When Your Pain Becomes Mine

53. Breathless

"Why did Ojae..."

She sat motionless for a long time after hanging up the phone. No matter how much she thought about this, she could not understand why Ojae's name would come out of this.

Feeling anxious, Sun struggled to remember the day.

When she tried to leave with Labong in her arms, she lost consciousness, and someone's voice came to her mind.

'Cheonsun!'

The man rushed in as he opened the door. He called her name.

'He knew my name... Oh. No way...'

At that moment, she recalled the day in retrospect. The man's face, who she thought was her father, clearly had sharp facial features.

'Gyeonhui…'

She grabbed her phone and raised herself.

***

"Hmm."

Upon returning to his office, Gyeonhui glanced at the Kids Fan's office through the window. He could see that Eunyoung was making phone calls, and Ari was working on design modifications.

"Hasn't she come here yet?"

He didn't understand why she returned to the office later than him when he stopped by the tow yard to get his car back first.

"Oh..."

Then he felt pain in his heels that had subsided for a while. It was as if she were walking at high speed; the pain increased frequently.

"Did she left to work away from the office again? Really?"

He frowned upon feeling the revolting pain in his feet and soon opened the door of the Kids Fan's office.

He would make her return home if she was working away from the office.

"Oh, hello."

Ari stood up and greeted him once she recognized him.

"Where is Cheonsun?"

"Well, that's..."

Ari froze after hearing his cold words and hurriedly rolled her eyes.

"Where is she?"

"... She said she's going to stop by her house for a while because she left her phone at home."

"Oh, the cell phone."

'Is that why she is moving in a hurry?'

He thought and looked at his throbbing heels.

"Oh, is there no schedule here after work?"

"You mean, me?" Ari looked surprised while holding her hands on her c.h.e.s.t.

"You really think that I meant your schedule?"

"Oh... you mean Sun?" Ari, breathing a sigh of relief, replied. "I think she said that she has an appointment today."

"An appointment?"

"I don't know who she is going to meet today." Ari kept her mouth shut as if she couldn't speak anymore.

"... Who is she going to meet?" He asked while furrowing his brow.

"It's Dr. Park."

Then, Eunyoung's voice was heard from behind him.

He turned his head and saw that Eunyoung had finished a phone call and was walking toward him slowly.

"She has a dinner appointment with Dr. Park tonight. So please don't disturb the two of them, and go back to your office."

Her calm tone irritated him as he furrowed his brows.

"Disturb? Ha!" He laughed with outrage as he glared at Eunyoung. "I won't disturb them. I'm going to completely stop them."

"Hey, Mr. Woo."

He could hear Eunyoung's voice, but he exited the office before they could do anything more. As he walked out roughly to the hallway, he suddenly stopped.

"That was the reason that she dressed up so nicely."

He furrowed his brow and mumbled to himself.

***

"Are you on our side or his side? Stop babbling!" Eunyoung looked at Ari in a frustrated way.

"I'm sorry... I was scared."

Ari dropped her eyes, with her mouth shut, as if she had nothing more to say.

"Call Sun right away before something could happen to her."

"... Yes."

Ari lifted her phone while feeling timid. After a few rings, Sun answered the phone.

"Hey, I have something to say... Where are you now?"

Ari's eyes widened when she heard Sun's answer.

"Hey, Sun! Sun!"

Ari called her over the phone in a hurry, but Sun had already hung up.

"What? What's wrong?"

Eunyoung was watching Ari and asked anxiously.

"She said that she is almost here… but...."

"But what?"

"She said that she's going to meet Mr. Woo."

"Why?"

"I have no idea..."

Ari seemed anxious, too, while biting her lower lip and blurring the end of her words.

"... Why are things getting more complicated… This is frustrating…"

Eunyoung sighed with her hands on her back, seemingly outraged.

***

"No, I don't know what you are saying..."

Ojae looked up slowly, stammering in embarrassment.

Sun sat on the other side and opened her mouth again with an expressionless face.

"Did Gyeonhui come to our house yesterday? Do you know anything?"

"I know nothing."

Ojae turned his head to hide his embarrassed face from her.

"... You asked for a cash receipt in your name for the door repair, Ojae."

With her confident interrogation, Ojae closed his eyes tightly.

'I shouldn't have done it! Why did I do it...?'

Ojae regretted it, but he had no more to hide and inevitably spoke up.

"That's... Gyeonhui visited your house by coincidence, and he noticed that there was smoke coming out of your house. He injured his hand when he struggled to save you."

After hearing Ojae's reply, she recalled that his hand was in a plaster cast.

'As expected...'

After understanding the whole situation, Sun closed her eyes and opened them again.

"... Why did you deceive me?"

"Well, that's..."

Ojae could not find the right answer as he stuttered.

Then the door opened, and Gyeonhui came in.

"I'll explain."

He approached her with a firm expression.

"I thought you would hate the fact that I saved you. That's all."

Sun bit her lower lip hearing his response.

"... You should have just left me there."

"What do you mean?"

"Because I hate it. I really hate it more than anything that it was you who saved me."

His eyes shook violently.

"... Is it fun to play on my emotions?" Her voice trembled.

"It's not like that."

"Do you think something has changed because you helped and watched out for me?"

"Listen to me! Ugh…

Gyeonhui tried to stop her, but he took his hand away from her because his injury started to act up again. Sun looked at it and spoke to him with cold eyes.

"... Don't take credit for your rescue. Please."

After hearing her words, he froze on the spot. Sun ran out of the office at the end of that sentence.

"Wait, Sun!"

Ojae hurriedly chased after her. There was only silence in the office behind the sound of the door closing.

'Don't take credit for your rescue.'

Sun's words overlapped with what he said sometime in the past. On the day she was preparing a lunch box for him, she placed a bandage on her finger that was hurt while she was cooking.

'Are you showing me that you're injured because of this?'

This phrase that he said carelessly came to his mind clearly, as if it happened yesterday.

He clutched his c.h.e.s.t after feeling the advancing pain. He smashed his molars as if showing that he had endured the pain and suddenly ran out of the office.