OYSB 2

Chapter 2

Eunchae’s feet hurried to keep up with the tall man taking long strides, completely at his mercy as he dragged her along.

Unable to say a single word, she simply clutched the lapels of the jacket he had draped over her shoulders, afraid it might slip off.

When Doheon stopped walking, the headlights of a white sedan flashed, accompanied by a brief mechanical beep.

Looking at Eunchae standing there blankly, he spoke.

“What are you doing? Aren’t you getting in?”

Only then did Eunchae finally look directly at Doheon’s face.

The sunset shining behind him looked almost like a halo.

He’s finally here. My prince charming on a white horse.

My longtime unrequited love and my heartbreaking first love, Baek Doheon.

‘Her husband.’

But how could he suddenly appear out of nowhere and claim to be her husband?

Well, they had called each other husband and wife when they played house as children.

Just as the corners of her lips unconsciously lifted at the thought of those innocent memories, Doheon urged her again.

“Get in.”

“Yes, honey.”

“What?”

“Huh?”

She had clearly intended to call him Oppa, but apparently, the term she had been thinking about had slipped out of her mouth instead.

Startled by her own words, Eunchae hurriedly raised her phone to her ear.

“Hell……o? I thought I was getting a call. Oh, I guess not.”

After offering such a flimsy excuse, Eunchae let out an awkward laugh.

Realizing her act wasn’t convincing him, she decided to come clean.

“No, I mean, earlier, you were the one who lied first and said you were my husband……”

“If it becomes true, then it won’t be a lie anymore.”

She looked at him as though asking what he meant, but Doheon merely opened the passenger-side door and gestured with his chin.

Instead of climbing onto a white horse, Eunchae got into a white Mercedes-Benz.

“Do I have to fasten your seat belt for you, too?”

“Ah! No, it’s okay.”

Eunchae, who had been staring blankly, hurriedly reached for her seat belt.

“When did you come back to Korea?”

“Today.”

Was I the only one surprised by our reunion after all this time?

The polite speech had slipped out of her mouth without her realizing it, but all she received in return was his brief answer.

There were so many things she wanted to ask him, but she couldn’t bring herself to say anything more.

All she could do was sneak occasional glances at his profile as he quietly drove.

Had it really been five years?

After all that time, Doheon had become even more handsome.

The image of the pretty boy he once had gradually faded, replaced by the unmistakable aura of a mature man.

“Your phone.”

He hadn’t said a word throughout the drive. That was the first thing he said after arriving in front of her house.

Without even asking why, Eunchae handed it over as though under a spell.

Doheon entered his number and returned the phone.

“Answer when I call.”

“……Yes.”

Eunchae had somehow ended up getting into his car and being driven all the way home. It wasn’t until she got out that she finally took a proper look at herself.

Her dress was a complete mess, stained and soaked with food.

To think that this was how she had looked during her first encounter with him as an adult. She felt upset and utterly embarrassed.

“This is all because of Beonman.”

As Eunchae recalled what had happened the previous day, she unconsciously tightened her grip.

“Ugh.”

She groaned as she lifted a heavy dish to wipe away the moisture.

It seemed her wrist, which she had twisted while struggling with Beonman yesterday, was giving her trouble.

“Oh dear, are you hurt? Let me see.”

“I’m fine.”

The middle-aged woman who worked in the kitchen took Eunchae aside and applied a medicated pain-relief patch to her wrist.

“Why would a young lady who must have been raised so delicately need so much money? Why would you apply for such grueling kitchen work just because the hourly wage is high?”

Everyone tended to make the same mistake when they saw Eunchae’s bright, carefree smile.

They assumed she was a sheltered young lady, like a delicate flower raised in a greenhouse.

Never realizing that, in reality, she was a Candy who had to struggle through every single day, someone who couldn’t even afford to cry when she was sad.

“People say hardship is something you should willingly seek out while you’re young, but take it easy, okay?”

“See? You’re the only one who looks after me, Auntie.”

Eunchae deliberately put on an even brighter smile, untied her apron, and prepared to leave work.

She slung her bag over one shoulder, grabbed a large garbage bag, and called out.

“I’ll throw this away on my way home!”

“Oh, goodness! Your wrist is already injured. How can you carry that?”

“It’s nothing. I can manage.”

Just as she was leaving the restaurant—

After taking only a few steps, someone suddenly blocked her way.

“Hand over some of the money you got from your part-time job.”

It was her gambling-addicted maternal uncle, Won Sugap. Every time he saw her, he demanded money as though he were some debt collector recovering unpaid loans.

Her relationship with him was a terrible curse she couldn’t escape, no matter how desperately she tried to sever ties.

“Move.”

Eunchae spoke coldly, tightening her grip on the garbage bag.

But Sugap wasn’t the kind of man who would obediently listen.

“I’ve fed you, clothed you, and put a roof over your head all this time. I even sent you to college! You should repay the kindness of the person who raised you, you ungrateful brat!”

“I paid for college with my own money. And you didn’t raise me. You treated me like a servant and worked me to the bone.”

After Eunchae’s parents had passed away, her older brother had been the only family she had. But after he too passed away, it was Sugap who took her in while she was still a high school student.

Under the pretext of being her guardian, Sugap made Eunchae do all the housework and take on side jobs.

She had barely managed to attend college for a year and a half using student loans and the money she earned from part-time jobs. She had been on leave from school for several months now.

And he dared to talk about repaying the kindness of the person who raised her? How could he even say something like that?

“Look at you, getting all cocky just because you’ve grown up a little. Hey, you have to pay back every penny I spent on you! You also need to repay the debt your brother left behind! I even paid for his funeral!”

There it was again. That same old speech.

The same speech he always used whenever he squandered money gambling and threatened her to hand over more.

“What more do you want me to do?! You take every single penny I earn! What else am I supposed to do?!”

Watching Eunchae scream in frustration, Sugap finally raised his hand.

Just as his rough hand was about to strike her face, Eunchae swung the garbage bag she was holding.

“Aaaaaah!”

With a crazed look in her eyes, she gripped the bag with both hands and swung it wildly.

Caught off guard, Sugap staggered backward.

“Have you gone completely crazy?”

Just then, Eunchae’s bag, which had been swinging violently, fell open, and her wallet slipped out.

Sugap seized the opportunity and swiftly snatched it up.

Grinning, he deliberately pulled out every single banknote before throwing the wallet back onto the ground.

“You pretend you don’t have any money, but look what happens when I search! I’ll just take this much for today!”

Sugap ran away, leaving Eunchae screaming behind him.

Chuckling as he clutched the money and rounded the corner, he suddenly felt something catch against his foot.

Before he could resist, he pitched forward and fell flat on his face.

“Shit!”

The banknotes scattered across the ground, and a warm liquid began flowing from his nose after the violent impact.

Furious, Sugap raised his head toward the owner of the shadow looming over him.

“Which bastard did that?!”

In the dim alley, a tall shadow looked down at him and retorted.

“And what kind of bastard are you, stealing money and running away like that?”

“W-who are you? Who sent you?!”

A loan shark? Or someone who handled money for the gambling den?

As Sugap tried to figure out who could possibly have a grudge against him, he quickly assessed the situation.

Whoever this man was, his only option was to grab the money and run.

Just as he hurriedly reached for a ten-thousand-won bill lying in front of him—

“Argh!”

A leather shoe came down on the back of his hand.

The elegant way the shoe pressed down gently only made Sugap’s screams grow louder.

“Don’t you have parents?! I’m old enough to be your father, you little punk!”

Doheon bent down and whispered to Sugap, who was grimacing in pain.

“Do grown-ups these days go around extorting pocket money from kids?”

Doheon picked up the banknote that lay beneath Sugap’s trembling fingertips.

After collecting all the scattered bills, he spoke in a low voice.

“You should be grateful I’m letting you off this easily. That hand of yours was bound to get cut off someday at a gambling table anyway.”

“Hey, you bastard!”

“I’ll make sure to return this to its rightful owner.”

Doheon held up the money in his hand and straightened his back.

Leaving Sugap groaning on the ground, he walked away with steady footsteps.

As he rounded the corner, he spotted a small figure crouching in the alley, sobbing.

“Still the same as ever, crybaby.”

At the low voice falling over her shadow, Eunchae lifted her head.

Her red-rimmed eyes met Doheon’s.

“I told you to answer your phone. Why didn’t you?”

“I didn’t know you were calling.”

Eunchae sniffled as she replied.

A large hand reached out in front of her.

It was the same hand he had often offered her when they were children, back when she was especially prone to falling down.

“I’ll take you home. Come on.”

Normally, she would have smiled brightly and taken his hand without hesitation.

But today, she couldn’t find the courage to do so.

Why did he have to catch her looking like this again?

She was such a mess. Her hands were so dirty that she simply couldn’t bring herself to take his.

Eunchae wiped her tears roughly with the back of her hand and shook her head.

“I don’t want to.”

The fact that Sugap had come looking for her here meant he had already turned her rented room upside down.

When he couldn’t find her there, he must have eventually come all the way here to squeeze money out of her.

He had gambled away even his own home and was now wandering from one cheap inn to another. With the money he had stolen, he would probably buy a whole lot of soju before coming straight to her rented room.

She had run away from him as soon as she turned twenty and had barely managed to create a cramped little home of her own.

But even that place had long since become Sugap’s territory.

On days like this, she hated going home.

“Then how about coming to my place?”

Startled, Eunchae stared blankly up at him.

Doheon asked again.

“Why? If you don’t want that either, should I buy you some snacks?”

“Do you think I’m a little kid?”

“You still are. You only just turned twenty.”

Looking at him in his fine suit, so handsome and sophisticated, perhaps it was true that she looked like a child to him.

“Let’s go.”

Doheon gestured toward his outstretched hand with his chin, urging her to hurry.

Eunchae hesitated, but in the end, she gathered her courage and reached out toward him.