Blinded By The Lights | Sungjoy

Act 2 - Chapter 40: Discovery

Four Years Earlier

--

The golden sunlight pierced through the window and curved around the rough curtains to shine unto Chorong's face. Her eyes twitched as she slowly awoke from her slumber, feeling the unfamiliar material of the loaned blankets against her skin.

It had been a little over three months since she had unceremoniously left her job at Yeoreum behind and left Seoul.

She didn't know why she had felt drawn to this rural, countryside town, but the moment that Chorong had stepped off the bus, she felt welcomed. She had decided that she would stay here as she made her plans for her future.

Plans without Changsub.

Chorong felt her heart sink as she let her mind drift off to thoughts of him.

--

Ever since Sungjae's departure from Yeoreum a year and a half ago, Changsub had increasingly become more distant with everyone, including her. Their shared breaks had slowly become more infrequent as the weeks passed to the point where Chorong didn't even see Changsub at the hospital and barely saw him at night in their apartment.

There would be nights where Chorong would be sitting at the dinner table waiting for Changsub to return, watching the tendrils of steam die out as the food grew cold.

She knew that he wasn't cheating on her. Many of their colleagues had called her or sent her messages saying that they had seen Changsub still working at the office at some godforsaken hour and were wondering if she knew that he was still working.

She had confronted him so many times over it. Each time he would make empty promises, saying that he would be better. She had reminded him that it took two to make a relationship, that she was there to help him in any way that she could, that she was here to support, love, and trust him.

That he had promised to do the same for her.

He had tried hard for the first week until he broke his promise, returning to his work, building a wall around him with bricks of paperwork, administration, and teaching.

Chorong would always be there to bring the walls down until one day, she couldn't do it any longer. They had reconciled yet again the night before, but as she woke up in bed the next morning, Chorong realized that she was alone.

On the nightstand beside the bed was a hastily scrawled note from Changsub saying that he had to rush back to the hospital. He had left her behind again.

That morning, Chorong had felt something inside her snap as she rose up from her bed and threw on one of Changsub's oversized t-shirts before she went around the apartment, gathering her belongings and packing them unceremoniously into two suitcases.

Within two hours, Chorong had packed up her life and left a note on the table for Changsub:

"It's an excuse to say that you can't love because of work."

A few weeks later, Chorong found out that she was pregnant. Unsure at first, she had discreetly bought a pregnancy test and cried when she saw the results.

Here she was, newly separated from her boyfriend of many years and about to be a single mother. It was this discovery that caused her to quit her job at Yeoreum and leave Seoul without telling anyone, not her friends, her family, and especially not Changsub, where she was going.

--

Without her realizing, tears had formed in Chorong's eyes. She lifted up a hand to wipe them away before she felt a wave of nausea wash over her. Immediately feeling awake, Chorong leapt out of her bed and bolted toward the washroom, narrowly avoiding her elderly landlady as she knelt down in front of the toilet bowl and vomited.