Chapter 306
Chapter 306
Yoo-hyun moved to a cafe near Jeong Da-hye’s accommodation.
When he arrived at the cafe, it was already an hour past the time Jeong Da-hye had mentioned.
She had given up her time for him.
He knew it was not an easy decision for her.
Was it because she liked him?
That was definitely not the case.
But it was not a hostile feeling either.
Yoo-hyun did not think too much and kept his mind light.
He was happy just to be with her more.
She, who had been drinking coffee silently, spoke with a calm expression.
“Thank you for the handbag.”
“I heard enough thanks from you earlier.”
“But you were too reckless.”
“I heard that too.”
He had already been scolded several times, so Yoo-hyun answered casually.
He hoped she would not take it too seriously.
Seeing Yoo-hyun, Jeong Da-hye sighed.
Her chin, which had wrinkles under her pursed lips, showed.
He was testing her patience hard.
Yoo-hyun said bluntly to her.
“But thanks to that, I found the handbag.”
“It was not worth the risk.”
There was worry in Jeong Da-hye’s sharp words.
Yoo-hyun countered with an answer that reflected his current values.
“I would have regretted it if I didn’t act. I don’t want to leave such regrets in this life.”
“So you almost fought?”
This time, Jeong Da-hye brought up what happened at the restaurant.
She was the type who never backed down once an argument started.
But this was not a situation where they were competing for work.
Rather, it felt similar to when lovers bickered.
Unlike his past attitude of ignoring her, Yoo-hyun gladly confronted her.
“At least I didn’t have to hear any more mockery. If I hadn’t, they would have been persistent.”
“You were lucky. In a different situation, you could have gotten hurt for nothing.”
“That luck came because I acted.”
“If you didn’t act, you wouldn’t have needed luck in the first place.”
“Are you sure about that?”
At Yoo-hyun’s question, Jeong Da-hye quickly expressed her thoughts.
Her words were fast but clear, and they stuck in Yoo-hyun’s ears.
“Yes. I…”
“I disagree. That’s…”
Yoo-hyun also did not back down and answered.
They revealed their thoughts without holding back and argued fiercely.
It might have looked like they were fighting from the outside.
But this was not a fight to win or lose.
There was only a wish for the other person in their words, and there was no malice at all.
Their conversation lasted until the coffee cooled down.
Jeong Da-hye, who had been heated up for a while, sighed.
“Let’s stop. It’s not worth getting excited over.”
“I’m having fun.”
“What?”
When Jeong Da-hye asked incredulously, Yoo-hyun said with a good-natured smile.
“Don’t people get closer by fighting?”
It was not just a casual remark, but his sincere feeling.
Thanks to that, he could know more clearly what he didn’t know about her in the past.
More than anything, he enjoyed talking with her.
It was high-level and interesting.
There was no way Jeong Da-hye didn’t feel the same emotion as Yoo-hyun did.
She wrinkled her chin again and spat out in a stiff voice.
She seemed to be trying to push him away on purpose.
“No. We just confirmed how different we are.”
“People who are different tend to get along better. Even magnets stick better with N and S poles.”
At Yoo-hyun’s witty reply, Jeong Da-hye gave a hollow laugh.
“Ha. Are you always so easygoing about everything?”
“Do you know what ilche-yusim-jo is?”
When Yoo-hyun leaned forward and asked with a grin, Jeong Da-hye chuckled.
“You must be happy, being able to relax your mind like that.”
“Yes. Everything depends on how you think. Don’t be too anxious about things.”
“I never thought about our relationship.”
Jeong Da-hye misinterpreted Yoo-hyun’s pace and said something irrelevant.
He didn’t miss that.
Yoo-hyun teased her heart playfully.
“Haha. Our relationship? Are you already thinking that far?”
“No way.”
“Then I’ll think about it too. It’s not an easy problem.”
Yoo-hyun pretended to be serious while saying that.
Jeong Da-hye drank the cold coffee as if she was burning inside.
“Let’s stop. It’s late.”
Then she got up from her seat.
It was already dark outside.
That meant they had a long conversation for a long time.
Yoo-hyun reached out his hand to her who got up.
“If you ever need someone to fight with, call me anytime.”
For a moment, wrinkles appeared on Jeong Da-hye’s chin again.
“Enough.”
She hesitated for a moment, but turned her body sharply.
But she didn’t forget to tidy up her seat.
Yoo-hyun smiled as he watched her.
He didn’t say a single sweet word, but he felt warm in his chest.
That night, Yoo-hyun spent his last schedule at a hotel near San Francisco airport.
He wanted to spend the last time quietly.
Yoo-hyun sat on a chair on the outdoor terrace in light clothes.
The night view of San Francisco spread out in the distance.
Union Square where he met Jeong Da-hye, Oakland Bridge where he drove, came into his eyes one by one.
The moments he spent with her came to his mind in the fragrant coffee aroma.
She still liked delicious things and was still sharp.
She had the same personality that couldn’t buy what she owed.
“Her delicate nature is still the same.”
Yoo-hyun smiled as he recalled the last conversation he had with her.
She was sharp and hard on the outside, but not on the inside.
She was constantly tightening herself to hide her fragile side.
He couldn’t comfort her in that part in the past.
But not anymore.
He had a chance, and Yoo-hyun was determined to fix it.
At the same time.
Jeong Da-hye, who was sitting on the sofa in her accommodation, held her handbag tightly.
It was not very cheap, but it was not worth risking danger for it.
“What is this?”
She still couldn’t understand the man she met in the afternoon.
He was too reckless and absurd.
He was too different from her, who was cold and rational.
Yet strangely, he kept bothering her.
Why was that?
She was thinking for a moment when it happened.
Thud.
A wallet fell from her handbag.
When she picked up the open wallet, a photo inside it stuck out a little.
She took out the photo and looked at it.
It was a family photo she hadn’t seen in a long time.
“At least I saved this photo.”
Jeong Da-hye’s expression was wistful as she looked at the photo.
The next day.
As Yoo-hyun entered the San Francisco airport, someone waved his hand at him.
He recognized the man with sunglasses right away and chuckled.
“You didn’t have to come to see me off.”
“I won’t see you for a while, so I couldn’t do that.”
Shin Kyung-wook, the director, smiled and replied.
He didn’t do anything special for coming.
They enjoyed a leisurely cup of coffee and chatted casually.
“What did you do in San Francisco…”
“Hehe. Did you? I was…”
These small moments were very happy for Yoo-hyun.
Time passed quickly, and the airport speaker announced.
-Passengers boarding flight KE0025 to Korea, please…
Yoo-hyun got up from his seat and shook hands with Shin Kyung-wook.
“Take care, and see you soon.”
“Sure. And thank you.”
“For what?”
When Yoo-hyun asked, Shin Kyung-wook said with an affectionate look.
“For being a good colleague.”
“…”
His words from the mouth of his respected boss pierced Yoo-hyun’s heart.
A relationship he could never have dreamed of in the past was unfolding before his eyes.
And those words gave him a meaning to stay with him in the future.
Yoo-hyun said sincerely.
“I’m a person who believes that I have to keep my faith with my colleagues.”
“So am I.”
The two men’s hands tightened.
They exchanged smiles filled with trust.
After finishing his schedule in San Francisco and returning to Korea, Yoo-hyun took a day off to rest.
Thanks to Kang Kang Jun-ki, who lent him his house and came home late from work, it was possible.
When he woke up in the morning, there was food on the small table.
He picked up the post-it next to the food.
-Lucky kid who plays, eats, and sleeps. Just eat something for breakfast.
It was a message left by Kang Kang Jun-ki, who left for work early in the morning.
He was envious that Yoo-hyun didn’t have to go to work until today.
He said that, but the food he prepared was quite nice.
Yoo-hyun laughed softly and picked up a spoon.
“That guy will get married and be loved.”
Thanks to that, the morning he started anew was quite solid.
He had some room now that he had finished a big job.
Yoo-hyun sat at a cafe and replied to each of the messages that had piled up.
He also finished contacting those he had postponed.
There were so many places to contact that it took quite some time to finish the work.
The next place Yoo-hyun headed to was Number One Gym.
He had some opportunities, but he couldn’t stop by because he was busy.
The gym people could have been disappointed.
That was why he brought boxes of red ginseng in both hands.
Creak.
The moment he opened the door and entered the gym,
People were sitting on the floor in a circle eating something.
It was not mealtime, so Yoo-hyun tilted his head.
Then, the gym owner raised his hand when he saw Yoo-hyun.
“Oh, did Yoo-hyun come?”
“Yes. Hello.”
Yoo-hyun greeted him and the gym owner nodded and resumed his chopstick work.
Everyone acted as if they were not surprised by Yoo-hyun’s arrival.
They treated him like someone they met yesterday.
It felt like this was typical of the gym, and Yoo-hyun smiled lightly and said,
“I’m back.”
“Yeah. Come and eat with us.”
The gym owner casually accepted his words, and Yoo-hyun put down the red ginseng boxes next to him.
The gym owner, who was a red ginseng maniac, saw that and said indifferently,
“Why did you buy this?”
“Just thought it would be good for everyone.”
“That’s nice too, but nothing beats rice.”
Then Yoo-hyun noticed familiar containers in his eyes.
They were side dish containers from his mother’s store.
There were huge containers stacked up next to them.
Kang Dong Sik, who was chewing on his mouth, said,
“We don’t eat delivery food anymore. It only makes us fat and ruins our stomachs.”
“That’s right. You have to take care of your diet if you want to exercise.”
Oh Jung-wook also chimed in, and Yoo-hyun asked curiously as he sat down next to them,
“Shouldn’t it be better without seasoning then?”
“No. It’s not tasty without it. It’s just right.”
“I see.”
Yoo-hyun nodded for now at the answer that seemed out of sync somehow.
Eating like this would make them gain weight no matter what.
It was the same principle as elephants maintaining their large size by eating only grass.
No wonder Oh Jung-wook’s belly looked bigger than before.
Yoo-hyun sent him a worried look when the gym owner gestured with his chin.
“If you’re not going to eat, warm up your body. Let me see how much your skills have dropped.”
“Yes. I understand.”
Yoo-hyun nodded and went to the dressing room to change his clothes.
Then, a man who came out of the dressing room brushed past Yoo-hyun.
He was short and had a gentle face, and he bowed his head to Yoo-hyun.
“Hello.”
“Hello.”
Yoo-hyun also bowed his head in response to the polite attitude of the man.
He seemed to be a new member.