CHAPTER 56

Kyoungrok set the glass he had been holding onto the dining table and looked at Taegyeom with a stern expression.

“Taegyeom, what’s your opinion? September might be a bit early, but how about October?”

All eyes at the table focused on Taegyeom. The movement of the wine in his glass, which had been swirling and dancing, gradually slowed down. He tilted his glass and dipped his lips into the dark wine for a moment. His well-shaped lips moved slightly, savoring the flavor, and then he spoke.

“Any day is fine. I don’t mind.”

There was a sigh of relief. It was impossible to tell whose mouth it came from, but Chairman Song’s face noticeably lit up with a relieved expression.

Kyoungrok also showed a satisfied smile. His heart was pounding from the nervousness he’d felt earlier, wondering if the bastard was going to say something crazy again in front of everyone else.

He had purposely sent Taegyeom on a business trip so that he wouldn’t turn down the meeting in the first place and bringing him back immediately from the airport as if kidnapping him had been intentional. Otherwise, that keen-witted guy might have used some means to slip away like a rat.

Taegyeom had probably noticed the situation when he saw Incheol at the airport but still decided to follow willingly. At least he seemed to be aware of his father’s dignity. 

That’s right. That’s my son.

Kyoungrok valued nothing more than his dignity. He wanted to test if Taegyeom would be a disobedient son who would disgrace his dignity. In that sense, Taegyeom had just passed a crucial test in his important examination.

“Anyway, whenever you decide…”

Taegyeom slowly parted his lips, gently placing the wine glass down without making a sound.

He felt like he’d wasted too much time here. He was starting to get bored and annoyed that he had to sit and endure unpleasant human beings when he could have been doing something much more productive with Leeseo

His patience was wearing thin. He stared straight at Kyoungrok, who was beside him and spoke.

“I have no intention of attending.”

The dining room, with six people sitting around, was momentarily wrapped in silence. It was Chairman Song who broke the silence. He was so shocked by Taegyeom’s casual remark that he spilled his drink through his parted lips.

He wiped his chin with a napkin in an attempt to clean up the mess but ended up choking with a cough. He coughed, splattering his drink everywhere.

“What do you mean, you won’t attend your own wedding?”

Kyoungrok asked in a barely suppressed voice, his face cold and rigid as his anger began to rise. His face was reddened up to his neck and he looked as if he might burst at any moment.

“I’m seeing someone.”

“Nonsense! Shut up!”

In the end, Kyoungrok finally slammed his fist down on the table and stood up from his seat, glaring at Taegyeom, who was still sitting there, looking incredibly calm after his declaration.

“Don’t you dare talk that nonsense in front of me! Are you out of your mind!”

The sound of the hefty chair being pushed back reverberated loudly. However, due to the abruptness of his movement, a sudden dizziness overwhelmed Kyoungrok, and his vision pinged. His health was on the brink of collapse before it could fully recover.

He sank back into his chair, clutching the back of his head, and a startled Joo-ah rushed to his aid. The supposed peace of the dining room, adorned with elegant and cultured classical music, was completely shattered.

Chairman Song, wiping his wet chin with a napkin and coughing, swept back his disheveled hair and looked at Taegyeom with reddened eyes.

“You’re more innocent than you look. A young man should be free to have a relationship. I was like that too when I was your age. I’m not one of those people who’s uptight enough to be judged for having a relationship.”

The thick veins in Chairman Song’s temple squirmed, but he spoke politely, restraining himself.

“But we are discussing marriage now, aren’t we? Is the union of two families the same as a mere romantic relationship?”

“Is dating separate from marriage? Is that what Miss Song Jihee thinks too? Like me, she has someone else she’s seeing.”

At Taegyeom’s words, Ji-hee’s cheeks, which had been frozen at the table, flushed.

“Is this marriage about not touching each other’s private lives? But I’m the jealous type, so I don’t think that would work well for us.”

“What are you talking about? Jihee, is that really true? Have you been seeing anyone? Who is it?”

All four eyes were now on Jihee. Unable to withstand their stares, Jihee lowered her head.

Seeing the mess in the atmosphere around the dining table, Taegyeom stood up. Buttoning up his suit jacket, he politely bowed to the Song family.

“I’m sorry, but I’ll leave first.”

“…”

“I don’t have an appetite.”

The last words were directed at Kyoungrok. It was clear that he found his father’s presence distasteful.

“I… uh… What is this… Ugh…”

Kyoungrok felt the blood pressure rising as if his blood vessels were about to burst, and he closed his eyes with a sinking feeling. Supporting Chairman Kwon, who was breathing heavily as if he were going to pass out at any moment, Joo-ah watched Taegyeom’s back as he leisurely walked out of the dining room.

Taegyeom’s departing figure held the essence of the ruined engagement ceremony.

* * *

Stepping off the train, Leeseo blended into the crowd of people exiting the station like an ebb tide and slowly climbed the stairs. During the journey from Incheon to Seoul, the sky had darkened. While waiting for the bus at the bus stop, she turned on her phone. There was a missed call.

The caller was Kwon Taegyeom.

A sharp pain, like being stabbed by a needle, surged somewhere in her chest. She shoved her phone back into her pocket. She didn’t know what she’d say to him if she saw him, or if she’d be able to smile and pretend it was nothing.

Did the engagement ceremony go well? Did the other party like you? Are you going to get married?

Everything sounded terrible. Nothing would be more ridiculous than appearing to resent him or be sarcastic. She didn’t want to show her confused state to anyone.

As she read the sign announcing that the bus she was waiting for had left the previous stop, she remembered going to school. Her pouty face rounded a little as she remembered the afternoon she had spent with her cheerful friends.

She had quickly completed the re-enrollment application on the subway to Songdo, and, met with her friends near the school, to eat chicken ribs at their favorite restaurant. Unlike the meals at the mansion, she could taste all kinds of stimulating flavors. After soothing their spicy tongue with a sip of soda and finishing the stir-fried rice, they got up and she spent the rest of the afternoon looking at studio rooms.

With the recent construction of large apartment complexes near the school, there were many vacant newly-built studios. Although options included various appliances and furniture, the deposit and monthly rent were affordable, likely due to the competition.

It would be more expensive than living in a dormitory, but with the money she’d saved from working at the mansion for almost half a year, she could afford to pay for tuition for a while and live there. Once she returned to school, she would resume her tutoring part-time job.

Seated on the bus heading towards the mansion, Leeseo connected to the school community. While looking for tutoring information, she found herself at her stop.

The oppressive heat of midday, causing sweat to bead on her forehead even after standing for a short time, vanished like a lie, and she felt the air become cooler. Even the weather seemed to signal the end of summer.

A damp, humid wind whipped her hair into a whirlwind. Lifting the bag strap that had fallen from her shoulder, Leeseo, with a single motion, pushed back her disheveled hair and looked up at the cloudy sky.

It was said that they would be in the storm’s path around midnight. Clouds, laden with a murky gray aura, were moving incessantly, displaying the imminent power of the approaching typhoon.

She opened the employee entrance and entered the mansion’s area. As she walked along the back path, she looked up with a strange sense of disquiet at a rumbling noise. The earth-shaking noise was coming from the annex.

A strange feeling of discomfort arose. As if she had traveled back in time a couple of months. The annex, which had been quiet for a while, was now playing rhythmic music with a beat, reminiscent of before.

A party on a day like this, his stamina must be good.

Kwon Taegyeom was an utterly unpredictable man. However, Leeseo was too tired even to attempt to fathom why he would engage in such absurd behavior. She didn’t want to invest any more emotions into it.

One day, as if he’d suddenly gotten tired of it all, he dropped out of all the parties and threw himself into sexcapades with her. The timing was clever, and she can’t deny that it gave her some illusions or misunderstandings, but that’s all.

There was no reason for Taegyeom’s unpredictability. His needs and desires should be resolved before they build up, his patience is shallow, and he is unyielding in his possessions and actions. The kind of person who doesn’t need to be convinced and doesn’t need to be bothered with explanations.

‘I’m not going to let you go today.’

‘Give me a kiss before you go.’

‘Did you think of me?’

‘Am I the only one who missed you?’

That guy could be so honest about momentary emotions, and pleasures, probably because he didn’t hold any lingering feelings inside. Unlike her, who hid her softened heart, clutching at it as if it were her last shred of pride and trying not to let it show.

Memories of her time with Taegyeom scattered like fragments, cluttering her mind. Leeseo dropped her gaze and kept her eyes on the path ahead of her.

With each step, a fragment of memory clawed at her heart. It occurred to her that maybe, even after they parted ways, she’d still have these ridiculous memories to reminiscence, remaining like scars.

“Oh, why are you alone?”

A friendly voice spoke to her out of nowhere, and she looked up. It was Yoo Jinwoo.