Foot Worship Chapter 35

Should I call this a good thing or a bad thing? While I’m happy to see Jerome’s face even like this, the problem was that I met him in a place I didn’t want to be. Goo Jihoon wouldn’t even be able to imagine what kind of hell I went through in this restaurant. Perhaps if I hadn’t pushed myself too hard here that day, that unfortunate event might not have happened. I shifted in my seat, feeling uncomfortable for no reason.

“Sundubu, don’t you have anyone to meet on Christmas?”

“Who would I be meeting?”

“That ex of yours who dropped you off yesterday, why don’t you try contacting him?”

“…Don’t talk nonsense and just finish chewing your greens.”

“No,”

The main course was served at the perfect timing. I stared at the delicious-looking tenderloin steak in front of me and winced. It was because I remembered eating steak here that day and getting indigestion. My appetite vanished for nothing. But strangely, the server who finished serving didn’t leave and kept hovering nearby. Feeling puzzled, I looked up, and a blonde man wearing a chef’s uniform smiled brightly at me. I stood up clumsily with a surprised face. And then, the memory of running into a man in the restroom at The Traveler suddenly surfaced. To think I had even met this man while I was blacked out—shocked beyond words, I held my forehead and furrowed my brow.

“Baby, we see each other often.”

“…Ah, hello.”

I also remembered that he called me “baby” yesterday and I had laughed to myself. It was quite funny that he still called me baby so casually even now. Goo Jihoon’s eyes widened like lanterns as he looked back and forth between me and the blonde man. I racked my brain for how to explain this situation, but I knew too little about the blonde man to introduce him properly. All I knew was that he was an acquaintance of Jerome’s; I didn’t even know his name for sure.

“What are you going to do now that Jerry has been taken away on Christmas Eve?”

“…Pardon?”

“Don’t be like that, why don’t you come and greet my family? As it happens, my mother and younger sister are also in Korea, so we’re having a meal together for the first time in a while.”

I frowned at his out-of-the-blue comment. I couldn’t understand at all what this man was talking about. Why on earth would I have to greet his family? When my thoughts reached that point, I felt a bit annoyed. But just then, the name tag hanging on his chest caught my eye. Engraved on the name tag in English was ‘Alexander Lee’. Alexander Lee? I clamped both hands over my mouth and widened my eyes. Surely…? I moved my head slightly to steal a glance at the table where Jerome was. Sure enough, Jerome was sitting with his arms crossed over his chest, watching this side intently.

“E-excuse me, are you and Jerome… brothers?”

“Huh?”

“…”

“Oh my, didn’t Jerry tell you? I assumed you knew, of course. Ah… so that’s why my words must have sounded strange just now.”

Until now, I had thought this man was Jerome’s ex. I clutched my throbbing head and collapsed back into my chair. To think the woman sitting next to Jerome wasn’t his wife or girlfriend, but his younger sister—I never in my wildest dreams thought they were family.

“Alex, quit it. Can’t you see he’s uncomfortable?”

“I was just saying that the baby is the person you’re meeting—”

“Don’t cross the line, just go greet Mother and leave.”

Jerome, who had approached at some point, blocked Alexander. Goo Jihoon’s eyes widened again. People who sensed the commotion were watching this direction. As even the server stepped in to try and resolve the situation, Alexander shrugged his shoulders and returned to the table with Jerome.

I held my forehead with one hand and tried to organize my chaotic mind. So, to put it simply: Jerome came to dine at a restaurant where his older brother is the chef, bringing his younger sister and mother for Christmas Eve. Seeing that, I had assumed Jerome might be a married man, and if I had asked Jerome about the woman’s identity earlier, I would have accumulated another unforgettable dark history.

“Where have I seen him before.”

Goo Jihoon muttered, glancing at Jerome repeatedly. It looked like he was on the verge of remembering, his face occasionally twisting into a frown. He put a piece of salad in his mouth, chewed it, and after a while, asked with his eyes narrowed.

“That guy is your ex, right.”

“…That’s right.”

“So, you came out because I called you, and you just happened to run into him because he came to eat with his family?”

“…”

“Man, this is quite the connection. You better be good to me. Since I took Haeyi’s place—”

“It’s not ‘taking her place,’ it’s being a substitute. This isn’t a seat you prepared for me.”

“Oh, you’re sharp. But either way, it’s thanks to me, isn’t it?”

“My head hurts, so quit yapping.”

Goo Jihoon pouted his lips and started cutting his steak. Watching him cut it into bite-sized pieces and pop them into his mouth, I rolled my tongue around my mouth, which felt thick and dry. Perhaps because my mind was cluttered, or because I wasn’t in good condition, I couldn’t taste anything in the food.

Goo Jihoon, who had finished his meal and even diligently packed away dessert, excused himself for a moment to take a call. I rubbed my feverish, warm cheek. I could only think of wanting to go home as soon as possible and lie down on my bed. Suddenly, the server who had been standing behind me approached quietly and placed a piece of paper folded in half on the table.

“What is this?”

“A guest at that table asked me to deliver it to you.”

Looking in the direction the server pointed, I saw Jerome, who was faintly smiling while talking with his mother. I carefully unfolded the note to check the contents.

「If you’ve blocked my number, unblock it and let’s see each other for a moment later.」

After seeing off Goo Jihoon, who was still dishing out nagging, I returned to my car, started the engine, and turned up the heat. I dragged the spare padded jacket I had tossed carelessly in the back seat and covered myself with it. Hugging the steering wheel, I sent Jerome a message saying I would wait in the parking lot. A reply saying he understood arrived shortly after. Seeing Jerome’s name pop up after a week, I felt so happy that I couldn’t take my eyes off it for a while.

I adjusted the seat angle and reclined. Perhaps because I had taken cold medicine before leaving the restaurant, the fever felt less intense than before, but my throat was still stinging.

When I searched for and checked Jerome’s number a moment ago, it really was blocked. Since I had no memory of blocking him while sober, it seemed I must have done it in a fit of anger while drunk. Without knowing that, I had resented him for not making a single phone call. It was truly a comedy.

Meeting Jerome like this today was truly a coincidence. If Kwon Haeyi’s provincial shoot hadn’t ended late, if Goo Jihoon hadn’t suggested dinner, if I hadn’t been in bad condition and stayed home—this luck wouldn’t have existed. I suddenly wondered if the whole world had created this miracle to cheer me on. Since a coincidence had brought that person in front of me, it was my job to figure out how to finish it.

I sorted through the emotions I had felt over the past week, one by one. If I pondered why I had been drinking so heavily and suffering, the reason was clear. It was because my feelings had deepened.

After Jerome declared the end, I felt emotions similar to when I had quit Judo, which I had done my whole life. Over the week, denial, anger, bargaining, and depression had appeared in stages. I repeated the cycle of being angry, regretting, acknowledging it was over, and then falling into depression again. It was like my feelings were on a roller coaster.

Of course, I couldn’t put Judo, which I had done my whole life, and Jerome on the same level, but the regret, despair, and sense of loss I felt when reminded that it was over came rushing in just the same. It was the feeling of losing something I loved. Without me even realizing it, Jerome had seeped into my life.

I wanted to continue meeting Jerome in some way. Perhaps this was the last chance to turn this relationship around. I intended to show the “honesty” I possessed, which Jerome had mentioned once, without any subtraction or addition. There was no such thing as taking one step back for two steps forward, anyway. If I crashed into him with all my might and got shattered, I’d just apply some medicine. Well. It was a life I only live once, anyway. Just as I had let go of Judo so hopelessly, I couldn’t let go of Jerome like that. Even if I had to cling to his trouser leg and beg, I wanted to turn our relationship back around.

But that was as far as my thoughts went. Perhaps due to the medicine, my eyelids were gradually becoming heavier. I shouldn’t fall asleep…

“Jin.”