Chapter 50: Chapter 50

Hojoon looked at her with a worried look. After having a good cry, she looked pale.

She felt too feeble to say anything.

Without his car she would have been sitting on the bench in front of Yuyoung’s house. She felt dizzy at the thought of it. What if she bumped into Konsu there? She shook her head subconsciously.

She couldn’t remember at all how she got out of there. She began to come to her senses when Hojoon was already driving to downtown Seoul.

The more sober she became, the more she thought about Konsu’s intention.

‘What’s the reason? Why did he do this?’

She wanted to solve the matter rationally and calmly. She was so anxious to find out why. Of course, she could call him right now to confirm it.

‘What can I get after I check with him? Can I overcome it?’

Arum found that she wasn’t quite ready to answer the questions, though she vowed that she would stick it out, hang in there to the end, and put up with it. But her eyes were getting wet anyway.

‘I should not cry anymore.’

She couldn’t cry before Hojoon again. She felt ashamed. She cried inside the elevator because she was absent-minded. But she should not anymore as she was sober now.

She was a woman who knew how to separate public from private matters in her life.

When she pulled herself together, her cell phone buzzed. The caller was ‘Konsu Han.’

Her tears ran down at that moment and dropped to the screen of her smartphone.

‘I shouldn’t act like this.”

The vibrations of her phone continued.

‘Hey, stop calling me, okay? Stop it!’

Losing patience, Hojoon pulled over his car on the shoulder and took away her phone.

“What are you doing?”

Though she shouted at him, he already took it from her.

“Don’t answer the phone!” she said, trying to take it back while sobbing.

But he stopped her with one hand and answered the phone, “This is Hojoon Lee.”

Hearing that, she slumped down and leaned against the passenger’s seat. She felt like jelly, with all the energy supporting her body siphoned off. She gave up resisting. She didn’t have the energy to stop Hojoon or answer the phone to make excuses to Konsu.

“She went out for a moment, leaving her phone behind. Is it an urgent matter?” When he heard Konsu’s message, Hojoon went one step further, “Since she has an important meeting this evening, it would be difficult to call her.”

And then he hung up the phone unilaterally.

After the call, he threw the phone onto the rear seat, and said, “Did you hear that? You have an important meeting.”

She became emotional upon hearing that.

“How dare you cancel my meeting with Konsu?”

She was supposed to have dinner with Konsu this evening. He must have called her for that. Hojoon’s cancellation was clearly his overstepping the line.

“Why did you do that? Who do you think you are, butting into my business?”

“Stop it. You’re taken in completely by him. How much more do you want to suffer?”

Hojoon couldn’t stand it anymore.

“What did you say?” she said with an angry look.

“Didn’t you already see it? Yuyoung is going to be Konsu’s, or rather Konwoo’s bride. They’re getting married. Even though you find it hard to believe it, that’s a fact.”

But Arum didn’t want to believe it. She shook her head, strongly denying the harsh reality.

“Arum, that’s the truth. They’re getting married.”

“You knew it already, didn’t you? You knew Yuyoung is getting married to Konsu, right? You intentionally hid it from me, didn’t you?”

Hojoon was dumbfounded when he heard that. He didn’t know that he and Arum viewed the same situation differently.

But her question was quite understandable from her point of view.

“No, I didn’t know that,” said Hojoon firmly because he really wasn’t aware of it.

“How couldn’t you know that as a close friend of Yuyoung?”

“I really didn’t know about it. Who could know that the guy printed as Konwoo Han in the wedding invitation card was Konsu Han?”

“Then, why are you so mean to me? Just pretend not to know. Don’t hang up the phone as you please!”

“Do know know what Konsu said a moment ago over the phone? He actually thanked me. He said he had to cancel the appointment with you this evening, but couldn’t contact you. Is this what you want to hear from him?”

“Well, he might have work to do tonight.”

Losing his temper, he called someone. As the call was on speakerphone, she could hear it clearly.

“Hey, Yuyoung. This is me, Hojoon.”

Arum couldn’t figure out why he called her suddenly.

“Sorry I had to leave early. But my meeting was cancelled, so let me treat you to dinner if you’re eating alone this evening.”

“No thanks,” she answered right away.

Only then did Arum detect his intention. No way! She tried to close her ears with both hands for fear she could overhear something she didn’t want to hear under any circumstances. But she already overhead his conversation with Yuyoung.

“Actually, I had a dinner appointment with Konsu. Today was my mom’s birthday, but he forgot. He said he made a reservation for us at a nice Spanish restaurant. Sorry.”

The moment Arum heard that, she almost passed out. Her mention of that Spanish restaurant was shocking.

‘That’s the restaurant he and I were supposed to go to this evening.’

She was just speechless.

Hojoon said, “Did you tell your groom about our coverage of your house?”

“Not yet. I’m going to surprise him with that. Sorry, I’ve got a call from him in waiting now.”

“Sure, enjoy your dinner.”

Hojoon hung up the phone.

There was silence inside the car. When she finally confirmed that she had been completely deceived by Konsu, she couldn’t stay there. She opened the door of the passenger’s seat and got off.

“Arum, what are you doing?” He got off and followed her. As she was on the shoulder, it was dangerous. He stopped her and said, “Don’t feel distressed anymore because of that bastard!”

“No, I don’t feel distressed.”

“Don’t lie. Don’t hang out with him because he is not your man anymore. Got it?”

“What should I do then? How can I deal with…”

“I’m here beside you,” he said with a soft tone. Stroking her hair tousled by the breeze from the river, he whispered, “Please lean on me.”

Her surprise at his unexpected proposal was reflected in her clear eyes.

She was dumbfounded the instant she heard his unexpected confession.

“Oh, I’m fine,” she answered.

She was a little embarrassed.

In fact, she had good feelings about him. As he generously forgave her for what she had done to him before, it was natural that she felt that way. But she had never thought of him as ‘a man.’

‘Yeah, let me be honest.’

Frankly, she regarded him as a man. How could she not realize his warm considerations of her? But she never thought he could be her man.

‘Can I start a new love with a man who knew all my dirty past? No way!’

But the moment she heard his proposal, she felt her heart beat strongly.

When she was hiding her blushing face, Hojoon said, “Don’t you remember you once asked me not to leave you?”

Though he said so, he knew she could not remember it because she was drunk a lot at that time.

“Did I?”

She couldn’t recall it no matter how hard she thought about it.

“The first day you met me, you begged me not to leave.”

“That’s because….”

She really couldn’t recall what she said when she was drunk.

‘Did I say that on the day I first met him?’

While she was embarrassed, he continued, “Yeah, it was you who asked me not to leave.”

“Hojoon, I really can’t remember it.”

“That doesn’t matter. At that time, I promised you that I won’t leave you. I’m going to keep it.”

“But I’m still…”

She wanted to say, ‘I still can’t forget Konsu. What shall I do?’

She was choked again with sorrow.

And there was a decisively big problem for her.

“By the way, I can’t…”

Hojoon noticed that she was nervous. Did he make her feel too pressured? Though he didn’t mean it, obviously she felt his proposal was burdensome at this point. He held her trembling hand gently and said, “Sorry, I didn’t mean to pressure you.”

“No, I’m so ashamed of myself.”

She then released her hands from his and hid her face with both hands.

“Haha.”

Did she laugh?

Obviously, she wasn’t crying anymore, but laughing heartily.

“Are you laughing now?”

“Nope…”

But she was holding back her laughter, with her face covered with both her hands.

“Are you kidding me?”

Hojoon forcibly took her hands off her face.

Though her eyes were welled up with tears, she was trying to keep a straight face.

“Wow, I was really surprised, Hojoon. How can I lean on you even if I’m distressed?”