After the story about the inheritance ended, I went up to the second floor to look around the villa by myself. At regular intervals, footsteps followed behind me. After I finished climbing the stairs and turned my head, Woojin was standing a few steps away.
“Why are you following me?”
“Then am I supposed to leave my boyfriend behind and go alone?”
Hm. That’s true too.
Since we’d decided to act like a couple in front of the family, wandering around separately could look strange.
But this is awkward. I need to find the password clue. With a bad feeling in my stomach, I started walking again. Well, I can probably make up an excuse. Besides, after Dad died, the password isn’t the only problem.
This villa was a place Dad especially loved. There were times when he stayed here longer than at the main house. Unlike the house’s cold, orderly atmosphere, the villa was steeped in the warm smell of old wood and fabric. For some reason, every time I passed by, my eyes felt prickly.
At the end of the hallway was the room Dad used as both study and bedroom. Two large doors held their ground there. The end of the hall had been turned entirely into one room, making it unusually spacious.
When I opened the heavy door, an antique red carpet was the first thing that caught my eye. A desk and bookshelf made of cherry wood filled one wall, and across from them sat a bed and a small sofa. The room, reflecting Dad’s taste, was still neat and uncluttered, and it smelled of good things like wood and books.
The room was quiet, unlike downstairs. I took the 2G phone out of my bag and put it in my pants pocket. In the car on the way to the villa, I’d hooked up the charger Woojin had gotten and barely managed to turn it on. While Woojin was focused on driving, I’d tried entering Dad’s birthday, my birthday, and Mom’s birthday, but they were all wrong.
Now there were only two tries left. There was no guarantee this phone was even in Dad’s name. Even if I took it to the service center, finding the password would be difficult. In the end, I had to figure it out myself. I squeezed the phone tightly, then put it down and stood up.
I went straight to the bookshelf and scanned the spines. There were rows of Dad’s favorite mystery novels and social science papers, and I pulled out any book that caught my eye one by one. Maybe he’d hidden a note between the pages. I quickly flipped through them, frrrsh.
Woojin looked around the room, then stared at me rummaging through the bookshelf with a puzzled expression.
“What are you looking for?”
“None of your business.”
My hand froze. If I said I was looking for the phone password, I’d be in big trouble. I wished he’d just leave me alone.
I put one book back and reached for the next shelf. When I pushed aside an old album and a document folder, a thick notebook appeared deep in the bookshelf. On the light brown cover stained with age, there was familiar handwriting.
[Yeoju Baby Diary]
It’s not Dad’s handwriting. It’s like a woman’s handwriting. Right, this was Mom’s handwriting from when I was little…
In a dazed state, I took the notebook and moved to the sofa by the bed. Sitting down, I carefully opened the first page.
Mom and Dad’s handwriting alternated on the pages.
Today Yeoju walked for the first time. She pulled herself up by holding onto the sofa and walked three steps all by herself. Even after falling, she didn’t cry.
Below that, Dad’s handwriting continued.
It’s not that she didn’t cry—it seems like she was so surprised she forgot to cry. She made up for it later and cried for a long time.
I turned to the next page.
The first word Yeoju said was “Dad.” I practiced “Mom” with her all day, so this is unfair.
She likes Dad more.
Next to Dad’s handwriting, Mom had drawn a big X.
A snort of laughter escaped me. Smiling, I turned the page.
Her fever wouldn’t go down from dawn. When I hold her, she looks for Mom; when Mom holds her, she looks for Dad. In the end, the three of us stayed up all night.
By morning, she fell asleep on her own as if she’d never been sick. Only Mom and Dad ended up bedridden.
I wanted to keep reading, but the letters blurred. I hurriedly wiped my eyes and turned the page again. No matter how much I wiped them, tears kept falling. Afraid they’d soak through the paper, I hugged the notebook to my chest.
What on earth did the two of you leave behind and where did you go? I leaned my body against the sofa. Maybe because I hadn’t slept properly for days, my eyelids grew heavy in an instant. I just wanted to close my eyes for a little while. Just a little.
“Mom……”
I tightened my arms so I wouldn’t drop the notebook I was holding to my chest.
“Dad……”
My tear-choked voice grew smaller and smaller. Before I knew it, I drifted off to sleep.
---
Yeoju’s breathing had become even. After looking around the room, Woojin walked toward the sofa. He pulled the baby diary out of Yeoju’s arms and flipped through a few pages. Today Yeoju walked. Yeoju said Dad for the first time. Similar entries kept going on.
Woojin, as if he had no real interest, set the baby diary down beside the sofa. He looked down at Yeoju’s sleeping face for a moment, then reached into his pants pocket. He took out the silver 2G phone inside. When he pressed the power button, the lock screen appeared.
Woojin opened the password entry screen and entered numbers without hesitation. After quickly typing in the four-digit code, the wallpaper appeared. The phone was unlocked.
And inside it was one text message. A message from 15 years ago.
As if he’d checked everything he needed to, Woojin immediately turned the phone off. He turned it on again, confirmed that the lock screen appeared, then put the phone back into Yeoju’s pocket.
His fingers never once hesitated.
