Chapter 1 (Part 4)

When In-ah reached the elevator in the officetel, her eyes widened with delight. She spotted a familiar little figure.

“Min-jun!”

“Auntie Ah-in!”

The cute and lovable child ran over and jumped into In-ah’s arms.

“Why are you here alone?”

“Mom said she’ll come later.”

“Really? Then it’s just the two of us on a date? Yay~”

“A grown-up saying ‘yay’?”

“Why not? Grown-ups say ‘yay’ too.”

“Eh~ But Auntie Ah-in shouldn’t say it.”

The child, who affectionately called her by reversing her name, was the son of her close friend Hae-jeong. She was the owner of the maternity notebook that had been the start of her breakup with Jinwon.

As the two got on the elevator, Jinwon, who was just entering the officetel, caught sight of them. In-ah began pressing the close button as if she were firing a machine gun. As the doors finally started to close, a victorious smile spread across In-ah’s face.

But suddenly, the elevator doors opened again. Surprised, In-ah looked down to see Min-jun pressing the open button.

“Mister! Hurry up and get in!”

Jinwon hesitated when he saw In-ah in the elevator. As In-ah avoided his gaze, Jinwon kept his eyes on Min-jun as he stepped into the elevator.

“Aren’t you thankful, mister?”

“I guess I am.”

“Then why don’t you say thank you?”

Jinwon, whose emotions were usually hard to read, looked visibly flustered.

“Th… thank you. For waiting.”

“You’re welcome. I’m glad we could ride together.”

Min-jun answered in a mature manner for a child and couldn’t take his eyes off Jinwon. Feeling uncomfortable under the child’s gaze, Jinwon shifted his eyes and asked a question.

“Why?”

“What floor are you going to? Aren’t you going to press the button?”

“Oh, the 13th floor.”

“Oh? That’s the same floor as us? We’re neighbors, right?”

Min-jun sought agreement from In-ah with a bright smile.

“Oh? Oh.”

In-ah, who barely managed to respond, focused on the changing numbers on each floor. 

Why was the elevator so slow today?

“This is my first time meeting a neighbor. It’s fascinating. What about you, mister?”

Jinwon seemed uncomfortable with the conversation with Min-jun. He just awkwardly smiled.

“Mister, how tall are you? How can I grow tall like you?”

If the elevator hadn’t arrived at that moment, Jinwon might have been buried under Min-jun’s questions.

“Goodbye, neighbor mister~”

Jinwon left without looking back. In-ah watched him with a sour smile.

Hae-jeong jumped up after hearing In-ah’s story. She had recounted everything from reuniting with Jinwon to the recent events.

“Calm down, you’re scaring the kid. Why are you getting so worked up?”

Hae-jeong glanced at Min-jun and finally lowered her voice.

“It’s a situation where he could misunderstand that Min-jun is your son. You broke up seven years ago because he thought you were pregnant. Min-jun is exactly that age.”

In-ah was deep in thought after hearing Hae-jeong’s words.

“What was his expression like?”

“It was the same.”

“What?”

Hae-jeong murmured, biting her nails in surprise.

“I thought it was because he was young back then…”

Yeah. Min-jun didn’t call her ‘Auntie’ in the elevator, so Jinwon could have misunderstood and thought he was her son. Yet, he acted as if the child had nothing to do with him.

Jinwon might be colder and more indifferent than In-ah had thought.

***

At the office, Jinwon was an utterly ordinary boss. In-ah felt as if Jinwon and she were strangers who had never known each other.

She had worried about what to say if he asked about the child. But he didn’t ask at all.

Far from asking, he seemed like someone who had no interest whatsoever.

Initially, In-ah thought it was better that way, but gradually she began to feel resentful towards Jinwon.

“Are you going to the factory today?”

“Yes. I plan to go see the surface material coloring myself.”

In-ah answered Assistant Manager Jeong’s question. But the next response came from an unexpected place.

“Let’s go together.”

“What?”

A startled sound escaped from In-ah’s mouth, loud enough for everyone in the office to turn and look.

In-ah forced a smile and continued.

“Surely you don’t mean, Team Leader…”

Before In-ah could finish her sentence, Jinwon grabbed his bag and left the office.

The two of them took a taxi to the factory in Yeoncheon, Gyeonggi Province. 

Why was he tagging along without a car? 

In-ah couldn’t fathom his intentions.

They had been on the road for almost an hour, and neither had spoken a word. Only the chatty taxi driver kept talking the whole time.

“Mind if I ask what kind of relationship you two have? Since you got in separately, you don’t seem like a couple.”

Jinwon had gotten into the front passenger seat first, so In-ah sat alone in the back. It was an unwelcome intrusion.

Since Jinwon showed no sign of answering, In-ah had to step in. It was still a long way to go.

“We’re colleagues.”

“I see. How old are you?”

“Me?”

“I may not look it, but I’m not that old.”

He did look younger than most taxi drivers, perhaps in his early 50s.

Jinwon glanced at the driver, seemingly thinking the conversation was heading in a strange direction. But the driver continued to chatter on.

“I often hear that I have a young sense.”

“Oh… haha… you do seem that way.”

The driver’s gaze in the rearview mirror at In-ah’s forced smile was unsettling.

“Do you have a boyfriend?”

“Yes, she does.”

Before In-ah could answer, Jinwon’s response came out. Both the driver and In-ah looked at Jinwon with puzzled eyes.

Jinwon looked directly at the driver and reiterated each syllable clearly.

“She has a boyfriend.”

“Oh, I see~ haha.”

Thanks to that, the barrage of questions from the driver stopped there. Instead, the taxi was filled with silence.

The problem arose next. The driver suddenly stopped the taxi on a random mountain road.

“Why are you stopping? Is there a problem?”

In-ah asked with a worried expression.

“Just a moment.”

After checking under the hood, the driver, who said it would only take a moment, kept making phone calls. Jinwon didn’t take his eyes off the driver as he spoke.

“How long does it take to walk to the factory from here?”

“Well, it might take over 30 minutes on foot.”

Hearing that, Jinwon got out of the car. The door next to the bewildered In-ah opened.

“Aren’t you getting out?”

“What?”

She got out as he said, but she had no idea what he intended.

Jinwon handed the fare to the driver and asked.

“When can you come back?”

“Well, the insurance company will be here soon…”

The driver, holding the money, approached In-ah.

“The mountain road here is rough. You should wait with me, Miss. The car will be here soon. I’ll make sure you get there safely.”

At that moment, Jinwon’s hand wrapped around In-ah’s small hand. Startled, In-ah looked up at Jinwon.

Jinwon’s expression was so cold it seemed it might shatter, a terrifyingly icy look.

“She’s going with her boyfriend.”

Both the driver and In-ah looked at Jinwon simultaneously, surprised. The driver was so shocked that he coughed repeatedly.

“Oh, haha. So, you two are a couple. Haha.”

Leaving the driver with a forced smile behind, Jinwon turned away, still holding In-ah’s hand tightly.

When the taxi and driver were far enough away, In-ah roughly pulled her hand away from Jinwon.

“What are you doing right now?”

“Handling a creep.”

“I didn’t ask you to.”

In-ah stopped walking and began to argue earnestly. Only then did Jinwon, who was walking ahead, stop.

“Have your tastes changed? I didn’t know. Sorry about that.”

“Are you being sarcastic right now?”

“Me? No way.”

As Jinwon started walking again, In-ah glared at the back of his head as if she wanted to kill him.

“Why is he acting like this?”

Jinwon, who was walking ahead, stopped again, leaving In-ah muttering irritably to herself. Wondering if he had heard what she said, In-ah looked at him with wide eyes.

“Shouldn’t the person who knows the way lead?”

In-ah let out a sigh of relief, thankful he hadn’t heard, and quickly took the lead.

They walked for quite a while. In-ah stood in shock at the scene that unfolded before her eyes.

Due to the heavy rain the night before, a large puddle blocked the path. It was difficult to cross without stepping into the black muddy water that had washed down from the mountain.

Jinwon passed by the hesitant In-ah and crossed the puddle without a care. Watching his back, In-ah recalled Jinwon’s back from their college days.

***

Even in front of much smaller and narrower puddles, Jinwon would offer his back to In-ah.

‘Our princess shouldn’t get her shoes wet. Please climb aboard, my lady.’

Then In-ah would playfully hit Jinwon’s broad back with her small fists.

‘I told you not to call me that! Kyaa~’

Jinwon would gently carry the unguarded In-ah on his back. Then he would hum a tune as he crossed the puddle.

Back then, Jinwon was such a kind and considerate man.