Sorry this is so late everyone. I've been having a terrible case of writer's block. I'm hoping to finish this story within the next two months, but I don't want the conclusion to feel too rushed, so we'll see how well that goes haha. Thanks for sticking with me this far! Reviews are loved :)
28 Years Ago
Of all the damned luck, she had to be here tonight—his bride-to-be, along with her gaggle of annoying friends.
He had come here to forget his problems, not to bring more headaches on himself.
It seemed his luck couldn't get any worse when So Ri walked in, dressed more for a midnight stroll in the park than a night of dancing.
It had been in such a park, sitting on the opposite side of an uncomfortable wooden bench, that he had broken up with her two days earlier. He'd been smoking all day, one cigarette after another, and she had acted nervous when they met, not saying anything when he sat down without touching her, as if she knew what was coming.
Why shouldn't she?
His engagement had been made public weeks earlier, yet they had continued their secret meetings at her apartment.
So Ri called it hope. Hyun Sub called it denial.
They were only prolonging one another's agony—and the possibility that they would be discovered. Better to face up to the separation and get it over with. Rip off the proverbial band aid while they still had time to grieve.
Pulling her pink sweater closer over the white sundress she'd worn on the unseasonably warm day, she'd begged him to reconsider. She'd tried to close the gap between their bodies, to pull him back and make him see 'reason,' but he'd thrown her off.
A foolish romantic, he'd called her. A child.
Even ignoring his father's general threats against her well-being, what did she think they were going to do? Run away? To where? To do what? With what resources? What type of life were they fit for besides the one they had always known? Who were they, really, without their families?
So Ri of all people should have understood how difficult it was to rise up in the world. People who left positions like his rarely, if ever, found their way back again.
'Were you planning on doing this all along?' she'd asked.
He hadn't answered her.
He didn't know.
At present, she reached his table, mercifully stopping on the other side instead of latching onto him.
"Can we talk?" she shouted. Up close, he could see splashes of alcohol on her heavy wool coat from where the crowd had jostled her.
Commanding himself not to engage her, he turned his gaze in the direction of Park Chung Ae and her friends.
She means nothing. She means nothing, the voice of 'reason' inside himself muttered. The voice sounded eerily like his father's.
"Hyun Sub, I really need to talk to you! Can't we go somewhere, just for a minute?!"
There's nothing happening here. She means nothing.
The liquor burned his throat. Schooling his features into nonchalance, he set his glass back down steadily.
"I have something important to tell you! Can't you even talk to me anymore?!"
As she moved in front of him, he kept his eyes on her coat buttons, sure that if he looked at her face his composure would crack.
"Didn't I make myself clear enough? We're over. Don't bother coming around me anymore."
You don't need to be here. Do you want me to hurt you? Please just leave.
"You can't just decide that by yourself..."
I'm not deciding. I'm following my fate to its bitter conclusion.
"What was I, your test run?...You're pathetic."
You're not wrong.
"...I'm not going through this shit alone when it's your own damn fault too."
"You think I'm going to break down if you make a fool of yourself?"
From the corner of his eye, he saw Chung Ae emerge into view again. She still had her back turned, but it wouldn't do for her to witness their argument. Besides that, even in the dizzying flurry of lights he could see a few tears slip down So Ri's cheeks.
She didn't deserve this.
She didn't deserve him.
He had to get rid of her.
"Take a look...What's the matter? Don't think she'll do the job credibly? You're not that special..."
"If you're trying to insult me, then try harder...It's a wonder you can create anything, much less run your father's precious museum, knowing how truly tasteless you are."
"It's a wonder they let you in here looking like a knocked-up civil service worker."
"It's not like anyone thinks you're prince charming to begin with, and now you're just cruel."
"You think I've been cruel? I wonder if anyone will marry you now that you're damaged goods...It's not like you've been anything but a burden...Why don't you go stand out on the sidewalk by the door and see if there are any takers?"
Before he had kept his face carefully neutral, but now he glared up at her, intent on destroying every last shred of hope she had for him. For them. The words came out pointed as well-aimed arrows from a reckless bow, fast as pistol shots and equally as deadly. They were rapid fire and blurry as he spoke them, yet he knew later they would haunt him all too vividly.
"Hyun Sub—"
"You think you're different...Look around you! Look!"
"You looked at me."
"Because you're the most gullible girl I've ever met."
"...I hope you drown yourself in regret until your dying day. Or cheap, horrible liquor."
She turned on her way out, and he hated that it would be the last memory he had of her.
More than that, he hated himself, so he turned to the girl in the red dress who, it seemed, had decided to cling onto him for the evening.
Who gave herself to him so easily.
So Ri would have slapped him for ravaging her like that in public.
When he lifted his head back up, So Ri had disappeared.
And the next thing he knew he was making his own way out another door.
And the next thing he knew he was taking his anger out on another girl condemned to the same fate.
And the next thing he knew he was fumbling in the dark, delirious and drunk, crying out So Ri's name.
Present
Rounding the corner to his father's office, Hyun Sub halted when he saw a familiar face step inside ahead of him.
What was So Ri doing at the museum?
Hadn't he told her to leave the country?
Twenty-eight years later, and she still thought she could take matters into her own hands.
He wondered what had provoked her to visit the old man. Threats, perhaps?
Balling his fists, he strode up to the door, ready to bang it down, but paused with his fist yet raised.
For all their expense, the walls in the museum had never been very soundproof—an unfortunate fact he had realized the first time his grandfather had discovered him and So Ri together.
Looking around cautiously and seeing no one in the halls, Hyun Sub pressed his ear against the door.
"I said leave it alone."
"And why would I do that?"
"Because I know you know about my son. Your grandson. And if you say anything to the authorities about Yi Seong Jae, I'll make sure everyone knows it."
"You honestly want that to come out?"
"You honestly think I'd rather go to jail?"
"I'm surprised your husband isn't the one groveling here. Still the protective one, aren't you?"
"I don't give a damn about my husband, but my children are a different matter. You took everything from me, but you won't take it from my daughter. She's young and stupid, and most of what she's done is in some way my fault, but I won't see a scandal like this ruin all of her opportunities in life."
"You'll have a scandal on your hands either way."
"Then I'll take the lesser of two evils. Besides, from where I stand you have much more to lose than me with that particular revelation. Leave it alone, and whatever else my husband may have been holding over you, I'll make sure he doesn't go through with it."
"No one will believe you."
"They'll believe a paternity test."
"Oh? And where are you going to produce that from? My son has no knowledge of your little mistake. You've kept him safely hidden in plain sight all these years. I suggest you continue doing so unless you...Hyun Sub!"
Hyun Sub had burst inside before he realized what he was doing, but before he could open his mouth, Yi Jeong entered behind him, demanding to know what the old man had done to Ga Eul.
