Landing in Your Inbox

24 - the chase

November 14, 2020, 3:20 P.M.
Lee Family Estate, Seongbuk, Seoul

Many of Jeong-hyeok's things during his time in Switzerland had either been donated or sold off. What remained could fit a small chest, such that was abandoned in the family attic, never opened after it was locked 4 years ago. It was disregarded along with his brother's belongings, what few of it they decided to keep - mostly photos, memorabilia and all of his letters. Jeong-hyeok would be surprised to see that their rocking horse from his boyhood was still there along with some of the toy trains and planes that he and his brother used to play with. 

Jeong-hyeok ended up jogging back childhood memories while he was hunched low under the roof. In a way the attic served as another graveyard for his brother but this was one was rarely visited compared to his actual resting place. Jeong-hyeok going up there was something his mother didn't think he would do, she was almost certain that the chest would never be unearthed.

But Jeong-hyeok tried not to dwell upon each discovery, knowing fully well how he could spiral down to grief each time. Eventually he found his Swiss chest and was about to unlock it when his mother came up.

"Jeong-hyeok." She said in an apprehensive tone, her hands clutching each other, "Ms Ko is here."

No one told their visitor that Jeong-hyeok was home, but he decided he would head downstairs to pay his respects. 

"Chung-ryul, maybe there is something we can do to help our children. All those years down the drain. What a waste..." Ko Myeong-eun was lamenting.

She did not expect she would be seeing one of said children bowing to her in greeting.

"Jeong-hyeok, join us." His father gestured at an empty chair.

And in a move unforeseen by his father and even his mother, Jeong-hyeok did not wait to be spoken to. With unwavering  eyes upon the mother of his former fiancee (despite the fact that there was no formal engagement yet, it was just something that was assumed by both families), Jeong-hyeok talked to her.

"Ms. Ko, I know how disappointed you are with his decision. Please accept my humblest apology." He said this with a low bow, "I do not mean to cause you, Dani and my family any harm and hurt, it is for this reason that I asked Dani to separate."

"But Jeong-hyeok I don't understand why. You and Dani have been doing so well! This is too sudden." Myeong-eun threw her hands.

"I have not been completely honest, I had been considering this for some time and I assure you I did not take this lightly. " Jeong-hyeok inhaled deep, glancing at his own parents. His mother was anxious yet attentive, his father unreadable but possibly stewing inside. "For the past few years, I've been following a direction in life that I thought would be the best one...And now I have been having other thoughts about how to live, until I came to the conclusion that an engagement will not work. It is a selfishly motivated reason and I'm sorry for it. I respect Dani and wish nothing but her happiness and continuing to pursue marriage will not do this."

"So what of Dani? Will her feelings not matter? Dani has done nothing but be understanding and patient." Myeong-eun said defensively, slapping her chest, "She desperately wants this relationship to work and is willing to do anything."

Fearing that it may culminate in increased tension, Yun-hui, Jeong-hyeok's mother, interrupted, "Ms. Ko, it is as Jeong-hyeok explained, he does not wish to burden Dani. Our children have already discussed this between them. Let us support them."

"Are you sure there can't be any contingency plan?" Here Myeong-eun turned to Jeong-hyeok's father with whom she and her brother had discussed their match.

Lee Chung-ryul had been listening to the conversation with unease, one could tell from his unsipped cup. "I have raised a wayward son, I personally apologize for this Ms. Ko."

To Ko Myeong-eun it was significant because the retired air force general would never apologize. The fact that he now did meant there was little they could all do. For Chung-ryul's wife and mother of his two sons, she could only quietly bear the outrage on behalf of her youngest who had only done his best to follow the life designed for him. 

For Jeong-hyeok he expected it all too well. He should not have been disappointed, that was the rhetoric he came up with. But also it seemed his father would never understand or try to.

He didn't get to find what he was looking for in the attic. After Ko Myeong-eun left in a huff, Jeong-hyeok also took off. He reassured his mother that he was fine, what little that did. To his father he only gave a curt goodbye and left with the car that was still registered under his father's name but lent to his use.

November 14, 2020 6:00 P.M.
Incheon Airport Terminal 2

He told Kwang-beom earlier that he wouldn't be joining him on his drive to Incheon when they go back to work the next day. What he didn't say was he was going to the airport as early as the evening before they were due to report.

But not in his uniform, he was still in plain clothes, turtleneck and coat, doing something he thought was foolish and crazy, but also oddly invigorating as he swept the terminal's many coffee shops for a sighting. This was his 'turf' after all. He peered at the queues and tables, jogging from the first floor to the third floor. Never mind that there's a dozen scattered coffee stores in the public area of that terminal alone.

Then a hint on his messages narrowed down his options significantly. In one of the bakeries, there was a woman who followed the color theme he cluelessly picked out a day before. 

Blue was indeed the theme of Yoon Seri's outfit with her sky blue long-sleeved buttoned top paired with a pair of denims. She was standing in front of the counter of a Paris Baguette cafe, paying for a croissant and her coffee which she took to a lone table with a medium-sized luggage. 

Jeong-hyeok walked briskly to an adjacent restaurant, taking a seat and opening the menu in front of him as cover. 

Seri yawned as she was dialling someone on her phone, she was trying to open her eyelids wide. She seemed exhausted.

Maybe he should casually buy something and bump into her. It made sense. The airport was a place he was expected to be in after all. That was his workplace, even if he was off-duty.

But what if she didn't want to see him? 

She stifled another yawn after she ended the call, slicing a corner piece of the croissant but getting another call that led her to abandoning it in favor of answering. When her eyes wandered off to his direction, Jeong-hyeok sunk into his menu.

Then while she was conversing, her free hand came up to her hair, her elbow knocked off her passport from the table and it fell flat to the floor. She didn't notice it.

Jeong-hyeok folded the menu. That was his sign. He'll pick it up for her and say hello. He stood up and strode over to the cafe.

"Ms. Yoon!" 

Jeong-hyeok stopped on his tracks.

Alberto swung by, picking up the fallen passport that had Seri going, "Oh my! Thank you, Alberto." Then she ended her call.

Behind him was Seo Dan with a steel gray luggage he could recognize anywhere. Without a shadow of a doubt, she was the friend Seri was traveling with. Alberto pulled Seo Dan and himself two chairs, joining her in an animated conversation.

Just like that, the chase was over. It was time for him to go.