TGMD 13

Chapter 13

“Will you stay with me tonight?”

However, Do-gyeong’s words were infuriating in more ways than one. Yoo-joo was angry at him for casually saying something like that, as though she were that easy to take for granted. And she was angry at herself for starting to feel excited despite herself.

“Let’s eat something good and talk all night. Like we used to.”

As if to make it clear that he had no ulterior motives whatsoever, Do-gyeong added that. Then he sank into the chair, letting his exhausted body lean back.

It was a rare, defenseless side of him, a man who had always lived on guard against his enemies. Yoo-joo glanced at his face. His skin was so pale that his veins looked as though they might burst through at any moment.

“I guess you’ve changed your strategy now.”

“My mother.”

Yoo-joo had deliberately spoken coldly, but her expression hardened at the sudden mention of Yeo-myeong.

“If she hadn’t given birth to me, she’d probably be happier by now, right? Maybe she would’ve chosen Chairman Jung Young-jae. If that had happened, would you have never been born?”

“Why are you suddenly saying something so ridiculous?”

“I hate this fate that stands between us. But ironically, sometimes I hate even more the fact that it was because of that fate that we were able to meet.”

A faint shiver ran through Yoo-joo at Do-gyeong’s words.

She had thought the same thing before.

The very reason Do-gyeong and she could never be together was also the reason they had been able to meet in the first place. She had always thought there was something cruelly ironic about that.

Ever since she had fallen in love with Do-gyeong, it was a dilemma she had never once been able to escape.

“Still, I don’t regret meeting you.”

By then, the movie they had long since stopped paying attention to was approaching its ending. Just as the male protagonist was about to meet his death, Yoo-joo met Do-gyeong’s sorrowful eyes.

Had someone touched a particularly sensitive nerve in him and stirred him up today?

She felt sorry for him. What he had just said didn’t feel like mere acting.

In the end, Yoo-joo’s resolve weakened once again.

Before the movie had even ended, Yoo-joo abruptly stood up. Then she spoke to the helpless-looking Do-gyeong.

“I don’t want to go somewhere you’re too familiar with. It makes me anxious.”

The corners of Do-gyeong’s lips lifted slightly at her words.

“Then let’s go somewhere I’m familiar with.”

As though nothing else mattered, Do-gyeong reached out toward Yoo-joo.

“Hold my hand.”

Yoo-joo’s vacation home was quite far from her family home, which was why she liked it so much. But because of her strict parents’ watchful eyes, she only managed to visit it once a year at most.

Still, perhaps because the caretaker managed the place meticulously, the interior remained spotless even though she had not visited in a long time.

While Do-gyeong looked around the vacation home for the first time, Yoo-joo called her mother.

[You’re staying at the company tonight?]

“Yes. I’m busy preparing for the event.”

[You’ll ruin your health if you keep doing that. Sleep at home.]

Other people compared her mother to Yeo-myeong and belittled her, but to Yoo-joo, her mother was someone worthy of respect. She had lived her entire life intimidated by others, yet she genuinely loved and cherished her children.

Sometimes, Yoo-joo even felt sorry for her.

“Just this once. I’ll come home early tomorrow. As for Dad…”

[He’s already asleep. I’ll tell your father tomorrow morning that you left early.]

“Thank you.”

[Don’t work on an empty stomach. Eat something, okay?]

Do-gyeong glanced over at Yoo-joo as she shared such an affectionate conversation with her mother.

Come to think of it, aside from that one incident, Yoo-joo had always been an exemplary daughter.

“You’re twenty-nine this year, not nineteen.”

Do-gyeong teased her for having to ask permission to spend the night somewhere despite being on the verge of thirty.

Yoo-joo put down her phone and shot back sharply.

“I’ve been deprived of my freedom thanks to a certain someone.”

“Can’t argue with that.”

Do-gyeong shrugged and began arranging the food they had bought on the large dining table in the dining room. Yoo-joo soon appeared from the kitchen carrying wine glasses.

Perhaps because it was a wooden vacation home, it somehow felt like Christmas despite it not even being winter. It would have been perfect if they had candles, too.

“Thanks for bringing me here.”

Yoo-joo did not react to Do-gyeong’s words. He expertly pulled out the cork and poured wine into her glass.

A liquid as red as blood poured into the glass. Yoo-joo stared at it.

Perhaps his exhausted-looking face had only been an excuse. Maybe she was the one who had desperately wanted this time with him more than anyone.

She did not even know how long it had been since she had last shared a meal like this with him, the man she had parted from without even saying goodbye.

Do-gyeong had merely given her an excuse, but Yoo-joo was the one who had gladly taken advantage of it.

What lingering attachment did she have that made her lie to her mother just so she could spend the night with him?

“Eat plenty, so your mother won’t worry.”

Do-gyeong cut the pizza and steak into manageable pieces and held them out to Yoo-joo.

People who did not know him well tended to make the same mistake. Since he was cold and taciturn by nature, they assumed he would be the same way with his girlfriend.

But unexpectedly, he had been an incredibly affectionate boyfriend. Just like now, he would cut her food for her, and on days when she was completely exhausted, he would readily offer his back and tell her to climb on.

Yoo-joo had been truly happy when she ate the food he had cut for her and rode home on his back. Thinking that she alone was allowed to receive a kindness from him that no one else was, she had sometimes deliberately acted even more spoiled.

She had leaned on him and acted childish in ways she could never have done with her parents, filling many of the emotional voids inside her.

“You did this for your other girlfriends too, didn’t you?”

Perhaps her tolerance for alcohol had weakened. After only a few sips of wine, she was already feeling tipsy. Yoo-joo covered her flushed face with her hands and looked at him.

“They must’ve been happy, those women.”

At least with the person he chose, Do-gyeong must have made her feel completely loved.

Once, he had been hers alone.

Now, he belonged to someone else.

“Tell me. You said we’d talk. How many women did you date over those nine years? You must’ve been popular, right, Sunbae?”

Yoo-joo urged him on when he inexplicably remained silent. She would never have dared to act this way if she had not been drinking wine.

Only after a long while did Do-gyeong speak.

“And you? How many men did you date during that time?”

Yoo-joo had not expected him to turn the question back on her. Flustered, she emptied the rest of the wine in her glass.

Then she cleared her throat and raised her hand.

“Well, I think I’d run out of fingers if I counted only the men I met in America. The part-timer at the gelato shop near my house, a model, an aspiring writer, an athlete…”

Even as he watched Yoo-joo fold down one finger after another, Do-gyeong showed no reaction.

Unfortunately, she was particularly bad at lying. Especially in front of Do-gyeong, who knew practically everything about her.

“You were popular.”

Do-gyeong replied indifferently as he poured himself another glass of wine. Instead, he pushed Yoo-joo’s empty glass aside. If she drank any more, she looked like she would get completely drunk.

“But how old was that aspiring writer? What race was he?”

“…What?”

At the sharp question, Yoo-joo’s eyes widened and she clamped her mouth shut.

“If you dated him, you’d at least remember his age and race.”

Even her clumsy lies were simply cute and endearing in Do-gyeong’s eyes.

He did not have to do anything special. Just being here with Yoo-joo, talking about meaningless things like this, was enough to wash away his miserable mood.

The unpleasantness he had felt because of Eun-gyo had completely faded from his mind.

Yoo-joo was the only person who could shake Do-gyeong and, at the same time, calm him down.

“You seem to have enjoyed a very interesting life abroad. I didn’t.”

Yoo-joo, who had been embarrassed and was reaching for the wine bottle in Do-gyeong’s hand, suddenly froze.

“You’re my first love, and you’re also my ex-girlfriend.”

It was a statement that implied Yoo-joo had been the only woman in Do-gyeong’s life—and would remain the only one in the future.

“Liar.”

Yoo-joo spoke in a trembling voice.

“You’re the one who lied.”

Whenever Yoo-joo imagined that Do-gyeong might have gotten a girlfriend, she would inexplicably lose sleep.

Hearing that he had not dated anyone during all those years they had been apart made her happy, yet she still found it hard to believe.

“I don’t think I could ever like anyone as much as I like you. I don’t think anyone else could ever be as much my type as you are, and I don’t think anyone else could ever understand me the way you do.”

“…”

“If it isn’t you, I might not be able to love anyone at all.”

When Do-gyeong first discovered love, Yoo-joo had been standing in front of him.

The way Do-gyeong loved had developed entirely around her. Like a duckling imprinting on the first being it sees as its mother.

If it had not been her in the first place, love itself might never have blossomed within him.

“So don’t be jealous. No one but you has ever seen this embarrassing side of me.”

Do-gyeong speared a piece of steak that was growing cold and held it out to Yoo-joo. Yoo-joo fought back the tears threatening to spill and accepted the piece of steak.

“You don’t eat much, so I have to cut your food into small pieces and feed you if I want you to eat properly. That’s all. It just became a habit.”

The early morning air was chilly. After tossing and turning in bed for a long time, Yoo-joo took a thick blanket out of the closet.

Do-gyeong was asleep on the living room sofa with nothing but a thin blanket over him. Only after covering him with the thicker blanket did she finally feel at ease.

Instead of returning to the bedroom right away, Yoo-joo plopped down on the floor.

Because they were in the countryside, the surroundings were so quiet that it felt as though nothing existed around them.

The only sound was Do-gyeong’s breathing.

As Yoo-joo gazed at him sleeping peacefully, thinking how handsome he looked even in his sleep, his voice echoed in her mind.

—Still, I don’t regret meeting you.

Only after he had fallen asleep could she finally answer those words.

“Me neither.”

After giving him an ambiguous answer that no one but Do-gyeong could understand, Yoo-joo drew in a breath.

Then she leaned over and pressed a brief kiss to his sleeping lips.

It was something she had done secretly, hiding behind the hour of dawn and the secluded location of the vacation home.

It was not a passionate kiss, merely a simple peck, but somehow it felt as though it eased at least a little of the longing she had carried for him.

She was about to pull away before he woke, but the man she had thought was deeply asleep suddenly pressed a hand against the back of her head and brought their lips together again.

When did he wake up?

Yoo-joo froze in a state of complete panic.

This time, Do-gyeong’s other hand covered her eyelids.

The warmth of his touch melted the icy surface of her emotions.

Yoo-joo’s eyes slowly closed.

And in that pitch-black darkness, Yoo-joo kissed Do-gyeong passionately, as though they were still lovers.

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