TNV 20

Chapter 20

At that moment, as she watched Chaeyoon flustered, her grandmother said something.

“Life is like that, my dear. When hard times come, there will also be joyful moments, and wounds that feel unbearable will eventually heal. There will come a day when you, Chaeyoon, will forget the pain you’ve been through.”

To be honest, Chaeyoon hadn’t forgotten anything yet.
The accident with Mu-hyun, the shock of being abandoned by him after he lost his memory, being accused of being a manipulative girl and expelled from school… Every time these memories resurfaced, it felt as if they had happened just yesterday. Her chest ached, and she struggled to breathe from the injustice of it all.

Yet, it was also true that when she was with the children or met the neighbors who cared about her, the pain faded a little faster than before.
Whenever that happened, Chaeyoon thought that maybe her grandmother had wanted her to understand that “wounds inflicted by people are healed by people.”
Just like how she laughed after sticking a strong-smelling pain patch on her shoulder, covering the hurt with a smile.

And perhaps, her memories with Mu-hyun would fade in the same way.
As the days passed and accumulated, even the time she spent with Mu-hyun would eventually be covered by memories… and finally…

Thump. Thump.

Lost in thought with the pain patch in her hand, she suddenly snapped back when she heard someone knocking on the back door.
At any other time, she would have been startled by someone knocking without notice, but not today—she had a feeling she knew who it was.

She stood up and checked the time; it was already past nine. She hadn’t realized how late it had gotten, distracted by parents visiting all evening.

With a look of mild frustration, Chaeyoon opened the back door. Mu-hyun, standing there with a slightly crooked expression, immediately frowned upon seeing her.

“What’s that smell?”
“…I was busy and couldn’t prepare dinner. I’ll fix it right now.”

As Chaeyoon turned away, she heard his teasing tone from behind her.

“Why? Did someone come by?”
“Oh, if dinner feels too heavy, do you want some kimchi pancakes? You like them, right…”

Ignoring his words and continuing to speak, Chaeyoon suddenly hesitated.
She bit her lip in anxiety, worried that Mu-hyun might have noticed her slip, when he answered casually,

“Sure.”

She let out an involuntary sigh of relief just as the back door thudded shut. Turning around, she saw Mu-hyun taking off his shoes and entering.

“Why are you coming in? If you waited at the villa, I’d have brought it out soon enough.”
“I’m hungry.”

His short answer left her speechless. She had thought to send him out because being in the same space felt awkward—but apparently, that was the wrong move.

Feigning calm, Chaeyoon moved toward the kitchen, and Mu-hyun followed her slowly.

“Wait a moment.”
She motioned toward the table and pulled out a frying pan. Then, taking out the pancakes that Yoonji’s mother had brought from the fridge, she heard Mu-hyun’s voice from right behind her.

“So that smell was from a pain patch.”

Startled by how close he was, Chaeyoon froze, unsure what to do. His voice came even closer.

“I didn’t realize being a tutor was such a dangerous job.”
“…Well, it’s lucky you realized it now. If you need, I can lend you a few.”

Chaeyoon answered as nonchalantly as possible and moved away from the fridge. Fortunately, Mu-hyun sat at the table instead of following her.

“Thanks, but I’ll pass. Not really my preferred scent.”

Of course. The Mu-hyun she knew was sensitive to smells. He rarely wore perfume and preferred mild air fresheners in his room.

Chaeyoon didn’t plan to let him know she was aware of that. After nearly revealing that he liked pancakes earlier, she decided to keep her words to a minimum whenever she was around him. One wrong word, and he might pry, complicating things.

“Here you go.”
She placed the freshly warmed kimchi pancakes in front of him. Mu-hyun silently picked up his chopsticks and began to eat.

Chaeyoon cut a piece of the roll cake Yoonsu’s mother had brought and placed it on the table with coffee.

“For dessert.”

Surprisingly, Mu-hyun asked,
“Teacher Song Chaeyoon, aren’t you going to eat?”
“I already ate a little while ago.”
“Not planning to share a meal with an uninvited guest?”

She remained silent, and he smiled wryly.

“You’re technically the tenant, yet you make your dislike so obvious.”

Chaeyoon couldn’t respond. She hadn’t seen him smile like that in a long time, and her mind went blank. Three years ago, when they were getting close, Mu-hyun used to smile that same way—pulling only one corner of his mouth up as if he didn’t know how to smile fully.

She wondered what he would say if she told him she thought even that half-smile was handsome. But… the likelihood of that ever happening was zero.

Suppressing her bittersweet feelings, she moved to the sink.
At one point, she had wished that when he regained his memory, he would rush to the villa and hug her tightly.
Now, she knew that hope was just a futile dream. Mu-hyun had spent only five months with her.
For a thirty-year life, a five-month memory was too brief. Perhaps that was why Mu-hyun could erase her existence from his life so completely.

…Enough.

Chaeyoon shook her head lightly, shaking off the gloomy thoughts she had repeated countless times over the past two years.

Standing blankly at the sink for a while, she finally shook her head and began doing the dishes. Meanwhile, Mu-hyun took the last piece of pancake into his mouth.

Perhaps due to the aftereffects of last Saturday, Chaeyoon’s behavior today seemed slightly unusual. She kept her usual aloof attitude to maintain distance, yet her fleeting expressions and tone seemed oddly affected.

Of course, by that measure, Mu-hyun himself was even stranger. The moment he discovered there was nothing to eat on the table after work, he came to the villa under the pretext of checking—though he wasn’t particularly hungry—and confirmed the unpleasant smell of the pain patch with his head bowed.

No, it wasn’t the smell that bothered him. He just wanted to get a little closer to Chaeyoon.
From the moment the villa’s door opened and he saw her small silhouette, his desire had begun to rise uncontrollably. Damn, it was pathetic.

All his life, he had rejected women who fawned over him and lived like a monk—yet for the first time, he was drawn to Song Chaeyoon. And not just any girl, but one who had no interest in him, seeing him only as a bothersome tenant.

For a fleeting moment, he had the impulse to cancel the one-month contract and return to Seoul. But he quickly erased the thought.
If he went back to Seoul now, it would be over with Chaeyoon. He didn’t want to end things like that.

At least, when standing in front of her, he needed to see whether the desires that surged suddenly were merely physical or something more. He couldn’t risk walking away just because her defiant attitude irritated him—he would regret it later.

“Once you’re done, go rest.”

After finishing the dishes and checking the empty plates, Chaeyoon spoke. Watching her promptly chase him out of her space as soon as she was done, Mu-hyun chuckled to himself.