30. Lee Ha-young
30. Lee Ha-young
"What are you doing here?"
While looking at my phone, I looked up and saw Lee Ha-young holding a tray with coffee.
"Mind if I sit? We haven't seen each other in so long, but now I see you all the time."
Is this another trick of the Fate Card?
"Tell me about it. Didn't expect to see you here. Shopping?"
"No. I had some business nearby, and stopped by to get a refund. You, on the other hand, look like a boyfriend waiting for his girlfriend."
"Ah, I came here for a bit with some female employees from my company. I tried to tag along, but it was tough. Shopping, I mean."
"You never went to department stores when we were dating, you've changed, Kim Seon-min."
"Now that I know how exhausting it is, I'm never coming back."
"I thought you were unemployed, but you have company employees?"
Ah, damn. This is why lying is hard.
"My father's company. I'm just a figurehead president."
"Oh, I see. So that's why you bought a sedan?"
"Well. Yeah, I guess."
I play along.
"Those female employees, are you dating them?"
"No. I came with two of them."
"A boss tagging along for his female employees' shopping... sounds suspicious, doesn't it?"
"They've done a lot for us since my father's time. I came along to buy them gifts, but halfway through, I was so exhausted that I just gave them my card and sent them off."
"Wow... Kim Seon-min, you sound like a real rich guy saying that."
"Rich, my foot. If I were really rich, I'd be in the luxury goods section."
I quote Shin A-yeong from earlier to sound like I know what I'm talking about.
But wait, where is the luxury goods section?
"I'm envious. I'm completely ruined right now."
"You looked like you were good at your job, though?"
"What's the point of being a dealer? I lost all my investment money and I'm broke. If I hadn't broken up with you, wouldn't I be the wife of a rich man by now?"
She says it with a smile, but she looks pretty bitter.
It seems the investment failure wasn't a small amount.
"Doesn't that make you feel guilty? After dumping me for someone else?"
"If I felt guilty, I wouldn't have asked to get back together. And though it's late to say this, honestly, I am truly sorry, but you were hiding things from me too."
"Hiding things? What are you talking about?"
"It's all over, and I admit I was wrong, so you admit it too."
What is she talking about?
"Hiding what?"
"Sigh, forget it. I'm just the bad guy here."
"No, I really have no idea what you're talking about. Didn't I get dumped back then because I was a loser and broke?"
"That too, but even if I were a bad person, there's no way I would have broken up with you like that just because of that."
I hadn't thought of that.
Lee Ha-young is definitely not a bad person.
If she didn't like me, she would have dumped me cleanly and then met someone else.
She wasn't the type to break up in a way that hurt me just to show off.
"I'm asking because I really don't know. If I did something wrong, I'll apologize. But I need to know what it is to apologize."
Lee Ha-young's eyes widen.
"You really don't know?"
"Yeah. What am I supposed to have done?"
"You were seeing Han A-ra while you were seeing me."
Han A-ra. My second girlfriend. The worst woman.
Why is Han A-ra's name coming out of her mouth?
Lee Ha-young was when I was a freshman, Han A-ra was after I was discharged from the military.
I took a break after returning to school to earn tuition, and by then, Lee Ha-young had already graduated.
Lee Ha-young would have had no reason to see me dating Han A-ra, and furthermore, I didn't even know who Han A-ra was when I was a freshman.
"What are you talking about? I met Han A-ra after I came back from the military."
"I knew you'd say that. I have proof that I met you, and since you have no proof, I knew I'd just end up being the bad guy if we fought. That's why I broke up with you like that."
"No, I'm telling you, I didn't even know who Han A-ra was when I was a freshman!"
"For someone who didn't know her, didn't you start dating her awfully quickly after returning to school?"
Her eyes grow more suspicious.
"I met you at the OT and we started dating right away too. I started dating Han A-ra right after I returned to school."
"I have ears, you know. Do you think I wouldn't know just because you hide it?"
This is driving me crazy.
"No, Lee Ha-young. Let's think about this carefully. I have no intention of getting back together with you right now. You know that, right?"
"I know, but that's a bit insulting, isn't it?"
"Anyway, I have no need to impress you right now. We broke up. So why would I lie to you now?"
"Don't you just want to pin the reason for our breakup on me?"
"No. Until just a moment ago, I thought the reason I got dumped was because I was a loser. I've been dumped three times, and you were the only one I thought it was my fault. Though you were wrong too."
"It's meaningless to act like a good guy now. I didn't come to latch onto you just because you have money."
"Like you said, what's the point of me acting like a good guy now? I'm not going to latch onto you either, am I?"
My voice rises with frustration and injustice.
"You're really not?"
"Think about it carefully. Did you hear how Han A-ra and I broke up?"
".....I heard."
"They said I committed dating violence. The rumor spread throughout the school. It was later revealed to be a false accusation, but even after that, rumors that I was a dating violence perpetrator circulated after I got into an assault incident."
"What does you two fighting have to do with me?"
Her tone turns cold.
"If I had really been dating Han A-ra since my freshman year, we would have been dating for over 4 years by the time I returned to school. Would something like that happen just 2 months after we announced we were dating?"
She is listening to me quietly.
"It's strange, isn't it? If I were a dating violence perpetrator like Han A-ra said, I would have done it several times over those 4 years. Of course, it was a false accusation. The rumors got weird later, but there's evidence at the school's Sexual Violence Committee. Would Han A-ra, who dated me for 4 years, suddenly do something so obviously exposed?"
"....I heard it directly. From Han A-ra."
"I don't know why, but she had a grudge against me. She grabbed everyone and spread rumors about the dating violence and the real assault incident I got into. She must have told you because she had a grudge against me."
"No. When we were dating in our freshman year, she came to find me. She told me to get lost."
"Freshman year? Han A-ra?"
"Since I heard it directly, your excuses now are ridiculous."
I was the one who was dumbfounded.
No, how could Han A-ra, whom I didn't even know in my freshman year, go find Lee Ha-young??
"So you believed a woman you were seeing for the first time back then and did that to me? You didn't check with me even once and just believed a woman you'd never met before?"
".... Hyun-jun told me. That you were seeing Han A-ra."
"Hyun-jun?"
"Ma Hyun-jun."
Good god.
I don't know what the Fate Card has done, but things are tangled and tangled again.
Ma Hyun-jun, like Han A-ra, is someone who would have no reason to meet freshman Lee Ha-young.
He's a junior who entered university a year later than us.
How could he have met freshman Lee Ha-young?
"We knew each other from a prep academy. He was a close younger brother, so we met sometimes, and one day he told me. That my boyfriend was secretly seeing his friend."
"Ma Hyun-jun is Han A-ra's friend?"
My head is spinning.
I don't know what's what.
In the first place, that bastard Ma Hyun-jun is...
He's the guy who stole my third girlfriend, Lee Shin-ae.
Not a girlfriend who left me like Lee Ha-young, but a girlfriend who was literally stolen.
Ma Hyun-jun, whether NTR was his hobby or not, was a piece of trash who sent me videos of his relations with Lee Shin-ae to brag.
I can't understand this tangled mess, but one thing is certain.
Ma Hyun-jun was involved with all three of my girlfriends.
And they all ended badly.
"Ha-young. I don't know what's going on anymore, and I don't care if you don't believe me. Ma Hyun-jun is the bastard who stole my girlfriend and sent me videos of his relations with her. I still have them, but out of consideration for her, I can't show them to you. If you don't believe me, so be it."
"That's impossible."
"I think you'd think that. He was a nice junior to me at first, too. I don't know what kind of grudge that guy had. I have no reason to make excuses to you now. I couldn't even give you trust when we were dating, so how could I make you trust me now? You can just take it as nonsense, or bullshit. I really loved you back then. Even after dating Han A-ra or the girlfriend stolen by Ma Hyun-jun, there's no one I loved as much as I loved you back then. This is the truth."
Lee Ha-young's eyes waver.
Even if she can't believe my words, she wavers as I calmly deny the reason she has resented me for years.
"It's true. I suffered a lot from Han A-ra, but honestly, she was a woman close to my ideal type. Still, when I was dating you in my freshman year, even if Han A-ra had appeared, I wouldn't have wavered. You know that too. Back then, I was a guy who couldn't even take care of you properly. I didn't have the money, time, or mental capacity, so I couldn't handle even one girl, let alone two, and that's why I got dumped by you."
Whether she believed it or not, I spoke calmly.
Lee Ha-young has a complicated expression, and though she tries to say something, she seems unable to open her mouth.
"Boss~! We're all done."
In the distance, Shin A-yeong comes running like a puppy meeting its owner, holding shopping bags full in both hands.
If she had a tail, she'd definitely be wagging it like crazy.
Nice timing. Shin A-yeong.
As she approaches me, she spots Lee Ha-young sitting at the table.
"Boss. Who is this person?"
Kim Hyeon-ah asks, looking at Lee Ha-young.
"A car dealer. I knew her from before, but we met by chance this time and I ended up buying a car."
I cut it short and introduce her as a car dealer.
I could have introduced her as a female friend, but I insist on calling her a stranger.
To convey to Lee Ha-young that I really have no intention of clinging to her.
Lee Ha-young looks flustered by the sudden situation.
The story she heard from me and the appearance of Kim Hyeon-ah and Shin A-yeong.
In the midst of that, when I introduce her as a dealer, her expression stiffens.
"Hello. I'm Kim Hyeon-ah, who works under the boss."
Kim Hyeon-ah greets Lee Ha-young kindly, even though it's unnecessary.
"I'm Shin A-yeong."
Come to think of it, their names are similar. A-yeong and Ha-young.
"I'm Lee Ha-young."
I don't want useless talk going back and forth between these women, so I get up from my seat.
"Then we'll be going. Let me know when the car is ready."
She looked like she had something left to say, but I left her behind and stood up.