UNO
Who was Irene trying to save?
Her tone was far too emotional, and the doctor startled upon hearing it before shooting her a strange glance, "It wasn't like I was there at the scene of the accident, so how could I know the details? Besides, it happened quite some time ago, so it's also possible that I remembered wrong."
After a pause, he muttered, "I just remember a patient mention blocking a tree branch before, saying that she was trying to save an important person, and laughing while she was saying it too. I also don't know if that was your cousin."
Laughing as she was saying it?
Wasn't this like how, every time she went to visit Irene in the hospital, the other had laughed and said it was nothing?
Irene had always hidden the most important things in her heart. How could people say that she didn't have any acting skills? She clearly had outstanding acting skills, enough to fool anyone.
Lisa's heart was pounding. He connected the doctor's words to Irene's injury and was able to guess roughly what had happened.
"You should still have your cousin continue her treatment. This kind of injury can be healed only with slow, hard work. Even if it can't completely recover, it can still be healed about eighty or ninety percent." The doctor was very responsible and continued to chat with her about the injury on Irene's right hand.
Lisa said her thanks, and when she left the hospital, she was completely beside herself in a daze.
That car accident had also been a knot in her own heart.
After everything had happened, she had done her best not to think back to that moment, but now she couldn't do anything but think it over. Actually, only a few people were present at the scene—the chauffeur and Jennie Kim had been injured the most seriously, while her own luck had been good so she had simply been knocked unconscious, and then there was Irene with the injured right hand as well as... Karina?
Lisa hadn't thought of that name in a long time, and even the other's appearance in her memory was already blurry, but this person might know the truth. Regardless, it was still early, so Lisa found someone to ask about Karina's address and then directly drove over there.
Recently, Karina had been living in quite dire straits.
Since she had also been involved in that car accident and knew too many secrets, she couldn't avoid being seen as an irritating presence, and Lisa had practically stopped bothering with her. She also hadn't been particularly popular in the first place and had simply been a recently debuted little singer. Without a new album or any television appearances, the populace quickly forgot about her, and so the only thing she could do was occasionally appear on the rare variety show.
Karina lived in a neither new nor old apartment building, and although the place was small, it was quite tidy. When she walked out the door, she was wearing an old-fashioned sweatshirt.
Since she was young, she was still good-looking even when she wasn't dressed up at all, and after all her experiences, she even looked much steadier than before.
"CEO Manoban, why are you here?" Upon seeing Lisa, Karina clearly startled.
"Mn, I have a few things I want to ask you." Lisa had come very suddenly, not at all like her usual style, but her heart was currently churning, and she was utterly incapable of paying attention to such things now.
She was simply waiting for one answer.
Would it allow her heart to calm, or simply sink her deeper?
So when she was allowed inside by Karina, she didn't even bother with the basic courtesies and got right to the point, asking about what had happened during the car accident last year.
Karina lowered her head to think and said, "I don't remember a lot of things very clearly anymore."
"It's fine. Just say what you do remember."
Karina was a clever person; she knew what she should say and what she shouldn't say. She didn't mention PD Kim by name at all.
"It was almost midnight that day, and I was originally looking out the window when I suddenly heard a bang sound. It seemed like the car had skidded and crashed into the tree by the side of the road, and then I suddenly saw Irene eonni being flung over here, on top of me."
Lisa also remembered that. At the time, the passenger's seat side was far more dangerous, and she had been sitting right behind it, so she had pushed Irene over and then thrown herself at Jennie. She had also heard that rumbling sound, as if something was pressing down on the car, but she quickly lost consciousness.
"What happened after I lost consciousness?" She didn't want to hear Karina's long-winded recollection and picked out the main point to ask.
"The broken tree trunk smashed down and even changed the shape of the car roof, especially the seat you were in. There was a tree branch..."
"What was it?"
"A tree branch pressed down and almost stabbed you in the eye, CEO-nim, so Irene eonni used her own hand to block it. Her palm was pierced through in an instant, and blood was everywhere, but she insistently held on to it and wouldn't let go..." Upon speaking to here, Karina seemed to recall that bloody image and couldn't help but shiver.
Lisa felt as if a piercing pain was stabbing into her heart.
She raised a hand to rub at her brows, "And then?"
"And then the ambulance came."
"How long did it take to get there?"
"It wasn't too long."
Lisa stared fixedly at her.
Karina immediately shrank away and honestly replied, "It was raining that day, and the car crash also happened in a remote place, so we probably waited around twenty or so minutes."
Lisa couldn't imagine such a scene.
In that warped and twisted car, Irene had also jumped forward to save her, heedless of the danger.
The tree branch had pierced through her right, cooking hand, and the blood had dripped down onto her beloved person's face, while she had just learned that this person's heart held another.
How did she manage to endure those twenty minutes?
In front of her eyes, she watched her love ripped to shreds, her dream becoming more and more distant, while the heart that she had personally dug out had been ruthlessly stepped underfoot by the other person.
Lisa sat on Karina's sofa for half an hour.
Upon seeing that she wasn't speaking, Karina then also carefully didn't dare to speak, simply refilling the tea in her cup.
Lisa sucked in a deep breath and slowly finished drinking that tea before then standing up and saying, the picture of politeness, "I really troubled you today."
"Ah... It's no trouble." Karina also stood up, "Does CEO-nim want to stay for a meal?"
"No need." Lisa reached out a hand to pat her shoulder, "When you have time, you should give your manager a call. I seem to remember that you haven't had any work in a long time. I'll give the songwriter a call, if you stay idle at home like this for much longer, then you'll be quickly forgotten by your audience."
Karina was blank for a moment before understanding dawned, and her eyes immediately brightened. Her youthful face was matched with a sweet smile, an appearance that was very capable of touching people's hearts.
But Lisa simply thought it strange. Why did she use to think that Karina and Irene were alike?
They really were extremely different.
Only after Lisa left Karina's house did she throw aside the fake smile on her face as she walked, step by step, to her car. The sky had long already darkened, and she had missed dinnertime, but she actually wasn't the least bit hungry. Instead, she simply felt as if she wasn't able to control her longing for a certain person.
Only now did Lisa realize that, while she wasn't paying attention, she had overlooked a person who loved her dearly.
She drove her car directly to Irene's house.
But she didn't go upstairs to knock on that door and simply sat in her car while she gave Irene a call. This time, Irene finally had her phone on, and it rang only two times before she picked it up.
"Hello."
This familiar voice suddenly made Lisa unable to speak. From the car window, she looked out at the apartment building, searching for the window to Irene's room.
Irene said 'hello' a few more times before asking, "Do you need me for anything?"
Lisa finally found Irene's window, the saffron light visible from within, appearing both warm and cozy—just like a home.
She once had that opportunity.
Only just a bit more, and she could've obtained all of this.
Lisa wearily leaned against her seat, sticking the cellphone close to her ear, listening attentively to the sound of Irene speaking, but she herself didn't say a single word.
Irene gradually fell silent and also similarly stopped speaking a word.
The phone transmitted only shallow breathing.
Lisa remembered a time when Irene had gone to film in Damyang City and the two of them had called at least once a day. She always waited for Irene to hang up first, and Irene always felt reluctant to do so. Perhaps it was the illusion brought by love, that even this quiet, silent time could become so sweet.
Lisa seemed to have returned to that time, practically about to believe that a lifetime would pass just like this.
However, Irene suddenly spoke, "If there's nothing, then I'll hang up first."
"Irene!" Lisa was pulled back to reality and hurriedly shouted.
"Hm?"
"Today I went to the hospital, and the doctor said that you hadn't gone to treat your right hand for a long time."
"I haven't found the time recently, so I ended up forgetting." Irene made an 'ah' sound.
"I also went to see Karina and asked her about what happened during the car accident, so I know that you got injured while saving me... Why didn't you ever mention it?"
Irene turned quiet.
She originally could've said, "There wasn't any time to mention it," or "There wasn't any point." No matter how mocking she was, Lisa could accept it. But she instead insisted on generously saying, "All it did was leave a scar on my hand, that's all. It's nothing really serious. Anyway, it's not like my hand looked good in the first place."
Irene let out a low laugh on the other end of the call. "Yes, at least it's not as good-looking as your eye."
Lisa however was even more emotional than she was.
"But ever since the car accident, you've never personally cooked anything, and your hand might never be able to..."
As quick as lightning, Irene cut her short, "What did you think after you learned all that? Guilty? Grateful? Or did you think that I was really pitiful since my dream could no longer come true? If it was any of that, then you can save it."
"Irene..."
"Why don't you try guessing what I was thinking?" Irene was still laughing like that and said, in a soft voice, "At that time, I had only one thought: thank heavens that the person I love is safe and sound."
Lisa shuddered from head to toe, grabbing tightly onto the phone in her hand.
It was when Irene's love was at its deepest that she'd hide those feelings deep down in her heart, not allowing others to see even a hint of it. But now that time had passed and everything had changed, she was actually able to lay it all out in the open.
And then she said good night to Lisa.
Lisa heard the phone beeping with the disconnect tone and saw that Irene's room light had also been turned off. No matter how wide she opened her eyes, she saw only a large expanse of black. She didn't call Irene back, simply sitting in that car and resting for a while, before then driving herself home. The house was cold and quiet, just like a hotel room without the least bit of human warmth, and that newly renovated luxurious kitchen was especially conspicuous.
This had been renovated before the car accident. Lisa had once imagined Irene cooking in this place, but right now she didn't imagine anything. She simply took off her coat, unhurriedly kicked off her shoes, and then smashed every single thing in that kitchen one by one.
She was an incurable perfectionist.
She had played the role of a good daughter, a good sister, for over thirty years.
But she had again and again forgotten herself for the sake of Irene.
― 25 ―
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