Chapter 63 – Episode 63
In a situation like this where all kinds of emotions were mixed, the first thing Gahye did was to be hugged.
I guess the feeling of missing you was more important than any other feeling.
So, there must have been a lot of things you wanted to say.
But…
It seemed difficult to talk about anything now.
Ga-hye and Kim Soo-ae seemed to be having a conversation, but they ended the conversation in 30 minutes.
The way they were talking, they started saying something and then swallowed it again and again…
Well, we’ve been separated for too long.
That gap won’t be something that can be bridged quickly.
“Then I’ll go.”
“Goodbye.”
Well, it can’t be helped.
Relationships between people are not easily restored.
“… Coming again.”
Of course, it doesn’t break easily.
A relationship between two people just takes a long time.
“Yes. I will go.”
“Then, let’s go.”
“Yes.”
I said hello to Kim Soo-ae and left Kim Soo-ae’s house with Ga-hye.
***
On the way home, I was thinking about Kim Soo-ae’s last words.
‘Please keep what we met today a secret from him.’
‘Why is that…’
‘If he finds out that I met Hye, he will try to solve her problem by himself.’
‘Work?’
‘Song Se-hyun. She’ll say something, and she’ll accept it all.
Ga Hye-ra is Song Se-hyeon, who went crazy just hearing her name.
She was a woman who allowed to raise Ga-hye on the condition that Kim Soo-ae did not ask for her help.
In that situation, Ga-hye met Kim Soo-ae.
According to Kim Soo-ae’s guess, if Lim Seok-pil finds out, she will do something.
‘What are you going to do?’
Mr. Lim Seok-pil has been responsible alone until now.
He was a man who dated two women, raised two households, and suffered alone in the middle of it all.
Unlike me, he didn’t try to mediate or win over the two women, he just stayed in the middle alone.
So, I might try to do something on my own again.
I don’t know what he’s going to do, but he might take some responsibility based on his promise to Song Se-hyun.
‘Seeing as she asked to keep it a secret… Kim Soo-ae thinks that Lim Seok-pil, who finds out about this, is likely to do something bad to her.’
This is Kim Soo-ae, who still likes Lim Seok-pil.
Plus, we’ve been together for over 20 years, so her guess is probably correct.
‘If Im Seok-pil finds out that Ga-hye met Kim Soo-ae, Lim Seok-pil will do something to his own detriment.’
I have interpreted what Soo-ae Kim said in my own way.
So, what should I do next?
‘I… Hmm…’
The reason I came down to the countryside with Gahye in the first place was simple.
It was to find out exactly about Ga-hye’s family circumstances.
Why? In order to get both Ga-hye and Na-yu, you will have to persuade Ga-hye’s family, and to do that, it would be good to know more!
And when I came down, I saw that Ga-hye’s father was living in two households.
This is a way to use this to my advantage…
‘To put it simply, even if I date both Ga-hye and Na-yu, Lim Seok-pil can’t say anything to me. That has been confirmed, but…’
You can’t just conclude like that and move on.
I took a quick look at Gahye’s face.
I don’t know what she’s thinking, but I’m just looking out the window of her car with an expressionless expression.
It must be very complicated in your head.
‘… Rather than that, rather than my own greed, let’s think about what we can do for Gahye.’
Gahye is the top priority now.
How can we make the current situation a little better for Gahye?
This is a strange situation where the biological mother is separated and living like a criminal, and the father is struggling to take responsibility alone between two women.
Gahye is stuck in that situation and is struggling with complicated emotions.
What could there be for her like that?
What should I do for God’s sake in the current situation?
‘What Ga-hye wants… Maybe…’
I started to think hard.
There were only empty buses running noisily.
***
That evening, after finishing the meal.
I followed the man who went outside to smoke.
“Huh? Do you smoke too?”
“No, I don’t really… I just like the wind.”
“Kyakyak, right? The free air is really nice.”
The man smiles kindly and agrees with what I say.
“Hey man, I have a question.”
“What is it?”
“Gahye’s mother…”
“Ah… She broke up a long time ago.”
A man who cuts me off by giving a simple answer.
The laughing voice stiffened slightly at this moment.
“I see.”
I nodded without questioning anything.
“… Ga-hye would like to see her mother a lot, but it’s a shame.”
“That’s right.”
“Didn’t Gahye press you separately? About your mother…”
“Yes, I won’t. Even though he looks like that, he is deep down inside and is considerate of this father. I am such a sinner.”
Guilt is evident in the man’s voice.
I felt like I could tell how he was feeling with just a few words.
“… Do you have any intention of remarrying again? Or are you a lover…”
Haha, remarried?”
“Yes. It would be quiet if you lived alone in a place like this. If you were a handsome man and a ranch owner, you would be quite popular.”
“At this age, I’m scared…”
“These days, aren’t there some old maids in their 40s and 50s? Or are there people who are in a similar situation as you? Remarriage is not a particularly bad thing. I’m not opposed to it because it’s a favor…”
“It’s okay, Ma. I don’t deserve it.”
The man took out a new cigarette and asked.
“You… Are you good at asking tough questions? Is prying into other people a hobby?”
“Haha, I guess it’s something I’m interested in these days, so I’ll stop. There are a lot of people around me getting married, and an older person recently remarried. And while I was listening to these people talk about various things…”
I made up excuses.
It was an excuse I prepared to make up if I got angry while looking at the man.
“Well, at your age, it’s all about dating and work. No, dating is everything…”
While saying that, the man takes a deep drag on his cigarette.
And then he exhaled the smoke as if he were sighing.
There was silence for a moment, and then the man opened his mouth again.
“… Well, let me ask you something. Since you said you’ve heard that a lot, I’m curious about your thoughts.”
“Yes. What is it?”
“What if? Let’s say you live in two households.”
“I live in two households…”
When I answered the man’s words and looked at him, he clapped his hand and hurriedly added.
“This is about my friend! He was consulting with me about his concerns, and it was a very complicated issue, so I was curious about your opinion.”
“Yes.”
I say so.
“Anyway, I live in a two-household… I was caught by two women. And I was interrogated by two women. They kept asking me who I would choose! If you were in that situation, what would you do?”
“Hmm… Is it a situation where you like both women? To the extent that it’s hard to tell who is superior?”
“Well then. So it’s a problem.”
“Then you should date both women.”
“Cough!”
The man coughed at my answer.
He coughed for a long time, as if cigarette smoke had gotten stuck in his throat.
“Cluck, cluck! Cough, big… Does that make sense!”
“We have to make it happen, well.”
I continued talking while scratching my head.
“So you like them both so much that you can’t choose between them? Then, isn’t the answer already decided in the question?”
“It’s decided?”
“Yes. ‘You can’t choose just one’, the problem is already there, so how can you choose?”
He was speechless at my words and just looked at me.
“It’s decided that you can’t choose. Then you have to date both, well.”
“Then it’s a catastrophe, a catastrophe.”
“Of course, we must prevent a catastrophe. It is our duty not to choose, but to prevent a catastrophe.”
I looked straight into the man’s eyes.
“The answer is set, but the process is not. If you both decide to date, it’s up to you to make it happen in the best way possible.”
“Hehe, you’re so confident.”
The man laughed bitterly.
“It’s not about confidence. It’s about having to do it.”
“How?”
“First, we have to meet the two women.”
“What? Then the child will explode right away?”
“I don’t know. What happens when two people meet is up to them. I can’t just decide.”
“The stage is so bad.”
“No, I am preparing to humbly accept her judgment.”
This time I laughed bitterly.
“I’m going to make you meet two women and confess honestly in front of them. I’ve raised two households, I like them both, and I can’t give up on either of them. So, I’ll follow your judgment. I’ll accept whatever judgment you give me. And I’m waiting.”
“What are you going to do if you say you’re going to kill me?”
“Then you have to die, right? And is your life at stake in this situation? There must be something more scary.”
“… Both of you leaving. That’s the scariest thing.”
That’s right.
I nodded silently.
“Even if I have to leave, will you accept it?”
“Yes. Whatever judgment is given, I will only be allowed to accept it.”
“Even if both women leave, take all their assets, and are sentenced to death?”
“Uh… Yes.”
I hesitated for a moment, but answered yes again.
It wasn’t because I thought it was too bad to be treated like this.
It was because I felt like I could see a little bit of the fear that this man had.
“Ha, easier said than done.”
The man snorted this time.
It’s probably because they thought my answer wasn’t realistic.
Well, I admit that it is far from common sense.
“Who could really do something like that? It would be a big deal to get the two women to meet and talk…”
“I did.”
“What?”
The man’s expression became strange at my answer.
He looked like he didn’t understand what was being said at all.
“I already did that.”
“What… No, what are you talking about now?”
“I was scared. I was afraid they would leave, and I couldn’t guess what would happen, so I was very scared.”
After saying that, I paused for a moment.
The man was dumbfounded and kept quiet.
“However, I did my best not to deceive them. And I conveyed my feelings to them and tried to listen to their will.”
After saying that, I looked straight into the man’s eyes.
“I did.”
“…”
“How about letting the two women meet right now? And the three of us can talk about what to do.”
I immediately threw a fastball at him.
