[TOMORROW X TOGETHER Beomgyu] To the point of aching

Episode 4. Letting someone into my side

It had only been a little over half a month, but Beomgyu’s wounds had healed beyond recognition.

Even the doctor who had made the first house call came back and clicked his tongue in amazement.

 

"For a wound that deep to close up this quickly, your body must naturally be unusually robust."

"...I suppose so."

 

Beomgyu could only give an awkward laugh and let it pass.

He couldn’t very well say that this was a body trained to survive.

 

 

*

 

 

"You can sit there if you’d like. It’s not as though you have anything else to do."

 

Yeoju said as she took out her embroidery frame.

Beomgyu sat down on the edge of the wooden floor, pretending he couldn’t resist.

Watching her still fingers move the needle, he suddenly spoke up.

"Plum blossoms."

"Oh my, you know them?"

"...No. It just looked like that to me."

 

Yeoju gave a snort of laughter.

 

"You don’t even remember anything, but you somehow know flower names."

"Knowing with your eyes is a different matter."

 

At his shameless answer, Yeoju ran out of anything to say and went back to her needle.

With every stitch she set, Beomgyu’s gaze followed the tip of her hand.

 

"If you keep looking like that, my hand starts shaking and I’ll sew crooked."

"If you tell me not to look, I won’t. But there’s nothing else worth looking at."

"Is teasing me really that fun?"

 

"It’s quite enjoyable watching your face turn red, young lady."

 

In the end, Yeoju couldn’t hold back and set the needle down, glaring at him.

And yet, rather than being angry, she kept having to bite back laughter that wanted to slip out.

 

"Enough of that. If you’re bored, why don’t you go sweep the yard over there."

"I thought being by your side was my job, was it not?"

"Who said to do that?"

"Your expression did. You looked very pleased just now."

 

Yeoju let out a dumbfounded laugh.

Lately, she’d been keenly realizing she had never once won an argument.

This kind of time didn’t feel unfamiliar. No, it should have, but it didn’t.

 

 

*

 

 

That afternoon, Yeoju took a walk around the courtyard to get some air.

Before she knew it, Beomgyu had quietly followed behind and was walking with her.

Then all of a sudden a passing shower came down, and before either of them could get out of the way, they were soaked through.

Beomgyu hurriedly took her hand and pulled her under the eaves.

"Are you all right?"

"...Yes, it just came so suddenly."

 

Catching their breath, they faced each other from a closer distance than she had expected.

Raindrops ran from his forehead down to his chin.

A jade pendant briefly showed through the wet collar of his clothes, and he casually tucked it back in with his hand.

Seeing the gesture, Yeoju averted her eyes as if she hadn’t noticed.

 

"...It’s raining quite a lot."

"It is."

 

It was nothing special to say, and yet a strange afterglow lingered between them.

 

"Is it all right for you to get soaked, sir?"

"I’ve already died once and come back to life. A little rain isn’t going to do anything to me."

 

He said it like a joke, but for some reason Yeoju’s heart ached.

For a long while, only the sound of rain kept drumming on the eaves.

 

 

*

 

 

Watching them through a crack in the sarangchae door, Kim Yuhyeong unknowingly furrowed his brow.

He couldn’t remember the last time he’d seen his daughter laugh so easily.

Ever since coming back to the countryside, she had always been cautious and somehow shadowed.

 

But something kept snagging in a corner of his heart. It was an unexplainable discomfort.

He couldn’t even tell what about that man was so unsettling.

 

"It’s probably nothing."

 

He muttered it like a soliloquy and closed the door, but that uneasy feeling did not fade easily.

It was an unexplainable sense of deja vu, as if he had come face to face with something he had lost long ago.

 

 

*

 

 

That evening, after the rain stopped, Yeoju asked absentmindedly,

 

"Don’t you miss your hometown? Even without memories, they say things like that are known by the heart."

 

It was a question tossed out without much thought.

But the smile vanished from Beomgyu’s face in an instant.

It was only for a moment, but Yeoju saw it clearly.

That hollow look in his eyes.

"...Who knows. I don’t even know if there was such a place."

 

His voice had sunk lower than usual.

Yeoju thought she’d asked something she shouldn’t have and was about to change the subject quickly, but Beomgyu smiled faintly first.

"I’m joking. What’s there to miss when I don’t even remember anything?"

 

That smile wasn’t enough to erase the expression from moments ago.

Yeoju didn’t press him further. Instead, she wordlessly placed a warm cup of tea in his hands.

Beomgyu stared at that warmth for a moment, then quietly thanked her.

 

"That’s strange."

"What is?"

"Why you’re being this good to someone who doesn’t even have memories."

 

Yeoju thought for a moment before answering honestly.

 

"Just... I like having you here, sir. It somehow feels familiar, too."

 

With a slightly embarrassed smile, Yeoju added,

 

"I’m not really sure why."

 

Beomgyu’s gaze wavered. As if he were about to say something, he ended up swallowing it back.

 

"You’re a strange one too, young lady."

"I suppose so. I don’t really know why I’m like this either."

 

The two of them smiled at each other. What was hidden in those smiles, neither of them knew.

That day, Yeoju learned for the first time that there is such a thing as comfort that doesn’t need to be spoken.