High on You (Choi Do Il x Oh In Joo - Little Women 작은 아씨들)

6

Blue. There was blue everywhere. The sky was an incredible shade of indigo, and the sea was a deep cyan, with streaks of bright green in the proximity of algae and rocks. The sand spreading in front of him, though, was as black as coal, making for an impressive contrast. Choi Do-il was observing the deserted Vlychada beach from high up on the cliff. Santorini had never looked more beautiful, and yet distant, than in that precise moment in time.
Maybe the island felt far off because, for the umpteenth time, his love life had taken a turn for the worst; maybe it was because of that new client pestering him with questions and pleas to meet with them; maybe it was because his mom had started missing her home country, and he as well was starting to feel the distance.

Five years was a lot of time, after all.

At the end of the Jeongran case, he had left in quite a hurry. He was ready to start over, to clean up his name, and to live an honest life. If not for himself, then for his mom and, hopefully, his future partner. He hadn't always been like that; he used to do some good to people, but after having been caught in the poisonous net that the Society had knitted, he'd had only one way out of it: to keep playing their game, no matter how dangerous it got for himself or the sisters. But they had won, if one could count 'legally fleeing' the country as winning. He still couldn't shake the feelings he had felt that day at the airport. To him, in fact, it hadn't felt like winning at all. He had put on a brave, positive smile; he had left her there with the promise to see her again, yet here he was, still on the same island, almost 60 months later, still thinking about those fateful few months. He had felt like shit on that flight, and his mother had tried to talk him out of it more than once during those first few weeks. But he couldn't have gone back – not at that time, not like that. Most importantly, he knew that, deep down, neither he nor In-joo had been in the right state of mind to see where things could have headed.
He had trusted his gut the day he stabbed Go Soo-im. She had been nagging him for quite a while about his relationship with the older sister, but only during that dreadful split second had he allowed himself to not think straight. You're in love with Oh In-joo, right? Otherwise, why would you even be here? He had answered with the only words that had felt right in those moment. You shouldn't have done this if you thought I loved her. Those had been his exact words, and no matter how he looked at them, even after all these years, he knew what they had meant. Right feelings at the worst possible time. He had a name to clear, something he couldn't have done in Korea, and she had a lot to work on, what with her family, being rich all of a sudden, and facing the wave of news and journalists. Do-il regretted flying away so soon, but he had no doubt that In-joo had the right instruments to get through it all. Plus, his feelings might have been unrequited, as he had never spoken of them and had never done anything to remotely show his interest, mostly because he had realized it way too late and there had been more pressing matters to think and talk about.
"Ugh, Do-il what has happened to you?" he whispered to himself with a grimace on his lips. He raised his hand to his face and roughly massaged his eyes as if to clear his mind. He turned his back to the open sea and started walking toward his car.

***

"Yes, sir. I'm well aware of the risks, but this is a necessary step if you need to do this fast, just like you said on our first meeting." Being on the phone with clients was the worst thing about his job; he hated it. He much preferred to look at numbers, analyze them, and write down stats and predictions, but he had to do it. His mother, who was standing next to the door, was looking at him from the other side of his studio with a smug little smile on her face. She loved watching her son work. There had been times when she caught herself staring at him for too long, but her thoughts always went back to the same old explanation: she had to make up for lost time. So-young had moved to Santorini thanks to Park Jae-sang own doing: Do-il had played him well, and his mom had already been safe before everything went to hell shortly after.
"Yes, I understand. Then let's forget these last few details, alright? We're sticking with the second plan we made. Is that alright?" he asked. His eyes were close, and he was trying really hard not to snort into the transmitter. He listened carefully to what the man was telling him and nodded his head. "Perfect, alright. You'll hear from me as soon as I have the paperwork ready. Should you have any questions, call me. Have a nice one. Bye."
"If you teach me, I can be the one talking to them," his mom said.
"I actually have a business partner that is currently sick, but thanks for the offer." He smiled at his mom, who had arrived earlier than usual that Sunday morning. They had established a meeting day right after Do-il had set foot on Greek land.
"If you decide to ditch him, you know where to find me," she told him, then continued, "come, lunch is ready." She walked outside the studio room and made her way to the kitchen. He followed her, and he couldn't thank the heavens enough that they had let his mom live. The cancer had spread quite a lot, but with experimental cures, So-young had been able to live quite a comfortable life so far. Was she cancer-free? Not yet, but doctors were positive, and she felt quite good for someone who had been on the brink of death years before.
"Sit, have some kimchi and pork belly," she almost ordered him.
"Omma," damn, it was still weird to say that, "thank you. For everything."
"Are you okay, Do-il-ah? You sound a little bit... off today."
"I... have been thinking a lot lately, sorry," he carefully said, adjusting himself on the kitchen chair. As much as he loved his mother, it wasn't easy to share his thoughts and feelings. It had never been easy, if he had to be honest with himself. He was the worst communicator to have ever existed on the planet.
"About that girl you met?" she innocently asked.
"No, it didn't work out with her."
"It never works out, Do-il-ah." She gave him a knowing smile, and for that, he laughed a little bit.
"True."
"I wonder why, though. You are Choi Do-il. My Choi Do-il, thank goodness you took after your father in looks."
"Omma..."
"Don't 'omma' me when it's only beneficial, Do-il-ah. You're as good-looking as he was when he was your age." He felt just a sliver of heat showing on his cheeks, but as he raised his eyes toward his mom, he noticed that her eyes had shadowed to then focus back on his face just a second later. "You're not only attractive, you're also a hard worker; you built your own business... again," she added to give the conversation a lighter and more ironic tone, "you have one of the nicest houses on the entire island, you have a car, and you're kind and considerate. What more could these girls possibly want?"
"Someone who's actually present with his thoughts," he admitted. His mom stopped serving food to closely inspect her son.
"Oh boy, why would you even ask a girl out then?" she asked, and she had a point. Why would he do that, knowing that he had no real intention to commit?
"I don't know." He was such a liar, though. He perfectly understood why he did what he did: to feel something. His heart had grown cold over the years, despite his best efforts. He had regretted almost immediately his choice to not keep in touch with anyone. Do-il stopped eating the kimchi on his plate to think about what could have happened if only he had kept his emails active. His weird sort-of-friendship with In-joo could have continued, perhaps, or maybe they would have stopped talking eventually, but he'd never know that because he hadn't even tried. The ifs were too many, and his head was already throbbing. Besides, In-joo would have sorted her life out in the meantime. He had waited too long, and even if he were to see her again someday, he probably wouldn't have interfered.
So-young watched her son and took a deep breath. Her face was wrinkly, especially around the eyes, since she was so focused on his face, and the light in her eyes was that of a worried mother. She had known about In-joo; a mother always knows those things, after all, or at least she felt it in his words when he involuntarily started talking about her. The girl was that reporter's sister, the one who had helped her while she was in jail, and her senses had always told her that good blood ran in that family.
"You're still thinking about her," Do-il stopped moving completely.
"I'm not."
"My boy. Just the fact that we're talking about the same person without even mentioning her name tells me the opposite." The man averted his eyes; he couldn't stand his mother's gaze on him. It made him feel small, like a teenager who had been caught doing something he shouldn't have. And again, his mom was right, and his lack of response confirmed that much.
"You're always saying that you can work from anywhere, right?"
"What does that have to do with this?"
"Let's go back." Those words ran through his system and engraved themselves into his brain.
"What?"
"Let's go back. To Seoul. I'm better now; the doctors said they can brief a Korean team about my treatments and that I can still be part of the program if I move away." Where was all this coming from? How... Actually, why had she already asked all this?
"How long have you been waiting to tell me?"
"You know perfectly well; you were there the first time I hinted at this."
Do-il had met with a Korean client coming from Jeju island. She was with him by pure chance, and the old man had invited them both over for dinner as a way to thank the financial consultant for a job well done. Tasting fresh Korean food had started something, and his mom had begun thinking about how much things must have changed in five years' time. He pulled back from the table and rested his back on the back of the chair. His arms crossed over his chest, made him look huge. He kept his eyes low, fixed on the flat surface.
"Should we, though? Wouldn't it be too exhausting for you?"
"I'll be fine, Do-il-ah. Don't you worry about me." The tone in her voice was a solid indicator of how much her spirits had changed in the span of two minutes. Happiness – that was what Do-il could hear now.
Joy.
Anticipation.

They were going home.

***

Choi Do-il finished lunchwith his mother, they had a nice walk under the already scorching sun, and then decided to part ways. Do-il had something to do now, after all. He drove her home, a little one-floor-only house in the middle of a wonderful lawn full of bright colors and life, and then went to the nearest coffee shop. He sat in one of the empty armchairs on the deck of the shop, and with a double espresso in his hands, he started checking out flights from Santorini International Airport to Incheon International Airport.

_______________________________________________________________________________

Hi guys!
How I missed writing these footnotes. Goodness gracious.

This feels like a good chapter to start reading your very important, very much begged for feedback, so...
- Are you enjoying the story?
- Are the characters believable?
- Have I captured them well? Or do they still need to be sharpened a bit?
- What was your favorite chapter so far?

Also, I've been curious: how did you find this story?
Hope to hear from you soon.
Take care,

Dawn