The surface he’d been pretending to keep calm was churning. The stone had already been thrown. He couldn’t make the ripples on the surface disappear. Unless the problem was solved, the ripples wouldn’t disappear and would continue to make his chest churn.
Everything became so vague it couldn’t be expressed in words, so Seonwoo sat vacantly in the park where no one passed by for a long while. Only the unceasing sound of insects kept Seonwoo company.
He only returned home around sunrise. When he opened the front door, the lights were on in the house.
The grandfather was sitting in the living room. The TV was off, and only a small aluminum table was set out. There was no sign of the grandmother—she must be sleeping in the bedroom. The grandfather looked at Seonwoo and slowly opened his mouth.
“Will you eat?”
There wasn’t a single question about where he’d been until this hour. On the table were snacks he hadn’t seen before. They were appetizing-looking traditional Korean sweets.
“Some guy calling himself an athlete bought them.”
Next to the table was a large shopping bag with a department store logo. When he peeked inside, there was a red ginseng set and deer antler set. The packaging was intact, as if he hadn’t opened it.
Seonwoo moved the shopping bag aside and looked at the table again. The traditional sweets on the plate—the grandfather hadn’t touched them, so there was a lot. He stared at them for a moment, then picked one up and ate it. It was delicious. Even Seonwoo, who didn’t know much about desserts, could tell this was expensive candy—it was that delicious.
After eating one, a second naturally went into his mouth. Was it because he’d been starving all day and had just finished running? His hand kept going. The grandfather didn’t stop Seonwoo, who had come home looking shabby and was eating without even washing his hands. He just slid over the barley tea next to him, saying his throat might get dry.
The barley tea he received and drank was lukewarm. The grandfather had a fiery temperament, so even at his age, he was someone who had to drink cold water in midsummer. The barley tea that should have had ice floating in it as usual was lukewarm. How long had he been waiting?
Without conversation, only the sound of Seonwoo chewing the traditional sweets continued. After a long while, the grandfather handed over something that was on the sofa. It was the grandmother’s notebook.
Seungho’s autograph was there. In the remaining space, even his contact information was written. Seonwoo was so absurd at Seungho’s craftiness that he let out a hollow laugh.
“If you don’t need it, tear it up and throw it away. Your grandmother said she doesn’t need it either.”
Seonwoo had no answer. Even the traditional sweets he’d been eating had run out before he knew it, leaving only an empty plate. Silence flowed like that for a while.
Before long, sunlight seeped into the living room. Morning came and the grandmother, who had woken up, came out of the bedroom. Seeing Seonwoo and the grandfather together, she stroked her chest in relief.
A little later, busy sounds could be heard from the kitchen. It was the sound of the grandmother preparing breakfast, a sound that had become all too familiar now. Seonwoo, who had been staring at the empty dishes, opened his mouth.
“Grandfather. Please lend me your phone.”
ლ
『The train will depart soon.』
An announcement flowed out. Seonwoo was standing in the doorway passage. On the platform outside the train, the grandmother and grandfather were standing. Even after the entrance closed, the grandmother waved both hands in farewell. Eventually, the train left Busan Station.
Entering the passenger car and sitting in his seat, Seonwoo first placed the bundle wrapped in fine cloth on the table. He put his bag between his legs and took out the lunchbox the grandmother had packed. It contained sandwiches with tuna and cucumber, and watermelon. The watermelon had all the seeds removed and was cut into bite-sized pieces for easy eating.
Luckily, the seat next to him was empty, so Seonwoo placed the bundle on the vacant seat and ate his lunchbox. It was 3 hours to Seoul Station.
A week ago, that is, that dawn morning. When he called Seungho, even though it was early, it connected right away. As if he’d instinctively known it was Seonwoo, his voice was agitated.
When excited Seungho didn’t know what to do and stammered, Seonwoo, who hated long conversations, first asked how to persuade her. When he asked if making an international call would work, an unexpected answer came.
Taejeong’s mother was in Korea, not America. In that case, Seonwoo wanted to meet her face to face. He set the condition that Seungho wouldn’t accompany him. Since it had come to this, Seonwoo had many things he wanted to ask.
Then Seungho hesitated. He tried to go together somehow, but when Seonwoo refused, he asked if he could at least give him a ride. When Seonwoo asked in a slightly irritated voice where exactly it was, he couldn’t answer for a long time.
No wonder Seungho was like that. Seonwoo thought, looking up at the hospital building he was seeing for the first time in 2 years.
It was a place he’d gone in and out of sickeningly, where sickeningly many things had happened. He thought that if he came here again, something like trauma would appear, but it was more fine than expected. Seonwoo looked around the familiar lobby and thought nothing had changed.
He walked to the side building, not the ward he’d always headed to. He remembered it because he’d been there once. Seonwoo rode the elevator up. The entire floor was quiet. He passed through the corridor where lights were on in each department.
After turning the corridor a few times, he quickly saw his destination. The lights were on inside. Seonwoo, standing in front of the door, knocked. He waited for a moment in the quiet corridor where no sound could be heard. Eventually, the door opened.
“Come in.”
A middle-aged woman wearing a white gown welcomed Seonwoo. When she suggested he sit on the sofa, Seonwoo handed over the bundle he’d brought before sitting.
“My grandfather said I shouldn’t come empty-handed.”
When the bundle was unwrapped, a round glass bottle appeared. It was honey that the grandfather had personally made.
“The elderly gentleman sent something precious. Please tell him I’m grateful.”
The woman expressed her thanks and put water on the coffee pot. The sound of water boiling was heard soon. Seonwoo, sitting down, looked around the room.
Thick books were densely packed on the wall bookshelf, and there was a laptop on the desk. All sorts of papers, whether materials or documents, were spread out, and there was also a mug with coffee stains. These were traces of work done just moments ago.
On the nameplate placed in front of it was written: ‘Hematology-Oncology Department Head Ju Gyeong-ae.’
“…….”
While Seonwoo’s gaze remained there, two mugs were placed on the table. Before he knew it, Seonwoo’s gaze moved from the nameplate to the person in front of him. He stared blankly at the person stirring honey with a teaspoon.
Taejeong’s mother had exactly the same eyes, nose, and mouth as Taejeong. Even her hair being jet black and curly as if separately dyed was the same. However, her impression was slightly different because the eyebrows visible on her forehead, neatly parted, were faint. Moreover, perhaps because she wore glasses, she also gave off an intellectual image that didn’t exist in Taejeong.
He’d thought Seungho also resembled them enough to feel they were blood relatives from the same family, but this was……. Her face was proof of paternity. Was this how other people felt when they saw him and his father? He now realized that it wasn’t an exaggeration when Mom sometimes marveled that he resembled Dad so much it was amazing.
“So. Did Seungho ask you to try persuading me?”
Taejeong’s mother said while cooling the honey water. Steam fogged up her glasses, but she didn’t care and even sipped to taste it.
“You’ve suffered because of the men in our family, Seonwoo-kun.”
Seonwoo nodded without any sign of hesitation. Because it was true.
“I’m curious about something.”
“I’ll tell you within what I know. Ask.”
“My mom and that bastard. Were they in a relationship?”
Seonwoo asked that first, regardless of Taejeong’s current status or whatever. Since all the parties involved were no longer in this world, the only one who might know the truth now was Taejeong’s mother.
“That’s not it.”
Then Taejeong’s mother put down her cup. She wasn’t surprised even when Seonwoo dug straight into the main point. Her appearance looked exactly like Taejeong, but her personality was quite different. She proceeded with the conversation with a straightforward attitude.
“Do you know that those two are from the same orphanage?”
“Yes.”
“Then this will be easy to talk about. Those two are just people who grew up together at the same orphanage.”
“How do you know that?”
“Seonwoo-kun’s mother told me that.”
For a moment, Seonwoo’s eyes widened.
“You’ve met my mom?”
Taejeong’s mother nodded. She gently swirled her mug and drank the honey water. As if it suited her taste, more than half had already disappeared.
“At one time, the hospital director here was my father. The only children he had were one daughter and one son, but Seungho had no interest in studying. So he needed a man to inherit the hospital. It was the old days, so there were many such cases back then.”
She told Seonwoo about the discrimination from her parents she experienced in her youth as if it were nothing. It wasn’t that she was trying hard to act nonchalant; it just seemed she no longer kept it in her heart.
“That man was the one my father chose. He had to be smart but without backing. So he could be set up like a scarecrow and then the hospital could be passed on to the son I would give birth to. My father said he was very capable but had suffered quite a bit without backing. So he said there was no way he would refuse. The one in need wasn’t us, but them.”
“…….”
“At our first meeting, he said he had a woman.”
There was no way not to know that meant Mom.
“I said it was fine. At that time, I didn’t want to have a child. So I said that if a child was born, I could raise it as a child of the Ju family.”
“…….”
“But he didn’t answer, as if he didn’t like that either.”
“…….”
“It was an important matter, so it was better to be certain. So I went to find Seonwoo-kun’s mother.”
Taejeong’s mother put down the mug she had finished drinking.
“When I told her the same story I just told you, she said they weren’t in that kind of relationship. I thought she was lying because she wanted something, but she really wasn’t. To Seonwoo-kun’s mother, that man was just someone she grew up with at the orphanage. She said she had never harbored any feelings other than family, but at some point, she was being demanded more than that.”
Mom was a victim. The idea of a love triangle didn’t make sense from the start. The Vice Director’s nauseating talk about family all came from his delusion alone.
“I knew she was in a situation where she needed help, but I didn’t do anything. I thought I didn’t go there to do charity work. I don’t know what happened between the two of them after that. Seonwoo-kun’s mother quit the university she was attending and disappeared.”
“…….”
“That man also knew that I had met Seonwoo-kun’s mother. So I thought he would call off the engagement, but he didn’t. I thought he was ultimately a man for whom ambition was more important than love. So I married him and gave birth to Taejeong.”
“……Is he really your son?”
“Of course. He’s the child I gave birth to with my own labor pains.”
“Then why did you leave him alone?”
