Chapter 75
The sound of heavy rain poured down relentlessly.
Amid it, a silence lingered between the two in the kitchen.
“…Why do you keep calling me?”
It was Baek I-hae who spoke first. She tried to act nonchalant, moving her feet to pick up her cup and head toward the water purifier.
The trickling sound of water filling the cup seemed unusually loud.
Baek I-hae stared at the cup, but all her attention was focused on Baek Yeong. She had a feeling he was aware of her too.
“Don’t drink too much and go to bed. I’ll head in first.”
Baek I-hae bid farewell to the silent Baek Yeong and turned to go back to her room. Instinctively, something warned her not to stay here any longer. It was like a gut feeling.
As she brushed past Baek Yeong, he grabbed her hand. Startled, Baek I-hae flinched and turned around, only then seeing Baek Yeong looking at her.
“Can’t I call your name?”
“…It’s not that you can’t.”
“Then can I?”
“You always do. You call me Baek I-hae.”
She’d heard he gets sensitive, but maybe this was just drunken rambling.
Baek I-hae responded curtly with a puzzled expression. Still, it was a relief that the atmosphere wasn’t scary.
If it was just drunken rambling, that would be fine. Baek I-hae set the cup she was holding on the table and carefully pried her hand from Baek Yeong’s grip. Then, she brushed back his disheveled bangs.
There was no other meaning to it. Just that his bangs covering his eyes looked frustrating.
That was the only reason.
“…”
But then Baek Yeong carefully closed his eyes and leaned his cheek against her palm.
She flinched without realizing it, and he said,
“If I call you by name, you call me by name too.”
“You’re older than me; how can I call you by name without being rude?”
“You don’t seem to have any intention of being polite to me anyway.”
Busted.
Baek I-hae stroked her chin. Wondering if it was that obvious, she thought to herself that she’d have to be more careful in the future.
“I heard you get sensitive when it rains, but maybe Chai Ryeong unnie was lying.”
“It’s not a lie. Father never went out on rainy days; he was always at home. And when he was, I’d get beaten often, so I still don’t like rainy days much.”
She heard his calm voice adding that Chai Ryeong and the others didn’t know the details.
“…Why are you telling me this?”
“You already figured it out.”
“Doesn’t unnie know? You’ve known each other for a long time.”
“She probably suspects. But she doesn’t show it in front of me, pretends not to know to save my face, and leaves me alone.”
“Why…”
She couldn’t bring herself to ask why he didn’t tell the truth.
Perhaps everyone had seen it but pretended not to. They were all in a position to be threatened.
Perhaps Baek Yeong had been exposed to his father’s violence for longer than she thought.
“Still… it makes me a bit upset.”
“What?”
Baek I-hae hesitated for a moment before speaking. She’d been avoiding calling him anything because she didn’t know what to call him.
Calling him by name outright seemed rude, and calling him “oppa” like Chai Ryeong did felt awkward.
After a brief dilemma, Baek I-hae decided to follow the title that Chai Ryeong and the other members used for him.
“Boss, you’re trying to take care of Do Ha-jun to free unnie and the members, right? Not for yourself. But it’s sad that no one’s stepping up for you.”
Baek I-hae spoke honestly. Exactly as she felt.
She worried that showing pity while indebted to him might make him angry, but it was what she wanted to say to Baek Yeong.
‘Separate from the wrongs done to me, I know he treats his people well.’
Baek Yeong quietly gazed at Baek I-hae like that. Then, he slowly opened his mouth.
“Yeah. You’re the first one to step up for me. It must have been a pretty pathetic sight, but you didn’t tell the others.”
“Why is that pathetic! It’s not at all!”
Baek I-hae cupped Baek Yeong’s cheeks with both hands, her face flushing with emotion.
Looking down at his surprised, wide-eyed face up close, she spoke in a voice suppressing her anger.
“That was your way of protecting someone. Don’t look down on anyone, not even yourself, boss.”
“….”
“I’m giving back the same words you said to me. That wasn’t foolish; it was effort. I was grateful you said that to me.”
How about you, boss? To Baek I-hae’s question, Baek Yeong didn’t answer for a long time. He just looked up at her.
The pouring rain sounded as if it were fading away, Baek Yeong thought.
“I’m grateful too. For saying that.”
Only then did Baek I-hae smile brightly. Baek Yeong couldn’t tear his gaze away from her, as if entranced.
“Good that you know. I’m going back in to study, so don’t drink too much. If the rain sound bothers you, play music loud. I’ll understand today.”
Baek I-hae removed her hands from his cheeks, picked up her cup, and started walking. Baek Yeong’s gaze followed her retreating figure without regret, but she didn’t stop.
“…Thank you, huh.”
Baek I-hae wouldn’t know that it was the first time he’d heard such an honest expression of thanks.
Baek Yeong sat alone in the kitchen, fiddling with his glass. Following Baek I-hae’s advice, he didn’t touch the alcohol anymore.
The rain sound that had been grating on his nerves until moments ago no longer tormented him.
“Is it because it was Baek I-hae who said it that I’m grateful?”
The murmur, unheard by the one who had left, lingered unusually long.
Baek Yeong was a rational and mature person. So he wasn’t foolish enough not to know what place Baek I-hae had taken in his heart.
***
Baek I-hae regarded the incident with Baek Yeong as just a minor happening. She didn’t tell anyone else, and neither did Baek Yeong.
Nothing changed. Without a suitable title, Baek I-hae still called him boss, and Baek Yeong called her Baek I-hae as before.
The only differences were that seafood appeared more frequently in Baek I-hae’s meals, and if she lingered her gaze or showed interest in something, it would appear in her room the next day.
‘Do the people here think of me as a daughter?’
Baek I-hae dismissed it lightly, thinking it was just the Baek faction members’ attention.
Time flowed diligently.
‘It feels like just yesterday we all went to the sea, and now winter is already approaching.’
She thought as she put on a cardigan in the chilly weather. As she tried to head out, Chai Ryeong clicked her tongue and snatched Baek Yeong’s coat from nearby to drape it over Baek I-hae.
Baek Yeong just stood there with a bewildered expression.
After that, the place she headed to with Chai Ryeong was the hospital where Seo Do-gyeom was admitted.
She couldn’t visit the room, but with Chai Ryeong’s help, she occasionally sneaked peeks at his room from afar like this.
He was still in a state where he hadn’t woken up.
Even though Seo Do-gyeom hadn’t opened his eyes, the world mercilessly showed Baek I-hae many seasons.
She saw the scenery outside the window with snow falling heavily. Her heart felt nothing but stifled looking at the world blanketed in white.
Still, her hard efforts paid off, and Baek I-hae safely took the college entrance exam and got accepted to her target university. At the celebration party prepared by the Baek faction, Baek I-hae smiled throughout, but she couldn’t shake the thought of how it would have been to celebrate with Seo Do-gyeom’s family.
Soon, graduation day approached. Since the Baek faction couldn’t show their faces, she attended the graduation ceremony alone, without a guardian.
She thought she’d just attend and leave, trying to act calm, when a pink bouquet was extended toward her.
“Congratulations on graduating.”
It was Ye Eun-seol. He handed the bouquet to her as she left the classroom alone and patted her shoulder.
“I’m still waiting for contact. I’ll keep an eye on Do-gyeom more.”
He whispered softly like that and walked away. Baek I-hae held the bouquet in her arms like the other kids and, as she left the classroom, held back the tears welling up.
As she crossed the playground and tried to exit the main gate, someone called her from behind.
“I-hae noona!”
Turning at Seo-yeol’s voice, she saw him looking like he’d run hurriedly.
“Just take this.”
He placed a white bouquet in her arms.
After realizing she was avoiding him, he hadn’t spoken much to her, yet he’d run like this just to give her a bouquet.
Baek I-hae was flustered, not knowing how to react, when footsteps sounded behind Seo-yeol.
As a massive shadow loomed, her eyes wavered. It was a face she hadn’t seen in a long time.
“Congratulations on graduating, I-hae.”
Seo I-heum placed a vibrant yellow bouquet in her arms. With Seo Do-gyeom absent from the graduation, the purpose of their visit was obvious.
That made sense, as they had only brought one bouquet each from the start.
Solely to congratulate Baek I-hae on her graduation.
“I heard from Yeol that there are circumstances you can’t speak of.”
“…Uncle.”
“Don’t overdo it.”
Without knowing the details, Seo I-heum stroked Baek I-hae’s head. As if to say he didn’t know the situation but could tell she was pushing herself.
The two said that and just watched as Baek I-hae walked away. They didn’t hold her back.
After arriving at her room, Baek I-hae let out the sobs she’d been holding in. Afraid someone might hear her crying, she curled up, covered her mouth tightly, and wept sorrowfully.
On her desk was a sky-blue bouquet of baby’s breath, seemingly prepared by Baek Yeong. It was her favorite color.
Baek I-hae graduated, receiving congratulations from those she loved.
It was a lonely graduation ceremony.
