〈Chapter 23〉 

The Ex-Girlfriend Faces the Past

* * *

Cock-a-doodle-doo!

Morning arrived with the rooster’s Vigorous crow.

Si-hyeon brushed his tousled hair back into place and barely managed to open his heavy, creased eyes.

‘The air at Grandma’s place smells kind of the same everywhere…’

Maybe it was the special scent of the countryside. It was hard to put into words, but it carried a sort of nostalgic feeling.

Having lost himself in that scent for a while, Si-hyeon was about to sit up…

“Uuuugh… Si-hyeon-ah…”

Only then did he realize, far too late, that his body was completely restrained by Yerin’s arms and legs.

Even when he tried to wriggle free, her grip only tightened. Giving up, Si-hyeon let out a quiet sigh.

“I knew this would happen…”

With his lower body locked down by both her legs and his right arm serving as her pillow, the only thing free was his left arm.

In the past, he would have escaped by waking her up with his left hand, but for some reason, he didn’t feel like doing that right now.

‘Being like this actually isn’t too bad…’

With a faint smile, Si-hyeon swept Yerin’s hair back. As he playfully poked her squishy cheeks, her brow furrowed slightly.

“So cute.”

“Pffft…”

She let out a soft laugh as if reacting to his compliment. He broke out in a cold sweat, wondering if she had woken up, but fortunately, it was just her talking in her sleep.

“Whew…”

Relieved, Si-hyeon stared intently at Ye-rin’s face and noticed a speck of dust in her hair.

Just as he reached out his hand to take it off…

Bam!

“Hey kids, it’s about time to eat…”

Her grandmother opened the door and stepped in.

No matter how you look at it, his posture looked devious—like he was about to make a move on her granddaughter. Witnessing this, her grandmother covered her mouth and spoke.

“This old woman will be gettin’ the stamina foods ready, so you two go on and take your time enjoyin’ yourselves~”

“Grandma!?”

Smiling with her eyes, she shut the door behind her.

Startled, Si-hyeon shot upright, and Yerin—who had been using his arm as a pillow—ended up faceplanting straight into the blanket.

“Sihyeon… what’s going on…?”

Still half-asleep, Yerin mumbled, but Sihyeon couldn’t even answer. He just rushed out of the room.

He went straight to the grandmother to explain it was all a misunderstanding, but though she said she understood, she kept shooting him those meaningful side-glances.

“Haa… It’s really not like that…”

Already drained of energy from the crack of dawn, Si-hyeon began his meal with weak, lifeless chopsticks. The menu was the same as yesterday: seafood meant to boost one’s “stamina.” He found himself unable to reach for it.

‘Let’s try to avoid those kinds of foods as much as possible.’

While Si-hyeon stuck to eating rice with just kimchi, their grandmother—watching with a pleased smile—turned to Yerin.

“Yerin, you remember Boksoon, right?”

“Of course. There’s no way I’d forget the grandma next door.”

Nodding, she continued,

“She’s been ailin’ lately and can’t move around much. Why don’t you go over and show your face? While you were gone, she was constantly carryin’ on about how much she missed ya.”

“What? Why are you only telling me now…?”

Yerin quickly sped up her eating.

With her cheeks puffed out like she’d stuffed them full of sunflower seeds, she hurried out of the house.

“As for you, Si-hyeon, you’re comin’ with me.”

“Yes, ma’am.”

After finishing the meal and helping with the dishes, Si-hyeon followed his grandmother outside.

‘What kind of work is she planning today…?’

He thought they’d be heading to the fields on the cultivator like yesterday, but instead, she simply walked along the seaside path.

Following behind her, Si-hyeon found the ongoing silence awkward and finally spoke up first, hoping to start a conversation.

“Grandmother, where are we heading right now?”

“Nowhere in particular. Just takin’ a stroll.”

“Pardon?”

The grandmother spoke while gazing out at the sea beside them.

“Truth be told, the reason I called ya out wasn’t ’cause I needed an extra hand. It’s just that Ye-rin’s always bringin’ ya up, so I figured I’d have a little chat with ya myself.”

Her words were so unexpected that Sihyeon’s jaw fell open.

Did she send Yerin away on purpose… because she has something serious to say?

Not knowing what was coming, he listened carefully, tense.

After a long silence, the grandmother spoke again—without even turning around.

“Our Yerin… she grew up quite beautiful, didn’t she?”

“Yes… she’s beautiful, and maybe because she takes after you, she has such a wonderful personality too.”

The grandmother only let out a hearty laugh and then fell silent again. Scratching the back of his head, Si-hyeon kept the conversation going.

“I saw it yesterday—Yerin is so loved by the people in this village. I think the reason she’s always so bright is all thanks to that…”

He stopped mid-sentence.

The grandmother had halted in her steps and was now looking at him with distant, wistful eyes.

Her mouth opened and closed as if she were hesitating. Finally, with a shallow sigh, she spoke.

“That’s right, isn’t it? She grew up receivin’ from the villagers the love she never got from her own parents… I consider it a godsend.”

“What…?”

Si-hyeon froze in his tracks, doubting his own ears. Ye-rin’s parents, who had remained veiled in mystery until now—this was the moment their secret was finally being laid bare.

* * *

Meanwhile, at Chae-yeon’s house—

“Here, honey, the scallion pancakes turned out well. Try some.”

“Thanks, honey.”

Suyeon placed the side dish onto her husband’s rice bowl, and Dong-hoon accepted it with a look of pure happiness.

Perhaps it was because she had become a bit more honest with her own feelings? The corners of Su-yeon’s mouth showed no sign of coming down.

‘Why… why is Mom the only one who got better?’

Even though she knew it was wrong to feel this way, the more tenderly Suyeon acted toward Dong-hoon, the more Chae-yeon’s stomach churned.

How could she just slip away like that, after brainwashing her daughter to the point of giving her permanent trauma?

A crushing sense of betrayal, mixed with deep resentment, spread through Chae-yeon.

“Chae-yeon, why are you just sitting there? Is the food not to your liking?”

“…I’ll eat.”

The meal began at Dong-hun’s prompting.

Her mother’s cooking was always top-tier, but the display of affection happening right in front of her ruined it all.

Crunch…

Grinding her teeth along with the grains of rice, Chae-yeon glared at her mother with a chilling gaze.

* * *

The next day.

After Dong-hoon left for work. Chae-yeon, who hadn’t slept a wink, approached Su-yeon while she was folding the laundry.

“Mom.”

“Yeah?”

“Why are you starting to be so nice to Dad now, of all times?”

Just lasting until Dong-hun left for work had pushed Chae-yeon’s patience to its absolute limit. Consequently, she had no room left for pleasantries and cut straight to the heart of the matter.

At her words, Su-yeon’s hands, which had been folding a towel, froze in place.

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

“You always said it, Mom. That you should never let the man you love see your true feelings… that the moment I devote myself and rely on him, he’ll abandon me!”

Chae-yeon’s bloodshot eyes welled with tears, and her fists were trembling uncontrollably. Seeing her daughter’s violent reaction, Suyeon dropped the towel she was holding to the floor and struggled to meet Chae-yeon’s hate-filled gaze.

Chae-yeon’s voice, thick with resentment, continued relentlessly.

“Are you happy? Happy that you brainwashed your daughter like that, only to do the exact opposite yourself and find happiness? Because of you, Mom, I couldn’t even say ‘I love you’ once while I was with my boyfriend… Do you have any idea how much I suffered because of that!!”

Unable to bear the weight of her own rage, Chae-yeon finally let out the emotions she had suppressed until now.

Anger, hatred, contempt. She gathered every scrap of her negative emotions and threw them at her mother. Faced with this, Su-yeon clutched at her chest and asked,

“A boyfriend…? Chae-yeon, were you… were you seeing someone?”

Chae-yeon had kept her relationship a secret, fearing Suyeon would interfere. But now that she had let it slip, she bared it all.

“I dated a classmate for over a year and then we broke up. Just like how Dad treats you, he loved me un-sparingly… but I couldn’t tell him ‘I love you’ even once…”

Chae-yeon wrapped her arms around herself, then slowly collapsed to the floor—her body trembling uncontrollably.

“Every time I tried to confess to him… your words kept coming back to me… I kept seeing myself overlapping with how you used to be—completely broken… So I couldn’t show him any affection at all, and we ended up breaking up!!”

Suyeon realized then—her daughter’s condition was just like her own.

Faced with her daughter’s hatred for the first time in her life, Suyeon felt suffocated; her mind was in such a state of chaos she couldn’t pull her thoughts together.

“I—I’m sorry… I’m so sorry…”

All she could do was weep and apologize. To think her daughter had gone through such a thing because of her. She was so ashamed she couldn’t even lift her head.

With a sobbing voice, Su-yeon continued, her words stumbling.

“M-Mom thought that was the right way at first, too… but then a few months ago, when Dong-hoon asked for a divorce, I finally realized it was all wrong and started psychological therapy…”

So that was the reason behind her starting therapy. Chae-yeon bit down hard on her lower lip, unable to offer any response.

Suyeon’s trembling hand touched Chae-yeon’s cheek, her guilt-ridden voice continuing.

“Without even knowing my daughter was suffering like this… what on earth have I…”

Overcome with self-loathing, Su-yeon began to beat her own chest with her fist. Seeing her mother wailing like that, Chae-yeon grew confused, thinking she had broken her mother all over again.

‘If… if it keeps going like this…’

Suyeon might decide she doesn’t deserve to be happy and revert to the wreck she was before therapy.

She slowly began stepping backward.

And at that moment—

As Chae-yeon tried to run away from reality, Suyeon grabbed her wrist.

Still kneeling, she looked up at her daughter and said,

“I’m sorry, Chae-yeon… This is all my fault, so I’ll fix it somehow. I will.”

After repeatedly begging for forgiveness, Suyeon took the now-calmed Chae-yeon to the psychological counseling center.

And with the very source of the trauma—her mother—aiding in the treatment, Chae-yeon’s condition began to improve at an incredible pace.

* * *

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