A Child Who Resembles Me [EN]: Chapter 34

34. Hoping for Flower Rain Someday

Silence filled the space where the truth had swept through.

Jeong-o lowered her gaze, unable to look Ji-heon in the eye, and continued, “I’m sorry for lying. I thought that if I said he resembled my ex-boyfriend, it might make me seem like I was clinging to the director more, so I lied to create some distance.”

*Right*. It was something that would have come to light someday.

*This* humiliation. *This* feeling.

*It’s* miserable now, but it’s a one-time thing.

“It won’t happen again.”

Jeong-o bowed and left the office.

Eun-bi watched the door open and close after Jeong-o left, taking a slow, deep breath.

*Now*, Lee Jeong-o has been defeated.

Lee Jeong-o, the liar, has admitted that she is a liar, so Ji-heon will realize something.

What the end looks like when you get caught by a woman with nothing to lose.

“Brother, you were almost in big trouble. I told you, she stole something of mine before,” Eun-bi said, her voice now quite comfortable and relieved.

“What if you had trusted her without suspicion and she had laid her hands on your valuables?”

“Get out.”

If he were shocked, it would be normal to ask more about Lee Jeong-o.

Contrary to Eun-bi’s expectations, his answer shocked *her*.

Eun-bi looked up at Ji-heon.

Eyes that felt chillingly dry and cold were staring at her. They seemed to contain contempt for all existence.

“Don’t interfere in my affairs again.”

His voice was eerie. Her open mouth couldn’t form any words.

The large hands clenched tightly at his sides seemed as if they would come up and strangle her neck at any moment.

It was such a terrifying moment that the thought of leaving this place quickly came before the thought of getting his heart back. Eun-bi quickly left the office as if fleeing.

* * * * * * *

“Assistant Manager Lee, do you have anything special to do today?” As quitting time approached, Team Leader Seong Mi-ran asked Jeong-o.

“There’s nothing special. I have to go to the PT [Presentation] meeting during overtime.”

“No. Go home early today.”

“Yes? Aren’t we having a meeting?”

“It’s okay to miss it for a day. Just go.”

Mi-ran ordered her to leave work on time.

Mi-ran had noticed that Jeong-o’s expression had noticeably worsened after Eun-bi grabbed her wrist and went to Ji-heon’s office.

She could sense that something had happened today.

“Go quickly. Go and rest.”

“…Yes. Then I’ll leave early.”

Mi-ran gently pushed her toward the door, and Jeong-o left work early.

On the way to the restaurant, she bought Ye-na’s favorite ice cream.

“Mom, I’m here.”

“Mommy!”

“Oh my, who is this? What brings you home so early today?” When Jeong-o opened the door to the restaurant, Ye-na shouted and ran to her, and Guk-soon’s eyes widened in surprise, as if the sun had risen in the west.

“I just finished work early, so I came early.”

“Mom, what’s this?”

“Have you eaten?”

“Not yet. I’m hungry. Give me food.”

“Mom, what *is* this?” In the middle of Jeong-o and Guk-soon’s conversation, Ye-na kept asking, pointing to the ice cream bag in Jeong-o’s hand. The slyness of knowing it was ice cream and asking anyway was just like Jeong Ji-heon.

“I bought it for our Ye-na. Did Ye-na eat?”

“Yes! I ate, so I can eat ice cream, right?”

Ye-na almost snatched the bag from Jeong-o’s hand.

Guk-soon quickly prepared the meal. Even though it was for one person, the side dishes were plentiful.

Jeong-o took a large spoonful of rice and brought it to her mouth.

Guk-soon watched her and asked, “Did something bad happen?”

“How did you know?”

“A mother knows everything.”

A mother knows. She knows that her daughter eats a lot whenever she has a hard time or feels bad. Eating much more rice than side dishes meant that her daughter was not in a good mood.

“Mom, when I was in the first year of high school, there was a kid I really hated. I met her at work.”

“Why do you hate her? You should have gotten along well.”

“She’s originally a bad person. And she’s still not good.”

“…….”

“I had some friction with her today, and I’m so upset.”

Jeong-o grabbed the rice spoon, clenched her fist, and slammed it on the table.

“I’m going to give her a good beating.”

“…….”

“I won’t forget it! I’ll definitely get revenge!”

Jeong-o was burning with determination, but Guk-soon clicked her tongue next to her.

“How can someone with a child be so narrow-minded? Instead of getting rid of it all and getting along well…”

“Mom, don’t you know? People don’t change. If I get along with her, I’ll ruin my personality too. Once an enemy, always an enemy.”

“What enemy? Did she sell the country? You’re not a child. Do you still think you’re in the first year of high school?”

From Guk-soon’s point of view, she was worried about Jeong-o, and from Jeong-o’s point of view, she didn’t understand Guk-soon.

“Mom. Do you know what they call someone who understands and overlooks everything like you in this world? *Sweet potato*. They call you a sweet potato.”

“Sweet potatoes are so delicious. These days, you guys are full. In my day, we couldn’t eat sweet potatoes because we didn’t have them.”

“Oh, Mom, you’re showing your age again. Old person, old person.”

“You’re the only one in the world who calls me an old person.”

“I guess Mom only meets people her age.”

“Ugh. You don’t give in a single word. I wonder who you take after.”

It’s always like this.

Guk-soon sighed and turned her head.

*I want to be on your side, but I’m doing this because I’m worried that your work life will be difficult.*

She was about to say one more thing, but she stopped, believing that her daughter would take care of it.

Ye-na poked Guk-soon.

“Grandma. Grandma.”

“Huh?”

“Who did Mom take after? She took after Grandma.”

With ice cream smeared all over her mouth, Ye-na smiled brightly.

“Mom took after Grandma. And I took after Mom. Right?”

“Grandma can’t say anything because of our puppy [term of endearment for a cute child].”

Guk-soon smiled weakly because Ye-na was so cute.

* * * * * * *

After cleaning up the restaurant and coming home to put the child to bed early, Jeong-o made an excuse about an appointment and went outside.

She bought a bottle of soju [Korean distilled rice liquor] and a bag of chips and sat at the table in front of the convenience store.

It was a day when it was hard to face her mother. She felt like she was going to cry.

‘*What* your mother told our teacher when you were in the first year of high school. *Please take care of my daughter. She was born without knowing who her father was, but she has never caused her mother any trouble.*’

What Eun-bi said during the day was like a nail in her heart.

Perhaps when her mother quit the school cafeteria, she went to see her homeroom teacher, worried that it might harm her daughter.

‘*You* didn’t have to do that. Why make it hurt…’

Imagining her mother bowing her head because of her, her heart didn’t calm down even though it was all in the past.

Besides, to think that she would hear that tragic story in front of Jeong Ji-heon.

The shock was doubled.

*I wish I only felt sorry for my mother. It would be enough to hurt only from that.*

Why is my heart like this?

It shouldn’t matter anymore how Jeong Ji-heon sees her, whether he sees her as insignificant or pitiful.

It was unbearably humiliating to be in such a miserable state in front of Ji-heon.

Jeong-o poured soju into her aching stomach and wiped away her tears.

When she put down the soju glass and stared ahead with blurred eyes, she saw a man recognizing her and standing still.

Jeong-o also recognized the man.

They froze for a moment, pointing at each other with their fingertips.

She met the kind-looking police officer again who had escorted the lost Ye-na to the academy.

Was his name Officer Kwon Bae-il?

“Oh, hello, Officer. Are you on patrol?” Jeong-o wiped away her tears as best she could and greeted him.

“No. I’m on my way home from work.”

“I guess your house is around here.”

“Yes.”

As the conversation broke off, Bae-il asked first, perhaps feeling awkward, “But, are you here alone?”

It was a question of whether she was drinking alone. Jeong-o wiped her nose and answered with a grin, “Yes. It just happened that way.”

She smiled, but her eyes were still wet. Bae-il said seriously, “If you need any help, please contact the police at any time…”

“Ah, yes. I understand. Thank you.”

At that moment, tears fell from Jeong-o’s big eyes. Someone who didn’t know anything about her situation reached out to her with concern just by looking at her face, and her heart was moved.

“Please use this.” Bae-il, flustered, quickly took out a handkerchief from his pocket and handed it to Jeong-o.

“Ah, ah, I’m sorry. It’s not a big deal, but I had something bad happen at work.”

“…….”

“First of all, it’s too hard to face my mom. You know, there are days like that. Don’t you have them, Officer?”

“I don’t, but… I think I understand…”

As expected, he was a police officer, so he had good civil affairs counseling skills.

Bae-il’s kind appearance and the reassurance of being a police officer mixed with her turbid emotions, and Jeong-o’s tears fell even more.

Bae-il ended up sitting in front of Jeong-o.

“Ah, I’m really sorry. Police officers also have long-term unsolved cases. I also have a kind of long-term unsolved case…”

Jeong-o tilted her head up and blinked her eyes towards the sky to try to stop her tears.

The Seoul sky where you can’t see the stars.

She felt like such an idiot.

*I have a mom, and I have Ye-na.*

*This place where my family is is heaven, so I should be happy.*

Why am I leaning on alcohol and whining like a loser?

Because I met a reliable pillar of the people?

“Living seems to be suffering.”

Like opening a tightly closed faucet, words came out smoothly along with tears.

“If only suffering is piled on top of suffering, everything will collapse, but sometimes stars sparkle and flower rain falls on someone.”

But I can’t be a nuisance anymore, so I barely wiped away my tears and smiled softly.

“So I can’t give up.”

Waiting for that day, I’m holding on tightly to my blurry life.

It’s not just me.

There are so many amazing people in this painful world.

I respect the people who wipe away their tears now to see the moment when flower rain falls.

So I’ll overcome it too. I can overcome it.

I’m going to see my star sparkling someday.

* * * * * * *

Even though Eun-bi had humiliated Lee Jeong-o and separated her from Ji-heon, her anxiety did not go away.

The look in Ji-heon’s eyes as he looked at her. She couldn’t forget that shocking moment.

It was all because of Lee Jeong-o. She felt like she was going crazy with anxiety, thinking that Lee Jeong-o had ruined Jeong Ji-heon.

After work, Eun-bi went straight to Ji-heon’s main house, the house of Mrs. Jang Young-mi.

She felt like she would get further away from Ji-heon if she didn’t do anything. She had to do something.

It was a late-night visit, but Young-mi welcomed Eun-bi like family.

“Eun-bi! Welcome!”

“Mother, how have you been!”

Young-mi held Eun-bi’s hands with both hands and shook them happily.

“You seem to be getting younger!”

“Oh, my, how can I get younger? Eun-bi is getting prettier and prettier. You’re blooming like a flower.”

Eun-bi smiled like a flower at Young-mi’s compliments, who liked her.

“You’ve been doing well too, right?”

“Yes. But there’s a lot of work.”

“Are you having a hard time again because you’re taking on all the difficult tasks without being resourceful? You’re in the same division as Ji-heon, so ask him to take care of you.”

“It’s okay, Mother.”

Someday, when she told her that she was taking on many important tasks within the team, it came back with such a good reaction. It was rewarding to tell Young-mi something.

It would have been nice if Jeong Ji-heon was even half as kind as her.

“How is it seeing Ji-heon’s face every day?”

“It’s good. It’s good just to see him. But Mother, actually, we’re so busy that we don’t even have time to run into each other. I thought that if I worked at the same company as Brother, I would see him more often and eat together a lot.”

Eun-bi said in a thin voice as if she were acting spoiled.

“Besides, you know Brother’s personality. I think he keeps more distance because we’re in a special relationship. I guess he’s worried about interfering with work. He’s very cold.”

“Ji-heon is the same to me. He doesn’t smile at all. He can be so wooden.”

“I have to understand, I guess.”

“Yes. But because you have a big heart… Because you’re there, he went to the advertising company. Of course, Seung-gyu is there too. He went to the division you’re in all because he was thinking of you. So you understand him.”

“Do you really think so?”

“Of course! What else could it be?”

Eun-bi’s dark heart was washed away by Young-mi’s kind comfort.

*That’s right. Jeong Ji-heon came to our division thinking of me.*

Thinking that way, she felt energized.

“Eun-bi, then shall I go on a date with you instead? I should buy our Eun-bi delicious food and clothes. Shall we go shopping?”

“Then Mother, how about this weekend? Sunday.”

“Okay. Let’s do it! I think I had a schedule, but I have to make time for our Eun-bi.”

Eun-bi’s eyes, moved to tears, were glistening.

“You’re more like my mom.”

Young-mi was impressed by the way she conveyed her feelings with eyes that looked like they would shed tears at any moment.

“I wouldn’t want anything more if I had a daughter like our Eun-bi! Get married soon. I wouldn’t want anything more if a granddaughter who looks like our Eun-bi was born.”

“Wouldn’t you like a grandson who looks like Brother more?”

“Oh, you say pretty things. I like both, both!”

Hehehe.

*Someday*. Yes. *Someday*.

Jeong Ji-heon and my child will be born. I have to cheer up thinking about that time.

I’m the one who will take Jeong Ji-heon.