CH 61.1

Knock, knock.

Yoo-hwa, who carefully opened the bedroom door at the knocking sound, met the housekeeper who was standing in front of the door. She looked at her as if asking what was going on, and the housekeeper smiled softly and asked.

“Do you need anything else?”

“No. I’m fine. Are you leaving work now?”

“Yes.”

“Have a safe trip.”

“Yes. I’ll see you again.”

The housekeeper said a polite goodbye. Because the goodbye was awkward, Yoo-hwa hesitated for a second, then bowed her head too and said goodbye.

The housekeeper glanced at the fake flowers in Yoo-hwa’s hand before leaving the room. Yoo-hwa’s hands stiffened as she seemed to have found out her thoughts. Fortunately, the housekeeper looked at her naturally as if she had not seen anything.

Watching the housekeeper go out, she found two men standing outside the front door. Whether there were many teams divided into shifts, the men had changed.

Even if those people weren’t there right now, she couldn’t go out because she didn’t have shoes. She looked through the shoe rack just in case, but it was empty as if telling her not to even dream about going out.

There was no phone, no laptop, so all she could do was look out the window with an open view or watch TV. Instead of turning on the TV, she sat on the sofa, looking at the white fake flowers in the middle of the table.

Was it because she saw someone who looked like her mother?

“Yoo-hwa, Mom really likes flowers. They’re pretty.”

Suddenly, she remembered her mother’s voice, full of laughter. While passing through the park, her mother, who was like a little girl, looked at the colorful flowers that were being trimmed and admired them.

At that time, Yoo-hwa looked at her mother more than the flowers. To her, her mother, who smiled the most brightly in the world, was more radiant and beautiful than the flowers.

“Yoo-hwa, live like a pretty flower like this. Beautifully, while receiving lots of love from people. Mom couldn’t live like that, but you have to. Okay?”

At that time, she replied that she would and laughed, but thinking about it now, it was a very sad thing to say.

After all, she didn’t live like that.

She didn’t receive much love from anyone.

Yoo-hwa looked at the fake flowers quietly with sunken eyes.

After her mother died, Yoo-hwa did not look at flowers properly for a while. When she looked at flowers, she saw her mother withering. After a long time passed, she came to like flowers again, but then, fake flowers were better than real ones.

A perfect flower from the beginning, without the pain and suffering of having to bloom while facing the cold breeze from birth.

Yoo-hwa stretched her arm and touched the petals of the fake flowers, making a rustling sound.

Even though they were dry like this, there was nothing to hurt them or to make them wither.

Looking at the fake flowers blankly, she then turned her head when she felt a presence, and saw Woo-hyun entering the house. A neatly arranged hairstyle on top of a pitch-black suit. Wearing his shirt with one button unfastened and no necktie, he looked luxurious and elegant because of his tall height and well-balanced body. When she thought about it, she thought he was a good match for this nice house. It seemed like she was the only one that didn’t fit in this house.

The first thing he saw was Yoo-hwa sitting on the living room sofa. He looked at her longer than usual, and then looked through the house decorated with flowers.

“Do you like it?”

Woo-hyun asked, focusing his gaze. The calm voice that was heard was as comfortable and soft as when he lived next door. Woo-hyun opened his mouth again when Yoo-hwa gave no answer.

“If you don’t like it, I’ll tell her to do it again.”

Woo-hyun took off his suit jacket and said in succession.

“No. I like it.”

At Yoo-hwa’s answer, Woo-hyun’s expression became gentler.

“That’s a relief.”

“I like it, but I hope you won’t do this again.”

However, at the words that followed, Woo-hyun, who was taking off his jacket, stopped his action.

“Why?”

Woo-hyun asked in a sinking voice.

“Just so. It’s awkward if you do this.”

“…”

Though it looked like he was trying to get close, she didn’t go as far as to say that.

Of course, there was no such misunderstanding. Woo-hyun did this as the minimum consideration to alleviate her discomfort during her stay in this house. Or maybe it was an apology for the guilt that she had to go through something dangerous because of him. Either way, it wasn’t a big deal.

Woo-hyun took off his jacket and threw it down on the sofa without giving much of an answer.

“Be patient, even if it’s awkward.”

“…”

At Woo-hyun’s unthinkable words, Yoo-hwa looked at him with a puzzled expression. She did not expect him to give this answer to her refusal.

“I need to do this until you leave this house.”

“…”

“Even if it’s something like this.”

“…”

Woo-hyun, who contained her in his eyes, spoke with a face so calm that it looked like it was expressionless. But why did those words feel so heavy when they sounded so indifferent?

Why… did it sound like this was the only way he could do it?

The image of her standing nervously under the streetlight overlapped with Woo-hyun’s, standing tall under the bright illumination. The image of her back then, when she was excited because she knew Woo-hyun would come, but also unconsciously felt a weak fear that maybe he wouldn’t come back like this eternally, and so, all she could do was pray for one more day.