TGMD 9

Chapter 9

Between Spring and Winter

She was so shocked that she was unable even to cry.

Yoo-joo had been certain that she would never, not until the day he died, see Han Do-kyung kneel before anyone. Anyone who knew Do-kyung would have thought the same.

From the moment he began life as Chairman Han Jun-young’s illegitimate son to the position he held now, Do-kyung had never once bowed his head, not even to someone stronger than himself.

Yet here he was, kneeling before her so easily.

Yoo-joo frowned and asked,

“Why on earth are you doing this?”

“Because I’m a mad dog.”

She immediately recognized that insane answer as being similar to a line from the very first romance movie they had watched together.

—How far would you go for the person you love?

—I’ll become a mad dog. Gladly.

But she found it difficult to understand what he meant by it now.

“Even so, if you insist on going through with that marriage, I suppose there’s nothing I can do.”

Do-kyung grabbed Yoo-joo’s wrist. Slowly, Yoo-joo looked down at him.

“But, Yoo-joo. If that happens, Go Ha-jin will die by my hand.”

The desperate expression on Do-kyung’s face instantly turned cold. The change was so sudden, but somehow, this calm and ruthless expression suited him better.

“I’m not saying that as an empty threat.”

Yoo-joo knew that much. Do-kyung wasn’t the kind of man who said things he didn’t mean.

“…Is that a threat?”

Yoo-joo swallowed nervously.

“Yes. If it becomes a threat, then let’s call it a threat.”

“Sunbae.”

“Yoo-joo, I sincerely hope you’re happy. I won’t stand by and watch you become unhappy. If I hadn’t known, I could have let it go. But now that I know, I can’t pretend I don’t.”

At first glance, they sounded like sweet words, but given their situation, there was nothing sweet about them.

“You’re the first person outside my family I’ve ever loved.”

Twelve years ago, when Do-kyung first confessed his feelings to Yoo-joo, she hadn’t been as surprised as she thought she would be. She had already expected it. He was terrible at hiding his feelings, and by the time he confessed, their relationship had already progressed to a certain point.

“You’re my first love.”

What had surprised her was learning that she was his first girlfriend. With his handsome face, Do-kyung had already been popular with women since he was eighteen.

She could still vividly remember how happy and excited she had been at the time, knowing that she was going to be his first.

“And maybe, as you said, it’s too late now, but as long as I can still see you, I’ve decided to protect you.”

And she had hoped.

Could I perhaps be his last, too?

Looking back now, it had been such an unrealistic wish. An innocent hope belonging to a seventeen-year-old girl.

“That’s why I bet my life on breaking off your engagement.”

“……”

“You think my life is boring because it’s been too peaceful? No. Every single day of my life has always been exhausting, Yoo-joo. You know that. And it’ll probably become even more difficult from now on.”

They say a man’s first love follows him to the grave.

Was that what he meant?

“You were the only spring in this damn life of mine.”

You were my only breath, yet you say I was the only spring in your life.

We loved each other that much. So why did we end up going our separate ways?

If I had you, I didn’t need my parents or money or anything else. So why couldn’t you abandon your family in the end? Why did you let me go?

Why did you throw away our last chance to become an ordinary man and woman and have an ordinary love?

“That day.”

Yoo-joo finally spoke after silently listening to Do-kyung.

“The day we made that promise. The day we promised to leave for somewhere neither of us knew anyone.”

The moment she brought up the day she had desperately avoided thinking about, her heart collapsed all over again, just as she had expected.

“It was really cold that day. Cold enough for even the deepest lake to freeze solid. But I waited for you all night. I didn’t even go to the bathroom. I was afraid we’d miss each other. I was afraid you might have to wait for me even for a little while in that freezing weather. Of course, I believed you’d come. It never occurred to me that you would abandon me. I just thought you were late because something had happened.”

“Yoo-joo, that day…”

“That day, I met your mother for the first time. I’d always wanted to meet her at least once someday, but I never imagined we’d meet like that.”

At the mention of his mother, Do-kyung bit hard into the tender flesh inside his mouth.

“As you said, she really was a wonderful person. She patted my back while I sobbed and held me tightly. She smelled like you. I think that made me even sadder. It felt as though you were the one personally telling me goodbye.”

Yeo-myeong had told Yoo-joo to meet someone kinder and more gentle than Do-kyung. Those kind words of comfort had pierced her like a dagger.

Of course, there must be someone kinder and more gentle than Do-kyung.

But she had never been able to tell Yeo-myeong that she wasn’t sure she could ever love anyone as much as she loved Do-kyung.

“So whenever I think of you, I feel cold enough for my bones to ache. You said I was your spring, but to me, you are winter. Unfortunately.”

Yoo-joo pulled Do-kyung’s hand away from her.

“We’re standing in different seasons.”

Just then, Yoo-ho came outside looking for Yoo-joo, and she caught sight of him. With a worried expression, he was taking out his phone. He was obviously about to call her.

Yoo-joo glanced at Do-kyung once before walking past him.

Step by step, she headed toward Yoo-ho.

Yoo-ho noticed his sister approaching a moment too late. He scolded her in his usual sharp tone while looking around.

“What are you doing out here? I’ve been looking everywhere for you.”

“I was just getting some fresh air. I was sleepy.”

Fortunately, the large tree perfectly hid Do-kyung, who was still kneeling, from Yoo-ho’s view.

“Were you alone? Where’s Prosecutor Go?”

“I don’t know. He’s a busy man.”

“And you didn’t see Han Do-kyung either?”

At Yoo-ho’s pointed question, Yoo-joo changed the subject without answering. She had never been good at lying and was always caught by her brother whenever she tried. It was better not to even attempt it.

“Oppa, take me home. I didn’t bring my car today because I came with Ha-jin.”

As the distance between Yoo-joo and Yoo-ho narrowed, he finally noticed the traces of tears on his sister’s face. He hurriedly grabbed her by the shoulders.

“You cried?”

“……”

“You cried?”

Even though he didn’t always show it, Yoo-ho cared desperately about his younger sister and tended to react strongly to even the slightest change in her.

So Yoo-joo decided to act shamelessly instead.

“Yeah, I cried. Am I not allowed to cry?”

“Because of Prosecutor Go?”

Yoo-joo gave a hollow laugh.

“What are you talking about? Why would I cry because of Ha-jin?”

Crying because of someone ultimately required having deep feelings for that person.

Therefore, Yoo-joo would never have any reason to cry because of Ha-jin.

Ha-jin wasn’t important enough to Yoo-joo to move her to tears.

“I’ve been thinking about it.”

After hesitating for a moment, Yoo-ho opened the car door for her and said,

“If you’re not willing to marry Prosecutor Go, you don’t have to.”

Yoo-joo stared at Yoo-ho in surprise. It was an unusually un-Yoo-ho-like thing to say.

The brother she knew was more supportive of a strategic marriage for the sake of their family than anyone.

“And how are you going to deal with Dad’s wrath if you do that?”

“I’ll figure something out somehow, so don’t force yourself into a marriage you don’t want.”

At this point, it almost felt as though the entire world was trying to stop her from marrying Ha-jin.

“You should’ve said something like that when you were getting married. You should’ve rebelled against Dad and held on to the person you loved.”

Yoo-joo spoke sarcastically.

“Exactly.”

Yoo-ho answered in a subdued voice.

“That’s why you shouldn’t live like I did.”

Yoo-ho wore the same expression he’d had at his wedding.

That expression that had hurt all the more because he looked so completely unaffected.

Yoo-joo looked toward her sister-in-law, who was walking toward them in the distance.

“I’ll stop them.”

She was a good person, but she wasn’t the person Yoo-ho had loved.

The moment her sister-in-law’s face overlapped with Ha-jin’s in Yoo-joo’s mind, the words slipped out.

“Then can I love Han Do-kyung again?”

“……”

“Would you still fight Dad with me?”

“……”

Yoo-ho’s eyes trembled.

Yoo-joo smiled bitterly.

“You wouldn’t.”

She whispered the words before immediately waving at her sister-in-law as though nothing had happened.

“Miss, I was so worried when you disappeared.”

“I’m sorry. I just went for a walk by myself.”

“You must be tired. Let’s go back.”

“Yes. I want to get some rest.”

Leaving Yoo-ho standing there alone, Yoo-joo got into the car.

—Then can I love Han Do-kyung again?

Yoo-ho repeated his sister’s words in his mind.

Those words were an admission that she still loved Han Do-kyung very much.

After Yoo-joo left the party, Do-kyung returned home without looking back.

There was no longer any meaning to the party without her.

Besides, his physical condition was rapidly deteriorating.

His legs throbbed as though they might break apart, and his head felt as though it were splitting open. Even after taking more painkillers than usual, the pain simply wouldn’t subside.

Pressing a hand to his forehead, Do-kyung continued walking.

It had been an exhausting day.

“Vice President.”

At that moment, the housekeeper, who had stayed far beyond her normal quitting time, called out to him.

Do-kyung turned his head with half-lidded eyes.

“You haven’t gone home yet?”

“No. I thought I should give this to you personally.”

The housekeeper held out a small, shiny, round object.

“I found it in the pocket of the jacket you sent to the cleaners.”

Do-kyung frowned.

It couldn’t possibly belong to him.

The housekeeper had handed him an expensive women’s bracelet.

Of course, it wasn’t Yoo-joo’s either. Yoo-joo’s taste wasn’t nearly this flashy.

“Are you sure it was in my pocket?”

“Yes. I took it out myself. It was such an expensive-looking item that I couldn’t leave it there without telling you.”

Having apparently finished what she needed to do, the housekeeper bowed and headed toward the entrance.

Do-kyung merely stared down at the bracelet lying in his palm.

If it wasn’t Yoo-joo’s…

He had no idea whose it could be.

Then again, there were no other women in his life besides Yoo-joo.

Just as he became convinced that the housekeeper must have made some kind of mistake, his phone gave a short buzz.

A message from an unfamiliar number.

<Hello, Vice President Han Do-kyung. This is announcer So Eun-kyo.>

Only then did he remember what had happened that day.

At his club, where gatherings for men from the upper class were held, he had caught Ha-jin and Eun-kyo fooling around. On that occasion, Do-kyung had briefly gotten close to Eun-kyo.

—Move. Can’t you hear me?

—W-Why are you suddenly acting like this?

—How dare those lips that were fooling around with that bastard come anywhere near me.

It had been such an insignificant incident to him that he had erased it from his memory altogether.

<When I saw you at the club last time, I think you accidentally took my bracelet with you. I was going to mention it if I saw you today, but you left early. It’s something I treasure very much, so would it be possible for me to get it back?>

Do-kyung tossed the annoying phone aside.

“What a pain.”

He already felt as though his entire body were being torn apart by his love for Yoo-joo.

From the beginning, he had never been particularly generous toward anyone other than Yoo-joo.

Now that utterly insignificant people kept getting on his nerves, Do-kyung’s patience was finally running out.