A Child Who Resembles Me [EN]: Chapter 52

The owner of ‘The Crown’ restaurant took a photo from the wall and approached Jiheon.

“Do you see this? This is you right here. And this person next to you is the woman you brought. Remember?”

Jiheon frowned, examining the photo carefully.

The photo the owner showed was a photo within a photo—another photo taken with Jiheon’s photo as the background.

“Oh! It really looks like you, Director! Amazing,” Deputy Manager Park Young-gwang confirmed.

Jiheon’s face was small and barely recognizable. It was a photo of him with short hair, taken not long after his discharge from the military, smiling broadly. He was with an unknown woman.

Jiheon’s face was clear, but the woman’s face next to him was farther away and slightly out of focus, making it blurry.

His chest fluttered, and his head throbbed.

All that could be confirmed about the woman was a sky-blue T-shirt with a cartoon character on it and long, straight hair.

Jiheon asked the owner for permission and saved the photo to his phone.

Even seeing it with his own eyes, he found it hard to believe.

*Did I really have a girlfriend?*

*Or maybe I just don’t want to believe it?*

*Is that why my body is refusing to regain my memory? Because I’ve already set my heart on Lee Jung-oh?*

Even in the midst of this confusion, he thought of Jung-oh.

Seeing Jung-oh made his chest ache, a feeling that seemed to have started after he found out she had a child.

*If you have a child and I had a girlfriend, does that make our situations a little similar? Does that mean I don’t need to resent you either?*

There was no need to delay any longer.

* * * * * * *

In the end, Jung-oh couldn’t go into the restaurant and ate alone.

“It would have been fun if Assistant Manager Lee had come too. I confirmed Director’s traces there. Director took a photo at that restaurant seven years ago. The restaurant owner remembered it, but the photo disappeared,” Young-gwang shared his impressions of visiting the restaurant.

Jung-oh was surprised. “The owner remembers? Something from seven years ago?”

“Yeah, Mr. Jung [a common Korean surname]. He even remembered the name. He said people loved it when they put up the photo because our director is so handsome. Our director’s looks are internationally appealing.”

“……”

“But Director doesn’t remember. Amnesia or something? So he can’t remember anything. It’s a shame.”

Jung-oh secretly sighed. Just imagining what would have happened if she had gone into the restaurant with him made her dizzy.

Jiheon’s figure was visible over Young-gwang’s shoulder. Jung-oh immediately turned her head, deciding it was time to focus on work again.

The advertisement was set with the main character working as a server and dishwasher at a restaurant while on a working holiday in Australia—a story developed from Jung-oh’s own experience.

Seven years ago, Jung-oh lived in Melbourne on a working holiday and cleaned hotels. She had flown across the sea with a big dream of earning money and studying English, but she could only find work where she couldn’t even meet a few people.

Moreover, the pay wasn’t much, so she was always struggling to make ends meet. She couldn’t even think about going out on weekends, and it was difficult to join gatherings that required a participation fee.

Then one day, misfortunes came hand in hand. The landlord raised the rent, so she used up all her savings to pay the rent and waited for her next paycheck.

She ran out of food at home and starved all day. On the second day, Jung-oh shamelessly borrowed $10 from a friend she worked with. On her way to the Korean mart, she bumped into someone in front of the crosswalk.

It hurt where she bumped, but she just wanted to buy something to eat at the mart, so she brushed it off and hurried on. But when she got to the mart and checked her pocket, the money was gone.

She thought she must have dropped it somewhere, so Jung-oh went back the way she came, but the $10 bill was nowhere to be seen. The sorrow she felt at that time was immense.

She was sobbing sadly, wondering why nothing was working out for her, when someone called her from behind.

“Excuse me. Are you Korean?”

“……”

“I’m the person you bumped into earlier. I was wondering if you were hurt badly.”

That person was Jung Jiheon.

He had chased after her, thinking she was crying because she was hurt from the collision.

Jung-oh forgot about saving face and cried even louder.

Tears poured out at the welcome sound of Korean in this land full of English and at the sorrow of being hungry. That was her first meeting with Jiheon.

*‘He had such a chestnut-like image back then.’*

Jung-oh recalled Jiheon from seven years ago, who had a slightly boyish charm. Come to think of it, Jiheon back then, when he was a little younger, looked a bit like Yena.

Especially when he lowered his eyelids in a chic way. Sometimes Yena also made a haughty expression as if she knew everything about the world, and at those times, it was funny because even her personality seemed to be copied.

*If she’s going to resemble her dad, I hope she resembles her dad from seven years ago.*

Seven years ago, he was very kind and had an extraordinary consideration for others. He didn’t talk much but knew how to make people laugh quietly, so it didn’t take long for her to like Jiheon.

As various thoughts chased each other, her phone vibrated. Surprised, she checked the screen. Guksun’s phone number was displayed. Jung-oh briefly left the set and answered the phone.

[Hello. Mom!]

As soon as Jung-oh answered, she heard a cute little kid’s voice. Jung-oh smiled broadly and welcomed the call.

“Princess Yena!”

[Mom, did you buy a present?]

“What do you want?”

[Kangaroo!]

“How can I bring a kangaroo?”

[No, a kangaroo doll! Mom, I like kangaroos.]

“Why do you like kangaroos?”

[The pouch is so big. The mommy kangaroo puts the baby in there and carries it around.]

Yena continued firmly.

[I want to be a kangaroo and go into Mom’s pouch!]

*Ah. My princess, I want to bite you!*

“Mom too! Mom too! Mom too! Mom too! I want to put you in my pouch and carry you around!”

Jung-oh barely suppressed her desire to run to Seoul right away and said goodbye.

“Our daughter, listen to Grandma and go to daycare well, okay? Mom will go on Tuesday evening, okay?”

[Okay! Come quickly!]

Smiling pleasantly, she tried to put her phone back in her pocket, but something was caught. It was the photo she had put in her pocket during the day.

Jung-oh took out the photo and looked at it again.

After seeing Jiheon’s expression today, this smile from seven years ago felt even more distant. Guilt struck her again. She felt that this memory was not theirs but the restaurant’s property.

*‘Should I secretly put it back?’*

*He’s not likely to visit the restaurant again.*

Since she had come out for a while, Jung-oh decided to run to the restaurant quickly.

Coming to the other side of the world, she realized the difference in seasons. It was summer in Korea, but winter in Australia. It was winter on the calendar, but the weather was like a cool autumn day. Still, it was quite cold in the morning and evening, so Jung-oh felt a chill.

*While I was living through a long winter, were you wandering somewhere in the deep summer?*

Thinking about it made her sad.

Her body and mind were cold, so she kept walking faster. But in front of the crosswalk, Jung-oh couldn’t take another step and stopped.

*Why are you here!*

*‘Crap…….’*

*Why does nothing work out?*

Jung-oh recognized Jiheon in front of her and immediately turned around.

As she was about to leave without a word, Jiheon called out from behind.

“Are you going to keep avoiding me?”

Jung-oh’s feet stopped again.

“How long are you going to avoid me?”

Like iron filings being realigned by a Jiheon magnet, her body somehow wouldn’t move. She felt pathetic that she couldn’t even move.

Before she knew it, he had walked up to her.

“Where did all the boldness go that called me your man?”

He lowered his eyelids in a chic way and spoke. She couldn’t tell if he was teasing her or really asking where that boldness had gone.

“Lee Jung-oh, don’t you have to apologize to me?”

“For what?”

“You said you live with your mother.”

His voice became sharper.

He was reproaching her for lying. She wanted to shout.

*Do you think I wanted to hide Yena’s existence that much?*

But no sound came out, only tears.

*Here.*

*This is the crosswalk where we first met, you idiot.*

“Why are you crying?”

Jiheon, who didn’t know anything, scolded Jung-oh.

Jiheon hated Jung-oh.

He hated her even more for not showing up during lunch.

He resented that she hadn’t been honest with him, that she had hidden the fact that Song Kihoon, a colleague on the same team, already knew.

At the same time, he kept looking for reasons. He tried to think that there was another reason why she hadn’t told him the truth.

For example, wanting to look good to him, wanting to be close to him. He thought it would be nice if that were the case.

His heart had already crossed an irreversible river [a point of no return].

He thought she was scared, so even though he was angry, his voice softened.

“I’m the one who was wronged, why are you crying?”

“I can cry, can’t I? It’s my eyes that are crying, so what’s wrong with that?”

“Then why are you crying? Because you’re sorry for lying to me?”

“No! It’s because my heartless ex-boyfriend and Director are acting the same!”

“Do you want to talk about that guy?”

He tried to hold back his anger, but her provocation brought up his emotions.

“You don’t know how awful you’re being right now.”

“……”

“Why are you doing this in front of me, thinking about your ex-boyfriend? Go to that guy.”

He felt pathetic, hated her, and felt sorry for her.

But despite that, he couldn’t give up. The anxiety that she might really go to that guy brought out the next words.

“Hiding a child means you wanted to look good to me that much, right? And now that everything’s been revealed, you’re trying to provoke me by talking about your ex-boyfriend?”

“……”

“Is Lee Jung-oh’s goal just to mess me up completely? What do you want, really?”

“……”

“You must have been accommodating to me because you wanted something from me. You accepted all the kisses too.”

At that moment, she opened her eyes wide and moved her lips as if she was about to say something. It was a heartbreaking look, like a mermaid who had lost her voice, as if someone had stolen her voice.

He knew one thing.

This woman was also suppressing her feelings a lot.

It could be because of the child, or it could be because she was afraid of the company’s attention.

“I can’t forgive you for talking about that guy. Don’t talk about him, don’t even think about him.”

If so, he had no choice but to move one step further.

“If you want to start over, don’t look back. Don’t dwell on the past, and think that your memories have been cut off like me. It’s surprisingly easy.”

In fact, he was going to do this even if she didn’t move.

“You said to only put cookies in the cookie box [a metaphor for keeping things separate and pure]. It’s the same for you. Don’t put another guy in your heart when you come to me.”

Now he couldn’t erase the time he had shared with her.

The reason he came here after nearly 11 hours of flying was also the same.

To see you. To have you.

To desperately hold onto you, who keeps trying to slip away from me.

*Have I ever been so desperate to enter someone’s life?*

Jiheon handed her the hotel access card that was in his pocket.

“Come prepared. Don’t think about just having a one-night stand and then washing your hands of it.”

“……”

“Once I grab you…”

“……”

“I won’t let go.”