Necklace (2)
Necklace (2)
We finished our meal, paid the bill, and stepped outside.
Jeong Hwan-yi grinned brightly and led us out to the parking lot.
"When I thought of Chevrolet, I figured they only made things like the Spark..."
"Chevrolet has a lot of SUVs."
"Really?"
What I cared about were cars with spacious trunks and comfortable interiors.
So sports cars never even crossed my mind.
Things like A-ra's Porsche or Bugatti — they failed on both counts,
so personally, they fell into the 'not for me' category.
Jeong Hwan-yi brought us to a stop in front of a black car.
It was the one I'd glimpsed earlier when A-ra had dropped me off.
The exterior was so sharp you'd be hard-pressed to call it a domestic car.
"So? How much did you pay for it?"
"It's used, so around thirty million won?"
"Whoa... this kind of car only cost you thirty million? You did your homework before buying, right?"
These days, the world is crawling with scamming bastards who sell flood-damaged cars at jacked-up prices.
Where was that again? Incheon, was it?
"I looked it over carefully. It used to belong to my mother's friend's son."
"So your mother helped you out with it."
"Well, something like that."
He'd always brushed off cars with a breezy "not really my thing," but now Jeong Hwan-yi was beaming from ear to ear.
There really is a world of difference between having a car and not.
Jeong Hwan-yi surely knew that better than anyone.
"Let me take it for a spin."
I held out my hand to Jeong Hwan-yi, asking to drive it once.
When else was I going to get a chance to drive a car like this?
Believe it or not, I was pretty sharp at driving sports cars, thanks to A-ra's racing simulator.
I'd also practiced in A-ra's Porsche Boxster right after I got my license.
"Umm..."
But Jeong Hwan-yi couldn't just hand me the keys right away.
He tilted his head to the side and gave an awkward, bitter grin.
"What, you don't trust me?"
"It's not that..."
Then what is it, you little punk.
Whenever we go out or head anywhere, this guy's always riding in the car I'm driving, so trust shouldn't be the issue.
So what was making him hesitate?
"Look behind you."
"Huh?"
"Your owner's here."
I turned around and saw a Bugatti Chiron pulling into the parking lot.
She'd come to pick me up right on time.
It was a shame, but I couldn't help it.
I'd have to ask him for a ride next time.
***
"You're already back..."
I was watching TV in the living room when a bright, clear chime rang out from my phone.
It was the deposit/withdrawal notification sound, and since my account had no reason to see withdrawals, it was obviously an incoming deposit alert.
Naturally, it was the down payment for this CF shoot.
Apart from my Qtube earnings, I had to split a portion of the profits with the agency, so it wasn't pure income — but even so, it was enough for an entire family to live on for several years.
The reason I'd endured the hassle and exhaustion of this CF shoot was
so I could buy A-ra a present.
So far, the only thing I'd ever given her was that racing simulator,
and I'd wanted to get her something truly worthy of being called a gift.
"With this much... I should be able to buy something decent."
Of course, I figured I could definitely afford a nice necklace.
But I had no idea where to buy that kind of thing, which made me tilt my head automatically.
It didn't seem like something you'd find at a regular neighborhood jewelry shop.
"Mmmm...."
"What're you thinking about?"
I turned and saw A-ra in a white robe, drinking bottled water.
At first I'd considered surprising her with a spontaneous gift, but rather than buying something weird and making things awkward,
I figured it might be better to have A-ra pick it out and buy it together.
Yeah...
Anyway, apart from Director, who else was I supposed to ask about jewelry?
"Noona, is there anything you've been wanting?"
"Something I've been wanting? Now that you mention it, there's this necklace that came out recently..."
"A necklace?"
What timing.
So there was a necklace A-ra had her eye on.
"But it's way too expensive to just buy outright... I was actually thinking, rather than spend money on this, I'd rather chip in a little more and buy a building."
"Just how far are you planning to grow your building collection?"
"Hehe, enough so our son and daughter won't starve?"
"Just two buildings would be more than enough for that."
Just owning a single building in the middle of a metropolitan city could provide enough monthly rent to live on with passive income.
Places like Gangnam, Jongno, Myeongdong even had buildings with monthly rents in the hundred-million-won range...
"Anyway, that necklace you want. How about I buy it for you?"
"Huh? Where would my husband get that kind of money?"
"The CF down payment just came in."
"Oh?"
A-ra pursed her lips, stroked her chin, and fell into thought.
It was the face of someone who wanted it, but wasn't sure if she should ask for it.
"You don't want it?"
"No? How could I not want it?"
"Then let's just get it."
"Okay~"
Only then did she break into a bright smile and stroke my hair.
It felt less like gratitude, and more like a proud mother looking at her grown-up son.
*
The next day.
A-ra and I visited a jewelry shop in Cheongdam-dong.
It was a place just about anyone would have heard of at least once, and it was located in a building that was extremely famous in Cheongdam-dong,
so there were plenty of people around.
Because of that, we figured A-ra's car would stand out too much, so we took mine.
A Porsche Cayenne stands out a lot too, but still less than a Bugatti Chiron, doesn't it?
We stepped inside the shop and told the employee the name of the necklace we were looking for.
It must not have been a piece people asked for often, because the employee was momentarily flustered —
then she saw A-ra's face after she took off her mask and sunglasses, got even more flustered, and went to retrieve the item.
Items too expensive for a jewelry shop to keep out on the floor are stored in a safe.
The things displayed in the shop are items priced at the maximum amount that can be covered by theft insurance... or so I'd learned.
That was probably correct.
"Seong-hwan-a, how does it look?"
"It really suits you."
"R...really?"
A-ra smiled as she gently touched the necklace the employee had fastened around her neck.
The saying that accessories find their true owner seemed to hold water.
On anyone else, this necklace would have looked far too flashy, but on A-ra it became the perfect fit.
Actually, if anything, it even came across as a little understated.
"You can pick out other things too, not just this one."
"Is that okay?"
"Noona, you know how much my down payment was."
I'd braced myself, tense about how much the necklace might cost, but when I heard the price, it wasn't as staggering as I'd feared.
Well, of course — from the standpoint of A-ra and me, whose sense of money had already collapsed, it wasn't all that expensive.
By a normal person's sense of money, spending this kind of cash on accessories like these would only look like you'd lost your mind.
"Seong-hwan-a, then how about this?"
"That's..."
What A-ra held up was a pair of modest-looking silver rings.
The sizes were slightly different — one for a man and one for a woman — so they looked like a couple ring set.
"I think they'd be really happy if you bought these."
I knew without A-ra telling me exactly who those two people were who'd be happy to receive these rings.
So, I quietly nodded.
"Shall we?"
"Yeah, let's get these."
Holding the case containing the pair of rings, A-ra smiled, but it was a bitter smile.
The look in her eyes — happy yet sorrowful — made my own heart feel briefly desolate.
"Then we should prepare some other things to bring, too."
"No, I found out recently that they sell all those things there now too."
"Oh..."
Since the city used to handle it, they must have been in the process of handing it over to private management.
It was a welcome change, especially for people visiting on short notice.
***
In the solemn, quiet atmosphere, the scent of memorial candles used in ancestral rites drifted through the air.
It was a place where even children who knew nothing were overwhelmed by the mood and kept their mouths shut.
This was a charnel house — where someone's family, someone's friends, lay at rest.
A-ra and I came to a stop in this place where countless remains were enshrined.
Before us stood two urns and a single framed photograph.
"Mom... Dad... I'm here..."
Today was the wedding anniversary of A-ra's late parents.
On their memorial day or on their wedding anniversary, A-ra would always become despondent or shed tears, and I'd bought her a gift to comfort her.
Still, she seemed to be struggling a little less than last time, so I felt relieved.
A-ra's parents had been on their way up to Seoul to see their daughter, who was working hard as an idol, when they were in an accident.
She had suffered terribly for a long time after that.
Even now, recalling the image of A-ra crying on the apartment staircase
made my heart ache.
"Today's your wedding anniversary, right? So your son-in-law bought you rings as a present. Aren't you happy?"
I opened the enclosure the staff member had unlocked for us earlier.
Then, from my pocket, I took out the ring box holding the silver rings we'd purchased.
"How does it look? They're identical to the rings you used to wear, right? I'm sorry — no matter how much we searched, we couldn't find Mom and Dad's rings."
Neither at the accident site, nor at the countryside house where the two of them had lived, had the rings ever been found.
A-ra had spent tens of millions of won trying to find those rings, but there were still no satisfactory results, leaving her with that lingering regret.
The ring box opened with a soft click.
With the box left open, A-ra placed it directly beneath the urns containing their remains.
"Still... before I die, I'll find them somehow..."
"Noona..."
No matter how hard she tried to hold it in, was it inevitable to grow weak in front of her parents?
In the end, she couldn't hold back, and tears were dripping down her face.
I pulled a handkerchief from my pocket and wiped around A-ra's eyes.
"I'm sorry, Seong-hwan-a. I promised myself I wouldn't cry, but it's so hard to hold it in."
"It's okay. Times like this, it's fine to cry your heart out."
When you want to cry, you're allowed to cry.
If you keep bottling it up inside, it can fester and burst.
What A-ra and I had promised each other was not to turn things inward and wallow in self-hatred —
not that we shouldn't cherish the memories or hold onto the past.
After that, A-ra cried for a long time against my chest.
All I could do was hold her and pat her on the back, and I felt utterly pathetic for that.