Several days later, after returning from a visit to Deok-gi, Byeong-hwa said, “How about taking him a fruit basket, Pil-sun?”
Pil-sun’s face lit up but she was hesitant. First of all, what should she wear? It would be different if she were seeing him in a hospital, but how could she go to such a grand house?
Byeong-hwa said, “There’s nothing to worry about. People live there, too. Go on. He asked me to send some fruit, and I said I would.” He began to fill a basket with tangerines, apples, and pears.
“He asked for some fruit?”
“Yes.”
“Then let’s ask Won-sam to take it over when he comes back from his delivery.”
“It doesn’t make a difference who takes it. But if you go, it’d give you a chance to express your thanks.” Deok-gi had actually said that he’d like to see Pil-sun, but Byeong-hwa was reluctant to tell her that. He didn’t mean to prevent her from getting close to Deok-gi, but he was afraid that Deok-gi might stir her young heart.
“You’re worrying about your clothes, aren’t you? Don’t be ridiculous. Is there a rule that you have to wear a silk skirt to go to a rich man’s house? Actually, people would think it odd if a grocer showed up in such finery.”
Though it embarrassed Pil-sun that Byeong-hwa knew what she was thinking, she set her fears aside. She figured the right thing to do was pay her respects, and she set off.
Following Byeong-hwa’s directions, she got off the streetcar on Hwanggeumjeong at the intersection of Gurigae, turned toward Suhajeong, and soon arrived at the magnificent gate with a curved roof. With her heart thumping and her neck drawn taut, she dawdled, unable to find the courage to call out or enter the house. Eventually the maidservant emerged with what looked like a bowl of rice under her apron. Noticing Pil — sun, she asked, “What do you want?”
Pil-sun was relieved to be rescued from her dilemma — there was no way she could run away now. “I brought some fruit from Sanhaejin — from Hyoja-dong.” Unexpectedly, her words came out confidently, for she was telling herself that she had come on Byeong-hwa’s behalf, not to pay a visit to her acquaintance.
“Take it inside, please.” The maid began to walk away.
“Excuse me, but could you take it in for me?” The maid was eager to get back into her room and out of the bitter cold.
Pil-sun figured that if she could just leave it behind, Deok-gi would know that she had come to pay her respects. That would be better than having to face him. The maid went inside with the basket, and although Pil-sun wanted to hear what Deok-gi would say, she ran off as if someone were chasing her.
It didn’t seem possible that Deok-gi could be the owner of such a grand mansion. Hadn’t he come to the store without pomp, wearing a student uniform decorated with gold-plated buttons, and eaten beef soup from a chipped tray? She wished that Deok-gi had no money. She couldn’t understand why such a fortunate young man from a rich family would fraternize with Byeong-hwa and deign to befriend someone like her. This young woman found nothing remarkable about wishing Deok-gi were penniless. What she did find remarkable was that Deok-gi was so down-to-earth.
Pil-sun hastened her step, suppressing the temptation to look back.
“Hey! Wait a minute!” the maidservant called out breathlessly from behind. Pil-sun spun around.
“You, student, are you deaf? Do you have to walk so fast?” The maid addressed her as “student,” reluctant to accord Pil-sun a higher level of respect. Sensing that Pil-sun wasn’t someone to whom she had to defer, judging from the way she was dressed, the maid didn’t think twice about criticizing her for her pace. “The master wants you to come in.” She sounded as if she were blaming Pil-sun for the invitation.
“But I have nothing special to tell him.” Pil-sun’s face flushed.
“You can’t leave. It doesn’t matter whether you have something to tell him or not. Don’t get me into trouble.”
Pil-sun sensed that the maid was making fun of her. As she stood with her head bowed, the maid said, “It’s freezing out here. You can’t just stand there. Nobody’s asking you to kneel before him. What’s there to be embarrassed about? You can stand outside his window and listen to what he has to say.”
Pil-sun followed the maid in silence. It would be foolish to leave when she was there to pay her respects to a sick man. The truth was she was eager to see him, and though she was ashamed to admit it, she was curious to see the grand house.
Pil-sun stopped at the high stone step before the veranda, unsure which room she should enter. It was fortunate that the big house was as quiet as a Buddhist temple and that no eyes were on her. She had imagined that it would be bustling with people.
“Come in, please.” Deok-gi saw her from the main-room window.
Flustered, she stepped up to the veranda and entered the room. Had she haphazardly flung off her shoes on the shoe ledge instead of lining them up neatly?
“It’s cold out, isn’t it? Have a seat.” Deok-gi was cheerful, his face bright.
“Are you feeling better now?” Pil-sun sat hunched next to the door. She felt her face burning, though it could have been that her ears were starting to thaw.
“You shouldn’t have brought the fruit in this cold,” Deok-gi said, glancing at the basket placed on the colder side of the room.
“I heard your father is doing better.”
“He is, thank you.”
Pil-sun found it more and more difficult to sit across from this young man, who spoke so gently and was cozily dressed in warm silk, with an elegant quilt pushed away behind him. To be addressed with such politeness by the master, after the maid had been so rude, made her feel abashed.
“You must be having a hard time in this cold weather, taking care of your father and tending the shop.”
“These days I’m able to spend almost the whole day in the hospital because Gyeong-ae and Won-sam watch the shop for us.” Pil-sun looked down at her hands; her hospital stay had healed the unseemly frostbite, but she immediately hid them anyway.
“So Gyeong-ae is helping out these days?”
“Yes. She comes every morning, as if reporting to work, and stays all day.”
“I see she’s serious now,” Deok-gi laughed.
“It’s not as if she hadn’t been serious before, but now she works all day wearing Japanese shoes and an apron, like a devoted housewife.” She flashed a smile.
In this brightly lit room, her pale skin took on a bluish hue, and her thin face, the result of bad nutrition, had a fresh, languid air, the kind you might glimpse in a girl recovering from a long illness.
“I’d better go now.”
“Wait a moment. If you’re on your way to the hospital, why don’t you have lunch here?” Deok-gi’s attitude was as natural as if he were talking to his best friend’s sister.
“I can’t. My mother’s waiting. I’d better go.”
Ignoring that Pil-sun had stood up, Deok-gi called his wife. It would have been rude to leave while Deok-gi’s wife was crossing the veranda toward the main room, so Pil-sun waited.
Deok-gi’s wife’s face was open and kind. “Going already? You haven’t even had time to warm yourself.” Pil-sun bowed her head. The woman seemed good-natured. Though she was the daughter-in-law of a rich family, she didn’t strike Pil-sun as all that different.
In the eyes of Deok-gi’s wife, Pil-sun looked like a friendly and docile young woman. Though Pil-sun hadn’t fully blossomed yet, she was neat and pretty. Her outfit was nothing much to look at, but Deok-gi’s wife, who was plump, envied Pil-sun’s thin shoulders and good figure. The thought of her husband spending time with a woman like Pil-sun didn’t please her.
She guessed who Pil-sun was, but the young woman didn’t look like somebody who’d work at a grocer’s. Byeong-hwa came every day. Deok-gi’s wife wondered why this girl had to come at all. She was not Byeong-hwa’s wife. She took another look at Pil-sun; was something already going on between her husband and this woman?