Chapter 38. Smile. No, Please Smile.

But it seemed like I was the only one nervous.

Haeyoung stared out the window with a blank expression.

She was someone whose feelings always showed on her face, but today, everything about her felt like a mystery.

What are you thinking right now?

I wanted to know what Haeyoung was thinking—and whether she had forgiven me.

After a long silence, lost in thought, Taeseong finally spoke.

“It’s been a while since we went home together.”

“Yeah, it has.”

Taeseong poked Haeyoung’s shoulder.

“Why? Got something to say?”

“Yeah.”
“What is it?”

Haeyoung asked, and Taeseong looked at her with soft eyes.

Then he said,

“Smile. No, please smile for me.”

“What?”

At his bold request, Haeyoung opened her eyes wide. Taeseong pressed her forehead gently.

“Don’t frown. You’ll get wrinkles.”

“No.”
“Just smile once.”
“No.”
“Why not?”
“Why should I smile?”

They went back and forth in their usual childish argument.

“Because I want to see it—your smile.”

But this time, Taeseong spoke seriously.

“It feels like you haven’t forgiven me yet.”

“……”
“Because you won’t smile.”

Haeyoung’s mouth opened a little. She couldn’t fight that honesty.

After hesitating, she finally replied,

“Nothing’s funny right now, so how can I smile?”

She glared at him, shoulders tensed.

“…Then you try to make me laugh.”

“Ha, you’re so difficult.”
“My smile isn’t cheap.”
“Alright, alright.”

Haeyoung tilted her chin up proudly. Taeseong gave in and took a deep breath.

He crossed his eyes and pouted his lips in a funny way.

“Luuk at me~”

He asked while making a silly face. The goofy look didn’t match his handsome face at all, and Haeyoung burst out laughing.

“Pfft—”

“Oh! You laughed!”

Taeseong smiled brightly as he fixed his face.

“That was a laugh, right?”

“Puhahaha!”

Haeyoung laughed hard. She couldn’t get his silly expression out of her head.

“Hahaha, so funny. Even a handsome face looks silly when twisted like that!”

Haeyoung laughed for a while. After calming down, she noticed Taeseong staring at her.

“…Can you stop staring? Never seen someone laugh before?”

Her cheeks turned a bit red. Taeseong chuckled and said, this time sincerely:

“So we’re good now, right?”

“…I guess so.”

It was a cool June night, and a breeze came through the bus window as everything fell back into place.

After finals, summer arrived.

During summer break, Haeyoung made a new study plan for the college entrance exam (the Suneung).

She wanted to apply to a mid-tier university in Seoul, majoring in Creative Writing—the same school and department as her favorite drama writer.

She had dreamed of this school since childhood.

But there was one problem: her grades were slightly shaky.

She was doing fine in Korean and English. The problem was math.

“Why do I need a minimum math grade for Creative Writing?”

She quietly asked Gijun, who was helping her with math.

Gijun stopped writing and said,

“Yeah, really.”

He even put his pen down.

“Maybe it’s to teach us pain and struggle.”
“…That’s not funny, oppa.”
“Sorry, haha.”

Stressed from studying, Haeyoung bluntly rated Gijun’s joke.

“No matter how hard I work, my grades don’t go up…”

She collapsed onto the desk. Gijun gave a small smile and comforted her.

“You’ve improved a lot since the beginning. You’ll keep getting better.”
“Really…?”
“Sure. Everyone feels like they’re stuck around this time.”

“…You think so?”

Her voice had no hope in it.

Realizing his words weren’t helping, Gijun thought for a moment, then suggested:

“When it’s like this, it helps to take a day or two off to reset.”
“…Really?”
“Wanna come to my family’s vacation house?”
“Vacation house?”

“Yeah, it’s in Yeoncheon. You can even see fireflies nearby.”
“…Fireflies?”

Haeyoung sat up, eyes shining with interest.

“Wow…”
“If you want, we can go for the day. Study during the day, see fireflies at night.”
“Wow, that sounds amazing…”

But then Haeyoung’s excitement faded.

She remembered Taeseong warning her not to get too close to Gijun.

She couldn’t just brush it off. After all, she and Taeseong were legally married, and he had the right to ask that she not get too friendly with another guy.

Her grandfather probably wouldn’t approve either.

So she began to gently refuse.

“But I don’t know if I should…”

Just then, there was a knock on the door.

“I’m coming in!”

Without waiting, Taeseong burst into the room carrying a plate of watermelon like a waiter.

“It’s hot. Eat some watermelon before you keep studying.”

He put the plate down and smiled at Gijun.

Just then, an idea lit up in Gijun’s eyes.

“Hey, Taeseong.”
“Huh?”
“Want to come with us?”

“With you? Why would I?”

Taeseong refused flatly, but Gijun calmly replied:

“Really? Haeyoung looked really excited about the vacation house. I thought maybe we could all go together.”

He glanced at Haeyoung.

From above, his gaze was clear—and a bit smug.

“When did he get so annoying?” thought Taeseong.

Feeling uneasy, he asked Haeyoung,

“Do you want to go to the vacation house?”
“No, I mean… I just wanted to see the fireflies…”

Her voice trailed off—it meant yes.

Taeseong clenched his lips, looked around, and shouted:

“Fine, let’s go. All of us.”
“…Really?”
“Yeah! We’ll eat lunch, see fireflies—wait, see, not eat fireflies.”

He waved his arms like a politician making promises.

“Let’s just do whatever Haeyoung wants!”
“How about next weekend? That’s the last time we can see them.”
“Sounds great!”

Haeyoung smiled so brightly that tiny dimples appeared on her cheeks.

At that moment, Taeseong and Gijun’s eyes met in the air.

For a second, sparks flew between them.

But Haeyoung, the cause of that tension, just kept smiling, forgetting all her stress as a senior.

The day to visit Gijun’s vacation house arrived.

Strangely, Haeyoung had felt more motivated to study, so she worked even harder.

She had packed early, and now had free time, so she called her grandma Boksun.

“Grandma!”
[“Haeyoung!”]
“Are you still in Jeonju?”

She remembered last time Boksun said she was eating bean sprout soup in Jeonju.

[“Yeah, I’m still here.”]
“They have those hanbok (traditional dress) experiences—try it out! They’re really pretty.”

[“I’m too old for that.”]
“No way, Grandma. You’re still really pretty!”

[“Such a sweet-talker.”]

“But it’s gonna get hot soon. Can you keep traveling?”
[“I’ll probably go home for the summer. Nothing beats Pohang in the heat. I’ll travel again in fall. And be back home by winter.”]
“Yeah, that makes sense.”

[“Haeyoung, thank you. Really.”]

Suddenly, Boksun’s voice turned soft.

Haeyoung smiled gently.

“What’s that for, my Lady Bok?”

[“I’ve been traveling the whole country… now I feel like I have no regrets.”]

Hearing Boksun’s heartfelt words made Haeyoung’s nose sting.

“Don’t say things like that.”
[“I’m thankful for the time you gave me. I feel so selfish.”]

Even though she was finally living her own life, Boksun still felt sorry to Haeyoung—and Haeyoung hated that.

So she quickly changed her tone, putting on a cheerful act:

“Grandma, Seoul is amazing. It has everything. Grandpa treats me well. Even the housekeeper is a great cook. And Taeseong… he’s a good guy too.”

Her voice softened shyly when she said his name.

Surprised, Boksun smiled through the phone.