CH 99

In the end, they used the hospital’s VIP room like a motel room and went home soon after.

It was Choo-ja’s third husband’s Memorial Day. He was Lee-yeon’s distant relative, an uncle in some way. Out of all her husbands that had passed away, he was the one that Choo-ja had cared most.

When Lee-yon and Kwon Chae-woo got home, all they could smell was the delicious food in the house.

As they entered, a bunch of pebbles were lined by the door. Lee-yeon saw some with cute little animals on them and picked them up and placed them in her pocket. To others, the pebbles would have looked like nothing out of the ordinary, but Lee-yeon knew that it was all Gyu-baek’s work.

This was his way of expressing his emotions. Even as a small child, he was already working hard to show how he felt.

Lee-yeon glared at the man following behind her. “You need more rest,” she said. “You’ll get hurt if you don’t rest.” She glanced at Kwon Chae-woo’s forehead and bit her lips. It might not have seemed too bad, but Lee-yeon had experienced a wound similar to the one on Kwon Chae-woo’s head before and she knew how bad it could be.

She was wearing her fear like a bullet-proof vest. The man that had tried to kill her might come back and she wouldn’t be able to do anything. She felt like their time together was limited and it scared her.

“You just came from an accident too, Lee-yeon,” Kwon Chae-woo told her. “I felt the same as you are.”

“That’s different.”

“Different from you?”

Lee-yeon shook her head. “You woke different. You hated me right away.” she said. “The moment you saw me, you rejected me.”

“I was trying to survive,” Kwon Chae-woo frowned. “At any given moment, I will save you instinctively. Don’t make me feel bad about a moment when I wasn’t myself.”

But Lee-yeon didn’t budge.

Kwon Chae-woo’s shoulders slumped. “It’s because I’m not good at s*x, isn’t it—”

“Just get in the house and lie down!” Lee-yeon stormed into the house and away from her husband.

She felt like everything that had happened yesterday was a dream. She couldn’t seem to understand when the news flashed images of the landslide, the jeeps that were carrying soldiers in the rescue team and the people they were saving. All day, Lee-yeon had managed to remain calm because—

“Lee-yeon, wait up!”

Because her life was as normal as it had been before.

When they walked in, the service table for the Memorial Day was ready. Choo-ja hadn’t prepared it the traditional way, opting to do something more from memory. There was the coffee that Lee-yeon’s uncle had liked, the kimchi jeon that Choo-ja burnt, some undercooked rice, and an old poetry book.

“Choo-ja, I’m here,” Lee-yeon said, finally catching sight of the woman. She noticed a look on Choo-ja’s face that she had seen every year, it was the odd look of a woman who was getting by with the short memory of the man that she had once held. But, for the first time, Lee-yeon recognized the look as her own future.

***

“Hey!” Choo-ja greeted. She looked a little lonely at the table, but she was smiling brightly when she stood up to go to Lee-yeon. She was holding a little fruit knife that she must have been using to cut something. “You wench! I was worried sick about you!”

“Ah, Choo-ja!” Lee-yeon laughed. She could feel her sadness drifting away.

Choo-ja started to talk in a rather animated fashion. “I saw on TV that there were no deaths, but the hospital director wouldn’t pick up the phone!” she exclaimed. “I know that sometimes people die ahead of others, but I was so angry thinking that you had gone before me!”

Lee-yeon shook her head. “I’m sorry, Choo-ja. I can explain.”

“Don’t make me laugh!” said the woman. “You weren’t thinking about me at all!”

“I really wasn’t in the right frame of mind!”

Choo-ja looked like she was about to cry, but, luckily, Kwon Chae-woo managed to stop the conversation from taking a turn.

“I think it was good that I went instead of you, mother-in-law,” he said. He carefully stepped behind Choo-ja and took her fruit knife and put it away.

“My son-in-law,” Choo-ja said, looking at the man with warm eyes. Her face had completely shifted from one of terror to the face of a woman looking at a knight that she trusted with her life. “Have you eaten? Here you are saving Lee-yeon and all we have to feed you is Memorial Day food.”

Kwon Chae-woo shook his head. “It’s okay.”

When he turned to look at Lee-yeon, she looked away. Her heart was racing. He might have seemed like the perfect son-in-law right now, but she knew that everyone would be shocked if they found out all the things that he had done to her.

“I’ll help you clean up, Choo-ja,” she said, scratching her neck and scurrying to the kitchen. She opened the window to let out the oily air and went to the sink to wash the frying pan that was left soaking.

“Lee-yeon.”

Her breath became ragged when she heard his voice against her ear.

“Was your uncle important to you?”

Lee-yeon put the sponge down and stared at the water in the sink. “If it wasn’t for him, I really wouldn’t have had anywhere to go. Even though he got married late, he gladly accepted me. Choo-ja was always friendly too.”

She felt him hug her waist wordlessly. She could feel his warmth spread against her back.

“I healed by living with them,” Lee-yeon said.

Kwon Chae-woo held her tight and rested his chin on top of her head. Lee-yeon stumbled at the sudden weight but was quickly held up against his strong embrace.

“Then I need to be good around him,” Kwon Chae-woo said.

“Even though he’s gone?”

“That doesn’t matter,” he said. “I’m your husband so I need to learn.”

Lee-yeon frowned. “Learn what?” When he didn’t reply, she picked up the sponge and continued washing the dishes.

“Death note,” Kwon Chae-woo finally said.

The frying pan slipped from Lee-yeon’s grip. The gears in her mind were turning. Did he really mean to say death note? The notebook where you write the people you want killed?