When Your Pain Becomes Mine

51. Unexpected Encounters

In the late afternoon, Sun had completed the discharge procedure at the hospital and got into Eunwoo's car.

"Are you sure that you're really okay?"

Eunwoo, who was in the driver's seat, checked on her once more. He was still worried about her.

"My throat is still dry, but the rest of my body feels just normal. I feel even better because I've had plenty of rest."

She responded with a bright smile, pretending to be casual.

Eunwoo smiled and gently started the car.

"Please keep this secret from Ari and Eunyoung."

"Sorry?"

"We have a crucial meeting tomorrow, and they would stop me from going to the meeting if they knew what happened today."

"Um..."

"Because I'm a protective-concerned soldier, so I have to be careful."

"Hahaha. Where did you learn that from? It's a term that people use in the army."

"Oh... My dad used to say it a lot."

At one point, Sun remembered her dad's face before she lost consciousness. She could see her dad's face who had passed away, so she thought that she would die. She wondered why she noticed her dad's face since she had never seen him in a dream just like that moment.

Eunwoo looked at her with sympathy.

He had heard before that she had lost both her parents.

"What kind of person was he?" Eunwoo asked her carefully.

"... He was so sweet. I was always so careless, so I'd have injuries and accidents a lot. That's why he joked that I'm a soldier of interest."

"He was a good man."

She slowly nodded after hearing Eunwoo's words. After pausing for a moment, Sun showed him a picture of her dad on her phone.

"He's so handsome, isn't he? My mom told me that she fell in love with him at first sight.

Sun speaking bitterly was suddenly reminded of Gyeonhui's face.

Why did his face suddenly come to her mind?

She tried to remember the day her place caught on fire but couldn't find the answer.

She had to shed her memory of Gyeonhui, so she shook her head slowly as her mouth closed. However, the more she tried to forget about him, the more his face came to her mind.

"Huh..." A heavy sigh spilled out of her mouth.

Eunwoo's expression was full of sadness as he looked at her.

***

"Umm…"

It seemed that Sun was awake because he felt the dryness in his throat again.

He coughed a few times, but he knew better than anyone that coughing was useless, and there was no other way.

As he sighed, furrowing his brow, he looked at who was Terry sitting on the other side.

As he approached Terry carefully, Gyeonhui leaned down and stroked Terry's head. Still nervous, Terry looked up at him with his tail down. However, he did something that he had never done before, such as sticking his tongue out slightly.

Gyeonhui had a slight smile on his face.

Then the door opened, Ojae came in. Terry, as always, ran toward Ojae with his tail wagging.

"I'm here to report to you."

Ojae spoke in a sarcastic tone, seemingly still feeling bad for having to clean up Labong's crap.

"I'm going to go to work tomorrow afternoon because I have a meeting with an animation producer."

"A meeting?"

"I'm going with Kids Fan. I'm going to create an animation with their characters because it garnered some great traction from our customers. I mean, Sir."

After realizing his tone, Ojae quickly changed his tone to be more respectful.

"You try hard."

"What?"

"I'm sorry that I made you clean the dog poop.

"I don't care."

In saying so, Ojae seemed to have already been released.

"So, who's going with you?"

"Well. I'll probably go with Sun because she is the designer."

"... Okay."

Gyeonhui also wanted to go, but he replied differently.

"Or will you go instead of me?"

At Ojae words, Gyeonhui shook his head.

"It's strange that the president would join a meeting with a designer."

"... Right."

Ojae nodded, seemingly agreeing with Gyeonhui.

Gyeonhui took a deep breath like he was frustrated.

Suddenly, he felt that a lot of things around him were becoming inaccessible for some reason.

He had never done that before, and there were so many things to worry about.

"What the hell has changed..."

His own behavior had changed seemingly under challenging ways; it was something foreign to him, so he furrowed his brow.

Then a message arrived on his cell phone in his pocket.

When he checked the caller, it was Eunwoo.

'Do me a favor, too, in the future.'

"Sure, no problem." He nodded.

'Bzzzz.'

Then another text arrived.

'No matter what I ask for.'

Eunwoo's texts that ensured the fact that he must keep this promise gave him an ominous feeling at the moment.

"... It won't be anything special."

As if trying to confide his anxiety, Gyeonhui deliberately mumbled to himself.

However, the insecurity that didn't go away easily stayed by his side for a long time.

***

When Sun picked up Labong at the hospital, she stood at the door of her house.

'Ding, ding, ding.'

After taking out her phone, Sun pressed the password on the front door while looking at Eunwoo's text. According to Eunwoo, he had smashed the door to open it, and then he replaced the door.

After pushing the unknown four-digit numbers, she entered the house.

"Hmm."

There was still a smell of light smoke inside, but there was no other trace.

The stove was cleaned, and there were no soot stains.

"I owe him so much."

Sun dropped Labong on the floor and sat on the couch, exhausted.

"Ruff! Ruff!"

When she returned home, Labong wandered around like he was excited to be home again. Sun, who was looking at him still, reached out to Labong.

"You saved my life."

Sun reached out and stroked Labong.

Labong licked her finger with pure eyes. She was playing with Labong for a while, and suddenly remembered the morning of that day.

"... Who was it?"

Sun struggled to remember the face of the man she had seen before she lost her consciousness.

'... Was he a paramedic?'

With her thoughts locked in her mind, a text arrived on her cell phone that she had left on the couch.

It was Eunwoo.

'Did you get in? I forgot to give you Labong's leash again. Please stop by tomorrow after work.'

She felt like his soft voice was on the voice message machine.

"... He's a very sweet man, isn't he?" Sun said to Labong with a smile.

"Ruff! Ruff!"

Labong barked low as if he were answering. She was smiling and began to text him back after she stroked Labong's head once.

"Yes, I'll stop by tomorrow after work. Thank you."

After saying the message several times with her lips, she carefully pressed the button to send.

A short time later, a reply came from him.

'That's great. See you tomorrow. I'd like to have dinner together too.'

A smile came to her face as she read Eunwoo's text.