A Spring Day for Jeonghan Too?
As they walked along the street, Jeonghan and Yukiko chatted away.
"You were heading home on foot after drinking with your friends?"
"Yeah. I wanted to clear my head and walk off the buzz."
"Hmm... But Jeonghan, you don't seem very drunk today."
Yukiko gave him a playful smile.
"The first time we met before your business trip, you were so drunk you couldn't even punch in the passcode properly..."
"Ahem. Did I... really do that?"
"You don't remember? Well, if you were that wasted, I guess it makes sense that you'd forget."
Then she asked him,
"It feels like a shame to call it a night like this... If you're okay with it, want to hang out a little longer, just the two of us? Tomorrow's the weekend anyway."
"Just the two of us?"
"Don't want to?"
"No, I do. But what should we do?"
"We'll decide when we get there."
A short while later, Yukiko and Jeonghan spent time alone together, hitting up a karaoke room and then an arcade.
The two of them wandering around the streets, laughing and playing, looked so much like a couple that anyone watching would have assumed they were dating.
The staff kept complimenting them, saying what a handsome boyfriend she had or how beautiful his girlfriend was. Every time, the pair would panic and insist they weren't a couple.
Time passed, and before they knew it, it was three in the morning.
(Yawn... I'm sleepy...)
Yukiko, walking the early-morning streets with Jeonghan, yawned and muttered to herself in Japanese.
"Yukiko, are you sleepy?"
"Ah, yes. But Jeonghan, you understand Japanese?"
"I do. I studied it from high school all the way up until I got hired at the company I work for now."
Yukiko nodded, then asked him carefully,
"Jeonghan... do you have someone you like?"
"Someone I like?"
"Yes. If you don't, then maybe your ideal type?"
"Hmm... I don't have anyone I like right now, but I do have an ideal type."
"What kind of person?"
"Around my age or a little older is good. Someone with... a special kind of aura."
"What do you mean by special?"
"It's hard to explain. The kind of special vibe that just hits me hard, only for me."
"So you prefer something like fate-driven love?"
"Fate, huh... If that kind of love exists, it'd be nice. Like suddenly being connected to my ideal type one day..."
Yukiko smiled brightly at him.
"Wanting that kind of love makes us exactly the same."
"Really?"
"Yes. I've dreamed of that kind of love too."
"Then maybe we're both having the same sweet dream. A sweet dream that might never come true."
Yukiko's expression grew complicated, a mix of emotions crossing her face as she asked,
"A sweet dream that might never come true... If an opportunity appeared that could make that sweet dream a reality, would you take it, Jeonghan?"
"Of course I would. If it came, I'd grab it."
Yukiko fell silent for a moment, as if debating whether she should say what came next, then asked,
"Jeonghan. You said you have time off until next Tuesday, right?"
"Yeah. Why?"
Jeonghan blinked at her in confusion. Yukiko gave him a bright smile.
"Want to come over to my place on Sunday?"
"...Out of nowhere?"
"I just want to get to know you better. If you don't want to, you don't have to come."
Get to know me better...? Is this a green light...??
Thinking that, Jeonghan answered her.
"I'll come. What time should I be there?"
"I'll contact you. Just come to my place then."
Walking beside him, Yukiko smiled softly.
That smile is killer... she's insanely pretty.
Jeonghan's face flushed as he thought that, and he quickly looked away. Yukiko rolled her eyes toward him, then let out a small laugh without meaning to.
"Pfft..."
"Why are you laughing?"
"Because the more I look at you, the cuter you get. Is it because you're younger than me?"
"There's only a two-year difference. What's cute about that..."
"Why? You don't like being called cute?"
"Ugh..."
(He didn't say he hates it. How adorable.)
The two of them continued walking down the dark street, their bright conversation never slowing.
"So what are we going to do at your place?"
"Eat together, watch a movie... Honestly, I just want to do anything with you, Jeonghan."
She says we're not dating, but this is basically a full-on home date, isn't it?
That thought made Jeonghan suddenly curious about her true feelings toward him.
Why did she show him so much affection?
Looking at everything she'd said and done toward him so far, it didn't seem like simple friendliness.
Is this what they call "the talk"? Should I ask? No. What if I ask and she says she really just wants to be friends? It'll get awkward.
He kept walking with her, and at some point she slipped her hand into the pocket of his jacket and gently took his hand.
She grabbed my hand...? This really feels like a green light...
"If it bothers you... should I let go?"
"What? No."
"Then I'll stay like this for a little while."
Jeonghan wondered if he should confirm how she felt.
Jaehyuk told me to be careful about both confessing and accepting a confession. What the hell should I do? Just ask straight up? Yeah. Let's just ask.
With that thought, still holding her hand, he asked,
"Yukiko, what do you think of me?"
"Sorry? What do I think of you...?"
"Exactly what I said. Do I just look like a nice younger neighbor who's two years younger than you... or..."
Like a man you want to date seriously.
Jeonghan swallowed the rest of the words and asked her. His sudden question brought an awkward tension between them.
Did I ask something I shouldn't have...?
Hearing Jeonghan's question, Yukiko suddenly remembered something she'd heard five years ago.
At an amusement park in Tokyo five years earlier, Yukiko's hair wasn't pure white like it was now. It was a mix of black and white.
Sitting on a bench inside the park and eating ice cream, she glanced at the person beside her.
"What do you think of me?"
"Yeah. I'm curious how Yamada sees me."
After a brief silence, she asked him back.
"Then how do you see me, Toyama?"
"I... I like you. So much that I want to stay by your side for the rest of my life."
"Really...? You like me...?"
Hearing Kenji's words, Yukiko lowered her head for a moment. She stared at the ground in silence, lost in thought.
After a while, she asked the man sitting beside her—Toyama Kenji.
"Then, Toyama... could you love me no matter what kind of person I am?"
"No matter what kind of person you are...?"
"Yes. No matter what."
Kenji gently took her hand.
"I'm in no position to worry about something like that, since I'm not an ordinary person either."
"Not ordinary?"
"The truth is..."
Kenji told her the truth about himself. Yukiko listened quietly, then pressed her lips to his, silencing him.
After a moment with their lips together, she slowly pulled away and broke the silence.
"I don't know what you'll think, Kenji, but... I like you no matter what kind of person you are."
Kenji's face reddened. He looked at her as she turned her gaze away and told her his true feelings.
"Then we're the same. No matter what kind of person you are... I'll only ever love you."
Recalling that moment from five years ago, Yukiko looked at Jeonghan, who was waiting for her answer, and told him,
"I... want to become closer to you, Jeonghan."
At her answer, Jeonghan blinked rapidly, wondering if he'd heard correctly. She repeated her true feelings once more.
"I like you, Jeonghan."
"Uh... why do you like me...?"
"I told you earlier. I like someone with that special aura that only hits me hard. Right now, I feel that aura from you, Jeonghan."
Just like that person...
"Really?"
Swallowing the words that wanted to follow, Yukiko asked him with a serious expression.
"What do you think of me, Jeonghan?"
Jeonghan stayed quiet for a moment, then gave her a gentle smile.
"...I want to become closer to you too, Yukiko."
Hearing those words, Yukiko smiled brightly and linked her arm with his.
"Then Sunday will be our first date, right?"
"Looks like it."
"Want to drink at my place too?"
"Drink...?"
When Jeonghan looked flustered, Yukiko put on a mischievous expression.
"When you're drunk, you get really cute like last time, so I was planning to make you drink a lot."
"What are you going to do after you get me drunk...?"
"Who knows? It feels like a waste to just watch..."
At Yukiko's strangely seductive smile, Jeonghan's face turned bright red. She laughed as if teasing him and asked,
"What? What are you thinking about?"
"I wasn't thinking anything. Really."
When Jeonghan looked away as he said that, Yukiko smiled quietly and pulled him even closer.
After the two of them confirmed each other's feelings, they returned to their respective homes. Inside Yukiko's house, she was taking a shower, letting the hot water run over her.
As she showered, she suddenly looked down at her own body.
It was incredibly beautiful.
Porcelain skin, a tall frame nearing 5'10", a figure with just the right amount of curves, and firm, toned muscles including visible abs. Her body radiated healthy beauty.
If not for the horrifying scars etched across it.
The scars covering her body didn't look like they came from ordinary accidents. They carried the clear traces of stab wounds and gunshot injuries.
If the two of us end up being intimate... won't Jeonghan be really shocked...? Maybe I should have thought it over more before saying anything.
She closed her eyes and stood under the pouring hot water, lost in thought.
Will Jeonghan... be able to accept this hideous side of me like that person did...?
Though anxious thoughts filled her mind, she soon opened her eyes as if shaking them off and turned off the shower.
No. Don't regret it. You acted that way because you wanted a serious relationship with him. You wanted it desperately. Don't start regretting it now.
After shaking off her doubts about her choice, she finished her shower, put on mint-colored loungewear, and went into her room. She sat on the bed, reached for a small picture frame on the shelf, and picked it up.
The photo inside had been taken at an amusement park. In it, Yukiko was smiling brightly, making a V sign with her right hand.
Standing to her left was a man who looked so much like Jeonghan that it was uncanny. He was smiling brightly too, making a V with his left hand.
No matter how many times she looked, the man standing beside her was identical to Lee Jeonghan.
Kenji... There's someone in Korea who looks so much like you...
Thinking that, Yukiko ran her fingers gently across the photo, caressing the image of Toyama Kenji—the man who looked like Jeonghan.
From his appearance to his voice, his hobbies, even his favorite foods... He's so similar it's like he's your doppelganger. The more I look at him, the more I miss you, who left me... That's why I wanted him by my side.
As she gazed at the photo, tears began to well up in her eyes. She wiped them away with the back of her hand, barely holding back the sob that threatened to burst out.
I'm sorry... I'm so sorry... Kenji...
In the end, teardrops fell onto the photo, one by one. Yukiko couldn't contain the sorrow of losing her lover, nor the guilt of letting him go and meeting someone new. She hugged the frame to her chest and wept bitterly.