only attracted men like that.
Maybe it was just strange pride between female friends…
But I wanted to protect that last bit of pride.
After riding the train for over an hour, Jinkyung and I entered the restaurant with the longest waiting line at the market.
Following the owner’s recommendation, we decided to have “sea bowl” for breakfast.
I wondered how amazing it had to be to proudly put “sea” in the name of a dish.
The price was just as impressive as my expectations.
‘Yes! This is why I worked and earned money!’
For once, I decided to put my frugal mindset aside.
Before I knew it, the bottom of the completely empty bowl was revealed.
I learned something today.
The human stomach must be called a stomach because it is truly great.
There had definitely been a mountain of seafood and sashimi piled on top.
When did I eat all of it?
The fresh sashimi melted in my mouth the moment it touched my tongue.
It disappeared in an instant.
Coming to the market had started with the impure motive of avoiding Ren from early morning.
But when it came to taste, it had been an excellent choice.
While looking around, quite a lot of time passed.
After seeing the refreshing sea, eating a delicious breakfast, and feeling full, Ren suddenly came to mind.
By now, he must have waited and left, right?
Well…
It was already so late.
Jinkyung left for her appointment with Ryosuke, and since I was planning to meet my sister at the hotel and leave together, I returned to the hotel.
Excited about seeing Jihyun, I hummed happily as I took the elevator to my floor.
But then—
That was…
I saw Ren.
Like a stone statue, he was sitting on the carpet in front of my room.
His knees were raised, and his head was buried between them.
I couldn’t see his face, but the tall man wearing a matching cream-colored ivory jacket and pants was definitely Ren.
No way…
Had he really been waiting all this time?
He was the kind of man who would persist until he drove someone crazy.
He should have just left if I wasn’t there…
“…Ren.”
When I called his name, he suddenly lifted his head and looked at me.
Where had I gone?
Why had I only come now?
He had waited so long.
He was happy to see me.
All those emotions were visible on his face.
Seeing that expression, I felt that maybe I had been too harsh to this person after all, despite criticizing others for lacking basic human consideration.
I was ashamed of myself.
And I felt terribly sorry toward Ren.
“Ren, I’m sorry…”
That was all I could say to this foolish man who had waited for six hours.
Ren stood up and slowly walked toward me.
Because of what I had done, I couldn’t bring myself to look at his face.
So I squeezed my eyes shut.
It was natural if he got angry.
This time, I was the one who was wrong.
I shouldn’t have made a promise in the first place.
I hadn’t intended to, but in the end, I had deceived and tricked Ren…
I prepared myself and waited for his anger.
But instead, I felt a warm embrace wrap around my body.
When I opened my eyes, Ren was hugging me.
His tall body bent down completely to hold me.
“I thought you abandoned me and went back to Korea.”
