After finishing the meal, I sat on the sofa in the living room and absentmindedly waited for Baek Ye-rin.
I had offered to do the dishes, but even that was forbidden, as it would have been disrespectful to the guest.
With nothing much to do, I glanced around the living room and immediately noticed something.
On one of the walls, several pictures were hanging.
I stood up from the sofa and walked over.
There, unfolded the precious memories of a family, and my eyes automatically drew to the topmost picture.
It was a picture of a married couple.
I instantly recognized one of them.
Someone who looked a lot like Baek Ye-rin.
Yes, this person was Baek Ye-rin’s mother, or rather, the younger Lee Yeon-hee.
And the other person…
“Our dad.”
Baek Ye-rin, who had silently approached me, informed me.
Startled, I quickly composed myself and responded:
“Pretty sharp and manly looking. Looks like he was in great shape too.”
“He was a firefighter.”
“That’s a cool job.”
Then I lowered my gaze and looked at the other pictures.
…And I immediately sensed something off.
Except for when Baek Ye-rin was very young, there were no photos of her with her father.
I already had some idea about the reason, so it was impossible not to feel a twinge of bitterness.
Because…
“He passed away on a rescue mission. I was probably five years old at the time.”
Baek Ye-rin said this with a startling calmness.
I thought I finally understood why she invited me to her home today.
“Would you like to hear the story of my family?”
The only memory that comes to mind about dad.
It was a distant memory.
That day, it snowed so heavily that the whole world seemed to turn white. And in this pristine white world…
“Dad! Don’t go!”
That was when I experienced separation for the first time.
I was too young, at five, to understand the concept of a funeral.
So, instead, I apologized.
I promised not to be a picky eater and to eat anything well.
I vowed to be a good child who listened to my dad…
And so, the young me cried endlessly. The many people attending the funeral could only helplessly witness this heartbreaking scene.
And what stopped my crying was…
“Baek Ye-rin, stop crying.”
It was my mom.
Honestly, I couldn’t help but be surprised.
The person who always called me by my nickname suddenly spoke in a cold tone, adding my last name.
“Dad is just sleeping for a long time. So let’s quietly wait with mom until he wakes up.”
While saying this, my mom hugged me tightly.
But I vaguely knew.
I could feel that my mom’s hands were trembling while she hugged me tightly.
My mom was suppressing the greatest sorrow here.
For no one but me.
Maybe it was the resolution she made right there.
In order for her crying daughter not to falter…
To make sure I wouldn’t feel the absence of my father, she decided to try hard.
From then on, my mom worked late into the night every day to raise me alone.
“Yerin, is there anything you want?”
It stemmed from her desire for me not to feel the lack of anything.
And to this question, I always shook my head.
Actually, I wanted many things.
Being young, my curiosity was always full, and I wanted the things others took for granted.
But even though I was young, it wasn’t that I lacked perception.
Every time I looked at my mom’s tired face,
and every time I saw her sleeping on the couch instead of the bedroom so as not to wake me up, those thoughts vanished instantly.
“Should we go to the amusement park today?”
Also, my mom always took me somewhere fun every weekend.
She must have been very tired…
She must have wanted to rest…
But my mom never showed any signs of it and played with me enthusiastically.
Thanks to her, my memories are still filled with precious ones with mom.
At those moments, I didn’t notice the absence of dad.
One day, I thought.
Let me do something for my hardworking mom.
And that something was chores.
Starting from cooking, then laundry, cleaning, etc.
Of course, everything wasn’t initially proficient.
Since mom would surely refuse if I asked her to teach me, I had no choice but to learn on my own.
Among them, cooking was the biggest hurdle.
At first, I tried following recipes from videos but accidentally added sugar instead of salt.
It was a situation where I could easily lose confidence in cooking.
But…
“It’s delicious, isn’t it? I look forward to the next one.”
My mom ate my first dish with no pretense, sincerely calling it tasty.
That gave me a new goal.
Next time, I’ll cook exactly how mom wants.
“Woah… You could sell this for real money?”
“Hehe. Let me know if you want anything special.”
This goal continued at every moment, and eventually, I reached quite an advanced level.
And I was so happy.
Because it felt like I had slightly reduced my mom’s burden.
But happiness never lasts forever.
“Cancer…?”
My mom’s body, which she had overworked for me, fell ill.
At that moment, my happiness ended.
And I was angry.
Why is the world so cold to only our family?
And that anger soon turned into sorrow.
Having to helplessly witness my mom’s pain and the looming loneliness of being the last left in this world.
This slowly eroded my heart.
So for a while, I couldn’t smile. It was not really a situation where I could.
I merely wished to spend as much time as possible with Mom during her remaining days.
That was my only solace and warmth.
While spending each day precious in this way, a friend from the same class made a proposal.
“Why don’t you perform on the festival stage this time?”
“Festival stage…?”
“Yeah! Rumor has it that there’s an amazing prize if you make the top tier. Yerin, you sing really well, don’t you?”
Honestly, it intrigued me.
The prize was appealing, and most importantly, I wanted to shake off the bitterness in my heart.
There are certainly many people who go to karaoke to de-stress, right?
Deciding which song to sing on stage didn’t take long at all.
It was a ballad called “Reverberation.”
A song that whispered a sense of longing and apology for someone precious.
This perfectly matched my current situation, and before I knew it, my first performance was already over.
When I checked the audience’s reaction after the stage was done, the feeling was…
…hard to describe.
It was an unprecedented and amazing feeling that I had never experienced in my life until now.
But that was the extent of it.
The sorrow was still firmly embedded in my heart.
Actually, even now, it’s still there.
Just…
“Perhaps you’ve thought about becoming a singer?”
Through meeting you, I realized that the world isn’t completely cold.
You taught me a fleeting happiness that could momentarily erase my sorrow.
So…
Therefore…
“Yeonhee… What shall we do about mom…?”
That’s why I couldn’t help but pour out my sorrow to you.
Watching the teardrops rolling down Baek Ye-rin’s cheek, Ryu Won opened his eyes wide.
Baek Ye-rin, who always attracted people with her bright and positive image.
That’s why it was the first time I ever saw it.
Her crying face.
Baek Ye-rin continued in a struggling voice.
“Mom worked so hard to raise me… and I couldn’t pay her back for anything…”
Baek Ye-rin was fully aware of the love and sacrifices her mother, Lee Yeon-hee, had given her.
But there was nothing she could return.
Because the time they had left together was woefully insufficient.
That’s why Baek Ye-rin was overwhelmed with sorrow and sincerely confessed everything to Ryu Won.
Honestly, she knew how shameless it was to confide these things to him.
She also well understood it was selfish.
But right now, Ryu Won was the only person left for Baek Ye-rin.
The only person she could open up to and rely on…
And…
“Maybe what you’re saying is right, or maybe not. But I have a good idea. Just trust me.”
Once again, he naturally extended his saving hand to Baek Ye-rin.
Suddenly, Baek Ye-rin thought.
What if…
If I take that outstretched hand from you,
and you solve even my sorrow.
What would happen to me then?
Still, Baek Ye-rin firmly grabbed the hand he extended without hesitation.
She had no other choice but Ryu Won.
And after everything resolves well, and the aftermath…
wasn’t Baek Ye-rin’s responsibility.
Sunday.
Kang Beom-jun was finally having a golden weekend after such a long time.
Due to his artist’s debut and activity schedules, he had been forced to work even on weekends recently, but now it seemed like stability had finally arrived.
So, he leisurely boiled coffee like always.
Ah. The mere aroma of coffee filling the living room made it feel like all my hard work was…
“Impossible.”
It was this kind of hard work he reflected on with a bitter smile.
Still, thinking about the upcoming schedule,
wouldn’t this period be relatively relaxing for now?
With such thoughts, Kang Beom-jun raised his coffee cup.
And immediately, his coffee cup started to shake violently.
Ziiing—
Because someone was calling him on a Sunday morning.
[Ryu Won]
From the person Kang Beom-jun thought of as the wildest of them all.
Thanks to this, various scenarios started playing in his head.
1. Ryu Won doesn’t usually call first.
2. Ryu Won only calls when he needs something.
3. Especially, if it happens on Sunday, it’s generally not ordinary.
Taking all this into account, Kang Beom-jun reached this conclusion:
“Hm. Forget it.”
