Chapter 30: The Things He Never Threw Away

“…”

It had been far too long since Go Yi-jae had seen food made by Chae Ju-han.

And of all things, it was the sandwich they had shared the very first time they ate together, a whole wheat sandwich stuffed with mashed eggs, cheese, and romaine lettuce.

She had never imagined she’d return to his house, let alone see Chae Ju-han’s signature egg sandwich again.

“You’re staring at it like it’s a memorial offering.”

“…”

“What? Is it bad? Even if it’s been a while, my skills can’t have deteriorated that much.”

Chae Ju-han took a huge bite of his sandwich. He still had the same habit of biting off one corner first. And he still managed to eat half a sandwich in a single mouthful.

The fact that he seemed unchanged from back then made something ache deep inside her. It felt as though the past five years had vanished in the blink of an eye, as though they had simply continued living like this ever since.

Feeling her fingertips grow cold, Yi-jae took a bite of the sandwich. She tasted cream cheese, and then, beneath it, strawberry jam.

It tasted exactly the same.

It was delicious. Truly delicious. And for some strange reason, she felt like crying.

It felt like eating a home-cooked meal for the first time in ages.

She couldn’t remember the taste of the meals her mother had made before she died when Yi-jae was young, yet this place, where she’d lived for less than a year, felt more like home.

It made no sense.

She had spent far longer in the orphanage, but she’d always felt as though its cold floors were pushing her away.

Whenever her feet got cold, she’d pull them onto her chair and wrap her hands around them. Every winter, she’d curl herself up like a pill bug, always ready to be shoved aside and cast out at a moment’s notice.

But she’d never curled in on herself in this house.

The heating had been so warm she’d needed to wear short sleeves even in winter, and she’d complained to Ajusshi every day that it was too hot.

Whenever she walked across the heated floor, she’d stretch out her toes, as though trying to press warmth into every space that had once been numb with cold.

Even now, she could feel warmth through her slippers.

A cozy house. Warm milk. Delicious sandwiches.

Like some day during the spring long ago, Yi-jae took another bite.

“It’s good.”

“I know.”

The confidence on Chae Ju-han’s face made him look like someone who truly knew everything.

Like he even knew the things she herself didn’t know.

And so she said something she shouldn’t have.

“I like this. Did you know that?”

Egg sandwiches were what he was most confident making, so naturally she’d eaten them the most. But to Yi-jae, what she loved most were the eggs he boiled.

Even after losing their original form, they still carried a savory richness that lingered on her tongue.

She’d always loved eating his sandwiches.

More than that, after that first time, he’d sat at the table with her every time it was sandwich day.

“This is the only thing I know how to make.”

No.

She could name more than twenty dishes he knew how to cook.

But if they were pretending they had no past together, there was nothing she could say.

“Really? You seem like you’d be good at cooking.”

“Maybe.”

“You probably are. Try making something else sometime.”

“Maybe.”

“…Fine.”

Yi-jae chewed her sandwich roughly.

The bread, which had seemed soft moments ago, suddenly felt dry and heavy.

“Slow down.”

Chae Ju-han had already finished eating and was watching her.

He pushed a glass of milk toward her, so she drank it. A drop of milk clinging to the rim spilled onto her shirt. The coldness against her chest made her shoulders tense.

She wiped at it with the back of her hand, but the milk soaked into the fabric faster than she could clean it.

She was wearing his shirt.

Nothing else.

Just his shirt.

That was why she knew exactly where Chae Ju-han’s gaze had been fixed from the beginning.

Even before he’d looked at her, the outline of her nipples had already been visible through the fabric.

And after she caught him looking, they seemed even more obvious.

The damp white shirt clung to her in a way that felt far too suggestive.

“Stop staring.”

“You stood there asking to be looked at.”

“No, I didn’t.”

“You always say no.”

“Do you have any orange juice?”

“Changing the subject again.”

Pretending not to hear him, Yi-jae took another drink of milk.

Then she briskly wiped her lips with the back of her hand.

But something about the look in Chae Ju-han’s eyes changed.

She glanced downward and realized that every time she wiped her mouth, her chest moved beneath the shirt.

She narrowed her eyes and glared at him, but Chae Ju-han deliberately spilled water onto the table.

Because she had been leaning forward, the front of her shirt became soaked, turning nearly transparent.

“You look good in that.”

“Hey!”

Yi-jae jumped to her feet, but the shirt only clung tighter to her body.

Water dripped down her legs, and the hem of the shirt tangled between them.

She saw Chae Ju-han openly licking his lips.

She had absolutely no intention of giving in.

“Give me my clothes.”

Her slippers were soaked, so she stood barefoot.

She didn’t shrink away from the way his gaze traveled slowly up her legs.

She splashed through the puddled water with her bare feet and urged him again.

“Hurry.”

Chae Ju-han rose slowly.

He wasn’t in any rush at all.

If anything, he looked as though he wanted to keep admiring her.

He stared down at her with something like wonder before letting out a small laugh.

“What should I do?”

As his large body approached, she suddenly felt the heat radiating from him.

Chae Ju-han removed his robe and draped it over her shoulders.

Even though she was still wearing the soaked shirt underneath, the warmth of his body drove away the chill.

“You came exactly like this.”

“What?”

“Wrapped in a robe.”

“…You don’t have my clothes?”

“Something like that.”

Chae Ju-han shrugged shamelessly.

Her mouth fell open.

How could someone bring another person here without giving them anything to wear?

Then again, he was the kind of person who walked around in just a robe himself, so maybe she shouldn’t have expected much.

Still, this was too much.

Frowning deeply, Yi-jae glanced toward what had once been her room.

Chae Ju-han had blocked her from opening it earlier, but surely her things were still there.

Even the kitchen still bore traces of her.

The rabbit-shaped mug sitting in the dish rack had been hers.

What was strange was that Chae Ju-han only used things that had belonged to him originally.

He never touched anything that had entered the house after she’d moved in.

If he wasn’t going to use them, he could have thrown them away.

But he didn’t.

He looked at all of those things and pretended not to see them.

So she was certain her belongings were still in her room.

Just because she’d arrived here with nothing didn’t mean she had to leave with nothing.

Yi-jae considered whether she should find a way to shake Chae Ju-han off or simply wait until he went out.

“But you’re staying here anyway.”

The statement was absurd.

No matter how much this place felt like her hometown, like home, it wasn’t anymore.

How could it be her home when Chae Ju-han was someone different now?

Of course, she knew that wasn’t what he meant.

“Why would I?”

“The flower shop’s boiler broke.”

That was the reason she’d come here in such a hurry.

****

“It’s the end of the year, so we can’t come immediately. We’ll be there in three days.”

Yi-jae frowned as she checked the calendar.

“…Then that’s next week.”

“Yes. If it was urgent, you should’ve called earlier. We process requests in order.”

How was she supposed to call before something broke?

Anyway, the repairman sounded like he’d already dealt with too many complaints, so she simply said she understood and hung up.

“Haa…”

The shop was freezing.

Even with the space heater running, it refused to warm up.

The tiny back room was practically a freezer.

She concluded that she’d need somewhere else to stay for a while.

But going to Chae Ju-han’s house was a completely different issue.

The biggest problem was that room.

The door lock was still attached to Go Yi-jae’s old room.

If he hadn’t thrown away even a single pen, then her door code was probably still the same six-digit number she’d set years ago.

But what irritated her most was the nickname.

“‘Princess’?”

Someone who had never even lived in that house had pretended to be her.

What was there to gain from that?

What benefit was there in pretending to have lived with Chae Ju-han?

And besides, although they’d lived together for about a year, they hadn’t had a special relationship.

At least, not the kind of special relationship Yi-jae had wanted.

There had always been dancers in short skirts surrounding Ajusshi.

Of course, that was unavoidable when he owned a club.

A stage needed dancers.

Even so, he’d never brought anyone home.

Whatever happened outside the house was one thing, but inside, there had only ever been Yi-jae.

She had never once found another woman’s underwear there.

That much she knew for certain.

Every woman’s belonging in that house belonged to Go Yi-jae.

“Go Yi-jae, there’s nothing in that room worth stealing.”

The memory of that cold, sharp voice surged through her mind.

And suddenly, heat flared in her chest.

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