A Child Who Resembles Me [EN]: Chapter 37

37. The Most Precious and Best Memory

Startled.

Jeong-o also reacted belatedly.

She was captivated by his smile, which was exactly like the one he had given her seven years ago.

Ji-heon immediately withdrew his hand when he noticed her discomfort.

The restaurant interior felt warmer.

She shouldn’t have brought up her ex-boyfriend.

Fearing she might make another slip of the tongue, Jeong-o quickly changed the subject.

Straight to the point of today’s meeting.

“I’ve told you my story, so please tell me yours, Director.”

“……”

“I heard you were in a car accident a few years ago.”

She carefully broached the topic. Ji-heon, slightly surprised that she knew about his accident, responded with a look.

“Seven years ago.”

“Were you badly hurt?”

“I was hurt quite badly, but I’m all healed now.”

“I heard you… lost your memory.”

A bold question, not easily asked even among close friends.

Jeong-o nervously watched Ji-heon, worried he might take offense.

Jeong-o swallowed hard as Ji-heon’s eyes narrowed.

But strangely, his gaze seemed to hold a hint of amusement. He seemed intrigued by her questioning.

“You know a lot about me?”

“……News, there were news articles.”

Jeong-o stammered at his question.

“My name wouldn’t be in any news articles.”

“……”

“Did you go out of your way to look it up because you were curious?”

“No! The team leader told me!”

Oops… that was supposed to be a secret.

Jeong-o immediately grimaced and lowered her head. He had cornered her, and in her excitement, she had blurted out something she shouldn’t have.

She clasped her hands together and pleaded in a pitiful voice, still not raising her head.

“……Please pretend you didn’t hear anything about the team leader……”

Ji-heon found everything about her amusing.

In any case, it was his own car accident, and he was intrigued that she was so genuinely interested in it. Also, he found it funny how easily she became flustered when he questioned her back.

He might tease her again if he wasn’t careful.

If she didn’t pull herself together, she might make the same mistake as before.

Ji-heon clenched his fist under the table and gave her the answer she was curious about.

“I lost some memories, and they say my personality changed a bit too.”

“……How much memory did you lose?”

“From twenty-four to twenty-six, so about three years, I guess.”

“…….”

“You don’t need to look at me like that. It must have been useless memories anyway.”

He turned his head slightly, feeling uncomfortable with her gaze.

He welcomed her interest, but he didn’t want her to look at him with pity. He didn’t want to be pitied by her.

“It was probably mostly military memories, and even if it wasn’t, my life was more boring than Lee Jeong-o could ever imagine, so there was nothing worth remembering.”

“You don’t know that.”

He had lightly brushed it off to erase her pity, but she immediately retorted.

Her expression was quite stern and serious, so Ji-heon pursed his lips.

“You don’t even know what you’ve forgotten, so how do you know if it was unnecessary?”

It almost sounded like she was arguing.

Her argument seemed plausible, so Ji-heon also became pensive.

After a long silence, she asked again.

“Have you tried to remember? You might owe someone money, you know.”

“If I was owed money, they would have come looking for me.”

“Maybe the director lent someone money.”

“That’s unavoidable. I can’t argue about it now.”

Whether he had borrowed money or lent money, it was all his business, but Ji-heon couldn’t understand why she looked like she was the one who hadn’t been repaid.

Before they knew it, time had flown by, and it was well past 7 PM.

“Let’s get up now. If we leave now, the timing should be about right.”

Ji-heon said, standing up first.

As Ji-heon’s back receded into the distance, Jeong-o thumped her chest.

‘That man has no will to regain his memory!’

In any case, she had gained some information about him.

He was calmly accepting the fact that he had lost his memory. He firmly believed that there was nothing special about it.

And she could also infer that there was no one around him trying to help him recover his memory.

No, perhaps someone was preventing him from remembering.

Jeong-o recalled the day she met his mother.

It was a brief encounter, but Jeong-o clearly felt that his mother hated her terribly.

‘Does she think the accident was my fault?’

So, did she deliberately try to erase his memories even more? To prevent him from meeting me again?

Her mind was confused, but today’s conversation had given her momentum.

She needed to find out about his mother.

Let’s try somehow.

Jeong-o left the building, burning with determination.

A season approaching summer.

As the sun set, the hot daytime breeze became slightly cooler. Roses decorating the building’s exterior wall couldn’t withstand the wind and dropped their petals at Jeong-o’s feet.

Jeong-o unconsciously bent down and picked up a petal.

The vibrant red petal, full of life, resembled Yena’s plump lips.

She remembered a day in late autumn she had spent with her child.

‘Jeong Ji-heon, that was the day our child learned about seasons at daycare.’

“Mommy. This is autumn. Autumn fell down.”

Yena pointed to a fallen leaf on the ground and said that autumn had fallen.

A single fallen leaf was the season of autumn.

She couldn’t share that beautiful moment with him.

Someday, she cried while looking at flowers that had bloomed, forgetting the season.

At that time, the seasons that never seemed to pass were easily flipped over by a single leaf that her child had discovered.

Would she ever be able to tell him all of this?

She heard Ji-heon coming down the stairs.

Jeong-o deliberately smiled.

‘Jeong Ji-heon, you have to remember on your own.’

‘I can’t push you. He might think I’m being clingy.’

‘But if you come closer, I’ll go that far too.’

‘So please try. Please don’t give up.’

‘Hang in there. Jeong Ji-heon.’

While Ji-heon was paying, Jeong-o, who had been standing facing the building wall, turned around when she heard his footsteps.

It felt like she, who had been expressionless, smiled as she turned around. Ji-heon knew it was a refined smile, but that didn’t mean it wasn’t pretty.

“Thank you for the meal, Director.”

“Yes, you’re welcome.”

Ji-heon nodded.

It was a quite satisfactory meal for Ji-heon. He was relieved that she seemed unexpectedly cheerful, as he had thought she might have been hurt by yesterday’s events, and he didn’t dislike that she was interested in his affairs.

Jeong-o took out her phone and said.

“I’ll look up the way to the tasting venue.”

And she tentatively added another thought for the day.

“And Director, I hope you find your memories.”

“……”

“It couldn’t have been useless memories. I believe it wasn’t.”

Ji-heon’s eyes widened.

Comfort and support had come in an unexpected form.

“The most precious and best memories might be hidden deep where no one can find them. Like a time capsule.”

“……”

“Because they’re so precious. To keep them from getting hurt.”

Her voice flowed on the night breeze and caressed his head.

He felt his eyes getting hot.

He sometimes thought.

He, who was treated as a cold-blooded person by everyone, probably didn’t have anything like that, but still, maybe.

Maybe he had something precious, just one thing.

His mother had said that he had forgotten unimportant memories and that he shouldn’t be tied to the past, but still, still maybe.

Maybe. Just one.

It was just something he had imagined and never told anyone. He never thought he would hear that secret story through someone else’s mouth. Especially from Lee Jeong-o.

His feet moved quickly.

It was the moment when she was peering into her phone, trying to figure out the direction of the tasting venue.

Her feet, having found their bearings, moved to the side.

“Director, this way……”

Thump.

The place where she took a step and landed was in his arms.

He caught her as she bumped her head against his chest.

His hand, moving without him realizing it, cupped her face.

Even though he was holding her, he had the illusion that she was pulling him in. He lowered his head in a determined direction.

He might have known it for a long time.

That someday this would happen.

Jeong-o was engrossed in finding directions on her phone when she bumped her head into his chest.

It was because she had given him presumptuous encouragement and was deeply bowing her head out of embarrassment.

He caught her, and her swaying body quickly steadied, but…….

He suddenly cupped her face.

His hands, which fixed her head as if he wanted her to look at him, felt a strong will.

‘No, no, you old man. It’s not that I came to hug you…….’

She also realized that something was wrong, but for some reason, she couldn’t move rashly.

Thump, thump, thump…… Only her heart was doing its job properly.

‘No way…….’

It had been seven years.

She was surprised that she still remembered his touch.

She was even more surprised that he was caressing her in the same way.

Her body remembered that if she twisted away here, he would get even more excited.

Maybe this man hadn’t changed at all, not even a little?

It was the same as seven years ago.

The unchanging agility. The gently seductive yet too strong to resist touch.

Even the habit of tickling her chin with his fingertips.

He was looking at her with the same lustful gaze from seven years ago, interpreting every word and action as suggestive, or rather, deliberately making every situation suggestive as if he wanted to do such things.

A jolt of electricity ran through her head. As he lowered his head, a dizzying heat rushed in.

In an instant, she firmly thrust her palm forward.

Smack!

Jeong-o’s palm, stably landing on his face, pushed him away firmly.

‘Jeong Ji-heon, you rascal!’

She snapped out of it and anger surged.

Jeong-o didn’t stop there and pushed the pushed-away him again.

He staggered backward and sat down on the stairs, letting out a shallow groan, “Ugh.”

Jeong-o huffed.

“What are you doing right now!”

Since their lips hadn’t touched, he could just deny it.

If it were someone experiencing it for the first time, they might think that he had lost his balance while trying to support her as she swayed.

But I know. I know. I know…….

She knew. This man’s true colors, his habits, his agility.

Jeong-o glared and demanded.

“Did you do wrong, or did you not?”

She spoke in the same tone she used with Yena, as if he were someone who couldn’t understand.

“Answer me. Did you do wrong? Or did you not?”

She thought he might deny it, saying she was framing him, but he didn’t. He just covered his chin and lips, which she had hit, and said nothing.

“I’ll say one thing for the sake of your life, Director.”

“……”

“You can’t do that to anyone, anywhere. You’re a man who’s about to get married! Huh? Huh? Cough!”

Cough, cough, cough, cough.

She was so excited that she pointed and scolded him, and then she swallowed a mouthful of stale air. The air scratched her throat, and Jeong-o couldn’t argue any further and bent over, coughing.

At the same time, Ji-heon’s eyebrows furrowed.

“……Who’s getting married?”