Chapter 10

“Cut! Okay, okay! Good! Eun-hye! Why didn’t you do it like this from the beginning?”

The director’s excited shout shook the entire set.

It was hard to believe that Eun-hye had made countless NGs just moments ago. Her performance was overwhelming.

Just one drop.

There had been only a single tear, but within that one tear were her character’s guilt and remorse toward her child, as well as her burning desire for success.

And Ruri, who had been watching Eun-hye’s performance while holding her breath, had eyes that sparkled brightly.

‘Wow…… Auntie Eun-hye is really shining…….’

Ruri clasped her tiny hands together, her heart swelling with emotion.

Just like when she had seen Eun-hye on TV, her acting naturally filled Ruri with admiration.

The staff members at the set were equally impressed, exclaiming in awe as goosebumps rose across their skin.

Then—

Suddenly, the entrance to the set became noticeably noisy.

“Huh? That person…….”

“No way. That’s Seo Jin-young, isn’t it? Looks like Seo Jin-young is filming today too.”

At the appearance of one of South Korea’s top actors, all the citizens watching the filming turned their attention toward him.

Ruri also tilted her head and rolled her eyes curiously at the commotion.

The moment she abruptly turned around with curiosity written all over her face, a large shadow fell across her.

“Huh?”

A tall, handsome man with a gentle smile.

He was the friend of her mother whom she had met at the broadcasting station.

“Hi, Ruri.”

Jin-young greeted her warmly, meeting her eyes.

At the unexpected appearance of her mother’s friend, Ruri’s eyes grew round.

“The handsome ajusshi?”

Ruri barely managed to hold back a scream of excitement right there.

By then, Jin-young had bent down his large body to bring himself to her eye level.

“It’s been a while, Ruri. Have you been well?”

Her happiness at seeing him was momentary.

As she looked at Jin-young warmly calling her by name, Ruri tilted her head in confusion.

“How did you know Ruri’s name?”

“I heard someone call you Ruri last time.”

“Ah!”

Ruri immediately understood and soon began chattering with curiosity in her eyes.

“But why did you come here, Uncle? Did you come here to act too?”

“Yeah. I’m making a special appearance in the drama Ruri is in.”

“Wow! Woooow!”

She was going to act together with her mother’s friend!

‘Ruri and Uncle must have a special connection!’

Ruri had once seen on TV that people who were destined to meet each other would continue running into one another even after parting ways.

Thump, thump, thump.

As that thought crossed her mind, Ruri’s tiny heart began pounding wildly.

‘Then could this handsome uncle really be Ruri’s daddy?!’

Ruri’s eyes gleamed sharply like those of a detective.

She began carefully examining Jin-young’s prominent nose and deep-set eyes.

Her gaze was determined as she searched for even the slightest feature that resembled her own face.

‘Hmm. Ruri doesn’t really know.’

Other than the fact that they had the same eye color, she couldn’t find any particularly similar features.

Just then—

“Hello, Senior!”

“Oh, Su-in. Nice to meet you. Good luck with the shoot.”

“Yes, Senior! I’ll do my best!”

Ruri watched as another actor called Jin-young Senior and tilted her head.

“Jin-young Uncle! But why does that auntie call you Senior?”

“Ah, that’s because I debuted earlier than she did. Usually, actors call someone with more acting experience than them ‘Senior.’”

At those words, Ruri gasped.

‘Ruri didn’t know that……!’

“Then Ruri will call you Senior Jin-young from now on too!”

“What? Haha! Sure. Call me whatever you’re comfortable with.”

“Yeees! Senior Jin-young!”

Jin-young gazed at the child affectionately before suddenly rummaging through his clothes as though he had just remembered something.

“Oh, right. I have a present for Ruri.”

“A present?”

At the word present, Ruri’s ears perked up and she stopped thinking about everything else.

“I kept thinking about how you fell last time, so I prepared this for you.”

What Jin-young held out was a small tin case with a pink background and a cute white rabbit drawn on it.

“Woooow!”

Ruri’s face bloomed with delight as she eagerly accepted the present.

She wanted to open the box immediately, as though she could already smell something sweet inside, and put all her strength into her tiny fingers.

But the tightly closed lid wouldn’t open easily.

“Hnnng!”

Just as Ruri’s lower lip curled inward with a tiny grunt—

“I opened it!”

Click!

With a satisfying sound, the lid finally popped open.

“Wow! Candy!”

Ruri immediately rummaged through the box with her fingers before carefully picking out the prettiest ruby-colored candy.

Then she held the candy precious between her chubby little hands and suddenly held it out right in front of Jin-young’s nose.

“Here! Senior, you eat it first!”

Jin-young’s breath stopped for an instant as he looked at the ruby-colored candy being held out to him.

At the same time, a faded memory came rushing back like a tide.

The face of a young girl holding out a red candy toward him was superimposed over Ruri’s face.

Jin-young was speechless for a moment before finally answering.

“……I bought this as a present for Ruri, so Ruri should eat it.”

“Nooo! Senior, you eat it first!”

With a sweet smile that made her eyes curve beautifully, Ruri continued offering him the red candy with her completely innocent demeanor.

At that moment, Jin-young’s pupils shook violently.

“Whenever you eat candy, you always give me the red one first.”

Jin-young finally managed to part his lips and asked,

“Can I ask why you gave me the red candy?”

“Because red is the prettiest!”

“Because it’s the prettiest and the tastiest.”

As though he had traveled back through time, the beloved voice overlapped with Ruri’s cheerful little voice.

Feeling his heart pounding as though it might burst, Jin-young accepted the candy from Ruri with trembling hands.

“Is it good?”

As he placed the candy in his mouth, an intense strawberry fragrance spread throughout his mouth, just as vivid as the distant memory.

Jin-young forced open his constricted throat and murmured softly,

“Yeah…… It’s sweet.”

Jin-young’s eyes trembled uncontrollably as he stared at the child smiling brightly in front of him.

Late that night, Jin-young wandered through a dream in a silent room.

The season in his dream was a refreshing summer, and as always, she was at its center.

“Jin-young, I’m going to become an actress.”

She gently brushed her long hair behind her ear as it fluttered in the breeze and smiled brightly as though she possessed the entire world.

“I want to act. So much that I wouldn’t regret it even if I poured everything I have into it.”

With the last image of her radiant smile, Jin-young suddenly opened his eyes.

A dark ceiling came into view.

The cold, silent air filling the room cruelly reminded him that the girl who had felt so vivid, almost close enough to touch just moments ago, was ultimately a dream he could never reach.

Jin-young slowly sat up, rubbing his stiff forehead.

“Haa…….”

His dry sigh scattered into the deep darkness.

Running his trembling fingers through his disheveled hair, Jin-young murmured quietly,

“Has it been five years……. since she last appeared in my dream?”

Cruelly, ever since he had last seen her back as she walked away, she hadn’t appeared even once—not even in his dreams.

But why today of all days?

The image of the little girl who had handed him the ruby-colored candy overlapped with the girl in his dream, making his chest ache.

As if possessed, Jin-young reached for the picture frame sitting on the bedside table.

Inside the clean glass frame, which he wiped every day so that not even a speck of dust would settle on it, were two teenagers who still looked young and innocent.

A boy and a girl in matching school uniforms, leaning their shoulders against each other and playfully holding up V-signs.

Jin-young’s finger carefully brushed over the face of the girl in the photograph.

She looked as though she might break out of the frame at any moment and answer him.

“……Hayeon.”

Even when he called her name tenderly, the only answer that returned was an unbearable silence.

Swallowing the longing that could never reach her, Jin-young pulled the frame tightly against his chest.

As though he wanted to bury her memory somewhere close to his heart, Jin-young felt the cold touch of the glass and endured the darkness for a long, long time.