CHAPTER 56

After finishing the meal in heavy silence, Ijun went out.

Siyeon started to go upstairs but changed her mind and went to the study. There were two wooden bookshelves on the facing walls, and a luxurious wooden desk and a black leather chair were placed in front of them. On one side, there was also a chair where one could comfortably lean back and read a book.

Siyeon slowly walked around the bookshelves. Most of the bookshelves were still empty, probably because Ijun’s belongings hadn’t all been brought in yet. Then, at one moment, she stopped in her tracks.

‘It’s my book.’

Right in front of her, from her early works to the most recently published books, every single one of Siyeon’s books was neatly lined up on the bookshelf. She wasn’t sure who had given them to Ijun as a gift, but whoever it was, they must be a really good person.

Siyeon picked up one of her early books and flipped through the cover.

“…Boss, seriously.”

Her eyes narrowed as she checked the inside cover. Ijun’s claim of having a personally signed copy was indeed true.

This book was indeed one that she had personally signed. However, it puzzled her why a book she had signed for the publishing company president ended up Ijun’s hands.

Siyeon immediately called the publisher president. They usually never had any reason to call each other, only exchanging greetings during the holidays.

[Author, why did you personally call me? What’s the matter?]

He was a laid-back person. His voice was gentle and relaxed. Siyeon, who had no one to tell about her work around her, was won over by his laid-back attitude and gave him a heartfelt signature for the first time.

“Boss, do you still have the book I signed for you before?”

[Well, of course! Why would I do something like throw away our authors’ books?]

It seemed like you had thrown it away in Samseong-dong…

Hearing his flustered voice, Siyeon felt a strong conviction.

 “Are you in the office right now?”

[What time do you think it is? Of course, I’m at work.]

“Then I’ll call you again for a video call, so please show me the book.”

[What?]

Ignoring his bewildered voice, Siyeon hung up and called again for a video call. After a long dial tone, he answered the call.

“Show it to me, boss.”

[Well, that’s…]

On the screen, he refused to look directly at the camera, clearly avoiding eye contact.

“Boss?”

Sighing deeply, he finally spoke.

[It’s because a friend of my acquaintance, who happens to be an ardent fan of yours, asked for it as a gift. They dream of becoming a novelist.]

“I don’t know if the friend of your acquaintance dreams of being a novelist, but I don’t think he’s my biggest fan.”

[What do you mean by that?]

“Oh, nothing. Now that I’ve confirmed the truth, we’re done here.”

[Then you’ll sign one for me again, right?]

“Are you joking? I’m going to work on my manuscript now. Goodbye.”

Boss, you didn’t cherish the personally signed copy that was once the only one in the world.

Ending the call, Siyeon looked at the dark phone screen with an unpleasant expression.

***

Ijun returned close to dinnertime. In the meantime, Siyeon received books and clothes from her hometown and the desk and chair she had ordered.

Originally, she planned to put the desk in the room with the bed, but at Ijun’s suggestion, she decided to turn the adjacent room into her study.

She instructed the delivery workers to place the desk and chair in the temporary study on the second floor, and she ordered two more large bookshelves online. She left the boxes of books in the study room to organize them when the bookshelves arrived.

“Madam, Mr. Jeong is on his way in, but the driver says there’s some traffic.”

“Okay. I’ll wait in the room then.”

Having skipped lunch after a late breakfast, Siyeon finished unpacking and straightened her back, realizing it was almost time for dinner. She went downstairs to have a simple dinner, but as she opened the fridge, the housekeeper seemed to have read her mind and relayed a message.

Siyeon nodded and went back upstairs. There wasn’t much else to do but wait.

While sitting at her desk and working for a while, the housekeeper came up, knocked on the door, and said it was time to come down for a meal. It seemed that Ijun had arrived.

While tidying up her desk, Siyeon thought about the professionalism of the housekeepers who acted so nonchalantly even though the newlyweds used separate floors. It seemed that such things didn’t seem strange to them, having worked for a conglomerate family for a long time.

Ijun was already seated at the dining table. His hair was still wet, as if he had just come out of the shower.

“You’re back.”

“Yeah.”

Siyeon decided not to say anything unnecessary to Ijun, as she seemed to be feeling somewhat down for some reason. Besides, waiting too long with an empty stomach made her feel extremely hungry. Siyeon focused on the rice, soup, and side dishes.

“You didn’t have lunch?”

“I did.”

“Did she have lunch?”

Siyeon answered, but Ijun seemed to not believe her and called the maid to the dining table for confirmation.

“Madam had a late breakfast, so she said she doesn’t want lunch.”

“…”

Ijun’s gaze returned to Siyeon. It was a reproachful look.

He moved his lips as he looked at Siyeon.

“Starting tomorrow, make sure to provide all three meals. This person doesn’t need to be asked for her opinion.”

“Yes, understood.”

Listening to the succinct reply, Siyeon narrowed her eyes. The housekeeper did nothing wrong, yet she received an unfavorable look from Ijun because of her. Siyeon looked back at her with a remorseful expression as she walked away. 

“How can you have lunch right after having breakfast at 10 am?”

“Just shift your work hours and have breakfast at 7. Change your habits.”

“Why are you so concerned about my meals?”

“Breakfast and dinner. We should have at least two meals together every day to look like a couple.”

Wasn’t he avoiding looking at my face? I can’t understand Ijun’s intentions at all.

“I’ll try, but if it interferes with work, I can’t help it. I need a quiet environment to concentrate.”

“What are you doing that requires quiet?”

“I write novels.”

“And you’ve been making a living with that until now?”

He wasn’t mocking her. Siyeon found his earnest questioning rather unfamiliar.

“I write and… you may not remember, but I also worked part-time at a friend’s cafe. I worked at Yeongjin for a while too.”

“What did you do at Yeongjin?”

Suddenly, he became very curious about her.

“I folded boxes. It was a job where I neatly folded the corners of disposable packaging boxes and put them in the larger boxes. It was 10,000 won per hour for 6 hours a day, so I earned 120,000 won for two days. There was a cafeteria in the industrial complex where the factories shared, and the food was really good. I went out for lunch every day even after quitting the part-time job.”

It was surprising for Siyeon to have an ordinary conversation with Ijun without arguing.

“When did Mr. Yeongjin realize that you were his real daughter?”

 “…….”

Siyeon, in the midst of picking up a side dish with chopsticks, paused and stared at him intently.

 “Why are you looking at me like that?”

“You didn’t think Father knew about it ten years ago?”

“He mentioned that he found out accidentally when he saw you having a birthday party at the factory on your twenty-fifth birthday.”

“When did you have that kind of conversation with Father? Did you have time for that yesterday?”

“That’s not important.”

She began to explain the situation at that time with a troubled look on her face.

“After work, the people at the factory threw me a birthday party in the office. Father, who was out on business, happened to stop by the office and found out.”

“Accidentally, how?”

“When someone asked, I mentioned the midwife and the name of the town where I was born. Father heard that I was born on the same day in the same place, and he felt something strange.”

Siyeon spoke as if she were talking about someone else’s story. It was truly shocking at the time, but she could now calmly recount the past.

“…And he probably thought you looked a lot like them too.”

“Yes. When I was working at Yeongjin, I heard that I looked a lot like Yeongjin’s madam.”

“And then the CEO interrogated the midwife and found out that the babies were switched. After learning that, he immediately went to the grandmother’s house in Hannam-dong.”

“…Did Father tell you all that?”

“The CEO said that grandmother intentionally switched the two babies, but honestly, it seems like a victim mentality.”

Siyeon could tell that Ijun had met her father today. When they visited her parents’ house yesterday, there was no time for such a conversation, and the atmosphere was not right for it. It seemed like he unexpectedly went out to meet his parents after all.

But he couldn’t fully believe her father’s words. He couldn’t fathom that the grandmother he knew would go to such lengths.

“It’s the truth.”

“I can’t understand it.”

He shook his head and hadn’t touched his food at all.

“If you want to know the truth, go find a monk named Jeongseon. He is the beginning of all this misfortune.”

“…Monk Jeongseon?”

“He’s a monk who grandmother had visited for decades. I know where he is. If you want to know, I can tell you the location of the temple.”

“Have you met that person too?”

“Yes. I’ve met him.”

Siyeon couldn’t continue eating and put down her chopsticks.

“The day after you took your first vacation in the military, I went to see that monk alone.”

“When I took my first vacation….”

“The day I met you at the Hannamdong convenience store.”

After groping his memory for a moment, he met her gaze as if he had remembered something.

“That day, you went there alone.”

“I had no choice. Neither of my parents came home the day before. I thought my grandmother had told them that I wasn’t really their daughter. So, since it was already known, I decided to go and find out why I had to live like this and how long I had to live like this.”

“….”

“I’ll say it again, I’m not crazy.”

When Ijun remained silent, Siyeon emphasized the fact in a clear tone, feeling uneasy about his silence.

“…Even while I was with you, you had so many secrets.”

“I didn’t have anyone to talk to, I couldn’t. If I could, I would have gone straight to my biological parents.”

“I still can’t believe it.”

“I understand. I know it’s hard to believe.”

“How did you find out this fact that no one else knew?”

Siyeon was at a loss. Even if she repeated the same story to Ijun, he would not continue to understand. However, she couldn’t fabricate the situation with lies.

“Ijun, I’ve been living my life from the age of seventeen to twenty-seven twice.”

“….”

“I’ve already told you about it on our wedding day, but you didn’t believe me. You probably still don’t, but it’s the truth. I died at twenty-seven in the winter and came back to the past and lived again.”

As she earnestly told her story, Ijun’s face froze coldly.