When The Phone Rings

Chapter 49

“I’m no different from your mom, am I?”

No way. That can’t be true…

Heeju nervously glanced at her older sister as she listened to the sound of raindrops pattering against the umbrella. As In-ah’s surgery was successful, she should be able to hear the sounds.

Why does she look so… drained? Did my sister look like this?

An uncanny sense of unease crept in. Hong In-ah’s complexion seemed even more unstable and precarious than it had during their childhood.

“Even so, because of you… I really wanted to come back.”
“……”
“You don’t actually think the spot you took belongs to you, do you?”

It wasn’t a question. Her thorny words pierced Heeju directly.

“Don’t be mistaken.”

Heeju’s trembling hand flinched as if in a spasm.

“Children only see what they want to see.”

In-ah pressed the umbrella into Heeju’s hand as she spoke.
Then, stepping out from under its cover, she walked into the pouring rain. Startled, Heeju moved to follow her, but In-ah shook her head— a silent refusal.

“You’ve liked ‘The Little Mermaid’ ever since you were young.”

Her hand twitched convulsively.

“…….”

It was an offhand remark.

“Have you ever thought about this? Between you and me, the two of us who couldn’t speak—who do you think resembled the Little Mermaid more?”

Heeju desperately wanted to understand her sister, but her intentions remained a mystery.
When she failed to answer, her sister’s lips curled into a faint, mocking smile.

“But it’s not you, Heeju.”
“……!”

Hong In-ah’s eyes reflected hostility. Heeju, who had spent her entire life as her sister’s window, couldn’t help but notice.

The hostility was palpable, almost blinding in its intensity.

“Even if the mermaid sisters exchanged their hair for a dagger, the one who can’t plunge it into the prince’s heart will always be useless.”

A cryptic remark. Yet, it felt like a declaration of war.

“My apology for being late was sincere.”

In-ah turned her back without hesitation, letting the rain soak her completely.

“Thanks for standing in for me all this time.”

 

***

 

All day long, I’ve been soaking wet.

More than ten missed calls. Several unread messages from her sister. Yet Heeju didn’t feel like responding to any of them.

“Even if I don’t put in the effort… maybe divorce would be easy…”

The rain, which had been falling lightly, had turned into a torrential downpour.

Shouldn’t I be celebrating instead of being so depressed? Heeju forced herself to lift her spirits and headed to the kitchen.

She didn’t have the energy to cook, so she opened the fridge and grabbed a beer.

The TV was on, showing an edited version of the president’s special speech and the Blue House spokesperson’s Q&A.

[ Reporter Hong In-ah of Myeongji Daily. ]

Heeju paused as she opened the can of beer.

She instinctively grabbed the remote and muted the TV. The world turned silent again.

Heeju sat down on the floor in front of a large window overlooking the Han River. Watching the streaks of rain streaming down the glass reminded her of that day. The day she resolved to go through with the divorce…

“Cheers..!”

Now the ticking clock reached the familiar time, 10 o’clock.

But everything seemed futile.

As she fiddled with her negotiation phone, she suddenly remembered Baek Sa-eon’s bruised fingernails from the briefing.

Not just one or two, but several.

‘What happened to him? And what’s with the goldfish head?’

Heeju downed the last of her beer and picked up her mobile phone.

It might be the last time, she thought.

“…….”

— “…….”

With a click, the call was connected, but there was no sound. Both remained silent, only breathing into their receivers.
Heeju’s lips moved first as she stared blankly at the foggy window.

— “How was your day…?”

Those words, so normal, so ordinary. Yet I felt like crying.

‘What about you?’ I wanted to ask, but instead, I repeated it in my mind.

— “…….”
“…….”

But all I could hear on both handsets was the sound of rain.

And somehow, that felt okay. Thinking it might be the last time made it strangely poetic.

— “…I’ve hated rainy days since I was a kid.”

The voice that finally broke the silence.

— “I hate water and its fishy smell.”

The words seemed to come out of nowhere. I vaguely remembered the boy who had said he hated the water.

— “As a child, I went fishing with my grandfather.”

“…..”

— “He loved to fish, so we often went to the river. Then one time I fell into the water…”

He trailed off.

The sound of the heavy rain hitting her windows blurred together with the noise from the receiver. It was a relentless, overlapping storm.

— “Since then, I often have nightmares about it.”
“…..”
— “Dreams of drowning in a red river and sinking deep.”

For the first time, Heeju felt like she had stepped into his inner world.

— “Through the shimmering surface above me, I see my grandfather looking down at me. And beside him, a small boy watches as I silently drown.”

Suddenly, thunder crashed down. Heeju’s shoulders shrunk a little.

— “…Maybe I’ve been afraid my whole life.”
“…..”
— “Afraid of the world turning blank again.”

Heeju couldn’t fully understand his nightmares. But tonight, at this moment, she wanted to try.

The fact that Baek Sa-eon, like her, also had something he feared seemed to close the distance between them.

“It’s okay. Now you’re fine.”

— “Then… sing me a song.”
“Yes?”
— “Sing for me.”

“I can’t sing. Why are you asking me to?”

— When I was young, there was a time I couldn’t take it anymore. I hid in a back alley, and a child sang me a nursery rhyme.”
“……!”
— “That night, the nightmare disappeared.”
He gave a dry chuckle.
— “Maybe it’s because her voice was beautiful.”
“…Then why don’t you find that little girl? Why do you keep asking me?”

— “Because 406 and I have done more intimate things.”

Cough! Cough!

The shameless remark made her choke violently.

— “Singing can’t compare to the things we have done already.”
“…..”

That’s when something she’d buried in her mind resurfaced. Right… This is exactly the kind of nonsense he pulls with his mistress.
Heeju’s brow twitched.

“I don’t do that.”
— “What do you mean by that?”

Heeju crushed the empty beer can in her hand with a bit too much force.

“Being manipulated, like my dad was.”

And to love someone at the expense…

— “Then don’t.”
“……!”

His calm agreement left her momentarily speechless.

— “Live however you feel most comfortable.”

Her chest dropped with a strange thud.

— “Just remember, 406 is beautiful, so people won’t help but like her. Even if you live differently from your father, find someone who can give you just as much affection as he did.”

Something inside her crumbled helplessly.

— “From now on, meet a man who will shower you with love.”

Live differently from her father, but still be loved like that? It was something she had never considered. Baek Sa-eon returned, in a strange way, something Heeju had intended to discard.

Even though she was holding the phone, she felt as if his reflection appeared on the glass window.

A sense of togetherness.

It was an inexplicably surreal experience.

“When are you… going home?”

And it was a night where she wished the rain would keep pouring.

— “Now.”

 

***

 

Before long, a man, drenched in the rain, stepped into the living room with heavy, squelching footsteps.

Heeju had just opened another can of beer.

When she turned at the sound of movement, he was already close.

“……!”

Heeju felt Sa-eon was suppressing himself. It was hard to tell if it was restraint or something more violent. For a man who was always so expressionless, that impression was faint yet striking.

The rain-darkened suit clung to him, his hair slicked down like ink running. Cold breaths escaped his lips, but his eyes burned fiercely.

The stark pallor of his face and lips— it threw Heeju’s mind into disarray.

And so, when the raindrops fell from his hair, trailing over his lashes before sliding down, it was a reckless impulse that made her reach out.

Neither could say who moved first; their lips collided.

‘Fine. Just once, I have to have you too. Only then will it feel less unfair.’

It was a moment tangled between self-pity and solace.

“Mm…!”

Shockingly, his lips trembled faintly. She could feel intermittent shivers from his body against hers.

But their lips pressed together even tighter, tongues tangling with a ferocity that left no room between them.

Despite the chill of his skin, his breath burned hot.

Sa-eon clung to Heeju as though grasping for dear life. It was an inexplicable desperation and his unease seeped into her.

She suddenly remembered the boy who had cried silently, under the stone wall. The one who had cursed under his breath, hands trembling, as he shielded her young eyes.

Uncertain of what to do, Heeju wrapped her arms around his broad back.

That boy— she thought he’d vanished entirely, hidden beneath a cold shell with no trace left behind.

This time, it was Heeju who gently placed her small hand over his bloodshot, frenzied eyes.

“……!”

The kiss was shattered by his sudden flinch. But this was the only comfort she could offer at that moment.

“……!”

Suddenly, his strong arms swept her off the ground without warning.

Before she could even react, his lips found hers again with fierce determination. The raw intensity of his passion made her heart feel as if it might explode.

By the time they reached the bedroom, they collapsed onto the bed.

Baek Sa-eon loomed over her, their bodies pressed together. He tugged at her top with such urgency it was nearly torn away. His lips brushed over her collarbone, her forehead, her cheeks, the bridge of her nose.

Each featherlight caress ignited a fire within her, her gasps hitching as his touch danced across her skin.