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Chapter 12
Chaeyoon’s daily routine was simple.
She woke up in the morning, did the housework, and then prepared lessons for the children. After finishing a light meal, the children who had returned from school began entering the study room one by one.
The first to arrive were the first graders who had just entered elementary school this spring.
Perhaps because they liked having a classmate from the same neighborhood, Suna and Kyungsu always came running side by side, getting along well.
“Teacher, Suna’s here!”
“Kyungsu’s here too!”
Chaeyoon, who had been out in the front yard, broke into a wide smile when she saw the children running toward her. Soon after, each child grabbed one of her hands and, without even catching their breath, began firing off questions.
“Teacher, did that handsome man from Seoul come again? Are you going on a blind date with him?”
“I’m not going on a blind date. I’m too busy for that.”
It was Kyungsu who answered Suna’s question. But Suna paid no attention to him and kept going.
“But he came yesterday too. I saw his car pass by. Why did he come? Didn’t he come again because he wants to go on a blind date with you?”
It seemed that in Suna’s mind, the idea of a “blind date” had taken on a rather romantic image.
Looking up at Chaeyoon with sparkling, expectant eyes, the child made her smile apologetically.
“He came yesterday because he left something at the villa and came to pick it up. And Suna, teacher doesn’t go on blind dates.”
“See! I told you she doesn’t! Teacher’s busy!”
Kyungsu shouted triumphantly, and Suna stuck out her lower lip. She looked disappointed, as if the romantic story she had imagined between the handsome man from Seoul and the teacher had completely fallen apart.
Smiling as if to soothe them, Chaeyoon led the children inside.
“Alright, let’s stop talking about the man from Seoul and go in for class now, okay?”
The annex was shaped like an L and divided into two spaces.
The front section was the main house where Madam Song and Chaeyoon had lived together. Beyond a bent corridor was a set of rooms that had once been used as living quarters for the villa staff.
By the time Chaeyoon had been fired from her school due to an unfortunate incident and returned home, Madam Song was the only staff member living at the villa.
After watching her granddaughter remain shut inside her room for over a month, Madam Song, filled with worry, obtained Chairman Seo’s permission and remodeled the former staff quarters.
Then she forcibly dragged her granddaughter out of her room, showed her the newly created space, and said:
“From now on, this is yours to decorate. I don’t care what you do—fill it with whatever you like.”
That didn’t mean Chaeyoon suddenly found the strength to stand up again.
She barely managed to move her unwilling body, cleaned the place, brought over her bedding from her room, and slept there instead of in her own room.
Because the space had been created by combining three rooms, it was wide enough to feel desolate. But once she pulled the blanket over her head, everything disappeared from view, making it easy for her to continue living like a recluse.
How much time passed like that?
One afternoon, with winter just around the corner, Chaeyoon heard the sound of children chattering.
At first, she thought she must have imagined it. The villa was private property, so neighborhood children weren’t allowed to come and go freely.
But as time passed, the voices didn’t fade—they grew louder.
Unable to resist her curiosity, Chaeyoon finally crawled out from under her blanket.
Standing by the window, she squinted against the unfamiliar afternoon sunlight.
In the front yard, children really were playing. Kids who looked about first or second graders were running around energetically, as if playing tag.
How strange—Grandma must have let them play here.
Since Madam Song usually forbade neighborhood children from entering the front yard, Chaeyoon watched them run around in a daze, puzzled.
From that day on, the amount of time Chaeyoon spent outside her blanket gradually increased.
At first, she only stared blankly out the window. Then one day she changed her clothes. Another day, she brushed her tangled hair.
About a month later, Chaeyoon folded away her bedding and returned to her room. She began making plans to turn the space she had stayed in into a study room.
That study room became both her workplace and a place of healing.
Only after spending time with the children was she finally able to return to everyday life. If it hadn’t been for the study room, it would have taken her much longer to overcome her grief when her grandmother passed away.
This time was no different.
From Friday evening through the weekend, Mu-hyun had suddenly barged in and disrupted her routine, but while she was with the children, Chaeyoon was able to return to her usual calm self.
“Kyungsu, there you are. Aren’t you hungry?”
The last child left that day was Kyungsu. After sending the others home and tidying up the room, Chaeyoon came outside to find him squatting in the front yard, playing with dirt.
Because of the way he was sitting, the already small-framed boy looked even more fragile today. Chaeyoon quietly approached and sat beside him.
“Do you want some milk? I have banana milk.”
“No, I’m okay.”
Kyungsu shook his head as he looked up at her, then returned to playing with the dirt. He seemed more dejected than usual, which made Chaeyoon feel sorry for him.
A few hours earlier, Kyungsu’s mother had contacted her, saying she would be late getting off work and asking Chaeyoon to look after him. Though it was sudden, the boy had accepted the news with an indifferent expression.
Last weekend, Kyungsu’s mother had insisted on leaving him with Chaeyoon, so seeing him come to the study room as usual had reassured her somewhat.
But now it seemed that his mother’s “business” wasn’t over yet.
In the end, it was the child who got hurt.
Looking at the round back of Kyungsu’s head with a heavy heart, Chaeyoon asked casually,
“Kyungsu, is school fun?”
“…It’s just okay.”
“Why? You must have made lots of friends and learned fun things.”
“It was like that at first… but now it’s kind of boring.”
“Really? What’s your favorite subject? Is there nothing fun at all?”
“No. Watching TV at home is the most fun.”
For a moment, she was at a loss for words. She never imagined such a world-weary answer coming from an energetic elementary school student.
“Um…”
As Chaeyoon searched for what to say, Kyungsu lifted his head and looked at her.
“Teacher, don’t you get mad?”
“Why would I get mad?”
“My mom hates it when I only watch TV.”
“Well, that makes sense. If you only watch TV, your eyesight can get worse and your thinking skills might decline. Of course your mom worries about you.”
“She’s not doing it because she’s worried.”
“Huh?”
“Lately, she gets annoyed no matter what I do. Even if I didn’t watch TV and read a book, she’d still get annoyed…”
As Kyungsu spoke with a sulky expression, he suddenly turned his head. Following his gaze instinctively, Chaeyoon turned as well—and saw a black sedan entering the driveway.
It was Mu-hyun’s car.
Thinking that she’d seen it so often over the past three days that she could probably memorize the license plate, Chaeyoon let out a sigh. Kyungsu tilted his head.
“Teacher, you have a guest.”
“…I guess so.”
“But why are you sighing?”
“It’s nothing.”
Smiling faintly at the child, Chaeyoon stood up as the car came to a stop in the front yard.
What was he here for this time?
It hadn’t even been a few hours since she had finally calmed her unsettled mind after he left yesterday.
Suppressing another sigh, Chaeyoon watched Mu-hyun’s car.
He got out of the driver’s seat, strode to the back, and opened the trunk. The moment Mu-hyun pulled out a small suitcase, Chaeyoon doubted her eyes.
Blinking in disbelief, she turned to Kyungsu.
“Can you wait here for a moment?”
Without waiting for an answer, Chaeyoon hurried toward Mu-hyun. Holding the suitcase handle in one hand and a jacket in the other, he noticed her approaching and slightly curled one corner of his lips.
“What brings you here today?”
Despite the sharpness in Chaeyoon’s voice, Mu-hyun looked completely relaxed.
“I was thinking of staying at the villa for a while. Our bathroom is under renovation.”
