“I must’ve been an artist in my previous life!”, Seungho remarked after he carefully the first coat of nail colour on the little toe of Sohyun’s. With a victorious smile beaming in his face, he admired his masterpiece, lying on his side on the mattress while resting his head on Sohyun’s leg. After removing the excess nail colour by pressing the brush against the rim of the bottle, he continued to paint her toe nails.

A loving smile visited Sohyun’s lips after she tiled her head across the book she was reading to take a look at him. She went back to reading on finding him immersed in his artistic world.

Gently the last coat of French pink colour on her nails, he capped the bottle and admired his work while waiting for it to dry.

“Now I know how Pygmalion felt!”, he said and planted a kiss on her toe for which he received a slap on his shoulder from Sohyun.

He rolled over and dragged the book down away from her face, “Are you gonna spend the Sunday with the books or with me?”, he asked with steady voice and serious face. “Both?”, she answered with an arched brow and a plastered smile on her face. And, when she lifted the book to resume her reading, he blocked it saying, “Can’t have both! Choose one!”, he whined. “Then…”, she paused with a sly smile, “Book!”, she completed her sentence and proceeded with her books. He sat up straight with bitter look and walked away. Before, he left the room, “Ahhh…”, a realization remark left his lips along with a question, “It’s revenge, isn’t it?”. There was no response from Sohyun, not even a look. “Now, I know how you felt when I chose the report over you… Satisfied?”, he asked her declaring it as an apology. This time, Sohyun gave him a look and went back with the books.

He is determined. Taking his steps towards her, he sat beside her and supported his head on his palm fixing his gaze on her. Sohyun was resolute too. Though his gaze poked her, she pretended to be unaffected by him and tried her best to concentrate on her studies. When her hair fell on her side blocking her hindsight view of him, she felt at ease to channelize her concentration in books.

When his hand tucked the hair behind her ear, her face turned pink. With blushed face and surprised look, she turned to look at him, who was giving her a straight intense stare. On seeing her blushing, he gave a contented smile and , “Aren’t you gonna read? Am I too handsome to concentrate?” When Sohyun gave him a stare, he gave in and left the room quietly.

Seungho prepared Kimchi fried rice for dinner, his most confident dish because he believes in his mom’s kimchi. During their dining, Sohyun expressed her nervousness for the next day’s seminar which is exclusively organised for renowned doctors. But, she was invited by Jaeha who is conducting the seminar regarding his research. Since, she didn’t want to be clueless about their discussion, she spent her Sunday for the homework. “It was HIM who will be presenting, why are you nervous?”, Seungho’s voice which turned sour sounded, “Don’t get nervous for him, don’t put your efforts for him, if possible…”, his eyes wavered. “If possible?”, she nudged teasing him. His eyes gazed into hers with sly smile, “Can I say it out loud? Then...”. On seeing the glint in his eyes, she covered his mouth saying, “Don’t say anything…”, and planted a kiss on her hands that was covering his lips and said, “Good night!”. She ran away to rest early leaving Seungho speechless. He let out a quick laugh in disbelief and had his dinner.

Late in the night, he came into the room to find her sleeping soundly. He walked in quietly and slipped into the sheets. Carefully wrapping her in a back hug, he closed in resting his face on her head. He sang whispering, “Sohyun-ah…”. There was no response. With increased volume in whispering, he sang again, “Sohyun-ah…”. On seeing her twitching, he asked, “Are you asleep?”. With a sleepy voice and half opened eyes, she responded, “You woke me up to ask if I’m sleeping?”

“Listen Sohyun-ah…”

“Mmmmmm….”, she sang in half sleep.

“I’m going on a business trip tomorrow…”, he said softly

“Mmmm…”

Since her response was weak, he pronounced, “It’s a 2-day trip…”

“What?”, pulling herself, she turned towards him after breaking free from his back hug.

He lifted his head and looked at her sleepy eyes, “Let’s go to sleep now…”, he said evading her question and closed his eyes after dropping his head on the pillow.

“You are leaving tomorrow and you’re telling me tonight?”, she asked with puzzled expression infused with sleepiness.

He opened his eyes and innocently said, “I just decided it 15 minutes ago… You’re the first one to hear my plan… Aren’t you glad?”

She looked at him bewildered.

“It’s already late… Don’t think into it too much… Sleep”, he said while gently patting on her arms. He patted her rhythmically, which served as a lullaby by putting her into sleep promptly.

Next day, with packed bags on his shoulder, Seungho stood in front of Sohyun who was blocking the main door to prevent him from leaving.

“Shall I take my leave?”, he asked with a sweet smile. When she shook her head in denial, he held her head restricting the gesture and cupped her face, “Tell me ‘Yes’”, he said gazing into her eyes. With a gentle smile, she said, “Don’t forget to call me every day…” She was interrupted by his solid kiss on her forehead. After he took his leave, she got ready and left for the seminar.

She reached the seminar hall in the hospital which could hold a hundred seats and found Jaeha arranging his materials in a composed manner. Though not even half of the hall capacity was invited, considering the gravity of the suffixes (degrees) in the name of the guests, it made sense. Throwing a smile at Jaeha as a greeting, she took her seat in the front row but in the corner away from the rostrum. Since, she was invited by Jaeha, she took the front row. And since, she wasn’t confident in understanding the contents and following up, she took the corner seat.

The seminar began, people with crisp suits and formals with their straight face observed his lecture carefully. Though the homework helped her to understand the contents in the slides, it also brought in the Seungho’s face in her mind. She was lost in her thoughts, until Jaeha’s voice sounded, “Sohyun-sshi, can you help me get the material that corresponds to this slide?”, when she looked around searching for the materials, he added, “from the papers stacked next to you…”. She found books like reports stacked beside her. As she wasn’t following his lecture, she was lost and looked at Jaeha bewildered. Though her surprised expression were subtle enough to escape audience’s eyes, Jaeha caught on to it. He scanned the audience whose eyes were fixated on hers, then he turned off his microphone and mouthed, “FIFTH ONE!”. Saved by him, Sohyun spent the remaining hours of the lecture wide awake and attentive.

After the lecture ended, Sohyun waited for Jaeha who was having a one on one talk with one of the researchers. He noticed her waiting for him and he ended the talk quickly. On talking his steps towards her, he said, “I’m sorry!”

“That’s my line”, Sohyun replied with guilt ridden smile, “I’m sorry! I spaced out in the middle. Thank you for the help! Mistake was in my part so don’t say ‘sorry’. You didn’t do that intentionally”, she ended with a sweet smile.

After a moment of pause, he told her in low tone, “It was intentional… that’s why I said sorry!”. As Sohyun’s eyes widened, he continued, “You didn’t even look at me… I mean… you weren’t listening… I got carried away in the moment and blurted out such thing”. He confessed and looked at her searching for a reply.

“After all those efforts you put in the research, … I spaced out… you even invited me but, I didn’t do justice”, she said with downcast eyes. Suddenly she looked up with beamed expression, “I listened to the remaining lecture with ALL MY SENSES!”

As a wide smile marked his lips, a sudden urge to pat on her head made him to lift his hand unconsciously.  But as soon as consciousness creeped in, he withdrew his hand immediately.

When the moon dropped its camouflage in the sky, her first day without him ended with his call. Though the house was small, and the call was long, she felt lonely in the vast empty space. She tried to immerse herself in books and then movies but, it never worked out. It has just been a day and she already misses him.

She woke up to his call next day, but her day didn’t end with his call. She couldn’t reach him since the afternoon. she tried again after some time but still it said the dialled number is not reachable. As her anxiousness knocked on her door, she called Yoonpark. He said that Seungho went to meet a client who lives in the mountainous terrain, so the signal might be weak. He told her not to worry and that he spoke to the client in the afternoon who mentioned that Seungho is with him.

With unsettled mind, she went to sleep.  She woke up in quick succession in the middle of the night to check her phone because she didn’t want to miss his call or text. She woke up early, got ready and rushed to Seungho’s office. On reaching the office, she was welcomed by surprised Yoonpark,

“Came in search of him?”, he asked

She nodded, “The last time I spoke to him was yesterday morning, and he said his work has almost neared the end and he’ll be back by night! I didn’t get a call; my call couldn’t reach him. Is there any way to contact him? Can you contact the client again?”, her anxiousness and apprehensive thoughts threw questions at him.

“Don’t worry! I’ll make a call to the client!”, he said and called him. The call reached and was answered. After exchanging few words, Yoonpark told Sohyun, “Seungho had already left for Seoul… He bid his goodbye yesterday evening!”

“Then… He must’ve been here already…”, her eyes quivered in fear.

“Where could he be? I told him not to hang out at the seedy places for this project. Has he got mixed up with the underworld… ”, Yoonpark who commented at the wrong timing, left his sentence halfway reading the atmosphere.

Sohyun thanked him and left the office while making a call to Yooram. She explained the situation and even the incident at the subway. Yooram immediately met with Sohyun and consoled her.

“Don’t worry. He’ll be on his way or might’ve lost his phone. I’ll search for him at his project sites in and around Seoul. You should go to work… your internship id important too”, he said calmly.

“Should we file a complaint?”

“Let’s give him some time! I’ll get back to you when I find him, okay?”

She nodded worriedly and dragged herself to work.

The evening fell, her work for the day got over. She called Yooram but, there was no news of Seungho. She rushed home with a hope to find him there. He wasn’t home. He asked Mr and Mrs. Kang if they had seen Seungho around,

“Isn’t he on business trip?”, Mr. Kang asked

“He went for grocery shopping, isn’t he? I’m sure he’ll be back”, Mrs. Kang said forgetting the past few days.

 With no news of him, she again made routine calls to Yoonpark, and Yooram. As debilitating thoughts crossed her mind, tears welled up in her eyes. But, she is determined that she wouldn’t let the tears slip out of her eyes.

Next morning, Sohyun planned to search for him in his project sites herself. She called Yoonpark and got the locations of the sites. When she was about to leave the house, Yooram appeared in front of the house and asked her to calm down.

“I had already visited those places. They’re good to visit alone. I don’t want to make another trip to those places in search of you… If you still insist on going there…”

She couldn’t express her thoughts in words. There was no use in pouring out her worry, “At least, we should file a complaint…”, her concern filled voice spoke out.

“Through my friend, I’ve put in the informal word that he is missing”

Not completely convinced by his words, swallowing her words and emotions, Sohyun left for hospital. Whenever she had some time off, she spent it in calling Seungho’s phone. She couldn’t reach him. It has been almost two days since she lost contact with him.

Holding in her tears, Sohyun sat in the corner of the cafeteria with her lunch. Jaeha who is a regular at cafeteria found Sohyun drowned in thoughts. Unaware that Seungho is missing, Jaeha approached her to inquire about the reason. When he greeted her with, “Hi! Wha…”, they were interrupted by a phone call. Before, Sohyun could turn to look at Jaeha, her phone demanded her attention. Though the call was from an unknown number, she answered it with anxious voice, “Seungho?”

Unlike her, the voice replied casually, “Hello!”. It was Seungho.

Sohyun immediately stood up from her seat, “Where are you?”, she asked as her voice trembled.

“Step out, I’ll tell you!”

She gathered her things and waved a goodbye at Jaeha. Puzzled Jaeha looked at her leaving hurriedly while on phone.

“Hurry! I’m waiting…” (Seungho rushed her)

Where are you? (her voice sounded rigid, though in worry). She rushed out and looked for him around but, couldn’t find him. (With raised tone) WHERE are you?

Take right and walk along the footpath

With phone on one hand and a handbag on the other shoulder, Sohyun treaded along the foot path fast paced.

After a walk of two minutes, ‘Stop!’, he said and directed her, ‘Can you see a glass door? Walk straight ahead.’

 I’m going to kill you, when I see you! (Sohyun’s anger which then had a small proportion in worry, dominated now! And that’s what he desired - her anger rather than tears or worry)

Walking past the door which seemed to be an expensive place to dine in, she looked around in search of Seungho and found him in one of those extravagant tables. As she took her steps towards him, he stood up gazing into her eyes and said sweetly, ‘You can hang up now and join me’

She scanned him from head to toe for any evidence of a duel. He is in the pink of health. She stopped before him furious and fuming, “Where were you?”, she raised her voice.

“Won’t you sit down?”, he asked her in whispers while dragging the chair for her to sit.

Feeling the eyes of others on her, she took her seat. Regaining her composure, she asked him, “Why did you choose such an expensive place?”

“So, you won’t make a scene…” he said after taking his seat.

“Why didn’t you say anything about extending the stay? Not even a phone call! Was it too much effort leaving a message or a note?”. As she vented out her bottled-up frustrations, he listened to her quietly. “On the other day, someone told me that he’ll kill you! And yesterday Yoonpark told me that, he thinks you were with some underworld thugs. Uncle Yooram is on a tangent, consoling me not to worry. Uncle Kang had no clue. But, aunt Kang insisted you went for grocery shopping. For two whole days, I just couldn’t function. Even went to the police. What should I think?”. She gulped down a glass of water on the table.

“Hey… that’s vodka!”, Seungho .

But she didn’t budge, “Not another word! I’m all livid from head to toe! Just pretending to be composed”, she said in a serious tone underlain by anger, “Where did you go?”

“You could never guess!”, he said with a smirk.

“Where?”

“To Kim’s law firm…”

“Why?”, she asked him puzzled.

He arched his brow.

“Dad?”, she asked widening her eyes.

He nodded.

Author’s thoughts:

You might’ve lots of questions in your mind! But, please bear with the unresolved puzzle for a while!

If you’ve come up with some answers, I’m excited to know about it :) (Ok, coming back to reality, I’ll try to find a clairvoyant to know it ;)

Thank you for reading!! Have a great weekend :)