The Woman Who Stole My Flower
Chapter 31
Chapter 31
31.
“Why, do you want a ride?”
The words didn’t even register in Yeon-seo’s ears. Her mind was entirely consumed by something she had been debating whether to say for a while now.
“Um… Director.”
“What?”
At his predictably blunt response, what little courage she had scraped together scattered like sand in the wind.
“Never mind.”
Regretting having spoken up at all, she tried to swallow her words, but it was already too late.
“What is it? Don’t start talking and just stop.”
“It really is nothing. Please don’t worry about it.”
“Do you want to drive me crazy?”
When Jooheon looked genuinely stern, Yeon-seo flinched and opened her mouth.
“I… I actually have a favor to ask…”
“A favor? From me?”
He blinked in surprise. Then, after a moment, he spoke a little awkwardly.
“Tell me what it is.”
“Actually, never mind, it’s fine.”
Seeing the players rejoicing earlier after receiving Jooheon’s autographs had made it impossible for Yeon-seo to stop thinking about her dad. How happy would her dad be if she brought him a single autograph? He would definitely frame it on the shop wall and look at it every single day.
That was why she had spoken up, but having put it out there, it felt terribly tactless. Asking for an autograph from a man who had been grinding his teeth at her ever since that night?
She desperately wanted to take it back, but Kang Joo-heon kept pressing.
“What, is it something difficult?”
“Not really, but…”
“Do you want to ride in my car? Is there somewhere you want to go?”
As she kept quiet, his guesses drifted in an increasingly strange direction.
“Or do you want a car like that?”
He truly seemed incapable of tolerating curiosity. Seeing Yeon-seo keep her lips sealed, Jooheon practically fidgeted with impatience.
“Whatever it is, just say it. Huh?”
Taking it as a sign that he would grant it if she spoke, Yeon-seo finally gathered her courage.
“Could I… perhaps get just one autograph?”
He paused, startled.
“An autograph? Why my autograph?”
Too embarrassed to say it was for her dad, Yeon-seo evaded the truth.
“Someone close to me is a big fan of yours.”
“Don’t tell me that’s the favor? An autograph?”
“Yes.”
“…”
He stared at Yeon-seo blankly for a long while, then cut her off flatly.
“No.”
Jooheon whipped around, pulled open his car door, climbed inside, and slammed the door shut with a loud thud. Yeon-seo’s face burned so hot she could feel the heat throbbing in her cheeks.
She didn’t think she had ever been so humiliated in her entire life. No matter how much he disliked her, to flatly refuse an autograph he handed out to everyone else…
While Yeon-seo stood rooted to the spot in utter shock, unable to even move, the car surprisingly didn’t drive off right away. A moment later, Jooheon got back out. This time, he was holding something in his hand. It was an autograph board printed with his own photo.
Did it bother him after turning her down? Setting the board down on the car’s hood, he uncapped a marker and asked gruffly.
“What’s the name.”
“Pardon?”
“You said you wanted an autograph.”
Having just been rejected so harshly, Yeon-seo had already completely lost interest.
“It’s fine. You don’t have to.”
“Just tell me the name.”
Not wanting to argue any further, Yeon-seo answered obediently.
“Jung Hyung-sik.”
The moment she gave her father’s name, Jooheon’s expression froze cold. Setting down the marker, his face grew dead serious.
“It’s a man? This person you know?”
He asked with an intimidating look.
“What exactly is your relationship?”
“Father and daughter.”
“Huh?”
“He’s my dad.”
Jooheon flinched and stared at Yeon-seo. Slowly, sheer mortification washed over his eyes.
“Then you should have said so from the—!”
He broke off mid-sentence and squeezed his eyes tightly shut.
Who knew what was going through his head? When Jooheon snatched back the autograph board he had gone through the trouble of bringing out, Yeon-seo asked in surprise.
“What about the autograph?”
“Later.”
With only that reply, he climbed back into the car.
Before long, the car drove away, leaving Yeon-seo behind in utter disbelief. Seriously, was his personality for real? How big of a deal was a single autograph that he’d say no, then yes, then no again…?!
‘How on earth did I ever get tangled up with a man like that?’
Something must have possessed her. Yeon-seo found herself blaming her past self from that night all over again.
*
The next morning, what woke Yeon-seo was the sound of someone knocking on the shop door.
‘Who could it be at this hour…?’
It was too early for deliveries or mail. Yeon-seo thought groggily in her half-asleep state. Could it be the landlady? No, it wasn’t time to pay this month’s rent yet…
“Is anyone there?”
A voice followed. A man’s voice.
Wait, it sounded familiar… Whose voice was that?
The moment she realized who it belonged to, sleep fled instantly.
‘Kang Joo-heon?’
Her face pale, she rushed out just as her dad was emerging from his room with sleepy eyes.
“Sounds like someone’s outside?”
“I’ll go check! Dad, stay inside!”
Breaking into a cold sweat, Yeon-seo hurried to the entrance.
When she cracked the shop door open just a sliver, standing on the other side was indeed Kang Joo-heon. Was he on his way to training? Seeing the man dressed head-to-toe in black athletic wear drove away the last lingering traces of sleep.
“Director, what are you doing at our house…?”
“I’m here to give the autograph.”
“What? What autograph?”
“You said your father is a fan of mine.”
He said it with such matter-of-fact certainty that Yeon-seo was momentarily confused. Did Kang Joo-heon usually make house calls to fans’ homes just to give autographs? If he did, having a hundred million bodies wouldn’t be enough.
From inside, her dad called out.
“Yeon-seo, who is it?”
The very man her dad adored watching on TV every single night.
Yeon-seo could absolutely not let Kang Joo-heon appear before her father’s eyes. If she did, her dad would assume they were romantically involved with one million percent certainty, and how was she supposed to handle the fallout? Sure, this man was throwing around talk of marriage, but that would vanish into thin air the moment he found his first love.
“Uh, Dad! It’s nothing!”
Yeon-seo shouted while firmly blocking the doorway. For the first time in her life, she felt grateful that her dad had mobility issues.
“Is that your father?”
Hearing her dad’s voice, Kang Joo-heon tried to push his way inside, prompting Yeon-seo to panic and block him with her entire body.
“Where do you think you’re going?”
“Don’t get in the way of my fan service.”
As they scuffled back and forth, her dad urged from inside again.
“Yeon-seo, I asked what’s going on?”
“Yeah, an elderly lady passing by was asking for directions! I’m just telling her!”
Having suddenly been turned into an old woman, Kang Joo-heon furrowed his brow.
“What did you just—?”
“Yes, ma’am! Ah, your son’s house? Let me show you the way!”
After shouting loudly, Yeon-seo dropped her voice to a fierce whisper.
“Please leave right now!”
He looked genuinely petulant.
“Who are you to stand between me and my fan?”
She blocked him with all her might, but her opponent was a world-class striker. There was no way someone a mere 165 centimeters tall like Yeon-seo could hold him off.
Just as her defense was about to be breached, Yeon-seo shouted desperately.
“My dad is an Everpool fan!”
Only then did Jooheon freeze.
“…Everpool?”
“Yes! So you can’t let him see you!”
Yeon-seo squeezed her eyes shut and lied.
Gloucester, the home club Jooheon had played for over the past decade, shared its fiercest rivalry with Everpool, a club based in the very same north-west region of England. Even though Yeon-seo had no interest in international soccer, there was no way she wouldn’t know. Whenever there was a match against Everpool, her dad rooted with the intensity of watching Korea versus Japan.
“Didn’t you say your father was my fan?”
“I said I wanted an autograph, I never said he was a fan!”
“Then why did you ask for one?”
“That’s just… because you’re famous, so we could frame it on the shop wall!”
She hadn’t known it, but she was apparently a natural liar. Once she started, the lies rolled off her tongue with ease.
“Leave quickly before my dad catches you. He might throw rock salt at you for bringing bad luck so early in the morning!”
Only then did Jooheon step back with a stunned look on his face. Locking the shop door tightly and turning around, Yeon-seo let out a long sigh of relief.
“What was that about?”
Her dad was just wheeling himself out. If she had been even thirty seconds later, they would have crossed paths.
“Oh, an elderly lady was looking for her son’s house, so I pointed the way. Told her it’s the apartment complex right across the street.”
“Well, apartment names are all in English these days, so it can be confusing.”