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“I think I'll need a bit more time. I'll take good care of her for now.”
After letting out several heavy sighs, Seong-hwan gazed at the hallway Seok-hyun had walked down with a longing expression. He looked as if he were reminiscing about old memories. It took a certain kind of talent to feel this much affection for a daughter he had abandoned. He seemed completely oblivious to the fact that he had instilled severe trauma in that daughter.
“I'm counting on you. This is a drink Hee-jin likes. Please make sure to give it to her...”
Seok-hyun had wondered why the man stubbornly kept bringing the same drink; it turned out it was Hee-jin's favorite. Yoo Seong-hwan held it out to Seok-hyun as if the beverage were some vital medium of connection. It was his small expression of affection, bought while recalling the image of a young Hee-jin smiling brightly while drinking it.
But Seok-hyun already knew. Hee-jin no longer drank such sweet beverages. No, the last time she likely drank it was during her childhood, back when she was still with Yoo Seong-hwan. Looking at the man's expression, Seok-hyun realized that the drink was a clumsy attempt to return to the past.
“Yes. I'll make sure to give it to her.”
Seok-hyun smiled slightly as he took the drink, but there was a hint of ridicule in that smile. It was absurd that a father, who knew nothing of his daughter's present, was trying to restore their relationship using memories of the past. Even though he knew the drink meant nothing to Hee-jin now, he simply accepted it for the moment.
✾ ✾ ✾
Hee-jin left the hospital with heavy steps. From the moment she decided to be discharged and move into Seok-hyun's house, she had already known the repulsion that choice would bring. However, she had no other option. If she wanted to make her hands usable again, she had to rely on him.
Seok-hyun's house was near the company. Just by returning to this area, Hee-jin's face turned pale. The hotel wasn't in sight, but the mere fact that these were the paths she had walked with Go Seok-hyun was enough to bring back the memories.
Turning right here was the way to the hotel. Contrary to Hee-jin, who tried her best to look away, Seok-hyun stared to the right the entire time they waited for the signal.
In truth, Seok-hyun had visited the hotel three times since the accident. At the same time as the day of the accident, at the same speed. He drove while imagining Yoo Hee-jin standing in the drop-off zone, but unlike that day, his body moved perfectly according to his calculations. Thus, why that incident had happened that day remained an unsolved mystery. It was unsettling, but he couldn't exactly set Yoo Hee-jin up there and try it again.
Only after the light changed and they turned onto a different road did Hee-jin let out a low sigh. It was a breath that revealed just how terrified she had been.
After parking the car, Seok-hyun got out first and opened the door for Hee-jin. Hee-jin, who was rubbing her left arm with her right hand as if her limbs were trembling, stepped out of the car. Her movements were so stiff and precarious that he tried to support her, but he was coldly rejected.
“Come in.”
Seok-hyun's home was a duplex penthouse on the top floor of an officetel. The cold marble floors and glass railings emphasized its luxury. The city landscape unfolding beyond the floor-to-ceiling windows was sophisticated, but Hee-jin didn't even glance at it.
“You can just relax and stay here now.”
Seok-hyun's soft voice drifted toward her back, but Hee-jin scoffed. Relax? As if she could ever relax here. Hee-jin's room was next to the stairs leading to the second floor. The moment she saw the inside of the room, Hee-jin hesitated, feeling a sensation that was both unfamiliar and strangely familiar.
Since it was a space she had never visited, it should have been completely foreign, yet it looked familiar for some reason. Only after looking around did she realize where she had seen it. The bedside table, the bookstand, the cushions, the small lamp. She remembered adding the entire set to her shopping cart because it looked so pretty.
She had completely forgotten about it since then, and she never imagined that Go Seok-hyun would have bought and placed them all there. Hee-jin stared blankly into the room for a moment before turning her head away with an expressionless face. How meticulously he had decorated the room meant nothing to her.
“I decided to fill the place where Noona would stay. I decorated it well, right?”
Seok-hyun asked for her impressions as if seeking praise, but Hee-jin remained silent without even glancing at him. The decorations and furniture meticulously placed throughout the house gave her neither comfort nor joy. They felt as numb as the cold air.
In Hee-jin's eyes, only one thing mattered: her injured hand. Only the bandaged fingers and the cast entered her vision. Even in moments without pain, the discomfort felt in her hand held her captive. Right now, if this hand did not recover, her life would be meaningless.
'Recovery and rehabilitation. That's all. Let's not think about anything else.'
From the moment she was discharged until she arrived here, Hee-jin had repeatedly muttered only those words. That Go Seok-hyun was merely a tool necessary for her rehabilitation. Until the day she could move her fingers freely again, she felt that this place was no different from hell.
“Does it not catch your eye? But this might be different.”
Even though his ambitious preparations had come to nothing, Seok-hyun didn't seem particularly disappointed. As if the room had merely been an appetizer, he pointed toward the living room. Hee-jin's gaze reflexively followed him.
“…….”
Lord Wilton was there.
Seok-hyun quickly supported Hee-jin as she involuntarily staggered. This time, she couldn't shake off his hand. Lord Wilton's presence was far too intense to worry about such things.
“Why is that….”
Seok-hyun led Hee-jin, who was looking back and forth between the violin and himself with disbelief, into the living room. Hee-jin stumbled a few times, but with Seok-hyun's help, she finally reached the sofa. Even seeing the violin right in front of her, it didn't feel real.
The moment she had played it once in Japan now felt like nothing more than a dream. Because it could never happen again, it felt even more like she had played it in a dream.
“I finished the deal while I was in Japan. You might not have known, but it actually flew back with us.”
Since old violins are particularly sensitive to changes in air pressure and temperature, they cannot be placed in the cargo hold, so he had entrusted it to a professional transporter. Hee-jin could never have imagined that the violin of her dreams would have been right beside her.
“The moment the contract was signed, I wanted to place it in your arms like a gift.”
Seok-hyun's voice whispering in her ear cluttered her mind. His intention to kindly remind her of what she had lost was malicious. It was as if he were shifting the blame, suggesting that if she hadn't refused the sponsorship, none of this would have happened, and that her injured hand was ultimately her own fault.
“Bullshit…!”
Hee-jin whipped around and swung her arm to slap his cheek. However, as if he could see right through her thoughts, Seok-hyun lightly stepped back to avoid it. Then, as if realizing he had made a mistake, he returned to his original spot and took Hee-jin's hand.
“I shouldn't have dodged. Here, hit me again.”
Hee-jin's anger rose to the top of her head at his light action of tapping his cheek with her hand, as if he were mocking her. No matter how she looked at it, Go Seok-hyun was not sane.
“You crazy bastard….”
Seok-hyun gently stroked Hee-jin's trembling hand. The bruise from when she had hit him last time had not yet completely disappeared. Of course, a similar faint mark remained on Seok-hyun's face.
“It's okay. That's still yours, Noona.”
“…….”
“I'm looking forward to it. The day you play that violin again.”
Hee-jin violently shook off his hand and slumped down into the seat. It was overwhelming just to breathe normally in front of him.
✾ ✾ ✾
“Now is not the time, Andrew. There's the audition.”
“Still... I have to go see Hee-jin.”
“Go to the audition first, and it won't be too late to go after that. They said this isn't a situation that can be solved in a day or two anyway.”
“…….”
When Harrison, the administrative manager, dissuaded him, Andy's expression crumpled significantly.
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