The day after I arrived in Sokcho. At my grandmother's house, I started cleaning some of the places in this house. Due to tiredness since arriving a day ago, I took more breaks and only cleaned up a few parts yesterday.

I was also so grateful that during my time visiting so rarely, there was an old man of about seventy years old, who lived not far from this place and the one who kept the key, always cleaning this house twice a week, so I didn't need to work a lot today.

Since the last time I came here, I had said to him that it wasn't something he needed to do, but he still insisted on doing things of his own accord, ignoring my words. It was hard on me, but saying it was also a waste. He didn't want to listen to my words.

The old man once said that in the past, my grandmother was someone who always helped him during her life, and in return for her gratitude, he always took care of this house during my grandmother's death and as long as I, who rarely visited this house, had been around eleven years ago.

When cleaning the living room, I occasionally stared at the objects that never change their position at all, only the color was fading on some sides, such as the photos that were hanging on the wall and some were displayed on the table.

As I cleaned them up, each one of the photos reminded me of a memory that I had not remembered for a long time ago.

However, when I saw all the photos, they immediately made me smile and remember that in the past, I was that happy too.

Remembering about this, already made me want to go back to that age and not want to become an adult. It wasn't that I regretted it. I wouldn't regret the current situation I was in. But, it was just that, I missed the times when I never felt lonely.

An hour later, after cleaning the whole room, I went to the kitchen to prepare lunch for myself. However, when I was about to take a step, I heard someone knocking on the door. I immediately turned towards the door and opened it.

"Ah, Chunghee, do you still remember me?" A woman was standing with a smile of kindness in front of me.

Judging by her face, she was almost the same age as me but slightly older than me, about thirty-six - thirty-eight years old. In her hand was a plate of food, he spoke friendly, "Here, I brought food for you. My father said if you come to visit this house."

That woman was the daughter of the kind old man who took care of this house. Although I didn't remember her name, her familiar face had not changed much, so I recognized her immediately.

I smiled, then invited her to come in. Even though she refused several times, I, who kept forcing her, managed to persuade her to stay for a while.

While he was waiting in the living room, I made a drink in the kitchen and immediately set it on the table.

"Um, where is your friend?" she asked.

"Hmm?"

"Why didn't you come with your friend?"

I immediately frowned in confusion when she asked about a 'friend' to me. I had no idea who she meant by "friend," so I asked, "Friend? Who do you mean?"

The woman's forehead creased. She tilted her head slightly, looking confused after hearing my question. "Ah, that ... your handsome friend. The one who came with you to this place when you visited your grandmother's grave about ... four or five years ago. His name ... if I'm not mistaken ... Do ... Dokyu. .. Do— "

"Donghwa?"

Instantly her eyes widened and both of her foreheads lifted. Her face was bright and there was an obvious joy. When I saw that expression, I was sure that the name I just said was correct.

Oh, so the person she meant was Donghwa ...

That's pretty impressive. Someone who had only met Donghwa once since years ago could still remember him — even I almost forgot that Donghwa had been to Sokcho with me.

"Ah, yes, that's right! His name is Lee Donghwa — Mr. Lee! Huh, I still remember him. He is very handsome. If I were your age and not married at that time, I would try to win his heart," she spoke in jest and laughed at her words quite loudly. She spoke again, "But, why don't you ask him to come with you again? Didn't he already say that he would come with you again another time?"

I sighed heavily, the corners of my lips lifted slightly after hearing her words. Even Donghwa had ever spoken the sweet words like that? I didn't remember that he had said those words. He was really good at covering up his true self in front of people. If this woman knew what Donghwa really was, I doubt she would still want to compliment him.

"He's very busy these days, so he doesn't have time to come with me," as I said, I smiled bitterly.

Hearing about this, suddenly there was disappointment that crossed the woman's face. She seemed truly hope to see Donghwa again.

That expression made me smile. As if covering up all of Donghwa's badness from this woman, I tried to come up with a reasonable excuse, which was heard true and trustworthy, so that the woman wouldn't feel disappointed. I knew that my words were full of falsehood, yet I just needed to say them to cover up the truth that we were no longer together.

"Hmm, unfortunately, he couldn't come with me this time. But, he said that he would visit this town sometime if he had time."

Hearing my words, she smiled, then sipped a glass of drink on the table. "You're right. He is indeed a hard worker. Moreover, he also holds big responsibilities in a huge agency," paused a second, she asked, "But, is he married?"

I shook my head in response.

"Hmm, someone like him doesn't need to get married, right? He must often leave his wife out of the city." The woman chuckled.

I smiled weakly. It was true. He always left his partner until he forgot that he had married someone.

There was a little regret in me. I thought, by asking her to stay in this place for a while, it would allow us to talk about a lot of nice things, but the reality was far from desirable. The conversation that took place only made me have to reveal a falsehood many times to cover up the truth.

After a moment of silence, the woman asked again, "So, what about your father? Have you heard any news about him?"

I took a soft breath before answering, "Ah, not yet. I haven't found the exact address of him, so I've decided to stop looking for him."

"Huh, he really is an irresponsible father!"

I just smiled at those words. Hearing her words, as if she was humiliating my father, and my heart couldn't accept it. I didn't want someone to look down on my father like that even though he had left me a long time ago.

He was my father. Although he never gave me fatherly affection, he was still my father. I couldn't overturn the earth around to pretend I didn't know him.

As I remembered, before he left me, he was a kind and caring father to me. So, no matter how bad he was as a father, he was still a father that I had to respect.

I forced a smile and said, "It would be better if we didn't talk about this, right?"

After finishing my sentence, the silence fell. The atmosphere that had been full of warmth turned cold in an instant. There was only the occasional gurgling of water dripping down the sink from the kitchen and the sound of the old TV on in the next room, which made the silence a little lively until the woman sighed as the wind rumbled in silence. "Huh, okay then, I have to go right now. I still want to linger here and talk many things with you, but I remember that there's a work waiting for me."

She immediately got up, but before she stepped outside, I stopped her, "Wait, thanks for the food. I hope you'll come back again if you have time."

"Sure."

She stepped outside, and I followed her from behind, leading her to the door.

After the woman left, I closed the door, then went in to clean up the leftovers on the table, and brought the food that the woman had given to the kitchen. Then, I returned to the room next to the living room and was about to turn off the TV that had been on since a few hours ago, but before I did, the news on a news channel made me jolt with surprise as if I stopped breathing at once.

"Wh-why?"