Chapter 14

Seeing his face up close again, she thought he looked wonderful.

Sharp, long eyes set deep, thick eyebrows, a smooth jawline, and, if you looked closely, a small dimple that appeared when he smiled…

His handsome features overlapped with the youthful face of the boy Ryu-il. Only now, after so much time, could she see the old traces up close.

“Ryu-il-oppa, why aren’t you coloring with blue? Didn’t you use to like blue? Did you stop?”

“You weren’t using the blue crayon, so I thought you didn’t like blue.”

“No, I like blue too! I left it for you to use!”

“Really? Then we felt the same.”

Memories overlapped between their faces. The child who was thrilled just to play with her wonderful older brother grew up cherishing those memories.

In Ryu-il’s eyes, she appeared shabby.

She added her miserable memories to those precious ones. As she sat blankly, Ryu-il spoke in a low voice.

“When you were little.”

It was the first time he’d talked about childhood. Had he been looking at her up close, thinking about her as a child?

“You really used to follow me around everywhere.”

“…”

“You couldn’t even read yet, but whenever I read, you’d come and pretend to read too.”

“It must have been annoying having a little kid follow you, right?”

“Not really. It was cute.”

She’d hoped he would say no, but his answer was even more unexpected. Tears welled up in her eyes. Just as her memories overlapped, his did too.

The cute little girl who used to follow him in his memories had now become a woman who desperately clung to him, asking to sleep together. Realizing that, tears streamed down her face.

When she suddenly started crying, Ryu-il seemed a bit surprised and frowned.

“What’s wrong?”

She wanted to stop, but couldn’t. Deep sobs rose from her chest and spilled out.

“…Hee-won, why are you crying?”

His voice sounded just like the gentle way he used to call her long ago, which only made it worse.

As she bowed her head and cried, Ryu-il didn’t comfort her any further. She just clung to him, sobbing for a long time.

* * *

After that, they slept together a few more times. Of course, it was always in his room, and she was the one who sought him out each time. Ryu-il never came looking for her first, but whenever she approached him, almost begging, he never refused her. In fact, once he embraced her, he wouldn’t stop until she was exhausted.

After each rough, lengthy session, she would cry in his arms. Strangely, she couldn’t help but cry after s*x, and though Ryu-il would gruffly ask why she was crying, he always held her tightly. That made her cry even more.

Then, suddenly, she didn’t see Ryu-il for several days. It turned out he was away at a construction site in the provinces, and she only heard about it from her mother—proof of how distant she and Ryu-il were.

There was no news from Kyung-won. Unable to wait, she called first, and only got a half-hearted response: “They say it’s still not enough. I can’t just trust your words.”

When she pressed, asking how they would confirm if they didn’t trust her, she got, “You don’t need to know. But it’s definitely been passed on.” After that, she couldn’t reach him anymore.

She drifted through her days like a jellyfish tired of the waves, studying, tutoring, doing experiments…

She had no way to connect with Ryu-il except for the occasional encounter when he returned to Ryu Gil-jae. That was the real distance between them. She tried not to think about him. She really had to try.

“Teacher, I’m so tired. Can I rest a little? Please?”

At least while tutoring, she could forget about him for a moment, especially with her cheerful student, Se-hee.

“Just five minutes, okay?”

“Yup!”

Se-hee was a high schooler barely maintaining average grades, a bright and lively second daughter from a typical middle-class family. She was enthusiastic about things kids her age liked, and so, she was pure. She also had worries typical for her age.

“I want to work in a super tall building. Wear an employee badge, grab a coffee for work… To do that, I need to study hard and get into a good college, right?”

“Does it have to be a super tall building?”

“Yes. If it’s tall, the window view is great for selfies at the office.”

Se-hee giggled.

“After my exams, I’m going to Yeouido to see the highest floor of the tallest building.”

“Hmm…”

Hee-won nibbled on the snacks Se-hee’s mom had prepared and tilted her head.

“I don’t know, but the top floor is probably for the CEO and executives. Is there any need to go up there?”

“Then you have to get in there first, so even the middle floors are pretty high! At least you can look up at them, right?”

Se-hee blinked at her.

“Teacher, don’t you like looking at tall, cool things?”

“Hmm… When I look up at things like that…”

Hee-won answered absentmindedly,

“…I think my neck would hurt.”

Se-hee burst out laughing, saying her teacher had no sense and how could she say something like that at such a moment. Hee-won muttered gloomily,

“Really… Only my neck below would hurt. It’s true.”

“But isn’t it natural for people to be drawn to tall, beautiful things?”

“Then just go somewhere without those things.”

It didn’t seem like an important conversation, but she found herself drawn in.

“You could go somewhere with fields, streams, and flowers, where you don’t have to look up at anything beautiful.”

“Hehehe, then your neck definitely won’t hurt. You’ll be healthier.”

“Right. Anyway, if imagining tall buildings helps you study, imagine all you want.”

Unlike Hee-won, Se-hee quickly lost interest in the topic. Noticing five minutes had passed, she quickly pulled out her phone.

“But Teacher, want to see something I look at when I don’t want to study?”

“Hm?”

Hee-won sensed she just wanted to rest a bit longer but pretended not to notice. Se-hee grinned and quickly opened her SNS. Hee-won didn’t use social media at all, so she just tilted her head.

“This is a celeb I like, Lee Min-hee. I heard she’s a chaebol daughter.”

Her heart dropped.

On Se-hee’s phone screen appeared a photo of Lee Min-hee, whom Hee-won knew well.

Exotic backdrops, a slender figure, bold and glamorous poses, dazzling features, large jewels draped over her body…

“See? All luxury brands, super expensive, tons of followers, but…”

Se-hee swiped through Lee Min-hee’s photos, looking envious.

“Wow, I want to study hard and make lots of money like this.”

Hee-won wanted to say that studying hard wouldn’t make her like Lee Min-hee, but since it motivated Se-hee, she couldn’t say anything.

She propped her chin and watched as Se-hee rapidly scrolled through Lee Min-hee’s posts.

She couldn’t stop herself from looking at that woman.

“Wow, really cool, right? This life is so amazing.”

Se-hee giggled and then frowned.

“Huh? Something just got posted.”

“Really?”

“Oh my gosh!”

Se-hee pulled her phone closer, staring at Lee Min-hee’s SNS in shock.

“What’s wrong?”

Hee-won asked nervously, and Se-hee showed her the screen.

“Look, it says she’s getting engaged soon. The tag is ‘the gift I prepared.’”

Her heart dropped. The photo was of a luxury fountain pen from a brand she didn’t recognize.

“See, it says ‘International delivery to my fiancé-to-be.’ Must be a Korean.”

The phone screen filled her vision, the busy font spinning in her eyes.

She… had slept with Ryu-il. Many times. And now, just a few days later, Lee Min-hee posted this on her SNS.

Did Kyung-won confirm the bedroom issue was fine and so the engagement was set?

Her stomach churned as Se-hee’s phone screen went dark. In the black screen, her own face was reflected. Instead of the glamorous images of Lee Min-hee, she saw her own haggard, plain face.

“…Let’s start the lesson now.”

She quickly turned her gaze to the workbook, away from her pale reflection. As Se-hee sighed and started highlighting the principles and history of telescopes, she muttered,

“Why did Galileo have to invent the telescope… making us study all this stuff…”

It was the kind of cute complaint high schoolers often had—why did someone invent this and make them study so much? But Se-hee, always positive and bright, quickly giggled and added,

“Well, at least Galileo must have been happy looking at stars, right?”

“Hm?”

“He must have loved stars so much he watched them every night. Just seeing them must have made him happy. Don’t you think so?”

“…He must have.”

She answered absentmindedly.

“Because he liked them… even knowing he could never reach them, he made a telescope just to see them.”

Galileo, telescopes, Lee Min-hee’s photos, and Ryu-il’s face all mixed together in her workbook.

“…But Galileo…”

She spoke quietly, face troubled.

“In the end, he went blind.”

No one knows the exact cause anymore, but back then, some said Galileo went blind because he spent too much time looking through telescopes.

What did Galileo think as he lost his sight while chasing stars through a telescope?

Did he regret looking at stars too much, or was he sad that he couldn’t see them anymore?