When Your Pain Becomes Mine

***

'Thum, Thum,'

The car shook once they reached the country road more than Sun had expected.

"The roads are rougher than I thought."

Eunwoo nodded silently upon hearing Sun's words.

As she watched the endless, unpaved road, Sun looked at Ojae through the rearview mirror.

"Ojae, we're on the right path, aren't we?"

"Yes. This will probably be asphalted before the next campaign." Ojae replied.

"You've been talking with the city hall, haven't you?" Gyeonhui asked.

"Yes, They've decided to pay the cost that you requested the other day."

"Wow. Are you even paving the road?" Ari intervened to ask.

"Yes. This place is so far from the city, so it was hard to get the city government to pave it. They've agreed to my terms on the condition that we pay for the cost, though."

"That's great…"

Sun looked a little surprised, too, and glanced at Gyeonhui in the rearview mirror. Gyeonhui looked out of the window and seemed to be submerged in thought.

"Well, We've arrived."

When Eunwoo finished parking, the people left the car.

"I'll go say hello to her."

After adjusting his clothes, Gyeonhui stepped toward the building with a slightly firm expression.

"Now, let us carry our boxes, too, okay?"

On Eunyoung's words, they began to take the boxes out of the trunk and carry them toward the building.

At that time, some of the younger elementary school children rushed to the office.

"Uncle!"

"Great uncle!"

The children approached with a bright smile and hung on Ojae's legs.

"Hey, guys, it's heavy."

"Get inside quickly; otherwise, you won't have any gifts."

"You're mean!"

"Hey, let's get in quickly."

The children returned faster than when they came out while pulling at each other.

"Ah, boys." Ojae smiled as he watched the children.

"I guess you come here often," Sun asked.

"Yes, it's a place with a special story."

"A special story?"

Sun looked at Ojae and carefully asked again.

"Yes. It's a special place for Gyeonhui and me. That's all you need to know for now. I hope Gyeonhui can talk about his story in detail sometime in the future."

Unwilling to speak anymore, Ojae quickly stepped forward and headed to the building.

Sun had not left the spot for a long time due to unknown anxiety.

42. Willful Negligence

In front of the director's room, Gyeonhui looked a little nervous.

After a few seconds, he carefully knocked on the door.

'Knock. Knock.'

"Please come in." He heard the voice of a gentle middle-aged woman.

After adjusting his clothes, he opened the sliding door and stepped inside.

An elderly nun who was wearing thick glasses was sewing children's clothes.

"Sister Andrea."

She looked up when she heard him.

She looked through his glasses and smiled when she noticed him.

"Who is this man!?"

She put down her needle and clothes, walked toward him, and punched his stomach with her fist.

"Oop." He m.o.a.n.e.d upon feeling the unexpected surprise attack.

"You troublemaker, it's been a while."

"... You're still here." He replied while touching his stomach.

"Oh, Ojae said that you wouldn't be here because you're so busy these days."

"Things just happened." He tried to avoid answering her with a smile.

"But why are you sewing clothes? If you need more kids' clothes, you should have asked us."

Sister Andrea shook her head. "Children need new clothes, but they also need to learn the habit of saving. That way, they can stand up on their own, even if they fall a few times."

Gyeonhui smiled after hearing Andrea's advice that he had heard so many times before.

"It reminds me of the old days."

"Don't pretend to be an a.d.u.l.t, you're still just a troublemaker in my eyes forever."

Andrea said with a smile, and her eyes were deeply wrinkled.

"Ugh..."

At that time, he felt pain in his back all of a sudden.

He barely m.o.a.n.e.d, but Andrea looked at him in doubt.

"Are you sick?"

"Oh, no." He smiled and shook his head.

He turned his head and looked out the window. He saw that Sun was getting out of the car.

He barely endured pain while biting his lower lip.

"Is everything okay?" Andrea asked.

"Yes, everything is okay," he said.

"No, something's going on with you."

"No, there isn't."

"You can't deceive the devil."

"Are you supposed to say that as a nun?"

"Don't worry about that."

Andrea shrugged, seemingly unconcerned. He smiled outrageously, but his face darkened again. He turned his head, and the calendar caught his eye.

It was a painting of Jesus walking over the sea to his disciples.

"Sister Andrea... Do you still believe in miracles?"

"Sure. It's a miracle that you came here today."

Andrea responded with a smile. He smiled with her, but his face gradually subsided soon.

He struggled for a moment and slowly started speaking.

"If something unbelievable happens to me, Hah…. No, never mind."

He shook his head, but she smiled and looked at him still.

She seemed to be waiting until he could speak for himself.

'You haven't changed a bit.'

She always did this.

Andrea had never scolded her children.

She was a person who would wait for hours, even days, for him to speak for themselves.

After a long period of contemplation, he struggled to speak. "What if something unbelievable happened in my life?"

"For example?"

"Well... I don't think there's a good example."

Andrea, who was staring at his eyes for a moment, slowly started to speak.

"God sometimes does things that make no sense. We call it a miracle or sometimes a curse."

'... It's closer to a curse.'

He thought in his mind and smiled bitterly.

"But what matters is not the miracle or the curse. It's important to think about why it happened." Andrea stopped for a moment and looked at him. "And I believe you will discover that. As always."

Andrea smiled warmly as she finished speaking.

"We always realize things..."

"After everything has passed by."

Gyeonhui finished Andrea's sentence.

"Here you go."

Andrea smiled and looked at him. However, he breathed a shallow sigh, seemingly unable to agree with the words.

He has had a lot of things going on in his life, but there were some things that he couldn't understand.

'Knock. Knock.'

Then, with the sound of a knock, the door to her room opened.

"Hello. Sister Andrea. I'm here again."

Ojae greeted and stepped inside.

"One guy comes too often, and the other guy doesn't come often enough. There's no balance between you guys."

"But isn't it better to come too often?"

Ojae jokingly said while looking at Gyeonhui.

"Well, that's right."

"It's all ready. Let's go."

Andrea nodded at Ojae's words. Before leaving, Andrea gently patted Gyeonhui's shoulders.

He was left alone in the room and turned his head to look out the window.

While Sun was preparing for the campaign, she remained smiling as if she didn't have any pain.

Sun looked so happy that it was hard to think that she came here for work.

"I can't even understand her…"

He shook his head while rubbing his lower back, which continued to torture him.

"Hmm… the cause..."

He mumbled to himself with a firm expression, but no matter how much he thought about it, he could not understand the reason why this was happening to him.

With a deep sigh, he slowly left the room.