Chapter 165 – 165. Access

“Ha.”

On my way back home after a dinner appointment with my successor.

Seol Mi-jung let out a long sigh.
She didn’t have any new trouble.

The dinner table today was just a place prepared by the successor to express gratitude for helping me last time.

Still, the reason why I kept sighing was because of Kang Dae-woong’s answer that stuck in my head.

-Is it so? All right.

It has been said that the opposite of love is not hate, but indifference. The sight of him cutting off his words with a look of disinterest made his heart ache more than ever.

Seol Mi-jeong sighed once again as she lifted her head while burying herself in the driver’s seat.

‘…I know.’

She knew too.
That his attitude and reaction were his own fault, not anyone else’s. That his pathetic and selfish behavior made him callous.

‘But…’

However, the fear of having to go through the pain she had suffered in her past, her fear, prevented her from recognizing her woman, Jeong Ha-ryun.

She gently closed her eyes.

If it was someone else
It would have been nice if it had been.

The car door opens with a rattle.
The lonely sound of shoes ringing in the quiet underground parking lot stops and the elevator arrives.

Unlike her rising body, the feeling of falling down.
Eventually, the elevator finishes its job and opens the door.

Seol Mi-jeong opened the cold front door as she always did.

At that moment, warm warmth wrapped around her body.
Unbelievable thoughts run through her mind. She hastily takes off her shoes and goes inside.

The living room, which should be filled with cold darkness, is filled with orange light emanating from the kitchen. If you follow that warm and cozy light.

“Come, aunt.”

A man warmer and more cozy than the light was waiting for him.

“Kang Dae-woong…Why are you…?”

“I want to have a drink with my aunt. I’m sorry if I surprised you.”

“No. No… It’s okay… It’s okay.”

She hurriedly shook her head to hide her surprise.
After calming my agitated heart with joy and relief, I had to stand late to see the food and wine set on the table.

It wasn’t even the kind of food he would prepare. When he realizes that the reason he came here is not simply to meet him, his fists tighten.

However, that’s for a while.

“Please change your clothes first, aunt.”

The moment his arm gently wraps around your shoulder, your jealousy and anger disappear as if washed away. He had many things he wanted to say, but he couldn’t. The moment the words came out of her mouth, she knew he was leaving, so Mi-jung had no choice but to walk to her room.

“Sit over here, aunt.”

As soon as I changed my clothes and came out, the man who had been waiting for me gently pulled out the chair. As she sits down, her wine glass fills up, and when the wine is filled, her eyesight is filled with Kang Dae-woong.

“…Kang Dae-woong.”

“Let’s start by salting, aunt.”

“…Okay.”

Effortlessly erasing complicated thoughts, he raises his wine glass.

A clear and transparent sound resounds.

As the wine in her mouth went down her throat, Kang Dae-woong, who put the glass down first, picked up the food and brought it to her lips.

“Ah, do it.”

I didn’t want to eat it, but I couldn’t.
It was the food he fed himself, no one else. If he refused, it was the same as rejecting him.

“…Ah.”

“How are you, aunt?”

“…”

I can’t bear to answer, so I just repeat chewing. He smiles as if he doesn’t mind answering.

Seol Mi-jung lifted an empty wine glass.

“Would you like another drink?”

Empty wine glasses are filled and emptied again.
This time, as he picked up the food, his chopsticks approached his lips.

After accepting the food he gave her, she said.

“…You seem to really love me.”

“Yes?”

“This food, is that what he did?”

“Yes. I want you to try something like this. Because you eat what I give you Well, it’s been a while since I’ve been drinking with my aunt.”

“…Kang Dae-woong.”

“Yes, aunt.”

“Do you know why I eat what you give me?”

“Well, of course…Is it your beloved nephew?”

Seeing him reply without thinking long, Seol Mi-jung tried to keep her expressionless.

“Yeah… I guess.”

To him she was only her family.

He tried countless times to change his mind, but to no avail. From the moment she took out her heart, which had been buried deeply, she hoped that he would see her as a woman, and she stimulated his instincts, but in vain.

Even if she wore risqué clothes, even if she forced herself to always say that she loved her, and even if she made explicit physical contact, the label of her family did not fall off.

“You are unchanged.”

The third cup is empty.
Kang Dae-woong fed the food again with an innocent face.

“Auntie, I apologize for making you upset.”

“…What do you mean?”

“Ha-ryun. We often had to say hello and talk a little bit. She said that she would get married without thinking about it.”

I was getting it completely wrong.
But she couldn’t say it, so Seol Mi-jung could only keep her mouth shut and listen to what he had to say.

“Sorry. I shouldn’t have done that, but I just thought too much of myself.”

“…”

“By the way, aunt. I really want to marry Ha-ryun, and I want her aunt to come to that place. She’s my aunt and she’s like my mom. So…”

“…Kang Dae-woong.”

“Yes?”

“Would you like a drink?”

“Ah yes.”

Hard to hear, interrupt her and ask for a drink. As I drank the filled fourth glass at once, the hot, heavy breath that came up from the inside flowed thinly.

“…Kang Dae-woong.”

“Yes, aunt.”

“…You know that aunt loves you, right?”

“Sure. Of course I know.”

“You know I… Love you, right?”

“I know, aunt.”

“…”

No, I don’t know
He doesn’t know He can say he knows because he doesn’t know.

The fifth cup is empty.

“Daewoong… I love you.”

“…Aunt?”

It was fortunate that I was sober.
Otherwise, I would have had to endure the pain of being torn to pieces by that pure blade with sober mind.

Seol Mi-jeong emptied her sixth glass with her blurry eyes.

“…Auntie, you ate too much.”

“Kang Dae-woong. Daewoong.”

“…Yes.”

“Hug me.”

The candle flickers with the exhaled breath.
Time, distracted by the anxiously shimmering orange flames, stops its steps, and soon begins to walk forward again.

When Kang Dae-woong gets up, Seol Mi-jung also raises her body. Facing him by her table, she reached out her hand, barely keeping her expression on the verge of collapsing.

And tight.

“…”

With all her might, she hugged him around the waist and hugged him again. But no matter how long she waited, he wouldn’t hug her.

Seol Mi-jeong slowly lifted her head.

“…Daewoong.”

“…”

He had a complicated expression on his face, but then he smiled. At the same time, an arm wrapped around her shoulder.

Seol Mi-jung melted little by little in it.

“…Auntie, you ate a lot.”

Tok, tok.

Kang Dae-woong lightly tapped him on the shoulder and turned around.
Holding her shoulders and wrists as if to support her, he carefully guides her to her bedroom. Seol Mi-jeong sat on the bed helplessly and looked at her floor.

“…”

“My aunt…A necklace.”

Ugh, she raises her head and looks at him.
As she raises her hand and hangs herself, the necklace she had previously received from him hangs on her fingertips.

“…Do you want me to release it?”

Head nodding silently.
Reaching her hand behind her delicate neck, he unlocks her necklace and hands it to her.

Slurr, tok.

My weak hand couldn’t catch the necklace that had slipped down and dropped it to the floor. Kang Dae-woong took a deep breath and knelt down on his knees, stretching his hand under the bed.

“…?”

“Kang Dae-woong.”

“Yes?”

“…Sorry. Showing ugliness.”

“…Are you okay.”

“Sorry…”

“You’re drunk, aunt. Lie down I’ll put the necklace on the dressing table.”

“…Okay.”

Seol Mi-jeong, who climbed onto the bed, turned her back and lay down, and Kang Dae-woong, who was kneeling, slowly stood up. In his hand was an old photo along with a necklace.

* * *

Returning to the living room, I slumped down in front of the dining table.
He pours wine into an empty glass and swallows it in one gulp. There was no need for flavor.

All I needed was a drink.

“…”

I let out a deep sigh and looked at the photo I found under the bed. My aunt and dad when I was young. And in between

The face was randomly scratched.

‘…Mom.’

Sip the wine again.
Why did this picture come out of my aunt’s room? Think deeply and think again. And that too, with only the mother’s face disfigured.

No way.

‘…I guess not.’

But.

‘It won’t be.’

Look at the picture again.

My dad, who looked just like me now, was smiling brightly. His mother, whose face was scratched, must have done the same. In my faded memories, the two of you were always smiling brightly when we were together.

Because they were happy just looking at each other’s faces.

I looked at her aunt for the last time.
Was smiling But it wasn’t a bright smile like her father’s, it was a forced smile. A forced smile to hide sadness.

“…”

The truth is revealed in the complicated mind.
Her truth, which shone more vividly the more she denied it and tried to cover it up, re-examines her actions and words.

The voice she whispered endlessly and the countless skinships that entangled her.

“…”

I suddenly remembered what Dajin Seol said.

-No. Because the way I treat you is different.

“Huh,” I laughed out loud.
I put the photo down and drank the wine that was full of my glass without holding my breath.

And stare blankly at the table.

“…”

I headed to the bedroom where my aunt was.