Contract Marriage with Memory Loss on Top - Chapter 56

“I set it to 10 seconds.”

“What? Wa-wait, I haven’t thought of a pose yet…!”

As soon as he heard Ki-won’s words, Yeon-woo hastily stood next to the man and smiled. He had also returned to a comfortable complexion as if he had never been frozen. Was it just my imagination? Yeon-woo thought it was fortunate that Ki-won wasn’t sick and stared at the camera angle.

Flash, the timer ended and the picture was taken with a flash. At the same time, Yeon-woo felt his whole body stiffen. It was a strange feeling. His whole body felt cold and his skin tingled.

His limbs were stiff, making even the slightest twitch difficult. Yeon-woo quietly stared at the black lens with trembling eyes. When his breathing rang in his ears, he heard auditory hallucinations.

– …ya, you have to look here.

– …is stubborn, says he won’t take it if there’s no …

Voices of people he heard for the first time echoed intermittently in his head. What memory could this be? Yeon-woo grabbed his head while maintaining his shallow breathing and let out a painful groan.

“Yeon-woo?”

Ki-won, who noticed that something was wrong with Yeon-woo, called out to him, but no answer escaped through Yeon-woo’s teeth. His head throbbed and felt like it was going to burst from the complexity. Something that seemed to come to mind but didn’t was messing up his brain.

“My, my head…”

What the hell did I miss? The voice he heard a little while ago had vanished in an instant. It wasn’t like he was possessed by a ghost, it was a strange phenomenon.

The conversation that echoed like an echo and was heard in a jumble. In the end, he couldn’t understand a single word. Sometimes the words that should go into multiple sentences were heard mixed up, and the conversations overlapped, so it couldn’t be helped.

“Seo Yeon-woo.”

Ki-won’s hand rested on Yeon-woo’s shoulder. Only then did Yeon-woo raise his head and look up at the man.

“Are you still not feeling well?”

“No… That’s not it…”

I don’t know if this can be simply expressed as not feeling well. Yeon-woo, who couldn’t finish his sentence for a long time, spat out words that he himself couldn’t understand.

“The moment we took the picture, I remembered something… I don’t know what came to mind… It seemed like a voice, no… Was it really a human voice?”

It was confusing. He thought the conversation was repeatedly playing in his head, but when he retraced it again, he wasn’t sure if it was really a human voice. If someone else heard it, they might ask if he was possessed by a ghost, but Ki-won’s reaction was different.

“What came to mind? Tell me in detail.”

“I don’t really…”

He was sure something came to mind, but he couldn’t put it into words. If it didn’t make sense to himself, how frustrating would it be for the listener? Yeon-woo, who was distressed that he couldn’t give a clear answer, coughed.

It felt like he was chasing an illusion. Yeon-woo grabbed his throbbing forehead and took a deep breath. It seemed that he had taken too much medicine yesterday and there was a side effect. Coming to that conclusion, Yeon-woo decided not to recall the voices that brought confusion anymore.

“No. I guess I was just a bit tired.”

Yeon-woo rubbed his dry face and tried hard to put on an okay expression. Ki-won examined Yeon-woo’s pale complexion and soon patted his head. He knew it wasn’t nothing, but he couldn’t easily ask questions because of Yeon-woo’s complexion that wouldn’t be strange even if he collapsed right away.

***

After some more time passed, the bright sun came out and the dirt floor gradually dried up, although slowly. Ki-won’s car, which had problems with the engine and wheels, seemed to have been towed a little while ago.

“So will the driver come to pick us up soon?”

“Yeah, but it seems he won’t be able to come all the way here due to the heavy rain, so we’ll have to go down about 30 minutes.”

At least it seemed he would come up to the section where the dirt road was normal. Yeon-woo gave a positive answer, saying it’s better than having to walk for a whole hour.

“It’s good to walk and enjoy the scenery.”

He thought it would be nice to see the scenery he couldn’t fully enjoy while going down. Since he didn’t have any luggage to carry, his steps going down were light and comfortable. Yeon-woo, just like when he came up, carefully took steps using the umbrella as a support.

“Even though the sun hasn’t been up for long, the ground is less muddy.”

The road to the villa was a hellish road, but now it was just slightly damp, so his legs didn’t feel heavy. Yeon-woo couldn’t hold back his laughter when he saw his dirty sneakers and Ki-won’s dress shoes. It was because even though he thought he had hidden his shabbiness to some extent, the shoes remained the same.

“I’m sorry you didn’t get to do anything properly even though you were looking forward to it.”

“Aw, who would have expected the weather to be like this? It can’t be helped.”

Today proved that Ki-won’s words about the scenery being pretty were not a lie. Even though they could only see a limited view since they were going down, the scenery of nature was beautiful enough. The trees that were growing straight, boasting new shoots, were refreshing, and the birds seen between the trees looked free. There would be no greater pleasure than leisurely taking a walk in a place where time seemed to flow slowly.

“The air is nice.”

Perhaps because it was full of moisture after the rain, the scent of grass was smelled more deeply. Yeon-woo kept chattering that he felt like he was getting healthier and that this kind of trip wasn’t bad either. Ki-won would know that it wasn’t just a reaction put on for his sake. Ki-won casually remarked that he was glad Yeon-woo felt that way.

30 minutes was unexpectedly short. As they descended the mountain while having a pleasant conversation, a parked vehicle came into view. Now that he had to leave, Yeon-woo looked at Ki-won’s back with slowed steps, feeling regretful.

‘Time seems to pass so quickly.’

Tomorrow was already the end of the contract. Knowing that he shouldn’t show his disappointment, Yeon-woo decided to hide his expression as always. In fact, the disappointment of parting was an emotion that anyone who had grown attached could experience, so there was no need to completely hide it, but he decided to leave with as little lingering attachment as possible.

“Yeon-woo, we need to get in.”

Ki-won, who opened the back seat door, urged Yeon-woo, who was taking his time. Yeon-woo then picked up his pace and quickly got into the car, moving his gaze out the window. It was his own effort to take in the sight of Kwon Ki-won’s private property. The farewell gaze toward the place he couldn’t come to in the future was long yet short.

As it took a long time to drive from Seoul to the villa, it also took a long time to return. Yeon-woo, who had been staring at the highway sign, finally confirmed they were entering Seoul and rubbed his stiff shoulders.

“Hyung.”

“Yeah?”

Yeon-woo’s voice quietly leaked into the car that had been quiet throughout the ride. Yeon-woo, who glanced at the driver’s seat like someone about to start a secret conversation, leaned toward Ki-won and spoke.

“…Can you lend me your ear for a moment?”

He waved his hand briefly several times, indicating for Ki-won to lower his head. Ki-won gave him a look asking why, but then complied with Yeon-woo’s request.

“Hyung, about our divorce. Does the driver not need to know?”

Whisper, whisper, his slightly parted lips moved busily. Since tomorrow was the end of the contract, he wanted to bring up this matter, but he couldn’t easily speak because he was conscious of the driver. Yeon-woo’s gaze, waiting for Ki-won’s confirmation just in case, was infinitely serious.

‘I don’t know who among the drivers is your close aide.’

If he was Ki-won’s direct subordinate, it would be okay to hear this kind of conversation, but Yeon-woo became endlessly cautious in case that wasn’t so.

“It’s okay.”

“Ah, that’s a relief.”

Yeon-woo let out a short sigh of relief and straightened his tilted body.

“You said we should file for divorce on the day the contract ends, right?”

“I did.”

The divorce filing date had been postponed to the contract end date due to an important project. Ki-won answered as if he obviously remembered and waited for Yeon-woo’s next words.

“First of all, since tomorrow is the end of the contract, I think we need to submit the divorce application to the court… What time works for you?”

Tomorrow was the day Ki-won would return to the company, so Yeon-woo was worried about what to do if he didn’t have time. However, this concern of Yeon-woo’s seemed to be needless, as Ki-won’s answer was quite refreshing.

“First, I’ll be busy in the morning dealing with the backlog of work, and lunchtime isn’t a suitable time to file for divorce.”

“The staff handling the applications will probably be on their lunch break too.”

Even if they went to the court during lunchtime, the work wouldn’t be handled smoothly, so it could be a waste of time.

“Then I’ll try to make time 3 hours before getting off work. Since it takes time to get there, let’s meet around 4 o’clock.”

“We can go straight to the court, right?”

“Yeah, I’ll call a driver to the house so we can arrive around the same time.”

“Then I’ll be grateful.”

Yeon-woo, who nodded his head, kept mentioning the time. From around 4 pm tomorrow, the relationship between the two would begin to be sorted out. Since there was a divorce consideration period, it wouldn’t be a complete resolution, but standing at the starting point of divorce, the inside of his chest felt so empty that he wanted to burst into hollow laughter.