“Boss, we’re almost out of milk.”
“Milk? Why?”
“A group just came in and ordered only drinks with milk. Should I go out and buy some?”
“Forget it. Not many people are coming today anyway, so just make do with what we have. Or ask the customers to understand and recommend other drinks.”
Mikyung responded half-heartedly to her employee’s words and waved her hand to shoo them away quickly. Her life these days was more depressing than ever. Was it because she poured all her love into one couple? It wasn’t just that. She’d been a fan many times before, and whenever her favorites were on hiatus, her pleasure was always to rewatch all the saved materials and look for anything she might have missed.
But she couldn’t do that now.
The very last photo they left behind was an unbelievable scene.
She never wanted to see again Evan’s face stained with streaming blood, or the sight of Siwoo, limp and cradled in his arms, being transferred from the accident car to another vehicle.
No. She didn’t want to believe in their accident itself. The paparazzi shots that followed them to the end stopped when the car they were in entered the hospital.
All kinds of media outlets swarmed and made a fuss about their accident for a while, but after the Lewis family officially started filing lawsuits, nothing about them leaked out anymore.
She just hoped they would at least let her know that everyone was safe. The last official material they left was just them happily shopping for baby items that would soon be born.
Since Siwoo used to casually upload photos even during his breaks, saying fans would be curious, fans thought he would return if they waited. It had been several months of believing they would be okay, even though it was such a big accident that their famously sturdy car was half-destroyed.
As the waiting time grew longer, she, who had been an optimist, was turning into a pessimist.
Sitting in a rocking chair, gazing at the leisurely flowing river, her face was full of worry. Even the EcoCo shippers who had been burning wildly after the accident news were now silent. The number of posts gradually decreased, the number of visitors decreased. It seemed like EcoCo would be forgotten at this rate. That was the life of idols. They burned like crazy, but it was a fire that could cool down faster than any other fire.
Watching two pairs of birds flying harmoniously over the river, Mikyung picked up the car keys on the table and stood up. Rather than sitting here blankly and fretting, it seemed better to go out and buy milk.
“Boss?”
“I’m going to buy milk.”
Mikyung answered indifferently to the employee who tried to talk to her as she suddenly left, and headed to the nearby large mart. There was milk at the convenience store next to the cafe too, but she needed an excuse to go outside.
Since there was quite a distance from her cafe in Gapyeong to the large mart, Mikyung, who had been driving along the winding road, hurriedly pulled over to the shoulder.
A fan letter waiting for EcoCo came on the radio, followed by the duet song they sang. Her chest swelled with emotion at the words that they would wait forever, that they were waiting for the day to meet them safely again.
The damn paparazzi, the media only looking for gossip.
She hoped EcoCo would appear again, but also didn’t. She felt like she could escape from this lingering attachment if she could just hear news that they were safely well.
After the song ended. Mikyung, who barely managed to drive to the mart, sighed first. She should have just bought it at the convenience store. The weekday afternoon mart in a quiet town with not many people was even more deserted than her own cafe.
Even though she came just to buy milk, Mikyung was pushing a large cart.
She put in a beer that Ocean advertised, added snacks that Siwoo liked, and picked up candy that EcoCo bickered over on broadcasts saying they would eat it.
“I need to… let go of this lingering attachment…”
Mikyung, who was muttering self-deprecatingly as she headed toward the dairy section, stopped in her tracks without realizing it.
She was breathless at the sight of a large man’s back, dressed all in black from head to toe. Blonde hair was visible under his black cap. Seeing a well-built man dressed almost entirely in black, her old habit of unconsciously connecting him to Evan kicked in.
Why does this man in front of me have to have blonde hair of all things? If it had been black hair, she would have left without any lingering feelings. As Mikyung shook her head and tried to pass by, something awkward caught her eye. A man who came shopping alone wearing a baby carrier wasn’t common—the baby’s mother must be somewhere, right?
With Evan’s personality, a baby carrier… He’s only sweet to Siwoo, but still, Evan and a baby carrier…
“Jadu-ya, do you remember what Coco said she wanted to eat earlier? Your mom, I mean.”
Strange words entered Mikyung’s ears as she was about to pass by. It was a familiar voice, and the words “Jadu” and “Coco” in it held her back again.
“Abuabababa…”
What came back in response to the man’s question was babbling.
“Mom’s been eating a ton of chocolate lately because she’s stressed. What’s the use of Grandma sending good chocolate when she insists on eating stuff like this?”
Even as she watched the man bend down and pick up chocolate with English alphabet letters, Mikyung couldn’t believe what she was seeing and hearing.
Siwoo… likes that chocolate. Even when fans gifted him expensive, fancy handmade chocolates, he said those were nice too, but that chocolate was his favorite.
As Mikyung, reminded even more of Evan, tried to pass by the man, she stopped awkwardly, and it coincided perfectly with the moment the man put the chocolate in his cart, so Mikyung ended up standing side by side with them.
Thinking “no way, no way,” absolutely impossible, Mikyung turned her head and covered her mouth with one hand. It was because she met the green eyes of an incredibly cute, doll-like baby nestled quietly in the baby carrier.
In that tiny face, the eyes, nose, and mouth had such strong presence. Above all, the large eyes with deep double eyelids were just like Siwoo’s, but the shining green pupils were like Evan’s.
“Mama… baaa…”
Mikyung’s eyes slowly moved upward as she watched the baby, whose eyes met hers, smile brightly and reach out a small hand toward her.
“Oh? Homma-nim?”
…What are the possible scenarios for dying suddenly while pushing a cart and shopping at a mart? Unless I was dead, what were the odds of seeing Evan wearing a baby carrier and doll-like Jadu nestled in his arms at a mart in a corner of Gapyeong that was big for a neighborhood but still not that big? Was she seeing the scene she wanted to see only after dying?
From Mikyung’s eyes, who faced the man with perfect looks that hadn’t changed a bit, speaking to her as she stood frozen, large teardrops finally fell plop, plop.
“Where’s our Coco?”
That’s right. She’d seen Evan and Jadu, but Coco wasn’t there.
Mikyung bit her trembling lower lip tightly and looked at Jadu and Evan. When did you come to Korea? By the way, Jadu was beyond imagination, enough to turn all those materials that fans created through editing or imagination into trash.
“Mama… ah…”
Still waving her hand toward her and babbling with small, cute lips—it seemed to resemble Siwoo’s lips that stuck out when he was concentrating, but more than that, where did our Siwoo go and why are just the two of you here?
“Ah… Coco’s resting at home.”
The worst-case scenario. That is, thinking all the way to Coco not being in this world anymore, Mikyung let out the breath she’d been holding as soon as Evan’s words fell, answering comfortably with a bright smile.
“No, ah. In Korea… I mean. The baby…”
She didn’t think she’d ever stuttered like this before, and with her brain stopped, her words naturally got tangled too as Mikyung couldn’t take her eyes off Jadu. She resembled all the good points of EcoCo evenly. Jadu was wearing a hat with cute rabbit ears, dressed in pink clothes, and waving her tightly clenched hands.
On top of that, so excited about something, she was chattering away by herself non-stop and even vigorously shaking her two legs that stuck out of the baby carrier.
“I, Coco, and Jadu are all fine. We just came to Korea not long ago, and we’re in a situation where we’re adjusting a bit too, so it’s hectic. You know, right? Our Coco. I think Coco will probably let you know about us in another new way, not me, so please pretend you don’t know until then.”
“…”
Like shouting “The king has donkey ears,” she’d probably tear at her blankets every night, but seeing EcoCo and the baby all healthy and happy, Mikyung nodded her head vigorously.
“But why are only the two of you…”
Having barely come to her senses, Mikyung looked around and asked carefully. There weren’t really any passersby, but she couldn’t help being cautious.
“Coco and Jadu were taking a nap together, and when I did this and that and looked, only Jadu woke up. I wanted Coco to sleep deeply, so just Jadu and I came out.”
When Evan started walking while pushing his cart, Mikyung ended up walking along pushing her cart too. Like that, the two walked side by side and started shopping.
“Ah… is that one tastier?”
“It’s more about preference than being tastier, but since Siwoo likes spicy things and such, wouldn’t this be better?”
“Then let’s go with that. A fan is recommending it for you.”
“No! That’s not what I meant.”
“I’ve hardly ever shopped directly, so I was at a loss. Thank you for helping.”
“B-but Jadu…”
Where is the end of being a successful fan? It was hard to believe she was walking side by side with her favorite and his baby, shopping without worrying about people, but in this situation, if their second generation grabbed and pulled her clothes…
“Jadu likes pink, and on top of that, since Coco often wears pink, she’s friendly toward people wearing pink.”
Mikyung clenched both hands tightly as she watched in real-time Evan placing his large hand on the baby’s head wearing a hat and stroking it, flicking those chubby cheeks with his long fingertips, then taking out a pacifier from the pocket on the side of the baby carrier and putting it in.
If she said that Evan from the EcoCo couple, who disappeared completely while their life or death was unknown, gave a pacifier directly to Jadu squirming inside a baby carrier while shopping at a mart, everyone would definitely recommend psychiatric treatment for her.
Mikyung, who came to buy milk on impulse, went around the mart with Evan and shopped, then returned to the cafe. However, her shopping basket didn’t actually contain any milk.
