[TOMORROW X TOGETHER Beomgyu] To the point of aching

Episode 2. The words that you don’t remember

 

Bumgyu suddenly opened his eyes from a fevered sleep.

 

The first thing that caught his eye was the woman’s side profile, seated beneath candlelight.

 

For a moment, he thought his breath had stopped.

He wondered if it was a dream. No, it had to be a dream.

Ten years. Since he had last seen that face.

 

 

*

 

 

[Ten Years Ago, the Choi Family Courtyard]

 

It was a day with beautiful sunshine.

 

"When I grow up later, I’m really going to marry you."

 

 

The young heroine smiled bashfully and pressed one half of a jade pendant firmly into his hand.

At the time, no one knew how heavy that promise would become.

Bumgyu had never once forgotten that laugh, or the warmth of that hand, not for a single day.

 

 

*

 

 

[Present]

 

"Miss, you’re still awake?"

 

The maid’s voice came through the crack in the door.

 

"Young Miss, if this goes on, you’ll be the one to collapse first."

 

The instant he heard that name, Bumgyu’s fingertips stiffened slightly.

It wasn’t a mistake.

 

She was alive. She had grown up like this, with a face like this.

 

Something surged up violently inside his chest.

Whether it was relief or resentment, he himself couldn’t tell.

At the same time, a chill ran down his spine.

 

He felt like he was only now realizing which house this was.

If he revealed his name now, he had no way of knowing what would happen.

How far the rumor that the Choi family child thought dead had returned alive would spread.

Whether the eyes and ears of those who had been chasing him would reach even this quiet village.

So Bumgyu decided to act like he knew nothing at all.

 

 

*

 

 

The next morning, once the fever had eased a little, Yeoju carefully sat beside him.

 

"Are you feeling better? What is your name, by the way……."

 

Bumgyu slowly opened his eyes.

For a moment, just a very brief moment, he met Yeoju’s gaze, then turned his head away.

"…I don’t know."

 

His voice came out cracked.

 

"My name, where I came from…… I can’t remember anything."

 

Yeoju’s eyes widened.

 

"Nothing at all?"

 

Instead of answering, Bumgyu lowered his head.

The hand pressed to his forehead trembled faintly.

 

He hadn’t known lying could be this easy.

And at the same time, this painful.

 

 

*

 

 

The news soon spread beyond the sarangchae.

Kim Yuhyeong stood there with a furrowed brow for a long while, then finally let out a low sigh.

 

"Let him rest and recover. We can’t so heartlessly throw out someone who says he has lost his memory."

 

This house had always been that kind of place.

A place that never turned away someone with nowhere to go.

Yeoju knew that after they moved back to the countryside, that kindness had only grown stronger.

 

"Thank you, sir."

 

Bumgyu bowed his head quietly.

Even he was starting to get confused as to whether that relief was for himself or for this house.

As Yeoju left the room, she stopped Dani.

 

"Dani, doesn’t he look familiar to you too?"

"Well, I’m not sure……. Why, do you know him, Miss?"

"I don’t know. It just feels like I’ve seen him somewhere before."

 

Dani tilted her head.

 

"Honestly, Miss, judging by how he looks, he doesn’t seem like someone you’d know."

 

That was true.

He was a man whose worn appearance made him someone the only daughter of a noble family could never casually meet.

 

And yet, something in one corner of her heart kept bothering her.

Yeoju pushed that strange feeling away and headed back to the room with a bowl of porridge in her hands.

 

"Since he has no name, I’m not sure what I should call him."

 

Bumgyu looked at her for a moment, then gave a faint smile.

"Call me however you like, Miss."

 

That face, pale and sorrowful a moment ago, brightened as if he were a completely different person when he smiled.
That smile didn’t feel unfamiliar. It felt like she had seen it somewhere before.

 

Before she knew it, Yeoju fell silent for a moment.

He’s a strange person, she thought.

Without even having a name, why does he make me feel so at ease?