Chapter 24 - Another Birthday

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A few days later Cha Young was fully recovered, Vincenzo never left her side for a second, always encouraging her to eat, drink water, take all her medicine and even helping her take a shower to reduce her fever.

It wasn't entirely bad to have someone by her side all the time, in fact it was strangely comforting and Cha Young never thought about feeling that again. But at the same time, she was trying her best not to get attached to Vincenzo's every gesture, since she knew he wouldn't stay in Korea for long.

That was why Cha Young hid the fact that it was her birthday, it was a traumatic event for her, she missed her mother even more that day and she was always reminded that she was alone, not that she needed anyone, her own company was perfectly sufficient, but it was nice to feel the presence of another person every now and then.

But she didn't want to involve Vincenzo in this, not when she knew perfectly well that he would leave her too.

“You’re fine right? Totally okay to go back to work?” Vincenzo questioned, breaking her out of her own thoughts.

The lawyer couldn't help the smile that grew on her lips at his concern.

“I’m totally fine.” Vincenzo smiled back, approaching her and taking the purse from her hands.

"What is that for?" Cha Young questioned pointing to her purse, now in his hands.

“I’m leaving you at work.” He responded as if it were the most natural thing in the world.

“You don’t need to, I already told you I’m fine.”

“I know, but I have some matters to attend to around Wusang.” Vincenzo shrugged.

“You are a terrible liar.” Cha Young rolled her eyes.

(…)
“Mr. Cassano here is Mr. Hong's agenda for today” Mr. Nam said handing a paper to Vincenzo.

The Italian analyzed the tasks they had to do, they weren't many since Mr. Hong didn't have many cases, just some insignificant complaints from the residents of the plaza, which on the one hand was good, so they had more time to dedicate to the case of the building.

Vincenzo was drinking his coffee while reading carefully, until he came across a note that he didn't understand, he assumed it was Cha Young's initials but he didn't understand why.

“Mr. Nam? Is this about?” He questioned pointing to the place where her initials were written.

Mr. Nam pushed his glasses back up his nose calmly before responding.

“Ah that, today is Miss Hong’s birthday, I wrote it down to make sure Mr. Hong wouldn’t forget."

Vincenzo almost spat out the coffee he was drinking, receiving several curious looks from Mr. Nam due to his quick change in expression.

Birthday? What do you mean it was her birthday? Vincenzo knew perfectly well that she was no longer a child to be excited about her day, adults didn't care about such things, not even he cared about his own birthday, but she hadn't even mentioned it.

What should he do? Buy jewelry? Some earrings maybe, or better a ring, no a ring was too much, maybe he should book a table at the best restaurant in town? Vincenzo was completely lost, he had no idea what to do, he didn't even knew if he should do anything.

“Mr. Cassano?" Vincenzo didn't realize he was absorbed in his own thoughts until Mr. Nam broke him out of his trance.

“Hmm” Vincenzo raised his head to look at the man. “I need to take care of some matters, I’ll be back later.” he said, standing up quickly, leaving no room for any more questions, leaving a very smiling Mr. Nam behind.

(...)

Cha Young was biting the tip of her pen, a visible sign that she was quite stressed as she read an email on her Wusang computer.

An email sent by her old college friends, those classmates she didn't like.

It was an invitation to dinner, a class dinner for everyone to get together. Cha Young snorted as she skimmed the text again, her desire to go was non-existent, but at the same time she was curious to know how their lives were going and finally she had a good life, one she was proud of and could no longer be laughed at.

Of course, the main reason was to know what her former colleagues said about her being a successful lawyer in one of the biggest law firms in Korea and more importantly to see the shock on their faces when they saw her walk through the doors of that restaurant completely confident.

“Maybe I should go.” She said thoughtfully to herself, although loud enough for Han Seok to hear.

"Where should you go?” he questioned, looking up from the papers.

“To my class dinner.” She said as she bit the tip of her pen.

“I thought you didn’t like them.”

The lawyer shrugged. "I do not like."

Han Seok was ready to answer until he was interrupted by Cha Young's cell phone ringing. The lawyer quickly caught it, it was a message from Vincenzo, saying that he was at Wusang's door and asking her to come down and meet him.

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I am back, thank you for your patience 🫶

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