Chapter 8 (Part 3)

“In-ah!”  

Haejeong shouted in surprise upon seeing her on crutches. Then she clicked her tongue in disbelief.  

“One more celebration party and it’ll kill someone.”

On her way back from the hospital, In-ah stopped by the animal hospital where Haejeong worked, thinking she wouldn’t be able to see her for a while.  

She approached Haejeong on crutches and sat down with difficulty.  

“There’s a victim but no perpetrator.”  

She smiled weakly.  

“How can you laugh right now? I can’t stand it.”  

Haejeong looked at her cast with a worried expression.  

“At least it’s only this bad. You could’ve been crushed to death by the crowd.”  

“If Jinwon hadn’t caught me, my ankle might have been broken in two.”  

“Who?”  

Haejeong asked in disbelief, as if she couldn’t trust her ears.  

“Did you just say Jinwon?”  

As surprised as Haejeong, In-ah quickly shifted her eyes and replied,  

“No, I didn’t. I never said that. You misheard.”  

“I clearly heard it, so don’t try to deny it!”  

‘Ding-dong!’  

The text alert was like a savior to her.  

“I got a text, a text!”  

She quickly pulled out her phone to check the message. But she froze, staring at the text for a long time.  

“What’s wrong? Who is it?”  

Haejeong noticed her expression and peeked over her shoulder.  

Seeing the text, Haejeong got excited.  

“Who is it? A new face?”

“No, it’s not like that.”  

“Not like that? Who’s the sweet message from?”

She denied it vehemently, waving her hands.  

“I told you before. We got a drama furniture sponsorship.”  

“Right. So?”  

“He’s an actor there. Jung Yi-hyuk.”  

Haejeong stared blankly at her, then scratched the back of her head.  

“Even jokes have limits, friend.”  

“It’s not a joke. It’s true.”  

Not believing her made her feel unjustly wronged.  

But Haejeong didn’t believe her until the end.  

***  

On a weekend afternoon, she hobbled to the sofa with crutches and sat down.  

“Why do I need to go to the bathroom so often?”  

Suppressing her irritation, she got up with her crutches.  

After successfully using the bathroom, she reached for her crutches.  

‘Clatter!’  

Despite her frantic attempts to grab them, the crutches fell to the floor.  

She sighed deeply and crawled over to retrieve them.  

“What did I do to be drenched in sweat?”  

Her sweaty and disheveled appearance showed how difficult things were.  

“I need to wash my hair, at least.”  

She picked up the showerhead to wash her hair but dropped it.  

“Ahhh—”  

The showerhead danced wildly in the bathroom, drenching her.  

After several attempts, she finally managed to control it. But by then, she looked like a drowned rat.  

‘Ding dong. Ding dong.’  

“Who is it?”  

Checking the monitor, she saw Jinwon at the door.  

“Team Leader, what brings you here?”  

“I brought something for you.”  

She slowly opened the door on crutches. He stared at her cast.  

Then he quickly averted his gaze to the ceiling, as her wet clothes revealed her silhouette.  

She looked down at herself and quickly explained,  

“Oh, I dropped the showerhead.”  

He kept his gaze fixed 45 degrees upward and said,  

“Step aside for a moment.”  

“Sorry?”  

As she instinctively moved aside, he entered her home and placed a plastic bag on the floor.  

“I bought one for myself and got an extra. Eat it.”  

He turned to her and asked,  

“Can you go to work like that?”  

He looked at her unintentionally and flinched.  

It was her presence, her sharp collarbone, and the curves below that filled his vision.  

“Of course.”  

Throughout their conversation, he couldn’t look at her directly.  

“You didn’t have to give me this. Thank you.”  

She shouted at his retreating back.  

Checking the bag he left, she squealed in delight.  

“Wow!”  

It contained her favorite spicy stir-fried octopus and steamed eggs.  

Hearing her joyful exclamation through the door, he smiled contentedly. Then, as if recalling something, he blushed and hurried into his apartment.  

***  

During filming, Yi-hyuk was looking at a group photo from the volunteer activity on his phone.  

The photo captured the surprised expressions of In-ah and Yi-hyuk with Jinwon standing between them.  

“What are you looking at?”  

Si-woo approached curiously.  

“Oh, the home-building volunteer activity from last time.”  

Looking at the photo with him, Si-woo recognized someone.  

“Oh? This person!”  

“This woman is a designer. Isn’t she cute?”  

“No, the guy next to you. He’s really cute.”  

“Hey~”  

Yi-hyuk playfully hit Si-woo’s head. Si-woo laughed and asked,  

“But she’s not your type, is she?”  

“People don’t always live by their preferences.”  

“Then?”  

“Sometimes you taste and experience different things.”  

He smirked at Si-woo.  

“That sounds risky. Doesn’t Yeong-ji know about this?”  

“Does she need to know?”  

“What if she finds out?”  

He draped an arm over Si-woo’s shoulder, eyebrows raised confidently.  

“We’re not that clingy. Don’t worry.”  

Just then, his phone rang.  

“Oh, noona! How could you neglect me like this? I’m hurt. Right now?”

***  

• Why come with crutches? We can go by ourselves.”

“I’m almost there. I’ll wait in the hotel lobby.”  

She had just entered the Corners Hotel for a meeting.  

As she struggled in on crutches, someone grabbed her arm.  

Startled, she looked up to see Yi-hyuk with a hat pulled low.  

“I’m Jung Yi-hyuk. Please, just a moment, In-ah. It’ll only take a moment.”  

He continuously looked around, leading her to a corner.  

With crutches, she couldn’t shake him off easily.  

Even in the corner, he whispered cautiously.  

“It might be sudden, but could you do me a favor?”  

Before she could answer, he quickly continued.  

“Please check in for me. I can’t go anywhere because of paparazzi and journalists, and I can’t check in myself due to identity exposure… Please help me. Will you?”  

Reluctant but not finding it too difficult, she checked in for him.  

Then she handed him the key from the corner where he waited.  

As he reached for the key, he suddenly turned around, alarmed.  

“Could you stay in the room for a bit? I’ll come when it’s safe.”  

“What? That’s…”  

Before she could refuse, he quickly left.  

Looking at the key in her hand, she sighed. 

What was going on?  

She stood with crutches in front of the room.  

Not knowing his circumstances, she thought it wasn’t right to enter and wait.  

After a while, he came up the stairs, panting, and approached her.  

“Thank you, In-ah. I’ll explain everything later. Really, thank you.”  

She handed him the key and turned to leave.  

As the elevator door opened, he urgently pulled her inside.  

“In-ah! Quickly!”  

Dragged into the room, she was bewildered.  

“What are you doing?”  

“Didn’t you see the reporters getting off? I just saved you.”  

She let out a sarcastic laugh and reached for the doorknob to leave.  

But he approached and snatched her crutches, running off with them.  

“Give them back! I’m not in the mood for jokes.”  

While she was angry, he seemed to find it amusing.  

“Why? I’m having fun.”  

“Give them back!”  

He threw the crutches far away, and they broke against the wall.  

Trying to retrieve them, she lost her balance and fell onto the bed.  

He climbed on and grabbed her wrists.  

Their faces were less than a foot apart. He looked into her eyes, filled with anger and fear.  

He brushed her lips with his thumb. She turned her head away.  

‘Bang bang bang!’  

Just then, there was a loud knock on the door.  

“Ugh, journalists. Let’s meet again. If we can.”  

He escaped to the adjoining room. The hotel had a connecting room structure. 

She tried to get off the bed to retrieve her crutches but fell, clutching her arm in pain. Tears streamed down her face.

She slowly took out her phone.  

“Sis? Can you come get me?”  

She sat on the floor, looking out at the sunset as she waited for her sister. Immobilized, her thoughts ran wild. Gazing at the sky, her mind wandered from one thought to another.

She thought of Jinwon. She imagined him unable to move after the accident. She remembered his face when he ran like a madman to save her in Milan.

Time passed like that. She called In-kyung again.  

“Sis, sorry. You don’t have to come. Yeah. I’m fine.”  

After a while, someone knocked loudly on the door.  

“In-ah! Are you here?”  

She limped to the door and opened it. Jinwon stood there, breathless.  

Her expression was calm.  

“Why did you run?”  

“You called me. Told me to come.”

“I didn’t say to run.”  

He looked her up and down with concern.  

“What happened? Where’s your crutch?”  

“It broke.”  

Unable to stand any longer, she sat down. Startled, he caught her.  

“Get up. Let’s go.”  

“I called because I can’t get up.”  

“I’ll help you. Stand up.”  

With his support, she struggled to her feet. He wrapped an arm around her waist, guiding her gently.  

She looked at him and spoke,  

“Did you think I couldn’t handle this?”  

He stopped and faced her.  

“Did you think I couldn’t support you, take care of you? Was that it?”

Without answering, he started walking again. She continued nonchalantly,  

“Thinking about it, it’s not for me but because you didn’t trust me. Right?”  

Glancing at him, she chuckled bitterly.

“Worried I’d abandon you when things got tough. Afraid I’d show you my ugly side in the end.”  

He stopped again, speaking as if reminiscing without looking at her.  

“Yeah. I was scared it would come to that. I didn’t want to show you that side of me. Didn’t want to be remembered like that.”

She chuckled, releasing his hand from her waist.  

“So you didn’t trust me. Thought I’d leave you.”  

He remained silent. She questioned him,  

“Then why do you trust me now? You didn’t even ask why I’m here.”

“Let’s go.”  

“Oppa!”  

“I never didn’t trust you. Not once.”  

He met her gaze firmly, his voice resolute. Silence fell between them.  

“What are you doing? Help me up.”  

She extended her arm to him.  

He took her hand without a word and helped her. They began walking side by side again.  

Watching them on the CCTV, Shin-hye’s face twisted in annoyance.  

Making a call, she spoke coldly,  

“Don’t expect the next sponsorship.”  

• Oh, why~ Half was successful. Next time…  

“Don’t even think about showing up at Corners Hotel.”  

• Noona! 

Hanging up, she immediately deleted ‘Jung Yi-hyuk’ from her contacts.