daffodil

10

Since Han Dong-min returned to the country, Seo Jae-hee has been unable to go see Lee Han.
Whatever he was thinking, Han Dong-min came to Seo Jae-hee's house every single day.
Coming every day with a flower in hand, drinking gah-be and spending the evening together before going home, his thoughts were difficult to read.
In the end, when it was time for him to leave, Seo Jae-hee asked in front of the gate.

Seo Jae-hee: “I’m curious what you’re thinking, coming here every day, young master”

Han Dong-min: “…I’m the young lady’s fiancé. I don’t think there’s any bigger reason than that.”

Seo Jae-hee let out a dry laugh and asked.
Though her face was smiling, her voice was as cold as frost.

Seo Jae-hee: “…Fiancé…? So you were someone who thought that way. I didn’t know?”

After stopping for a moment and calming her boiling anger, Seo Jae-hee opened her mouth again.

Seo Jae-hee: “Young master, because of you, I’ve been saddled with the disgrace of having been abandoned by my fiancé. And even so, are you still in the mood to come here?”

Han Dong-min was unable to say anything for a moment.

Seo Jae-hee: ”I don’t want to hear your excuses. Whether you studied or enjoyed your freedom to the fullest, I have no way of knowing.“

Seo Jae-hee ended with that and shut the gate in front of Han Dong-min’s eyes.
Han Dong-min stood there quietly for several minutes.

Han Dong-min: ”…Very…late.“

Seo Jae-hee went into her room and flopped onto the bed.

Seo Jae-hee: ”….You’re really ridiculous.“

Unable to fall asleep for a long time because of her cluttered thoughts, Seo Jae-hee eventually went out for a nighttime walk.
A nighttime walk was really just pacing around the yard inside the house.
When she exhaled into the cold night air, a pale cloud of breath drifted around her face before disappearing.
Just as she was getting cold and was about to go back to her room, a gunshot rang out nearby, and a person came tumbling over the wall and fell.

Seo Jae-hee held her breath.
A murmur came from beyond the wall, then the sound of several people’s footsteps faded away.
The person who had fallen over the wall seemed to be breathing shallowly and raggedly.
Approaching the man slowly, Seo Jae-hee was startled and helped him sit up properly.

Seo Jae-hee: “…Dong-hyeon oppa..??!”

Lee Han: “Haa….Jae..hee…?”

Lee Han’s eyes were dim and unfocused, and his pupils kept scanning the surroundings.

Lee Han: “…Whe…where…urk..!”

A red, sticky liquid soaked out from Lee Han’s left shoulder.

Seo Jae-hee: “You’re bleeding! What is going on…”

Seo Jae-hee helped Lee Han into her room and laid him down on the bed.
From the room where she kept her medicinal herbs, she took out the herbs and began steeping them in cold water.
She had no idea that the herbs she had memorized through suffering every winter as a child from a vicious cold would come in handy like this.
Seo Jae-hee used sterilized tongs to pull out the bullet lodged diagonally in his shoulder.
It was a real bullet.

Seo Jae-hee: “What kind of work do you do that you end up with a bullet…!”

Before Seo Jae-hee could say anything else, Lee Han raised his uninjured arm and covered Jae-hee’s mouth.

Lee Han: “…Keep quiet for a bit.”

Once both of them went quiet, silence settled over the room—or rather, over the entire mansion.
Only then did Seo Jae-hee realize that she had been speaking far too loudly in the middle of the night, and she lowered her voice.

Seo Jae-hee: “..You’ll have to explain everything later, so brace yourself… For now…I’ll let it go because you’re hurt.”