If Silk Flowers Bloom by the Water’s Edge Chapter 87

Until the time when the moon began to smile, permission to go out was not granted; it was only after looking over the fortune-telling charts two or three times that it finally passed. Grandmother was perpetually wary of the outside world, but she knew she could not keep her nineteen-year-old granddaughter tied down forever. Moreover, Chaehwa was no ordinary granddaughter—she was the entity responsible for the future of Nanjubeol. Is it not human nature that if you do not occasionally loosen the heavy noose of succession, you never know which way they might spring?

Choosing a day when the fortune was favorable, the moon was bright, and it was a weekday, Chaehwa’s outing day was decided. Dressed elegantly in a hanbok embroidered with pear blossoms, Chaehwa nevertheless had a face devoid of excitement.

“She always tells me to go only to the places I’ve always gone to…”

“It’s just because that department store is the only one we have an understanding with.”

“I told her I’d talk to other places myself. How old do you think I was when I first started going there? I’ve memorized even the shape of the bathroom tiles.”

“I’ll go along with you and help you choose.”

Among Grandmother’s conditions, there was also ‘Take Yeonrye with you.’ It was an apology to Yeonrye, but because she was traveling with Grandmother’s spy on board, her mood was only so-so. Unaware of the young lady’s burning heart, Yeonrye’s tedious nagging about how the lights outside are too bright and the air is too murky had already passed its second stanza.

“What did Grandmother say when she told you to come along? Did she tell you to choose only demure clothes?”

“No?”

“Then what?”

Because the words Grandmother recited like a prayer were always much the same, Chaehwa was indifferent. Yeonrye, whose hands were busy having brought along her knitting, replied thoughtlessly.

“She told me to watch carefully to make sure no strange fellow sticks to you. Though where would there be a fellow to stick to you, My Lady? You’re just going out with a few of the Haenang.”

“…‘A strange fellow’.”

The only person Grandmother would point out and call ‘a strange fellow’ was Yirok. Chaehwa swiftly concealed her startled face. Introducing it to Yirok as a process that a Haenang must absolutely go through, she had included him in this outing. Aside from Yirok, Shinwoo and Jangsi had come along. Chaho had a stomach ache, perhaps because of the shaved ice he ate for lunch, and the rest of the female Haenang said they were going to play with puzzles.

Since enjoying a trip to the outside department store was practically for Chaehwa alone. Yirok, who participated because he was deceived by the lie, was probably the ‘strange fellow’ Grandmother was thinking of. When she went on department store outings with the existing Haenang, Grandmother hadn’t attached Yeonrye to her.

“After all, your marriage isn’t far off either… It seems that in Grandmother’s eyes, you are still a young child, My Lady.”

“Is that why…”

“Yes?”

Listening to the sound of the crochet hook moving, Chaehwa pressed her round forehead against the car window. The flashing road lights were stealing Chaehwa’s blank gaze.

“I feel like I’m still not fully grown. I feel as if my growth has stopped for a lifetime.”

“My Lady…”

Feeling that the tone of her voice had changed, Yeonrye laid down her crochet hook and looked into the seat beside her. She couldn’t just remain silent upon hearing Chaehwa’s words about feeling ungrown, but to Yeonrye, who had lived viewing obedience as the highest value, no sharp words of comfort came to mind.

“My Lady… I will make a pretty scarf and give it to you as a gift.”

“Yeah.”

From the moment she was cut from her mother’s umbilical cord, a life where her food, clothing, and sleeping quarters were decided was natural to Yeonrye. Even though the life of the young lady she loved more than her own life was completely plastered with flowers and silk, the asking voice and the speaking expression were utterly gloomy.

Once she marries, she will mature. Yeonrye, with a reluctant feeling, picked up her crochet hook and began to knit the scarf.

🌹₊ ⊹

The time they drove the sedan into the reasonably close department store was 2:00 AM. In the outside world, there were wealthy individuals who quietly claimed to be Chaehwa’s fans, and among them, the department store president, who had received great help, had promised VVIP privileges.

Once business hours ended, Chaehwa’s car would quietly enter, and they would open a midnight surprise business. There were five customers including Chaehwa, and it was a system where they packed items into shopping bags on their own. Since the price would be billed later through Secretary Yun, it could truly be called an unmanned department store.

She could have called two or three shoppers requested by Chaehwa, but since Yeonrye and the Haenang were here, she did not request the service today. Chaehwa, who was clumsily trying on a lipstick with the word ‘New’ attached to it, found something more amusing in the mirror. It was Yirok, standing like a robot right in the middle of the spacious store, reading a product description.

Shinwoo and Jangsi were not to be seen, seemingly having gone to the perfume counter on the opposite side. Yirok, to whom the department store was unfamiliar, followed her like a baby duck. A smile blossoming at the corners of her mouth, Chaehwa closed the lipstick cap and spun around.

“Yirok-ah. Come here.”

Three hours of freedom were given, but if left like that, he was bound to leave without catching even a single mackerel. At Chaehwa’s coy summons, Yirok laid down the cosmetics he was looking at and walked over slowly. In the past, no matter how much she called and called, he would snort and walk away. These days, when called, he doesn’t avoid her gaze, and the corners of his mouth lift softly. It was a behavior where if he knew it, it was fortunate, and if he didn’t, he was a fox.

“How do I look? Should I buy this color, or not?”

Blossom pink was not Chaehwa’s taste, but she was curious about Yirok’s opinion. As if looking at a manual, his gaze descended and rested upon Chaehwa’s lips. A man deeply versed in a woman’s lip color—does even one exist across the entirety of Nanjubeol? Yet, the gaze of Yirok, who couldn’t possibly possess any special knowledge, was truly tenacious. It was a look that peered in for so long that Chaehwa, who had asked, felt embarrassed.

“Is it strange? Should I not buy it?”

“Why do you apply it?”

“Huh?”

“I’m asking why you apply it.”

“You want to say it doesn’t suit me, don’t you.”

It was right when she was feeling vexed, thinking that no matter what she did, she couldn’t shed the air of a young lady. In the eyes of a man just a few months shy of adulthood, lip color must not be important. Just as she was putting back the lipstick she had intended to buy, Yirok asked with an unaltered posture.

“What I mean is… I’m saying I don’t know why you change your lip color.”

“What I mean is I completely don’t understand what you’re saying, Yirok. Are you telling me to buy it, or not?”

“I’m saying your original lip color is better.”

Chaehwa always thought: how was she any different from the tiny children wearing rainbow-striped jackets? Wrapped in the garments called love, she grew up as a child surrounded by people who were invariably soft toward her. Feeling that as an immense complex, the moment she arrived at the department store, she chose lipstick and sprayed perfume. Even if a miniskirt and stiletto heels were out of the question, she wanted to spruce herself up like an ordinary girl.

However, at his gaze looking at her lip color as if casually, her knuckles felt ticklish. Chaehwa, who awkwardly covered her lips with the back of her hand, mumbled,

“Why do you stare so intently at an unrelated woman’s lips?”

“…You told me to look.”

“Aren’t you buying anything? Aren’t you looking around? I’m buying it for you. You can buy everything. Yirok, look at autumn clothes, look at winter clothes too… and buy shirts. Because they suit you well.”

“Is that a duty?”

“What duty? It’s just a day to buy what you like.”

“You said it was a duty.”

Chaehwa, whose lie was exposed, turned her back with a reddened face. As she walked away in flight, Yirok’s sigh followed closely on her heels.

“It was a lie, wasn’t it.”

“Men’s clothing is on the 3rd floor. Hurry up and come.”

Stepping onto the escalator, Chaehwa waved her hand as if throwing a tantrum at Yirok, who was looking up with an expressionless face. Yirok, who had his arms crossed, stepped onto the escalator assuming an expression that looked as if he would finish things the moment they clashed.

If it were a lie, she was someone who told them casually as if eating meals, but in front of Yirok, mistakes were frequent. Chaehwa, calling out the name of Yeonrye—who had gone to look at handkerchiefs—for no particular reason, entered a store hanging thick with men’s shirts. Touching even a necktie that Yirok would absolutely never wear in a million years, she ignored the approaching footsteps.

“Kim Chaehwa.”

“I told you my last name isn’t Kim.”

“You lied, didn’t you? Coming here isn’t a duty, is it?”

Resenting Yirok, whose personality dictated that if it’s yes, it’s yes, and if it’s no, it’s no, he must absolutely point it out and move on, her lips tucked inward. Chaehwa picked up the whitest and most sharply creased shirt and held it against Yirok’s body.

“This is pretty. Take one home.”

“I’m not buying it.”

“Young man, if you live idling like that, when everyone else gets to wear good clothes given to them, you won’t even get to wear one suit. Do you want to live naked?”

“Sigh…”

It was understandable to be angry at being dragged out by car in the early morning hours only to have to choose clothes. However, at Chaehwa’s words, which rolled smoothly like a merchant’s, Yirok let out a smile. Rolling his eyes as if defeated, Chaehwa placed one more pink shirt on Yirok’s body.

“This suits you well too. It’s so pretty.”

“I know it’s expensive. Don’t overdo it.”

“Why shouldn’t I overdo it? I want to dress you in good clothes.”

“Then…”

Wondering if he needed other clothes, Chaehwa perked up her ears. At the very instant she placed her hand on candidate number 3 with an expectant expression, Yirok said as if tossing it out,

“You’re buying a shirt only for me, right?”

Private tutoring, a shirt—Yirok asking casually for a special privilege sounded, at a glance, devoid of private interest. However, when the night and the moon were added to that, it was the prime contributor to disturbing Chaehwa’s sleep. Yirok’s words, wishing for her to shelter only him and side only with him, drained the strength from Chaehwa’s hand. As if the two shirts and the necktie were heavy, Chaehwa’s hand shook and swayed.

“Right?”

If Shinwoo stubbornly insisted that he wanted to wear a shirt, what on earth would Chaehwa do? A promise that cannot be kept is something one should not bring up in the first place. However, captivated by those serious black pupils, it was the exact moment Chaehwa was about to nod her head.

“Aaaaagh!”

A voice presumed to be Yeonrye’s is heard from the 2nd floor of the department store. Chaehwa’s and Yirok’s heads turned simultaneously.