Sixteen Again

12

Dayoung's house was a bit of a mess. The entire living room was filled with boxes of delivery packages. Hyunjung thought that this would not be a good place to talk so she asked if she could borrow her study. Dayoung looked at Hyunjung and then Jiyeon before she nodded, “Go, go. I need to print some packaging slips so you two can talk as much as you want, don’t mind me.”

She completely ignored the distress signal coming from Jiyeon. Then when both of them entered the study and closed the door, she tiptoed over and eavesdropped on the conversation that started inside.

Jiyeon sat on a wooden stool, just like a child waiting to be scolded by their teacher. Oh, right, her current mentality is that of a high school student right now, so it’s natural for her to be afraid of adults scolding her.

Hyunjung stared at Jiyeon's lowered head for a long time before saying one sentence, “Does it hurt anywhere?”

Jiyeon looked up with a confused expression and saw that Hyunjung no longer looked angry. Instead, she looked at her with a calm gaze that held a little bit of concern, some helplessness, and some bitterness. But there was no blame nor any contempt in her gaze.

So she answered honestly, “No, not at all. I feel completely fine.”

“We should still take you to the hospital for a checkup. There must be a reason for why you suddenly became like this.” Hyunjung lowered her eyes and pressed the screen on her phone a few times. “Tomorrow I will take you to the hospital for a full-body examination.”

“No need…” The words became stuck in Jiyeon's throat before she could finish her sentence.

Hyynjung raised her eyes and quietly looked at Jiyeon, “Although you don’t remember me, you should know this: I am your wife, your legal partner, and your closest person. Therefore, you should not reject my concern for you.”

Jiyeon stared blankly at her, “But aren’t we getting divorced soon?”

Hyunjung's movements paused for a second before she put away her phone, “Let’s go home first. You need to get a good rest before I take you to see the doctor tomorrow.”

The subject was changed, thus the conversation was put to rest. Jiyeon couldn’t bring up the divorce matter again without making it awkward so she decided to simply stand up and walk outside. Hyunjung followed after her.

Dayoung hurriedly made her way back to the living room and then printed a page of packaging slips. Then she began to stick them onto the packages like she has been doing this for the past few minutes.

Jiyeon came out and gave her a wave before leaving, “ I’m leaving first.”

“Ah, goodbye, see you later.”

After Jiyeon left, Hyunjung moved to follow her but Dayoung suddenly rushed forward and slammed the front door shut. They were taken aback by this sudden action.

“Dayoung, what’s the meaning of this?”

With her voice being blocked by the door, Jiyeon's voice sounded a little muffled. Dayoung hurriedly shouted a reply, “You should go down first, Hyunjung and I have some company affairs stuff to discuss. We’ll be done soon, don’t worry about it!”

Jiyeon's knocking on the door stopped and soon the sound of footsteps gradually moving away could be heard. Dayoung listened carefully to the movements outside and made sure the person had left before finally releasing the doorknob. She turned her head to look at Hyunjung.

After the initial shock had passed, she was once again wearing her calm expression: “What is it that you want to say to me?”

Dayoung put down the packaging slips in her hands and smiled heartily, “I am not the same as Chu Sojung. She is loyal to Jiyeon but I am more… neutral.”