Gary was gone the next morning. There was a note stuck to the fridge by a Eiffel tower magnet. Jihyo pulled the note loose from under the magnet and read it while making her way to the dining table. He wrote to inform her that he had left to visit a client's house.
She set the note on the table, then lift up the mesh food cover tent. Gary had prepared a roll of kimbap for her before leaving.
She took her phone, intending to drop him a text but a call stop her from doing so. She answered and heard Sung Ji's frantic voice on the other end.
"Sung Ji ssi, I can't understand what you're saying. Calm down." Jihyo told him.
She could hear him taking a deep breath. When he spoke again, his voice was calmer than before but there was still a faint uneasiness in it. He broke the news that something had happened to Gary.
Her brows drew together in confusion, and her eyes drifted to the note lying on the table. "What do you mean? He said he's going to visit a client's house with you." She said, trying to sound calm.
"We went, but afterwards he told me to return to the office. He said he needed to go somewhere else, then I received a call from the police. They are still interrogating him, and it seems like it will take awhile."
"I'll make my way down now." She replied, and quickly grabbed the car key and her purse.
***
As Jihyo drove into the carpark, she spotted Sung Ji standing at the entrance of the police station. She pulled into a parking lot, got out of her car and ran up to him.
"Where is he?" She asked.
"Still inside." Sung Ji said as he pushed open the class door. They made their way to the second desk, walking past a middle-aged man who was slouching in the chair, with a bottle of half-drank soju. He was hurling expletives at a few officers who were trying to get him to leave the station.
"I was informed that my husband was brought to the station. His name is Kang Gary. May I know what happened?" She spoke to the officer seated behind the desk.
He slid a clipboard off the table and flipped through the sheets of paper attached to it.
"He got into a fight. The security team of Luxic Design caught him assaulting an employee but lucky for him, the victim chose not to press any charge. Please wait here." He said and left his seat, disappearing behind a panel of frosted glass that prevents the public from looking into the office.
Luxic Design. The name of that company sounded familiar to her.
Sung Ji crossed his arms over his chest. "Luxic Design? Our team is not in any partnership with them. Why did he went there for, and to assault someone?" He brought his right hand up to his chin, and no matter how hard he tries to figure out the reason, he couldn't.
"I think I know why," Jihyo spoke. Sung Ji cast her a quizzical look but before he could ask her more, he looked over her shoulders and saw the officer coming back outside, and this time, with Gary walking beside him.
"He's out." He said to her. Jihyo turned around in an instant. The first thing that caught her sight was the metal handcuffs wrapped around his wrists. Her eyes wandered up to his badly bruised face. She looked into his eyes. They were hard and expressionless, and she wonder if he could see the hurt she was feeling seeing him in this state.
"Because the victim is not pressing any charge, we're letting you off with a warning." The officer fished out the key from his back pocket, unlocked the handcuffs and removed them from his wrists.
With the discomfort of wearing the handcuffs gone, he rubbed his wrists while walking towards their direction.
"You told her?" He looked at Sung Ji and spoke in a harsh whisper.
"Do you think I won't find out?" Jihyo grabbed his elbow and forced him to turn and face her. "Are you planning to tell me that you walked into a lamp post then fell into a drain, resulting in that upper lip cut and bruised eye?" Her voice was filled with more hurt than anger.
There was a deep silence.
Sung Ji looked at them awkwardly, unsure if he should remained quiet or excused himself. He ended up choosing the latter. "I think I should leave now. There are still some work to do."
Jihyo looked at him and thanked him. He gave her a small nod then take his leave.
She turned her head, giving Gary a brief glance. Then, without saying a word, she walked away to the car.
***
Gary looked in the direction of the dining table, and spotted the kimbap on the table, still wrapped in it's foil.
He quietly sat down on the couch and watched her pulled out the first aid kit from the drawer. She settled the kit on the table and opened it, taking out an antiseptic wipe to clean the cut on his upper lip.
"You haven't eaten?" He asked after she was done cleaning his wound.
There was no reaction from her. She unscrewed the cap of a tube of cream and squeezed some out onto the tip of a cotton bud.
"Don't you need to go to work? I can do it myself." He tried talking to her again. She haven't been making any eye contact with him, and he was dying to have her to look at him, not just only at his wound. He reached for the cotton bud in her hand but she was quick to pull it back. She apply the medication on the gash, clearly able to sense that he was watching her but she refused to meet his gaze.
"Sorry." He apologised shortly, thinking that this time, she will at least react with a nod or even, give him a slap but there was none. She kept the cream back in the kit, and closed it. She walked into the kitchen, then came back with an ice pack and a small towel in her hands.
"For your bruised eye." She placed them on the coffee table and said.
She turned to leave but a hand on her wrist stopped her. Gary stood up and tug her around to face him. He gently tipped her chin up and leaned in.
"I know I shouldn't have hit him. I'm sorry."
For all the time she had been trying to avoid his gaze, his gentle touch and the tenderness in his voice made it impossible for her to continue. She finally looked into his eyes, one of it swollen and turning purplish black.
"Why are you always doing things without caring about the consequences?"
"I needed to show you that he was lying."
"By using violence?" She asked in disbelief.
Instead of replying her, he took his phone and tapped his finger against the screen a few times until a voice came through.
"It was all for fun, isn't it?" It was a recording of Gwon's voice.
"You told her my past and I'm just returning a favor by telling her yours, and perhaps with some added elements in it. If she believes it, doesn't that mean your relationship isn't as strong as you think?" There was a loud thud before the recording ended.
"I wouldn't have hit him if he didn't act so full of himself and said those nasty stuff."
Jihyo looked away from the phone then after some time, she slowly brought her gaze up to his face. She was relief to hear the truth, yet at the same time, felt guilty and foolish for trusting someone who she has only met for a month.
"You could have been sent to jail, and be stuck in there for who knows how many days, weeks or even months." She told him, sounding rather calm but was actually frightened by the thought of it. His decision and action could have backfired if Gwon chose to sue him.
He let go of his phone and let it dropped onto the couch. "I rather go to jail than to lose you to a bunch of lies." He said softly, and pulled her towards him.
"It won't happened again. I promise." He whispered, then kissed her forehead. He pulled back and gazed longingly at her.
"I think you're making it difficult for me to work with him." She whispered back, finally smiling.
