Reunion - Chapter 38

“Lee Hakyung, you have to pay the price you promised.”

I was being impatient to retort to such teasing. I needed words to defend that new relationship that was forming and excuses to explain my actions. I couldn’t take responsibility for telling him to play the piano for me but it was because Jang Yoonsung was the one who made such an atmosphere. The regret that washed over me hit me rather late.

“Hakyung, I won’t tease you. Come out and have dinner.”

Jang Yoonsung who knocked on the door again after a long time spoke again in a voice, barely holding back his laughter.

“I don’t want to have dinner.”

Jang Yoonsung backed down eventually and he answered in a ragged voice as if he was worried.

“I’ll put your meal in the refrigerator so take it out when you’re hungry.”

A little later, he made some rustling noise outside, implying he had dinner by himself. It seemed he was organizing those accumulated boxes on his own.

Byt that time, I had regained my composure and was choosing the right words. Words which could turn that long kiss into nothing.

Around dawn I thought of some words and the next morning when I woke up from my nap, I picked one of them and determined to name the incident as so. It was an accident.

The opposite was tightly closed. Was he still sleeping? I hardly slept last night so there was nothing strange for him to sleep that late. I rummaged through the refrigerator and ate what Jang Yoonsung made for me yesterday before making coffee for myself and heading back to my room.

Suddenly, I felt nervous. I didn’t have to worry about being kicked out yet I was curious about the closed door. I approached his room and knocked on the door.

Knock Knock

I was going to hand out the coffee that I held in my hand. Do you want some coffee? But he didn’t answer as if he was still sleeping.

Once was difficult but twice was not. Even when I knocked on the door again in the afternoon, Jang Yoonsung didn’t answer.

He was not in his room. Did he leave? Did he leave after organizing his luggage? Or did he find my behavior offensive?

“Hey, you’re not sick, are you?”

When I knocked for the third time with all my thoughts, Jang Yoonsung answered with an impassive voice.

“I’m fine. I’ll just rest in my room today.”

It wasn’t a good voice but he was somehow drawing a line in between us so I couldn’t ask anything else. That was how the weekend passed by.

On Monday morning, Jang Yoonsung pretended to be so busy that I didn’t even have a chance to talk to him. He knocked on my door at dawn, told me to eat the breakfast he prepared and went straight to work.

In my sleep, I thought the man outside the door was Gunwoo and so I murmured, “Yes, I told you Hyung will eat on his own.” He laughed at me again. Get a grip, Lee Hakyung, you were born in November. It was as if he wanted to say that. There was not that of a gap between Lee Hakyung’s and Jang Yoonsung’s birthdays for the latter to address him as Hyung.

It was not until the sound of the front door resounded that I woke up feeling unjust.

Didn’t I know that in this country, the sequence of birthdays were used like a sword. Following him to the front door belatedly with echoing steps, I stood still and bit my lips.

What else did Jang Yoonsung think of last night? I could feel him mulling on it. Even after returning from the villa, his memories continued to return.

How much did he remember? I knew that Jang Yoonsung wouldn’t reveal it right away whenever he remembered something because of the conditions I proposed.

Yet, I was confident that Jang Yoonsung was a transparent person and I thought I could notice the changes in him.

But now I felt like I had to admit that I was being arrogant.

Once I washed up and sat on the sofa, I spent time pondering. I had to wait a little longer for the photo studio to open.

Come to think of it, I almost took a picture at the villa. One day when my cheeks were freezing cold, Chairman Jang asked his secretary to call a photographer. Jang Yoonsung, me and even Poongjak were asked to take a family picture. Chairman Jang wanted to print it in a lrge size and hand it on the wall. I was reluctant ot leave a trace of me in a picture but I agreed to do the photoshoot. Since Chairman Jang was losing his strength as days went by, I wanted to take a picture with him while he was still in good health.

However, there were no pictures left when Chairman Jang was hospitalized that night. I didn’t know whether it was a good thing or a bad thing. No, it wouldn’t have been good to leave a picture like that. Jang Myungsoo would have hid it anyway.

While I was getting dressed to spend some time outside, a message came from Jang Yoonsung.

[Did you have your breakfast?]

I couldn’t ignore the sincerity of the person who prepared the meal for me even though I wouldn’t really starve to death if I didn’t have breakfast for a day or two. I put down my wallet and sat at the table and texted him.

[I ate it well.]

[I’m proud of you]

Perhaps, Jang Yoonsung forgot that I was the older one.

[Even if I was born in November, I’m older than you, Jang Yoonsung.]

As if there was nothing he could retort to my message, there was no answer for a long time.

Ugh, I’m bored. While I was picking up my wallet as I scrolled through the empty messaging window, I got a call from Jang Yoonsung.

“What?”

– Say it

“Say what?”

– The message you sent earlier.

“What did I say?”

I tried to think about it while I wore my shoes but I couldn’t remember it well. In the end, instead of tormenting my weak memory, I opened the message window to confirm my last words.

“Ah, the fact that I was born in November makes me your Hyung?”

– After that…

“Yoon…”

I didn’t know why the two syllables of his name made my tongue itchy. Only one word was uttered before I closed my mouth.

– Mr. Lee? Hakyung-ah?

Jang Yoonsung urged me as if he was teasing me. I didn’t want to be caught for being conscious for now reason so I coughed in vain.

“Ah.. You’re noisy…How did you know I was born in November?”

– If you call me by my name, I’ll let you know.

“Good job, Mr. Jang, who was born in March. You must have done a background check.”

– How did you know I was born in March?

“I did some background research too.”

I heard of his birthday when I was staying at the villa but there were many ways to find out his birthday even if I didn’t know about them in the past. The store was collecting VIP birthday information for customer management so I could have made such an excuse.

– Thank you for giving me your attention.

Jang Yoonsung answered with a smile as if he had thought so. The call that started at home ended around the time I crossed the crosswalk in front of the photo studio.

– I think I will be late today so go to bed first.

Jang Yoonsung seemed to have called to say that.

Are you busy or was there another reason? Various thoughts came to mind bur right now, I had to concentrate on crossing the sidewalk before the signal changed.

When I crossed the street and opened the door of the photo studio right away, a bell chimed to announce my visit. An employee who was clicking his mouse in front of a monitor raised his glasses and stood up, rubbing his eyes.

“Welcome. What brings you here?”

“I came to see the photos. I submitted my camera last week.”

“Your name?”

“Lee Hakyung.”

“Lee Hazkyung, Lee Hakyung…”

The employee who was mumbling my name and rummaging through the box inside, took out a heavy envelope. It seemed heavier than I thought because I must have left several films.

I paid my bill to the staff who confirmed it with a dry tone and sat down, turning to the monitor before I left the store. I asked the staff earlier, who was sitting far away and turned to me, craning his neck with all the strength he had.

“Excuse me, how many pictures does a roll of film hold?”

The employee answered as if he was sighing with a face full of annoyance.

“It varies from film to film…I put the films in there so you can count it.”

“Ah, sure. Good bye.”

“Yes, good bye.”

I left the photo studio and peeked into the envelope. He wanted me to count this myself? I suddenly missed the other employee who was there last week and talked about the printing process of old films.

I settled down in a nearby cafe and checked each picture. I just hope that there was no picture missing.

Some of the pictures that were on top were of the villa and its surrounding as Jang Yoonsung previously mentioned. It was a picture of a bright sunny day but somehow it looked bleak.

Did Jang Yoonsung take it? He seemed to have been engrossed in taking pictures even though he was not as talented. Stones were placed in order of size, white and yellow flowers, a view of the lake and the sky…

I thought he was good at taking pictures as I moved on seeing the pictures one by one.

But he was alone there.

There was also a picture of the interior of the villa. There were several pictures without composition or focus of the piano, sofa and the wall clock in the living room when the shutter was pressed. I thought he only took the photo to make sure the camera was working.

Then it was a picture of the outside again. There was green grass outside the window frame when it was taken indoors. After that, strangely I didn’t think the pictures were that good.

After turning a few more pictures, I was sure that it was a picture not taken by Jang Yoonsung. Pictures were out of focus, heavily tilted and the subject was looking elsewhere. It was a picture taken by an old man whose eyes were dim and his hands were shaking. He must have tried to record the glorious moment of someone who he believed was his beloved grandson and his caretaker’s granddaughter.

Unfortunately, however, few other pictures were taken properly. Most of them were shaky, making it difficult to recognize the face of the person in the distance and at best, the focus was on their backs. There were three photos of my face, where it was clear but I didn’t know whether it was taken by accident or someone helped him to take the picture.

Except for that, the only thing that was taken normally was the picture of Poongjak with its tongue sticking out as if it were smiling at the camera.

After a long time, beyond the blurred past of me and Jang Yoonsung, there was also a picture that was recorded a long time ago. Jang Yoonsung in school uniform, Jang Hyunsung in a younger appearance and other faces that I didn’t recognize.

Even if it was blurry, I was worried about showing the pictures of myself. It wasn’t that obvious however there were a large amount of pictures of me. First, I found three pictures where my face was showing clearly and took those out. I also found pictures of me in a single line of film. Hoping that Jang Yoonsung wouldn’t want to match the number of films and pictures.

I judged that it was enough to insist that the rest were not developed. After sending the cherry picked photos and films home in a mail envelope, I left a message to Gunwoo to keep them without opening the envelope. I thought it was a good thing that I didn’t go to the photo studio with Jang Yoonsung.