TDR 01

1.

It was a strange day.

Looking back on it now, it was almost amazing that she hadn’t noticed how strange it was.

It all started with an unannounced visit from the department store’s VIP dedicated team.

“The personal shopper from A Department Store delivered it in person.”

Chief Kim’s voice, as she relayed the purpose of their visit, seemed oddly excited, prompting Seo-yeong to put down the book she was reading.

“For me?”

“Yes. She was all smiles. I offered her a cup of tea, but she said she’d pay her respects next time.”

“It’s a long way until Christmas.”

Seoyoung muttered blankly.

Chief Kim, who on any other day would have teased Seoyoung to come to her senses, silently opened the box in front of her.

They were shoes. And not just any shoes – a pair of exceptionally pretty red ones.

Neatly nestled within the ebony-like velvet were red flat shoes, featuring the soft curves unique to brand P, each adorned with a dainty ribbon at the tip.

“They sent such a girlish pair of shoes?”

Despite her muttering, Seoyoung’s fingertips cautiously traced the shoes. The flawless, clear enamel sparkled like glass slippers.

“It was approved by the Representative’s Secretary’s Office.”

Chief Kim’s voice rose ever so slightly. Seoyoung’s hand, which had been stroking the shoe, stopped mid-air.

Only then did Seoyoung realize why Chief Kim had been so excited. And why the personal shopper who delivered the shoes had been in such a good mood.

That wasn’t all. Beyond the latticed door of Yeonhae-dang’s reception room – its traditional paper replaced with translucent glass – multiple shadows flickered. They were undoubtedly colleagues pushing each other, urging one another to enter first.

“So Representative Han Seo-ha is capable of things like this, after all.”

Even as she feigned nonchalance, trying to act sophisticated, this was a first. Her heart pounded, and the corners of her mouth betrayed her with a slight upward twitch. Seoyoung looked down at the shoes once more.

“But… his taste is something else.”

Such toy-like shoes.

If anyone else had sent them, they would have been destined for a thank-you card, then to take up space somewhere in the dressing room before eventually being donated. But these were from Han Seo-ha.

No, rather.

It was so like him, a man who seemed forever oblivious to the world of women’s shoes, she thought, smiling faintly.

He probably felt sorry too.

A week ago was her mother’s memorial day.

Han Seo-ha, who had at least stood in his black suit before the memorial table every year, hadn’t attended this time. Tired of waiting for him, Seoyoung and the people of Yeonhae-dang hadn’t lit the memorial candles until after 11 p.m.

I wonder if mother, too, helplessly stared at the chrysanthemums on the table like I did.

Lost in thought for a moment, Seoyoung’s gaze drifted back down to the shoes.

Was he apologizing? In this way?

Seoyoung pictured Han Seo-ha’s face, a face she could now easily conjure. The face of her husband – handsome but cold, yet with a smile as warm as sunlight.

“Right. There are still two left anyway.”

Chief Kim looked at Seoyoung as if she were talking nonsense again, but Seoyoung just smiled faintly once more.

Seeing Seoyoung, who had been downcast for the past few days, smile, both Chief Kim and the Yeonhae-dang staff who had been watching her from a distance, let out sighs of relief.

“Shall we try them on?”

Chief Kim glanced at Seoyoung’s expression and asked carefully. Even at a glance, these shoes weren’t Seoyoung’s style. Well, that wasn’t entirely true. There was a time Seoyoung had enjoyed wearing shoes like this.

Back when she was younger, when she would laugh brightly at small things and flit about like a bird.

For a moment, the image of Seoyoung from her radiant days flashed before Chief Kim’s eyes, making them sting.

Now.

Of course, Seoyoung now was beautiful too. With her striking looks inherited from her mother, her elegant figure honed by ballet, and the aristocratic aura she exuded, she was more than just outstanding. Shortly after the marriage, at various gatherings she was invited to, she was often mistaken for an actress or a model. For a while, rumors circulated that the only son of S Company had married a celebrity.

But to Chief Kim’s eyes, more than the Seoyoung standing under brilliant lights, draped in luxury dresses and jewels as the young madam, she missed the Seoyoung who ran around Cambridge in torn jeans and a paint-splattered t-shirt, carrying a backpack as big as herself.

And…

Although others might not, Chief Kim, who had cared for Seoyoung since she was a child, could sense it. That somewhere inside, Seoyoung was quietly withering away, bit by bit.

Chief Kim knew that although she had grieved when her mother, CEO Kim Ji-eum, passed away, she hadn’t broken. But now, she was beginning to falter, little by little.

That was probably why this shoe box was more welcome than anything else.

‘Right. The Representative chose them, so he can’t be that clueless.’

Unaware that Chief Kim was inwardly mocking her husband, Seoyoung, with a much brighter face, took out the shoes and walked barefoot toward the mirror, stepping lightly as if dancing.

Our madam, how can her feet be so small and pretty?

As Chief Kim watched from a distance, like admiring a painting, Seoyoung’s small foot slip into the red shoe, Seoyoung turned around, still wearing them.

“They’re a bit big.”

“That can’t be.”

Chief Kim hurried over to check the shoe size. There was no way the shoes sent by the dedicated team could be wrong. The personal shopper team had not just her shoe size, but also the width of her feet and the height of her instep on file.

“It’s okay.”

It wasn’t really okay, but Seoyoung readily nodded. They were shoes she probably wouldn’t wear anyway; she could just keep them as a memento. That’s what she thought.

And just then, as if on cue, Chief Kim’s phone rang. It was the Representative’s Secretary’s Office.

“Please confirm the location one more time via text message.”

Ending the call with a voice now trembling with excitement, Chief Kim beamed at Seoyoung and waved her phone.

“Seven o’clock tonight. You’re to go to Le Garden at Yeongjin Hotel.”

At Chief Kim’s elated words, Seoyoung’s cheeks flushed in response. Feeling the heat rush to her face, she covered her cheeks with her hands.

First a gift, and now a dinner invitation.

And to Le Garden, of all places.

It was April now. The roses in the greenhouse at Le Garden would be in full bloom. The dessert room, set amidst roses that florists had carefully cultivated since winter, each bloom matched for species and shape, was every girl’s dream.

Though Seoyoung was no longer a girl, the memory of visiting Le Garden with her mother-in-law Yu-jeong five years ago was still vivid. The roses were brilliant, and the strawberry sorbet with mint leaves that Yu-jeong specially ordered was refreshingly tangy. The bouquet of roses the hotel manager had given her on the way home was so fragrant.

Of course, Han Seo-ha hadn’t come that day either. How angry Yu-jeong had been, constantly cursing her son who wouldn’t even answer his phone.

Was he remembering that guilt too?

Le Garden, the red shoes, and Han Seo-ha.

It must have been because she was too excited by the unexpected gift and invitation. Seoyeong forgot the fact that these three things were strangely incongruous.

She wasn’t alone.

Neither Chief Kim, who had begun to hope that spring might finally be arriving for this cold couple, nor the Yeonhae-dang staff, overjoyed that the madam had finally received a date invitation from the Representative, found anything strange.

Anyway, a few hours later. Seoyeong wore a pink tweed dress she usually hated because it made her look young, and the red shoes Han Seo-ha had sent. Chief Kim snatched the black clutch Seoyeong had taken out as usual, and handed her a palm-sized tote bag adorned with fluffy white fur pompoms, completing the special day’s outfit.

Pushed in front of the mirror, Seoyeong looked at herself.

It was just like that day.

The day she went to meet Han Seo-ha again after twelve years, the day she was still a girl.

Smiling shyly as she did that day, Seoyeong spun around once in front of the mirror, and the Yeonhae-dang staff clapped.

Thus, Seoyeong, warmly seen off by the Yeonhae-dang staff and Chief Kim, got into the car. From behind, someone muttered a tactless wish that she’d just go ahead and make a baby too, but Chief Kim pretended not to hear. Truth be told, she felt the same way.

Chief Kim sincerely hoped that this little lady, cherished and raised like a jewel by so many since childhood, would wither no more.