When Your Pain Becomes Mine

***

"I hope you get even sicker. I hope you get as sick as I was. If only you could experience half of what I had to go through. You can't say that, no, you shouldn't."

When Gyeonhui returned to the office, he scowled and kept thinking about what she said.

"... I already feel your pain."

He scowled as he touched his stinging c.h.e.s.t from a while ago.

"Why does your heart hurt again?" Ojae asked with a worried expression.

"It was her who said mean things to me, but why does she feel the pain? Haa…"

He responded with an irritated tone.

"Oh, so are you feeling her pain this time? "

He didn't even answer Ojae's question.

"I guess she has become much stronger than before, though. I didn't realize she could even say things like that."

After hearing Gyeonhui, Ojae nodded with a smile.

"Are you proud of her now in front of me?"

"Oh, no. I can't mean it." Ojae responded quickly.

"No way, had she cursed me?"

"Cursed? No way." Ojae shook his head, seemingly skeptical.

"If we at least knew the cause, we would be able to do something to deal with it."

Gyeonhui sighed with frustration.

"Hold on..."

After a moment of thought, Gyeonhui opened his eyes wide, realizing something.

"Yes. The reason! We have to find the cause!"

"What suddenly got into you?" Ojae asked.

"We have to find the reason why I feel her pain. Knowing will lead us to understand how to reverse it."

"You're right. Why didn't we think about this before?"

"... Because it was such a ridiculous situation."

It wasn't possible for him to feel her pain, nor for her to lash out against him either. These two unrelated events forced him to continue to act unlike him.

"But how would I learn about the cause?"

Ojae asked in doubt.

"I have to do a blood test and a CT scan, or whatever. I will drag her to Dr. Seo if I have to."

Ojae nodded, agreeing with Gyeonhui's thoughts. Gyeonhui rose without hesitation and grabbed his coat.

"Where are you going?"

Ojae looked at him with a surprised look on his face and asked.

"The pet fair."

"Are you going to go after her?"

"Hurry up. We don't have much time."

Gyeonhui's expression showed his determination.

"Oh, okay. I'll get the car ready."

Ojae stepped out of the office.

Gyeonhui clenched his fist while biting his lower lip.

"I'm going to end this ridiculous situation as soon as possible."

He then rushed to the parking lot.

35. Don't Be Weak

In front of a café on the side of the Bukhan River.

Left in the car alone, Sun closed her eyes. She was lost in her deep thoughts.

"Hmm..."

Maybe it's because it has been so long since I have been able to relax. She breathed deeply while raising her stomach as she sighed. A short time later, she heard the car door open, and Eunwoo got in the car. He offered her a warm coffee.

"I thought that it has been a while since you've had a cold, right?"

Eunwoo turned on the heated seat and the heater at the same time while he was talking.

"No, I'm fine. I feel much better now. Thank you."

"That's great."

She burst out a smile upon hearing his mischievous laughter. Eunwoo had fastened his seatbelt, picked up a knee blanket from the back seat, and gave it to her.

"It's okay."

"I'm not okay. If you get a cold again, you'll blame me."

"I don't blame you."

"Do it. Blame me."

"Sorry?"

"I think sometimes you should blame someone, not yourself."

Eunwoo unfolded the blanket and covered her shoulders. Sun looked up at his eyes in amazement.

Naturally, his face approached her, and his crisp scent wafted and surrounded her.

She leaned over on her seat; she was a bit tense and nervous, but he looked at her calmly and covered her in blankets while smiling with relief.

Maybe it's because of the heater.

She looked at her flushed face in the mirror.

Her hair was sporadic and tangled up in the wind.

"Since when have I looked like this?"

Sun, who looked surprised, quickly straightened her hair. She was distracted and had no idea about her own condition.

"It has been a while. Maybe from the time when we were on Olympic Road?"

His words meant that she looked messy from the start.

"You should have told me..."

She groomed her tangled hair while making a long face. Instead of answering, Eunwoo smiled and started the car.

"... Anyways this car is huge, right? How many passengers can we fit in here?" Sun looked inside the car and asked.

"It's a seven-seater family van."

"Seven passengers? Do you have a lot of people in your family?"

Eunwoo shook his head slowly. "My parents are in the United States, and I'm the only one in Korea."

"Then why do you need such a big car?"

"Well, I've had a dream for a long time.

Eunwoo stopped for a moment and started speaking again.

"It's such a big car, so it can fit many people. Whether to a river or a mountain, I like going everywhere with other people. I like being all together as a group. Maybe because I'm an only child…"

"Aha..."

As she looked at him, she suddenly remembered Gyeonhui.

There was only room for two people in his sports car, and there was no seat for other people.

She had never had a meal with his colleagues while he was in a relationship with him.

"Do you like people?"

"... Yes." Eunwoo responded with a warm smile.

When she saw his expression, she remembered what Eunwoo had said in the past.

'People all went away, and they all blamed me. That's why I walked. I wanted to empty everything.'

She looked at Eunwoo with a worried face.

'He likes people a lot, but I'm sure he's had hard times…'

Behind a bright smile, there seemed to be unspeakable pain lurking within.

"In the future, why don't we go somewhere with Eunyoung and Ari all together?"

Sun nodded upon hearing Eunwoo's suggestion.

"They're the type of people who are always willing to join in, so they'll probably love it."

Eunwoo nodded with a pleasant smile.

She turned her head and looked at Eunwoo's profile that reflected in the window. A warm smile overshadowed his pain.

'... He must have been so sad…'

Each of them struggled to fight their own wounds. Eunwoo was no exception.

While she was worried about Eunwoo, Gyeonjui's face suddenly came to her mind.

'... What kind of wounds does he have?

She was lost in thought for a moment. However, she quickly moved her gaze out of the window to erase Gyeonhui from her thoughts.

***

"What is this?"

Upon arriving at the Pet Fair, Gyeonhui scowled. More than two thousand square meters of exhibition space was filled with over 400 booths. Also, it looked like there were at least a few thousand visitors there.

"Alright, how do we find her in this crowd?"

"Haa…"

When Ojae asked him, Gyeonhui sighed.

"Let's not do it this way. Let's call her first."

"Call?"

"I'll just use the orphanage project as an excuse. The briefing is tomorrow, but let's do that today. Since she's in charge of this project, knowing what kind of person she is, I'm sure she'll come directly to us.

"Why are you talking about this now?"

"Because... You looked so impatient. Heh, heh…" Ojae mumbled as if he had left something unsaid. Gyeonhui felt a strange reluctance in him, but he couldn't afford to worry about it right now.

"... Call her right away."

"I will."

As soon as Gyeonhui approved of his idea, Ojae turned around and called the Kids' Fan office.

After a while, Ojae returned with a cheerful expression.

"They've been informed."

"Good. Let's go."

"Gyeonhui. Wait a minute."

Ojae stopped Gyeonhui when he turned around in a hurry.

"Why?"

"Actually... Sarah, my girlfriend, raises a cat, so I wanted to get her a cat tower. It's quite pricey. Can I look around here if they're selling one of those?"

Ojae looked at Gyeonhui and asked, apprehensively.

"There's your reason. Is that why you 're hesitating earlier?"

Gyeonhui asked, noticing the reason for Ojae's strange behavior.

"That's not… why… since we're already here… Haha."

Ojae felt sheepish and smiled awkwardly.

"... Just buy one quickly."

Gyeonhui replied while looking at him for a moment as his irritation crept onto his face. With his permission, Ojae looked around at various cat towers in a cat-related booth.

Ojae saw a five-story cat tower made out of wood and asked the attendant for a consultation.

Ojae was talking with the staff about the cat tower, and his face lit up when he found out that the price was lower than he thought.

"Why is he so happy to spend his own money on this?"

Gyeonhui shook his head because he didn't understand Ojae.

"Let's go. I've had it delivered to my home."

Ojae tried to turn around with a bright smile, but in his eyes, a familiar face appeared.

She was a woman who was wearing dark eye makeup, red lipstick, and a revealing blouse.

"Sa, Sarah?"

Ojae looked at Sarah with blank eyes.

As Gyeonhui followed his gaze, he saw Sarah, whom he had only seen in a photo.

There was another man with a disgruntled face, not Ojae, standing beside her. Furthermore, if one could see the sight of how the two people were holding each other's arms, one could only assume that they were lovers.

Unbelievably, Ojae approached her with a vacant gaze.

"Sa, Sarah... What is this..."

Ojae did not even speak properly.

"Oh, O… jae?"

Sarah seemed a little surprised when she saw Ojae, but she soon managed to collect herself.

"What are you doing here?"

"I... I came here to buy you a gift."

Ojae looked at Sarah and the man alternately, still not realizing what was happening.

"Who is he?" The man scowled as he asked.

"... He's just a friend."

Sarah's response naturally widened Ojae's eyes.