If Silk Flowers Bloom by the Water’s Edge Chapter 73

Lately, in Nanjubeol, where spring flowers that bloom randomly have occupied the front yard in clusters, there was a small commotion. At the center of that matter, which caused the kitchen staff to boil thin porridge and the landlord to fly into a great rage, was young lady Chaehwa. Even if the affairs of the household are minor, they are supposed to go through the landlord’s permission. Young lady Chaehwa, who usually has good judgment, had secretly written handwritten letters and distributed invitations to other families.

There are not many staff members in Nanjubeol who return to their hometowns to meet their families. It is a story that the landlord, upon learning that the handwritten letters written with beautiful hands had gone outside, scolded young lady Chaehwa severely. Furthermore, even her cell phone was confiscated, and from that day on, Chaehwa took to her bed and suffered from a fever. Half of the staff were divided into the faction that called it a fake illness, and the other half called it a true fever, but in the end, they boiled the porridge together anyway.

“Try to eat a little, young lady.”

Yeonrye, who serves Chaehwa closely, had also voted for the fake illness side, but for the past few days, she doubted her own judgment. Chaehwa, who hadn’t even eaten anything, was gagging and running to the bathroom, and she was refusing the sweet rice puffs and rice punch that she used to never get tired of eating for three days and nights. Seeing her face, which used to be as pretty as a pear blossom, cut in half as she barely managed to swallow the thin porridge, Yeonrye’s heart was bruised with pain.

“Oh, young lady. That’s why you should have gotten permission from the landlord first. I thought everything had been discussed…”

“Yeonrye. I can’t eat this either. Take it all away.”

“Yes? You haven’t even eaten anything, so what am I taking away? No way. You must eat all of this.”

Since Yeonrye did not withdraw the spoon, Chaehwa parted her lips with difficulty. However, even that was only two spoonfuls at most. Hot tears welled up in the eyes of Yeonrye, who felt guilty for thinking it was a fake illness.

“The landlord is truly cruel too. Where does our young lady have to pin her heart? You could have written a letter out of a desire to see them quickly…”

As the saying goes that people speak ill of the king where he is not present, she was murmuring and badmouthing the landlord. At that moment, as if punishing the ungrateful Yeonrye, the door to the room flew open. Behind the trembling Yeonrye, an elegant stride like a crane was entering. Chaehwa patted the wrist of Yeonrye, who couldn’t close her mouth, and managed her heavy body to sit up.

“Grandmother, you’ve come.”

“Lie down. Hmm?”

Yeonrye just rolled her eyes between the two of them, then hurriedly packed up the porridge bowl and left the spot. The landlord, as if she hadn’t heard any badmouthing, sent Yeonrye off with a smiling face and then took her granddaughter’s hand. Stroking Chaehwa’s wrist, which had become gaunt over the past few days, she lamented.

“I cannot win against your stubbornness. In the end, you sent all the letters as you wished, so why are you sick again?”

“Because I thought Grandmother was upset.”

The granddaughter, who used to be so proud as if there were no one in the world who could beat her, was withered after a long time. Being angry at Chaehwa for bringing in outsiders without consulting her lasted at most two hours or so. She was so worried about her granddaughter lying down and preserving her place in the blanket that a headache occurred 24 hours a day. The landlord stroked Chaehwa’s soft cheek, which had turned a peach color due to the rising fever. What is there that she couldn’t do for her granddaughter, who was bedridden without being able to lift a single spoonful of porridge?

“I will withdraw my anger, so stop now and live healthily just like before. Hmm? Grandma’s inside has turned completely black.”

“I will get better after a few days.”

“I will return your cell phone too. You know that I was anxious and worried that you might go wrong like your mother. Please understand your grandma a bit.”

The eyes that sparkled at the words that she would return the cell phone were hidden as quickly as a crab hiding its eyes. Chaehwa put her hand under the silk blanket and wore a faint look in her eyes.

“Why would I go wrong like my mother? There’s no way that will happen, so don’t worry. And right now, I’m so exhausted…”

Chaehwa rubbed her eyes while letting out a deceitful yawn. It was a hand gesture containing the meaning that she wished she would vacate the spot. The landlord, whose quick wits were top-notch, first placed the cell phone, which she had brought hidden in her sleeve, on the floor. She pretended not to, but she could tell that Chaehwa’s gaze shifted to the floor. Every time she died for her granddaughter’s tricks, but for today, there was something she had to make clear. What she placed on top of the cell phone, which became bait, was a pure white paper.

“Take a look at this too, while you’re at it. It’s your marriage match. You must hold the ceremony as soon as you become an adult.”

The corners of Chaehwa’s mouth, which had been excited with the thought of picking up only the cell phone like a sparrow, plummeted. For the landlord, free romance and contacting the outside world were enough with just her one dead daughter. Since she realized late how safe it is to live under tradition and family. According to the custom of the warrior, she intended to have Chaehwa, who would become the landlord of Nanjubeol in the future, get married when she turns twenty.

“I will go first. You should rest well at the beginning of the year too.”

It means she knows it’s a fake illness but will let it slide at this point. After exchanging greetings with the landlord, whose voice gained strength, the door to the room subsequently closed. Chaehwa, who lost vitality at the mention of a marriage match, came to her senses at the blowing spring breeze. Her hand, which moved as if riding the wind, cautiously picked up the pure white paper. Shinwoo was listed first among the names of the men the landlord wanted. Although he was a child who entered the conversation originally for the purpose of bringing him in as a son-in-law, Chaehwa’s eyes narrowed with dissatisfaction.

“I’m sorry.”

Chaehwa, who grabbed the top of the paper, soon ripped the marriage match list vertically. In her gaze looking at the paper divided into two, coldness lingered. Chaehwa threw off her act of a sick person, picked up her cell phone, and dashed into the small bedroom. Her hand, which checked whether there was the message she was waiting for or not, fell away before long. The text message from Yirok was 0.

Although it was an act committed after looking at a fortune-telling sign, she believed that Yirok would definitely respond. Chaehwa, feeling deflated, leaned her cheek against the window and glared at the sky.

“Marriage, my foot.”

Her heart longing for the outside resembled her mother’s, but Chaehwa could be confident. Regrettably for her grandmother’s expectations, in some ways, she did not resemble her mother at all.

“I want to go out quickly.”

Chaehwa is not gentler than the mother who gave birth to her. Even if her grandmother’s heart was aching, she could pretend to be sick a hundred times to get the cell phone she wanted. She also tears the marriage match paper without reading the room. Therefore, the path Chaehwa would walk would be as different as black and white from her mother’s.

🌹₊ ⊹

Packing my bags and stepping out of the front gate of the Bansi family, it felt as if the day of release from prison had come. Yirok’s prediction that Sarira would roll her brain to reject Chaehwa’s demand and drag out the matter of sending him back to Nanjubeol missed the mark. Sarira personally arranged a car to go to Nanjubeol the very next day. Furthermore, she even added a special consideration to go down alone without taking Juhee of the Baekyoung family. Though he couldn’t know Sarira’s intention, there was no way he would miss the opportunity to escape. Yirok packed his few belongings and came outside even before the butler grandma ordered him to.

Without paying mind to the nagging of the butler grandma, who cast a sidelong glance asking if he wanted to go even a day earlier, Yirok waited for the car. Sarira’s intention, which was ambiguous as if hidden in fog, peeled its shell only after he got into the car that arrived 10 minutes later. The car, which he thought was heading to the Nanjubeol family, drove around the inside of the Bansi family as if teasing him. At the background that did not change no matter how far they went, Yirok stared intently at the back of the driver’s head.

Fortunately, as if the driver had no intention of trapping him in the car for a lifetime, he dropped him off at a certain point. Along with the nonsense that it was the last gift Sarira was giving. However, as soon as he got out of the car, Yirok understood the true meaning of the gift. She had dropped Yirok off at the ward at the outermost edge of the Bansi family’s mansion, where useless patients were gathered.

“Yirok has come.”

It was the human experiment lab operated by Sarira, or the ward where patients were locked up. And Yirok’s hyung was living there. Coming out to meet Yirok, who came all the way to the front of the ward, was a nurse with a white face. For several years, she had come out to meet Yirok, who came only to the front of the ward every time and never entered.

“Ms. Sarira said that Yirok is going far away, so why not see your hyung once before that? That’s why I came out early and was waiting.”

As expected, there was no way Sarira would send a spy out for nothing. It was a kind threat from Sarira, telling him not to forget his hyung who is living by relying on the hospital. Yirok swallowed his slow saliva and took a step backward in the direction where the car with the turned-off engine was located. The nurse, who watched his distant footsteps intently, let out words as if it were a pity.

“Are you going to leave without seeing him today too? Don’t you want to know how your hyung is doing?”

Anyway, even if he gathered courage and went, the front of the hospital room where his hyung was located would be the limit. Memories are fragile like a poorly constructed house, and the hyung in reality was hidden by the hospital curtain. Could he really endure the reality when he opened the curtain and faced his hyung? His hyung who grew into a corpse with nothing but bones, or his hyung who cherished the appearance of his childhood—either way would split his heart apart. In front of Yirok, who stood looking at the ward without a word, the nurse smiled thoughtlessly.

“Right. I will let Ms. Sarira know that you are leaving without seeing him today too.”

He failed to catch the nurse, who turned around with her hands shoved into her pockets, today as well. The ward spread a dark curtain of shade over Yirok’s head. It was then that Yirok’s phone, standing stock-still with his feet tied, rang. As if telling him not to be swallowed by Sarira’s shadow, it rang busily inside his pocket.

Before answering the phone, Yirok turned around and looked at the driver’s seat. After checking the empty driver’s seat as if he had gone out to drink coffee for a moment, and the ward with black windows, he slowly picked up the phone. As expected, the one making his phone ring was that young lady. Yirok doubted whether it was an auditory hallucination and put the phone to his ear.

“Hello.”

—…….

As if it wasn’t a phone call from hell, Chaehwa’s breathing sound was heard clearly. Taking in the hospital, which even the vibrant spring had bypassed, Yirok asked.

“Since there was no contact for a few days. I thought you forgot about me.”

Because he made a joke he had never done before, goosebumps stood up all over his forearm. However, inevitably, disappointment was smeared in the final syllable. Just when Yirok was regretting the sincerity he put forward using a joke as a shield, Chaehwa’s cracked voice was heard.

—You didn’t cry, right?

“Cry?”

—When I read the fortune, it said that you cried.

Why, isn’t there a saying that if you comfort a crying child, instead of stopping, their tears increase? It wasn’t just once or twice that he came to the front of the hospital and couldn’t enter, but his eyes were hot. He should laugh at Chaehwa who read the fortune, but his cheek was ticklish. As if proving that Chaehwa’s fortune-telling sign was not wrong, Yirok could not look toward the ward at that moment. His tears, shed with his head bowed, fell to the ground and permeated into spring. Only after the rims of his eyes dried could Yirok answer with a voice that managed to become fine.

“Why would I cry? Don’t read fortunes using me from now on.”

—That’s a relief.

“…….”

—Because I hoped my fortune-telling sign was wrong.

Unknowingly embarrassed for some reason, Yirok hoped that the sound of biting his lip over the phone line would not be caught. People are truly cunning. Since Chaehwa relieved his sorrow, what came as the next turn was a complaint.

“Did you… break your cell phone?”

—I was sick.

She was a truly wondrous young lady. With just a single word, she touched Yirok’s lump-filled heart. On the contrary, she made Yirok, who asked the question, unable to find words to say and look around his surroundings. Only after looking at the ward where his hyung was locked up, as if by mistake, did the words he wanted to say pop out.

“Don’t you get sick.”

Around the time the voice asking ‘why’ was heard faintly, Yirok saw the driver walking from far away. Right before turning off the cell phone, Yirok said in a low voice.

“Just don’t be sick. It doesn’t suit you.”

The moment he shut down the cell phone power and put it in his pocket, his held breath burst out. Standing and looking at the driver who was walking slowly while smoking a cigarette like a turtle, he met the spring sunlight. Chaehwa is sick. A reason to go to Nanjubeol quickly has arisen. Because the voice of the young lady who was sick on a spring day remained in his ears, Yirok forgot the hospital for a moment. By this, another instance of forgetting his hyung using spring as an excuse happened again.