A Child Who Resembles Me [EN]: Chapter 70

70. Dark History

“Don’t cry in front of the kid.”

Jeong-o cautioned Ji-heon, trying to be discreet from Yena.

It was just the situation of waiting for the kindergarten bus, but seeing Ji-heon’s eyes redden as if he were sending off his daughter to get married, Jeong-o found it amusing.

Even with Jeong-o’s warning, he didn’t ease his expression, so Jeong-o gave him a sharper word.

“Don’t overdo it. You look like a con artist stepfather.”

Hearing the words ‘con artist stepfather,’ Ji-heon’s expression finally returned to normal.

Soon, the bus arrived.

“Mom, I’ll be back.”

Watching Yena politely greet under the teacher’s guidance, Ji-heon’s nose turned red again, overcome with sentimentality. He couldn’t help this feeling. His heart was heavy with every aspect of the child—her appearance, actions, and gestures. An overwhelming emotion he couldn’t fully express welled up inside him. Jeong-o waved her hand and whispered to Ji-heon,

“She’s just going to kindergarten. It’s not like she’s going to the army.”

Thanks to Jeong-o’s reminder, Ji-heon was able to say goodbye without looking too suspicious to others. Though, to Jeong-o, it was still amusing.

The bus doors closed, the child sat down, the bus started, and Ji-heon stood there watching until the bus was out of sight. It was like a morning farewell for separated families who had to return to their lives after a brief, passionate reunion.

Jeong-o scolded Ji-heon harshly, but she could actually understand his feelings. She couldn’t bring herself to nag him more, thinking about how much he must have wanted to see the child that he rushed over from the morning.

“How do you feel? Can you go to work? Can you drive?”

“I’m fine. I feel great.”

“Okay. I’ll see you at the company. I’ll take the subway.”

“Let’s go together. Stay by my side.”

Jeong-o, having checked on Ji-heon’s well-being, waved her hand, but he immediately grabbed it.

“I get stimulated when you’re next to me.”

“…….”

“It feels like my memories are coming back.”

Ji-heon’s confession wasn’t entirely a lie. Just a moment ago, Ji-heon had remembered a bit of what happened seven years ago. Ji-heon’s feelings, waiting for the new baby to be born, were indeed about Yena. The heart of a soon-to-be father who wanted to do so much for his child.

Using his memories as a bargaining chip, Jeong-o had no choice. Jeong-o, holding Ji-heon’s hand, moved towards the car and firmly set conditions.

“I’m getting off near the company, in a place where there aren’t people.”

“We can just say we met by chance on the way.”

“People would totally believe that.”

“…….”

“You never know what kind of rumors might spread. I hope you’ll be careful.”

“Wouldn’t it be better to just tell everyone first?”

Jeong-o stopped walking abruptly and blocked his view.

“That won’t do. Think about whose fault this is.”

Her clear, large eyes turned towards Ji-heon.

“If you hadn’t had that fake relationship with Chae Eun-bi, this wouldn’t have happened.”

Jeong-o expressed her true feelings. It was a story she couldn’t tell at length, fearing she might seem petty.

*I’m actually still upset with you for living however you wanted during the seven years I wasn’t there.*

*I resent you so much for living without any sense of responsibility, like water flowing, without any determination.*

“Without any responsibility, how could you live like that? You shouldn’t live like that.”

*Even without me, you shouldn’t have lived like that.*

That was the sorrow she couldn’t easily express because he wasn’t hers.

At Jeong-o’s rebuke, Ji-heon curled his lips inward, hiding them. Strange thoughts floated in his head.

*Why can’t I move at all like this?*

*Is this my original self? Was I perhaps living under her thumb?*

*Is this how my fate will be now? Should I reflect on the seven years I lived recklessly and prepare my heart?*

“…I can’t turn back time, but I’ll do better from now on.”

“Huh.”

Jeong-o’s tightly closed lips twisted because Ji-heon’s gloomy expression was amusing. The devil in Jeong-o’s heart tempted her to tease him a little more.

“Wait. Now that I think about it, I think Jung Ji-heon said he would take care of my ex-boyfriend. What did he say? Did he say he would break everything he could see?”

“…….”

“Jung Ji-heon, why are you avoiding my eyes?”

“…….”

“Huh? Say something.”

“…Wait. Now that I think about it, Lee Jeong-o called me a pervert?”

“Huh? When?”

“You did. Last Thursday!”

“You called my ex-boyfriend a crazy bastard, so what.”

“…….”

Heueueueueung. Ji-heon, who couldn’t gain anything by trying to argue like Jeong-o, lowered his head and sighed deeply.

He wanted to erase all the past where he cursed her ex-boyfriend so much, not even knowing he was spitting on his own face.

.*. *. *. *. *. *.

Having seen off her daughter and granddaughter, Guk-soon diligently prepared and went to work at the restaurant.

She regretted leaving the restaurant the day before without cleaning up. She was worried that bugs might have gathered and that it might smell, so she opened the restaurant door with concern. And Guk-soon’s mouth dropped open as she checked inside the restaurant.

“What is all this…”

Looking around the restaurant, which was cleaned up as if a house fairy [a mythical being known for secretly cleaning houses] had visited, Guk-soon couldn’t easily be moved. Her heart ached.

*She found out. My daughter found out.*

That’s why she acted so cute this morning.

Thinking of her daughter working overtime and coming to the restaurant with her tired body to do the cleaning her mother couldn’t do, she once again regretted the previous night.

Her arms and legs lost strength, and she sat down haphazardly on a nearby chair.

A mother becomes sad when she starts receiving help from her daughter.

*I wish I could always be my daughter’s pillar, her shade.*

But already, my daughter is constantly moving forward, in the direction the sun is walking.

*I wish my child, who continues to grow even as an adult, would go a little slower, a little slower. So that there’s a little more I can do.*

Sighing with a mix of pride and apology towards her daughter, Guk-soon found a piece of colored paper on the table right next to her. She lifted her bottom and picked up the colored paper.

– To my beloved Mom.

It was a letter written by her daughter. Guk-soon unfolded the twice-folded colored paper and read the sentences.

– To my beloved Mom.

I once complained to Mom for no reason, that it was hard. But it wasn’t hard at all. I was just acting spoiled because Mom was there, because Mom always accepts my spoiled behavior.

So I’m so sorry.

If I’m born again, I want to be Mom’s mom, even though Mom would say she doesn’t want that.

Mom, let’s live the happiest we can in this life.

I love you, Mom.

Throughout reading the letter, it felt as if Jeong-o’s voice was coming from next to her.

A letter written in her daughter’s simple sentences.

At the end of the letter, there were a few more lines like a postscript, in small letters.

It was like a hidden message, thinking that her mother, who was starting to get presbyopia [age-related farsightedness], wouldn’t be able to read it.

– I won’t let Chae Eun-bi get away with this.

Don’t worry, Mom. I’m only going to fight winning battles from now on.

Just you wait. Tremendous happiness will be waiting for us.

Was this… written to make Mom laugh, or to relieve Mom’s anger?

But Guk-soon’s heart, stroking the sky-blue colored paper, soon became as generous as the sky.

*Whatever tremendous happiness is, I hope it comes a little slower.*

*My beautiful daughter. Mom doesn’t need tremendous happiness. I’m already so happy as I am now.*

Guk-soon realized that there was no reason to be down.

There was a time when she was always worried about her daughter, wondering if she was crying alone in a place where her hands couldn’t reach, as if she was trapping tears that could flow thousands of miles away, but at some point, she had grown into a reliable adult who even took on her mother’s worries.

A jewel-like daughter who makes her mother both endlessly weak and strong.

Jeong-o, I hope I can be next to you even if I’m born again, even if I’m not your mother.

I’d be happy to be a bird singing next to you all day, or a tree growing with you.

.*. *. *. *. *. *.

Eun-bi went to work, made a brief appearance, and then made an excuse for an outside errand and went out. The way her colleagues treated her was not the same as before, so she could no longer enjoy her company life.

It was all because of Lee Jeong-o.

Leaving the company, Eun-bi went to Eun-yeop’s office.

“Oppa [term for older brother used by females], I’m going to sue. Write me a complaint.”

Suddenly barging into the office and asking him to write a complaint, Eun-yeop was annoyed by his sister’s request.

He didn’t even acknowledge her and just kept flipping through the documents he was holding, so Eun-bi added a few words of information.

“Lee Jeong-o assaulted me last night. She slapped my cheek.”

Hoo. Eun-yeop gritted his teeth, opened his eyes fiercely, and said,

“I told you to stay still.”

“…How could you do this?”

Eun-bi felt hurt by Eun-yeop’s reaction.

“I told you Lee Jeong-o hit me. Isn’t it normal to ask if your sister is okay, what happened, when she says she got hit?”

“Would Lee Jeong-o have done that for no reason? She must have done something to make her angry.”

The Lee Jeong-o that Eun-yeop met had a gentle impression but was not a naive person. He was someone who spoke coherently and clearly, even while being quite nervous meeting a lawyer, and seemed to have a good eye.

He was by no means an easy opponent.

Eun-yeop quickly figured out who the ‘Miss C who was harassing him’ that Jeong-o had revealed was. It was his sister, Chae Eun-bi.

Eun-yeop was furious throughout listening to Jeong-o’s words. He was angry that his sister was so one-dimensional and ignorant. His sister was of no use at all.

He even wished Lee Jeong-o was his sister.

“Fine. It’s not like you’re the only lawyer.”

Eun-bi said, huffing, to Eun-yeop, who was grinding his teeth inside. Since her brother was of no help in her life, Eun-bi no longer needed to stay in the office.

Eun-bi, grabbing the doorknob, opened her mouth again.

“Oh, right.”

*I thought you should know that much. And to show you that I can do anything without you.*

“It seems like you’re not interested in my affairs at all, and I feel frustrated leaving everything to you, so I spoke to your mother directly.”

“What did you say?”

“I told Ji-heon oppa’s mother about Lee Jeong-o.”

“…What?”

Eun-yeop, who had been looking at the documents the whole time, put them down and stood up from his seat. He was showing a reaction for the first time.

Eun-bi turned her body towards Eun-yeop and talked about what happened last night.

“I told her that Lee Jeong-o, a single mother with a seven-year-old child, was hitting on Ji-heon oppa…”

Slap!

But before she could finish speaking, Eun-bi was knocked away. The office became a mess as Eun-bi fell and knocked over the tower of documents piled on the side table.

The sting was incomparable to Jeong-o’s slap.

Eun-bi, shocked, couldn’t get up from her seat and looked up at Eun-yeop, covering her cheek with her left hand.

“…Oppa.”

“Don’t even call me oppa. You trash.”

“…….”

“What did you do?”

“…….”

“What did you do?”

Eun-yeop, his face red as if it would burst, looked like a demon.

“You dare ruin my work?”

“…….”

“Do you even know what you’ve done?”

His eyes, torn sideways and fiercely opened, looked at his sister with murderous intent, as if he would strangle his sister to death right away.

“You handed over your grandniece to Jang Young-mi! A grandniece she lived without knowing existed!”

“Wh, what does that…”

Eun-bi became chilled with a shock greater than being slapped.

A grandniece?

Tears welled up in Eun-bi’s eyes.

“If you’re stupid, you should at least stay still.”

“…….”

“You’re trash. Trash that’s useless if you can’t even marry Jung Ji-heon. Trash that’s not even worth living.”