Chapter 14: An Unexpected Visitor Under the Stars

Hearing my ambiguous reply, Jamie shook their head. They then pressed a cup of water firmly into my hand, urging me to drink it quickly and head home.

‘How meddlesome.’

I watched Jamie move away to greet a new customer, a thought forming in my mind. Had I been more inebriated, I might have voiced it, but I was still perfectly coherent.

Ignoring the water Jamie had given me, I placed the payment for my drinks on the table and exited the pub. Night had fallen imperceptibly, cloaking the sky in an inky blackness.

“Ugh, I’m exhausted.”

All I had managed to do that day was sit by the beach, devour a sandwich, and drink copiously at the pub, yet a profound weariness settled over me. Breathing in the night air, now decidedly chillier than the day’s, I made my way back to my lodging.

This village had a peculiar habit of shuttering all its establishments once night fell, leaving Jamie’s pub as the sole refuge for a drink. I regretted not having bought some alcohol in advance, anticipating this scarcity.

‘So many stars.’

Lifting my gaze, I found the sky studded with countless twinkling stars. It occurred to me that as Yoo Joon-hee, I had never possessed the leisure to simply admire the heavens.

My schedule often forced me to grab fleeting naps in the car; a leisurely moment to gaze at the sky was an unimaginable luxury.

‘What a peaceful existence.’

I paused for a moment, engrossed in the spectacle of the night sky, when tears abruptly began to stream down my face. Initially, I was oblivious to my weeping, mistaking the tickle on my cheek for an insect. It was only when I rubbed my skin that the surprising touch of transparent liquid registered.

“Oh…?”

As if wiping away the initial tears had triggered something, they continued to flow relentlessly afterward. My emotions remained perfectly serene, yet I found myself utterly bewildered as to why I was weeping.

‘Is the alcohol finally taking hold?’

People often exhibited peculiar behaviors when intoxicated, so a sudden outburst of tears seemed plausible. After all, having consumed ten glasses of alcohol, it was unrealistic to expect complete sobriety.

‘The effects must simply be delayed.’

As I nonchalantly wiped away the persistent tears, faint footsteps echoed from the distance. Lifting my wavering gaze, I discerned a human silhouette halted some way off.

The large suitcase they were pulling suggested they were a tourist. Assuming they might approach to ask for directions, I instinctively tried to compose my tear-streaked face.

Yet, the person remained motionless in that very spot.

‘What’s happening?’

The surroundings were eerily quiet, devoid of any passersby. A chilling realization struck me: this person might be the origin of the suspicious glances I’d felt over the past few days. I cautiously braced myself for flight.

I slowly retreated, and just as I was about to bolt towards the relative safety of the pub, the figure suddenly flung their suitcase aside and bellowed my name.

“Yoo Seo-jin!!!”

Hearing my name uttered by a stranger left me utterly flustered. As I faltered, the individual, having covered a considerable distance in a frantic sprint, arrived directly before me.

It was a familiar face, one I had undoubtedly seen before.

“You, why on earth, this time, too, without a word!”

His words fragmented, punctuated by ragged breaths. Even then, I found myself staring intently at his face, trying desperately to place him. In the haze of my alcohol-addled mind, a single name suddenly surfaced.

“Jae-hyun?”

My voice, as I uttered his name, was devoid of confidence. Receiving no immediate reply, I began to doubt myself, but then Jae-hyun, his face contorted in an expression of deep hurt, finally spoke.

“Damn it, you only remember me now?”

“Haha… Hello?”

My belated greeting was met with a chilling silence from Jae-hyun. He glared at me, his eyes brimming with resentment, before turning back to retrieve the abandoned suitcase. From a distance, he then cast a look in my direction, a silent command for me to follow.

****

Despite my reluctance, I had no choice but to follow Jae-hyun to the town square. I awkwardly settled onto a bench, and Jae-hyun, having propped his suitcase beside it, sat down next to me.

For several long minutes since arriving in the square, neither of us uttered a word. I, personally, had nothing to say, but Jae-hyun’s silence was utterly baffling.

‘Did he not come here specifically to find me?’

There was no other conceivable reason for Jae-hyun to travel all the way to this secluded rural village. The renowned resort town, after all, was in the neighboring district, not here.

If he had something to say, I wished he would just say it. Yet, Jae-hyun seemed disinclined to speak. As the night deepened, the air grew noticeably colder, making me fear I would catch a chill if we lingered much longer.

I couldn’t wait any longer.

“Hey—”

“I distinctly told you to inform me before you left.”

I was about to break the awkward silence myself, but Jae-hyun, with impeccable timing, began to speak. I shot him a quick, wary glance, then simply closed my mouth, awaiting his next words.

“It’s been half a year. A full six months without a single word of contact. Don’t you think that’s incredibly heartless? How could you not tell me, not even a single word, where you had gone?”

Had I truly had such a conversation with Jae-hyun? Honestly, I couldn’t recall. Even if I had remembered, I still wouldn’t have contacted him. After all, I had changed my phone entirely when I left.

Now, the only numbers stored in my contacts were those of my mother and Yoo Hae-jung. Jae-hyun’s number, naturally, wasn’t saved on my phone, which had long since devolved into little more than a digital clock I occasionally glanced at.

‘It’s probably best not to mention that.’

Yet, I couldn’t possibly be so candid with someone who was clearly hurt by my half-year of silence. My only recourse was a perfunctory apology, perhaps containing a gram of genuine regret.

“Are you really sorry?”

His words struck a nerve, and for a fleeting moment, my carefully constructed facade nearly crumbled. But I was an actor – or rather, I *had been* an actor. With a practiced ease, I fixed my gaze on Jae-hyun, my expression now thoroughly steeped in contrition.

“I’m sorry. I was just so out of it.”

“…It’s always the same excuse.”

“No, that’s not it. I truly left in such a desperate rush; I had no time to think. I’m so sorry, Jae-hyun.”

My repeated apologies seemed to soften Jae-hyun’s resolve; he offered no further recriminations. Assuming the discussion was concluded, I began to subtly eye an opportune moment to return to my lodging. However, Jae-hyun suddenly turned his head, fixing me with an unnerving stare.

“I felt it half a year ago, and I feel it now: you’re strangely unfamiliar.”

“Huh?”

“It’s like you’ve become a different person.”

Jae-hyun’s unforeseen words brought my thoughts to a screeching halt. My own family had remained oblivious until the very end, yet it seemed my impersonation of Yoo Seo-jin was flawed in Jae-hyun’s presence.

“No, forget it. What I just said sounded like utter nonsense.”

Before I could descend into deeper contemplation, Jae-hyun quickly dismissed his own statement. While it had passed for the moment, I knew that once suspicion took root, it would swiftly harden into certainty.

This incident merely provided another compelling reason to maintain my distance from Jae-hyun.

“Why are you looking at me like that?”

Even though the awkward conversation had concluded, Jae-hyun continued to regard me with an unsettling, scrutinizing gaze.

I tensed, anticipating further revelations, when Jae-hyun casually tapped the suitcase he had brought with him.

I stared intently, wondering what lay within, when Jae-hyun raised a hand, obstructing my view. He then cast a furtive glance around before mumbling in a low, almost inaudible voice.

“I have nowhere to sleep tonight.”

“…What?”

For a moment, I questioned if I had heard him correctly. Could he truly have traveled all this way just to see me, without even bothering to book accommodation?

I tried to fathom a reason for such an extreme measure, but Jae-hyun’s expression confirmed that I hadn’t misheard him after all.

This guy, I now suspected, hadn’t come to see me at all, but rather had run away from home in a fit of rebellion. That would explain why he’d arrived without bothering to arrange any lodging.

Just as my suspicions began to solidify into certainty, Jae-hyun brazenly drove the final nail.

“So, I need to crash here for a bit.”

I had harbored a faint hope, but it was true: Jae-hyun had arrived here to find me with absolutely no contingency plan. When I asked him what he would have done if he hadn’t found me, Jae-hyun simply beamed, declaring he’d planned to sleep rough.

‘What a thoughtless idiot.’

The words surged to my lips, but I swallowed them back. Jae-hyun, sensing the shift in my demeanor, quickly altered his strategy, beginning to plead for just a single night’s lodging.

“I can just wake up early tomorrow and find a place, right? So, just for tonight, please?”

While my inclination was to remain indifferent, allowing him to sleep on the streets or whatever he pleased, I found myself unable to cruelly reject someone who had traveled so far specifically to find me.

“Please, are you going to abandon your friend like this?”

“Friend, my foot.”

“Hey! Is friendship so trivial to you?”

Jae-hyun, shouting with a profound sense of injustice, dramatically flopped onto his back on the ground, throwing a tantrum and declaring he wouldn’t leave. He was behaving like a child demanding a new toy.

Ultimately, I conceded, agreeing to let Jae-hyun stay in my lodging for just one night. Immediately, Jae-hyun sprang to his feet as if his theatrics had never happened, thanked me, and lightly slapped my back. It stung.