The Woman Who Stole My Flower
Chapter 24
Chapter 24
#24.
Yet, after watching for a few days, something felt strange. Anyone could see at a glance that the player named Seo Hyun-woo was exceptionally skilled, yet he seemed to hover on the fringes of the team. Whenever another school came by for a scrimmage match, he always started and played the full ninety minutes without a single substitution. But during their own internal practice matches, he was often left out, left to sit blankly on the bench.
At first, she could not understand it at all. She even wondered if it was because the gap in skill between him and the others was simply too vast, but as she kept watching, that was not it either. The boy was left out not just of practice matches, but snack times as well. Whenever the other boys were eating sandwiches or packed lunches, he was always practicing alone in a far corner of the field.
Then one day, Yeon-seo overheard the boy speaking to the coach.
“Coach, I’d like to play in the practice match too.”
Just from his cautious tone, she could tell how long he had hesitated, how much effort it had taken to bring up those words.
“Are you the coach here?”
The coach snapped immediately, as if he had been waiting for the chance to tear into him.
“Hey, you little punk. Just because you can kick a ball around, you think you’re Messi? I offer to introduce you to pro teams and you refuse, you don’t want to go to a college team either—do you think your coach is a joke or what? Huh?”
As it turned out, he had fallen out of favor for not following the coach’s orders.
“I’m sorry, Coach.”
Even while bowing his head, the boy said what he had to say clearly and distinctly.
“I want to go play in Europe.”
“Ha, Europe?”
The coach sneered openly.
“Going to the Youth World Cup once went straight to your head, didn’t it? You can’t even afford the camp fees and have to freeload off the other kids, yet you’re dreaming of Europe? Who the hell do you think you are?”
In the end, the boy could not say another word and turned away, his shoulders slumped. His back, already smaller than the others’, looked exceptionally small.
In that moment, Yeon-seo thought to herself that she wanted to cheer for him.
On the next practice day, one of the players’ mothers brought plenty of pizza and chicken, but the boy was left out once again. As if accustomed to it, he quietly separated himself from the group and headed to the corner of the field with a ball. Yeon-seo hurried after him and called him to a stop.
“Um, here.”
She abruptly held out a lunchbox to the bewildered boy. Claiming she was hungry from studying late every day now that she was in high school and needed to pack a lunch, she had gotten up early that morning to make gimbap.
[“Dad will make it for you. It’s for our Yeon-seo to eat while studying.”]
[“No, I want to make it myself!”]
Dad had offered, but for some reason, Yeon-seo insisted on making it with her own hands. Rolling the gimbap was easy enough after Dad showed her how, but slicing it proved difficult. In the end, every piece had a different thickness, and a few had even burst at the seams.
Yeon-seo was only seventeen back then. Handing a lunchbox to a boy her age—especially in front of several other boys watching—took an enormous amount of courage. She could feel her face burning up, so to anyone looking, she must have appeared bright red.
Even so, she had found the courage because she truly, genuinely wanted to cheer him on.
“What’s this?”
The boy stared at Yeon-seo in surprise.
“To help you… work hard at soccer.”
Even after she said it, the boy simply wore a startled expression without reaching out to take it. Having no choice, Yeon-seo practically shoved it into his chest and ran away on the spot. So she never even found out whether he ate it or not.
On the next practice day, she packed gimbap just the same, but even after seeing Yeon-seo arrive, the boy did not acknowledge her.
“Hey, your girlfriend’s here.”
“What are you doing, you jerk? Go over there already.”
Though the other kids teased him in unison, he did not spare her a single glance, making Yeon-seo feel embarrassed instead. Thinking she had done something unnecessary, her face burned with mortification. Unable to bring herself to linger any longer, she turned to leave just as a soccer ball flew in from somewhere.
“Eek!”
Lacking quick reflexes, Yeon-seo could not dodge in time and simply squeezed her eyes shut. There was a dull thud of impact, yet it did not hurt. Opening her eyes, she saw that someone else had taken the hit.
“Are you okay?”
Despite taking the blow in her place, the boy checked on Yeon-seo first, his eyes filled with worry. This time, her ears flushed hot for an entirely different reason.
“……Yeah.”
From that day on, Yeon-seo packed gimbap every time the Hanguk High School soccer team came to practice. The next time, and the time after that.
She never once heard a thank-you or that he had enjoyed the food, but she did not mind. Even without words, Yeon-seo knew he was grateful. Somehow, she just knew.
So she cheered even harder. Cupping her hands around her mouth, she would shout encouragements, and whenever he scored a goal, she clapped with all her might. The boy never looked her way, but the nape of his lightly sun-tanned neck seemed to flush a deeper shade of red.
She faithfully went to cheer for him for a while, but that did not last long either. Her grandmother’s friend happened to run into her and caught on to the fact that Yeon-seo was lying about going to a study room while wandering around an unfamiliar neighborhood.
“Why on earth are you going to a complete stranger of a neighborhood after school? What is there to see there, huh?”
Under Grandmother’s relentless interrogation, Yeon-seo finally confessed the truth.
“To look for Mom. I heard Mom lives there…….”
That day, for the first time in her life, Yeon-seo was hit by Grandmother.
Unable to go to Yeonsa-dong anymore, she could no longer see the boy she had cheered for. Yet even as life went on, she thought of him from time to time. He was so good at soccer. What is he doing with his life now? Did he become a pro soccer player? Did he ever go to Europe like he wanted?
As years passed, she forgot his face, but the three syllables of the name Seo Hyun-woo remained vivid in her memory. So whenever a soccer match was broadcast on TV, she would watch closely, wondering if a player named Seo Hyun-woo might appear.
Then one day, the name came to mind out of nowhere, and while searching for Seo Hyun-woo, she discovered a player with that same name playing in the K3 League. It was hard to connect his current face with the boy from back then, but when she looked up his profile, sure enough, he was an alumnus of Hanguk High School.
‘It really is him.’
Going to the stadium and seeing him in person made it clear. Though he had not made it to Europe or become a famous player, he was still an athlete who loved soccer with all his heart, just as he had back then.
And that was how Yeon-seo became a fan of Seo Hyun-woo and Gyeonggi Bukbu FC, the team he captained.
Although Seo Hyun-woo did not seem to recognize her, she decided not to feel disappointed. After all, it was not anything grand.
Now, it was merely a fragment of an old memory held close to her heart alone.
A tie so tiny that the other person would not even remember.
That was all it was, Yeon-seo thought.
*
After parting ways with Min-ah, Yeon-seo returned to the company and stepped out of the elevator, only to run right into Hye-eun in the hallway.
“Hello, Manager.”
Yeon-seo quickly bowed in greeting. Despite having previously said they should get along well, Hye-eun ignored her greeting as if she had never said such a thing. Without offering a reply or even a glance, Hye-eun started to walk past, only to abruptly stop in her tracks as if struck by a sudden thought and turn around.
“Manager Jung Yeon-seo.”
“Yes?”
“Are you very busy? If not, I’d like you to help with something for a moment.”
There was no pause between are you very busy? and if not. She had no genuine interest in whether Yeon-seo was busy or not in the first place. She was going to give the order either way.
“What kind of work is it?”
“If you go down to the parking lot, you’ll find Assistant Manager Hong from our team. Help Assistant Manager Hong carry just a few boxes up to the Management Support Office.”
Though they were not on the same team, Sung Hye-eun was strictly her superior. Furthermore, because Yeon-seo felt self-conscious about rarely working overtime or attending company dinners, it had become her habit during work hours to step up without sparing herself. Besides, she would not be doing it alone, and moving a few boxes together was nothing. Yeon-seo answered readily.
“Yes, Manager.”
“Thanks.”
Hye-eun walked away, and Yeon-seo headed back to the elevator. When she went down to the parking lot, just as Hye-eun had said, the female assistant manager from the Management Support Office was moving boxes alone.
Yeon-seo’s eyes widened at the enormous pile of boxes stacked behind her. Big boxes, small boxes, square boxes, round boxes, this kind of box, that kind of box, all sorts of boxes, every variety of box……
“What is all this, Assistant Manager……?”
She had said a few boxes, but this was practically a mountain of them.
“This?”
Assistant Manager Hong wiped the sweat beading on her forehead and caught her breath.
“Prizes for the sports day.”