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

15

24 DAYS UNTIL THE GRAND GALA BALL

The night before ended in the most chaotic way possible.
Of course, In-kyung had been waiting for In-joo to come home and tell her everything, but she was sorely disappointed. By the time In-joo walked into the apartment, it was already past supper time, and she was exhausted. In-kyung had been patiently waiting for her on the sofa, a dish full of food ready for her unni, but she hadn't been in the mood to talk.
"Unni, I lied for you! I deserve an explanation."
"You do, In-kyung-ah, just not tonight, please?" she pleaded while walking to her own bedroom.
"Crime witnesses are prone to forgetting details when they don't recount what they've seen right away. You may forget details too, you know? I'm doing you a favor. If you tell me now, I'll be able to refresh your memory in case you need it in the future."
"In-kyung-ah, trust me when I tell you there was nothing worth remembering." Well, except for...
"In-joo-ah," the reporter began, then stopped to watch her sister's face. "Unni! Something did happen! Look how red your cheeks turned!" she practically yelled. Jong-oh was on the other side of the apartment and yet could hear everything the middle sister was saying, although he was pretending not to.
"Nothing, nothing, of what you're thinking has happened, so calm down."
In-kyung grabbed In-joo's wrist and pulled her toward the bed. "Talk, now."
"It's just my stupid brain, In-kyung-ah. He said something that... I've misinterpreted his words again. Please, just go? I need to sleep."
"Repeat those words."
In-joo sighed and obliged. "I asked him whether his new job was as 'legal' as the old one; he said no, but I didn't fully believe him, and he said something like, 'Have I ever broken a promise to you, In-joo-ssi?'" The girl faked the man's voice, "I just shook my head, because although he has lied, he has indeed kept all his promises. And then he was like, 'then I promise you, my new job isn't illegal' or something like that."
In-kyung emitted a quick 'uhm', and In-joo went on, "I told you it was nothing. It just sounded weird, after all this time, hearing him say that."
"Uhm," murmured In-kyung once again. "I don't think you're misinterpreting." In-joo hit her sister on the shoulder to make her stop talking nonsense, but nonetheless she continued, "But what do I know, right?" and she quietly, very ironically, laughed.
In-joo was very confused.

***

That morning, when the bookkeeper entered the hall, she was greeted by a well-known face.
"Miss, may I help you carry that upstairs?" Du-joon asked her.
"Thank you, that'd be much appreciated." In-joo had her boss' dress hanging from her arms as well as her bag, her lunch box, and a paper folder with a couple new documents they may have needed that day. Du-joon took the dress from her arms, and walked right to the elevator, calling it.
"I didn't see you at work yesterday," he told her. She had caught up with him and were now both waiting for the super elegant metallic box to come down from level 15.
"I wasn't in the office; Kim Na-yeon-nim sent me out on some urgent errands; she also asked me to retrieve her dress from the tailor," she said, pointing at the very dress Du-joon was holding, "and then gave me the afternoon off. It was really nice of her."
"Indeed. You deserve some rest, In-joo-ah." He shyly extended a hand toward her, and she took it in hers, squeezed it, and held it until she heard the 'ping' of the elevator. They got in, and Du-Joon selected the last floor. They both turned toward the door.
"You know, Du-joon-ah, I've been thinking a lot about what we talked about the other night..." In-joo began. "I'd like to repeat a dinner, if you're down. I was going to suggest at my place, but... my sister and her fiancé are back, and they're staying at my house for the time being, so we might try another restaurant?"
Du-joon didn't hesitate, "If we can't meet at your place, maybe we can meet at mine?"
"I – I was just suggesting, don't feel pressured. I mean, we don't have to, if you don't wa-"
"But I do want to."
In-joo bit her lip in a fit of anxiety. "Alright, then. I guess. When are you free?"
"I'm heading to Phuket to see my family in two days' time, and I'll stay there a week, so... next Friday? How does that sound?"
He has family in Phuket? That was news to In-joo. "Sounds great. I'll look forward to it. Send me the details of your whereabouts when you've got time, alright?"
They had arrived on the 15th floor and were now heading to the stairs. In-joo wondered which room was his. And then chastised herself. How could she go from asking Du-joon out to thinking about what door concealed Do-il's new living quarters? Not that she ever knew of his old ones, either. In-joo hated herself and Do-il as well. She was weak, and he was the cause. Why did he come back? Couldn't they simply choose another hotel? She knew it had been just a coincidence, but still. Her hotel? Someone had probably cursed her because her life was going just fine, and then all of a sudden, all these feelings and all these people were back in her life.
Du-joon and his confession.
Her sister and the pregnancy.
In-hye and her recklessness.
Do-il and everything that came with him.
In-kyung was right. She was going to need a very long vacation some time soon.

***

"Officer Yun Ji-oh! I'm glad to see you again. Were you on vacation last time?"
Since the day of the ID accident, the officer who had helped In-joo get inside the visit room despite the lack of her real document, had started addressing her in a more informal way, so now she had his approval to also call him by his given name.
"Oh, In-joo-ssi. Good to see you, I've been sick, actually."
In-joo laid her bag on the edge of the counter, so she could pull out her ID card, now always with her. When she heard him say that, her eyebrows shot up. "Are you fine now, though?"
"Yes, I am. It was just a bad cold, nothing worrisome, but thank you for your concern."
In-joo smiled, fished out her ID, and handed it to the old man. "Happy to hear that, sir. See, you weren't here last week, but I didn't forget my ID then either! I always have it with me now."
"You've been around often, lately. What's going on?" He inquired while printing out her daily pass.
"A lot is going on. I need to talk to my friend about all of it. She always has a good word for me, sometimes that's all I need to feel better."
"I bet she doesn't mind seeing you more often, either."
"She's worried I might jeopardize my social life by being seen here, but I don't care. I don't have many friends either way, so..."
Yun Ji-oh looked all surprised at her statement, "Someone as lovely as you should have so many friends and suitors around that you shouldn't be able to turn around!"
In-joo giggled, "It's fine like this, I have my own little, happy bubble."
"You know, I have a son about your age, I could make you two meet!"
"Oh," In-joo wasn't sure how to respond without offending him, "that's very kind of you. But I do already have someone special. I mean, in my little bubble, there's someone already."
"Ah! Thought so. I tried, though. My son needs to step up his game if he wants to find someone eventually!" The officer handed her the pass, and said his goodbyes.

The visit room was exceptionally clean that day. The smell confirmed it, as it was a mix of floral detergent and ammonia, it made In-joo's stomach turn.
"In-joo-ah, what brings you here again so soon?" Hwa-young was sitting down on her chair on the other side of the glass shield.
"Unni... I should be paying you each time I come here." The sentence made no sense to the prisoner, who simply frowned at the bookkeeper. "Every time I visit you, it's to vent and hear your opinion. You're my second therapist, basically."
"Why? What happened?" That question inevitably led to a 10-minute long monologue.
"You remember what we talked about two weeks ago? Not last time, that was when I told you about In-kyung's pregnancy, the one before that."
Hwa-young nodded her head, "Choi Do-il-ssi."
"Well... I might as well have given him a call because he's here."
"Brave choice, to come back, I mean."
"Is it a reckless thing to do?" In-joo asked right away, panic sliding in just a tiny, little bit.
"Well, with everything that he's been through, I would've guessed he'd have preferred to live abroad for a longer period of time. It's not dangerous, at least it shouldn't be, but you know, people don't forget faces that easily when they end up on TV and the newspaper." She had a point. Do-il might have been able to start anew in Greece, but expanding his pool of clients in a country that knew you for your not-so-legal ways may not turn out to be so simple.
"Well, unni, we've met. I talked to him." Hwa-young raised her eyebrows and smiled.
"The first time I saw him, I ran away. I was with Du-joon, the guy I talked to you about, and... it just felt so embarrassing. I was there, and suddenly he appeared out of nowhere. I swear, unni, I felt like I was living a nightmare. And then I met him again yesterday evening at this pub, it was so random. I was there with my sister, and-"
"Are you completely sure you're labelling it the right way? You called it a nightmare, but the way you're talking about all this ordeal makes me think you're talking of a dream instead."
Well, shit. And here was In-joo, thinking her unni could help her understand more about this whole situation, but the only thing she was getting out of it were just more doubts.