Epilogue (Part 4)

The time she spent with him wasn’t physically very long.

But maybe it felt longer because the life she lived in Cheongun-dong was like wandering through a fog with no light in sight.

He was the first warm light that reached her, trapped in that abyss.

Perhaps that’s why she was more desperate for him. The more desperate she felt, the slower it seemed to go.

Noticing Seo-hye’s teary eyes, Do-jin silently cupped her cheek.

The gaze that gently settled was warmer than the morning sunlight.

“You’re not crying because you don’t want to marry me, are you?”

He asked in a calm voice.

However, as Seo-hye continued to remain silent, urgency was clearly reflected in Do-jin’s eyes.

“Surely, you don’t mean you don’t want to?”

“…….”

No, it’s not that. I never even considered something like marriage in my life.

Right now, with nothing prepared, it’s a bit scary to choose you as my life partner and get married.

But still, I desperately want to be by your side.

From the beginning, after meeting you, I couldn’t even think of anyone else.

This is a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity, and I want to hold onto you tightly without hesitation.

She wanted to answer like that, but her throat was choked up.

The overwhelming feeling of wanting to be with the one she love was pushing up to her throat.

“Hmm.”

Do-jin sighed seriously and met her gaze.

“If you need more time, I can wait, just don’t cry. How do you think I feel when you cry after I ask you to live with me?”

“…How do you feel?”

Seo-hye asked, and Do-jin quietly looked at her before answering in a low voice.

“It just hurts a bit here.”

Do-jin said, pointing to his chest.

“Even after clearing all the obstacles, if it’s a rejection, then I guess it’s a real rejection.”

His expression, his slightly trembling voice.

Moved by his sincerity, Seo-hye mustered the courage to speak.

“Will I look good in a dress…?”

Do-jin’s eyes wavered slightly.

“Do-jin, you have such an outstanding appearance. I wouldn’t want to tarnish your image-“

Do-jin pulled her closer by the waist.

In the narrowed distance, his gentle voice spread.

“All the men in the world will envy me.”

Seo-hye tried to suppress the tickling sensation on her lips but failed.

As she giggled, Do-jin gave her a light kiss on the lips.

“Will you do it?”

Moved by his earnest desire for a definite answer, Seo-hye replied sincerely.

“Yes, Do-jin. Let’s get married. I want to live with you.”

Joy spread through Do-jin’s eyes.

He immediately released Seo-hye from his embrace and clasped her hand tightly, intertwining their fingers so they wouldn’t part.

His steps as they left the room were quite hurried.

***

The wedding preparations were surprisingly not easy.

Since the ceremony was to be held at Seonghan, known as the number one hotel wedding venue in the country, they easily booked the date Do-jin wanted.

However, delays began with the wedding gifts and fitting Seo-hye’s dress.

No matter how many expensive, famous brand dresses they showed him, Do-jin was not satisfied and sent them back.

Today was no different.

Seok-young brought photos of unreleased dresses from a famous designer on a tablet PC and showed them to Do-jin and Seo-hye.

To Seo-hye, all wedding dresses looked beautiful, and at this point, she was almost willing to wear anything.

The designs they had seen must have numbered over a hundred.

However,

“It’s not good.”

Do-jin closed the tablet cover and handed it to Seok-young, who stood beside the sofa.

Seo-hye, sitting next to Do-jin, and Seok-young both opened their mouths simultaneously.

“…In that case, Executive Director, I’ll look into overseas designers.”

Seok-young said awkwardly as he left the room.

Seo-hye tapped her foot and eventually lost her temper.

“Ah, really…! That one was pretty too, what’s the problem?”

“What can I do if there’s no dress prettier than you?”

Realizing his feelings only now, Seo-hye let out a flabbergasted chuckle.

“They’re all prettier than me! How glamorous they are! Ah… I might as well walk in n*ked.”

Do-jin frowned as he looked at her.

“What?”

“I said it might be better to just do it n*ked.”

As Do-jin pushed her shoulders back, Seo-hye’s upper body suddenly fell backward.

Do-jin immediately leaned over her and warned in a low voice.

“Even if you say that as a joke, you’ll really get in trouble.”

“…Okay.”

Seo-hye answered promptly, but Do-jin, frowning, didn’t move aside.

“Why… are you like this?”

“Just the thought of it makes me angry.”

Seo-hye let out an incredulous laugh and pushed against his chest.

“Ah, get off.”

Do-jin, pretending to give in, leaned his upper body back.

As Seo-hye got up, she spoke to him.

“Do-jin. You know, I feel like we’re wasting too much time on this. There are so many things I want to do with you in that time.”

“Things you want to do?”

“Yes. We need to go to your father’s hospital and paint for him. Also, I haven’t heard about…”

Seo-hye hesitated, and he encouraged her to go on.

“I haven’t heard about your mother. But before we get married, I’d like to go and pay my respects.”

Do-jin, perhaps not having thought of this part, met her eyes more deeply and said,

“Sorry. I had thought about introducing you someday.”

“No, it’s not something to apologize for. I roughly heard about it when I went to your father’s hospital alone last week. That after your mother… passed away, you left for Korea immediately.” 

“……”

“I don’t know how your mother passed away, but I thought it must have been really hard for you, Do-jin. So I waited without asking first.”

“……”

“I thought you’d tell me before the wedding, that you’d suggest we go pay respects to your mother before the ceremony.”

Seo-hye sighed, glanced at the ceiling for a moment, and then looked back at Do-jin.

“Well, it seems like we’re just going to end up choosing dresses and rings until the wedding day.”

Do-jin bit his lower lip lightly.

“In my way of considering you, I ended up creating a situation where I couldn’t consider you more.”

Do-jin stood up and extended his hand to her.

“Let’s go today. I’ll introduce you to my mother.”

“What, now?”

Seo-hye asked repeatedly, her eyes wide like a rabbit’s.

“Right now? Are you serious?”

“Yes, I’ll tell you about it on the way. But it’s not a very pleasant story. Still, you should know.”

As they headed to the family burial site in Suwon, Do-jin began to share the deeply hidden story.

His grandfather, Eung-soo, was a very strict person with the family, so he had high expectations for both his eldest son, Do-jin’s father, and his eldest daughter-in-law, Do-jin’s mother.

“That’s why the burden on my mother was incredibly heavy. She always went to bed after two in the morning and woke up at five.”

She took on all the responsibilities of the mansion as if she were the butler, and also had to handle all the events and social gatherings related to the group externally.

“In today’s terms, it would be the level where four or five highly skilled executive secretaries would be needed. On top of that, the pressure from the Chairman was always intense, and my father was too busy with the company to pay much attention to my mother.”

“……”

“My mother, who was struggling both physically and mentally, made an extreme choice.”

Seo-hye couldn’t respond for a while.

Hearing about how Eung-soo treated his mother, she felt a surge of anger as a woman.

At the end of those emotions, all she could feel was pity for Do-jin.

“It sounds like a dark story, but it’s okay now. Because I met you, Seo-hye.”

Seo-hye slowly looked at Do-jin.

Then she wrapped his hand, which was on the console, with both of hers.

As Seo-hye held his hand but couldn’t continue speaking easily, Do-jin filled the silence.

“Because you’re here, I feel like I have to establish myself in Seonghan no matter what.”

“Do-jin.”

He responded softly, 

“Yes.”

“I don’t want to paint the Chairman’s portrait.”

“What?”

Do-jin let out a deflated laugh.

“I just don’t feel like painting it anymore. When I decided to marry you, I made up my mind. From now on, I’ll only paint beautiful things, only what I want to paint.”

Do-jin briefly let go of her hand, then lifted it higher to gently touch her cheek.

“Yes. Always paint only beautiful things, like you. I’ll support you in everything.”

A quiet stillness settled between them.

Each word they exchanged comforted one another.

“Do-jin.”

Seo-hye broke the silence.

“Do you still smoke?”

Do-jin paused before cautiously asking,

“Do you dislike it?”

“Yes.”

“I quit as of today.”

Seo-hye couldn’t help but laugh.

“Do-jin.”

Do-jin replied with a slightly more tense voice.

“What is it now?”

“How much longer until we arrive?”

After checking the navigation, he answered,

“About 30 minutes.”

“Do-jin.”

He responded in a lower voice.

“Why?”

“I think I love you a lot.”

He laughed, covering his eyes with the hand not holding the steering wheel.

“You’re making me unable to drive again.”

Seo-hye gently took his hand away from his eyes and held it dearly.

Without either needing to say it first, they held each other tightly, as if they would never let go.

It was indeed warmer than anything else in the world.