“Kwon Chae-woo, won’t it be better for you to take a break today?” Lee-yeon looked at Kwon Chae-woo in neat slacks and a round t-shirt. He looked like a college student in those clothes.
“Are you worried I might cause trouble?” he asked.
“No, it’s not like that…,” Lee-yeon said hurriedly. He’s like a completely different person!
His messy hair, which had been left untouched for two years, was neatly cut and his bangs fell to his forehead. As a result, his facial features stood out even more. The man, loyally looking at her from under the sun, looked different from the murderer in her memory.
Suddenly, the glistening raincoat he was wearing on top of the beige-tone top flashed through her mind. The thought made her feel uncomfortable.
“I can go alone,” said Lee-yeon pulling her straw down to cover her face from the sun.
All this happened because of Choo-ja. Kwon Chae-woo had nothing to wear other than the patient’s clothes until Choo-ja completely transformed him by buying him new clothes and giving him a haircut.
Lee-yeon, who was thinking about hiding his shoes, laughed at herself. She was acting like the woodcutter from the fairytale, where the woodcutter becomes anxious of the fairy wearing her winged clothes.
Lee-yeon had no intention of letting Kwon Chae-woo go out. She didn’t want her lies to spread. If that happened, then God knows how many times she has to come up with new lies to cover up her original lie. Her deceiving Kwon Chae-woo was already making her guilty and shortening her lifespan.
She wanted him to stay inside and focus on his rehabilitation, but the fact was that his recovery rate was already excellent. What excuse should I use to not let him follow me?
“Lee-yeon, are you seriously going out like that?” Choo-ja looked at Lee-yeon’s attire doubtfully. White sneakers soaked in dirt, gray suit too big for her, and a worn-out straw hat. “Where’s our hospital’s pride?”
“It’s here,” said Lee-yeaon proudly, holding out the file that contained the treatment log. Although she looked shabby and worked at an even shabbier hospital didn’t mean she wasn’t competent at her job. No one tree had died under her care. That was her pride.
“Because you’re like this, you have to take him with you.” Choo-ja glanced at the man behind her. “From now on, think of him as the face of our hospital. If you take a man like him with you, all the ladies will be impressed. Who knows, our services might be sought after even more if the people think flowers will bloom for them too!”
“What are you even talking about?!”
Lee-yeon’s eyes fluttered and she blushed. She awkwardly pretended to tidy her clothes. Today was the day of bidding briefing session for Beautiful Hwaido promoted by Hwayang City, the Korean Forest Service, and the city park office. All the officials from the three sectors would be there.
“Kwon Chae-woo,” Lee-yeon put her hand on her waist and took a deep breath. Lee-yeon was looking at the floor, hesitating to speak. She then raised her head and faced him. “It’s… dangerous outside.”
Choo-ja had a what-nonsense-is-this expression on her face.
“Especially for you, Kwon Chae-woo,” said Lee-yeon.
“Why?”
Because if you’re exposed to strong external stimuli, you may retrieve your memory. She didn’t say that out loud. Kwon Chae-woo waited silently because he could see that she was trying to come up with a rational explanation.
“Lee-yeon, are you hiding something from me?” he suddenly asked.
“No!” she said hurriedly. A strange expression flashed across Kwon Chae-woo’s face. Lee-yeon realized that this minor crack needed to be remedied quickly.
“It’s because you’re too handsome!” she blurted out without knowing what to say. “The place I’m heading to is full of old men. A young and kind man like you will never know how scary an old man’s jealousy can be.” Lee-yeon wiped her sweat as if she had completed a big mission.
“Am I so pretty that you want to hide me?”
“What?”
Kwon Chae-woo fiddled with his ear with a strange expression on his face. It was hard to tell whether he was smiling or frowning. He pulled and folded his earlobe so hard that his skin turned red. “Am I pretty in your eyes?”
“Um…” Flustered, she murmured, not knowing what to say. After a short moment of silence, Lee-yeon decided to convey her intention as vaguely as possible.
“I just want you to stay at home.”
“Is it because you don’t want others to see me?”
“Ah…,” the more she avoided the question, the more she kept getting stuck. Lee-yeon looked at Choo-ja pleadingly for some help. But Choo-ja was busy giggling at a distance enjoying Lee-yeon’s predicament.
She had no choice. She needed to convince him, appease him and persuade him somehow to make him stay in the house.
“We, we are newlyweds. Considering that your time had stopped due to an accident, we are still newlyweds. So, of course… I want to be the only one who sees you…”
Kwon Chae-woo smiled softly as though he liked that answer. “Then you can’t go out too.”
“What?”
“Because I don’t want to be apart from you even for a minute.” Lee-yeon was trying to find a convincing retort. “I will stay quiet,” he continued, “Just think of me as your favorite flowerpot and take me with you.”
Lee-yeon tried not to flinch at his sharp gaze. Unlike his gentle tone of voice, his eyes looked tenacious and passionate. If she refused, he would get suspicious of her trying to isolate him from the outside world. She tried one last time to use honeyed words to try and convince him.
“Are you sure? You’re still a patient. I know that your recovery speed is excellent but to be honest with you, I don’t want to bring you to a such complicated place, especially when you have no memory.”
Her soft cheek, which seemed like it was going to melt by his touch, moved lovingly every time she spoke. Ignoring his intense gaze, she continued.