Another Life With You

After the Rain

What was this strange feeling Ri Jeong-hyeok felt as he stood beside his fiancée in the rain, face to face with Yoon Seri? It wasn't exactly embarrassment – after all, it wasn't like him being engaged was a secret. And even if it was, it would be unrelated to his professional relationship with Yoon Seri. It wasn't exactly shyness – Jeong-hyeok didn't feel shy (he was insistent in this belief.) Whatever the emotion was, it felt novel. Something new compared to the indifference he had felt since arriving in Seoul.

Yoon Seri was still regarding him with surprise. She was dressed more sharply than usual today. "This is who I'm working as a bodyguard for," Jeong-hyeok explained to Seo Dan and the stranger standing next to her. Jeong-hyeok gave the man an odd look, wondering why he was standing with Seo Dan in the first place.

"You work at Seri's Choice, too?" the stranger said. "It must be fate that brought us all here together today, then! I'm Gu Seung-jung, by the way."

Ri Jeong-hyeok introduced himself, glancing at Seo Dan. She had masked her expression with her usual disinterest again. He knew her at least well enough to tell that it was hiding some discomfort underneath.

Seri seemed to have picked it up too. She nudged Gu Seung-jung's arm (Jeong-hyeok would have to look him up later) and nodded at the car waiting on the driveway. "Shall we? It was nice to meet you, Seo Dan ssi. I'll see you at work, Ri Jeong-hyeok ssi." With that, the two entered the car and drove off.

Was she now dating Gu Seung-jung in addition to Cha Sang-u? Jeong-hyeok found himself puzzling over it even as he held the umbrella over Seo Dan, so they could walk to the bus stop. How did the CEO have time to date multiple men while juggling her work schedule and family troubles?

"Thank you for picking me up," Seo Dan said quietly, interrupting Jeong-hyeok's thoughts.

"Of course. You asked me to," he said. It seemed to be the wrong thing to say – again – because Seo Dan turned her face away and didn't reply.

She was dressed nicely today. She always made a point to dress nicely, even though they had arrived in Seoul with only one small suitcase each, just for essentials. Seo Dan's mother was a formidable woman, though. Shortly after their arrival, one of her mother's department store contacts had reached out to them and provided details of a bank account established under Seo Dan's name. He supposed that since then Seo Dan had been steadily stocking up on outfits as well as the home decor which gradually filled their cosy apartment.

"We have to start blending in," she had said, when she had caught him looking at her closetful of outfits, none of which she could have worn back in Pyongyang, given how fashionable they were. "This is our home now, Jeong-hyeok tongmu."

She only allowed herself to use the honorific in the safety of their apartment. Nowadays, she was even doing a good job of covering up her native accent with the Seoul one.

The bus arrived and they boarded. The journey home was silent. As always, he could never be sure of her mood or what was going through her mind.

They dried their shoes on the doormat before taking them off inside the apartment. Seo Dan set down her handbag and a paper bag printed with Seri's Choice on the front.

"You didn't tell me you were attending a Seri's Choice event today," Jeong-hyeok remarked, smiling at the familiar sight of the company logo.

"You didn't tell me you were working directly with its CEO," Seo Dan retorted, albeit softly. She brushed her fingers against the pink tissue paper inside the gift bag before taking the whole thing and placing it in the rubbish bin. Jeong-hyeok stared.

When he didn't immediately reply, Seo Dan looked up at him. He remembered thinking that her eyes were doe-like when they had first met all those years ago – innocent, gentle, inquisitive. These days, whenever she looked his way, those same doe-eyes seemed too expectant, challenging him with unknown questions which he always had to guess at. She continued, "I thought you were just a security guard at the building."