Chapter 22
<Do not lie.>
Seated at my desk, we stared for quite a while at the short clause written in neat handwriting.
Of course, no matter how much we looked, the words weren’t going to change. Still, the lingering unease kept drawing our eyes back to them.
[Because I can’t fully trust what you’re doing these days.]
[There’s nothing more important than trust in a contract.]
Though an explanation followed for my silenced lips, my mouth still felt dry.
Yoonjae couldn’t possibly know what I was feeling, yet somehow my chest kept pricking with guilt.
“This isn’t a lie, though.”
How could the fact that a soul had changed be considered a lie?
And I did tell you everything.
It was Ha Yoonjae who refused to believe me.
If I had insisted further, I’d probably have been locked up in a psychiatric ward, so I kept quiet.
Besides, once the contract ended, we’d have nothing to do with each other. In such a relationship, pointless guilt was useless.
“One year will fly by.”
We folded the slip of paper holding our unease and the written clause.
Then set it atop the small locked diary and shut it.
Clack.
“Ughhh.”
With the unpleasantness pushed out of sight for now, I stretched, feeling the stiffness in my body. My stomach clock grumbled.
“Isn’t that stomach clock working a little too hard?”
Its owner did nothing but laze about, wasting away time, and yet it worked diligently.
But thinking back on all the years I had scraped and struggled, perhaps I, too, needed this kind of rest. Time to savor stillness, without having to do anything grand.
Ko Woori had always filled even the tiniest scraps of free time with something.
Guess I should grab some lunch.
Wouldn’t the landlord soon start calling me a parasite?
Thinking of that very likely future, I stepped out of the room. Mrs. Kim, who was in the middle of wiping the floor with a damp rag, greeted me.
“Mrs….”
“What would you like to eat?”
“…How did you know, ma’am?”
The moment she saw my face, she read my hunger.
Surprise and embarrassment flickered on my face, while Mrs. Kim smiled lightly.
“You always come to the kitchen around this time. I even put a stew on the stove. Just wait a little.”
Apparently, this suddenly-appearing parasite wasn’t bothersome at all, as she smiled and went into the kitchen.
Like a baby bird, I quickly trotted after her, sniffing the air. Rolling up my sleeves, I stood at the cutting board to help somehow.
“If you’re chopping the celery, I can do that.”
“It’s fine. Just sit.”
“No, really. I even learned knife skills recently.”
“I know you’re good at cooking, ma’am. You used to work a lot of part-time jobs before… Oh, my. I’ve gone off into your past.”
Realizing she had said something too personal, Mrs. Kim covered her mouth.
But I, who had unexpectedly heard something about Joo Aejeong, asked again.
“Did I… really?”
“Ah… when I first met you. While moving the luggage. That was already a few months ago. At the time, I didn’t know we’d be able to talk this easily now. Ah, I’m sorry. I shouldn’t have babbled.”
As Mrs. Kim awkwardly apologized, I shook my head.
Then, biting my dry lips before releasing them, I asked softly:
“What was I like then?”
“Pardon?”
“Just curious. Not your impression, just me.”
Though it was a question most wouldn’t ask, because of all my recent eccentricities, Mrs. Kim didn’t seem particularly surprised.
Instead, she set down her ladle, thought a moment, and then answered.
“You looked like you were giving it your all.”
“…Giving it my all?”
“You weren’t used to it, but you tried hard to adjust. You worked hard at everything. Because it was a new place.”
She had only seen me once, but the sight of me struggling so desperately was something she remembered clearly. Smiling kindly, she added:
“That’s why, seeing you now, I feel so relieved. You look so much better.”
It was definitely a compliment, yet somehow it didn’t make me happy. No—it couldn’t make me happy.
I forced a small smile.
“Please remember it.”
“Sorry? Remember what?”
“The me from back then. That Joo Aejeong must have been much kinder than I am now.”
“…Ma’am?”
“So, what should I do first?”
Ending the conversation with words no one else could truly understand, I quickly shifted the subject. Thankfully, Mrs. Kim took my words at face value.
“Then taste the stew for me.”
“Tasting is what I’m best at.”
Better than showing off my clumsy chopping skills, tasting would at least be useful.
Happily, I lifted the lid of the gently simmering stew.
Whoosh.
And what greeted me was a cloud of steam, thick with the delicious smell.
“……”
Everything went white.
I couldn’t even see what was right in front of me.
It felt exactly like my life—uncertain, directionless. The spoon I had raised lost its way.
Crack.
A vein popped at my temple.
“……”
Seeing me at the door when he returned home, Yoonjae tilted his head.
Mrs. Kim must have left already, and I was waiting at the entryway with a firm expression.
His head tilted again, sensing the headache brewing.
“And what game is this supposed to be?”
“A game? How rude.”
Frowning tightly, as though to prove my seriousness, I spread both arms wide.
“Give me surgery.”
As expected, her thoughts went further than he could anticipate. Yoonjae’s headache worsened. But since I was blocking the way, he figured he had to answer something.
“Where.”
“My eyes.”
“Don’t you already have double eyelids?”
“Oh, really? I’ve never looked that close… No! That’s not it!”
I quickly snatched off my glasses.
“This. My eyeballs.”
I thrust my face forward, and my round pupils filled Yoonjae’s view.
He flinched.
Because of my sudden closeness, he instinctively turned his head away.
Unbothered, I pointed at my eyes.
“I want LASIK. These days it only takes a day. Just an exam and straight to surgery—”
“No.”
His answer came before I even finished. I hadn’t expected it.
“W-why not?”
He wasn’t the type to mind the money, so I only needed his consent. Being flatly denied left me stunned.
My widened eyes made Yoonjae’s lips dry.
To face those eyes without glasses? Impossible. Why, he didn’t even know—but impossible.
Swallowing the reason he couldn’t say, he brushed past me.
“Wear your glasses.”
“W-what? No way! They’re a huge hassle. Morning and night, even when washing my face, and today when I tried checking the stew, the steam kept fogging them up—”
“They suit you.”
“E-excuse me?”
Fogged-up glasses suit me? What kind of nonsense was that!
I hurriedly put the glasses back on and chased after him, cutting him off again.
“Basic human rights guarantee.”
“……”
“You haven’t forgotten already, have you?”
Through the lenses, my gaze was sharp with complaint.
Complaint. An emotion you can only have when alive, when truly living. A vibrancy the original Joo Aejeong could never have possessed.
At that, he raised a hand.
‘…Huh?’
My eyes followed his slow-moving hand, and I couldn’t dodge. His fingertip brushed the arm of my glasses.
Without permission, he slid them slowly down my nose.
“What are you—”
“Stay still.”
As the glasses slid lower, my clear eyes met his again.
Even if blurred, my jewel-like eyes shone brightly, and his jaw tipped slightly upward.
These eyes are such a nuisance.
Every time, they made him feel unsettled.
Maybe surgery really would help.
Whether removing or inserting.
He was thinking about surgery.
Though the phrasing in his head was strangely suggestive, I, knowing nothing, only stared at him with bright, trusting eyes.
“……”
A spark.
Even without touching, I could feel it. His fingers had only brushed my glasses, not my skin, yet it sent a tingle shooting through me, from my stomach downward, spreading warm and sharp.
What the heck…
Ashamed at being flustered over nothing, I averted my gaze first.
The moment I turned my head, his hand dropped away from my glasses. Task done, he withdrew and said:
“Do it.”
With that brief answer, Yoonjae walked past the flimsy human barricade.
Only then did I snap back to my senses, adjusting my glasses and asking again:
“So that’s permission? I can book it right away?”
“Hong will make the appointment. Just wait.”
“Oh, really? If you do that for me, I’ll be so grateful!”
Eyes shining, I wondered if he’d even make a call tonight.
It would be far better to rely on him than to stumble around on my own.
He might even cover the hospital fees…
Scheming slyly, I tilted my head.
“But why, though?”
Why would he help me?
At the innocent question, he suddenly felt irritated. Turning coldly, he said:
“If you don’t like it, then forget it.”
“N-no! I was just asking! Not complaining—you’re just a little… petty, I mean, I was just curious!”
Worried he might actually change his mind, I scrambled to explain.
Bzzzt—
“Huh?”
My phone, which I had been absentmindedly holding, vibrated.
At the unexpected caller, I showed the screen.
<CEO Seo Hyewon.>
At the surprising name, I shrugged.
“This isn’t a date invitation, is it?”
