Buzz-. Buzz-.
While studying with earphones in, my phone vibrated continuously.
“Seems like you’re getting a call.”
Anyone would think that, but it wasn’t a call, it was a text. When I belatedly checked the screen, many messages had come all at once.
[Where are you?]
[You said you’re home so why aren’t you answering?]
[Explain why you can’t come next week]
[You said noona’s coming the week after that]
[Then when can I see you]
[Does it have to be the second week?]
“Haah…”
I told her the exam ends the week after next.
This month was an unusually busy month. First of all, the exam schedule was in there, so it was hard to free up time even on weekends, and on the weekend when the exam ends, my eldest noona promised to visit Chicago for a conference. I’d already explained enough, so I couldn’t understand what more explanation she wanted.
My girlfriend was lovely. Unlike me, she was bright and smiled often, so being together was quite enjoyable. But during the time we were apart, she became extremely anxious and had severe mood swings.
It got worse after coming to college. And I didn’t know how to soothe her like that. As it got worse day by day, now she wasn’t satisfied with just meeting once a month and we went back and forth between New York and Chicago almost every other week, and if I happened to make other plans on a weekend, I had to hear complaints via phone and text all day.
At first, the hyungs who poured out questions like “Is it your girlfriend again?” “What happened this time?” now didn’t care because of the too-frequent fights.
I’m tired.
Nevertheless, the reason I endure the emotional waste I don’t do elsewhere every time is because she’s still special. Because she’d been naturally by my side since childhood, and she was the only person who wanted to stay by my side even knowing my dry emotions.
“Isn’t that an important call? Don’t you need to answer it?”
“Later.”
Since it seemed like the call would get long if I started, I sent a short message saying I’d call a bit later. And after that, while reading the message again, one thought suddenly came to mind.
“Ah. The restaurant where you work, is it open until eleven on weekends too?”
“Weekday and weekend opening times and closing times are the same. There’s a break time from 3 to 5 in between.”
“Days off?”
“None. We’re even open on Christmas and January 1st.”
Since it was such a successful restaurant, I thought that could be the case and nodded.
“Why, when are you coming?”
Even though I didn’t say I was going, he asked as if he already knew everything. I was planning to bring my eldest noona who wanted to eat something delicious.
“After the exam ends.”
“Ah, next… no, the week after next. You’re coming on Saturday?”
“Yeah.”
Kwon Sungha looked like he had something more to say, but in the end, he didn’t say anything.
“Would there be fewer people at lunch than dinner?”
“That’s probably true, but the basic menu that goes out for lunch is a bit different, so unless you’re eating something simple, dinner would be better. The atmosphere is much better too.”
“Hmm… Got it.”
“You’re planning to come at lunch?”
“I don’t know. I have to discuss the time. Anyway, I won’t cause trouble by coming late like that time, so don’t worry.”
“You can come late.”
“I can’t.”
When I said that, his thin lips curved up.
“As expected, a bit.”
“A bit, what.”
“Unexpected.”
The muttering to himself was clearly directed at me.
* * *
“Kang Sehyun.”
A straight and firm voice felt even from just calling a name. The owner of the authoritative voice showed no signs of fatigue at all despite the flight over 13 hours.
She, who had perfectly pulled off a white top with a deeply cut neckline with a black two-button blazer and bootcut trouser set, walked coolly and steadily without a single waver even in high heels.
“You came dressed like that?”
“Yeah. Why?”
It was an excellent suit without a single wrinkle. At the airport, everything looked perfect, but the problem was that it didn’t suit the Chicago weather that had entered November at all.
“You’ll be cold.”
“I put a light coat in my carrier. I didn’t have much luggage, so I just put it together and checked it. I’ll take it out at the hotel.”
“Then stay here. I’ll bring the car to the front.”
In the end, I took the car from the parking lot and picked up noona in front of the arrivals gate. After loading the luggage in the trunk and belatedly taking the wheel, a sharp comment flew from the passenger seat before I even turned the steering wheel.
“The car is mediocre. Get a better one.”
“This is enough. How much better does it need to be?”
“It’s too common. Should I change it for you?”
“It’s fine.”
“Or buy one more.”
Noona, who said a car that was absolutely not common was common, repeated the same words until I barely changed the subject.
“Is the conference tomorrow?”
“Yeah. In the morning.”
“You said you’re going back tomorrow afternoon.”
“I have to leave right away. There’s another important event Monday morning.”
“You’re busy.”
“You’ll be like that soon too. How much time is left until graduation?”
“I entered this year, so how much is left.”
“Three years left, then.”
The reason it wasn’t four years was because both noona and hyungs all graduated from four-year universities in three years. Maintaining a 4.0 GPA from freshman year was impressive, but throwing away university life like that to help the family business even a little sooner was something you couldn’t do unless you were quite ruthless.
And I had absolutely no intention of doing that.
“Have you made any friends?”
“No. You know I don’t do that.”
“Then why do you keep trying not to come home even during breaks? Mom is hurt.”
“I end up going anyway.”
“It’s because you stay for too short a time. I know you’re deliberately trying to delay graduation. I’m just pretending not to know.”
As expected, in front of a formidable opponent, it was useless to pretend otherwise.
“I’m not worried you’ll meet strange people and cause trouble. You handle things well on your own. But you know how much Mom is waiting? Don’t put it off too much. Dad still resents allowing you to study abroad back then.”
I seemed to have chosen the wrong topic. It was content I already knew, but it was an unwelcome story.
“Graduate quickly, establish yourself, and help this noona out a bit. It would be good if you completely took charge of the American branch. It’s hard to go on business trips like this now because of Jiyu and Junwoo.”
The age difference between my eldest noona and me was a full 16 years. My parents, who married strategically right after graduating college, had eldest noona, eldest hyung, younger hyung, and younger noona in order, and I, who wasn’t even in the plans, came about when Mother was over forty.
At that time, my younger noona right above me was ten years old. So even though noona and hyung didn’t marry early, I, who was only twenty, had many nieces and nephews.
“Still, you’re being let off a lot because you’re the youngest. You know that?”
I know.
In a particularly strict family, I was the only one permitted minimal freedom with the excuse of studying abroad. If I hadn’t studied abroad, I too would have had to live a suffocating 24-hour life like noona and hyungs. Because from childhood, I had to be pointed out and educated on how to eat, how to speak, even how to walk.
The fact that I, with my terrible temper, learned to endure and can at least pretend to be polite might be thanks to that.
‘Rather than saying something specific, I just thought you weren’t the type to easily give such greetings.’
Kwon Sungha’s words were right. Words like thank you or sorry came out habitually in situations where I felt they were necessary, but I didn’t actually have such feelings toward the other person. At some point, I became unable to know what my true feelings were.
In contrast, Kwon Sungha seemed like every word that came from his mouth was sincere. So being curious about someone like that might be natural for me.
After driving on the wide-open highway and exiting toward downtown, the car almost stopped. It took a full 30 minutes just to pass through the congested section heading to the hotel.
Even until then, noona talked about the company or family matters. Especially, while talking about the automobile business that would start in about two years, she urged me again to come to Korea as soon as possible.
If I’d known it would be like this, I should have just said okay when she said she’d call a driver to the hotel. I felt belated regret.
“Noona, what about lunch? You must have eaten in-flight meals before landing.”
“Um… So I’m not very hungry. I also want to rest a bit.”
“Then I’ll come pick you up again for dinner. Rest until then.”
“Isn’t it troublesome to come this way again? I’ll just come to where you are. I can call a taxi right from the hotel.”
“It doesn’t take long from here anyway. It’s walking distance.”
From the hotel to where I lived was less than 5 minutes by car. It was close enough to arrive sufficiently within 5 minutes no matter how blocked it was.
“It really is close.”
“Yeah. That’s why I said you didn’t need to book a hotel.”
When I heard she was coming, I said it was fine to stay at my place, but noona insisted on booking a hotel.
“It’s your comfortable space, so should I go there and interfere? Staying at a hotel is comfortable for both you and me. Even for just one day, I don’t like feeling like I’m imposing.”
Why do so many people think of it as imposing?
I laughed softly because of a face that suddenly came to mind.
“Got it. Then let’s get out.”
We arrived at the hotel on the New East Side and checked in at the lobby with high ceilings. Despite noona’s words that it was fine, I stubbornly carried her suitcase directly to the suite room on a high floor.
From the room with wide windows, Millennium Park and Navy Pier were visible at a glance. It was a pretty decent hotel where you could see green lawns on one side and a deep lake on the other.
“I made a reservation for 7, so I’ll come by 6.”
“A whole hour early?”
“It’s a place that takes a while to get to.”
“Got it.”
“Rest.”
I was about to close the door and leave when an urgent voice caught me.
“Sehyun.”
When I turned around again, noona hesitated unusually, then opened her mouth with a troubled expression a few seconds later. It absolutely wasn’t that she didn’t want to come to my house. It also didn’t mean I was uncomfortable as family. It seemed what she’d said to me earlier kept bothering her.
Director Kang Soohyun, who was only strong in front of others, was particularly weak only to me and the nieces and nephews. It was the reason I could never hate my eldest noona even when she went on about nagging I didn’t want to hear.
I came out to the hallway and was waiting for the elevator when I felt a short vibration in my pocket. It was a message from someone I’d be seeing soon.
Kwon Sungha: [I confirmed the 7 o’clock reservation. There’ll be a lot of people at that time, is that okay?]
Me: [It doesn’t matter]
It was content confirming the reservation I’d made separately through the owner. Perhaps because I was so demanding with the first reservation, even when I said it was fine, a worried answer came back that that was the busiest time.
Kwon Sungha: [Instead I’ll clear tables as much as possible]
Me: [Is that possible?]
Kwon Sungha: [If I move walk-in customers to other tables as much as possible]
Me: [Isn’t that normally not allowed?]
The reply that had been coming right away came only after a few minutes. It was a message showing traces of hesitation.
Kwon Sungha: [It’s not allowed but it’ll probably be okay]
What does this mean?
Ding-.
I got on the elevator that arrived in the meantime. I unconsciously raised my head, and the me reflected in the mirror in front was smiling. It was a curious thing.
Why am I laughing when there’s nothing particularly happy?
