“Hurry on to the hospital, then. And please give this to your father.” He pulled out an envelope from under the bedding.
“What is it?” Realizing what it was, Pil-sun’s face burned.
“I had meant to visit him before my departure, but I got so sick that I haven’t been able to see him, and since you’re here. ”
“Please don’t — ”
“We know each other’s situation well. It won’t even cover his daily expenses.”
Pil-sun stood up, but Deok-gi seemed reluctant to let her go. “When will you come again? Come if you’re free tomorrow or the day after. Actually, I didn’t get to talk to you about what I intended to, and I feel so trapped here, having to stay in bed like this.”
Hearing the man’s tender, pleading tone, Pil-sun blushed and felt as frightened as if he were holding her tightly from behind. She worried that someone might have overheard his words.
“I will, if I can,” she told him, wishing she could come every day. But she thought, I’d be crazy if I came again! She couldn’t understand why he was so kind to her.
Why should he feel trapped when he has such a good wife and child?
She made fun of herself for having been so easily excited by his words. She had never pictured Deok-gi as a bachelor or imagined that he lived by himself, but her heart had taken a sharp turn upon seeing for herself his comfortable family life. She had almost been swept away by his tender words and generous attitude, but she believed she would be better off not seeing him. Was Deok-gi’s kindness merely a trait of the cultivated class or was it how he seduced women? What if she ended up like Gyeong-ae? Though still quite innocent, she was bright and had heard and seen her share during her years working at the factory.
Arriving at the hospital, Pil-sun said, “Mother, I’ve just come from Mr. Jo’s house.” Smiling as if she had done something forbidden, she tried to read her mother’s reaction.
“Oh? It was the right thing to do, but. ” Her emotions played tug-of-war on her face.
“Byeong-hwa asked me to take some fruit to his house. He insisted that I come in.”
“You did the right thing to go in and see him.”
“And he gave me this.”
“He shouldn’t have.” She opened it.
A hundred won! Her mother’s face was strained. When Pil-sun worked at the factory, it would take her three months to earn a hundred won. Deok-gi might be kind and gentle to everyone and might even pity them, but she didn’t want to owe him too much.
The father, who had been looking on, heaved a sigh, his face devoid of expression.
Seeing that her parents were troubled, Pil-sun couldn’t bring herself to tell them about the lavish lunch she had been served. She had never hidden anything, however trivial, from her parents, and there had never before been anything she couldn’t discuss with them. It felt odd not to tell them that she had been treated to rice-cake soup and that Deok-gi had asked her to come again.
The next day, when there was a lull at the store, Pil-sun sat by the stove with Gyeong-ae.
“I would have never guessed it, but Auntie Pil-sun is not shy at all, sitting in the main room of a house she’s never visited before, devouring a whole bowl of rice-cake soup,” said Gyeong-ae in a teasing tone.
“What could I do? They told me to eat and I wanted to eat. What would you have done in a situation like that, Big Sister?”
“I’d have asked for food if I had been hungry.”
“Do you think I’m too shy to do that? The first time I met Deok-gi, I went to a restaurant and slurped my noodles without thinking twice.”
“How interesting to learn that Auntie Pil-sun has no shame!”
“You can say that again. After three years at a factory, I have none at all.”
Gyeong-ae had never heard Pil-sun talk back, even jokingly. Pil-sun couldn’t stand being teased about what she had kept from her own mother and guessed that the information had come from Won-sam’s wife. Pil-sun was on edge. True, she usually didn’t get enough sleep while staying overnight at the hospital, but she had had even less sleep the night before, managing to doze off for a few hours at best.
Gyeong-ae continued to tease her. “You’re too young. If you want a man in your life, I’ll find you a good bridegroom. But you’d better treat me to wedding noodles when the time comes!”
“What? Who said I’m looking for a man, now or ever?” Though Pil-sun knew that Gyeong-ae was just joking, she didn’t like to hear her friendship with Deok-gi branded “a man in her life.”
“I know better than anyone else, you know,” Gyeong-ae said with a sisterly air. Her words seemed to contain a stern message: “Listen well, for I’m older than you, even if only a touch. Look at what I have become.”
“It’s nothing. I just took some fruit because Mr. Kim asked me to.”
“You know I am kidding, but be careful anyway. Deok-gi is a good man, there’s no doubt about it, and I know him well. But I’ve been where you are now, and you should take care. I can’t just look on and say nothing, like a stranger. If you don’t want my advice, I won’t repeat it.”
The two fell silent, as if they had had an argument. Pil-sun knew that Gyeong-ae was not wrong, but she couldn’t bear to hear her speak this way.
What does he want to talk to me about? Pil-sun’s mind strayed back to Deok-gi. Is he going to ask me to go study with him in Japan? This flight of fancy brought color to her cheeks, and she quickly mocked herself. Why would he take someone like me with him, if not to keep his house?
The third day after her visit to Deok-gi’s, Won-sam said quietly to her, “The master wants you to come by tomorrow.”
Her heart sank. She had a premonition that some kind of change was about to happen to her. She didn’t know why, but the idea of going there weighed heavily on her. She decided not to go: he’d come to the store after he recovered, and she would see him then.
The next day, Won-sam reminded her of Deok-gi’s request. “Aren’t you going today?”
“I’m too busy. I just don’t have the time.” Pil-sun pushed away her complicated feelings.
She felt no relief, however, at her decision not to see him. Dazed, she was unable to concentrate on her work. But no matter how many times she reconsidered, she just couldn’t bring herself to visit him.
Rumor
“Hey, Deok-gi, have you forgotten about that thousand won — you know, the money you told everyone you gave me?”
“Didn’t I give it to you? It’s recorded in the police report. What better proof do you want?”
Byeong-hwa egged his friend on. “So how about making good on your pledge?”
“I have no such intention.”
“Maybe I should show you a pistol.”
“Haven’t you decided not to use Korean money — white money, that is — in the first place? Aren’t you an international trader who sells food with red money from abroad?” Deok-gi laughed.
“Do you call nickels white money and copper coins red money?” Although Byeong-hwa laughed at the joke, he was startled by Deok-gi’s comment. He must have heard something from Pil-sun — you couldn’t trust women with their loose tongues. It would have been better if he had told Deok-gi himself.