When Ha Yeon hesitated to speak, she had a habit of touching her small, plump lower lip with her fingers.

“Dad has to visit Boston in mid-September for some reason. He said he wants to come with Mom then and see how I’m living.”

“You said you missed them too, so that’s good.”

“When they come… they said they want to meet you too, oppa.”

“…M-Me?”

According to what I heard later, Ha Yeon had confessed her feelings for Hyun Woo to her mother, and her father, who heard about it, deliberately stopped by Boston on his business trip to New York to see his daughter and Hyun Woo.

“Oppa, don’t feel too burdened. You already gained a lot of trust from my parents while tutoring Do Yeon. I think they just want to treat you to dinner since we’re both in Boston.”

“…Okay. Let me know in advance. I need to adjust my experiment schedule too.”

“Alright, oppa.”

While tutoring, they had run into each other a few times, and Hyun Woo had met her father, the chairman of S Group, at a party celebrating Do Yeon’s admission and Ha Yeon’s graduation at S Hotel, but they had never talked.

Hearing that her father, whom he had always seen on TV news, was directly visiting Boston and treating him to dinner, Hyun Woo felt a slight nervousness.

“I don’t know how Dad comes across to ordinary people, but he’s very kind. Of course, he’s a bit of a perfectionist.”

“He must have great charisma to lead S Group, and naturally seems to have a perfectionist personality too.”

“Dad said he’s busy so he’ll treat us to dinner and go straight to New York.”

“What about your mom?”

“I think Mom will stay a few more days before leaving.”

Hyun Woo could fully understand the worries of parents who heard their daughter’s love confession while the passionate young man and woman were together in a foreign land.

They even had wine, and as the night grew dark, Ha Yeon told Hyun Woo to sleep at her place and leave in the bright morning, but Hyun Woo left her house.

He felt an inexplicable burden in his heart.

He had clearly felt Ha Yeon’s affection as the only daughter of the S Group chairman, and distinctly remembered her passionate kiss on the night of the Independence Day festival last July.

They had wine, and he could have spent a heated night with her amidst her loving gaze, but Hyun Woo couldn’t shake off the guilt he still felt deep in his heart towards So Hee.

‘Flowers have fragrance, and people have dignity.’

So Hee was like a lily, with a beautiful and pure dignity.

Perhaps due to her surroundings, Ha Yeon was like a glamorous rose, with an intellectual dignity.

Many nights, Hyun Woo woke up from nightmares, suffocated by the white petals of the lily he had trampled.

He could reach out, pick the rose, and smell its glamorous fragrance, but whenever he walked out of Ha Yeon’s apartment, he thought of So Hee’s lily in contrast to her.

He had to live in Boston for at least 3 and a half more years, and even after getting a Ph.D., it was uncertain how many more years he would have to spend in the U.S. for postdoctoral studies or training.

Hyun Woo felt that the time to choose between the lily and the rose was approaching at a turning point in his life.

Honestly, the reality was that he had already trampled on the lily and was intoxicated by the glamorous scent of the rose, but his shallow guilt didn’t readily give him the courage to pick the rose.

*****

In September, as the fall semester began, Hyun Woo was greatly perplexed by the teaching methods in American graduate school.

In Korea, some graduate classes were conducted in a discussion format, but Ha__d University not only had professors leading discussions with great “tiki-taka,” but the participating students’ activeness was also incomparable.

Their enthusiasm for class preparation was tremendous, and their passion for academics made Hyun Woo reflect on himself.

In Korea, he never felt a sense of inferiority that he was falling behind his peers even while working part-time, but here, he felt a sense of crisis that he might get an F grade at this rate.

Feeling that Hyun Woo had sufficiently learned lab techniques, his advisor not only raised the level of experiments but also added Hyun Woo as a regular presenter at the weekly lab meetings.

There were more days when Hyun Woo stayed up all night in the lab for experiments than days when he couldn’t return to his house in the R district because it was too dangerous after dark.

Ha Yeon felt very sorry for Hyun Woo whenever she talked to him on the phone.

Even on weekends, she came to the Longwood Medical Area where Hyun Woo worked, bought him a simple lunch, and expressed concern for his health.

Since the area was so dangerous, she suggested installing a couple app on their phones to check each other’s locations and keep in touch frequently even if they were busy.

Hyun Woo thought Ha Yeon was doing it out of concern for his well-being, but in fact, this was when her obsession with him began to sprout, which he only realized as time passed.

After spending 3 weeks busily, the day of Ha Yeon’s parents’ visit, which she had informed him about, dawned.

Hyun Woo changed into the most courteous attire he had and headed to the lab.

Postdoctoral researchers working on weekends saw his changed fashion and joked if he was going on a special date today.

It was natural for them to be surprised to see Hyun Woo, who was always used to jeans and dark-colored t-shirts, suddenly appear in a white t-shirt and semi-formal jacket.

Hyun Woo carefully hung his semi-formal jacket on the table chair and changed into his lab coat.

In the lab, there were research models that overexpressed or eliminated specific types of dopamine neurotransmitter receptors involved in alcohol addiction.

His assigned project was to study which neural circuits operated after alcohol exposure and the mechanisms involved.

While experimenting, Hyun Woo thought of his father, who had been an alcoholic all his life.

He remembered his father falling on the ground, hitting a car, or tumbling down the stairs.

Before dying of liver cirrhosis, his father’s stomach swelled up like a mountain, he became like a dementia patient, and eventually died from a ruptured esophageal varix…

His father was someone he resented and hated fiercely, but seeing himself doing research on alcohol addiction, he was truly an object of love and hate.

Hyun Woo left the lab a little early, thinking the smell of the experiment would linger on his clothes, and walked to the Hyatt Regency Hotel, the venue for the dinner appointment.

The autumn wind in September brushed his earlobes a bit coldly.

Many people were out having picnics or jogging along the Charles River.

It was amazing how the atmosphere could be so different depending on the neighborhood, even in the same city of Boston.

In the slums of the R district, he couldn’t see a single person jogging for over half a year.

Only people staggering drunk or high on drugs roamed the alleys…

The stark contrast between the rich and poor in Boston became even more evident when he arrived at the Hyatt Regency Hotel.

Arriving earlier than the appointed time, Hyun Woo took the elevator to the top floor in the glamorous lobby.

Interestingly, the entire restaurant was a spinning type that slowly revolved, allowing a view of the entire Boston nightscape while sitting still.

Hyun Woo had been told by Ha Yeon that a reservation was made under his name, so he told the waiter the name of the reservation and was guided to a window seat.

Sitting there, Hyun Woo felt with his whole body the glamour of the restaurant that rotated 360 degrees, showcasing Boston.

He had gone on dates with Ha Yeon, going up to the Prudential or Hancock buildings in downtown and seeing the night view, but the impression given by the spinning restaurant on the top floor of a hotel located along the quiet Charles River was on a different level from a stationary restaurant in a high-rise building.

The saying, ‘The higher you climb, the more you see,’ seemed to apply not only to people climbing mountains.

It seemed to be the same for buildings, status, and money.

Hyun Woo heard Lucifer sweetly whispering tempting words to him, who had opened Pandora’s box again.

‘Make a good impression on Ha Yeon’s parents.’

‘Ha Yeon likes you. You just have to reach out.’

‘As much money as a tall building will show you many things.’

As his mind was growing hazy from Lucifer’s whispers in his ear, Ha Yeon appeared with her parents.

Two men who seemed to be the chairman’s secretaries escorted the chairman and his wife to the table, and Hyun Woo stood up to greet Ha Yeon’s parents.

“Hyun Woo, it’s even nicer to see you in the US.”

Ha Yeon’s mother looked at me and said with a bright smile.

“It’s been a long time.”

“Hyun Woo, it’s been almost a year and a half since we met at S Hotel, right?”

“Yes, that’s right, Chairman.”

“I heard you’re taking good care of our Ha Yeon so she’s not lonely. Thank you.”

“Not at all. I came to Boston later, so I’ve been getting a lot of help from Ha Yeon.”

That was honestly true.

Hyun Woo had done nothing for Ha Yeon, and without a car, he had received a lot of help from Ha Yeon in everyday matters.

“Dad, wouldn’t it have been great if our S Hotel was also made in a spinning type like this? You can see the entire Boston view just by sitting still.”

“Oh… the restaurant is really slowly rotating?”

“Honey, you’re really… You can’t come to your senses because you’re so happy to see your daughter.”

They ordered steak that day, but Hyun Woo was so nervous that he couldn’t even feel if the food was going through his nose or mouth.

“Hyun Woo, are you in your first year of the doctoral program now?”

“Yes, I started lab life last March, but I began taking classes this September.”

“If you’re from S Medical School, you’ll make a lot of money. Why go through the trouble of getting a Ph.D.?”

“While treating patients is meaningful, I became interested in research because I believe studying diseases is what leads to the ultimate solution.”

Hyun Woo’s answer seemed to really appeal to the chairman of S Group, who invested the highest level in the country in R&D.

“It’s a good mindset. These days, many students from science and engineering colleges established with government funds are flocking to medical and dental schools, going against the original purpose. The smart kids should be doing research, but they’re too obsessed with money.”

“Dad, Hyun Woo oppa practically lives in the lab.”

Ha Yeon’s mother, who had already heard her daughter’s confession, seemed to want to praise Hyun Woo more and chimed in.

“Hyun Woo, you shouldn’t damage your health by doing that. It’s really impressive that you’re at Harvard Medical School, where the world’s top talents attend. Ha Yeon, you should have your oppa get some nutritional supplements from time to time.”

At her mother’s words, Ha Yeon winked slightly at her mother and boldly said,

“I don’t have much cooking skills, but I’m planning to make Korean food for oppa sometimes.”

Ha Yeon, who had already invited me over and treated me to Korean food, spoke in the future tense rather than the past tense, as if trying to gauge her father’s feelings.

Surprised by his beloved daughter’s words about making food for a man, the chairman looked at Ha Yeon and said,

.

.

.

“Ha Yeon…”