TEW 39

chapter 39

Yeonseo looked around the room once more with wary eyes, sensing she might never be able to return to the hotel. There could be something else hidden besides the USB.

She opened the drawer of the nightstand where the broken plaster statue had been placed. Inside, dozens of brooches gleamed with a piercing brightness.

Yeonseo picked up one that caught her eye. Like the plaster statue, it was something she had seen before.

A brooch engraved with the initials “D.L.”

The words Kangjae once said came back to her.

“There were daylilies blooming outside, and she was looking at them. She told me when she first came to this house, Mother taught her about that flower. Said that when you look at it, all the hardships in the world seem to vanish….”

Daylilies—also called Day Lily.

Kangjae had said the one who taught him all of that was Geum Seon-ae. When Seogangjae had mentioned it, Seon-ae’s reaction had been unusually sentimental, unlike her usual self.

As if a tender memory she had tried hard to keep buried had suddenly been pricked by the symbol of the daylily. And if she had cared enough to teach it directly to her son, then surely it carried deep meaning.

Yeonseo speculated that the initials “D.L.” might be related to Day Lily. From what she knew, the flower had four meanings:

• Called Manguch’o (忘憂草), “the flower that makes you forget worries.”

• Called Moaecho (母愛草), symbolizing maternal instinct.

• Called Uinamcho (宜男草), believed to help a woman bear a son if she always carried it.

And finally—

“A waiting heart.”

It was only a guess, but the thought left her uneasy.

“If it means that… then what is it she’s waiting for?”

Perhaps it was because of the conversation she overheard between Seon-ae and the middle-aged man. Seon-ae had told him to think carefully about how to deal with Doheon.

The bond between Seon-ae and that man was clearly old and special. But because their path had already twisted off course, it was a relationship that could just as easily destroy everything.

She couldn’t even imagine what they might do if pressed into a corner. A heavy knot tightened in her chest.

But she had no more time to dwell on it. If she didn’t escape now, she might end up in a situation far too dangerous to handle.

Pulling her hat low, Yeonseo slipped out of the room quickly.

From the bag in her hand came an unpleasant sound—shards of the broken plaster statue clinking against one another like shrieking cries.

As she sprinted toward the emergency stairs, terror surged through her veins. She couldn’t shake the feeling that Seon-ae might be watching from somewhere, so she dared not relax for even a second.

Cold sweat soaked her body. By the time she staggered out through the lobby, the taxi waiting for her was still there.

Yeonseo shoved the bag into a trash can near the hotel entrance. There was no point in bringing it back to Myeongseonjae.

Her legs nearly buckled beneath her, but she forced herself forward, opened the taxi door, and got in. She thought a lot of time had passed, but perhaps it had only been an hour or two.

“Thank you so much… for waiting.”

She gasped for breath as she expressed her gratitude to the driver.

“Ah, I should have come out sooner. I’m sorry.”

Maybe the long wait had tired him, because the driver gave an awkward smile as he gripped the wheel.

“No need. I was just resting. At my age, even driving a little too long makes my eyes heavy….”

Her body, rigid with tension, suddenly began to tremble.

“By the way, miss, shouldn’t you really see a doctor?”
“I’m fine, I’m so sorry.”
“You look a bit anemic. It’s not malnutrition, is it? Want some water? Or gum? I’ve got snacks I carry around too—.”

When he opened a ziplock bag of snacks, she almost retched again.

She’d been fine while hiding, but the smell of food made her nausea return.

“Oh my.”

Startled by her reaction, the driver’s eyes widened.

“Um… could it be….”
“Yes?”
“Maybe I’m being nosy, but… you look about the same age as my niece, so I’m only asking because I worry….”

After hesitating, he asked:

“You’ve been to an OB-GYN, right?”
“OB-GYN…?”

It was something she had never even considered. Her voice came out faint, as though her soul had left her.

“I see a ring on your finger, so I assumed you’re married. I just thought of when I was pregnant with my second child!”

“……”

“Just the smell of food made me retch like that, but then a few months later, it all vanished. I even liked how much weight I lost—but it didn’t last! Soon I was ravenous all the time, eating like crazy! My daughter-in-law calls it craving sickness… anyway, that’s why my second was such a big baby!”

What on earth was this taxi driver saying? Yeonseo felt shocked, unable to process his words.

The word pregnant turned her vision black.

“I… I might be pregnant?”

But the possibility was real. Could that be why she had been nauseous, why she kept dozing off?

She mentally counted her cycle. She had thought stress had caused the missed periods. But it was clear now her body had changed.

“Oh dear, maybe I was being too forward? Either way, you should definitely see a doctor. In early pregnancy, you need to be careful with stairs, with what you eat, with everything.”
“…Yes.”
“In all my years driving, I’ve given rides to hundreds of pregnant women. You can feel it on them, you know? Please go, alright?”
“…Yes.”

The driver pressed her for an answer, still wearing a worried expression.

As Yeonseo dazedly nodded, the taxi slowly pulled away from the hotel.

Outside the window, the scenery kept shifting. Her tangled, chaotic thoughts pressed down on her eyelids.

If she really was pregnant… what then, with her contract marriage ending soon? She bit her nails unconsciously.

“If it’s true, your husband will be overjoyed. A pretty wife, and now a sweet baby….”

Yeonseo bowed her head low. She knew it wasn’t something to say to a stranger, but the turmoil inside her made the words slip out.

“I’m about to divorce my husband….”

The driver’s eyes widened.

“What? Why, at such a time…?”
“…It just happened that way. It wasn’t a marriage of love from the start.”

She had been repeating those words in her head for a while. Even so, just stating the facts left a bitter taste in her mouth.

“I see. Well, life is like that—things happen. But whatever comes, there’s always a way through.”

The driver sighed heavily, sounding sympathetic.

“I raised my child without a husband too, you know. Lost him young, when I was about your age. There wasn’t a job I didn’t do—restaurants, factories. It was so overwhelming when my child was little, but now, looking back, I think I lived well.”

“……”

“So take it calmly, and steel your heart! Don’t let yourself collapse. When you hold that baby, the hardships will fade.”
“…Yes.”

If she really was pregnant, would it be easier if she faced it calmly, as the driver said? If it was truly Doheon’s child, should she tell him—or keep it to herself?

Nothing was easy to decide.

Meanwhile, the nausea persisted, and her eyes filled with tears.

Better to just sleep. She closed her eyes, trying to shut out the painful sensation rising in her throat.

“Goodness, you really don’t look well. Shouldn’t you go to the hospital right now?”
“Yes, but…”
“How about visiting an OB-GYN right away? There’s a famous one in Seongnam that people praise.”

His voice was gentle with persuasion. Yeonseo thought it over, then spoke.

“Then… could you take me there, please?”
“Of course! My instincts are never wrong. I’ll take you straight there.”
“Thank you.”
“Ahem.”

The driver cleared his throat oddly. Something felt unnatural, but Yeonseo told herself it was only her exhaustion making her suspicious.

He dropped her off at the OB-GYN clinic in Seongnam and disappeared without a word.

After arriving, Yeonseo registered at the reception desk. Following the nurse’s instructions, she measured her height, weight, and blood pressure, then sat on a bench in the corridor.

“I thought this was supposed to be a famous clinic….”

But the building looked old, inside and out. Stranger still—it was almost completely empty.