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“I didn’t intend to hurt you. I just wanted to talk.”
“What more is there to talk about?”
“Did we even talk properly? You were so blinded by your own stubbornness that you didn't even listen to me.”
“Stubbornness?”
Hee-jin tilted her head, trying to grasp the meaning. Having lived in an environment where English was used like a native language, there were times when she couldn't immediately understand the nuance of certain Korean words. This was one of those moments. However, considering the context, a similar word came to mind.
“Are you saying I'm being stubborn?”
“Aren't you? Then why are you refusing? Are you perhaps expecting Grandfather to sponsor you?”
Hee-jin's lips trembled at his tone, which sounded as if she shouldn't even dream of such a thing. Go Seok-hyun, who do you think you are?
The image of a boy lifting a violin—bought by her father—above his head and smashing it down flashed before her eyes and then vanished. With every strike, first and second, it was Yoo Hee-jin's hopes and dreams that were being shattered.
She had barely managed to forget it...
“I'm sorry, but Grandfather has stepped away. Even if you refuse my offer, there's no way you'll receive sponsorship from the Gio Cultural Foundation.”
Suppressing the tightness in her chest, Hee-jin shut her mouth tight and took a deep breath. The rise and fall of her chest was clear enough for Seok-hyun to see.
The more Seok-hyun provoked her, the colder Hee-jin's mind became. She began to think about Seok-hyun's true intention in pressuring her into accepting the sponsorship. Because he was moved by her playing? Because he recognized her value? If that were the case, Chairman Go would have stepped forward first to offer the sponsorship.
“Is that so?”
“…….”
Seeing Hee-jin's expression now completely indifferent, Seok-hyun unconsciously clenched his fist. He usually prided himself on his excellent patience and endurance, but strangely, it wasn't easy to maintain his composure. He kept feeling as if he had returned to his middle school days.
“I'll get you something better than any violin the foundation could sponsor. How about a Guarneri del Gesù?”
The Guarneri del Gesù, a string instrument crafted by the Italian master Giuseppe Guarneri, had a base price in the tens of billions of won. Hee-jin was momentarily speechless at the mention of him sponsoring such an instrument for her.
The violin she was currently using cost 300 million won, and even that had been sponsored through an orchestra. And now he was saying he'd get her a violin worth tens of billions? Hee-jin scoffed at the absurdity.
“I don't want it.”
“…You still refuse? Why on earth?”
Convinced that this was an offer she absolutely could not reject, Seok-hyun looked at Hee-jin with a face of utter incomprehension.
“I don't have time to play along with your games.”
“Games?”
As Seok-hyun questioned her, he finally read the distrust shimmering in Hee-jin's eyes. It wasn't distrust regarding the sponsorship of a ten-billion-won violin, but distrust of his intentions. That was why she had called it a game.
“No matter how much financial independence I've achieved, I'm not yet at the point where I can burn ten billion on a joke.”
Seok-hyun let out a smirk and added, “I still need a bit more time for that.” He continued to chuckle, as if he couldn't stop laughing. Hee-jin looked at Seok-hyun, who was now clutching his stomach in laughter, as if he were a madman. Wiping away the tears from laughing too hard, Seok-hyun spoke again in a softened voice.
“You'll be in Korea for a few more days, right? Think about it some more.”
Seok-hyun shook his head, cutting off Hee-jin's attempt to flatly state that there was no need for that.
“You'll regret it if you decide too hastily. Honestly, you were damn desperate. Desperate enough to fly over ten hours just to attend a ridiculously uncomfortable formal meeting between families.”
“…….”
“If you're that desperate, you shouldn't blindly refuse someone offering to sponsor you.”
His blunt words left Hee-jin's mind in a whirl. It was true that she had refused out of a desire to avoid any connection with Go Seok-hyun due to what happened at the music camp. But as he said, the scale was too large for it to be a mere joke. Of course, he could throw out the condition of a ten-billion-won violin and change his words later. However, it would be foolish to assume that and not even try.
“…Give me some time.”
When Hee-jin admitted he was right and spoke with a deep breath, Seok-hyun wore a satisfied smile as if a weight had been lifted. Just then, the sunlight peeking through a gap in the clouds illuminated him brilliantly.
“As much as you need.”
✾ ✾ ✾
“How was the family meeting?”
Yuna asked lightly when she met Seok-hyun at dinner.
It was a total Cinderella story: Go Seung-woo, the eldest grandson of the Gio Group, falling in love with a flight attendant he met on a plane and proceeding with the marriage in one swift motion.
Perhaps because of the Go family tradition of looking only at a person's character, or perhaps because they trusted Go Seung-woo's judgment, there was no particular opposition even though they heard the bride was the daughter of a very ordinary family.
Yuna was dying of envy toward Yoo Da-ae, who was soon to become Go Seung-woo's wife. To think that marriage talk came up in less than a year of knowing each other. In contrast, Go Seok-hyun seemed to have no intention of ever getting married.
“Nothing special. What is there to be in a meeting where two families just introduce themselves?”
What an insincere answer. Pouting her lips in complaint as she looked at Seok-hyun, Yuna felt that he seemed somehow different today. Was it because he was dressed up for the family meeting? It wasn't as if Go Seok-hyun's great style was anything new.
“For someone who says it was nothing, you look like you're in a good mood.”
At the mention of his mood, Seok-hyun took his eyes off the menu. Thinking he was finally looking at her, Yuna put on a pretty expression and curled the corners of her lips, but his gaze stopped in mid-air. It was as if he were recalling a past memory. His softened expression made Yuna's heart race for no reason. Truly, Go Seok-hyun had a knack for enchanting people.
“Something must have happened, then?”
“Something did.”
What on earth happened at his Hyung's family meeting to make him look so pleased? She couldn't even guess, and Go Seok-hyun didn't seem to have any intention of explaining.
Yuna felt as if she were hitting an invisible wall whenever Go Seok-hyun was like this. She prided herself on being the closest person to him, yet that final step could never be closed.
“What's so funny?”
She tried to sound nonchalant, but she didn't feel good. Only then did Seok-hyun look at Yuna. She had wanted him to look at her so desperately, but when their eyes finally met, Yuna's heart sank.
“Hmm, I finally found something I've been waiting for for a long time.”
“Something you've been waiting for...?”
Go Seok-hyun's eyes sparkled brilliantly. Even though she had been the closest person to him since they first met in high school, she had never seen that look in his eyes. Not when he was immersed in equestrianism to the point of entering competitions, not when they traveled, and not even when he founded his own company. Because of this, Yuna had simply assumed he had been taught to suppress his emotions through a strict home education.
“This is from before I knew you. You don't need to worry about it.”
Drawing a line with indifference, Seok-hyun returned his gaze to the menu. His voice asking what she wanted to eat was kind, but it lacked warmth. Under the table, Yuna's clenched fist trembled.
✾ ✾ ✾
Upon returning to the hotel, Hee-jin received a call from her father.
-
Thanks to you, I've saved face. I'm truly grateful.
Her father's voice was clearly joyful as he said he could now hold his head high in front of the in-laws. Would it be twisting his words to feel that he wasn't proud of her, but rather happy that she was helpful to Yoo Da-ae?
That was because there wasn't a single comment about whether her performance was good or not. Even though it had been a very long time since he had heard his daughter play in person.
After her parents divorced, Hee-jin had clung to the violin like crazy. She felt as if she would be crushed to death by a sense of loss and emptiness if she stayed still. Only by focusing on the violin to the point of losing track of time could she forget the reality she faced.
As an adult, she also developed a desire to show her father what she was made of. She wanted to be able to say, 'Your daughter has become such an amazing person. Do you regret abandoning me?'
But reality was cold. Her father, preoccupied only with Yoo Da-ae's marriage, barely listened to her soulful performance. He probably didn't even know why his eldest daughter had attended the family meeting. He was the kind of person who would believe she attended solely to support Yoo Da-ae.
Even though Hee-jin didn't answer, her father continued to ramble about how the meeting had gone today. Strangely, in moments like this, she felt that Yoo Da-ae resembled her father more than she did. Was that why he adored and loved her so much? Because she was so bright—to the point of being self-centered—just like him?
-
Oh, when did you say you were going back?
Just as it was becoming painful to listen, her father asked as if he had suddenly remembered.
“I'll be here for... about ten days.”
For some reason, Seok-hyun's face, whom she had met after a long time, came to mind, but she forced herself to erase it.
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