Unlike the tears that disappeared after caressing the cheeks upon leaving the eyes, the words pitched itself on to their hearts.

In an almost empty cafeteria, in a table for two, was seated Sohyun with her hands wrapped around the warm coffee and Yoonhwa with her iced tea. After a long silence, “It’s been a week since we talked with each other”, Sohyun’s words sounded carrying all her pain. Yoonhwa knew she wasn’t talking about them but Seungho, “Do you know, not a single day passed without me and my boyfriend fighting?” She comforted.

“We were never like this… Our fights didn’t last for more than a day…”, Sohyun replied tracing the edge of the coffee cup.

“This too shall pass…” Yoonhwa was cut in by Sohyun’s words, “Like that a week has passed…”

“Sohyun-ah… stop bothering yourself, everyone has a phase of slump in their marriage… Don’t drench yourself in your assumptions … Face him!”

Yoonhwa left after giving a long lecture for Sohyun to face the reality. Sohyun made her way to her floor with downcast eyes as Yoonhwa’s lecture rekindled the memories of the long days of quietness with Seungho.

“Sohyun-sshi! Are the reports ready?”, a stern voice from behind called her. Realizing that it was Jaeha’s voice who was trying to fool her again by mimicking Dr. Oh’s voice, Sohyun turned around and stared at him crossing her arms.

Comprehending that his trick has failed, with sheepish smile and scratching the back of his head Jaeha said, “Ok… You’ve taught me to never play the same trick twice before the same audience…”

“You’ve become a full-time researcher and even became a prime member of the board… I could never dare to teach you!”, Sohyun gave a sarcastic reply.

“Since, I’m an elite who is a diplomat, aristocrat and a board member, let me teach you something in return…”, he uttered playing along with her but after a pause, his expression became serious as he said, “Always walk with your head held high!”

“Deh (yes), Seonsaengnim!”, she sang with a smile.

He smiled back and patted on her shoulder saying, “I have to go now… Take care of yourself while I take care of some rat who has been digging up the buried garbage…” He finished his conversation with a professional smile and took his leave.

Late in the evening, Seungho who was in his office room was in a hurry to meet the deadline of the project, got his hand busy with the keyboard. Since, the client personally asked Seungho to keep it confidential, other than Yoonpark, it wasn’t disclosed to anyone. Taking his best care to keep it confidential, Seungho proceeded with his report but, his phone rang disrupting the process. With an annoyed look he took out the phone from his pocket but, upon seeing that the caller id was blocked, his eyebrows knitted; answered the call cautiously while making his steps outside his room.

Hello?

Yoo Seungho!  (A voice changer sounded but, it didn’t curtail the edict nature in his tone)

Who is this?  

Seungho silently walked towards Yoonpark and stopped in front of him. When Yoonpark took off his eyes from the monitor and looked at Seungho, he closed the receiver with one hand and mouthed, “Tap the call”. While Seungho recorded the call, Yoonpark hurried to tap it. The person on the other end of the call continued,

Are you an analyst? Or are you a great F-detective? (His angry words didn’t fail to drop the formalities)

Who are you? Tell me your name (Seungho’s rigid voice sounded)

Do you know the condition of the people who tried to sniff out THE BUSINESS? The biggest mistake you made in your life was taking up this project! You will pay the price for every information you gathered!

Tchk… Don’t beat around the bush, come to the point!

(Seungho’s nonchalant reply, erupted the rage) You’ll regret for choosing this job! I heard you got married recently… Such a beautiful girl, so… of course parent’s disapproval wouldn’t matter! You seemed happy though it’s just the two of you! So, what if I kidnap her in front of your eyes? (Seungho clenched his jaw and gripped his fist at his mention) How about I make you two play hide and seek for two days? Won’t you go mad? Won’t to wander from pillar to post in search of her? Won’t you regret taking up this project? ... Won’t you cry?

(After regaining his composure, Seungho asked again) Who are you?

You never ask what do I want huh? (He abruptly ended the call)

As soon as the call ended, Seungho rushed out dialling Sohyun after asking Yoonpark to take care of the call. Borrowing the car from one of his colleagues, Seungho dashed out.

Despite trying multiple times, it said Sohyun’s phone was switched off. Since, the night has fell, he rushed to the house. He leaped through the stairs and found Sohyun who has just arrived home standing outside the locked house and opening a gift box that was left in front of the house. Before he could stop her, she opened the box and saw the card inside it. When he noticed her eyes widening, he called out, “Sohyun-ah?” She turned to look at him with her eyes welled in tears. He got the card from her which read,

To dear Yoo Seungho,

Choose the best option: Your life or Your project

Though it took him aback, he pretended to ignore it and asked Sohyun, “Are you ok? Why was your phone switched off?” His voiced sounded full of concern. But, the fact that he ignored the threat made Sohyun infuriated. His questions were looked upon as the way to change the subject.

Ignoring his questions, Sohyun opened the lock and stepped inside the house. He followed her in and without giving her any further details about the threat, he asked, “Sohyun-ah! I asked you a question! It’s not the time to throw a fit!”

“I’m fine. Battery died, so …”, she answered curtly and asked, “Now, tell me what’s with the threats?”

“Those are the threats of rival company…”, he lied.

Buying his lies, she chided, “Ever since dad started filing cases against bigshots, mom used to anxiously wait for dad praying that he shouldn’t arrive in a coffin! Should I start praying too?” The tears started rolling down her cheeks.

“Why are you crying?”, his riled-up voice sounded.

“Just let me be…”

“Will crying help us?”

“And not crying will?”, she retorted.

He sighed, “Anger can’t be dissolved with tears!”

“I’m not angry at anyone! I’m angry at myself for containing my thoughts”, she said expressing her inability to pronounce her doubts.

“Why are you beating around the bush? Why don’t you say straight to my face? That, I am the reason behind your father’s condition?”, his insecurity and self-blaming resurfaced.

“My father’s condition is not because of you, but me!”

“Stop!”, his voice though sounded low clearly expressed his disinterest in hearing anything anymore, “Whenever you cry, it is… as if you’re saying it’s all because of me!” He looked straight into her eyes and asked, “Tell me, if you don’t wanna see me or if you want to go back… I’ll get lost! As long as both of us will be at peace!”

With her frustrations erupted, “Alright! If you wanna leave me, then leave! I’ll prepare myself to live alone without anyone for me and die alone in distr-…”

“ENOUGH!”, his voice peaked in its volume, “Not another word!”, he said and started walking out of the house in anger.

On seeing him dashing out in anger at night, she grabbed his hand asking, “Where are you going?”

“Office!”, he answered curtly after having his hand free from her hold and left.

Seungho came home at the midnight and when he woke up, Sohyun has already left for hospital. He recollected some fragments of memory while he was half asleep where he saw her getting ready. Realizing that was the happenings of this morning, he sighed. With dejected look, when he stepped out of the bedroom, the doorbell rang. Seungho found Mr. Kang at the door waiting for him. He welcomed him and upon entering the house, Mr. Kang handed over a lunch box saying, “Sohyun-sshi left home very early in the morning…”

“So, you brought the breakfast for me?”

Mr. Kang shook his head in denial, “No… I wanted to talk with you! The breakfast was just an excuse!”

“Thank you”, Seungho said softly with a smile.

Feeling the breeze against their faces, they stood in the balcony, facing the morning landscape and with silence. “I’m unable to understand these women…”, Seungho broke the silence.

With a gentle smile and soft voice Mr. Kang spoke, “This love, this marriage! Marriage means… we have to sacrifice little things for each other! We have to keep her before our self-interest! THROW AWAY THIS EGO! Or throw away your married life!”

As Seungho listened to him with a realization smile, Mr. Kang added, “What was the reason that made you to love Sohyun? Meeting her in a restaurant, hugging her in parks, going to movies… is not at all love... Boy, that ain’t love! It’s just an infatuation before marriage! This infatuation is like a flower. It’ll be intoxicating, fragrant and beautiful! But it’ll wither away! Because the uncertainty of seeing her the next day creates the delusion to have the best today. What you get after marriage is like roots! It’ll be inside the soil rooted firmly! Whatever may happen make small sacrifices! Sacrifice!”

Having listened to him, Seungho hugged Mr. Kang tightly and Mr. Kang patted on his back.

With a portion of the weight being lifted from his heart, he got ready for the office. On seeing him entering the office, Yoonpark asked in wonder, “I heard you were the last one to leave the office, nut you’re early today?”

He nodded, “Woke up early…”

“Is everything ok at home?”

He nodded again asking, “What happened to the call? Were you able to find out the caller?”

“He’s smart to tamper with the signal locations but not clever enough…”, Yoonpark said with victorious smile, “When he ended the call, there was a lag in the signal so, we were able to spot the true location… BTW, did you get a threat call like this before? Is that’s why you told us to equip the call tapping devices here?”

“Mmm… a few months back. I received the call when I was at home in the night! I didn’t want to alarm Sohyun so, I held myself back that day!”

“Do you have any idea about who it might be?”

“No”, he shook his head, but, “I’m sure he is not pleased with the information we have in our hand. I think he is not watching me in-person and his information are from secondary sources…  But, he even knew about my marriage…”

As Seungho stopped in mid-sentence and dived into deep thoughts, Yoonpark probed, “Why? What happened?”

“It’s just that… the threats patterns are amiss…”, he took out a pen and started writing down the timeline, “First, when we took up the project, Sohyun got threated with my life. Then, when I got a key information, I received a phone call threatening my life again. And, then yesterday I received a phone call threatening SOHYUN’S LIFE! But, at the same time, Sohyun received a card threatening my life!”

“Since, threatening your life seemed useless, did they move on to Sohyun’s?”, Yoonpark puzzled.

“If that is so, then yesterday they would’ve sent the threat for her life in the card too… Moreover… when threats involving my life demanded to withdraw my project… the phone call yesterday were more like revenge…”, Seungho’s eyes wandered in thoughts.

“Let’s file a complaint!”, Yoonpark concluded. “We aren’t detectives or police… We don’t have the leisure or the power to crack this case or venture into this loop…”. Seungho nodded but, he felt restless even after filing the report.

Sohyun’s shift for the day got over in the afternoon. After changing into comfortable clothes, she bid her byes to her colleagues and took her leave. On leaving the hospital premises, she got a call from Jiwoo asking Sohyun to meet her in a café. Sohyun rushed to the café with the uneasiness. On reaching the café, Jiwoo who was seated at a table saw Sohyun entering and waved at her energetically. Sohyun let out sigh of relief on seeing the positive aura.

With a wide smile, Sohyun took her seat.

With a grin, Jiwoo asked, “I brought you good news, what did you bring?”

“Purse?”, Sohyun answered.

Jiwoo nodded saying, “Guess, you’ve learnt to talk huh?”

Without any reply, Sohyun looked at her waiting for the news.

Jiwoo chuckled at her impatience, “Do you know mom used to visit physiotherapist once in a month?”

Sohyun nodded.

“Now, she is visiting them once in a week… Not because of her health but to see her son-in-law!”

“What?”, Sohyun’s eyes widened.

“I knew he was keeping it a secret from you!”, Jiwoo tapped on the table and continued, “Seungho-sshi used to wait for mom whenever she visits the center. Somehow, he pursued, hit and crashed against mom’s reticence and got on her good side. Now, she even adjusts her visit to Seungho-sshi’s schedule!”

As Sohyun’s eyes widened in surprise and her lips curved into widest smile, Jiwoo continued, “That’s just the teaser…The big news is… Seungho arranged for dad’s counselling session. Unaware that the session was arranged by Seungho, dad went for it. And today I learnt that he is already aware that it was all Seungho’s doing, but he still went for it without complaining and he still pretends like he is not aware of Seungho’s involvement!”

At her mention of it, Sohyun covered in awe and tears lined her eyes. She cursed herself for the groundless doubts she had. She immediately got up from her seat and held Jiwoo’s hand saying, “I want to meet Seungho immediately so, I’ll take my leave now and treat you later!” As Jiwoo nodded understanding, Sohyun rushed out.

Sohyun fast paced and arrived at the junction. Waiting for the pedestrian signal, she took out her phone. With her head bent down and eyes on the phone trying to call Seungho, she saw the footsteps of some person next to her crossing the road. Following that person when she stepped on the pedestrian crossing, she heard the screeches of car tyres against the road. She immediately looked up and saw a speeding car which has lost its control on the brake. Sohyun stood frozen as the car skidded on the road and made its way towards her. The next moment, the pain clouded her consciousness, and everything came to a still black.

Meanwhile, Seungho couldn’t concentrate on his work as the fight with Sohyun and the talk with Mr. Kang roamed around his mind. He looked at his watch and mumbled, “Her shift would be over by now…”. He contemplated for a moment and stood up from his seat. He gave up on the work and left the office to meet Sohyun.

Seungho took the train and got down at the station near her hospital. It was the station where Sohyun usually boards the train to their house. Seungho lost his way in the station and arrived at the opposite platform. As he looked at the platform across him, the memory where he first met Sohyun flashed. With a broad smile, he waited for her!