Chapter 70. More Than A Dinner (1)

Translator: Aura

The warm spring sunlight bathed the balcony. Minkyung placed the small flower pots she bought at the flower market this morning in a row. She had promised herself to stop by the flower market before spring to buy some pots, but she didn’t do it until today.

The flower market early in the morning was filled with a pleasant energy. In this green, safe, peaceful world, it was like breathing in the fresh life force of plants with every inhalation. See-ah and Minkyung walked around the place and chose the flower pots, forgetting for a moment the tiredness of their jobs, which had become part of their bodies like skin or organs.

On the balcony, Minkyung dragged the hose in front of the lined-up flower pots.

*Trickle*

Cool water came out of the hose head. The flowers filled with water looked even fresher.

‘Campanula, Rodanthe, Star of Bethlehem…’

Purple, white, orange. These wet plants smelled as exotic as their names indicated. Minkyung squatted in front of the pots and quietly looked at the pink flowers she’d placed in the last spot.

‘If I’m not mistaken, their name was pink-sorrel of love…’

They were flowers with five pink petals that rose fearlessly between sturdy green leaves. If you give elementary school students crayons and ask them to draw a flower, nine out of ten students would draw a flower similar to these.

They had a familiar, simple shape that comes to mind when we imagine a flower, but at the same time it was a little naive. Hence the name pink-sorrel of love. It may seem complex and special, but in the end, love is a simple and adventurous feeling. To some extent, it makes people look naive. That’s why Kang Minkyung never liked it…

“Should we put them on the shelf?”

When she turned around, she saw that See-ah had brought the succulents and arranged them one by one on the shelf set up on the balcony.

“Yes, you arrange them. You do it wonderfully.”

Minkyung stretched out the hose and headed to the end of the balcony. She began to clean it with water. The cool water fell on her feet as she wore plastic flip-flops. With each step, the sound of her flip-flops on the wet tiles could be heard.

“These flowers are as pretty as their name. Pink-sorrel of love.”

At See-ah’s words, she raised her head and looked at the pink flowers. Her heart pounded out of nowhere. The man’s voice came to her mind,

— See you tomorrow.

She wanted to remember Lee-Seob’s face accurately, but for some reason, she couldn’t remember the face she’d seen for over 10 years.

‘How were his eyes, lips and cheeks when he said those words…?’

Minkyung looked up at the sky and squinted at the sunlight. A stream of water drenched her calves exposed beneath her rolled-up pants.

After they cleaned the balcony, they went inside to clean the rest of the apartment. See-ah vacuumed, while Minkyung wiped the floor with a mop that had a built-in sprayer. As she did this, she checked her cell phone a couple of times because of what Lee-Seob had told her,

— See you tomorrow.

Even on weekends, she used to frequently check her cell phone for new messages, as if she were on standby, but never nervous like now.

Minkyung then decided to leave her cell phone face down on the dresser. She wouldn’t check it again until she finished cleaning. As promised, Minkyung only picked up her cell phone once the apartment was spotless.

She had calmed down, but when she saw the notification that a text message had arrived, she became nervous again. It was clearly from someone important.

Despite the tension and the wait, Lee-Seob’s message was brief,

— Let’s have dinner together.