Chapter 65 – Episode 65
“What if?”
Gahye continued the story, ignoring the shock of the three of us.
“What do you think it would be like if Song Se-hyun and my mother got along well?”
“Me? That bitch…”
“Uh huh.”
“… With a girl? Are you on good terms?”
Song Se-hyun reacted as if this question itself was unpleasant.
“That won’t happen!”
“So I said, what if?”
“I said there wasn’t one!”
“Ma’am, won’t you think about it just once? Just imagine.”
This time I intervened.
“How could such a terrible thought…”
“Just once.”
It was Song Se-hyeon who kept getting fed up, but was it because she joined in too?
After a while, he closed his eyes and took a moment to think.
“… Then I must have felt even more betrayed. How can I forgive you for taking my married husband and getting pregnant?”
“Then what if you knew that from the beginning?”
“What do you mean by that?”
“What if you both knew from the beginning that you liked your dad? Before you got married or got pregnant.”
Song Se-hyun looks like she wants to get fed up again.
But this time, there was no need for me or Lim Seok-pil to join in.
She listened to her blessing and imagined it as she requested.
“I guess we talked about it. Who would date me…”
“Right?”
“What does that matter now!”
Song Se-hyun was irritated.
“Let’s talk, then, that bitch seduced someone else’s husband and had a baby!”
“From what I heard, they only found out you two were married after you got pregnant.”
“I think I’ll believe that lie!”
“I don’t think it’s a lie. And Song Se-hyun’s story is also not a lie.”
Kim Soo-ae and Song Se-hyun both knew about the other only after they formed a relationship with Lim Seok-pil.
Both of those are true.
That’s what Gahye said.
“…”
Mr. Im Seok-pil slightly turned his gaze at Ga-hye’s words.
He seemed to be suffering again from his own mistakes.
“My mother found out that Song Se-hyun and her father got married only after she had me, and Song Se-hyun found out that I was born between her father and mother only after she got married… These aren’t contradictory stories, right?”
“…”
“I think what you both said is correct. And Song Se-hyun, you know that well, right?”
“Hmph.”
“If I had to ask who was responsible for this situation, it would be because of my father…”
After saying that, Gahye made a lonely expression.
“Haven’t you already paid enough for your sins?”
“What? Enough? He keeps making my blood pressure rise today…”
“It may not be true from Song Se-hyun’s point of view. But, I have seen for 20 years how my father lives. He works every day and raises me, but he doesn’t have any leisure time for himself, and he gives all the money he earns to the two of them. He didn’t show it at all… I went to college and moved up to Seoul, but he couldn’t even pay the rent for my room.”
Song Se-hyeon became quiet at those words.
They probably didn’t care about Im Seok-pil’s hardships.
Rather, it was probably because she had nothing to say after hearing that Lim Ga-hye herself had suffered.
Song Se-hyeon continued to lose her temper, but she had enough conscience to calm down when she heard that not only Im Seok-pil but also Ga-hye had suffered.
“For Song Se-hyeon, her father may not have paid for his crimes yet. But from my perspective, this seems like excessive punishment.”
“You probably think that because you are my daughter.”
“I am serving 20 years in prison and continue to give most of my assets to others. Isn’t this excessive punishment?”
“Ugh…”
Gahye’s words are an overinterpretation. She was imprisoned for 20 years, and didn’t she continue to give most of her money?
But she wasn’t completely wrong…
Above all, the weight of Lim Seok-pil’s direct expression of what he had experienced so far was completely different.
Song Se-hyeon could not easily refute Ga-hye’s words.
“… It’s okay. This wasn’t what I wanted to talk about now, so I’ll go back to the topic.”
“Everything I want to say is on the topic…”
Ga-hye continued her story, ignoring Song Se-hyeon’s complaints.
“What do you think this relationship would have been like if it had gone well in the beginning?”
“If your mother and I got along well, is that what you’re saying?”
“Yes.”
“How do I know that?”
“Maybe things didn’t end up like this between the three of you. Like Song Se-hyun said, it might have gone smoothly with only one of them dating her dad. Or, like I said, the three of you might have ended up dating together. “
“Do you think that will happen?”
“I don’t know.”
Song Se-hyeon’s expression distorted at Ga-hye’s answer.
She opens her mouth and gapes as if she wants to say something, but eventually she clenches her teeth and looks at Gahye.
“Well, can’t the three of us just get along well? From now on.”
“…”
This time, Song Se-hyeon did not reply sharply.
If all three had gotten along well, all three might have been living different lives now.
Now that I’ve imagined it, it seems like it’s become difficult to deny Gahye’s words.
“It’s so terrible. The three of us are only looking out for each other, and the three of us are having a hard time… In my opinion, it’s unbelievably terrible.”
“…”
“…”
“Haven’t all three of you worked hard? Haven’t all the 20-year-long grievances been resolved yet?”
“That’s… Of course.”
“Can’t we at least try to unravel that sediment from now on? Is that not okay?”
Gahye’s voice was trembling slightly.
“You will hate me a lot. You won’t be able to shake off the resentment easily. I have no way of knowing how much pain you will feel in your heart. But…”
Tears form in the corners of Gahye’s eyes.
“But, from now on… Can’t we resolve it little by little…? It’s too much… For all three of us to keep maintaining this relationship like this… For all three of us…”
Gahye feels sorry for her mother.
Gahye also feels sorry for her father.
Moreover, Ga-hye also felt sorry for Song Se-hyeon.
At least as much as I did, I could tell that Gahye truly pitied Song Sehyun.
“Such strange behavior… Stop looking at it… And the three of us talk about it together… Please…”
After saying those last words, Hye covered her face with her hands.
It seemed difficult to continue the conversation.
There was silence between the four of us.
***
In the end, we left without hearing a ‘yes’ from Song Se-hyeon.
After Ga-hye finished speaking, Song Se-hyeon stayed silent for a while and then kicked us out without saying whether he liked it or not.
In the car on the way back.
The three of us sat in the car in silence.
How far did it go like that? The man opened his mouth.
“… What happened to you?”
Ugh, this question finally came up.
“That’s…”
“It’s just like I said, Dad.”
The moment I was about to answer, Gahye opened her mouth.
“… The three of you are dating?”
“Yes.”
“You, this guy, and another person… So, is that Nayu you were talking about?”
“Yes.”
“…”
The man listened to Gahye’s words and kept his mouth shut.
Ga-hye can’t continue talking after the man finishes covering her mouth.
I just glance at them for a moment.
“… Gahye, are you okay with that?”
“Yes. I talked a lot with my sister. All three of us agreed.”
“No, how could that be…”
The man was about to say something, but swallowed his words again.
“… What happened? Can you tell me with your own words?”
“Well, let me tell you from the beginning…”
“No, no. It was okay from the beginning. How did this come to fruition?”
There is only one point the man is curious about.
It seems to be ‘How is an official love triangle possible?’
“I… Somehow ended up dating them. I started dating Nayu, and right after that, I got confessed to by Gahye.”
“So you two just started dating?”
“At first, we did it foolishly… Then we both sang together and confessed. We ended up dating.”
“So?”
“They said that. They told me to choose one of them. So I said… I really like them both.”
“…”
“I was sincere. And Gahye and Nayu listened to what I said and gave me a grace period. Then, while the three of us were talking, all three of us…”
“We’re dating?”
“… Yes.”
Now that I say it myself, it seems a bit absurd.
“That’s true, my true. Keuhmm, that’s true…”
The man began to cough and cough.
I can’t imagine what she must be thinking that her own daughter would create a relationship like this.
“Yeah, that’s right. Was it your experience you told me about last night?”
“That’s right.”
“That’s why I said it with such confidence.”
“Yes.”
“…”
The man scratched his head in frustration.
“What can I say?”
“I won’t make Gahye sad or have a hard time.”
Hearing my words, the man glanced at me.
“It’s a strange and unique relationship, but I will maintain this relationship until the end. All three of us will be happy.”
“…”
“…”
“… Gahye, are you okay?”
A man who asks Gahye the same question again.
“Yes. I trust Jun-seok and her older sister.”
Gahye answered that question again, and with that answer, the three of us became quiet again.
***
After that, she had another idyllic holiday.
Ga-hye spends leisurely time at her father’s house, tours her ranch, plays with the cows, and sometimes has sex with Hye…
Except for the man becoming a little quieter and darker, the days were not much different from when I first came.
And as time passed, Gahye and I prepared to go up to Seoul again.
Before going up, she asked Gahye if she wanted to stay here a little longer.
“Don’t you want to stay at home a little longer? You can come up anytime.”
“Ugh, no. I want to go home.”
I want to go home.
In response, I hugged Gahye without saying a word.
I felt my sense of responsibility for this child growing.
After deciding to go up, the last evening I spent in the countryside.
It was the last day, but the man had left the house, leaving me and Ga-hye behind to run something.
After having a quick dinner with Gahye, I went outside alone to get some fresh air and gather my thoughts.
‘I don’t want to see myself like this, I’m going to get caught…’
Of course, I didn’t think that persuasion would work well from the beginning.
Moreover, Gahye revealed at the wrong time that the three of them were dating…
You will have to take time to persuade them.
Although I don’t know how long it will take.
‘Maybe I should have looked at the timing a little more…’
I immediately shook my head as I regretted it.
Even if it wasn’t the best time for me to have both Gahye and Nayu, I brought up the story at the best time for Gahye.
‘It’s for Gahye’s sake that the relationship between the three works out somehow…’
Kim Soo-ae, Song Se-hyeon, and Lim Se-pil.
No matter which direction the relationship between these three progresses in, it is certain that it must be different from what it is now for Gahye’s sake.
The relationship between the three will be completely broken due to a catastrophe.
Or maybe an incredible miracle will happen, and the three will form a good relationship.
Either way, a conclusion must be reached so that Ga-hye can feel at ease.
Buuuuung…
The sound of a car can be heard from far away.
It’s the sound of my uncle’s truck that I’ve become familiar with after hearing it for a few days.
Should I go home quickly? I ended up thinking about it like that.
You shouldn’t avoid him just because you’re uncomfortable right now.
It is my duty not to avoid you.
Jump and jump.
Soon the car stopped and footsteps were heard.
“… Uncle?”
But the face of the man who appeared had a look I had never imagined.
