watching me following behind
Hoonji said.
"I came for nothing...
my heart only got more uneasy."
"Why, Hoonji?"
"Before you met me, he was President Kim, right?"
"Ah..."
I gave a snort of laughter.
"Don’t worry about it.
not everything like that is right, anyway."
"Don’t listen to that old lady
and go to the president, okay?"
"Got it?"
"What if I go?"
I asked teasingly.
"Then I...
I’ll have to wait until Junga comes back."
Tears welled up at Hoonji’s answer.
"Why are your eyes filling with tears?"
Hoonji asked, flustered.
"I thought Hoonji would say he’d take him back
again...
but saying you’d just wait until he comes back...
is so moving."
Hoonji squeezed my hand tightly.
"I said that because I knew
you wouldn’t go."
Thud!!
I squeezed his hand even tighter.
"Hoonji. Let’s go out to eat.
Miguel went to dinner with another friend."
"Another friend?
He made a friend in Korea?"
"Yeah. Since he’s about the same age as Jisung,
I guess they became friends really quickly."
"Ah~ That’s great.
Still, I’m really grateful to Miguel."
"Why?"
"Thanks to Miguel, I get to spend more time
with Junga, which makes me happy.
Living in the same house too."
I looked at Hoonji for a moment, then
opened my mouth carefully.
"What if we..."
After hesitating for a second, I smiled.
"Should we just live in the same house?"
Hoonji stopped walking
and looked my way.
"Just kidding, kidding. Why are you so shocked?"
"Geez... I thought you were serious..."
"If you were serious, would that even be possible?
I mean, unless it was another country."
Hoonji looked at me for a moment, then
said,
"I want to go back to Spain."
"If you were to leave everything behind and go with me
to Spain to live,
could you do it?"
"Leave work and family behind too?"
"Yeah. If I said let’s just go live in another country together,
could you do it?"
"That’s a really hard question...
I’d have to think about it."
"Mm... right."
Silence fell for a moment.
Hoonji looked at me.
"What about Junga?"
'I can do it.'
I thought to myself only.
But
afraid it might burden him,
I gave a different answer.
"I’d have to think about it..."
The next day.
On the way to the café, I stopped in front of that tarot shop.
Should I go in, or not?
As I hesitated dozens of times,
the shop door opened.
"Come in. Don’t just stand there..."
"Ah... yes..."
"Were you hesitating because you were afraid
you’d hear something nasty?"
"Yes... that’s right.
After what you told me yesterday,
I’ve been feeling a little uneasy."
The old lady looked into my eyes and asked,
"The person you brought yesterday, he’s a famous actor, right?"
I nodded instead of answering.
"The tarot said he was a shining star, so
I thought something was odd."
The old lady looked at me steadily.
"You must have had a lot of ups and downs until now...
and there seem to be a lot of obstacles even now."
After a moment, she asked,
"Do you really have to meet that person like that?"
"Huh?
Well... I did meet other people,
and tried avoiding it too...
but it didn’t work out."
"Fate really is persistent, isn’t it?"
"Yes..."
"The reason I asked you to come separately today...
was because I wanted to tell you to break up.
I asked you to come alone because I thought
that young man might feel bad if he heard it."
"Break up?"
"But even if I tell you this,
it seems like you don’t mean to do that, miss.
Honestly, I regretted asking you to come yesterday."
"Is it so bad for me and that person to be together
that breaking up would be better?"
The old lady hesitated for a moment, then spoke.
"It’s bad for you.
But since that young man loves you,
in the end it’ll be bad for him too."
"You’re not even asking how it’s bad?"
"Even if something happens, I’m not going to break up,
so I don’t really want to know."
The old lady shook her head and said,
"I knew it..."
"Miss... wait just a moment.
I’ll give you a tarot charm that keeps
your love safe."
"Tarot has charms too?"
"It infuses energy into it."
"How much is it?"
"It’s nothing.
Even though I already know your answer,
the reason I asked you to come separately today
was because I wanted to
protect the love between you two."
"Keep this with you at all times.
In a way, it’s admirable that you can love someone
that deeply."
"Thank you."
I set the tarot charm the old lady gave me
as my phone wallpaper.
"Um... should I quit my job?"
