Please, Confess to Me

Chapter 35 : Morning Roses

The next morning, Minji, who hadn't slept a wink all night, got out of bed. She washed up, changed her clothes, and left her room. As she did, she glanced up toward the second floor, where her wife would usually have come down by now for their morning run.

"Good morning, boss," Mrs. Jung said as she emerged from the kitchen with Choco's food bowl in hand.

"Morning," Minji replied, straightening up and responding solemnly. She turned back to the stairs, her gaze lingering. There was nobody there, but she couldn't bring herself to look away.

After about fifteen minutes, Mrs. Jung picked up the bowl and went back inside, noticing Minji still standing in the same spot as before, seemingly frozen. "Boss, you're not running today?" she asked.

"Go," Minji sighed, walking toward the door. But as she reached the front entrance, she looked back one more time.

Their usual route was out the door, turning left toward the ginkgo trail up the mountain. Today, however, Minji changed directions, turning right and running down the hill. She vaguely remembered that there was a flower shop in this direction.

Minji ran down the mountain with Choco by her side, the two of them racing for twenty uninterrupted minutes. Upon arriving at the flower shop, she realized it was too early, and the store was still closed. But spotting the owner's number on the window, she dialed it without hesitation.

A sleepy, impatient woman answered, "Who's calling so early in the morning? You're not letting anyone sleep..."

After a moment, Minji replied, "I need a bouquet of roses."

In the end, Minji purchased a bouquet of day-old roses for triple the usual price. Glancing at her watch, she noticed it was already 8:00 a.m., the time they typically had breakfast. Worried that Hanni might be waiting for her, she decided to take a taxi home.

The taxi driver didn't mind the dog but wondered aloud if the address was really just up this slope.

"Sir, could you please hurry? My wife is waiting for me to have breakfast," Minji urged.

"Bark!" Choco added, as if to emphasize Minji's plea.

Prompted to hurry, the driver navigated the short distance to the address in less than five minutes. After Minji and Choco exited, he shook his head. "These rich people these days! They can't even walk anymore!"

Minji looked down at the beautifully wrapped roses in her hands, pondering how to apologize to Hanni. Although she had tossed and turned all night, she still couldn't understand where she had gone wrong. But that didn't matter now.

"Boss, you're back!" Mrs. Jung said, glancing up from the dining table where she was setting chopsticks. Seeing the bouquet, she smiled. "Boss brought flowers to surprise Madam this morning!"

"Is my wife not awake yet?" Minji asked awkwardly.

"Madam is out," Mrs. Jung replied.

"Out? Out of the house?" Minji echoed in disbelief.

"Yes. Just after you left, Madam came down and said she would be out for the whole day. She mentioned meeting with Miss Marsh and wouldn't be back until the evening," Mrs. Jung explained. "Please give me those flowers. I'll put them in water so Madam can see them when she returns in the evening."

Minji woodenly passed the bouquet to the delighted Mrs. Jung. She stood frozen in place, blankly staring at nothing in particular.

Mrs. Jung found a vase for the flowers and returned to the dining room, surprised to see Minji still standing in front of the table. "Boss, have breakfast. The food is going to get cold," she urged.