The atmosphere quickly turned around. So-young’s expression, which was puzzling, also changed rapidly. People showed interest by paying full attention to the deputy who brought it up.
……Everyone knew.
Instead of asking what picture it was, So-young belatedly realized that, looking at the shocked people. The heartbeat, which had calmed down a little, twisted hard again.
“What? I want to see.”
“I want to see it, too.”
“Show me, too.”
Soyoung swears that she did not want to be swept away by this atmosphere. She wanted everything to be confirmed through the party involved, Taekyung. She didn’t want to make any hasty decisions.
She did…… I couldn’t stop my eyes from heading to the glass screen.
And Taekyung was clearly reflected on the glass screen.
While holding a small child, who must have been around three or four years old, in one arm, with a slender, tall woman.
It was a place that looked like a department store food hall. Taekyung was holding the child in his arms in a comfortable outfit as if he had come out of the house, and next to him was a woman armed with sunglasses and masks, wearing a ball cap tightly. The woman’s face was completely covered, but the three people’s atmosphere strangely resembled each other.
The moment she realized that, So-young felt a sense of floating as if falling from a high sky. The sight that she couldn’t believe with her eyes was a reality, and a dark vacuum wrapped around her whole body.
People rushed to open their mouths with a hint of excitement.
“When was this? Is it just now?”
“Yes, just now. CH Department Store Trade Center Branch. Didn’t you say the team leader’s house is Dogok-dong?”
“That’s what I heard. Then… I guess the rumor was real.”
“I know that lady is pretty, even though she covered her face. And the child…….”
People exchanged their eyes with each other and opened their mouths almost simultaneously.
“They look alike.”
“Alike.”
The little boy, who looked like a Russian doll, was a very lovable boy, and even looked a lot like Taekyung in the blurry picture. The child was clasped in his Taekyung’s arms and biting his tiny fingers.
“Are you sure it’s true? I can’t believe it.”
Soyoung, who was lost in her mind, turned her head to someone’s question. But before she could have proper hope, the deputy, who had received her picture, looked into her conversation and frowned.
So-young closed her eyes to faint dizziness. She felt like she was wandering through a terrible nightmare.
A series of processes that eventually led to a relationship after sleeping with Taekyung, receiving a confession, and being like a lover crossed her mind like a flashlight.
Now she’s really ready to give her whole heart to Taekyung, but she didn’t know why this happened at the moment she finished her last resolution. She tried to not think so much but it wouldn’t work.
It was the first time she felt the attractiveness for the opposite sex, and in the end, she fell in love with him. Taekyung made it that way. He blocked So-young’s escape because she was afraid of falling in love, and he approached her like someone who didn’t know about giving up, and in the end shaken her heart.
So-young didn’t know how to accept this fact that he was a father with a child. It even felt like she was dismantling from head to toe and collapsing.
“Wow… I heard it’s a mess, but having kids is a really different class.”
At the sound of someone sticking out his tongue, Manager Joo wrapped around Taekyung in a tone that seemed to stand firm.
“No one knows what’s going on between men and women. Do you think there must have been a reason? Even if the rumor is true, it means that he will take responsibility now if he goes around like that openly.”
“Is that so? Then she’s going to be the wife of the CH group, right?”
“I know. Will they have a wedding in this situation?
Words that people were talking about with little thought dug into So-young’s heart like a blade. It was so painful that she wanted to cover her ears.
From some point on, her hands were shaking thinly. So-young held both hands tightly, but eventually couldn’t withstand the tremors spreading all over her body and held up a drink. Even though the glass was emptied at once, the burning heart did not get any better. She drank several cups in a row, like a person suffering from exhaustion.
“Oh, assistant manager. You’re suddenly drinking a lot. Are you okay?”
The man sitting next to So-young asked a question of concern. She nodded, making a smiling face.
“Sometimes I want to drink. Today is… that kind of day.”
Fortunately, the voice came out intact.
She had to drink at least. Otherwise, she thought she would call Taekyung right away and ask him.
But she was too afraid to do that. For fear that she would hear an apology as if Taekyung was in trouble, fear that their love affair would end like such a third-rate drama, fear that they would sink into despair as they embrace the love that has just grown…
It was better to drink and get drunk.
Even if it is only a temporary measure to safely pass the day.
So-young emptied the glass-filled liquor again. Soju, which was usually laborious, didn’t feel bitter at all now. She grabbed the empty cup tightly like a man afraid to think.