Come Back

“This place has such a great vibe. How did I not know about it?”

“Right? The exterior looks like a gallery, not a wine bar. Our manager drove around here several times, thinking it wasn’t this place.”

“Thank you, Vice President, for inviting us to such a nice spot.”

“No, it was a sudden suggestion, so I’m the one who’s grateful you accepted.”

Lee Hae-seong, who had arrived first at the wine bar for the dinner, greeted the actors as they arrived one by one.

“This is the place where we had our first dinner before the movie was canceled. It’s been a while since I’ve been here!”

“Really? These wine bars all seem the same, so I got tired of them, but this place is really nice.”

The actors wandered around the wine bar, taking photos and waiting for the others to arrive. As one actor had said, this was the location where Choi Hong-seo had her first dinner when she played the role of Hwang Ji-woo.

At that time, among the many people involved, everyone was focused on their key roles—investors and lead actors—and there was no opportunity to exchange proper words. It was before she had confessed her feelings to Lee Hae-seong, and back then, Choi Hong-seo was very guarded around him, so it was a delicate situation. It would have been a huge problem if she had run away in fear.

Even so, Lee Hae-seong could tell that Choi Hong-seo was conscious of him.

Even amidst the crowd, he could quickly sense her gaze. It felt like the gaze was pressing against his skin.

But when he looked over, she would quickly turn her head, pretending not to look. Seeing her face, as though she thought she was avoiding him skillfully, only made him smile even more.

It was the first time Lee Hae-seong had experienced a relationship like this. He wasn’t the type to enjoy the so-called “flirty” phase that others would call sweet and sour, and he had never really put effort into starting, continuing, or ending a relationship.

He had never tried to win someone’s heart, and if he felt it wasn’t working, he simply moved on without any effort. Relationships always felt more like obligations and burdens, and he tended to be with people who shared that view.

The curiosity to know more, the joy of looking at someone and feeling happy, the effort to approach them sincerely without overwhelming them—this was all new to Lee Hae-seong.

Thinking back to the thrilling moment when he and Choi Hong-seo had exchanged glances here, Lee Hae-seong slowly emptied his glass of wine.

Since the actors had come using their own cars, they all arrived at different times.

Once most of the seats were filled and the ordered dishes and wine were served, Lee Hae-seong noticed that *Yun Hye-an* still hadn’t arrived. It made him realize that the delay wasn’t due to just her being late.

“Vice President, are you eating too?”

“Yes, I’m eating.”

“It looks like you’re just drinking. The abalone with butter you recommended is really delicious. You should try it.”

“That’s right. The abalone is so tender, not chewy but soft and delicate.”

Although Lee Hae-seong took a piece of abalone at the urging of those around him, he didn’t really savor it. His attention kept drifting towards the entrance of the private room. How long had it been? As he was about to check his wristwatch, someone spoke to him again.

“Vice President, I watched the movie you recommended last time!”

Park Dong-ha, sitting at the opposite side of the large table where everyone was gathered, spoke with a youthful face, emphasizing the movie title.

“You recommended *Happy Together*!”

“Oh, did you enjoy it?”

Lee Hae-seong remembered the day they had a barbecue on the rooftop garden of his house in Seocho-dong. Someone had asked him to recommend a movie with a good OST, so he had suggested a film by Wong Kar-wai.

“I didn’t know *Tango* could be such a sad and beautiful song. The OST was great, and the cinematography and the actors’ performances… everything was amazing! It made me want to travel to Argentina.”

Although Park Dong-ha was excitedly talking about the movie, Lee Hae-seong’s mind was elsewhere. After taking a sip of wine and setting the glass down, he quickly responded in a slightly anxious tone.

“I’m glad you liked it. If you liked *Chun Kwang Sa Seol*, you’ll probably enjoy the director’s *In the Mood for Love* as well.”

Before Park Dong-ha could speak again, Lee Hae-seong swiftly shifted his attention.

“Song PD.”

“Yes, Vice President.”

“Have all the actors arrived? I don’t see *Yun Hye-an*.”

“Ah… actually, Hye-an couldn’t make it today.”

The supervising PD, sitting next to Lee Hae-seong, lowered his body slightly to make eye contact and put down his wine glass.

“What happened?”

“She said she wasn’t feeling well.”

“Not feeling well?”

Lee Hae-seong’s voice stiffened for a moment. His brows furrowed, and in a voice mixed with anger, he asked.

“Did she have cold sweats or vomiting symptoms?”

“No, she didn’t seem to have anything like that… She just said she wasn’t feeling well and thought it would be better to rest at home. She didn’t seem very sick.”

Although the PD tried to downplay the situation, Lee Hae-seong didn’t feel reassured.

The image of *Yun Hye-an* collapsing in the bathroom of the rooftop garden flashed in his mind.

The sweat that soaked into the car seat, and the feverish, glazed eyes that had looked at him from the hospital bed.

“You’re not saying she was pretending to faint, right? You believe that now, don’t you?”

Lee Hae-seong clutched his phone and quickly left the table.

In the corridor of the wine bar, which was made up only of private rooms, the sounds of conversations and laughter from each room were almost inaudible. The faint sounds that slipped through blended with the soft jazz music, becoming part of the melody.

Lee Hae-seong leaned against the wall, one shoulder pressed against it, with his hand in his pocket.

In the dim corridor, the faint light from his phone screen reflected softly on his face.

He slowly dialed a number he had only kept in his memory, not written down anywhere. But his fingers, growing slower, couldn’t finish pressing all the eleven digits and stopped.

Lost in thought with his lips tightly pressed together, Lee Hae-seong lowered his gaze to look at the tie around his neck. With his long, large fingers neatly arranged, he traced the tie from the knot to the wide end, gently smoothing it.

A diagonal stripe pattern in shades of blue and gray.

It was the tie he had received from Yun Hye-an.

Standing by the wall, his fingers fiddling with the tie’s end, Lee Hae-seong suddenly turned around. His footsteps quickened as he seemed to have made up his mind, heading back toward the room.

—

*Meow, meow.*

Tiffany sat at Choi Hong-seo’s feet, crying.

“Are you wondering what I’m doing? I’m trying to make something tasty for Tiffany. But you’ll have to wait a bit.”

Choi Hong-seo, washing some sweet pumpkin and carrots at the sink, looked down at Tiffany intermittently.

Tiffany, who had been staring up with an intense focus, seemed to understand, as she got up and left the kitchen.

Laughing as she watched the cat’s retreating figure, Choi Hong-seo began peeling the vegetables she had washed. In the pot, there were heated pollack and chicken breasts waiting, without any water added yet.

Instead of attending the dinner, today she was making Tiffany’s special treat. Although she wasn’t particularly good at cooking, nor interested in it, making a treat for Tiffany wasn’t troublesome.

She definitely wanted to attend the dinner. Even if she couldn’t speak a word to him, just being in the same space would have been enough.

But what scared her was how Lee Hae-seong would treat Yun Hye-an after choosing the tie that Choi Hong-seo had given him. She wasn’t ready to face him yet, even though she knew she wouldn’t be able to avoid him forever.

After cutting the sweet pumpkin and carrots into larger chunks, she placed them in the pot and added water to start cooking.

She then checked the next recipe on her phone, which was sitting on the table.

“Next, I need to blanch broccoli and cabbage… Broccoli and… cabbage.”

As she turned back toward the sink, her phone vibrated. Without thinking, she turned back around and glanced at the screen, her body still in a strange, twisted posture as she stared at the phone.

*Carrot Seller.*

Her mouth went dry, and her breath quickened. She wiped her wet hands on her forehead with the back of her hand. What should she do? Should she answer?

In the midst of her panic, the call ended.

Fumbling, she grabbed the towel from the kitchen and dried her hands. Staring blankly at the table, she had forgotten what she was supposed to do next, standing there as if she had dropped something.

*Bzzz, bzzz. Bzzz.*

Unbelievably, the “Carrot Seller” was calling again.

This time was different from the last when the call had been cut off after about ten rings, and no one had called back. She counted to five—if the call didn’t end by the time she reached five, she would answer. Slowly, she counted each number on her fingers.

The phone continued to ring relentlessly.

With trembling hands, Choi Hong-seo reached for the phone. After connecting the call, she froze, as if she had forgotten how to speak.

[Seems like you know this number.]

It was Lee Hae-seong who broke the silence.

“What… is it?”

His voice sounded as though he hadn’t spoken all day, and it barely came out.

[You said you weren’t feeling well.]

“No… It’s not… I’m not sick, actually.”

[If you’re not sick, then why didn’t you come to the dinner?]

“……”

Because I’m scared. I’m scared of seeing you, Vice President.

She couldn’t say that, so she scratched the edge of the table with her hand instead.

After a soft, sweet sigh, which sounded like one she had made in the past when she was still Choi Hong-seo, he spoke again.

[I’m outside your house now.]