CHAPTER 37

On Saturday morning, Siyeon went to Hannam-dong in Yoonsoo’s car. She was going there to load the luggage that the Hannamdong parents had roughly packed.

Between her biological mother and Manager Yang, it had been previously agreed that only essential items for their new life would be brought, leaving behind most of the larger belongings. This decision was made because Siyeon’s house was quite small, and it would be more convenient to move furniture and appliances when they relocated to their new house.

“The Madam asked we could contact Eunhye and tell her if she could stop by the hospital if she have the chance.”

“But I can’t get in touch with her.”

“It’s hard to see her, and she doesn’t answer her phone. If she happens to send a text, she just says she’s busy. It seems like the Madam is worried about her. She wants to see Eunhye’s face before they move, but that girl isn’t cooperating. Doesn’t she even worry about her dad in the hospital?”

“…”.

Since Gwihyeon’s accident, Siyeon hadn’t heard anything about Eunhye. She had probably been deeply affected as well. Several months had passed, and Gwihyeon, who she was promised to get married to, still hadn’t regained consciousness; she must be in a state of panic.

Thanks to Siyeon’s biological mother’s prior arrangements, Yoonsoo’s car was able to quickly pass through the entrance of the villa. Yopnsoo parked the car in the underground parking lot without hesitation, and quickly entered the access code for the residents’ entrance.

“Have you been here before?”

“Haven’t you heard that I tutored Eunhye?”

“I heard.”

The two of them soon took the elevator up and entered unit 301. Even though it was daytime, the house, with all its blinds pulled down, was dark.

As soon as Yoonsoo entered the house, he turned on the lights in the living room. There were several large boxes carefully taped up in the living room.

“You stay here and watch the stuff. I’ll be quick.”

“Can you carry it all by yourself?”

“I’m an ex-Army sergeant and have completed my military service already. Oh, by the way, the Madam asked me to tell you that she couldn’t say goodbye to the neighbors because she’s moving. She said she’ll come by and say hello separately when she has some free time.”

Yoonsoo left those words and headed to the elevator, holding a blue plastic box.

Siyeon, who had been standing there thinking for a moment, walked to the neighboring unit and rang the doorbell. She pressed it and waited for a while, but there was no response, so she pressed it again.

After a while, someone slowly opened the door from inside. Through the narrow gap in the door, she could see bloodshot eyes.

“Hello.”

“…What are you doing here?”

“I’ll come in for a moment. I have something to say.”

The grandmother looked at Siyeon and let out a bitter laugh as if she was astonished. Her cheeks had become even more sunken, and the wrinkles were deeper than when Siyeon had last seen her.

“Do you not know what’s happening in our house right now? Did you come here to pour fuel on the fire in our burning house?”

“Are you here to brazenly take my daughter away and then act like it’s nothing? Instead of raising your voice at me, you should be apologizing.”

“You shamelessly stole the daughter of a household to save your granddaughter and have the nerve to speak like that to me. Instead of yelling at me, you should be apologizing.”

“What’s all this nonsense? You’ve been living off our kindness without even thinking about it, and you just resent me?”

“I’m not from this neighborhood, so I don’t really care, but since you’ve been living here for a long time, is it okay for you to yell so loudly?”

“…”

Upon hearing Siyeon’s words, Grandma suddenly clenched her lips and glared at her.

“I’ll come in.”

She couldn’t stop Siyeon as she passed by her. When Siyeon entered, her Ichon-dong parents were standing in the entrance of the house.

“Siyeon…”

Their faces were grim.

“I had something to tell you, but now that both of you are here, it’s good. Why haven’t you told Suwon Grandfather that Eunhye and I have been switched?”

“Right now… We both know the situation with Suwon Grandfather, so how can we tell him? We were planning to tell him as soon as Gwihyeon wakes up…”

“What if he never wakes up?”

“Siyeon!”

The Ichon-dong’s mother called out to her as if she had heard a terrible sound.

“It’s been several weeks since Gwihyeon had the accident. Suwon Grandfather constantly looks for me every day and worries about the wedding. How long do I have to keep hearing this?”

“We truly feel sorry for you… but… for the sake of Suwon grandfather’s health, we’d rather not give him a bigger shock.”

This time, the father tried to explain.

“I’m sure the hospital has already informed you about Gwihyeon…. We might have to consider that he may never recover…”

Before Siyeon could finish her sentence, both the grandmother and the mother sank to the floor and began to sob. As Siyeon suspected, they all knew the severity of Gwihyeon’s condition.

“I’ll give you a week. Within a week, please tell Suwon Grandfather and Gwihyeon’s parents the truth. If you don’t, I’ll say it from my perspective.”

“Don’t you have any sympathy for Eunhye? She’s finally starting to find her way and seek happiness, and you just want to block her path.”

The Ichon-dong mother, who had been sobbing, raised her voice and glared at Siyeon. It was a gaze mixed with anger and hatred.

“How am I blocking Eunhye’s path?”

“Just pretend you don’t know for a little while! What’s so hard about that? When Gwihyeon wakes up, everything will be revealed anyway, so why are you in such a rush?”

“I just want the truth to be revealed, in case Gwihyeon doesn’t wake up.”

“W-what are you talking about?”

Gwihyeon’s condition was serious, and the Suwon’s parents and grandfather had summoned Ijun to be back home. They didn’t bring Ijun back just because Gwihyeon‘s condition was bad.

Even Siyeon herself had noticed that Ijun would be taking Gwihyeon place in the family. If Gwihyeon couldn’t wake up, then Ijun would become the heir of the Jeong family, as well as the owner of Baekya Food. There was no way the Ichon-dong family didn’t know this either.

After such a major accident involving Gwihyeon, Eunhye didn’t even bother to visit the hospital nearby. The Ichon-dong parents had visited only once or twice.  At first, Siyeon thought it was because of the shock, but it wasn’t.

“Ijun has come back to Korea. He’s going to take over as the acting head.”

“…”

“If Gwihyeon can’t make it, did you have Ijun in mind as the next step? That’s why Eunhye hasn’t come to the hospital at all. You probably didn’t want it to be known that she had a special relationship with Gwihyeon.”

“What does that have to do with you? It’s an old promise between our house and the Suwon house. It’s none of your business who ends up with whom!”

Despite her doubts, when Siyeon became certain that her assumptions were correct, she felt like she had been thrown into a filthy sewer.

“As you said, it’s not my place to meddle. But please make it clear to Suwon Grandfather that we have switched places. As I mentioned earlier, I’ll give you a week to settle everything within that time. I no longer want to live as Kim Siyeon.”

With a tired expression, Siyeon turned away. She felt as if she had been beaten all over her body, from head to toe.

“Eunhye already knew Ijun!”

However, she couldn’t move and had to stop where she stood. The Ichon-dong mother began to speak as if she were vomiting blood onto her back.

“Eunhye had met Ijun much earlier, and she liked him first. They were in contact with each other for a few years, talking on the phone and all!”

“…”

Right. On the day when Siyeon first met Eunhye in Hannam-dong, she had felt an inexplicable uneasiness while observing Eunhye’s expression as she looked at Ijun.

“At first, when we heard that Gwihyeon had an accident, Eunhye was in a terrible state. She was in so much pain that she couldn’t leave for work for a week, do you know how much she suffered? That’s why she didn’t go to the hospital. Do you think she was in her right mind? And so I told her not to go to the hospital. That’s right! Your words are correct, there’s a high chance that Gwihyeon may never wake up, so how can I send her to the hospital? She might end up with the label of being just Gwihyeon’s fiancee, unable to get married, so why would I do that?”

Heartbreaking sobs were interspersed throughout her speech.

“But then, after Eunhye came home from seeing Ijun at work, she told us about him. Seeing her face brighten up for the first time in a while, do you know how happy I was? Eunhye had liked Ijun from way back, and Ijun just so happens to come from the Jeong family, so why can’t it work out?”

“…What if Gwihyeon wakes up? What will you do when Ijun goes back to the U.S. and Gwihyeon takes everything back when he wakes up… What will you do then?”

“That’s why I’m saying let’s just wait a little longer. It’s not that difficult, you just have to stay quiet.”

Siyeon turned around again. A bitter smile played on her lips.

“No, I can’t do that.”

“Siyeon, look at us, the ones who raised you… I’m begging you like this.”

Her father’s voice filled with sorrow interrupted. Siyeon pretended not to hear and spoke with a stern face.

“Where is Eunhye now?”

“…She’s at Gwihyeon’s home.”

Seeing that Siyeon still didn’t seem to understand, he quickly added.

 “Ijun… since he had to return home urgently, and he didn’t have time to find a place to live, he decided to stay at Gwihyeon’s home. Since we’re nearby, we can also provide meals for him, and Eunhye can be a great help in his transition for work since she works there for a long time. It seems like they made the decision for both practical and personal reasons.”

Eunhye had been with Ijun since Saturday morning. And it’s was probably not because of work.

“…Please tell Eunhye for me to call her Hannam-dong mother.”

Siyeon could only convey these words in a subdued voice. It was because she remembered Ijun’s stern face and how he had turned away.

The Ijun from before would not have allowed Eunhye to stay inside the house if he didn’t like her or if she got on his nerves. He would have either never let her in, or immediately asked her to leave. But now, he was with Eunhye.

“Siyeon, please, can’t you help Eunhye find happiness?”

“I have no intention of speaking about Eunhye and Gwihyeon’s relationship. It’s none of my business who Eunhye meets or chooses. Just help me with the paperwork and stop making things difficult for me. If you can solve these two things, I don’t care about anything else.”

It didn’t matter to Siyeon who Ijun met and loved, even if it happened to be Eunhye.