Chapter 14
At Jaegyeom’s unbridled display of affection, Jisu felt a warm heat rising up the back of her neck. Somehow embarrassed, she only cleared her throat. Every time Jaegyeom expressed his love more openly and sometimes more naturally than she did, Jisu found herself realizing, “Ah, so he really did grow up in America.”
“Ahem, I’m going to bed. The kid is tired. Yoon Jaegyeom, good night.”
— Seriously…… just because we talked about kissing a little, how can you act this awkward? If we talked about sex, would Im Jisu faint?
“It’s not like that! And that, over the phone, huh? That, that kind of talk, why would we even have to do it!”
— Gyechon may be a conservative neighborhood, but I didn’t know Gyechon’s pride was this conservative. What can’t you do over the phone? Want to try it, right now?
“What?”
Just moments ago only her neck had been hot, but now her face felt like it was about to burst. Why on earth would they suddenly do that over the phone, what, and how. Even if she pretended to be innocent, just from Jaegyeom’s low voice and somewhat rough breathing coming through the phone, she felt like she knew what he was going to do, and Jisu grew embarrassed. She really had to stop him before he did something.
“Yoon Jaegyeom. Stop teasing me, please…….”
— All right. That’s enough for today.
Thanks to her boyfriend, who generously granted her mercy along with a cool laugh, Jisu relaxed. They said their goodbyes, promising to meet when she took the early morning train the day after tomorrow, and hung up.
Of course they would call tomorrow too, but the two of them felt every single day that long-distance calls always ended with both of them longing only for the day they would meet.
The next afternoon, the moment Jisu got off the bus, she was so startled she couldn’t say anything and just stood there. Only after Jaegyeom, who had approached with a smile, pulled her into a sudden embrace did her mouth open as if she had awakened from magic.
“Why are you here?”
“I came to pick you up.”
“Pick me up? Don’t tell me you came all the way up here from Gyechon just to go back down to Gyechon with me tomorrow?”
“Jisu. I want to ask the questions first. You were doing interview study group this hard? How intensely did you study that you have no strength at all, like a balloon doll with all the air let out? Aigo, poor thing. So you were planning to ride the train for hours to Gyechon tomorrow on a standing ticket in this exhausted state. Good thing I came to pick you up.”
No wonder she had thought it was strange that Jaegyeom kept asking which bus stop she got off at. But she had never even dreamed that was because he was there to pick her up, so the moment she got off the bus and found Jaegyeom waiting for her, she couldn’t wipe the surprised look off her face. Jaegyeom took her heavy shoulder bag and asked.
“Why is your bag so heavy again. Want me to carry you on my back to your place?”
“What?”
“Or should I hold you and go?”
“Why are you like this, really.”
Because she knew he truly meant that he wanted to hold her or carry her home since she looked tired, Jisu answered instead by linking her arm through his. And they walked slowly toward home.
They both thought at the same time that they looked like newlyweds commuting home together, but neither said it out loud. The sight of Jaegyeom and Jisu walking together with the evening sunset as their backdrop suited them very well.
The moment they arrived at her studio apartment after walking for over ten minutes, it was only natural that sparks flew between them. Every time Jaegyeom talked on the phone with Jisu before bed, he would say, “Your voice is sweet, your way of speaking tickles me, and I always suffered because I wanted to touch you and reach you,” and then tell Jisu to take responsibility.
“Responsibility?”
“Before I met you, I slept just fine by myself, but now I can’t.”
“What do you mean,”
Before Jisu could even feel wronged, their lips overlapped. As if the sleepless nights that continued with her body heated were somehow Jisu’s fault, Jaegyeom pushed her hard until dawn the next day.
Early the next morning. While a beautiful couple rode in Jaegyeom’s car and headed to Gyechon early, at Seoul Station, Youngbaek and his mother were having a tearful farewell. For just one night and two days, going to change Jisu’s heart and apologize to Jisu’s mother felt as heavy as going off to enlist in the military. The thought that showing up without contact was rude did not exist for these two from the start.
“Mom. Can’t you come with me? Mom, go and apologize with me. Honestly, I don’t have confidence. You didn’t see Im Jisu’s face back then. She’s really vicious, Mom. She cursed at me and swung a trash bag at me, you know?”
“I barely got even one train ticket for you by paying extra. There are no tickets, so how would I go, son? And sweet-talking Jisu and Jisu’s mom, our Youngbaek can do that. You have to do it! I’ll scold Jisu later until tears pop out of her eyes. Don’t worry. Okay?”
“Then you go instead of me. Mom, you go and talk to Im Jisu and Im Jisu’s mom. I don’t want to go there!”
His mother decided to send Youngbaek down to Gyechon, telling him to go to Jisu’s neighborhood and win her heart back somehow. She felt as if her guts were collapsing, like a lioness pushing her cub off a cliff, but she firmly soothed her whining son again.
“Youngbaek. Grandfather’s inheritance! Don’t forget that! He said he’d pass it down if you brought home a daughter-in-law who graduated from Korea University. Huh? Even if Jisu is lacking in many ways, if you go to her, she’ll be moved by your sincerity again. Tell her you didn’t ride a taxi comfortably but went to all the trouble of getting a train ticket like this. She might even cry, overcome with emotion.”
“Hing. I really hate Gyechonri. The internet there is slow! Taxi apps don’t work and buses run super rarely! I can’t even come to Seoul whenever I want!”
“That’s right! That’s why you have to go, son! You said it’s such a backwater country place. Go down first. Go and butt heads. Surely they won’t turn you away when you have nowhere proper to stay and no train ticket? Sleep at that house for a day and radiate your charm! I bet our son, Jisu’s mom will really like you?”
“……Still, they’ll at least let me stay the night, right? I do have a face that middle-aged women like. There’s nothing sharp about me. My body type is warm and approachable too.”
In fact, on the day he received a formal breakup notice from Jisu, Youngbaek and his hurt mother had gone straight to a marriage matchmaking agency for consultation.
When the mother and son requested a match with “a Korea University student, or a woman in her twenties who graduated no more than five years ago, under 165cm with a petite but glamorous figure,” the couple manager gave a kind smile and returned a refusal, saying, “It will be difficult for you to sign up.”
It was an outing after which both returned feeling keenly that the only realistic alternative was “changing Im Jisu’s heart.”
“Youngbaek. When you go this time, tell Jisu’s mom you’ll get married within the winter. Our son, fighting!”
“Yeah. Mom. I’ll be back.”
To win Jisu back, Youngbaek took a majestic step toward Gyechon, the backwater country village he hated so much.
Thanks to leaving early in Jaegyeom’s car, the two arrived in Gyechon before lunchtime. The persimmon tree in Jisu’s yard was already heavy with fruit, announcing that autumn had ripened. Jisu’s mother, busy preparing holiday food, brightened at the sight of Jaegyeom entering the house with both hands full of things.
“Oh my! Good heavens, what brings you here! Our Jaegyeom is here! You didn’t say you were coming! What happened?”
“Mom. I’m your daughter. Can’t you see me?”
“You should have contacted me if you were coming with Jaegyeom! How nice would it have been if I had prepared what Jaegyeom likes in advance. Should I go to town right now to shop? What does our Jaegyeom want to eat? Huh?”
Her mother, who had no way of knowing that Jaegyeom ran an auto repair shop in town, assumed they had come down together from Seoul and was even more delighted. Since Jaegyeom had brought her, half of that was right and half was wrong, but the mood was too awkward to correct it.
Her mother’s playful chatter went on endlessly, saying that somehow she had wanted to cook more food than usual, and that normally during holidays she was so busy cooking that cleaning was pushed aside, but somehow she had wanted to clean first and had cleaned yesterday. And since when had he become “our Jaegyeom”? This was only the second time she had seen him.
Jaegyeom really washed his hands first and came out to the kitchen as if he had already become her son-in-law.
“Mother, what should I do?”
“Good heavens! Do what! Eat the pancakes I already fried and watch TV. Go over there to the sofa and just lie down! You brought clothes too, right? Change into something comfortable. Huh?”
“No, Mother. Please give me work. I’ve lived alone since high school, so I cook well. I even hold my mother’s memorial rites alone, simply. I can make seasoned vegetables and fry pancakes.”
Her mother’s previously high voice suddenly dropped in pitch.
“You hold the ancestral rites food alone? My heart hurts so much. Jaegyeom is truly admirable. I thought I raised only my daughter through hardship, but Jaegyeom’s hardships are beyond comparison. From now on, when you come to our house, don’t touch even a drop of water.”
“Mother, I’m really fine, so please order me around generously. Rather, it’s better for me to do it while I’m here so you can rest too, Mother. And we all have somewhere to go today, right? So hurry and put me to work and let’s finish this quickly.”
“Go where? We? Jaegyeom and our daughter and me?”
Instead of answering, Jaegyeom gave a meaningful smile.
