Can Love Be Transferred Too? 123

123

I knew that An Lei’s statement wasn’t purely about reflection and apology.

He probably felt that his collaboration with Lee Chan no longer had any meaning. The controversy had grown so much that running the brand became nearly impossible, so he might have thought he needed to pull out before it was too late.

Lee Chan had written in his brief statement that An Lei was a collaborative model, not a co-representative of the brand. But An Lei, in announcing his resignation, stated that he was indeed a co-representative. This directly contradicted Lee Chan’s claim while also providing grounds for other accusers’ assertions.

‘He probably planned to resign and move on from the beginning. That hyung has wanted to run a shopping mall business for a long time. He probably met Lee Chan, that hyung, for that reason.’

‘You think so?’

‘Think about it, hyung. How could they create a brand together when they’d barely met? It’s not like they’ve known each other their whole lives like you, and it wasn’t a desperate, can’t-live-without-you kind of love.’

‘It could have been that kind of love, couldn’t it?’

‘…An Lei?’

Jin Woohyeon speculated that while An Lei might have had feelings for Lee Chan, he also saw potential in using the brand launch. He thought An Lei planned to temporarily ride on the connections of the famous designer’s son and his value as an influencer.

In that sense, Lee Chan was now someone with no commercial value, with more disadvantages than advantages. So An Lei declared their breakup and pulled out before things got worse.

In reality, An Lei’s decision was quite wise. In the end, Lee Chan’s brand, “Marinette,” fell through. With their reputations in ruins, it would be difficult to recover, and even if they wanted to, working in Korea would be challenging.

[Are you and Chan hyung over now?]

I wonder if An Lei’s message, sent like that, had calculated even this outcome. He was planning to break up with him, but wanted to gauge how his final statement would affect me.

Even though An Lei didn’t have negative feelings toward me and was closer to feeling sorry, it still felt like an unsettling conclusion.

‘I wonder if it’ll be okay.’

But I felt it didn’t matter. Whatever An Lei’s feelings were, whatever he thought, whatever he planned to do, it had nothing to do with me. As I told An Lei before, we weren’t meant to remain friends.

So I realized why Jin Woohyeon, while finding An Lei blameworthy, didn’t rage about it. He also didn’t care. No matter how much An Lei had deceived him, no matter how much he played the fox in front of others.

‘Won’t living like that just mess up his own life? Well, it’s not my business how or where he ruins himself. He’s not someone who matters to me anymore. I don’t want to live so cowardly.’

Feeling similarly, I decided not to communicate with An Lei anymore. I determined there was no more meaning in it.

After wrestling with social media apps all day, I discovered a feature that blocks contacts from accounts I hadn’t approved. I used it to block everyone I didn’t want to hear from.

Not stopping there, I changed my phone number that I’d kept for a very long time. The day after An Lei’s statement was posted, I saw Lee Chan’s mother in my missed call list.

While changing my phone number, I changed my phone as well. In my pristine white contact list, I only entered the contacts of people I wanted to keep. Strangely, only then did I feel like I was making a fresh start.

Busy days continued. Regardless of how those who were unfaithful to me were living, time rolled on silently, and I tried to make the most of it.

And so summer faded, and autumn arrived in full stride.

I remained the same. Still a bit soft, slow with physical work, so restaurant work was somewhat challenging. But I was happy to be doing what I loved, and I’d developed ways to endure difficult moments with things that made life sparkle.

Jin Woohyeon was still by my side. As always, we tried to be kind and honest with each other, willingly became each other’s world, and continued to spend time together through the seasons.

Then one day…

“Hello?”

On a rare day off, just as I was lazily getting up, a call came in.

“Sorry for waking you up, hyung.”

My last memory was falling asleep while watching a movie with Jin Woohyeon, who had returned late yesterday. The last time I checked the clock was 4 a.m., so I’d expected to wake up barely past noon.

“…It’s okay. Is something wrong?”

He wouldn’t normally wake me up, so I was worried something had happened.

Jin Woohyeon was silent for a moment, clearly considering whether he should tell me what was on his mind.

“Woohyeon?”

“I was debating whether to tell you before you answered, but since it concerns you, I think I should.”

He told me not to be too surprised, and I nodded.

“Lee Chan hyung wants to meet you.”

I froze as I was slowly getting out of bed.

“How did you…”

My mind suddenly cleared and my throat tightened. It was due to an inexplicable tension.

“How did you know that?”

“He came looking.”

Lee Chan had gone to the agency today, not the filming location. That meant he had personally visited Jin Woohyeon’s agency.

“He wants to contact you, but it seems he had no way to do so, so he came all the way here.”

That made sense. I had changed my contact information and eventually deleted my social media accounts again. Moreover, I had vacated the officetel I’d been living in for quite some time due to repairs and moving, and had been essentially living with Jin Woohyeon at his place.

“I don’t think he has bad intentions.”

“I’m not particularly curious about Lee Chan’s intentions anymore.”

It was a relationship that had not only passed but had grown old. I had no obligation to understand him.

“What do you want to do?”

“Is this something I can choose?”

Jin Woohyeon answered in a gentle voice.

“As always, this time too.”

I hesitated briefly before answering.

“I don’t want to meet him.”

It was sudden, and I didn’t want to invite unnecessary stress. My time and energy were limited, so I had almost nothing to spare for Lee Chan.

But.

“…Still, I think I could talk to him briefly on the phone.”

Call it foolish if you will, but I couldn’t help it.

Even though I found Lee Chan tiresome, my inability to completely ignore him might be because a very small, faint hope remained in a corner of my heart.

Ten years as friends, then ten years as lovers. Regardless of how messy that relationship was or how clumsy that love was, twenty years was too long a time in Yoo Sanho’s life.

So perhaps, just for the very last time, just once more, I wanted to hope for something.

“You probably don’t want to give him your contact info, so I’ll put him on.”

“Thank you.”

A moment later, a voice that now sounded quite unfamiliar and awkward pierced my ear.

“It’s been a while.”

Yes. It really had been a while.

“Why are you looking for me?”

Regardless of my feelings, if Lee Chan remained unchanged, I didn’t want to talk. I was completely fed up with his habit of always finding reasons for problems in others.

Now that everything was over and we were strangers, I had absolutely no intention of being his stress relief target…

“To apologize.”

My slowly moving thoughts came to an abrupt halt.

“That’s why I came.”

After a brief silence, Lee Chan continued.

“It’s not to evade the situation, not to use you to defend myself, and not to exploit our relationship for anything. I…”

That voice, once so familiar and now strangely foreign, said:

“I wanted to tell you I’m sorry. So even knowing it’s selfish of me, I contacted you.”

“Only now…”

My stomach churned. It was hard to identify the cause.

“Only now you’re sorry?”

I thought it might have been resentment.

“Why are you sorry only now?”

I also thought it might have been due to a very old sadness.

“Yoo Sanho.”

Those words, once the most anticipated, were suddenly placed before me.

“…I was wrong.”

Author: Hyacinthus B

Hyacinthus