It had been less than thirty minutes since their simple chicken party began. From receiving the chicken from the delivery driver to buying the mat and spreading it out, he had taken care of everything. Whether he had done this often or not, he was skilled and quick.
Woo-kyung glanced around her surroundings, pulled the blanket he had prepared up to her waist, and smiled brightly.
“This is my first time doing something like this.”
“Mine too.”
She nodded reflexively at his words, then suddenly furrowed her brows. Her expression showed she simply couldn't believe that he, too, had a first time for something.
“Why, do I seem too much like a player?”
“Yes. Ah, no.”
She hurriedly tried to correct herself, but it was already too late. Tae-heon let out a hollow breath, as if dumbfounded.
“It’s the downside of early education.”
“Early education?”
“My father is an incredible romantic, so the things I saw and heard, whether I liked it or not, were things like this. How to treat someone, what words to say, things like that.”
“Ah. Your father must be very affectionate.”
“Father is kind and affectionate to everyone, both at work and at home. But for me, my manners are limited only to those who are mine. Though there are exceptions.”
The exceptions were those who ran their mouths lightly, those who looked down on opponents weaker than themselves, and those who had caused Woo Hae-rim’s death. It was a rage he would continue to feel for a long time to come, but he suppressed it and pulled up the corners of his lips into a smile.
“My father doesn’t call Mother ‘honey’ or ‘dear’—he calls her by her name. He wants her to live being respected not as a mother, but as a woman, as a person. I think that’s admirable. I think it’s an ideal married life.”
“Just hearing about it, you seem to have such a good relationship. Your mother and father must both be wonderful; it must be a very warm and harmonious home.”
*I bet it’s really nice,* she mumbled in a tiny voice, barely audible, then reined in her smile and lowered her gaze. Anxious that he might ask what about her, she spread her chopsticks and picked up a piece of chicken.
“Eat. It’s delicious.”
A crisp, cheerful crunch sounded from the corner of her mouth as she bit in. Tae-heon watched her eat with pleased eyes.
When asked whether she preferred fried or seasoned chicken, she chose the former without hesitation. She explained that when you order fried chicken, they usually give you seasoning sauce for free, so you can taste both, which is more profitable.
He thought it might be better to just order one of each rather than dipping sparingly in the sauce, but considering that leftover chicken would roll around in the fridge and eventually be thrown away, her judgment was a hundred times correct.
She was frugal, wise, and without pretense. Her lips glistened with grease, but she didn’t seem to care, as if she could just wipe them when she was done. He liked her just the way she was.
“This is bad.”
“What is?”
*Because you look pretty.* He smiled wordlessly. He had orbited around her with a heart hoping she would do well, hoping he could be of some help. But somewhere along the way, he had lost his purpose. It was truly bad.
“Anyway, the conclusion is that I’m not a player.”
Perhaps feeling quite wronged, he emphasized this as he finished.
She let out a hollow laugh, put the cooling chicken in her mouth, and chewed. Of all the many pieces, she had unfortunately picked a dry, tough one that she had to chew for a long time. The remnants that somehow slid down her throat were stiff and suffocating. It felt like her own life story, impossibly distant from his.
“With a friend. Just getting some fresh air for a bit. Uh, it’s not an overnight stay.”
While she was recalling the gloomy atmosphere at home, Tae-heon was on a call. It seemed someone in his family was asking after him.
It was well past dismissal time, so it made sense that he would get a call from home. But her phone was quiet. It was something that always happened, so it shouldn’t have been a big deal, but perhaps because everything about him looked so pleasant, her dead-silent phone felt embarrassing today.
Noticing her gaze, Tae-heon ended the call shortly and tossed his phone aside.
“It was my brother. He has his credit card with me, and I guess he called after getting the payment text for the chicken.”
“Your parents and your brother—you all seem to be close.”
“There’s quite an age gap between my brother and me. Even so, he was always a brother from a young age. An existence I couldn’t hope to reach. Since he’s the one practically bankrolling me even now, I can’t help but stay on his good side.”
Beneath his composed tone lay affection and respect for his brother.
He had described his parents’ married life as ideal, but to her, his entire family seemed harmonious and ideal. It was amazing that the happy family she had only ever dreamed of actually existed in reality.
Coming here today, she had learned a lot about him. That he had affectionate parents and a brother who asked after him. And that he was more of a chatterbox than she had thought.
Listening to his stories felt like he lived in a different world. It was fascinating but envious, and just a little sad.
“What about you?”
“Huh? Ah.”
For a moment, she was at a loss for words.
Woo-kyung knew that sharing information was the beginning and essential part of forming a bond. Getting closer to someone naturally required that much effort and trouble, but she refused with a smiling face.
“I don’t want to talk about it. My story isn’t interesting.”
“Alright. Well, if you don’t want to talk, you don’t have to.”
Though she had half-expected otherwise, he wrapped up the conversation as if respecting her wishes.
She, who had been poking at the chicken in embarrassment, soon set down her chopsticks. Conflicting emotions of self-reproach for not being honest and relief came rushing in. The relationship with him, which she had thought had grown a little closer, had returned to square one.
She couldn’t know what emotion drove him to approach her with kindness, but she had a hunch that he would leave before long. So she steeled her wavering heart, deciding to appear close on the outside but keep her distance.
“There are a lot of stars tonight.”
Tae-heon, lying stretched out on the mat, looked up at the sky and murmured. To her eyes, it was the same night sky as always, yet it seemed to look different to him. Perhaps he was using the pitch-black sky as a canvas, drawing stars upon it.
He was free and relaxed, a man who seemed to have no flaws and always looked good. A man who seemed to have never experienced hardship, who seemed to have no worries at all.
“The kid I liked is over there.”
Woo-kyung looked up at the sky absently.
“My younger sibling.”
Feeling the weight in the words that followed, she turned to look at Tae-heon. His eyes, which had spoken calmly, were chasing one particularly twinkling star.
“Yeah. That kid died.”
Answering words she hadn’t asked, Tae-heon formed a faint smile. Woo-kyung, who had been parting her lips to find something to say, held her breath quietly, thinking any words would be out of line.
A cold wind seeped into the silence.
“I...”
It was a wondrous night sky, enough to make one think, *How much love must they have received in life to still shine so brightly after death?* A night when walls crumbled and she wanted to talk, unlike herself.
That was why she began her story.
“My mother is over there. She gave birth to me alone. They said she might have complications because she was weak, but Mother didn’t give up on me. So I’m here, and Mother went over there. My grandmother raised me until a few years ago, then went to Mother’s side too.”
“...”
“I don’t know about my father. Whether he’s alive or dead, who he is. I’ve never seen him, never heard about him either. So I don’t know.”
It was a story that would make one lose affection. A story like self-destruction, the kind anyone would look at with pitying eyes, thinking *Oh, you poor thing.*
It wasn’t a great or boastful story, so she had kept it to herself, but once she let it out, she felt quite relieved. If this was how it would be, she should have corrected the rumors about being a swindler’s daughter long ago. Then her school life might have been a little more comfortable.
Woo-kyung continued in a voice brighter than before.
“Right now, I’m living at my maternal uncle’s house. He did a lot of bad things, so he’s in prison now, but he’ll probably be released soon. My maternal aunt likes alcohol. She’s drunk almost every day.”
Woo-kyung, who had been rolling her eyes absently, noticed his frozen face as if in shock and let out an awkward smile.
“This is the kind of person I am.”
Even if he put distance between them and grew distant starting this moment, or tomorrow, she would be fine.
Perhaps it was only natural. When she thought about the fact that her few family members consisted of an alcoholic and a maternal uncle who frequented prison, there were times when even she couldn’t handle it.
She hadn’t talked expecting anything from him. It was just a day when she wanted to chat a little.
“I should lie down too.”
With an unconcerned face, Woo-kyung lay down beside him. She asked if he wasn’t cold, answered her own question by deciding that he must be, and draped the blanket over his body. The blanket was too small for two, but it gave her the illusion that it was much warmer than before.
A cold wind passed over her heavy eyelids. The fishy smell of the river, the dry scent of grass, and a cozy fragrance wafted over in waves, brushing the tip of her nose.
The last scent she felt was the smell of his skin. A scent familiar enough to distinguish. For some reason, she had a feeling that she would remember him even after quite a long time had passed. The only person who had believed in her.
“Sorry.”
A voice flowed into her thoughts.
The moment she opened her eyes slightly, a long arm crossed her vision. By the time she came to her senses, she had buried her face somewhere.
Thump, thump. An unfamiliar sound she had never heard before tickled her ear. She moved her stiff hand and groped to find something hard and hot.
It was another person. It was the body of a perfect stranger.
Startled and afraid, she twisted her body to escape, but strength entered the arm wrapped around her back. It was a force strong enough that their chests pressed together.
“I...”
“Just this once, let me do as I want.”
“...”
A low breath escaped through the narrow gap.
Tae-heon held tightly the fragile body that was gradually losing strength, the small body that easily came to him as if it had no intention of resisting.
Autumn, and a chilly night. It was the best comfort he could offer.
* * *
In front of the apartment complex, the car that had slowed down soon came to a halt. Captured by an awkward feeling, she had been fidgeting with her hands, but she calmly unbuckled her seatbelt and pulled the door handle. After getting out of the car, she also took out the schoolbag she had left in the back seat. In the meantime, her gaze briefly met his, who had gotten out.
“This is it. Thank you for bringing me home today.”
“You live in an apartment. Must be nice.”
“It’s not that nice of an apartment.”
“But it’s still an apartment. My house is just a regular home.”
Woo-kyung tilted her head with an expression that said she couldn’t relate. If it was where he lived, it was obviously a mansion with a yard and garden, so it was a bit strange that he envied the nearby apartment complex. On the other hand, she was relieved. Because the scenery reflected in his eyes wasn’t a complete mess.