SIN | CHOI MUJIN/JUNG TAEJU

3 SINS

❝AERA HAD NO MEMORIES OF THE PAST FOUR YEARS, BUT SHE COULDN'T HELP BUT FEEL LIKE SHE COMMITTED A GRAVE SIN WHEN SHE HID HER OLD SKETCH OF TAEJU FROM MUJIN❞

The newly hired housekeeper, Ms. Yang, had helped Aera up the long staircase into the master bedroom. 

"Please take a seat and wait for a moment, Aera." Ms. Yang smiled before she walked into the bathroom connected to the master bedroom. "It'll take me a few minutes to adjust the water temperature and to gather a new change of clothes for you." 

Aera nodded and took a seat on the mattress in the center of the bedroom as she scanned her surroundings. She wrinkled her nose when she noticed the old fashioned curtains and furniture that decorated the master bedroom. The old-fashioned decor definitely suited that old ahjussi's taste. She still hadn't come to terms with the fact that at twenty one years old, she had somehow ended up married to someone much older than her. 

"Don't tell me..." Aera gasped at her next thought. "Was I a gold-digger?" She thought that was the only plausible explanation as to why she ended up married to him. She was aware that her father had engaged in criminal activity and had even stolen from loan sharks, but was the debt really so bad that she ended up in her current predicament? 

"Aera." Ms. Yang's voice broke her out of her current thoughts as the elderly woman set aside clean clothes for her on the bed. "Here are your clothes. Please let me help you into the bathroom."

With the help of Ms. Yang, Aera managed to bathe properly even with her broken right leg. It felt odd to have someone help her bathe, but in her current predicament, she couldn't afford to complain because showering with a broken leg was difficult enough already. Ms. Yang had helped her back into the wheelchair and had brought them in front of another mysterious door in the house. 

"I was told that you had a talent for art."  Ms. Yang smiled as she opened the door and pushed Aera's wheelchair inside. "In fact, Mr. Choi Mujin had specifically informed me that he had designated this room to be your personal art studio years ago. I figured that you would be bored waiting for dinner, so I thought that perhaps the art studio would keep you occupied for sometime. Please take some time to look around while I make dinner preparations." 

Aera nodded her thanks before Ms. Yang exited the room and scanned the surroundings around her. The brighter curtains, wallpaper, and furniture seemed to suit her tastes much better than the master bedroom's. Aera was surrounded by a multitude of expensive art supplies: sketchbooks, color pencils, oil pastels, paintbrushes, paint bottles and even a large paint easel in the center of the room. For as long as she could remember, she had loved anything that had to do with art: sketching, drawing, and painting were all hobbies that she had learned from her mother at an early age. She found herself slightly smiling as she rationalized that even though she couldn't remember the past, the old ahjussi was thoughtful enough to have curated a room that was specific to her likes.

Aera's gaze landed on the front cover of a black sketchbook with the name "Aera" engraved in gold letters and found herself propelling her wheelchair forward to take a closer look. She picked up the black sketchbook with her name on it and started flipping through the pages. Most of the sketches were of natural scenery such as birds, flowers, trees, and the day's weather. The sketches were definitely reflective of her art style and her signature at the bottom corner of every page confirmed it. As she continued flipping through the sketchbook, her eyes landed on a particular sketch found at the back of the book. Her eyebrows furrowed as she noticed that unlike the other sketches, this particular sketch didn't depict nature and instead, depicted a living human being. As she examined the delicate and intricate strokes on the page, she determined that she had drawn the figure with extensive care and an emotion akin to fondness. The figure was drawn with such care that Aera knew for a fact that she had to have drawn the person when he was present in the same room as her. As her gaze settled on the face of the figure, recognition dawned as she realized the identity of the person she had drawn in the past. The sketch depicted the unmistakable handsome face of Choi Mujin's right hand man, Jung Taeju. The mischievous grin on his face was drawn in such a way that it seemed as if he was in the midst of laughing when she sketched his features. 

But why had Taeju declined to answer when she asked if there was anything more to the relationship between her and him? He had insisted that he was just her assigned personal bodyguard, but the sketch in front of her suggested so much more. Did she... perhaps have a crush on him? 

She felt excruciating pain as her scrambled thoughts triggered a flashback from her past memory. 

"Come on!" A younger version of Aera whined. "Stay still for once, Taeju!" 

"Not a chance." Taeju chuckled as he purposely moved around in the chair she had ordered him to stay still in. 

"Taejuuuuuuuu..." Aera groaned as she set her sketchbook on the table. "What will it take for you to stop being annoying and to just stay still?" 

"Hmm..." Taeju's eyes twinkled with mischief as he came up with an idea. He knew he was playing with fire when he proposed the idea to her. If his boss had heard his request, he'd definitely skin him alive. "I want you to call me oppa." 

"Taeju." Aera glared at him. "I'm not calling you that." 

"Alright then... you can forget about me being your model for your sketch." He sighed as he started to rise up from his seat. 

"Okay... okay!" Aera stopped him. She was determined to sketch him today and she would finish her goal no matter what. "I'll do it! Just sit down!"

"I'm waiting..." Taeju thumped his fingers on his right knee. 

Aera looked behind her to make sure no one else was in the room besides her and Taeju before she spoke. Mujin was protective of the young girl he had taken under his wing and would've raised hell if he had heard her whisper her next words. "Oppa." 

"I didn't hear you." Taeju fought a grin as he pretended not to hear her on purpose the first time. 

"Oppa!" Aera glared as she raised her voice at him. 

Taeju burst out laughing at her indignant expression and grinned when he saw her face blush out of embarrassment. 

"Now stay still!" Aera ordered him as she reached for her sketchbook and pencil once again and Taeju obeyed her order this time. 

"How are you feeling?" Mujin's voice had interrupted her thoughts and Aera instinctively slammed her sketchbook closed to hide its contents. She had been so deep into her past memories that she failed to notice that he had entered the room. 

"It's... been hard to adjust." Aera confessed as she gripped the sketchbook tightly with her hands. "I can't remember anything from the last four years, so all of this is seems new to me." 

"It'll be fine." Mujin reassured her. "Your memories will return. I'll make sure of it. " 

Aera nodded and at that exact moment, Ms. Yang had returned back to the art studio to announce that dinner preparations were ready. She placed the sketchbook back on the large desk before Ms. Yang had wheeled her out of the room behind Mujin. 

Aera had no memories of the past four years, but she couldn't help but feel like she committed a grave sin when she hid her old sketch of Taeju from Mujin. 

- 

hello everyone x 

i've been a roll with these daily updates! i have so many ideas for this fanfic that i'm so excited to share with you all! i aim to post a chapter a day especially since i've never been really consistent with updates for any story unfortunately! as usual, please excuse any spelling or grammar errors as this author is way too lazy to proofread! please do tell me your thoughts about this chapter if you've enjoyed it! 

love, shirley x