Chapter 88: Chapter 88
Though she tried to leave the scene, she couldn’t. Hojoon and Arum, smiling broadly, were posed for a picture with the old couple in the center.
They said “Beautiful!” and “Thank you!” many times before going away. Somehow, she felt better after the picture was taken.
“You look beautiful,” he said curtly.
She wasn’t sure whether he was serious or not.
“I know you were talking about my hanbok, not about me.”
“Nope, you are beautiful.”
He held her by the shoulder. Coming near to her, there was no playful look on his face.
“Then….”
His voice trembled.
“You.”
There were fluttering petals dancing in his eyes. Her cheeks were also getting red.
The rattling of the bus pulled Arum to her senses. She was following him to the city of Sejong as if she were bewitched.
What about her hanbok?
When they left the Kyongbok Palace, Hojun presented a dress to her as a farewell gift.
“Before we break up, let me give you a present. You don’t want to stop me, do you? ”
She didn’t want to take it, but she needed one after she took off hanbok.
The problem was that he bought the clothes as a couple costume. She couldn’t stop him.
He didn’t intend it from the beginning. The seller sold the T-shirts with ‘Buy One, Get One Free’ promotion. What an attractive offer!
No matter how much she complained about the seller’s marketing method, there was nothing she could do. Why did he picked a couple costume when she was going to break up with him.
She felt embarrassed to move to another place wearing hanbok, so she donated that hanbok to a recycling sharing center near Anguk Station. A staffer with the center liked it. In return, she got a receipt for the donation that she could use for the year-end tax filing.
Hojoon was right.
Thanks to that hanbok, she had the good experience of dating at Kyongbok Palace, taking a picture with the old American couple and donating it.
So, she said goodbye to hanbok and Kyongbok Palace.
All that’s left now for her was to split with Hojoon.
She was going to say that she really would love to thank him for helping her dump her trash-like past and that her relationship with him was up to this point, and then say goodbye.
But Hojoon first opened his mouth.
“By the way…”
Showing the LCD screen of his smartphone, he began to talk.
“I hear Yuyoung is getting married as scheduled.”
“Really?”
On the LCD was a photo of the crystal mandarin ducks that Arum gave Konsu as a gift.
“Yuyoung said Reporter Yang gave her a pair of crystal mandarin ducks as a gift, praising that they were so pretty.”
“Did she say I gave it to her?”
“No? Didn’t you go to Kangrung and purchased it on that day? ”
That was true, but she never gave it to Yuyoung.
Perhaps Konsu escaped from that difficult situation by citing ‘Reporter Yang’ as an excuse, when his fiancé asked him about the accessory in detail.
What a despicable guy!
“You pushed for it pretty quickly, and the results are very good! Though I’m a feng shui consultant, I just can’t believe that your plan paid off nicely.”
“I doubt if all this happened because of the crystal mandarin ducks. That guy didn’t want to break off the marriage from the beginning. I think Yuyoung changed her mind. It’s fortunate that I can use my interview with her. ”
“Would you like to go with me?”
“Where?”
“The wedding ceremony.”
“Gosh! Why am I going there? ”
“Aren’t you curious? Your ex-lover’s wedding ceremony.”
That was a fascinating temptation. She was also curious. Opening her eyes wide, she would watch how well they could live their lives.
However, she did not want to check it with her own eyes.
“You mentioned shock therapy, right? If I look at his wedding, I’m afraid I won’t forget it all my life. It looks like my memories of his wedding won’t go away in my head forever. In fact, it was a shock for me to see his wedding photos. Do you want me to go there?”
She asked with a resentful look.
“No. I just asked you in advance. Are you going to go home on a day like this? ”
“It doesn’t matter whether he is married or breaks off the marriage.”
“Why doesn’t it matter? Why did you stake everything on it if it didn’t matter to you at all?
I was totally surprised. As you know, you drove all the way down to Kangrung to find the crystal mandarin ducks, right? Do you think your act on that day had nothing to do with Konsu?”
“You told me to solve the problem that I created myself, didn’t you?”
“As you solved the difficult homework, it’s time to enjoy!”
Then, he pushed her into a taxi and headed for a bus terminal.
“Where are you going?”
She asked again. When she looked at the milestone on her bus ticket, she was all the more puzzled, but Hojoon was relaxed and carefree, waving his ticket.
“I’ve already told you we’re heading for the city of Sejong.”
“Are you a civil servant? I’m not asking it now. What is your final destination? ”
“Just throw away the prejudice that only civil servants go to Sejong. And today is Saturday. Public servants are off today. ”
“That’s why I’m asking. Why are you going to Sejong City? Is it your hometown? ”
Hojun shook his head.
“Your army base in the past?”
He again shook his head.
“Ah, it’s difficult. Is there a famous restaurant?”
“You’ll see when you get there. On an occasion like this, just pretend you don’t know even if you know, or just pretend not to know when you don’t know. Is that difficult for you? ”
“I’m just curious. You mentioned Sejong out of a clear blue sky. There are no sea outloks, no mountains, and no tourist sites there.”
“It’s a special place for me. Maybe you won’t forget it, too.”
Late in the evening, the bus arrived in Sejong City.
She thought it took them around one hour and a half to get here from Seoul by bus.
The scene of Sejong City was strange to her. There was a freshness in that city as she came here for the first time. She still did not know where his final destination was.
Hojun hailed a taxi.
Both of them got in..
“Take us to Arum Middle school.”
Finally, she found out the final destination.
Arum Middle School?
She felt awkward hearing the same place name as her name.
It was kind of a mixed feeling of joy and awkwardness when one met someone with the same name.
“Why are you going there?”
Hojoon quietly smiled at her question.
“I’ve got a gift for you there.”
After getting out of the taxi, she stopped on the spot.
Arum Middle School, Arum High School, Arum Stationery, Arum Supermarket, Arum Laundry, Arum Vegetables, Arum Beauty Salon, Arum Delivery Office, Arum Academy.
The whole place there was Arum area of Sejong City.
She couldn’t believe it even though she saw them all. Isn’t Arum too common a name everywhere? Little did she think there would be a special city where all over the places were called by her name.
“How did you know this place?”
“If you keep thinking about one person…” He wrapped his fingers around the back of her neck. “The whole world looks like that person.”
He wrapped his arm around her waist.
His words were sweet.
His words were so sweet that she felt dizzy. Her heart pounded.
She read it in an article. In this case, one felt dizzy because of iron deficiency.
Her heart was beating so hard that she had difficulty with even breathing.
She wished she could breathe comfortably and though she would be able to if he moved one step back.
She got carried away with his sweet voice. She could smell the mint perfume from his tight arms. The very cool fragrance that fitted him.
But I… Can I deserve his love?
She came to her senses. From her first meeting with him, which was full of her mistakes, until today when she misunderstood him completely.
Arum Yang, Stop!
Her conscience shouted at her. As she was not freed from her past, she doubted him.
She wondered if he went back to Soran, unable to forget his past memories of her like she did for Konsu.
When she thought about it again, she blushed with shame.
After all, was this her one-time misunderstanding? Maybe not. She was going to misunderstand and distrust him from time to time.
Sorry, but let’s stop here.
She raised her head and said, “Hojoon, I’m sorry. I would like to stop here.”
She stepped away from him.
“It’s not because I don’t want to see you, neither am I shy. I’m just not ready to love you yet.”
“The most foolish people in the world are those who are preparing for love.”
“That’s not too bad, I think.”
“So what? Are you going to prepare for love all your life?”