Even If It's Not Love

Instead of answering, Woo-hyun took Yoo-hwa’s hand, put it inside his coat pocket, and headed for the trail on the sandy beach. There was no one there due to the cold wind, so it was quiet.

The wind repeatedly blew and stopped. It blew from the left and then from the right, causing their hair to be messed up, but Yoo-hwa and Woo-hyun kept walking, looking only straight ahead.

When they reached a place where both shops were scarce and there were very few people, it vividly felt as if the night sea was about to rush at them.

Yoo-hwa stopped and stared silently at the night sea. Woo-hyun stood next to her and spoke.

“Let’s come to the sea again tomorrow.”

“…”

“Day or night, it doesn’t matter. Forget about today.”

“Woo-hyun.”

“Hm?”

“Did you know? That a serial killer had appeared. Did they say his name was Lee Tae-ho?”

She asked in a soft voice, still keeping her eyes on the sea.

“Why do you ask that?”

“So you knew. No, there’s no way you didn’t know. That’s why you said all of a sudden that the TV broke.”

The realization came to her indifferently.

She couldn’t turn the TV on for a while now because Woo-hyun said it was broken. Even the lectures she went to, Woo-hyun said he would take her there and pick her up after that day, on the pretext that he was working outside. He was trying to make it so that she wouldn’t have any contact with the outside world.

Since she didn’t check the news or real-time search on her phone anyway, she had no way of knowing what was happening in the world unless she watched the news on TV.

Woo-hyun swept his face without a word.

So that was it.

Yoo-hwa agreed inwardly. Her heart ached at the fact that Woo-hyun was trying so hard behind the scenes so she wouldn’t get hurt.

“Woo-hyun.”

Yoo-hwa turned her head and looked at Woo-hyun. Woo-hyun’s gaze reached Yoo-hwa one step too late.

“I’m fine. I was a little surprised, but that’s all.”

“…”

“They’re not wrong. Whatever the circumstances, it’s true that I was the daughter of a serial killer, and Kim Yi-woon’s sister. People are not interested in the backstory or the real story behind it. I think I have no choice but to hear things like this throughout my life. So don’t worry.”

Yoo-hwa grinned.  She hoped that her smile would ease even a bit of Woo-hyun’s complicated worries. It really was enough that Woo-hyun tried this hard for her. The fact that someone was concerned about her wounds, and that it was Woo-hyun, made it bearable.

In the meantime, a gust of wind blew. With the wind, everything swayed. The branches of the trees planted here and there along the trail, the banners hanging from buildings, the grains of sand on the sandy beach, their coats, and their hair. Only Woo-hyun’s eyes as he looked at her were clear, in such a dizzying way that made her doubt that everything else was swaying. He slowly opened his mouth.

“The daughter of a murderer.”

Hearing his words, Yoo-hwa’s cheeks hardened.

“Kim Yi-woon’s sister.”

Yoo-hwa barely managed to keep her smile until the end. Like someone who wanted to show that those words didn’t hurt.

“Forget about that.”

“…”

“Don’t accept it, don’t endure it.”

“…”

“Because you are Sin Woo-hyun’s Kim Yoo-hwa.”

“…”

“Just remember that, and live as you are.”

Just like his eyes, his voice could be heard clearly in the wind. Even if she didn’t listen carefully, his voice dug into her ears.

“Just as I live every day as Kim Yoo-hwa’s Sin Woo-hyun.”

At his words, Yoo-hwa stopped breathing for a moment. She wondered if he saw what she had written on the window. But the window had become clear, and Woo-hyun never even came near it. So, this was just Woo-hyun’s own thought.

And so were the words that he was Kim Yoo-hwa’s Sin Woo-hyun.

The smile that she had barely kept collapsed. At the same time, her expression shattered. She was about to burst into tears.

Woo-hyun’s indifferent words contained a lot of things.

The keenness that he recognized her efforts to let it go bravely and calmly; the worries and concerns mixed with it; the eagerness to keep the ordinary and happy routine they had together more firmly; the effort to be faithful to the happiness that was given to him, even though he didn’t know how long it would last; and at the same time, the will to face the future together, no matter what may come to them.

She wanted to smile, but she cried. She stood in front of Woo-hyun with a face that was difficult to say whether she was laughing or crying. She wanted to face him a little closer, and she wanted to convey it to him a little closer.

“… You’re right.”

“…”

“I am Sin Woo-hyun’s Kim Yoo-hwa.”

“…”

“And I have been ever since we met again.”

The daughter of a murderer, Kim Yi-woon’s sister.

Right now, it was more important to her than those things.

Hearing her words, Woo-hyun hurriedly embraced her.

Yoo-hwa felt a cold sensation from the clothes that touched her skin. She remembered the winter she once experienced in the redevelopment area.

That winter, even though it was very cold, she didn’t feel cold.

She met him, she was with him, she waited for him, and she was filled with him.

… As she was now.