Between Us is X - Chapter 44

“Since I lived here with my father from eight to thirteen years old…… I went to elementary school right here.”

Eun Soo quietly listened to Joo Han’s childhood story that she was hearing for the first time.

She suddenly realized that there was a lot she didn’t know despite knowing him for so long. Especially regarding childhood stories, she had never asked Joo Han because she herself didn’t want to talk about it.

“I didn’t realize it when I was young, but looking back now, I think I grew up in a really good environment. Father painted, the artist made pottery, and people who were deeply knowledgeable about art came and went frequently. Not a single chair or desk was placed without meaning or out of harmony.”

Eun Soo nodded vigorously, recalling that she had the same thought while looking around the studio and Hwang artist’s collection.

It was amazing how quickly Joo Han adapted to life as the CEO of despite his major and previous work having nothing to do with furniture. Now she understood why.

It was because of the discernment and sensibility that had naturally accumulated in Joo Han for a long time, and the talent he had inherited.

“It certainly was an environment not just anyone could have.”

“That’s right. Even though I used to say I was bored all the time, when it was time to leave, I felt regretful.”

Joo Han laughed quietly.

“I wanted to keep living here but couldn’t say it. Not to my father, not to my mother, and of course not to Artist Hwang.”

He didn’t resent his father. He knew that he had tried hard to find a way to bring his young son to the distant land where the things he loved were.

He couldn’t hate his mother either. She had cleared away the hardships that were about to open up at a young age and laid out a slightly suffocating but smooth path.

“The reason I lived like a stranger with my father until he passed away…… in my young mind, it felt like I was betraying my mother somehow. I also thought all hell would break loose if I got caught contacting him. They were extremely incompatible, and my mother constantly complained about how my father raised me. I was also busy being reshaped until I met my mother’s standards.”

I wonder why they even got married and how they had me, Joo Han added jokingly.

Eun Soo rested her chin on her knees, which she had drawn up and wrapped her arms around.

She thought of eighteen-year-old Joo Han. A boy who was good at both studies and sports, popular with teachers and friends alike. She had thought he seemed to have grown up comfortably in a good home, but it turns out he had been reshaped to appear that way.

She also recalled Joo Han’s mother, whom she had met only once. A woman with such surprisingly elegant appearance and demeanor that she felt somewhat in awe. Though she smiled the whole time, Eun Soo vividly remembered feeling increasingly intimidated for some reason.

“Your mother…… is she doing well?”

“I suppose so.”

His voice temperature was different from when he talked about his father. Eun Soo decided not to ask any more.

“What time do we need to get up tomorrow?”

“Let’s leave a bit early even if we’re tired, since it’ll be a headache if we’re late for work.”

“Okay.”

Eun Soo was about to get up, saying she should go to bed now. But Joo Han lightly grabbed her wrist.

“Where are you going?”

Eun Soo pulled her hand away as if burned and shrank back.

“Where else, I’m going to sleep. Aren’t you sleeping?”

“There’s something we need to do before sleeping.”

“Was there such a thing?”

“Yeah. Talk.”

“What talk? Wasn’t what we’ve been doing talking?”

“It’s not about you and me.”

Here it comes.

Eun Soo’s heart started pounding rapidly. Suppressing the urge to run away that came first, she sat back down.

“Let’s get this straight.”

“Get what straight……?”

“What our relationship is.”

“……”

“Right now, we’re neither real nor fake.”

Despite the quite loud sound of rain, Joo Han’s low voice was heard all too clearly. Eun Soo briefly worried that her heartbeat might be heard next.

“Putting everything else aside, we can’t be friends after kissing where there’s no camera.”

You’ve got me for sure. Saying only things I can’t refute.

Eun Soo silently lowered her gaze. Then, realizing something, she hurriedly raised her head.

The moment her eyes met Joo Han’s, who was smiling strangely, Eun Soo bit her lip. She had walked into the trap herself and even closed the door with her own hands.

“You’re not asking when that happened.”

“Oh, I remember. Just now.”

“What do you mean just now. This is driving me crazy.”

Joo Han burst into laughter, even curling up his body. Eun Soo clenched her jaw and lightly hit Joo Han’s arm with her tightly clenched fist.

After a while, Joo Han stopped laughing and turned his body.

“Actually, I feel a bit wronged. I tried my best in my own way.”

“What best?”

“I tried to be friends because that’s what you wanted. But I’ve never seen you as just a friend since I first saw you, so I think I’ll never know. Things like how to really become friends with you.”

Coincidentally, the rain lightened and the surroundings became quieter.

“Eun Soo.”

His deep gaze approached as if binding her.

“Don’t you regret breaking up with me?”

His persistent gaze examined Eun Soo’s eyes and lips. As if trying hard to read every bit of her feelings that were both clear and unclear, and the answers she wouldn’t easily give.

“I do. Every single day, and now I want to stop.”

A held breath burst out from between Eun Soo’s slightly parted lips.

Now she was certain. Even at that moment when he casually brought it up in the noisy chicken ribs restaurant, it had contained the same sincerity as now.

“Let’s……”

Joo Han stopped there and closed his mouth, but Eun Soo thought she had heard it all.

After letting some silence pass, Eun Soo spoke.

“I don’t want to answer now.”

She felt Joo Han’s gaze but didn’t look back. If she got tangled in those eyes, she might not be able to say what she wanted to say.

“Let’s think about it a little more. It could be that we’re confused because of the filming……”

“You’re the only one who needs to think. I’ve done all my thinking and said what I wanted to say.”

Joo Han cut her off gently but firmly and added.

“What I said during the interview earlier is my real thoughts.”

Eun Soo’s mind started replaying his voice from earlier.

I didn’t stop liking you…… When I thought I could live my whole life just liking you alone…… Starting over from being friends……

No, don’t. Don’t waver.

“I can’t think 100% rationally before the filming ends.”

“Does it have to be rational when it’s not even business?”

“Why isn’t it business? We are in the middle of business.”

Alright. That’s good enough pushback.

Eun Soo’s shoulders drooped almost imperceptibly. But she tensed up again as Joo Han’s hand covered hers that was resting on the floor.

“You……”

His scent, reminiscent of trees, suddenly came closer. Joo Han’s forehead fell onto Eun Soo’s shoulder.

“Do you know that you’re passionate about everything else, but only cold towards me?”

Though the rain had almost stopped, Joo Han’s voice was heavy as if soaked in a downpour.

“You always get what you want. You have the ability and perseverance for it. But why do you keep trying to throw me away?”

The low voice coming from just below her ear painfully pressed down on her heart.

“Am I not tempting enough?”

Eun Soo bit her lower lip hard, then pulled her hand away and slightly shifted her body to the side.

“Are you an object? To be had and thrown away.”

She felt like the left side of her body that had been in contact with him was burning up.

“And I’ve never gotten everything I wanted.”

Eun Soo hurriedly got up.

“Let’s go to sleep.”

Instead of stopping Eun Soo as she headed to her room, Joo Han suddenly shouted.

“Eun Soo!”

“Ah, you scared me!”

Has he gone crazy, why is he shouting in the moonlight like he’s not a deer or something!

Joo Han, seemingly understanding the curse in Eun Soo’s eyes, smiled with his eyes.

“Sleep well.”

You called out so solemnly just to say that?

Eun Soo sighed deeply, muttered “you too” barely audibly, and went into her room.

Joo Han, who had been staring at the closed door, let out a long breath and tilted his head back.

Sleep well. Though I don’t think I’ll be able to.

[This is the timeline separator]

“Yes, that’s fortunate. Oh, he’s already okay to eat? That’s good.”

The next evening, after finishing a call with Artist Hwang, Joo Han rubbed his eyes and pressed his temples. He was in front of the hotel restaurant that his mother said she had reserved in advance.

They had loaded their luggage early in the morning and returned to , and after moving busily all day, he was tired. He had planned to go up to his place and sleep as soon as they closed shop today, but an unexpected schedule came up.

[I came to Korea yesterday. I’d like to have dinner with you today, what do you think?]

A sudden contact from his mother.

As always, it was one-sided. Thinking that postponing would only make him more anxious until the postponed date, and that it would be better to get all the tiring things done in one day, he agreed without a word.

“Welcome. Do you have a reservation?”

“Yes. It should be under CEO Kim Ja Kyung’s name.”

“I’ve confirmed it. I’ll guide you this way.”

The employee walked along the plush carpet towards the innermost room. After nodding a thanks to the employee who opened the door, Joo Han entered and stopped in his tracks.

“You’re here? Come sit over here.”

Next to Ja Kyung, who was gesturing from her seat at the round table, sat a woman he had never seen before. The woman half-rose and smiled.

“Hello. Nice to meet you.”

Ja Kyung immediately explained.

“This is Lee Hee Yeon. She’s the daughter of an acquaintance, and I wanted to introduce you lightly. It’s good for people your age to know each other, right? This is the only time both Hee Yeon and I will be in Korea.”

Joo Han’s expression turned cold.

He had experienced this in the U.S. too. At first, when she directly tried to set him up a few times, he flatly refused, so she created situations like this where he couldn’t avoid meeting someone. She would join as if coincidentally meeting at an exhibition, or unnecessarily ask Joo Han to take someone home.

“I was taken aback because mother didn’t give me any notice beforehand.”

“I see. I’m fine with it.”

The woman seemed as if she had been told this would be the reaction, showing no signs of surprise or displeasure.

“Why are you still standing? Sit down and let’s talk……”

“No, mother. I can’t sit at a place like this.”

“Joo Han.”

Joo Han turned to the woman and said.

“I’m sorry. I’m currently seeing someone.”

“What?”

“Since we’re even filming a broadcast program together, I don’t want to receive even the slightest misunderstanding. It would be troublesome in many ways and things could get bigger. Please understand.”

The woman, who had been listening with wide eyes, flushed bright red with embarrassment. Ja Kyung, showing rare signs of bewilderment, looked back and forth between Joo Han and the woman.

“Hey! You didn’t tell me anything about this at all!”

“I did tell you. That I would be on a broadcast. You must have forgotten because you were busy.”

Joo Han said to the woman.

“I’m sorry for being rude, even though it wasn’t intentional. Then……”

“Ah, no!”

The woman hurriedly stood up.

“You should have dinner with your son. It’s enough for me to have seen your face after a long time and greeted you, CEO.”

“Hee Yeon, I……”

“It’s alright, CEO. Then I’ll be going now.”

The woman forced a smile at Ja Kyung, grabbed her bag, and went out past Joo Han.

As the door closed with a thud, an icy atmosphere descended over the lingering echo.

“……Sit down for now.”

Though he wasn’t in the mood, Joo Han reluctantly sat in the chair. Soon after, an employee came in to take their order and left.

Ja Kyung took a sip of water and opened her mouth.