Chapter 75
Chapter 75
Having finished her order over the phone, Bom let out a long sigh, her heart lighter than before.
‘Is he sleeping there now?’
She moved her eyes, searching for Bom-sik, who had disappeared from her sight. Bom-sik, who had undergone a two-day special training at Philip's house, no longer slept on the living room floor. Instead, he was asleep with his hindquarters and back legs tucked into the house-shaped cushion placed in front of the veranda.
When she first brought Bom-sik home, the house she had bought with Jae-gyu from 'Dog-Comfortable World' in town was now far too small. Bom-sik had grown so much in no time.
“...Ah!”
Bom, who had been gazing at him, realized something important.
She would be going to Seoul in just a few more months, meaning she had to decide Bom-sik's future soon.
Bom approached the deeply sleeping Bom-sik and squatted in front of him. Carefully, so as not to wake him, she gently stroked the nape of his neck. Even in his sleep, Bom-sik twitched his ears and thumped his tail.
‘What should I do with you?’
And what should I do from now on?
So many things had become intertwined with her in this place, where she had intended to live quietly and then quietly leave. As time passed, the moment of farewell drew ever closer.
‘I can't stay like this.’
Bom's gaze lingered on the turned-off TV for a moment, before she went into her room and turned on her laptop. She took out a notebook and a pen, placing them beside her, and accessed her bank's website and her brokerage's HTS.
The teaching profession didn't offer a high salary to begin with, so Bom hadn't saved much money. However, thanks to the surprisingly significant rise in value of the American electric car stocks she had bought with her college entrance allowance, her asset balance was quite robust.
Wouldn't this be enough?
Bom's expression was serious as she looked at the screen and tapped on the calculator. Organizing the tasks she needed to do today in her own way, Bom muttered,
“You're crazy, Yoon Bom...”
She wondered if she was in her right mind, about to embark on things she'd never even considered until recently, yet, she actually liked it.
This much money was enough. After finishing her calculations, Bom then went to the Office of Education website. There wasn't just one or two things she needed to prepare.
⋆★⋆
“Ha...”
Jae-gyu barely suppressed the urge to stomp on the accelerator and speed up, clenching his molars. On the pine tree-lined road located before entering the town, a red-brick detached house came into view.
“That's it, right?”
“Yes, that's it.”
Jae-gyu, who had stopped the car in front of the house's large iron gate, simply turned his head sharply to greet them, his hands still on the steering wheel.
“Alright, get out.”
“Uhm, thanks for the ride.”
Se-jin, who had mostly dozed off leaning on Han-gyeol's shoulder on the way, still seemed half-asleep, squinting her eyes as she gathered her bag.
Noticing Jae-gyu anxiously craning his neck and glancing around, she poked Han-gyeol in the side.
“Seon Han-gyeol. You're eating at my place before you go.”
Han-gyeol followed Se-jin's gaze to the driver's seat, saw his uncle's anxious face, and quickly nodded.
“That's probably for the best. Uncle. Uncle!”
“Huh? What?”
“I'll eat at Se-jin's and find my own way home.”
Only then did Jae-gyu take his hands off the steering wheel, turn his body, and speak to the back seat.
“Was what you ate at the rest stop not enough?”
“I slept a bit, so I got hungry quickly. Anyway, I'm going to eat and hang out for a bit. I'll call you.”
“...Alright.”
As soon as they got out, they slammed the car doors shut and waved their hands outwards, as if telling him to hurry up and leave. Only after confirming that the children had entered through the main gate did Jae-gyu start the car.
He fumbled for his phone, found 'My Bom-Bom♡', and pressed the call button.
Jae-gyu put his phone back in his pocket and let out an anxious sigh. Naturally, the car was heading towards Cheongseol-eup.
According to the original plan, he was supposed to go up to Seoul with Bom yesterday, attend a relative's wedding, enjoy a date, and return today with Han-gyeol and Se-jin.
But the day before their departure, Bom had suddenly informed him that something had come up and she couldn't go, promising to contact him on Sunday.
It seemed like something was definitely going on, and there must be a reason Bom wasn't saying anything, so Jae-gyu had bravely replied that he understood. But this composure lasted a maximum of one day.
From midnight, as Saturday turned into Sunday, Jae-gyu clung to his phone all day, waiting for Bom's call.
Even when he went to pick up Se-jin and Han-gyeol, he thought she would call soon, but in the end, he couldn't wait, and called her first from the rest stop. However, Bom's phone was turned off.
“I can't live like this. Seriously.”
Cursing his foolish self, Jae-gyu sped up even more.
When he noticed Bom's subdued voice on the phone, he should have just barged in like he usually did, and stayed by her side, come hell or high water.
This is why he hated being apart. He wanted to circle around Bom 24/7, 365 days a year, and be absolutely responsible for her happiness and safety.
Just this lack of contact was driving him crazy with worry, so how could he send her to Seoul?
“I'm going insane. Should I just up and move the company to Seoul?”
In fact, when he first heard that Bom had to return to Seoul, he had even considered stepping down as company CEO and following Bom to Seoul. Since Han-gyeol was also going to college soon, the timing wouldn't be too off, he had reasoned to himself.
But what Bom said when he briefly stopped by the company on the morning they went to the valley changed Jae-gyu's mind.
[When I first came here for the Greennarae field trip, do you know how surprised I was to see you working?]
[Were you so impressed you fell for me?]
Bom, who would usually have frowned and told him not to say strange things, blushed slightly, and she looked so beautiful it made his heart ache.
[You had a densely packed schedule written next to you, didn't you? And you'd accomplished almost everything you'd planned? I thought that was really cool.]
Bom's words, calling him 'cool', struck Jae-gyu's heart. He wanted to continue being that kind of man, and hearing those words prompted Jae-gyu to resolve to put a lot of effort into his company work from then on.
“Hmph, I can't move to Seoul right now.”
Moving the headquarters to Seoul in the future wouldn't be much of a problem, but now wasn't the right time.
In any case, he didn't want to feel this anxious again. Jae-gyu kept thinking of ways to be with Bom, but no matter how much he pondered, he found no answer.
“Is a drone really the only way?”
Just as Jae-gyu's mind became tangled with various thoughts and a headache threatened to set in, the Stone Bridge of Cheongseol-eup appeared.
“Bom!”
He quickly parked the car and rushed up to Bom's house. The door, which he would usually knock on rhythmically, he now pounded on haphazardly.
“Bom! Are you in there?!”
There was no sign of anyone inside. Barely suppressing the urge to punch in the unchanged door lock code '012486' and let himself in, he kept calling out for Bom. Then Jae-gyu changed his approach.
“Bom-sik! Daddy's here! Open the door!”
The effect was immediate. As soon as he called, he heard the frantic scratching of dog claws from behind the front door. And soon, the door opened, and Bom, whom he had been waiting for, appeared.
“Oh, Jae-gyu. I'm sorry. I was sleeping...”
“...”
Jae-gyu had a keen eye. Now that he had confirmed Bom's safety, he felt a weight lift, and he lowered his gaze to observe other things.
Her hair, once dark and glossy like a chestnut, was now dull and dry, and her already slender body looked even more gaunt.
With him staring intently at her, Bom gave a faint, embarrassed smile and turned her head diagonally downwards.
“I haven't been feeling well, so I've been in bed.”
“What happened?”
“Huh? Nothing happened.”
He pushed past her with his body and strode into the house. Bom-sik followed at his heels.
...
The neat and clean living room looked no different than usual. Jae-gyu dragged out a dining chair from the kitchen, which was connected to the living room, and flopped down onto it.
“How are Han-gyeol and Se-jin?”
Bom followed him, put water in the electric kettle, and sat across from him at the table.
“Well, the kids are healthy and nothing special happened. Han-gyeol seems satisfied, saying it was good he went.”
“Oh, that's a relief...”
“I'm glad I listened to you, Bom, and sent Han-gyeol. Putting him with Se-jin seems to have made him calmer. He's become a real man.”
Bom nodded, smiling faintly. Why was she so weak? He took Bom's hands, which were neatly placed on the table, and slowly stroked them.
How could her hands be so pretty? He traced the curve of her fingernails and stroked her fingers upwards. This was a touch Bom also liked. But her reaction was weaker than usual.
‘But what is this smell?’
A faint, pleasant scent wafted to Jae-gyu's nose, despite his burning anxiety. It was before she had even brewed the tea, and it wasn't Bom's scent either.
As he repeatedly inhaled deeply and exhaled, sniffing, Jae-gyu felt he might know the source of this scent. Leaving Bom, who had started making tea with the now boiled water, Jae-gyu began to wander around the house.
“How did something like this end up here?”
Soon, Jae-gyu found the source of the scent. It was a reusable trash bag placed in front of the utility room. The amount of flowers, neatly cut with scissors and discarded, was considerable. An amount that would be difficult to come from a single bouquet filled the bag.
“These flowers, what are they? They're still fresh.”
Bom's movements, as she clinked and made tea, stopped. Jae-gyu instinctively knew that these flowers were the cause of Bom's distress.
“You still don't trust me enough to tell me everything right away, do you?”
“...”
“Whenever you feel like talking, day or night, just find me. I'm good at waiting.”
Jae-gyu went to Bom's stiff side and poured the boiled water in a trickle into the teacup that only contained lemon preserve. He pondered how he could naturally comfort Bom, who was trying to handle everything alone.
“Wow. This is my first time trying lemon tea.”
Just as he was about to pick up the teacup, Bom's head lifted, and her eyes met his.
“My mother...”
“...?”
“My mother's drama just ended.”
“Operation Winter, you mean?”
“Operation... Anyway, it was her comeback project after a long time, so I wanted to congratulate her on finishing it well. I also thought, ‘If she receives this, maybe Mom will think of me again...’ That kind of feeling, too...”
The situation became clear. The flowers she had sent to celebrate the drama's finale had been returned. Jae-gyu's insides flared with anger. He had actually gathered a general idea of her family's atmosphere from the hints Bom had dropped.
Still, he hadn't expected them to do something as insane as returning the flowers Bom had sent with such heartfelt effort. His heart pounded as he imagined how heartbroken Bom must have been.
What made Jae-gyu even more furious was that Bom was pretending nothing was wrong, but the signs of her silently suffering alone for days were already evident.
For now, he thought.
He would lift Bom's sunken spirits, and together, they would try to untangle the family issues she had only ever kept to herself.
Jae-gyu slurped down the lemon tea in one go right there, and asked Bom,
“Have you ever taken a Four-Cut Life Photo?”