SMW 87

A hollow laugh followed Mrs. Lee’s subsequent words.

“It would be a lie to say I have no feelings toward you. We haven’t faced each other many times, but after Seol-ha died, your very existence brought me great pain and despair once again. However… it’s not as if only Mina and I were the victims. You were young too, and you lost someone just as precious; how could I only harbor resentment?”

Surprisingly, my heart did not waver. For me, the reverse scale—the one thing that could trigger me—had always been Grandma’s death. It was a grudge that forced me to bare my teeth and bite anyone who touched it; to not do so, I would have had to tear out my own heart.

But it seemed things had changed now. I looked calmly at my teacup. Suddenly, a different kind of glass came to mind.

“Not long ago, I offered a drink and my greetings for the first time to a precious person who left before me.”

On that day, when I wailed for the first time, I felt an old knot in my chest unravel. Not as someone wearing the name of the deceased, but as the complete Choi Seol, I grieved and also rejoiced. Every moment spent with Han Yeo-reum had been such a day for me.

“I cannot guarantee exactly when, but it won’t take long before the day comes when I return this name.”

I shifted my gaze from the teacup to the woman, who had frozen in a daze, and smiled for the first time.

“I hope that by then, you and Mina can also offer a drink to your precious one.”

Without a word, she lowered her head toward her teacup. The cup served as a quite excellent shield for her as well.

“Oppa, let’s eat cake.”

Not long after I had barely managed to be alone, another unwelcome guest barged in. I sighed and glared at Hee Won, who was standing by the door.

“Ahem! Well, I have a meeting in the afternoon, so I’ll be going now. I hope you two siblings have a wonderful time together.”

Leaving those words behind, Hee Won bolted outside. It seemed he had been quite harassed out there.

“Oppa, come sit down quickly. I got these from a famous dessert shop so we could eat them together.”

Only then did I look at the table Mina was pointing to, where a large cake box sat. My brow furrowed instinctively at the sight of various slices of cakes that looked sweet just by looking at them.

“What are you doing? I told you to come here.”

“I don’t eat sweets. Eat it yourself.”

“Aww, I knew you’d say that, so I bought some cakes that aren’t too sweet. Try this one.”

Is it inevitable? There was no gap to push her away. Reluctantly returning to the sofa I had barely escaped ten minutes prior, a slice of cheesecake and black tea were immediately pushed toward me.

“And the chocolate cake is mine.”

With a happy expression, Mina cut the chocolate cake with a fork and popped a large chunk into her mouth. After a brief moment of horror at the sight of a lump of sugar being swallowed in one go, my gaze suddenly drifted to the chocolate cake.

“Mmm, it’s delicious. As expected of a dessert hotspot.”

“Is that place good at cakes?”

“Huh?”

“I’m asking if it’s a famous shop.”

At the abrupt question, she nodded instinctively.

“Yeah. I just told you it’s a hotspot. It’s been so hot on social media lately that I’ve been planning to buy some as soon as I came to Korea.”

“Aren’t there more places that do it well in the US?”

“Aww. America is America, and Korea has its own distinct touch. Especially this chocolate cake is really famous. Besides that, there are other chocolate desserts…”

“Then, tell me the name.”

“What?”

“Tell me the name of the dessert shop. Do you have a business card?”

Perhaps because I pushed so suddenly, her eyes narrowed suspiciously.

“What is this? Don’t tell me you’re going to scout the pâtissier for the hotel? No way! He’s the owner-pâtissier. If you take him away, stolen contentthey’ll have to close down. Do you know how much I love the interior of that shop? Do you think places with a great atmosphere and delicious cakes stolen contentare common? Besides, your hotel already has plenty of pâtissiers who are good at desserts.”

“…Is that so?”

I had many opportunities to taste hotel food, but since I never touched desserts, I didn’t know. The reputation around me certainly seemed good. I should look into that too.

“I have no intention of bringing them to the hotel, so just tell Hee Won the name of that shop and any other places you know that make good chocolate cake.”

“…”

Instead of an answer, the look in her eyes was one of dying curiosity, but I had no intention of telling her the real reason. Whether it was sweet or not, desserts were burdensome, so just as I was about to end the conversation by taking a sip of black tea—

“No way, Oppa, do you have a lover?”

“Cough!”

Fortunately, I had just swallowed, so I didn’t spray it out, but I started choking. I covered my mouth with the handkerchief she hurriedly handed me and coughed; only after I had calmed down could I get to the point.

“What on earth are you talking about all of a sudden?”

“Think about it. You’re not scouting them, and it’s not like your taste has changed, yet you’re specifically asking for a list of places that make good chocolate cake. That leaves only one possibility. You’re giving it to a lover.”

Women’s intuition was truly troublesome in its sharpness. Except for one thing.

“It’s not a lover.”

“If not a lover, are you in the ‘some’ stage? Or is it a one-sided love?”

“…You know, I think you get more talkative as you get older.”

“Oh my god! It is a one-sided love!”

How on earth did she reach that conclusion? It was absurd, but since I couldn’t refute it, I left a gap for a moment, and her eyes sparkled excessively.

“Who is it? Someone I know? No, none of the people I know have seen your face. Then a colleague? Or perhaps a fateful encounter on the street? Am I finally going to see a heartbreaking romance between a chaebol and a commoner?”

“Stop watching so many dramas.”

“When do I have time to watch dramas? These days, I read web novels in my spare time.”

“Web novels? You mean fantasy?”

“Fantasy? Well, I read those too. But I don’t really distinguish genres. I read modern settings, possession stories, and romance fantasies. Lately, BL has been really calling to me.”

“BL? What is that?”

“The beautiful and thrilling love between men. Lately, I’ve found it so great when men blush.”

This time, even though I wasn’t drinking tea, I felt like I visit our sitewas choking. Mina, who had [visit our site]no way of knowing my stolen contentinner circumstances, suddenly clapped her hands as if she remembered something and asked.

“Come to think of it, that friend of yours back then was cute too. Are you still in touch?”

I really hear the strangest things. I didn’t have many people who could be called friends, and a man had never once been…

“Han Yeo-reum! I remember. Your friend’s name was Han Yeo-reum, right?”

“…”

“Huh? You don’t remember? Back in your first year of high school, I went all the way to the creek bridge because of a promise. The friend who was with you then. His face suited the name you called him so well that I told you he was cute and asked you to introduce him, but you rejected me flat out. You were kind of scary back then.”

“…I was scary?”

“I’m telling you! I thought you were a pretty kind person, but I was so surprised to see you get so serious and tell me to lose interest.”

I gave a bitter smile at the sight of Mina grumbling that she had been truly upset back then. It really was like that. I had been so guarded against anyone who showed even the slightest interest in Han Yeo-reum. At the time, I didn’t even know that was jealousy.

“Come to think of it, your friend seemed to have misunderstood our relationship quite a bit; I wonder if that’s been cleared up. You know, after I visited your school, rumors spread through the whole school that the two of us were lovers.”

Now that she mentioned it, such an absurd thing had happened. Even though it was in the distant past, my brow furrowed instinctively.

“To be precise, the rumors were exaggerated because you cried in front of the school gate during lunch break.”

“That couldn’t have been just because of me. Whether I cried or not, if you had just ignored me and gone inside, [Read on Read BL Novels]those words wouldn’t have come up. Though you would [Read on Read BL Novels]have become a ‘bad boy’ instead.”

Mina’s expression softened as if reminiscing about the past.

“Looking back, I was quite mean too. Going to find you that day just to vent my anger.”

“You had every reason to. You had the right to.”

Who could generously accept a being their father had with another woman? Moreover, we were still young.

“No. I shouldn’t have. It’s true that at the time, I hated your sudden appearance unbearably. Because it felt like it was all your fault that we couldn’t even hold a funeral for the deceased Seol-ha, and that my mother had to wail in secret, tearing at her heart. I was young and immature. When the person I should have resented was someone else.”

Eventually, regret, guilt, and deep resentment appeared on Mina’s face as her shoulders slumped. I watched her quietly before speaking.

“As you said, we were young and immature back then. Because of that, it must have been hard for us, who were struggling just to take care of ourselves, to protect someone else. We probably didn’t know that it would unintentionally result in hurting someone.”

“But that can’t be an excuse for the person who caused the pain.”

I agreed with a bitter smile at her rebuttal.

“Yes. That can’t be an excuse. But at least, I’m okay.”

As she said, the person who should have been resented was someone else. There was absolutely no need for us, the victims, to bow our heads and feel these wretched emotions every time. It would have been better to be drenched in a desire for revenge. But I couldn’t say this to her. To someone who had developed compassion for the object of their resentment, even that could be a wound.

Don’t misunderstand. Han Yeo-reum is neither a friend nor anything else.

Then how about you? I’m sure you must have resented me for hurting you as I pleased under the guise of doing what was best for you, yet when we met again, you couldn’t push me away. Rather, to you, who checks my reaction and grows anxious whenever the word ‘friend’ comes up, was the current me a source of resentment, or compassion? Or was it simply a longing that had passed by?

“Did Mom say something to you?”

Perhaps my face looked dark, as Mina asked worriedly. Blaming myself for constantly falling back into longing despite saying I wouldn’t miss him anymore, I shook my head.

“There was nothing for you to worry about. We just talked about how I’ve been doing lately.”

“That’s a relief, but if she said something that bothers you, please understand. Mom is trying in her own way too.”

“I know.”

Even if it happened before the marriage, my existence was clearly a horrific one to her. Nevertheless, from the first time we met until now, she had never once treated me poorly. That effort alone was enough.

“I’ll be having an unofficial inauguration ceremony as CEO around the end of this month. Mrs. Lee said she would come then, but I’d prefer it if you could persuade her to return to the US before that.”

No matter how pleasant the words spread through the media, it would be impossible not to attract attention at that time. There was no need for her to stay in Korea and go through troublesome events.