Chapter 42. Fireflies
Haeyoung swallowed dryly as she fumbled through the darkness, searching for Taeseong’s eyes.
Even in the black night, his glittering pupils stood out vividly.
His words were too clear to dismiss as a joke, and Haeyoung’s voice trembled.
“Why… why did you use your wish… for me?”
“Just felt like it.”
Taeseong replied in a light tone.
Why.
Why do you always want me to smile.
She wanted to ask, but no words came out.
If she kept digging deeper, she felt like her own feelings would be exposed.
More than that, she was scared.
Scared to confirm again that Taeseong’s heart didn’t belong to her.
So she could only stay silent.
All she could do for him was divorce, and remain a good friend afterward.
From now on, she needed to fold her heart smaller and smaller, like folding paper, to shrink its surface area.
“Come to think of it, there’s not much time left until our divorce.”
Haeyoung looked back at the fireflies, speaking as if talking about a distant future.
At her casual tone, Taeseong was struck speechless, like someone blindsided by unexpected words.
“Figure out your path. Your kindness under the title of husband might just confuse her.”
Suddenly, Gijun’s warning came back to him.
Figure out your path.
At the time, it had felt like getting hit in the head with a hammer.
And now, he was confused.
What were his feelings towards Haeyoung?
Was she just a friend?
Where were they going from here?
All the uncomfortable, awkward feelings he had been avoiding now rose up to the surface.
“Once we’re in college, we’ll go on group dates, blind dates…”
Over the silence Taeseong had built, Haeyoung placed her bright voice.
“And someday, I’ll get a great boyfriend too, right?”
As her dreams piled up word by word, Taeseong’s face hardened.
He didn’t like the dazzling college life she described so casually.
Why was she acting like someone counting down the days to their divorce?
While he was stuck here, confused and unable to breathe?
Did she really want to divorce so easily?
So many words spun in his mouth, but what finally came out was sulky and childish.
“You think guys like me are common or something?”
“Ugh, there it is again. Prince syndrome.”
“……”
“Geez, say something nasty instead. It’s better to face reality now than be disappointed later.”
“So cold-hearted.”
Empty, pointless banter continued between them.
“Look at you, thinking about dating already.”
“Look who’s talking. Didn’t you confess in high school and get rejected…”
Realizing she’d accidentally brought up Taeseong’s embarrassing past, Haeyoung pressed her lips together.
But feeling unfair, she spoke up again.
“Anyway, you liked Minjoo unni for ages. So who’s the one who got rejected?”
“…Yeah.”
Contrary to her expectations, his response was surprisingly flat.
“I did like her. For a long time.”
In the darkness, Taeseong’s voice was dry, as if narrating someone else’s feelings.
Haeyoung’s words about his love for Minjoo felt strangely unfamiliar to him now.
He had liked Minjoo ever since he was little, and at some point, he just took those feelings for granted.
Like how everyone accepts that the sun rises in the east.
But now, something he believed was an unchanging truth… felt unfamiliar.
For the first time, he doubted his own feelings.
Before he could finish thinking it through, Haeyoung’s playful voice broke his thoughts.
“Enough gloomy talk. Let’s discuss something constructive.”
“Constructive?”
“I realized you told me what you want to be, but I never told you.”
“…What do you want to be?”
As his scattered voice faded, Haeyoung’s answer came clearly.
“A drama scriptwriter. I’ll become one someday and succeed.”
“Drama scriptwriter…”
Taeseong rolled the words around in his mouth.
“It suits you.”
“……”
“Then I’ll shoot a drama based on your script one day.”
“What?”
“Because I’ll become a famous film director.”
“Ooh, someone’s confident.”
Haeyoung lightly punched his shoulder in encouragement, then took out her phone and opened the recorder.
“I need to record this, so you can’t go back on your promise later.”
She held the phone up to him.
“Come on, say it into here.”
Taeseong lowered his eyes at her sudden move.
“What.”
“Say: ‘I, Ju Taeseong, promise that when I become a successful film director, I’ll shoot a drama based on Cha Haeyoung’s script.’”
“So childish.”
“Hurry up!”
Under her impatient glare, Taeseong sighed and cleared his throat.
“I, Ju Taeseong…”
Thus, the promise of nineteen-year-old Taeseong was recorded into Haeyoung’s phone.
“When I become a successful film director, I’ll shoot a drama based on Cha Haeyoung’s script.”
As he finished, Haeyoung pressed the stop button.
“You promised.”
“Yeah, yeah.”
Having secured a promise to meet again at the crossroad of their dreams, Haeyoung turned to face forward again.
“Huh? Fireflies?”
At that moment, countless fireflies caught her eyes.
They glittered in the dark sky like stardust scattered everywhere.
“Wow…”
A short sigh of awe escaped her lips.
“They’re beautiful…”
As if cheering on their earlier conversation, the fireflies blinked gently.
The two of them watched, silent, sharing the same gaze.
On this night when they made a new dream to protect each other’s dreams, smiles lingered long on their faces.
After the Fireflies
After a long while watching the fireflies, Taeseong and Haeyoung began walking back to the villa.
As they walked the ten minutes back, Haeyoung suddenly thought of Gijun.
“Oh right, why didn’t oppa come? He said he’d bring drinks.”
“Yeah.”
Taeseong replied with indifferent disinterest.
“Did something happen?”
Muttering to herself, Haeyoung soon saw the villa lights shining ahead.
Inside, they found Gijun alone in the living room.
“You’re back?”
Standing up to greet them, Gijun walked over.
Haeyoung scanned him worriedly.
“Oppa, why didn’t you come? I was worried.”
“Ah, I think dinner upset my stomach. My chest was hurting badly.”
Gijun pulled a pained face for effect.
“But I took some medicine and it’s better now. Sorry, I thought about calling but didn’t want to interrupt.”
“No, it’s okay. I’m just glad you’re better.”
As Haeyoung sighed in relief, Taeseong commented drily.
“Good for you, healing so fast.”
Gijun glanced at him like he was ridiculous, then smiled lightly.
“You two should head in. It’s late.”
“You too, oppa. Rest well.”
Haeyoung waved, and Taeseong gave a small nod before they went to join Hyuk and Cha Kyung in their room.
Left alone in the quiet living room, Gijun recalled the words he had overheard earlier.
“Come to think of it, there’s not much time left until our divorce.”
When both their doors closed, he sat back down on the sofa.
“Divorce… divorce…”
Rolling the unexpected word around in his mouth, Gijun closed his eyes.
