The Sun to my Moon

Chapter 35: His name

Gook-pyo watched his son. "Did you get everything you needed, Detective Cha?"

"Yes, we're finished," Dal-geon told him. "Siwon has been very helpful."

Gook-pyo nodded. "Adeul, your Eomma's home from the store," he informed his son. "Will you help her bring in the groceries?"

"Ne, Appa," Siwon said, looking relieved to escape the conversation.

He got up and went into the kitchen to help his mother, leaving Dal-geon and Gook-pyo alone in the living room.

"He's a good kid," Dal-geon commented.

"Ne," Gook-pyo acknowledged. "We've had our differences over the years, but ever since Eonsu was born, it's somehow been easier to overcome them. For both of us."

"A new child can be a wonderful binding agent in a troubled family," Dal-geon agreed.

"I suppose we are that," Gook-pyo said with a frown.

"You should be very proud of Siwon."

"I am," Gook-pyo said, a little defensively.

Dal-geon shrugged. "I'm not too sure he knows that, though."

Gook-pyo regarded Dal-geon with an expression that was half resentful, half curious. "What did he tell you?"

"He told me about a falling out he had with Jerome that ended their friendship."

"I gathered that," Gook-pyo said, annoyed. "I meant, what was the argument about?"

"It's not important. It's the result of the argument that is important in this case."

Gook-pyo scowled. "What was the result of the argument, then?"

"The result of the argument was that your son had a very lucky escape."

"Escape from what?"

"He didn't know it at the time, but Jerome was trying to convince him to join Edward Park. And if your son was a different kind of person, it might have worked."

"Join Edward Park? Join the man who killed my daughter?" Gook-pyo said angrily.

"Ne."

Gook-pyo sat down heavily on the couch and stared at his hands. "Was he trying to take all my children from me?"

Dal-geon frowned, but didn't answer. He stood up and wandered over to the fireplace, studying the pictures on the mantelpiece. He could tell Jeong Gook-pyo was eager to see him on his way. He'd probably already learned everything he could from Siwon at this point, but he found he wasn't quite ready to leave yet. There was something bothering him, something he couldn't quite put his finger on. He looked at a wedding picture of a handsome young Gook-pyo with his beaming young wife on his arm. "You look very happy in this picture," he commented.

Gook-pyo looked up. "Mwo?"

Dal-geon nodded to the photograph. "Your wedding picture. You both look very happy."

"We were," Gook-pyo said. "Our marriage hasn't always been the smoothest, but it was still the best decision I ever made." He shook his head. "Sometimes I don't have the faintest idea why she ever agreed to go along with it."

"I know what you mean," Dal-geon said, thinking of Go Haeri. She wasn't married to him, of course, but in his darker moments, he often wondered why she put up with him at all.

That line of thought was too depressing to bear thinking about, so he moved on to the next picture on the mantelpiece to distract himself. A picture of Ji-yeong and Molly with their arms around each other. They must have been about six years old at the time, grinning identical toothless grins at the camera. Next to them, there was a school photograph of Siwon when he was about ten years old, looking solemn in a plaid button down shirt. Poor Siwon. Dal-geon could see the loneliness surrounding him even then. It must have been awful for him to lose Jerome as a friend, even if he was the one who ended the relationship. He'd inherited his father's pride and wouldn't stand being made to appear a fool. That pride might have been what saved him, in the end, but his salvation had still come at a terrible cost.