January 1951. He saved her life in a city torn apart by war during the Korean War.
December 1953. The soldier is reunited with the governor's daughter- souls scarred and bodies battered, seeking the second chance that Fate has dealt.
He had failed to evade a grenade fast enough, failed to protect his brother, and failed to stay on in the military.
He had failed to keep the one woman he loved by his side.
Now, he had failed to do something as mundane as opening his noodle stall for business.
Jeong Hyeok was frightened, and knew he probably was frightening to whoever might see him in this irritable, paranoid and lifeless state.
It was one of those horrible days where the former military officer could find no strength within himself to step through the door frame into the world outside, even when he had made all the necessary preparations to open his stall.
Surely, he knew it was a horrible waste of scarce resources in this post-war country, and the accompanying guilt only layered misery on the scarred heart beating in his chest.
Nothingness continued to wash over him like a sluggish wave as time slipped him by— quickly or slowly, he had no idea.
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What the former military captain knew was that he had cried till he could cry no more, and that was his cue for picking himself up clumsily on one maimed leg.
Hobbling over to the bag of noodles, he picked them up to slip it back onto his shoulder, before picking the broth pots up to head back into the kitchen.
Tipping the pots over at the sink, Jeong Hyeok gritted his teeth and subsequently poured everything down the drain, silently watching the final drops of broth disappear through a thin film of lingering tears in his eyes.
A few towns away, sitting at the porch of a gated mansion, still in her nurse uniform after returning home from work, was the governor's daughter.
"What do you mean by he wasn't there?"
"The stall is closed. For the second day in a row." Hong Chang Sik replied matter-of-factly, looking up from his current task of shaking the car floor mats. "I wasn't the only one who found it strange...there were others, claiming to be regular customers, who asked if I knew anything about the stall owner."
"But, why? He always opens the stall for business, for all days of the week, except in times of unrest..."
"Your guess is as good as mine, Miss Yoon."
Already immensely grateful towards her chauffeur for making the effort to go down to the noodle stall after his morning duties, Seri nodded helplessly.
Chang Sik cast another worried glance at this little sister figure of his. "More importantly, what do you intend to do?"
"About?"
"Everything." Dropping his voice to an audible whisper, the chauffeur replied. "You know, this entire problem. That guy and this guy."
That was yet another good question to which she really should hold an answer, but held none.
