This chapter is brought to you by anubisscans. More updates on our website.
Support us by reading at anubisscans.com.

Episode 14

* * *

Because his business trip to Busan ran longer than expected and he pushed his flight schedule back by an hour, Jooheon arrived at Dain Art Center later than the appointment time.

⟨Festival of Light⟩.

He heard it was an event that had been running for four years already, but this was his first time attending.

If things had gone as originally planned, he was supposed to reunite with Lee Eunjo here.

He thought that if he had returned to this world and had to set foot in the same waters as Eunjo, then this would be a clean reunion.

Eight years since they parted.

Thinking he would show up before the married Eunjo with a woman who was quite decent as well, he had even gone on a fair number of blind dates.

It felt like it would be a place to confirm what kind of future their mismatched fate had drawn, so he had put a great deal of care into it.

But she died.

With a bitter smile, Jooheon lightly tugged his suit lapels and stepped into the exhibition hall.

When he presented his invitation at the entrance, a man in a black suit hurried over to check it.

“I’ll call a helper for you.”

Then he immediately picked up a walkie-talkie.

“No. It’s fine.”

Slowly shifting his gaze around, Jooheon went inside without waiting.

He had an appointment with Kim Sohye.

Since he’d made the prickly old woman wait a full hour, he would have to be prepared to hear a complaint or two.

He’d received a text thirty minutes ago telling him to come to the special exhibition room, so he started walking there.

As he walked down the long corridor of the art center, familiar paintings caught his eye here and there. They were Eunjo’s paintings, printed small on the special exhibition room signboard.

Hah….

A sigh-like laugh split his lips.

⟨Flowers and Butterflies⟩.

He watched Eunjo paint it from beginning to end.

Did the lowly Lee Eunjo become a flower, or a butterfly?

His neck, pressed by his tie, felt tight, and Jooheon had to swallow dryly.

“Old hag, did you call me there on purpose?”

Looking at the special exhibition room drawing closer, Jooheon let out a hollow laugh and paused for a moment. Because he could see Kim Sohye through the glass wall.

More precisely, his gaze stuck on the woman beside Kim Sohye, looking at Eunjo’s painting.

At first, he was startled. Because her profile as she looked up at the painting reminded him of Eunjo.

The wistfully lowered eyelids, the habit of biting her lower lip now and then, the way she nodded earnestly when someone spoke, the light footsteps that made no sound.

The straightened back and the two hands politely clasped in front of her waist.

Even the way she lifted a hand to cover her lips when she smiled.

Annoyance surged up.

Who the hell was she to imitate the deceased like that?

Then, when he realized it was Na Eunjo, he felt even more absurd.

Now that he looked, it seemed he hadn’t recognized her because her hair color had changed. She had dyed her hair—once so yellow it was vulgar—into a normal color.

And what about her clothes?

Na Eunjo was a woman who liked standing out and despised being ordinary.

Usually she was a hippie or a rocker; at parties, a gypsy or a belly dancer. Honestly, the sight of her naked was more normal.

Because of her unpredictable way of speaking and behavior, just being with her always amplified anxiety.

Aside from her name, she was a woman he could never bring himself to care about.

‘And yet I mistake that Na Eunjo for Lee Eunjo? Does that make any sense?’

Jooheon’s steps quickened.

Just as he strode up and was about to speak to the two of them, he heard Na Eunjo’s voice.

“I like them.”

Her clear voice, holding a faint flutter, rang out.

To that Na Eunjo, Kim Sohye asked warmly.

“Drawing? Or looking?”

“Both.”

Even the way she smiled, folding the corners of her eyes prettily, was a sight.

What on earth is this woman after?

Did she know from the start that he was connected to Lee Eunjo?

Did she approach using Eunjo’s name as a pretext?

For what? What does she gain by doing that?

No—does Na Eunjo even truly know Lee Eunjo?

Why is she suddenly hovering around Lee Eunjo, acting as if she’s become a different person?

“How unexpected—Na Eunjo likes paintings.”

Jooheon’s voice rang heavily through the exhibition room.

He could have revealed his displeasure and chased her off outright, but he didn’t. Because he wanted to know what her purpose was, and how she was connected to Lee Eunjo.

At his sudden appearance, both Na Eunjo and Kim Sohye seemed startled, their eyes widening.

Unlike Na Eunjo, who couldn’t even close her lips in sheer fluster, Kim Sohye quickly regained her composure and frowned.

“You’re late.”

“I’m sorry I’m late.”

A fist dried like an old tree tapped his chest—thunk.

It was a bit rough, but it was Kim Sohye’s way of showing affection. Then she gestured lightly toward Eunjo.

“Do you know each other?”

The old woman’s gaze, showing her emotions plainly, looked between the two with mild curiosity.

Did she like this suspicious woman that much?

“Yes. A little.”

Jooheon’s black eyes held Eunjo coldly for a moment, then emptied. It wasn’t overt, but anyone could tell it wasn’t a fond gaze.

Kim Sohye quickly erased her curiosity.

“Let’s go. Miss Eunjo recommended the ⟨Flowers and Butterflies⟩ Inside exhibition.”

Kim Sohye, who moved first, looked back at Eunjo.

“Miss Na Eunjo?”

Eunjo, who had frozen stiff the moment Jooheon appeared and couldn’t say a word, moistened her lips—dried by tension—with the tip of her tongue and stepped forward.

“Yes, Chairwoman.”

“Give the remaining microphone to this fellow.”

It had been planned from the start.

“I’m meeting someone here, and if you’re okay with it, I’d like Miss Eunjo to take care of that person too. I need to go around with him together.”

“Yes, I will.”

That was why she had waited until now.

“The friend I said I was waiting for is CEO Park Jooheon.”

But to think it would be Jooheon.

“Yes.”

Eunjo, forcing herself to hide her awkward gaze, nodded with a slightly flushed face.

“Then excuse me.”

Taking the microphone out of her pocket, Eunjo carefully approached Jooheon and clipped it onto his lapel.

“If you need anything, please tell me. Within a 20-meter radius, I’ll be listening.”

When she stepped back without daring to lift her head, Jooheon nodded with an indifferent face.

Eunjo followed the two of them from a few steps behind like that.

“Have you looked at the paintings?”

“I mostly looked at Painter Lee Eunjo’s works. Maybe because the name is the same, my helper here is quite the Lee Eunjo expert.”

Walking ahead, Kim Sohye smiled in satisfaction and looked back. Then Jooheon’s gaze also lingered on Eunjo along with it. The eyes that met hers in passing were terribly cold.

“Did you see Ms. Lee Eunjo’s works?”

Walking alongside, turning her gaze back to Kim Sohye, Jooheon’s voice was gentle.

It was a kindness that was impossible to imagine from the eyes he gave Na Eunjo. And it was also the Jooheon she had originally known.

“Earlier, that was the special exhibition hall for that artist, wasn’t it? Miss Eunjo picked out a few works for me, so I’m thinking of buying those.”

“You asked me to recommend something, too.”

“Forget it. I already got a recommendation, and I like it very much. Very much.”

“Chairwoman, you’ve been completely won over—not like you.”

“Is that something to say? That’s all because you came late. And the reason I asked you to see me isn’t because of paintings. I asked my granddaughter-in-law, and I picked out one very proper young lady, and….”

Their conversation kept flowing into Eunjo’s ears through the microphone.

Evaluations about her, evaluations about her paintings, evaluations about the exhibition. And between those stories, Jooheon’s personal stories slipped out.

That after returning to Korea, he’d gone on fourteen blind dates, and yet he still hadn’t found a lady he liked. Things like that.

And that it was time he married and settled down.

Park Jooheon’s marriage….

Now it had nothing to do with Eunjo at all, and yet her mouth tasted bitter.

“Turn off the microphone before you talk.”

Jooheon and she were, eight years ago, people who briefly shared their hearts.

Nothing more, nothing less.

That time remains as a special memory somewhere in her heart, but that’s all.

Especially now, isn’t even that meaningless?

Because she died.

So why does her heart ache like this…? She truly didn’t know.