My deep soul

Chapter 22

For several days, Jinyoen had felt a subtle distance in her sister. Ahro was quieter than usual, her eyes often clouded with thoughts she would not share. Jinyoen noticed, of course—but she chose silence. Pressing Ahro would only drive her further away. And besides, Jinyoen had enough worries weighing down her own heart.

That afternoon, she found Sunwoo sitting alone under the shade of a gnarled tree, his gaze fixed on nothing in particular. The sight tugged at her. He had always been her shield, her anchor—but now, even sitting beside him felt strange, as though something invisible had shifted.

Quietly, she lowered herself onto the bench beside him. “Orabeoni…” she began softly, trying to summon the warmth of their childhood. “Do you remember when we were little? You used to carry me around the house on your back so I could pick the flowers I liked. I want to go back to those days. When we were so little, when there was nothing to worry about. Just laughter and games.”

Her fingers curled around her pearl necklace as she studied his face, searching for recognition.

Sunwoo tilted his head, giving her a faint, uncertain smile. “Yes… those were good times.”

Her heart tightened. He spoke gently, but there was no spark of memory in his eyes.

“Do you remember the game we used to play?” she pressed. “The tale of the cat and rat?”

For a moment, his brows knitted together. Then he nodded slowly. “It’s easy. The rat runs away from the cat.”

Jinyoen froze. Her breath caught. “What?”

He looked at her with mild confusion. “Isn’t that how it goes?”

Tears welled in her eyes before she could stop them. “No… no, that’s not how we played it. We wanted it to be special, ours alone. So we changed the rules. The rat chased the cat.” Her voice broke as she whispered, “Do you remember how we laughed? How we thought it was our secret?”

But there was only silence. Sunwoo’s eyes were troubled, but they did not brighten with recognition.

Jinyoen bit her lip hard, forcing herself not to cry in front of him. She turned her face away, wiping quickly at the tears before he could see. Then, with a trembling smile, she said, “It’s alright, orabeoni. You stayed away from the capital for so long… it’s natural to forget. I’m not mad. I understand. You’re safe here. That’s all that matters to me.”

Without waiting for his response, she rose and walked away, her smile fading the moment her back was to him. Inside, her heart was breaking. This was not the brother she remembered.

Pi Jooki’s words echoed in her mind, sharp as knives:
'Are you sure he is your brother, my lady? When he came to my shop, he said the necklace he wears belongs to a friend.'

She had laughed it off then, with forced certainty. “No. He knows things that only the two of us would know. I believe in him.”

But now… her certainty faltered.

Her thoughts tangled in a storm. 'Is it true? Could it be? No. It can’t be. Ahn Ji’s father would never do such a thing. Would he?'

Her eyes lifted toward Ahro in the distance, her sister’s figure stiff and quiet, her face unreadable. A flicker of doubt sparked. 'Why does Ahro look so strange these days? Does she know something?'

“No,” Jinyoen whispered fiercely to herself, clutching her necklace until her knuckles turned white. “I mustn’t think like this. It’s natural to forget things after so many years away. That’s all.”

But as she walked away from Sunwoo’s lonely figure, the pit in her stomach only deepened. She told herself she believed. She told herself nothing was wrong. But the ache in her chest whispered otherwise.