Once More, Love 3

35. Girls

Chaeyoung, who is in his house clothes, carries two mugs in each of his hands as he walks to the living room where a girl with long, wavy, reddish hair is sitting on the couch. "Here."

The girl smiles and receives the steaming beverage in her flowy floral dress. "Thanks."

The painter sighs and sits on the adjacent chair where his visitor is. "Were you just talking to someone?"

The girl shakes her head. "Nah."

Chaeyoung raises an eyebrow. "I thought I heard your voice chatting with someone else while I was filling the mugs with brewed coffee."

The visitor shrugs. "Wrong number."

Then, the painter's eyes find his phone on the coffee table, near where the other person is. "Did you move my phone? I thought I left it on the other side."

"I told you." The girl sips her coffee and sighs. "Wrong number."

Chaeyoung scoffs and leans over the table to reach for his mobile device. "Please tell me you did not answer a call on my phone."

"I did."

"What?!" The painter answered immediately. "Why did you do that?!"

"You were in the kitchen."

"So?!" Chaeyoung scoffs. "You should've called for me. What if it was something important? Or— or someone—"

"Someone like your ex-wife?" The girl cuts in with a tired tone. "Oh, please. You're good at ghosting her. You have managed to successfully disappear into thin air for days. If she was desperate to track you, she could've found you by now."

The painter glares at his visitor. "Don't start with me, Somi. That is not something you could comment on. And this is not why you're here."

The woman who turns out to be Chaeyoung's realtor in Europe scoffs. "What are you getting so worked up about? I told you. The call wasn't anything important. It was just a wrong caller. Shrug it off."

"Just—"Chaeyoung bites his lower lip. "Don't touch my things next time without my permission. We're not that close."

"Fine. Not like I care more."

There was thick tension in the air for a minute. Somi was just watching Chaeyoung busy his eyes on the floor, obviously contemplating something essential.

Then, as if the coffee was a tequila shot at a bar, the painter picked up his mug and downed all of the liquid in it in one shot. After putting the mug back on the table with force, he darts his sight to the other person in the room. "So?"

"So..." Somi gives him a confused look. "What?"

"Where's the result?"

"Ah." The girl nods and takes a sip of her beverage before answering. "They told me it will take three days. At most. So we need to wait two more—"

"What?! I thought you already had it with you! I thought you had it expedited!"

Despite Chaeyoung being all emotional, Somi continued to reply in a casual manner. "Well, looks like we haven't expedited it enough."

"Then expedite it more!"

The realtor snickers. "Why are you so hyped at getting the results so soon? Are you that excited to know that—"

"I am not excited at all!" Chaeyoung yells. "I just— " He heaves in a shaky breath and calms himself. "I just want to get this over with."

"Why? So that you can go back to your ex-wife and your new found son?"