“Pleased to meet you. I’m Daniel’s girlfriend, Clara Lee.”

“Yes? Yes…, I’m Lee Ye-rin.”

Ye-rin was thrown.

The break had started, and with her heart heavy she was on her way down to meet old friends.

Things with her boyfriend hadn’t been good lately.

Over a few months the senior who had been so warm when she started school changed his manner, as though his heart had gone out of it.

He is one of the heirs of the Ana Group, which belongs among the ten biggest conglomerates.

Ye-rin’s father is a judge doing well enough in his own way, but next to the head of a major corporation he was only a judge like any other.

It ended in a few months, but Ye-rin had been treated like a princess for the first time in her life.

She had gone driving with Dong-seong sunbae in a gorgeous sports car.

She had been in and out of the Gangnam restaurants she’d only ever heard about.

Now and then she had received luxury goods as occasion gifts.

And, trusting him, she had gone on trips abroad with just the two of them.

But from then on the senior slowly drew his interest back from Ye-rin.

Ye-rin didn’t contact him often either.

Naturally, the two of them wound down.

Ye-rin’s pride was hurt, and her heart ached.

She resented herself for going with Dong-seong while thinking as far ahead as a future with him.

For the first time in her life she took the shock of defeat and of her self-worth collapsing.

That was when her high school friends called her.

Among her university classmates and seniors, Ye-rin was marked.

Going around with Dong-seong sunbae, she had grown distant from her friends and her seniors.

Jang Tae-san, met by chance at a rest stop in a tangled time.

Ye-rin remembered the warm memories she had received from him in the past.

The boy who had handed her chocolate and greeted her shyly had turned up changed into a striking man.

At first it was almost more than she could recognize.

He’s clearly still a third-year, and yet his clothes were the finest luxury brands.

Even that simple watch is a product that goes for tens of millions of won.

It was a watch her boyfriend had prized too.

His height had grown more, and his shoulders were firm and wide enough to make her want to be held.

She felt sorry about it, but suddenly she had wanted to acknowledge him.

She was certainly his first love.

She was sorry she hadn’t been able to contact him at the graduation and afterward.

But Dong-seong sunbae is a jealous man, and there had been no helping it.

The truth is, she was confident.

She wanted to say she was sorry and to trade messages with Tae-san one more time.

And yet…

He had a girlfriend.

And one who was a great beauty at a glance.

A tall, long-limbed, mixed-Asian beauty.

To Ye-rin, Tae-san looked different.

He was talking in English and there was nothing awkward about it at all.

Tae-san, able to declare a beauty like a goddess his girlfriend without flinching, was impressive.

Jealousy rose in her too.

“You’re a beautiful person. Let’s meet often from now on and be friends.”

Clara held out her hand.

Her nature seemed easy and unaffected.

The even teeth in her smile were charming.

“Yes. Next time we meet…, let’s say hello.”

Ye-rin took Clara’s hand.

Just then, still smiling, Clara put strength into the grip, and she felt it.

Flash!

She got a look of warning too, the kind only a woman can feel.

She seemed to have known it by instinct.

“Daniel~ let’s get going now. Let’s go home quickly.”

“All right.”

A stabbing went through Ye-rin’s heart.

At the words let’s go home, everything collapsed at once.

That love and attention of Tae-san’s had once been hers.

“Sunbae. Get home safely.”

There wasn’t even the ordinary line about meeting next time.

Even while he spoke, Tae-san didn’t take that cold look off her.

Ye-rin’s chest began to ache.

She’d be a fool not to know what those eyes were saying.

“Ye-rin. See you again next time.”

Clara smiled brightly and waved her hand.

“Yes…, see you next time.”

Ye-rin returned the greeting reluctantly.

But Tae-san disappeared with Clara without giving her a single glance.

The two of them, arms linked naturally, look to anyone like an affectionate couple.

“Haah.”

Ye-rin let out a short sigh.

At Tae-san’s back moving away from her, her chest ached and ached.

“Eomeoni~. It’s the first time I’ve met you. I’m Clara.”

“Come in. Clara. Pleased to meet you.”

“Eomeoni. You’re beautiful~.”

“Clara is beautiful too. Come on in.”

Wait — eomeoni? When did she learn Korean!

Clara and I ate walnut cakes and arrived at the house.

Ye-rin sunbae I forgot clean away the moment I turned my back.

In a world changing this violently there’s barely time to earn money, and there’s nothing stupider than waiting on a first love who has gone off with somebody else.

I’d already let her know, so Mom was at home.

The moment we arrived at the house and she came face to face with Mom, Clara called her eomeoni in Korean.

The rest of it was in English, of course, but my mother is a woman who can handle a few foreign languages.

The two of them laid the gold on about each other’s looks and were friendly in no time.

Mom isn’t a woman with that outgoing a nature.

And yet she took Clara’s hand and led her into the house.

“Wow! The house is really beautiful.”

Clara had been shouting wonderful from the parking area on.

The old house, with the foot of the mountain for a folding screen, is a picture to anyone.

The house had drunk money in and grown solid with it.

The ceiling-recessed system air conditioning ran cool and quiet and took the damp out.

In the meantime a few of Mom’s landscape paintings had come to decorate the living room.

A big solid-wood tea table set by the window added to the mood.

Eyes sparkling, Clara went around looking at the inside of the house.

It’s an old house, but with all the rooms connected the ground floor alone is at the hundred-pyeong level.

It’s a completely different housing culture from Hong Kong, where most places are tiny.

“Daniel, what is this painting? It looks like a master’s work! There’s deep feeling buried in it.”

Clara showed an interest in Mom’s painting.

It was branches spreading out from the cut cross-section of a tree.

It started with tree rings like a human character, and the feelings of joy and anger and sorrow and pleasure came through on the leaves at the ends of the branches.

Even to my eye it was fine.

“It’s my mother’s painting.”

“Really? Your mother is a painter?”

“It’s her field.”

“Is it? I wanted to be a painter once too! Daniel, your mother is so full of grace.”

Clara liked our mom too.

Anybody who saw our mom warmed to her.

Her neat bearing, her manner, her words full of grace — they startle me every time I see them.

Until I died I thought Mom was simply a woman who didn’t say much.

But living again, I found out.

That a woman of my mom’s high quality is hard to find in this world.

“Have some tea.”

“Thank you. Eomeoni!”

Clara took Mom’s hand and turned on the aegyo.

The smile didn’t leave Mom’s face.

And the three of us sat around the tea table and drank Mom’s homemade persimmon-leaf tea.

Persimmon leaves picked in early spring, roasted like green tea and drunk as tea.

“How did the two of you meet? Are you seeing each other?”

Mom asked us.

“We’re still friends. We met in Hong Kong. Daniel is a good man.”

Clara spoke first.

We shared a hot kiss, but that’s exactly as far as it went.

Clara knows too that we aren’t lovers.

“Is that so?”

Mom looked at me with a meaningful light in her eyes.

Mother! I’m not that kind of man.

“Dear~ I’m home.”

“Mom!”

“Is oppa here? Huh? What are these pretty shoes?”

The twins came into the house along with Dad.

And their bodies froze in the act of stepping in.

All of them spotted Clara, who had gotten up from her seat before anyone noticed.

What’s this. As if a pretty foreign woman were the first they’d ever seen!

“Hello. Abeonim.”

Clara! When did you learn abeonim too!

And where did you pick up bowing your head like that!

“Uh, uh…, yes.”

“I’m Daniel’s friend, Clara Lee. I’ll be imposing on you for a little while.”

The rest of it was in English, but Dad had been good enough in his day to work at a major corporation.

“Whoa…, did she just call our oppa Daniel?”

“Oppa. What is this? Have you been having an international romance? Who is she???”

The twins’ eyes went wide.

They’d more or less followed the English and demanded an explanation from me.

Girls~ this is exactly your oppa’s ability.

“The twins, Ju-a? Ju-hui? Pleased to meet you. I’m Clara.”

Clara had remembered the names of the younger sisters I’d talked about on the phone.

Smiling wide, she went to them first.

When the foreign unnie held out her hand, the twins shook it politely.

When Clara knew even their names, they shut their mouths.

“Yes, hello…”

“P-Pleased to meet you. I’m Ju-hui.”

In the twins standing frozen in front of English, you could see the harm Korean English does.

They simply froze solid.

“Dear, but how is this guest…”

“I told you a little while ago. That Tae-san’s guest would probably visit during the vacation.”

“Ah! That guest…, but you didn’t say it was a woman…”

“You aren’t discriminating by sex, are you?”

“O-Of course not. I’m not a man with that kind of prejudice.”

My father’s way of talking looked exactly like mine.

This is why blood can’t be fooled.

“She’s Tae-san oppa’s guest. My beloved daughters. While our guest is here, your mother asks you to keep your manners so she isn’t uncomfortable.”

“Yes~ Mom!”

“Don’t worry, Mom! That pretty unnie is exactly my style.”

Mom cleared the scene up simply.

Lately Mom has changed a great deal.

Mom, who used to be demure and womanly, was sometimes like a man of spirit.

I was curious about the genes on my mother’s side of the family.

I often wondered what kind of house a daughter could come from to be this splendid.

And I wanted to know why Mom had been alone, like somebody with no one.

“Show Clara unnie to the guest room. She’s come from far away, so she needs to adjust to the time difference and she’ll want to change into comfortable clothes.”

“Yes! Mom!”

“Clara~ the girls will show you the room you’ll be using from now on.”

“Yes~ thank you. Eomma.”

Before anyone noticed, eomeoni had evolved into eomma.

Inside, I let out my admiration at Clara’s power of transformation.

It really was astonishing instinct and application.

She isn’t HSBC’s high-flying secretary for nothing.

“Clara, welcome. Think of it as your own house and rest comfortably while you’re here.”

“Abeonim. Thank you~!”

“Thank you too~! Hahahaha.”

As expected, my father, whose standards are high, liked Clara a great deal too.

Being treated like that if you’re pretty is the same in every country.

“Unnie, follow me.”

“I’ll carry this bag~.”

The twins were sincerely glad about Clara’s visit.

Ju-hui took Clara’s hand and led her.

And so Clara disappeared into the guest room.

And my father, my mother and I were left in the living room.

“Tae-san…”

My father called me.

There were several meanings in his eyes.

He seemed to be asking when, where and how we met, and how far things had gone.

Father, parent and child or not, a private life is off limits.

“Yes. Father.”

“In this age of globalization, I think nationality is no obstacle at all to love.”

My father spoke solemnly.

The mood turned strange.

Mom was smiling at me strangely too.

“Yes? What do you—”

“I approve of this marriage!”

“Whaaaat! M-Marriage???”

— Karma points have been paid out.

What? Karma points? Why!!!

(End of Chapter 55)