My Bloody Valentine - 116

Chapter 116

As soon as Seonwoohee lightly gestured, the waiter, who had been watching carefully, quickly approached. Without looking back, she gave her orders.

“Bring that, the Clicquot Rosé I left.”

After a short while, the sommelier came over with a bottle of wine. The French wine, made from Pinot Noir grapes, was opened and decanted right in front of Seonwoohee.

“Mmm…”

Seonwoohee gently swirled the wine in her glass and savored the aroma, then looked at Han for a moment.

“Do you want a glass too? Ah, you couldn’t drink before, right? Was that the only thing? You couldn’t sing, either. You couldn’t dance.”

She chuckled as she recalled a past day. Then, with her well-groomed fingertips, she raised her glass and brought it to her lips. After taking a sip and savoring it, she set the glass down. Han hesitated for a moment before speaking cautiously.

“Could I… could I have a glass too?”

Seonwoohee tilted her head in mild confusion.

“Why all of a sudden?”

“Just… like you said, I’m in a good mood.”

Seeing Han’s flushed face, which seemed to show sincerity, Seonwoohee chuckled softly.

“Well, they say wine is poison when you drink it in bad times, but it’s a tonic when you drink it in good times.”

Saying this, she snapped her fingers at the waiter standing behind her.

“Give him a glass too.”

The waiter circled around and approached Han, filling the glass in front of him. As Seonwoohee savored her wine, Han’s face, which had been filled with anticipation, twisted as soon as he tasted the wine.

It was as if Seonwoohee had anticipated Han’s reaction.

“It’s a bit bitter at first, right? But the more it comes into contact with air, the better it gets.”

Han awkwardly mimicked Seonwoohee, holding the stem of his glass and swirling it. Then, with a face full of doubt, he took another sip.

Seonwoohee, her face full of expectation, asked:

“Is it different? A bit better?”

“Umm… yes… I think it’s better.”

Han, as if forced to drink like a medicinal tonic given by an adult, gulped the wine down. The moment he set the empty glass down, Seonwoohee burst into a light laugh.

“Already better? Look at you. I guess you’ve learned how to talk the talk after all this time?”

Realizing he had been teased, Han pouted. Watching his reaction with amusement, Seonwoohee picked up the bottle from the table and refilled Han’s empty glass. Then, she asked quietly:

“You seem to be doing well these days?”

“Yes… I guess so…”

Han answered with a soft smile. Already, the signs of drunkenness were starting to show in his slurred words.

“Oh my, look at you. Already drunk?”

As Seonwoohee reached out to touch Han’s flushed cheek with affection, a large hand suddenly grabbed her wrist. Turning around, she saw Taeshin glaring down at her with a stern look.

“What did you give him?”

“Oh, come on. It’s just a glass of wine.”

A bottle that cost one and a half million won. He drank it down without savoring it, and now he was already drunk.

Taeshin, looking displeased, grabbed Han’s hand and tried to pull him up.

“Get up, Han.”

Han only grinned, then began to mumble drunkenly.

“Unnie… was the best guest.”

“How many guests have you had?”

“Two.”

“…Come on.”

Unable to watch any longer, Taeshin lifted Han into his arms and walked toward the entrance without looking back.

“Hey? I want to drink more…”

Han stretched his arms toward Seonwoohee, but Taeshin slapped his backside with his palm. Only then did Han quiet down, and Taeshin carried him outside. By the time they reached the car, Han had already fallen asleep.

Taeshin carefully laid Han down on the bed after bringing him to the room. When he asked Myeongseop, who had been guarding Han on the way, he confirmed that it was only a single glass of wine that had made Han this drunk. It was surprising to him.

Taeshin began to undo the buttons on Han’s shirt, one by one. As the rough fabric of the shirt came off, Han’s bare skin was revealed. Due to the alcohol, his neck and shoulders, which turned pink when excited, had also flushed.

“Mm…”

When Taeshin started to unbuckle Han’s pants, Han groggily opened his eyes. He looked at Taeshin’s face and then at the hand holding the waistband of his pants with a dazed expression.

“Ah… are you going to… do it?”

Then, as if trying to undress himself, Han struggled and squirmed. Taeshin let out a small laugh and gently grabbed Han’s wrist.

“Don’t be silly. You’re drunk.”

“Then… you won’t?”

Han blinked his innocent eyes. Taeshin, with an incredulous expression, ran a hand through his hair.

“Why’re you acting like this? How much are you trying to get me to do?”

“No… it’s okay. But now, you don’t make it hurt anymore.”

The smile that had been on Taeshin’s lips disappeared in an instant.

“…What?”

“Before, it was really painful… Last time, I bled for a few days… But now, it doesn’t hurt anymore.”

Han smiled as if he was really happy.

“I’m glad it doesn’t hurt anymore…”

“…”

“I don’t like pain…”

Taeshin slowly lowered his body toward Han, who stretched his arms out as if asking for a hug. Han soon fell asleep, breathing regularly. The strength in his arms that were hugging Taeshin’s back relaxed, and he dropped back onto the mattress.

Sitting up, Taeshin blankly stared at Han’s shirt that had fallen on the floor.

He never knew how to unbutton a shirt properly. He only knew how to tear everything off forcefully and put it back together. Even though he knew that method was hurting Han, he chose to ignore it. All of it would eventually come back to him as karma, just as Chairman Bae had said.

Taeshin shifted his gaze from the messy shirt to Han’s sleeping face and murmured quietly.

“Why did you have to get into my sight?”

But he also knew that it was just meaningless blame.

The heavy night was deepening, like asphalt.

❖ ❖ ❖

“Today is the 12th term of the 24 solar terms, ‘Daeseo.’ It refers to the great heat, and there’s a saying that even goat horns melt during this time. It’s a very hot period. So, our ancestors ate nourishing food to get through it. How about following their wisdom and having some nutritious food to get through this time?”

Han let the voice of the radio announcer flow into one ear and opened the car window. The stuffy wind that came through the open window made Han’s hair flutter.

Summer was rushing toward its peak.

Han’s gaze moved from the sparkling sea and the quickly passing lush trees to Taeshin’s face, who was sitting in the driver’s seat.

Taeshin, dressed in all black in the dark sedan, looked like a person who had emerged from the shadows. His muscular arm and bulging veins under the rolled-up sleeves of his black linen shirt, his large hand, and his long fingers leisurely gripping the steering wheel.

“…You’re cool.”

Taeshin glanced at Han. Han was staring at him with sparkling eyes, full of admiration, just like when he used to watch him ride a bicycle skillfully as a child.

“It’s amazing every time…”

“What is?”

“That you drive. You look like such an adult…”

Taeshin laughed softly, as if he had heard an absurd joke. Han spoke with a nostalgic look on his face.

“Do you remember? You taught me how to ride a bicycle.”

It seemed Han was also recalling the same memory.

How could he forget? Han was so uncoordinated that it took a week just for him to pedal on his own.

“Ta, Taeshin! I think I’m going to fall!”

“I’m holding you. You won’t fall.”

Taeshin held onto the back of the bicycle as they raced around the orphanage’s playground several times.

“Don’t let go! Don’t let go!”

Han’s voice, which had shouted hoarsely, and the wobbling bicycle, flashed before Taeshin’s eyes before fading away.

“The playground where you learned to ride your bike, it’s going to be gone now.”

“Huh?”

“The headmaster was arrested for corruption, and they’re going to tear down the orphanage building and the playground to build a housing complex.”

“The horse graveyard? Is the horse graveyard gone too?”

“I’m not sure about that.”

“I want to visit it once.”

“Do it if you want.”

Taeshin answered indifferently. He seemed willing to take Han anywhere he wanted to go.

By now, after driving for about four hours from Seoul, Taeshin’s sedan passed a road Han recognized. A large rock with the name of the village carved on it appeared in front of him, surrounded by mountains, like a lake.

‘Angol Village.’

It was the place Han had wanted to visit the most.

As soon as the car stopped in front of the village hall, Han jumped out of the car, urging Taeshin.

“Hurry, Taeshin! Hurry!”

“Don’t run. You’ll fall.”

What was the rush? Was it because she missed that woman? Taeshin, clearly displeased, followed Han slowly. In his hand, there were paper bags filled with things Han had brought.

Inside the paper bags were a padded vest and a scarf that he had bought for his grandmother, and other gifts he had bought from a nearby department store before coming here.

Standing in front of the familiar gate, Han slowly looked around.

The sun above shone down, lighting up every corner of the yard. The cherry tree that had been in one corner of the yard had dropped all its fruit, leaving only its green leaves.

The last time he was here, it had been cold and frosty, but now he had returned in the season where sweat dripped down his back just from standing still.

Hearing a noise, the front door suddenly opened, and Yujung’s face instantly brightened.

“Han!”