LIGHTNOVELONLINE Chapter 61
Chapter 61: Chapter 61
Arum felt constricted. She hit her chest with her fists. And she got annoyed.
“Are you getting married again? I haven’t gotten married yet. How many times are you going to get married, mom?”
“Sorry, Arum.”
Why does she want to introduce her boyfriend to her at this time?
She got upset because Konsu deserted her, and now her mother added to her distress all the more.
“Can’t you live without a man?”
After all, that was her own message to herself.
They had so much in common as far as their dating men was concerned.
“Mom, you had already experienced marriage. You got divorced. Can’t you live alone?”
“He’s a good man.”
“You said the same thing last time. You said he was a good man. See, he’s not around you anymore.”
“He is different.”
“I felt the same thing. Konsu came to see me, so I thought he wanted to start our relationship again. See! He didn’t. He’s getting married to another woman! Why are you making me distressed, mom? Can’t you help me out instead of stressing me out?”
There was a smell of something burning, along with smoke coming from the pot on the gas range as she didn’t turn it off. Hearing her mother sob feebly, she went out of her house.
Arum was sitting alone in the living room of her house without turning on the light.
She didn’t remember how she came back. Her sense of betrayal from her mother wounded her heart much more than she thought. In the end, what she ate that day were only fast food leftovers.
She didn’t feel hungry though she skipped dinner. She had no appetite.
At that moment, the doorbell rang.
‘Is it Mom?’
She regretted it after she came back.
Without even hearing what her mother had to say, Arum just went out and came back home, which she regretted.
Her mother felt lonely a lot. She was a mismatch with her husband, who was cold-hearted. Her father still lived alone after he got divorced. He says he felt the happiest when he lived alone, and he stuck to such a lifestyle even now.
On the other hand, her mother felt easily frightened and lonely while she showed great love for others.
When she attended college, Arum happened to see her mother hugging a man.
‘My mother, too, is a woman.’
She went by a round-about way on purpose not to be caught by her mother.
When she hit the sack that night, she couldn’t sleep for a while. Her memory of having seen her mother in a strange man’s arms was so vivid in her head. But her mother looked happy.
But the problem was that each man she brought to introduce to her was below average.
One day, her mother said, “I can accept any man except for your father.”
When she looked back now, her mother was wrong.
Her mother wanted to choose a man different from her divorced husband. Who did she recall the most in that process?
After all, he was none other than her father.
Her mother completely forgot how to choose the type of man that she liked.
Anyway, Arum didn’t feel good while watching her mother date a man. But she felt she had to reconcile with her mother since she didn’t want to break off relations with her forever.
Turning on the light in the living room, she opened the front door.
“Mom?”
She stopped while opening the door.
“How come you…”
Konsu was standing before her eyes.
“Sorry. Am I late?”
He was drunk.
She instinctively realized that she couldn’t open the door.
“I’m sorry….”
She felt sorry for his murmuring, but it was none of her business anymore. He had to take care of his own pain from now on.
“Go back. It’s too late,” she said coldly.
Thump.
She closed the front door with a bang.
‘Sorry. Too late. I wish we had met a bit earlier…..’
She buried in her heart what she wanted to tell him.
But he didn’t go back.
Thump.
She heard him leaning against the door.
“I’m sorry, I’m really sorry.”
She could hear him rambling to himself out there.
‘I can’t open the door for you, Konsu.”
She was determined not to open it.
She heard her neighbor guy opening the door and saying, “Hey, man! You shouldn’t do this here. Where is your house?”
“This is my house.”
“What the heck?”
“This is my girlfriend’s house.”
“If you insist, let me call the police.”
“What did you say? Dang it!”
She heard Konsu straightening himself up.
“You son of a bitch!” Konsu shouted at the man.
At that moment, she opened the door and said to her neighbor, “I’m sorry.”
She felt uncomfortable bumping into her neighbor like this. But she wanted to stop their fistfight first.
“Hey, let go of me!”
She grabbed Konsu, who was in a drunken frenzy, and pulled him inside.
“You’re really driving me nuts!”
Though she was enraged, she saw his trembling eyes.
“…Arum.”
“Go back,” she said after closing her eyes. She felt like she might change her mind if she saw his eyes.
“Arum, I know I’m such a bad guy. I know I shouldn’t have done this to you…”
Konsu held her hands. As he had been sitting on the cold concrete outside the front door, his hands were cold.
She had to bite her lips. She couldn’t allow herself to be like an ant stuck in honey. If she didn’t get out of this, she would go to ruin, after all.
“Let me call Yuyoung. So, go back.”
Now, Konsu’s twinkling eyes turned icy.
“Why didn’t you tell me when you already knew all about this? I hear you saw my wedding picture several days ago. Why did you keep mum about it?”
She got goosebumps all over. He already found out what she had on her mind. She was embarrassed.
“You can’t leave me, you can’t ever desert me!” he shouted.
Konsu knew her too well.
“No, I can’t. Then, why did you come here?” she demanded.
“…..”
“Why are you so mean to me when you know it?”
“Because… because I love you.”
She felt her pride get offended when he said that.
“How can you say that? You put the name of another woman on the same wedding invitation card that we had made. And now you’re telling me I can’t leave you?”
In the end, she told him what she wanted to say deep inside. It was obviously a criminal act that he chose the wedding invitation card with the same design as their previous one.
“Then, why did you appear before me now, trying to sway me? Arum Yang, you’re such a damned…”
His words were full of resentment. She didn’t expect it at all. She always thought that she was the victim, and that she alone could feel resentment at him.
“Why didn’t you hold me at that time? Why? What were you doing when I was dating another woman? Why did you appear before me now?”
What a nonsense it is!
How could he blame her when he dated another woman and set the wedding date?
“Are you blaming me for that now? Is it my fault that you are getting married?”
“Yeah, I think so. You should have never appeared before me. Why did you? If we hadn’t met like this, each of us could have been leading a good life. Why did you appear now?” Konsu pressed her.
“Yes, it’s all my fault. All of this happened because I loved you.”
Arum now gave herself up completely.
“Why did you appear before me now?” Konsu cried. He felt he was now completely separated from Arum right before his wedding.
Arum found it difficult to accept her separation from him. She felt his marriage this time was like a river that she could never cross again. Once he crossed the river of marriage, she could never meet see him again.
Her heart ached when she saw his shoulders shaking.
“I thought I could forget you, but I can’t. I cannot forget you. Arum, let’s start again. Shall we?”
Konsu hugged her.
He whispered into her ears while crying. His words melted into her heart. She had missed the sound of his breathing so much.
“Let’s start again, Arum.”
She should have not heard his words.
Once again, she was plucking up reckless courage.
And she focused on only one thing.
‘This is my last chance.’
****
Several days later, Arum went back to Yuyoung’s house, holding a big picture frame. She said she just got back from work in an airplane in the morning, and welcomed Arum gladly.
Sitting on the sofa, she looked around the living room once again. It was the same like before, when she came here with the shooting staff who took photographs to be used in her article on geomancy interior design. But she could feel a cozier atmosphere than before with the addition of interior accessories.