Chapter 70
Chapter 70
‘Why couldn’t I turn them down?’
After Jiyoon finished reading a picture book, s.h.i.+nhae had gone into her room to pick another . In the meanwhile, Jiyoon pondered over her thoughts .
Even if she couldn’t turn down s.h.i.+nhae’s doe-like eyes and Sungyoon’s desperate expression, she really had stepped over the line by following them home . She was a single woman of marriageable age, and yet, she was having dinner with a divorcee and his daughter . It was something people might gossip about . If the person who had asked her was anyone else, she would have been firm in her refusal .
Despite all of these facts, Jiyoon was currently inside Sungyoon’s house .
‘Why?’
She once again asked the question .
No, she already kinda knew the answer .
She discreetly looked towards Sungyoon, who was cooking . He was using a wooden spatula to stir meat in the fry pan . However, a burnt smell was emanating from the meat, so something must have gone wrong .
When he took care of s.h.i.+nhae, he had a relaxed expression on his face . When he was away from s.h.i.+nhae, the expression would go blank, and he would turn into a gloomy person . That kind of a person was sweating bullets while cooking a dish . He looked as if he was fighting a life or death battle . A laughter naturally escaped her mouth, and at the same time, she felt her heartbeat speed up a little bit .
‘Is this for real?’
Even if she didn’t have any experience in love, she had seen enough examples around her . She knew over 10 couples in college . It was enough for Jiyoon to be able to identify her own feelings .
‘He is much older than me, and he is a divorcee with a child . Am I ok with that?’
She had already thought about this earlier in the orphanage . These two factors weren’t a negative . At the very least, they weren’t a negative to Jiyoon .
Of course, this wasn’t a love that might appear in a romance novel . It wasn’t a pa.s.sionate love that she would give up her life for . She had merely found someone that she was interested in . However, this was a first for Jiyoon, so it was enough to fl.u.s.ter her .
Jiyoon once again looked towards Sungyoon .
‘We are like a married couple . ’
The husband was cooking, and the wife was entertaining the child by reading a book . It really was an ideal picture of a family . Soon, Jiyoon’s face turned red .
‘Jeez! What the h.e.l.l am I thinking about!’
Her cheeks turned hot . Her eyes remained restless as she fanned herself .
‘Huh?’
At that moment, Jiyoon’s eyes picked up something, and her eyebrows shot upwards .
‘Women’s clothes?’
There was a hanger located at the corner of a room, and the cloth hanging there clearly belonged to a women . It wasn’t a jacket or normal everyday wear . It was a gown that one wore to sleep . Jiyoon was surprised, and a strong sense of displeasure ambushed her .
“Unni, this is the next one!”
At that moment, s.h.i.+nhae brought back another picture book .
“Unni?”
When Jiyoon didn’t respond, s.h.i.+nhae shook her shoulder, and she called out to her unni once again .
“Uh! Hmm?”
“Please read this to me . ”
Jiyoon finally registered the presence of the picture book which was being held up towards her .
“Ah! Yes! I’ll read it to you . ”
Jiyoon took the book . s.h.i.+nhae once again sat atop her legs, so she could be hugged by her unni .
Jiyoon placed the book in front of s.h.i.+nhae and opened it . As expected, it was a children"s book with large pictures . She flipped past the cover and the table of content . She opened the page where the story began .
However, she couldn’t concentrate . Her eyes kept drifting towards the hanger with the women’s clothing hanging on it .
‘Is he dating someone?’
It was a possibility . Even if he was an old divorcee with a child, there was one big factor that could wipe out all the negatives . He was a Connector . Moreover, it was well known that Connectors practiced polgamy .
Normally, Sungyoon looked disinterested in women . It would shock Jiyoon if he was truly going out with a woman .
However, she shook her head from side to side .
‘No . There might be another explanation . ’
If felt like she was becoming one of those women that couldn’t accept things at face value . Despite knowing this, Jiyoon decided to take on this situation head on .
Of course, she wasn’t bold enough to ask the question to Sungyoon .
“Hey, s.h.i.+nhae . ”
Jiyoon had finished reading the book, and before the little girl could leave to get another book, Jiyoon carefully threw out a question towards her .
“Whose cloth is that?”
Jiyoon tried to sound nonchalant, without expressing any emotion, as if she was only asking because it had caught her eyes . She almost spoke with a higher pitch, desperately pressing down on her voice .
“Huh?”
s.h.i.+nhae looked towards the clothes .
“Ah! That’s Jimin unni’s clothes . ”
‘Jimin unni?’
She was sure she had overheard that name before .
“What kind of person is that unni?”
“Mmm! She is the president of dad’s company . Also, she stays with me when dad is gone . ”
s.h.i.+nhae gave a vague answer, a simplistic answer typical of a child . But the answer complicated the thoughts inside Jiyoon’s head .
‘President? Is she the president of a Connector Company?’
If so, there was a good chance that she didn’t have any romantic relations.h.i.+p with Sungyoon . However, one part bothered her . s.h.i.+nhae had said that the woman stayed with her .
‘Does she live here when s.h.i.+nhae’s father goes to the moon?’
It was odd for a president to show so much interest in an employee’s affairs . Moreover, s.h.i.+nhae had called her unni . It meant that the president wasn’t that old . She wanted to ask more questions, but it worried her that her behavior may look too odd . That was why she had s.h.i.+ed away from directly pursuing that topic . She wondered how she should approach this topic so that s.h.i.+nhae would not think of it as being weird . Suddenly, she remembered Sungyoon’s earlier words .
That woman was trash . . .
She was sure Sungyoon had used this phrase to describe his ex-wife .
“Mmm! Hey, s.h.i.+nhae!”
Jiyoon didn’t put much thought into it, as she asked the question to the little girl .
“What kind of person is your mother?”
s.h.i.+nhae’s mother was someone that had married the man Jiyoon was interested in . Of course, she was curious about such a woman . However, it was also true that she was being rash and careless in asking this question .
Tap!
The wooden spatula hit the frypan . Sungyoon, who had been stir-frying dried anchovies, came to a halt . However, Jiyoon didn’t notice this, as she was focused on s.h.i.+nhae .
Until now, s.h.i.+nhae had been energetic and happy . Suddenly, her expression turned very sad . It became like the first time when Jiyoon had seen her in the orphanage .
“S . . . s.h.i.+nhae?”
Jiyoon sensed something was very wrong with s.h.i.+nhae .
“I . . . I don’t have a mom . ”
s.h.i.+nhae mumbled her words in a small voice .
“That person isn’t my mom . ”
It was shocking to hear such words from a 5 year old child . She knew the situation had become very serious . Jiyoon became restless . She didn’t know what to do .
“s.h.i.+nhae!”
Sungyoon’s kind voice could be heard from the kitchen .
“Let’s eat . Please place the dishes and utensils on the table . ”
“Yes!”
s.h.i.+nhae shot up from Jiyoon’s knees and ran towards the kitchen . It looked like she was running away from something she didn’t want to see .
As if he was switching places with his daugther, Sungyoon exited the kitchen . He started unfolding a new table . The dining table in the living room could seat only two people . This was why they needed another table if they wanted to eat dinner with Jiyoon .
“I . . . I’ll help too . ”
Jiyoon quickly got up . Sungyooon didn’t turn down her offer . While Jiyoon was busy setting up the table, Sungyoon brought a dish towel out from the kitchen and wiped the top of the table .
“Please do not talk about her mom in front of s.h.i.+nhae . ”
Jiyoon, who had been looking for more tasks to do, heard a sound that struck her like a thunderclap .
“Y . . . you heard that?”
“Yes . Connectors have great hearing . ”
Her face turned pale .
“I’m sorry!”
Jiyoon bowed her head deeply towards Sungyoon .
“As I’ve said before, my ex-wife is human trash . Of course, she didn’t treat her child well . It created a big wound within s.h.i.+nhae . ”
“I’m so sorry! I should’ve given it more thought!”
Sungyoon let out a sigh .
“It’s fine . You didn"t know about it . However, please do not speak about s.h.i.+nhae’s mom from now on . ”
“I’ll bear that in mind . ”
If he had presented her with a contract at that time, she wouldn"t have hesitated to sign it . Jiyoon nodded to show his approval .
“Also, Ms . Jimin is the president of my company, and she personally adores s.h.i.+nhae . So when I’m absent, she takes care of her . She acts as s.h.i.+nhae’s guardian when I’m gone . Also, she had gone back to her own house when I returned to earth and forgot to take that item with her . When I called her about it, she told me to keep it here, since she’ll be back when I return to the moon . ”
‘He heard that too . ’
If Jiyoon could crawl into a mouse hole, she would hide in it right now . She wanted to stick her head in haystack like a dumb chicken . She didn"t care if it looked foolish . She wanted to do it .
“I . . . I’m really sorry . ”
“No, it is nothing . You were curious . Ms . Jimin lives under this roof sometimes to take care of s.h.i.+nhae . ”
Sungyoon was unperturbed as he told Jiyoon that everything was fine . However, Jiyoon was still anxious .
“What’s wrong, unni?”
The little girl had brought the small dishes and utensils . When she saw the anxious look on her unni, she became puzzled .
Jiyoon was embarra.s.sed . She didn’t know what to do with herself, so Sungyoon helped her .
“Unni just wants to help s.h.i.+nhae . ”
“Really?”
s.h.i.+nhae put the dishes and utensils on top of the desk, and she grabbed Jiyoon’s hand .
“Then unni can scoop the rice . ”
s.h.i.+nhae pointed towards the kitchen . To be precise, she pointed towards the pressure cooker .
“O . . . ok . ”
Jiyoon was pulled along by the small hand as she walked towards the kitchen .
The rice had just finished cooking, and white steam rose from within the rice cooker . She carefully scooped rice into the rice bowls, while s.h.i.+nhae filled the cups with water and placed them atop the table . Sungyoon brought out the side dishes .
Soon, the dinner was placed on the table .
There was the white rice alongside the sweet & sour pork . He had made the stir-fried salty anchovies and the spicy bean sprout side dishes . Then there was the savory bean sprout soup . Of course, he also had kimchi and beans cooked in soy sauce .
There was nothing missing on this dinner table .
“Thank you for the food!”
s.h.i.+nhae yelled out loud and started digging into the food . She looked like a hamster as she stuffed rice into each cheek . Then, she used her training chopsticks to pick up side dishes . Sungyoon looked pleased as he watched .
Jiyoon also picked up her spoon . Sungyoon’s cooking looked ok, and she carefully put a spoonful of food in her mouth .
The taste was average . He had made some mistakes in making the sweet & sour pork . Some parts had been burnt . It wasn’t inedible, but it wasn’t delicious either . If she had to make an a.s.sessment, she would describe it as the cooking of a man that had just started cooking . That was Sungyoon’s level .
Jiyoon’s opinion ended there . Since she didn’t want Sungyoon and s.h.i.+nhae to notice, she didn’t try to make any further a.s.sessment .
The dinner quickly ended . s.h.i.+nhae was the last one to finish . She patted her stomach as she laid down on the floor . The sadness from before was gone, and she laughed while playing with Sungyoon on the floor .
After humoring s.h.i.+nhae’s playfulness for a while, Sungyoon stood up to clear the table .
“Ah! I’ll do it . ”
Since she was treated to dinner, she wanted to wash the dishes . Jiyoon stood up . However, Sungyoon shook his head from side to side .
“It isn"t something I should let a guest do . ”
“Still, I would like to work a bit to pay back for your hospitality . ”
She really wanted to help, because she had caused a lot of trouble that day . Sungyoon stared at her for a brief moment .
“Let’s do it together . You said you had questions for me?”
Sungyoon turned to look at s.h.i.+nhae .
“Unni and I have to clean up . Do you mind playing by yourself for a short time?”
“May I go watch TV?”
s.h.i.+nhae abruptly stood up . Sungyoon looked a bit disagreeable as he looked at the clock . He had placed a restriction . s.h.i.+nhae wasn’t supposed to watch TV this late in the day . However, Sungyoon nodded this time .
“This is an exception only for today . ”
“Waaa!”
s.h.i.+nhae was happy . She raised both hands into the air and crawled across the floor to pick up the remote on the floor . Soon, the screen turned on, and a children’s cartoon appeared on screen . The girl was caught up in watching the TV show .
The two adults started to clean up . They put the leftover side dishes in the refrigerator and the empty dishes in the sink . After wiping the table clean with a dishrag, Sungyoon put the table away . Then, the two of them stood side by side as they did the dishes .
“I really want to apologize once again . ”
She still felt sorry, so as soon as Jiyoon stood next to Sungyoon she apologized once again .
“It’s fine . Do as you are doing right now . Please keep a good relations.h.i.+p with s.h.i.+nhae . That’s all I ask . ”
“Thank you very much . ”
Sungyoon really wasn’t showing any signs of displeasure towards her, so she relaxed .
Of course, it wasn’t as if Sungyoon wasn’t angry . If he hadn"t owed a lot to her, he wouldn’t have dismissed this issue so easily .
“Didn’t you say you had questions you wanted to ask me?”
“Ah! I do . ”
Jiyoon was barely able to regain her complexion, and she slowly started to ask questions that she had wanted to ask him .
After they were done with dishes, Sungyoon brewed some coffee . They took their conversation over to the dining table . They conversation continued for a while .