episode_0088

After finishing the meal, Baekcheong’s tension seemed to have eased as he flopped down on the living room sofa.

“He really wants to be an actor, but he’s not that good at it.”

“Haha… Just leave him alone. He looks tired.”

Covering Baekcheong’s protruding belly with his t-shirt, his mother turned towards me and spoke.

“I’m not sure if I’m being weird, but whenever I see Chaewon, I get this strange feeling.”

“What kind of feeling?”

“If Siwoo were a girl, I feel like it would be exactly like this.”

I was so surprised that I almost fell backward. Maybe I should have sat on the side with the backrest.

“It might mean they match well, but there seems to be something more than that…”

She’s too perceptive. I didn’t expect her to notice even this.

“When we were young… we lived together for about half a year. Maybe… that’s why… I don’t know.”

“Oh. Really? That’s fate~.”

“Yeah, it was. We were young… I don’t remember much… hehe…”

With a warm smile, his mother placed her hand on her chest.

“Still, whatever happened… I feel relieved that Siwoo finally met a nice girl.”

With a shy expression, I listened carefully to his mother’s story.

“I always thought Siwoo would be surrounded by girls his whole life.”

“Is that so?”

“It was. It’s not like I wanted to know, but there were a lot of girls who liked Siwoo, but he didn’t know anything about it. They would come to our house looking for him.”

Really? When was this?

“Around Christmas, I think. Three girls came together to give him presents and left.”

Ah, I remember.

“They left the presents, telling him to open them later… but after a few days, the wrapping was still intact.”

In truth, there was no chance to open them. I showcased my most confident pieces at the concert, but due to nervousness, there were many small mistakes.

The listeners might not have noticed much, but for me, the mistakes were quite fatal.

Unable to bear it, I returned and played the piece I had practiced repeatedly to eliminate the mistakes… even if I heard the story about the presents, there was no way I could remember it.

“So when the girls came back and asked why he hadn’t opened the presents… I couldn’t tell them that Siwoo hadn’t opened them, so I just said I had mistakenly left them in my daughter’s room.”

Right. So that’s why Baekcheong suddenly got excited about receiving a New Year’s gift. It was all my fault.

I wonder where those three people are now and what they’re doing. I can’t even remember their faces and names properly, so even if I wanted to apologize, I couldn’t.

“How did we end up talking about this… Oh. Anyway.”

His mother carefully held my hand, which she had placed on her knee.

“Siwoo is not my son. You know that, right?”

“Yes…”

“But I raised him as if he were my son. I know exactly what state he’s in right now and what kind of woman he needs.”

Jung Siwoo, who had only planned to run with the piano as his lifelong companion until he died. His mother was very worried about Siwoo’s lonely old age.

“I don’t want to ask him to stay with me until death. He’s still young. It’s the age where he can have various relationships. He can meet different people. But if there’s one thing I hope for…”

“I hope he can be a sanctuary for that person’s heart. That’s the only thing he’s never had.”

“Yes. I will do my best.”

To me, Samo-nim was a benefactor who showed me a great deal of kindness, second only to my professor. That’s why I couldn’t fulfill Samo-nim’s wish to become a real mother.

I thought it would be disrespectful to act out as a child just because I was her biological daughter. I believed that true filial piety and repaying kindness meant growing up quickly, becoming an adult with a proper job, and then repaying her.

So I must have always seemed like a person without much leisure. How anxious she must have been. It must have felt like a young child, not yet grown up, working in a dangerous factory to earn money.

Perhaps, now I am performing the role of the ideal girlfriend that Samo-nim desires excellently. I can proudly say that I am about 50% successful.

Jung Siwoo said he enjoys being with me more than playing the piano. When he said he would continue to do so in the future.

My heart sank and the world seemed to burn hotly, but as time passed, that was truly a great change that came to Jung Siwoo.

He was growing up. From the crazy guy playing the piano as if the flood was coming, to a human who knew how to avoid the flood when it came.

Of course, there would be a condition that he must take Min Chaewon with him. But for now, isn’t avoiding danger the first priority?

“Keep fighting in the future. If Siwoo ever does something strange, you can come and ask me. I may not know everything, but I will do my best to help with anything.”

Feeling as if I had won a thousand battles, I got up from my seat and bowed my head.

And, the small revenge I couldn’t bring myself to do as the daughter of a benefactor.

“Ugh….”

In place of Jung Siwoo, I scratched the forehead of the sleeping Baek Cheongha.

***

Three weeks had passed.

During that time, nothing special happened. Jung Siwoo occasionally showed attempts to add color to his black performance, but there was no significant progress.

It felt like a constantly revving engine, so I gave up trying to figure out if there was a pattern. It was difficult to think about anything else when I was with him.

I wished he would focus only on his performance, but he kept throwing curveballs at me, which was the problem. I thought I was confident in tutoring Jung Siwoo. It was difficult because of the Alpha-Jung Siwoo dynamic.

Whether it had become a habit to tease people when bored, or if I found it amusing when I was surprised by sudden hand-holding.

Jung Siwoo subtly held my hand, touched my cheek, and massaged my shoulders without realizing he was drifting away.

Each time, I felt like I was going to die. I lived nervously, not knowing when the powder keg would explode. I was able to adapt to that speed and endure it. Otherwise, I would have already paid the price.

It was becoming increasingly difficult to suppress Min Chaewon within me. I was barely holding back her rampage, and with Jung Siwoo provoking Min Chaewon, there was no easy way to endure.

But I couldn’t distance myself from Jung Siwoo. As I mentioned before, the closer Siwoo was, the more the explosive material accumulated, but on the contrary, the faster it accumulated when we were apart.

There was no other way but to walk a tightrope with Siwoo at a reasonable distance, except for making a mad movie about handling explosives.

Anyway, while spending time with Siwoo in such a precarious manner, the revenge against Yoon Jiyu was also progressing step by step.

“Chaewon~.”

It was not about revenge, but rather about becoming close enough to help with tuning and supporting her during practice, as the primary goal was to become close enough to remove all barriers between us.

“Congratulations!”

“Thank you!”

Yoon Jiyu hugged me tightly in joy.

The reason she was so happy was that she had successfully completed the preliminary round of the world’s most prestigious Paganini Violin Competition.

“It’s all thanks to Chaewon.”

“What did I do…”

“What did you do? You helped with the accompaniment the whole time. It was really helpful.”

Of course, it must have been helpful.

One common mistake that piano majors who are often called in as accompanists make is getting too heated, saying, ‘I will pour all my passion into this accompaniment!’ I didn’t make that mistake at all.

I simply provided accompaniment to complement Yoon Jiyu’s performance. I didn’t think about outshining her or trying to show off.

Of course, I did my best in the parts where the piano needed to shine. Since we were playing in a competition style, playing an internet-sourced audio recording wouldn’t have been much different.

“Finding an accompanist isn’t easy, you know. Everyone is busy with their own performances, but they take the time to help out, so you can’t push them too hard. There’s no other way but to cling on and ask for help like this.”

You’re clinging on too well.

“Even if you offer money to perform! It would seem too insincere to sign a contract like that. What’s the point of being a schoolmate? Isn’t that right?”

That’s shameless. …I guess it’s the result of improper upbringing.

“Anyway, that’s why Chaewon stepped up like this, so I’m really really really grateful. You know that, right? Do you understand, Unni?”

“Yes. I do…”

I tried hard to avoid Yoon Jiyu’s burdensome gaze.

“Anyway, so today I have a place to take you.”

“W…where?”

“It’s a place. To repay you for your help. Of course… you might not be familiar with high-end places. But let’s go!”

Yoon Jiyu quickly scrolled through a website and showed me the main page.

“VIP exclusive hotel restaurant! Eat as much as you want! I’ll pay for everything! They say the steak here is so delicious.”

Honestly, how much could I spend at a cafe? So, I refrained from indulging in the snacks Yoon Jiyu bought for me.

But a hotel buffet? I can’t resist that. Order all the expensive steaks by type and leave plenty behind.

It’s time for a small revenge of licking and discarding only the steak sauce instead of licking and discarding the yogurt lid.