MBFT 07

Chapter 07

“I’m Kwon Min-ah from next door! We used to buy dried fish and Jjonddeugi from the stationery store all the time! You and I were in the same grade until second grade, and then we got separated in third grade and cried our eyes out! Don’t you remember?”

“Ah…!”

A faint exclamation escaped Haesom’s lips.

Jaehyun slightly turned his head and whispered quietly.

“Kid. Do you remember anything?”

“Yes…! I remember. You’re Min-ah! You were my neighborhood friend. We used to go to and come home from school together every day!”

Perhaps her voice had reached Min-ah, because Min-ah stepped closer.

However, Haesom could not approach her as freely as Min-ah did.

Seeing Haesom’s hesitant feet, Jaehyun took her hand and gently moved her behind him, naturally putting some distance between the two.

She looked bright and seemed perfectly fine on the outside, but it seemed that the things she had experienced after being kidnapped and taken to the island still remained as fear inside her.

That was probably why she had thought I was in danger earlier when I was surrounded by the secretaries.

“You… you’re okay, right?”

Perhaps Min-ah sensed that Haesom was wary of her, because she carefully asked.

“Haesom still needs to rest and recover.”

At Jaehyun’s words, Min-ah let out a soft “Ah!” and took a step back.

“Haesom. Can you contact me when you feel a little better?”

Then she turned on the screen of the phone in her hand and held it out to Haesom.

“Ah… I don’t have a phone yet. What should I do?”

Haesom whispered in a small voice, as if she felt sorry.

It had already been a few days since they brought her home. Why hadn’t they even bought her a phone?

Keeping her locked inside the house all the time wasn’t necessarily the answer.

Should I buy her a phone today?

“It’s okay! But who is this?”

At Min-ah’s question, Haesom glanced up at Jaehyun and answered.

“He’s my brother’s friend.”

“Ahhh. You had a lot of older brothers, right? I sometimes greeted them when I ran into them! Anyway, oppa. Could you at least give me your number?”

Silence fell for a moment, and Jaehyun answered in a calm voice.

“I don’t give my number to just anyone.”

Although she was Haesom’s childhood friend, he still didn’t know whether meeting her would help Haesom recover or become a hindrance.

“I want to keep in touch with Haesom… Okay, I understand. Then I’ll just come to your house and ring the doorbell whenever I want to see Haesom.”

And one thing was certain—she looked like the type who would definitely bother Haesom.

Judging by how she kept pushing even though Haesom was shrinking back.

Jaehyun lowered his gaze and looked at Haesom.

Even though she was confused, she kept stealing glances at her friend’s face. It seemed that there was some excitement in her about meeting a friend again.

In the end, Jaehyun held out his phone to Min-ah.

With a slightly flushed face, she entered her number into Jaehyun’s phone.

Then she even pressed the call button.

“Haesom. I saved my number on your brother’s friend’s phone, so contact me when you get a phone! I have sooo much to talk to you about!”

Haesom smiled enough for her dimples to show and nodded.

She’s so innocent. What am I supposed to do with her?

“Gasp, I’m late! I have to go. See you again next time, oppa!”

Min-ah waved her palm and hurriedly left the alley.

After Min-ah left, Jaehyun lowered his head slightly and looked at Haesom.

His eyes caught sight of Haesom’s slightly flushed face.

Yeah.

I could be wrong.

Having a friend might actually help Haesom adjust.

“Let’s go for now.”

Haesom nodded.

Only then did Jaehyun help Haesom into the passenger seat.

He walked around the hood to the driver’s seat, fastened his seat belt, and asked,

“Were you close with her?”

“Uh… I think we were. When I heard my friend’s name earlier and the snacks we used to eat at the stationery store, I remembered a little.”

Haesom smiled sadly.

“I can remember when I see or hear things like this… So why couldn’t I remember anything on the island? I remembered all of my brothers’ faces too. How did I become so stupid there, like there was fog covering my mind…?”

Jaehyun deliberately answered in a dry voice as he started the car.

“That can happen. You suddenly had to live on an island, and after that, you probably didn’t see anyone except the people living there.”

On top of that, the kidnappers probably brainwashed her as well.

It must have been an unbearable situation for a ten-year-old child.

Perhaps she had erased her original life from her own mind somehow in order to adapt and survive.

Thinking about it that way, Jaehyun felt sorry for Haesom.

She had lived an unhappy life without being able to enjoy the warmth of the family she should have had.

Did you commit some kind of sin in your previous life too, like me?

Why did you have to suffer something as terrible as being kidnapped?

You must have had it even harder than me, who met my half-sibling born out of wedlock.

Grrrrr—

At that moment, Haesom’s stomach once again reminded him of the reason they had gone out.

Jaehyun put away the complicated thoughts filling his mind and asked,

“Is there anything you want to eat?”

Haesom touched her chin and thought about it.

It took her less than a minute to name a menu.

“Hmm. Pi…zza?”

“Pizza?”

“Yes! I think I want to eat pizza!”

“Since morning? Will your stomach be okay?”

“It was the food I wanted to eat the most while I was working on the island.”

Come to think of it, Geuk-ju had said it was a very small outlying island…

Taeju had used the power of the authorities to get there, and he said it had taken him a good three hours just to enter the island.

So unless she took a boat to the mainland, how could she have eaten something like pizza?

Jaehyun searched for a pizza place near the bookstore they were planning to visit.

When he looked to the side, Haesom was clutching her stomach as if she were very hungry.

Without realizing it, Jaehyun pressed harder on the accelerator.

Screech!

Inside the moving car.

Taeju, who had been lost in thoughts about Haesom, was startled when a vehicle suddenly cut in front of him and immediately stepped on the brakes.

“Damn it. What the hell is wrong with that crazy bastard? Why the hell did he suddenly stop?”

Taeju muttered irritably.

He was already troubled because Haesom had asked about Gyeong-hae that morning.

“But… um, I mean. Auntie… was she caught? I heard Auntie was sick….”

She had definitely been about to say “Mom.”

And she had even asked about her well-being.

She was too kind for her own good.

How could she worry about that woman even knowing what she had done to her?

That woman deserved to die even if every bone in her body were crushed.

Taeju would use every bit of power he had to punish that woman, but every time he did, Haesom would probably weigh heavily on his mind.

No.

Yoon Taeju. Don’t weaken.

She was the woman who had pushed his family and Haesom into hell.

Taeju steeled his heart once more and increased his speed.

Around 11 a.m.

They arrived at the pizza restaurant.

The moment they entered the restaurant, the eyes of several busy employees immediately turned toward the two of them.

This happened whenever Jaehyun came to an ordinary restaurant like this, so he didn’t think much of it.

But Haesom seemed somewhat frightened.

Jaehyun gently placed a hand around her shoulder from behind and spoke as if to reassure her.

“You said you were hungry. Let’s sit down quickly. Or should we get takeout, go home, eat, and come back out again?”

Haesom shook her head and slowly took a step forward.

Even as she followed the employee to their assigned table, she repeatedly stopped and looked around the restaurant with curiosity.

According to Geuk-ju, she had lived in a place where there were only four or five old private houses, grass, and the sea as far as the eye could see.

So how new and overwhelming must all of this feel to her?

She was just the pretty little sister of a friend who had been kidnapped as a child and had now returned.

Yet strangely, Jaehyun wanted to know more about her.

How exactly had she been kidnapped?

How had she managed to maintain her sanity while living in that place?

What food did she like besides pizza?

What kind of clothes did she like?

What hobbies would she want to have?

Did she still want to go to university?

If she did, what major would she want to study?

What kind of work would she want to do?

What kind of man did she like?

When would she want to get married….

As Jaehyun listed question after question in his mind like a string of sausages, something suddenly occurred to him, and he flinched before stopping his thoughts.

“You’re busy because you’re a prosecutor. Do you even have time to go on blind dates?”

“I make time by cutting into my sleep. And if she’s only half as good as Mi-seon, I don’t even need to sleep.”

Not long ago, Geuk-ju had gone on a blind date, then come back with flushed cheeks and gone on and on excitedly about it.

“What kind of proposal ring should I get? You know a lot about luxury brands. Which one would look cool?”

“Are you crazy? Didn’t you just meet her for the first time today? Why are you talking about a proposal ring?”

“Hey. Isn’t it a universal rule that when you meet your ideal type, you imagine everything from getting married to having kids with them?”

Back then, Geuk-ju’s words had sounded like complete nonsense.

Because Jaehyun knew nothing about dating.

He hadn’t been particularly interested in romance when he was in high school.

Afterward, because of his father’s long-term affair, he had become skeptical about the very emotion called love.

The fact that he had now been thinking the same way as that idiot Geuk-ju left him deeply confused.

Jaehyun glanced at Haesom again.

She had been stealing glances at him, but the moment she noticed him looking, she quickly looked away.

‘Isn’t it a universal rule to imagine getting married and having children when you meet your ideal type…?’

Ha.

So does that mean Yoon Haesom is my ideal type?

Jaehyun’s eyes filled with confusion.