Love - Chapter 3 Part 4

Instead of yelling, Jung-woo spoke softly, and in that moment, her determination to leave wavered. Clinging to her weak self, Eun-hye shook her head.

“Anyone can see it.”

When she hiccuped, Jung-woo let out a long breath and spoke slowly but clearly.

“I’m only living because of you. Even Sister Superior knows. How can you, the person involved, not?”

His gaze was unbearably tender. All the coldness from before had vanished like smoke. For a moment, she even imagined his voice trembling slightly.

“Because of you, I’m living like a decent human being. Because I have family. Because I’m not alone.”

“Then why do you always tell me to leave…?”

Thick tears of resentment plopped onto the new wallet.

“I’m sorry. I was wrong. Come here.”

“No!”

“I won’t say it again. No matter how much you upset me, I’ll never tell you to leave. I promise.”

Relief exploded inside her. Eun-hye fell into his open arms, crying messily.

“Were you really that scared?”

“Of course I was!”

“You really didn’t know I was just saying that to scare you?”

“I hate you… I really do…”

She wanted to hit him, but she couldn’t lay a finger on his injured body, so she just sobbed. The next room stayed silent.

“Done crying?”

After crying until her throat was dry, Eun-hye lifted her face from his chest. Seeing his black T-shirt soaked with her tears, she finally felt embarrassed. She tightly gripped the pretty, dainty wallet he had given her. Holding back her damp breaths, she spoke.

“Thank you, Oppa. It’s really pretty.”

“Save ‘thank you’ for strangers.”

“Then… what should I say?”

She was so grateful it hurt. When she asked what she was supposed to do, Jung-woo smiled through his swollen, misshapen face.

“Just smile at me and say you like it.”

Hearing that, Eun-hye had no choice but to grin widely, her eyes and lips red. She was definitely making the ugliest face in the world right then.

“Pretty. Our Eun-hye.”

Jung-woo gently stroked her head and smiled.

“So, so pretty.”

She thought there couldn’t possibly be a bigger fool for his sister in the world. With her stupid, tear-streaked face, Eun-hye grinned and blurted out:

“I love you, Oppa.”

It was still an innocent confession.

They left the goshiwon after three years.

“From now on, we live here.”

It was the day of Eun-hye’s high school graduation, after she had also received her college acceptance letter.

“Next time… it’ll be a better place. I promise.”

On the day they first opened the door to their new home, Jung-woo hesitantly added. Of course, Eun-hye, wide-eyed with wonder, didn’t even hear him.

A small but bright home filled with sunlight. A place where she no longer had to go outside to see Jung-woo. Standing in the worn-out doorway of the two-room house with a bathroom and kitchen, Eun-hye couldn’t move for a long time.

“Is this… really our home, Oppa? Just for the two of us?”

Jung-woo smiled shyly, the corners of his lips lifting.

“It’s just rented for now, but…”

“I love it…!”

She lunged at him like a puppy, and Jung-woo laughed softly as he caught her.

“You like it that much?”

“Yes…! Yes!”

Their belongings, loaded onto an old truck, amounted to just five or six boxes. The empty house had no furniture, but it felt like they had everything.

“Moving day means jajangmyeon, right?”

Sitting on newspaper-covered floors, Eun-hye grinned through tears, her face smeared with black bean sauce. Instead of saying thank you, she repeated the words he wanted to hear over and over.

“…I love it. I love it so much. It’s the best, Oppa. You too…? You like it too, right? Huh? Huh?”

Jung-woo wiped her lips and only smiled faintly in response.

What was he thinking at that moment?

Eun-hye lay on her bed, blinking silently in the dark. No sound came from the room next door, separated by just a wall. She wished she could at least hear Oppa’s breathing, but only stillness filled the air.

Click.

The sound of the next room’s door opening made her squeeze her eyes shut. The hum of the fridge paused briefly before resuming. Jung-woo had stepped out to drink water.

Though she strained to listen, of course, her door wouldn’t open at this hour. In the tiny slum room, barely bigger than a closet, they had once slept so close their shoulders and feet touched. But that was long ago.

As time passed, Jung-woo made sure she was acutely aware of her identity as a woman, even when they were alone. She knew all too well how dangerous this society could be for young girls.

Even after the incident that sent Jung-woo to prison, close calls still happened occasionally. She had long realized that placing her in an expensive women-only goshiwon was his way of protecting her.

Once, Eun-hye had asked Jung-woo about his dreams.

“…Walking you down the aisle?”

In other words, to him, she was like a daughter. His role was limited to protecting her until someone trustworthy came along.

In the darkness, Eun-hye swallowed dryly and smiled bitterly. Because his dream was so simple. And because she knew she could never fulfill it.

What woman in the world would let go of the best man’s hand to hold another’s?

Eun-hye pulled the blanket over her head. She didn’t know when it started, but by the time she realized it, her feelings had grown unbearably large.

A truth she could never speak aloud. Though she feared daily that Oppa might notice, her greed only grew, becoming harder to suppress.

In moments like this, she repeated to herself:
To Jung-woo, she was just someone he had to take responsibility for. He would undoubtedly cherish her like a sister for life. No—he would do things even blood relatives wouldn’t.

Over time, she came to understand the weight of the word “responsibility” to Jung-woo. Because he didn’t want to follow in his father’s footsteps, who had driven his family to their deaths. Because the wounds of failing to save his kind stepmother, despite witnessing her misery, only became visible later.

“If you trust me, I’ll take responsibility for you until the end. I promise.”

The gravity of those words was something her younger self could never have grasped.

Click.

The sound of Jung-woo returning to his room and closing the door echoed again. Eun-hye checked the time on her phone in the dark.

3 AM, when everyone was asleep. What thoughts ran through Oppa’s mind as he sat alone at the unlit table?

Was he calculating the month’s expenses, figuring out how much his labor could cover?

Was he agonizing over what else he needed to do for his money-draining little sister?

Was he bearing the weight of reality alone, unable to sleep?
How many sleepless nights had he endured until now? No—how many nights had he actually slept well?

Yet, if she had rubbed her eyes and stepped out earlier, Jung-woo would have hidden all his worries and asked in his usual indifferent tone:

“Can’t sleep? Want some warm tea?”

Eun-hye curled up like a shrimp, hugging her blanket. The Jung-woo who came home beaten to a pulp to buy her a birthday present had probably stepped into the ring again, taking punches for money.

During her exam periods. While she was on school trips. Every time they reunited after days apart, she had to pretend not to see the fresh scars on his face.

“Haa…”

It felt like a heavy stone was pressing on her chest. Jung-woo forbade her from even working part-time. “Spend that time getting good grades and certifications. That’s how you help me,” he said.

“Do you really think you’re… my parent or something…?”

Not even parents would go this far. Her biological father, who abandoned her right after her hidden mother died, was proof. Eun-hye pulled the blanket over her head and exhaled deeply. Though she knew better than anyone how to lighten Jung-woo’s burden, she couldn’t muster the courage.