CHAPTER 53

Siyeon loaded her belongings into her car. It wasn’t too heavy or bulky, and the heavier and larger items among her belongings would be sent separately to her house in Samseong-dong.

The two of them said goodbye to their parents and went outside. Ijun was going to ride in the driver’s car, and she decided to drive her own car.

As she was heading towards the driver’s seat, Yoonsoo blocked Siyeon’s way and stood in front of her. She sent him a questioning look, asking what was going on.

“I’ll drive, so sit in the passenger seat.”

“Why?”

“You’re clearly not in your right mind. If you drive in that state, it’s a one-way ticket to the afterlife.”

Yoonsoo realized that her condition was not stable. Although she had been acting as if nothing had happened, she hadn’t been able to completely hide it.

Siyeon handed him the car keys without protest. It seemed like she wouldn’t be able to concentrate fully on driving in her current state as he said.

“Sometimes, when I see you, I think ‘Mother Teresa’ suits you better than ‘Mansur.'”

(Mansur =Internet slang for a fabulously rich person.)

“You don’t have to be that grateful.”

Siyeon obediently took the passenger seat as Yoonsoo said so. When she got in the car, she noticed that Ijun’s car had stopped just ahead. The brake lights were on. As soon as her car started moving, Ijun’s car started moving as well.

“Jessica.”

“It’s Choi Siyeon.”

“Why do you pretend to be happy while being unhappy?”

There was a time when Siyeon asked him why he pretended to like Eunhye while actually disliking her. Later, she found out that it was because of his ambition to become Yeongjin’s son-in-law.

“I don’t know about you, but isn’t that what arranged marriage is all about?”

“Did an arranged marriage take place between Baekya Foods and Yeongjin? Anyone can see that you were brought into that house.”

Then he asked in a slightly lowered voice.

“What did you talk about with the boss for so long? I thought you would come out soon, but I waited in the yard for a long time, even Mr. Jeong.”

“It was about the family’s head and secrets. It must have been boring while waiting.”

“It wasn’t boring. That person had a lot of questions about me.”

“What was he curious about?”

“’Jessica’. He asked me why I call you Jessica. It felt like he was about to hit me if I exaggerated a little.”

Siyeon frowned and looked at Yoonsoo.

“So did you talked about why I had come to work in Yeongjin?”

“Of course, I did. The girl who lives in Gangdong-gu used to come here to work part-time every weekend. It was impressive that a 20 year old girl, who had just become an adult, commuted by subway and walked to the factory every weekend to earn her living. Since she lived alone without parents, everyone treated her well. I even praised her a lot.”

“….”

She hadn’t thought of controlling his mouth because she hadn’t expected Yoonsoo to be there.

But it had already been spilled. Besides, Ijun had already known that she had known for a long time that the Yeongjin CEO was her real father. Yoonsoo probably realized that fact too.

“A tough girl. How many years did you hide it from your parents?”

“Well, there was a reason back then.”

Siyeon turned her head to look out the window and spoke in a weak voice.

“Of course, there must have been reasons. But even if there were no trustworthy people around, could you have kept it a secret alone? Nevertheless, you spent hours lying on the street every week just to find your parents because you missed them. You must have felt so sad watching the boss and Eunhye.”

“…”

“…That’s why I wanted to treat you well. I hope you’ll be happy.”

She had only been 20 years old, but she lived every day as if she were a hero who had to save the world herself. She hadn’t realized how difficult her twenties were while commuting from home to here for hours by public transportation and walking.

Looking back on her past and present lives, she now realizes how difficult her twenties were.

“Thanks to you, I don’t worry about my parents. Thank you, and I’m sorry.”

“You live in a villa with no yard, so where do you lie down now?”

He changed the subject, and the serious atmosphere became awkward.

“There’s a rooftop that’s bigger than our yard. There’s even grass on it, and it’s really nice. I’m thinking of putting a sunbed there.”

“Why do you need a sunbed if the rooftop is bigger than your yard?”

“I just want somewhere to lie down.”

“Well, after lying on the ground a few times, I think I understand why you were lying there on a daily basis.”

“It’s addictive.”

The two of them looked at each other and burst out laughing. The car followed Ijun’s car at a certain distance.

When they arrived at the underground parking lot of the Samseong-dong house, Yoonsoo parked Siyeon’s car in a space painted with the number 501 in white paint on the floor. Each house can accommodate up to three cars, and the remaining spaces were occupied by Ijun’s commuting car and his personal car parked side by side.

“I’ll carry your things.”

“It’s only light, it’s okay.”

“I’m curious about what the rooftop looks like, but would it be impolite to visit a newlywed’s home?”

“I’ll invite you later when I have the chance, along with Manager Yang and Team Leader.”

The two of them arrived at the lobby, and Siyeon saw him off to the entrance of the villa.

When she came upstairs to her home, Ijun was reading a book on the living room sofa on the first floor. Siyeon checked the cover of the book he was holding, and her face turned red. Although she wanted to say that he shouldn’t read books by an author he didn’t like, she held back and said something.

“Thank you for coming with me today.”

“It’s not a big deal.”

“I’ll go upstairs then.”

“….”

She interpreted Ijun’s silence as affirmation and went up to the second floor. The housekeepers were not around. They only worked until lunchtime unless there was something special going on during the weekend. Still, the house didn’t feel deserted, probably because Ijun was there.

Entering her room, she sat on the bed and opened the mother-of-pearl box her mother had given her. Inside were two hair comb. Even when she closely examined them side by side, they looked exactly the same, as if they were manufactured by a machine.

She stared into the mirror attached to the inside of the lid of the mother-of-pearl box. The corners of her eyes in the mirror gradually turned red.

Her great-grandfather proposed to her great-grandmother with this hair comb and wrote a poem called Baekya. She thought it was a very romantic poem that made her heart beat faster.

People all think that the poem is one of the representative resistance poems during the Japanese occupation. Even Kim Dong-han had misunderstood it that way, not to mention others. They never have imagined that such a meaning was hidden in the poem.

After her great-grandfather suffered in silence and committed suicide, her grandfather went to visit Kim Dong-han’s house, holding hands with his young son. 

Perhaps her grandfather wanted to tell his son, Siyeon’s father, that Kim Dong-han wasn’t the real owner of that poem. Maybe it was meant for his son to remember that fact.

…Is familiarity in genetics even real?

Siyeon reflected on her own life as she ate her meal. She had always held a pen in her hand whenever she had free time. Her great-grandfather, grandfather, and father all had the same desires and passions flowing in their blood.

I want to correct the truth.

She felt frustrated. If there had been evidence, her father would have already corrected the truth. If it had been a recent event, it would have been relatively easy to find evidence, but unfortunately, over a hundred years had already passed.

But why did Gwihyeon’s great-grandfather have the hair comb that was given to Kim Dong-han? Did he give it to a friend, claiming it was a gift because he felt guilty keeping it himself?

“….”

Silently staring at the hair comb, Siyeon carefully put them back into the mother-of-pearl box and went downstairs to the first floor. She wondered if Ijun might know more about the story that she didn’t know.

“Are you busy…?”

He was still in the living room. Siyeon sat on the sofa opposite him, where he was reading a book, and asked.

“Why?”

“I have something to ask you, Sir Ijun.”

“Go ahead.”

“You remember the hair comb you gave me before?”

Ijun looked up from his book and stared at Siyeon intently. It was an expression of curiosity about why she suddenly brought up the hair comb.

“I heard that the hair comb originally belonged to your great-grandmother. Do you happen to know how she got hold of it, Sir Ijun?”

“Ijun”

“Yes?”

“Call me Ijun. Every time you call me ‘Sir Ijun,’ I feel like I’m working all day without a break.”

“…Sure. Well, it’s not a difficult task.”

Sometimes he would insist on being called ‘Sir Ijun,’ and sometimes he would change his mind. But it didn’t matter what he was called since he was still Ijun.

But they were in the middle of an important conversation, and the flow was interrupted, making it lose its momentum. Ijun glanced at her, who seemed a bit deflated, and opened his mouth.

“That hair comb was a gift from Kim Dong-han for my great-grandmother. He knew that my great-grandfather was planning to propose to my great-grandmother at the time, so he gave it to him.”

“Do you know where Kim Dong-han got that hair comb in the first place?”

Her eyes sharpened. Ijun looked at Siyeon as if she were strange.

“He was a night school teacher, as you know. He gathered people who couldn’t afford the money and time to go to school and taught them at night. There was one person among them who was especially skilled. I heard that person made it as a token of gratitude for him.”

“He only gave the hair comb? Wasn’t there anything like a box with it?”

“…I heard that there was something like that, but how do you know?”

“I naturally… heard it from Ichondong’s parents.”

As she suddenly tried to lie, her face flushed with embarrassment.

“Well, then you would know better where it is.”

“I… don’t remember it well.”

“The box was left at Professor Kim’s house, and only the hair comb came to the Jeong family. I heard Professor Kim’s wife wanted it. If she hadn’t discarded it, it might still be with Grandma.”

Ijun knew much more than Siyeon expected, which was a great help to her. If she had known this fact earlier, she might have found an excuse to check the box at her grandmother’s house.

Siyeon had never seen that box before. She knew that her grandmother didn’t show it to her because she wasn’t a direct granddaughter and kept it hidden.

What could grandmother have thought each time she opened that mother-of-pearl box? Did she find her reflection in the mirror inside truly beautiful?

A bitter smile formed on Siyeon’s lips.