Compass

Chapter 2

Surprised by his own expectations, he decided to follow Mo Hyun's advice and called the realtor when he went back to his old house in Gapyeong. He knew he didn't have any right to keep on living there despite his adoptive father left the house to him, but until the papers were finalized he couldn't move into his new house. When he'd sell this house, the ties with Kang Pil Joo would finally be cut.

He found himself thinking about that. This was really the moment where he would say goodbye to that name for good. He had thanked the dead boy who lent him his name and let him survive all these years, but he hadn't presented himself as Jang Eun Cheon to the world until the day when he presented Cheong A his project to run for chairman.

In his heart, he had always been Eun Cheon, he didn't doubt it. But things were about to change when he would meet with people from his past who had known him as Kang Pil Joo. This was his occasion to have a fresh start and considering his revenge plan could have ended in a bitter way, it was nothing. Not everyone had a second chance. And not everyone could have all these shots with fate, especially when destiny is a bitch.

As he lit a fire outside the small house in Gapyeong around dinner time, he received the OK from the real estate guy about the magic house in the woods. He confirmed him that the family had accepted his offer, thus he could move in next month. Wonderful, wasn't it? Not yet.

Relief washed over him as he breathed in the chilly air of the ending winter. It was as if the seasons were mirroring what was happening to him. Until that day when Mo Hyun sent him that package with the application, his life had been serene but empty, filled only by the work he did in his bee farm to pass the time as he was finally free to live the life he wanted.

That envelope had arrived in the middle of the cold season, when the sky is void except for the toxic pollution. It was a gesture so small on her part, yet, a life-changing chance for him. A chance that could bring spring in his life before the usual time. And spring was really approaching. He wished that his guts were right, just like they had been for all those years where he only tended to act like a quiet dog and keep watch on everything.

Now he wasn't a dog anymore and he wouldn't be let anybody treat him like one. He had decided this when he pushed Jang Boo Cheon off the chairman seat about three years and half before. He had his mind set on starting again with Cheong A and with everything and he should do it right this time, not letting his mind cloud his heart and vice versa.

In the past, he had let his head take the lead too much, resulting in a lonely life only set on getting revenge. His heart had suffered in the process, but in prison he always told himself that someday he would try to make up for the blows that he had to take. That he would let his heart heal along with his tortured soul. He had been offered more than once to relive the lost beat in his chest, but he refused. But now, as life was giving him yet another chance to forgive himself the love-deprived road he had decided to take when revenge was in full swing, he needed to allow himself to receive that affection... if that was still reciprocated, of course. Even if he knew it would take him a bit.

Seeing Mo Hyun in that parking lot that afternoon had been the highlight of his day. The last time he had seen her it was as if time had gone back to the night they were in a car accident. That day was three months before and it marked when he had been stabbed by one of chairman Jang's illegitimate sons and if it weren't for her, he would have died for sure. Luckily for him, his wound wasn't deep, so he was discharged after a few days. He hadn't seen her much afterwards because she had to go abroad for work and they didn't have each other's phone number; one thing he didn't know if he was happy or sad about.

Just as he returned in the warm house to prepare the bedding to sleep, he noticed a missed call and a text. He unlocked the screen and didn't recognize the number at first, and not even the hint of a smile that appeared on his face when he read the text.