A Little Closer (2)
1.
I couldn't exactly claim that Jiye and I had never been physically close. In fact, I could say we'd already gone well beyond mere hand-holding.
And yet, something about this was different.
All we'd done was hold hands and lace our fingers together—and yet just holding on, a warm, cozy feeling kept welling up inside me, soft and slow.
“Ah~ that was fun.”
“I was scared, honestly.”
“Aigoo, I knowww. There, there, my Hyunwoo~.”
It felt like the kind of thing you could get addicted to. No—maybe it was already too late for that. Even after the movie ended, the two of us were still clinging to each other's hands, neither willing to be the first to give up the other's warmth.
On and on.
On and on, and on—
Pop.
Ah. There it went.
We were inside the elevator. The car had suddenly packed full of people, and with no room even to reach for each other, our hands came apart. Steaming away in the middle of the crush.
Three minutes.
That was how long we'd been forced apart.
And then—guess what. The moment we stepped out of the elevator, Jiye's pout was already jutting out clear to the revolving doors at the far end of the lobby. She was sulking so hard her face had gone full crybaby.
“Quick, hold my hand again….”
“Okay, okay.”
A hand thrust out at me, fretting like a little kid. I took Jiye's hand in mine once more, and our palms slid together naturally, fingers weaving between fingers.
“Hehe. You're warm.”
Only then did Jiye beam at me again, bright and guileless.
A quiet, cool evening. After a light dinner together, we arrived at the park Jiye had been wanting to visit.
The chirr of crickets, leaves rustling in a shallow breeze. Flower buds clustered neatly in their rows, as if to announce that spring had arrived. And last of all, our joined hands swaying gently in time with our footsteps.
Side by side, we walked on quietly, soaking in every bit of it.
Though, huh—there's nobody here at all? Personally, I'd have pegged this as a famous spot couples would flock to.
I was still sunk in that thought when Jiye spotted a photo spot and dashed off toward it.
“Hyunwoo, take a picture of me here! Just one!”
“Photographer Kim, at your service. What composition would you like, ma'am?”
“Pffhehe, however you want.”
“Then get comfortable and strike a pose.”
“Okay—like this?”
It was, admittedly, a completely relaxed pose. So why did Jiye look like she'd stepped out of a magazine?
The answer was simple: Jiye had actually worked as a model, official photoshoots and all. Her Instar follower count was no joke, either.
“So, who's the flower here?”
“All I see are flower buds.”
“Hey! Kim Hyunwoo! When a girl says something that embarrassing, you're supposed to play along!”
Looking closely, I saw that Jiye's cheeks and ears had flushed a light pink. So she really had been embarrassed.
“My, my—would you look at that! A gorgeous flower blooming right in the middle of a day like this!”
“Yes! That's how you do it!”
As if a full bow to the ground wouldn't have been too much, Jiye stomped the ground twice.
But wait, hold on. Looking at that pose just now, a thought had popped into my head.
“If you're wearing that ring, won't the photos give you away anyway?”
“It's fine—I already took it off.”
“Huh?”
Even if there wasn't a soul in sight, wasn't that still risky? The worry vanished without a trace the moment Jiye's utterly unbothered reply came bouncing back.
“I rented the park out for the evening.”
“……The park? How?”
“Where there's a will~ there's a way.”
Something told me I'd be hurt if I knew the details. The scale of a single great family was simply beyond anything an ordinary person could keep up with.
Click—!
“Your turn—I'll take some of you. Stand here.”
“Make me look like an actor. Get my legs looking super long. Mm, and for the pose, make me look like one of those moody, artistic guys—”
“Before this turns into a derp shot, get in position. Now.”
“Ma'am, yes, ma'am.”
Click—! The phone's shutter went off again and again.
“Now let's take one together. Scoot in next to me.”
“I'll hold it. You're short, remember.”
“I'm over five-foot-seven! Just barely, but still!”
“Still shorter than me, though.”
“…That's cheating. Fine—then at least take a pretty picture of me.”
“Derp shot it is.”
“This! Is this your revenge!?”
And through it all, laughter kept bursting out of us without pause. With a selfie that showed our clasped hands nice and clear, we brought the date to a close.
“For our messenger backgrounds—should we match with this one?”
“Gotta admit, the derpiest one's the best.”
“Pffhehe, right?”
On the way to drop Jiye off, we dug through the photos we'd just taken, picked out the most gloriously derpy one, and set it as our messenger backgrounds.
“Oh, you can drop me off here.”
And just like that, once the photos were picked, the time to part had found us. So this was how fast time flew when you were having fun—we hadn't even noticed it go.
“……”
“……”
On a street busy with people coming and going, neither our eyes nor our feet showed the slightest intention of parting. Our clasped hands, greedy for even one more handful of warmth, refused to let go—neither of us willing to be first.
But we could meet again tomorrow. Promising that time to come, I slowly stroked Jiye's hair with my free hand.
“Want me to come meet you here tomorrow? It's Sunday anyway.”
“Yeah. I'd like that.”
In place of a goodbye, a promise to meet again.
With that promise, our hands slowly came apart, and Jiye smiled up at me, guileless and beaming, pure as the flower buds we'd admired earlier.
“Hyunwoo, today I was sooo happy and it was sooo much fun!”
“Same here. Let's come again sometime.”
“Yeah!”
2.
A luxury sedan bearing the unmistakable air of a chaebol family stood waiting at the curb, and Han Jiye slipped into it without a moment's hesitation.
“You've arrived, Miss Jiye. How was your date today?”
“…I wanted to go straight to Hyunwoo's place and jump him.”
A middle-aged woman sat at the wheel. To Secretary Lee Sujeong—her person since her father's time—Han Jiye bared her heart without reserve.
“Unfortunately, Madam returns this evening.”
“…I know.”
Though they lived apart now, her mother came to Han Jiye's home every single day. Which meant that when the hour came, Jiye always had to go back.
The one small mercy in all of it was that her mother believed Secretary Lee was her own person.
In truth, the woman was Han Jiye's. The semi-cohabitation, and even a day like today, had only been possible thanks to Secretary Lee's false reports.
“Why not simply make it a fait accompli? Say, by carrying Hyunwoo's child.”
“You're telling me to make Madam give up hoping.”
“Yes…”
Vmmm. The luxury sedan glided along with a soft purr.
Only after several streetlights had slid past did Secretary Lee's mouth open.
“Frankly, I think that would be fine as well.”
“R-really?”
“However, you would have to be cold enough to give up both the family and Madam yourself.”
“……”
Her father's death. Her relationship with her mother. And the family.
If she conceived a child the family would never acknowledge, Han Jiye would be cast out of the family line.
Still, it wouldn't have mattered. She could have thrown away that paltry family and gone straight to Kim Hyunwoo—because the person who would welcome her without missing a beat, saying, 'What took you so long?', was Kim Hyunwoo.
But not her mother.
The infertility that had come after Jiye's birth. The regret and self-blame of a woman who had wanted more children and could never have them. With her father's death piled on top of it all, her mother had been left in a terribly fragile state.
'The only person Mother can lean on is family—me, and me alone….'
And so Han Jiye had become her mother's doll.
Because if she didn't, then surely—
“Before long, you'll be standing at a Guildmaster's side.”
Cold reality flowed from Secretary Lee's lips. A stone, heavy beyond words, slid down her throat and burrowed deep into her chest.
“Madam's obsession and her actions are plainly wrong. And they have cost you a great deal of pain as well, Miss.”
Han Jiye forced her face toward the window. There was nothing to say in defense—not one word of it was wrong.
“So if you chose to stop here and leave to find your own happiness, I would support that too.”
“Secretary Lee…”
Heavy. Beyond suffocating, it was hot—like swallowing fire. Today, as always, just as she was about to bow her head beneath the weight of that pain—
“However… if you have the resolve to walk a road of thorns, Miss, then there is a way to solve every one of your worries in a single stroke.”
“Wh-what is it?!”
The family. Her mother. Kim Hyunwoo. At the claim that all of it could be solved at once, Han Jiye whipped her head around and looked straight into Secretary Lee's eyes in the rearview mirror.
“You endure—more ruthlessly than you have until now, and all the way to the very end.”
“……!”
“Endure and endure, and with your own hands, take back from the family the mantle of the late Guildmaster Han Dongwoo. Do that, and Madam's view will change—and so will the eyes around you.”
Secretary Lee pressed on as though she had been aiming for this current all along, putting weight into every word to shake Han Jiye's spirit awake.
“As it happens, Young Master Hyunwoo is a buffer. His compatibility with you is excellent. Is this not an era where people get engaged just to pass a good skill down to the next generation? If you become Guildmaster, you can push the match through on exactly those grounds.”
“Th-that's true…!”
Color slowly returned to Han Jiye's face. Strength gathered in her drooping neck, and her clouded eyes grew clear.
And above all, something inside her was hardening. From a single word alone—engagement.
“Besides, you have a better stabilizer at your side than any pill I could prescribe. Even your chronic migraines will not dare show their faces.”
Secretary Lee wore a faint smile. And one beat after her words, the phone lit up as if on cue.
Hopeless. An absolute dummy. One gloriously clueless man.
“Yes… I suppose I am.”
Han Jiye hugged the phone to her chest, drawing it close to her heart as though it were her greatest treasure.
“The Miss of this moment could endure and accomplish anything.”
“I think so too.”
Message sent, Han Jiye gazed fondly at the photos she and Kim Hyunwoo had taken that day.
Onto a cup already brimming with warmth, yet more feeling came pouring in—enough to spill over the brim.
“Secretary Lee, no matter what happens, I'm going to become Guildmaster.”
“Yes. That is exactly the spirit, Miss.”
Even if it was hard. Even if she was afraid. The road ahead had been settled, beyond all doubt. Han Jiye resolved that she would run from cold reality no longer.
“Oh, right—now that you mention it, Hyunwoo was the one who took my hand first today.”
“That is a relief. So Young Master Hyunwoo is not entirely without feelings, after all.”
“Yes. Such a relief…”
“Simply keep closing the distance slowly, as you did today. You love as deeply as Madam does, Miss—so you must be the one to meet him where he is, every time.”
“Was Mother like that too…?”
“Forgive me—that came out in the wrong order. You are her daughter, after all.”
“…Haha. So I am.”
Her heart considerably lighter, the words that had been stuck came flowing freely now. As if to air out the awkward, heavy atmosphere in the car, the two of them kept on talking.
Then, all at once, Secretary Lee remembered something she had forgotten.
“As it happens, the family may find it easier than expected to welcome Young Master Hyunwoo.”
“Wh-what!?”
Reflected in the rearview mirror, Han Jiye's eyes sparkled like a little cat's. At the sight of that expression, Secretary Lee caught herself wearing a soft, unguarded smile.
“The Young Master's maternal family is not to be taken lightly.”