CHAPTER FIVE

“Sorry for asking you again to watch over Bambam, Jackie.”

“Oh, it’s okay, Jae. But where are you headed to? It’s Saturday so you don’t have work. Or… are you working overtime?”

“Uh, yes, yes. Our unit will be undergoing internal audit and we’re preparing for it. You know I can’t miss this or my boss will kill me.” Jaebum avoids Jackie’s gaze. He really isn’t good at telling lies.

Just as the woman is about to ask him again, he cuts her off, “Sorry but I really have to go now or I’ll be late. Bye!”

Jackie laughs as Jaebum scurries to his car.

‘He seems busy these days. Where exactly is he headed, hmm?’

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Jina sits on her office chair and stares at all the paperwork she has to do.

‘Today should be a rest day but here I am… working overtime…’ she sighs.

She starts checking the folders and comes across the blueberry cheesecake proposal submitted by Choi Youngjae – the company’s Product Manager who claimed that he himself developed the recipe for their new product.

She is again reminded of the encounter she had with the strange man the previous week.

‘It’s funny though that this is all because of a cheesecake. But did we really steal the recipe?’

Too immersed in her thoughts, Jina is surprised when the door to her office suddenly clicks open. A guard peeps inside her office, “Ma’am, sorry to disturb you but someone wants to see you. He says he’s a friend of yours…”

‘That’s odd… On a Saturday?’ she thinks to herself but tells the guard to let the man in anyway.

The man thanks the guard and closes the door.

Jina squints her eyes to get a closer look at her visitor who’s wearing a cap. The moment she realized that it is the same man who confronted her, sweat drops started forming on her forehead. ’Nobody’s going to save me now…’

She becomes even more frightened when she notices that he is getting something from his pocket.

“It’s not a knife,” the man suddenly declares, as if he just read her mind.

“And I won’t hurt you,” he adds. He takes a seat across Jina and gives her a small notebook.

Jina takes it and reads it aloud, “Park Jinyoung’s Blueberry Cheesecake…”

‘Oh I know where this is going…’

She places it back down on her desk and looks at the man. “Do you really think I will believe you if you show me this?”

“Miss Kim, if you doubt me, why don’t you go ahead and compare it against the one submitted to you?”

“I’m sorry but what’s your name again?”

“Jaebum. Im Jaebum.”

“Mr. Im, okay, assuming you’re right… what will you get from this? In the end, isn’t it that you’re still after the money?”

The question takes Jaebum by surprise. ‘Is she implying once again that I’m a gold-digger?’

“Ma’am, I am most definitely not after the money… I just want proper recognition for my wife.” ‘Do you even realize that you’re crushing me and my family’s pride?’ he wanted to add but decides not to.

“I understand what you mean, Mr. Im. But to tell you the truth, your reason is kind of… trivial to our company. Even if you are indeed the rightful person to take all the credit, you can’t expect us to acknowledge you and tell everyone that we stole, if we really did, what’s yours. That’s not how things work in business.”

The man doesn’t respond and Jina takes this opportunity to continue talking.

“Really, though… We can compensate you then we can consider this issue closed, everything forgotten.”

Hearing this, Jaebum feels insulted once again. He feels that his pride is being stepped on every time Jina brings up the issue of money. ‘Yes, this is all because of pride…’ he admits to himself. ‘I just can’t take how this stupid company is taking all the credit while people who know Jinyoung are probably mocking her and calling her names right now. Sooner or later, my son will probably get laughed at, too. I can’t take that. I can’t take this!’

He stands, slamming his hands on the table, surprising the woman, “I’m sorry, Miss Kim, but I consider your offer to be very rude. Not everyone who comes here is a scammer. You know, you should try trusting in people. Isn’t trust vital in business?”

Jaebum utters the last sentence with emphasis then walks out.

As soon as he’s outside Jina’s office, Jaebum smiles weakly to himself. ‘That’s the least I can do to get back at her…’

Jina on the other hand is left dumbfounded. Never has she imagined that some stranger will say such things to her.

As she thinks of how the man acted in front of her, she is slowly getting convinced that Im Jaebum really is not a con artist. Then who framed you?

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That night, Jina reads the notebook Jaebum had given her earlier. She compares the contents with that in Youngjae’s proposal and indeed, they are the same. She knows that there is no way Jaebum would be able to fool her this time given that he has no access to the proposal that she has.

‘Let’s just hope this doesn’t negatively affect the company,’ she mutters to herself.

She sprawls on her bed and reads everything again, hoping she’d find a fault somewhere.

With her lying position and her arms raised in front of her while holding the notebook, a folded paper, originally unnoticed, falls on her face.

She scans it at first, thinking maybe Jaebum had planted it for her to read and deceive her. ‘I guess it’s alright to read this, hmm?’ she tells herself.

What it contained and how genuine the writings looked is definitely changing Jina’s perception of Jaebum. It read:

To my dear Jaebummie,

I don’t even know when you’d be able to read this but that’s probably sometime after I’ve passed. I didn’t want to give it to you directly because you’re already having a hard time taking care of me and I didn’t want to burden you even more with my thoughts and my feelings.

First of all, I’m sorry that I wasn’t strong enough to bear our child. I’m sorry that I had to leave you right after giving birth to our son. You’re probably asking, ‘how did she know she will die?’ Well, the doctor already told me way back. I’m sorry that we kept it from you. I know that you’d probably ask me to sacrifice our child just to keep me but I didn’t want that. I know how badly you wanted to have a son and if I aborted our baby, then we’d have a smaller chance to have another one. Another thing is… even if I survived my pregnancy and I successfully give birth, I was still bound to die. Again, I’m sorry that I kept this from you but I have cancer. I wasn’t weak and slim because I didn’t eat much; I was ill. I don’t even know how it happened unnoticed but that’s that. You see, it’s better for you to lose just one than lose both of your loved ones.

Second, I hope that you’d take care of our son and give him everything he needs. I know you’d do well in playing the roles of both his father and his mother. I’m really sorry for having to burden you with my responsibility.

Third, please take care of this notebook and all the other cookbooks that I have. You know how much I love cooking, right? This notebook contains the recipe for your favorite blueberry cheesecake so I thought that this is where I should hide my letter to you. Do you also remember how much I wanted to start a bakery/restaurant of my own? Well, of course, I can’t make that happen anymore. So, if you ever find a business partner who can help you with this, go ahead and use my recipes. Don’t think that I’m forcing you, though…

Lastly, please don’t be afraid to love again. With me gone, I know that you and our son will be lonely. In the future, you will need someone to lean on, someone who will always be there, and someone who will love you more than I did. Moreover, our son will also need a mother – someone who will give him all the love that I cannot provide him – as he grows up. You deserve the best in life. You deserve to be loved. You deserve to love again.

I wish you, your future love and our son all the best in the world. Thank you so much for coming into my life. Thank you for letting me spend my final days with you. I love you so much

Love, Jinyoung

P.S. I think you’re right, “Bambam” is a cute name. Let’s name him that, shall we? :)

Jina stares at the ceiling, her tears falling uncontrollably. She convinces herself that she’s probably being fooled for such circumstances were too good to be true. It was the kind of story she only sees in movies or soap operas. However, a voice inside tells her that she should delve deeper into the matter.

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“Jongwoon, how’s everything going?”

“Sir, we’re still doing a few more research…”

“Good. Call me when you discover anything.”

“Uhm, Sir?”

“Yes?”

“I don’t think this has anything to do with Advertising. Won’t I be in trouble if the Chairman finds out that the secretary of Kim Foods’ Advertising Head is out doing extra-curricular activities?”

Taekwoon laughs. “Of course not. You should fear me, not him. I’m your immediate supervisor; I know everything about you and I’m the one who rates your performance…”

“Y-yes! Sorry for doubting you, Sir.”