Chapter 20

The massive thing that came charging out of the forest path was neither a bull nor a pig. It was Gwak Yeol-ho, his face flushed bright red. He stormed toward Ja-yeong and Eden, breathing heavily.

“Is it true?!”

Yeol-ho’s gaze swept over Ja-yeong, landed on Eden standing behind her, then returned to Ja-yeong.

He reeked of pigs. He’d probably been helping his father, Village Chief Gwak, load the pigs onto a truck when he’d finally heard the rumor spreading all over town. He’d then flown into a rage and charged straight here.

“Why aren’t you answering me? I’m asking if it’s trueee!!”

“What is?”

“Good grief! How many times have you even met him, and you’re already getting married? I didn’t know you were that easy! You see some guy from Seoul and go all starry-eyed!”

“What the hell are you suddenly going on about?!”

Ja-yeong shouted in disbelief. That blasted rumor had been giving her a headache all day, and now even this so-called childhood friend had shown up to fan the flames.

“Don’t even think about making excuses! Everyone in the village is talking about it! You’re marrying some tall, handsome guy from Seoul!”

“Don’t you know how people in this village are? If those rumors were true, Hyo-seon would have gotten married a hundred times over by now. And whether I marry a man or a woman, what business is it of yours?!”

“M-my business? MY business?!”

Yeol-ho practically jumped out of his skin.

“Of course it’s my business! Are we strangers or something? Have you forgotten how you rode to school in my family’s truck all through middle and high school?”

“And how long ago was that? Are you seriously still holding it over my head?”

Ja-yeong shot back coldly. Yeol-ho’s face turned so red it looked ready to burst. He huffed and puffed, unable to contain his anger, before turning his glare on Eden, who’d been standing beside Ja-yeong and watching the whole spectacle.

“And you! You can’t go around doing that, either! Just because you’ve got a handsome face doesn’t mean you can look down on a country girl and make a move on her! That’s not how a decent person behaves!”

At that, Eden let out an amused chuckle.

“Sounds like this guy has a thing for Ms. Hwang.”

Eden’s casual remark dropped into the conversation like a bucket of cold water. Ja-yeong turned to stare at him in disbelief, while Yeol-ho let out a strangled squeal and practically leaped into the air.

“W-what kind of outrageous nonsense is that?! Who’d ever like a country bumpkin like her? She’s plain and ugly!”

“Then there’s no reason for you to get so worked up.”

Eden shrugged nonchalantly. At his feet, Dusik, Seoksam, and Neoguri wagged their tails and barked in agreement, as though they were taking Eden’s side. Anyone who didn’t know better might have thought Eden was their owner and Yeol-ho was the unwelcome intruder.

“It’s not as though a tall, handsome man from Seoul taking this woman away is doing you any harm. If anything, shouldn’t you be grateful someone is taking that plain, ugly friend off your hands?”

“How is that not doing me any harm?! It is! It’s doing me a whole lot of harm!”

Unable to find a way to counter Eden’s perfectly logical argument, Yeol-ho turned back to Ja-yeong and jabbed a finger at her.

“Seoul this, Seoul that! Do you think this is the first time that girl, Hwang Ja-yeong, has gotten herself into trouble because she was blinded by Seoul?!”

Ja-yeong’s face darkened in an instant.

“Gwak Yeol-ho, don’t you dare…”

Her voice had gone cold as she murmured the warning, but Yeol-ho had already lost control of himself. There was no way he could hear her now.

“Am I wrong?! Hey, say something! Huh? Back when you were twenty…”

“Don’t…”

“You abandoned your grandfather and went all the way to Seoul looking for that mother who’d abandoned you, and then…!”

SMACK!

A sharp crack ripped through the air in the kiln yard. Yeol-ho’s head snapped to the side, and the red imprint of Ja-yeong’s hand appeared on his cheek.

“…!”

At that instant, Dusik, Seoksam, and Neoguri, who had been barking enthusiastically beside them, took the sound as their cue and launched themselves forward.

“Argh! Aaaagh!!”

Dusik, the bravest of the three, clamped his jaws around Yeol-ho’s butt. Seoksam immediately latched onto his trouser leg, while the youngest, Neoguri, grabbed his shoe and tugged.

“Get away! You little bastards! You’re biting your own owner?! Hey! Let go of me!”

With one leg being dragged along, Yeol-ho lost his balance and sprawled disgracefully across the ground. He flailed about, throwing punches at empty air, but the dogs were having the time of their lives, attacking his backside with even greater enthusiasm.

They said animals had a special eye for the soul. Apparently, even the dogs thought the handsome man from Seoul and Ja-yeong, who occasionally gave them treats, were far better company than their owner, who was forever getting drunk and causing trouble.

“Good heavens! What on earth is going on here?! Dusik! Seoksam!”

Just then, Village Chief Gwak came rushing over, breathless. The sight before him made him cry out in horror.

At the sound of their owner’s voice, the dogs immediately released Yeol-ho and scampered over to Gwak as if nothing had happened. The ferocious beasts that had been tearing into Yeol-ho’s backside were nowhere to be seen. Instead, they wagged their tails and fawned over him like the gentlest lambs in the world.

“Yeol-ho, what are you doing on the ground? Where’d all the elders go?”

“Dad! Those damn things bit me…! Ow, my back!”

This was a disaster waiting to happen. No, the disaster had already happened.

But Eden’s attention wasn’t on Yeol-ho rolling around on the ground. It was fixed on Ja-yeong, who stood nearby with all the color drained from her face.

Her shoulders, which had been trembling with anger just moments ago, now hung limply. The hand she’d used to slap Yeol-ho had nowhere to go and trembled helplessly in the air.

Seoul. Mother.

Those fragments of information weren’t enough to tell him the whole story, but one thing was certain: that ignorant, loudmouthed idiot had struck a painfully tender spot in Hwang Ja-yeong’s heart.

Eden looked at Ja-yeong’s face, her eyes brimming with tears. She pressed her lips tightly together, fighting to keep herself from crying. Somehow, she looked more fragile like this than she would have if she’d simply burst into tears.

“Come with me for now.”

Eden caught her by the wrist. This time, there wasn’t even time to ask permission.

Taking advantage of the commotion between Village Chief Gwak and Yeol-ho, he led Ja-yeong behind the drying shed. It was the only shaded spot where they wouldn’t be seen, even if the elders came rushing over to investigate the noise.

Ja-yeong stood facing the wall. When she finally let out the breath she’d been holding, her tears began to fall in great drops, as though a dam had burst. She rolled her lips inward and bit down on them, trying desperately not to make a sound.

She looked so pitiful that it hurt to watch. Eden silently gazed at her small shoulders and slender back.

What was he supposed to say to comfort her? That everything that bastard had said was bullshit? Or that she’d done the right thing by slapping him?

He couldn’t imagine any words reaching Ja-yeong in her current state.

Eden approached carefully and reached his arms around her from behind. His broad embrace completely enveloped her back, and his solid chest pressed against her trembling body. The moment she felt his warmth, Ja-yeong stiffened in surprise.

“…”

She hesitated, trying to push him away. But Eden tightened his arms slightly and held her in place.

“I’ve already seen you cry once before.”

His low voice resonated above the crown of her head.

“So this isn’t the first time. I won’t tease you about it, either… Just stay like this.”

“…”

“I just don’t know any other way to comfort you.”

Ja-yeong stopped trying to push him away.

The warmth of the man behind her, the steady thump of his heartbeat against her back, somehow made her feel safe. Perhaps that was why all the sorrow she’d been desperately forcing down suddenly spilled over.

“Sniff… Hic… I’m not crying because I’m sad…”

Ja-yeong mumbled in a tear-choked voice.

Without thinking, Eden pressed his lips to the crown of her head. The way she was still trying to hold on to her pride in the middle of all this was, in a way… rather endearing.

“It’s the alcohol. Sniff… It’s all because of the alcohol…”

“I know. It’s the alcohol.”

Eden answered softly, soothing her as though she were a child, and rested his head against her shoulder.

As soon as he said that, Ja-yeong buried the edge of his shirt sleeve in her mouth and broke into heartbroken sobs.

Despite the sunlight pouring down around them, the space behind the drying shed was unusually dark.

As expected, the elders came running at the sound of the commotion. Their startled voices blended together, reverberating through the kiln yard. Of them all, Gwak Yeol-ho, whose backside had been bitten by the dogs, was by far the loudest.

Eden held the woman in his arms even more tightly. He was almost grateful that the bastard had managed to distract the elders so thoroughly.

The shadows of the two figures merged into one.