CHAPTER 29

Siyeon poured water into a transparent plastic cup filled with ice and added freshly brewed espresso twice to make an iced Americano.

“One iced Americano is ready! Enjoy your drink.”

Siyeon received a buzzer from a customer and handed them the tray with the drink.

As the weather grew hotter, iced beverages, particularly iced Americanos, accounted for more than 70% of the daily sales. It was the season of “A.A.” (A.A = Korean Slang for Iced Coffee.)

“Siyeon.”

Her friend Eunkyung signaled her with a glance. The two of them took advantage of the momentary lull in customers and squatted under the cash register.

They unwrapped their sandwich packaging and took a big bite. When their eyes met, they burst into laughter.

“What are you saving money for?”

Eunkyung asked Siyeon in a small voice as she nibbled on her sandwich. Siyeon had started working part-time at Eunkyung’s café half a year ago.

Three days a week, after finishing school, Siyeon headed straight to the cafe, and on weekends, she still worked part-time at the packaging job at Yeongjin.

Being a model part-time worker, Siyeon had been working steadily at this place since winter. Eunkyung, who was Siyeon’s high school friend, and had never imagined she would be working a job to support herself because she knew that Siyeon was the daughter of a well-off family.

“I’m not sure yet because I haven’t saved enough. I’ll let you know when I have enough.”

“Have you written anything yet? I haven’t written a single word all week.”

Eunkyung grumbled while shrugging her shoulders but soon focused on eating her sandwich. She was an aspiring writer who loved mystery detective stories. The reason Siyeon and Eunkyung became close in the first place was their shared love for writing.

During her high school years, Eunkyung received an encouragement award in a writing competition, which led her to declare her intention to forgo university and pursue a career as a writer.

Seeing their daughter’s unyielding commitment, her parents were concerned. They gently suggested she retake the college entrance exam, but Eunkyung refused.

Eventually, the compromise was that she would work part-time at the cafe on weekdays. It was a meaningful solution, as they couldn’t bear the thought of their daughter having no financial independence. In a few years, Eunkyung would inherit the cafe and make her living there.

“I’ve written about 100,000 characters. I want to start serializing it to see the readers’ response.”

Siyeon responded after swallowing her sandwich. Over the past six months, she had accumulated quite a bit of writing. Siyeon would write whenever she had the chance, as it made her forget all other worries.

Ijun, who had learned about her writing by chance, asked for her pen name and genre, but she declined, saying it’s a secret until she succeeds.

“You’ve written a lot. That’s great.”

“It’s alright.”

“But when are you visiting your parents if you’re always this busy?”

“Whenever I get some time.”

Siyeon replied vaguely. It had been several months since she had seen her Ichon-dong parents. They met once for a meal just before the start of the school year, and they hadn’t met since then.

She had heard from Gwihyeon that her parents were mostly living in Hannam-dong, leaving the Ichon-dong house empty.

“Will you keep working even after your boyfriend is discharged from the military?”

“Yes.”

“When will you have time for dating, then?”

“Whenever I get some time.”

Eunkyung’s expression turned grim at Siyeon’s response.

“Your boyfriend will really hate that. Don’t you think?”

He most likely would.

Perhaps they’d end up fighting over it while working at the cafe. However, Siyeon had made up her mind to sort things out with Ijun once he completed his military service. She had two months left.

[Your family says they’re taking good care of Gwihyeon at their place. That puts my mind at ease.]”

Suwon Grandfather had recently called Siyeon and told her with a contented voice. Through that call, Siyeon learned that her grandmother and Ichon-dong mother often invited Gwihyeon to their home.

Although there was a housekeeper who took care of cooking, cleaning, and laundry in Gwihyeon’s apartment, it seemed he often dined with Siyeon’s family. From Gwihyeon’s grandfather’s perspective, it must have been a heartwarming sight.

[“It would be nice if you both could also visit Suwon.”]

Although Gwihyeon didn’t say this to her, but Siyeon knew he was seeing Eunhye.

While on dates with Eunhye, he never specified whom he was meeting with, just saying he was on a date. So, Suwon grandfather naturally assumed he was meeting Siyeon.

Although Gwihyeon was rather sneaky, Siyeon had no choice but to stay quiet since they had an agreement.

“We’re breaking up.”

“Really? Breaking… what? You’re going to break up now after waiting for your boyfriend throughout his military service?”

“I wasn’t waiting. Time just passed.”

“Don’t tell me, he wore his military boots backward?”

“That man even wears his sneakers properly.”

Siyeon only came to her senses after receiving Suwon grandfather’s call. She hadn’t taken Gwihyeon’s warnings seriously before, but now she realized she could no longer continue her relationship with Ijun.

Ever since she started considering breaking up, Siyeon’s heart ached whenever she thought of Ijun. When she spoke with him on the phone, she often found herself tearing up more often than laughing.

“What about you?”

“…What about me?”

“Did you cheat on him?”

“…”

In the past, Siyeon had thought somewhat lightly that maybe she could meet Ijun because Gwihyeon had Eunhye. She was naive in the past, holding onto him thoughtlessly because she loved the affection he poured out just for her, without thinking of the consequences.

She had always expected their relationship to be limited from the beginning, but now that the end was approaching, she was already feeling scared. Ijun was the last warm thing she had.

“Try not to break up if possible. You looked happy when you talked to him.”

“..I don’t want to either.”

“So what’s the problem?”

“It’s just one of the hundreds of reasons to break up.”

Eunkyung, seeing the tearful look in Siyeon’s eyes as she spoke calmly and got up from her seat, wore a sympathetic expression.

***

On a Saturday morning, Siyeon was at Yeongjin.

“Siyeon, it’s hot!”

As Siyeon opened the office door and walked in, Deputy Yang sprang up from her seat and fetched a cold drink can from the refrigerator, offering it to her.

“Thank you.”

“If you see Yoonsoo, tell him to come and get a drink.”

“Sure.”

Siyeon checked in for work, grabbed the canned drink, and headed outside the office building. She went to the large parasol table set up in the factory’s front yard and opened the can while sitting on a blue plastic chair.

Since there was no shade outside the container building, the recently placed parasol table was conveniently used by employees for resting.

As Siyeon absentmindedly stared at the sun-drenched area, Yoonsoo’s car pulled into the yard.

“What are you doing here?”

“Spacing out. Deputy Yang says you just grab a drink.”

Even though she relayed Deputy Yang’s words, Yoonsoo didn’t head into the office but sat down next to Siyeon.

“Why are you still working here? Even when Eunhye doesn’t come anymore.”

Since her fateful encounter with the eldest son of Baekya Foods, Eunhye hadn’t set foot in the factory. All her attention was on the new man she had met.

“I told you, it’s my hobby.”

“What a peculiar hobby.”

“It’s nice to meet people.”

Surprisingly, he gave a straightforward answer, making Siyeon turn and look at him.

“Aren’t you upset that Eunhye is seeing another man?”

“Of course, I am. I put in a lot of effort, but someone else won her over. However, given who the guy is, I can understand.”

“Why did you put in so much effort when you didn’t even like her that much?”

In Siyeon’s opinion, Yoonsoo didn’t appear to have romantic feelings for Eunhye. He might not have liked her, but there was a reason he wanted Eunhye.

“I admire the boss. This job suits me, the people at the factory are great. I was thinking of becoming his son-in-law and inheriting Yeongjin, but as you can see, that ship has sailed.”

“You’re a son of a bigger factory than here. Why are you after Yeongjin?”

His words sounded overly honest, almost like a lie.

“Only one child inherits the business, and I’m the fifth out of five sons.”

“Oh… that’s unfortunate.”

Siyeon nodded, understanding the situation after his explanation.

“This parasol is great. You know we got this because of you, right?”

Looking up at the umbrella, he raised an eyebrow and said to Siyeon, who had her eyes wide open.

“Did Deputy Yang buy this? I never asked for it.”

“Do you think Deputy Yang would buy something like this on her own? Everything is purchased with the boss’s permission.”

“The boss…?”

Siyeon suddenly remembered the time a week ago when she had met her real father at this place.

The factory door was locked, and Siyeon was waiting for Deputy Yang by leaning against the wall of the container building. Coincidentally, she saw her father arriving for work. To be honest, she had been standing there to see him going to work.

Seeing her standing there with her cheeks reddened from the heat, he stopped and asked why she wasn’t waiting in the cool office.

“It’s more comfortable here.”

It was just something she said, a passing remark, but he happened to take her words to heart. She couldn’t know her father’s inner thoughts, but when she had come to Yeongjin last week, there was already a large parasol set up in the yard.

“He asked Deputy Yang why she had the part-time worker standing in the scorching sun. Anyway, thanks to you, we now have a cool shade and the fridge is stocked with cold drinks, so it’s a good thing.”

“Is it really because of me?”

“Yeah. I think because you and Eunhye are of the same age that’s why he was concerned.”

Her heart swelled with the unexpected emotion. A profound feeling she hadn’t anticipated washed over her.

“But you, you really resemble the boss’s wife a lot.”

“…”

When she turned her gaze towards him while still immersed in emotion, Yoonsoo was tilting his head, as if in thought.

“Someone might mistake you for their daughter, not Eunhye.”

“I guess I have a striking appearance like her mother. Well, Eunhye is pretty, too.”

“Eunhye is pretty, but there’s not a single thing about her that resembles her mother.”

Siyeon stared at him, puzzled.

“Then maybe she resembles her Dad.”

“It’s not that either. If you had eyes, you would have noticed.”