Bring It On! - Chapter 89

Chapter 89.

“……”

His whole body was growing cold. He hadn’t realized it while running here, but now the rain soaking his skin felt bitterly cold. Not just the chill of an autumn drizzle, but a pain that seemed to freeze his bones and insides solid.

A raindrop hanging from the tip of Cha Yoon’s long eyelashes fell onto his cheek. A surge of unease pressed him as if he had to say something, yet his frozen lips wouldn’t move. 

The thought that the face staring up at him could vanish in a blink kept his eyes from closing, despite the sting.

Sun Woori averted her gaze and let out a faint sigh. On her clear, pale face was a mix of frustration and perhaps annoyance. She moved her lips as if to speak, then glanced back at Cha Yoon before closing her mouth.

Cha Yoon noticed it. A faint trace of pity lingering in Sun Woori’s pale eyes. He realized her gentle nature couldn’t bring herself to reject him harshly. 

A primal impulse to exploit that weakness flared within him, yet his body remained stiff, resisting his own intentions. He feared that if he acted awkwardly, she might scoff and walk away.

Silence settled between them. A delicate standoff neither pushing nor yielding.

Sun Woori, looking increasingly uncomfortable, pulled out her phone to check the time. She adjusted her bag slung across her side as if preparing to return to the hospital. The fragile image made Cha Yoon desperate.

“Sun Woori… the umbrella—”

“Excuse me, just passing through.”

Someone spoke from behind Cha Yoon. Reflexively, Sun Woori grabbed his hand and pulled him aside. The café entrance, previously blocked by her body, became visible to other customers, who glanced at Cha Yoon as they passed. A few even turned to sneak a second look.

Cha Yoon, normally unconcerned with others’ opinions and now dulled by fatigue, had no energy to notice them. He focused entirely on the warmth and softness of Sun Woori’s hand holding his. But she seemed distracted by the situation.

“Where’s Director Park?”

“Why do you ask?”

The words escaped more sharply than intended. Sun Woori, however, remained calm. She paused briefly, then called someone. It was Park Jonghoo. 

As she carefully explained his location, the muscles in Cha Yoon’s jaw tightened, and a dull ache throbbed in his head.

Why did seeing her speak to someone else, while he was right in front of her, make his chest burn so? The impulse to snatch the phone away surged, but he endured, feeling her gaze check on him. Still, his patience was limited.

After ending the call, Sun Woori exhaled.

“Director Park will be here soon. Don’t go anywhere and just wait here quietly.”

Her tone, devoid of any warmth, treated him as nothing more than a nuisance. Cha Yoon felt small, absurdly aware of his own humiliation. The situation was ridiculous, but he couldn’t laugh. Only a sickly nausea twisted through him.

“…Why did you go this far?”

“For what?”

“To push me away like this? Is it so unbearable that we can’t even spend a few moments together?”

His eyes, bloodshot from long nights without sleep, contorted in pain. Unresolved emotions, built up from deprivation, burst like a dam breaking. Sun Woori’s expression betrayed her surprise.

“Just… damn it, why is it so hard? All you have to do is take the umbrella. Why push me away like this? Oh, it’s because it’s not him? If I’d faithfully played the part, would you have taken the umbrella then?”

Sun Woori said nothing, even as his desperate words sought an answer. Each impatient word made the emotion rising across her face more apparent: disappointment.

Cha Yoon realized he was committing an irreversible mistake, yet he didn’t know how to control himself. Mentioning Jay was the only way to elicit any reaction from her, so he couldn’t stop. 

Watching her grow quietly cold only set his heart ablaze further.

“Sun Woo-ri!”

“……”

The voice, pushed to the edge, broke out pitifully. Seonwoo-ri only looked momentarily startled. Her expression conveyed nothing, no hope, no desire, piercing Cha Yoon deeply.

“Any answer… even just one…”

“……”

“Please, just say something.”

Sun Woori’s eyes shifted away from Cha Yoon. Spotting someone, she waved, and the approaching figure grabbed his arm firmly.

“Ms. Woo-ri, thank you. The CEO hasn’t been sleeping well lately…”

Park Jonghoo tried pulling Cha Yoon by force and persuading him with words, but he didn’t budge an inch. In the end, Sun Woori snatched the umbrella from him and popped it open over his head. She had to lead him, hand in hand, to the car door.

Sun Woori placed the umbrella firmly in Cha Yoon’s hand.

“Sun Woori.”

His voice still carried that obsessive tone. The lips that had been tightly sealed for him alone finally moved.

“What I should be receiving from you isn’t this umbrella, it’s my luggage. I don’t need anything else.”

With those final words, she ran off into the pouring rain. She rejected not only Cha Yoon’s umbrella but everything about him. To Sun Woori, Cha Yoon was a complete stranger, incapable of giving or receiving anything from her.

***

Lee Suho was discharged.

Now, even if Cha Yoon went to the hospital, he couldn’t see Sun Woori. The clothes, card, and car key she had given him were returned through Director Park.

Cha Yoon tried calling and texting her multiple times, but Sun Woori completely ignored him. Director Park’s attempts were the same. The last message Sun Woori sent to Park Jonghoo appeared on Cha Yoon’s phone.

A statement calculating the total hospital bills he had covered and how she would pay a set amount each month.

It was clear she didn’t want to owe him anything, in any form.

It had been over a week since Sun Woori vanished. Cha Yoon could have found her easily but didn’t. He was convinced that unless he completely cut Sun Woori out of his life, he could never return to a normal, ordinary life.

Yet the more time passed, the more his heart ached. There was no relief, only growing torment. Would there ever be a day he felt okay again? Doubts gnawed at him.

Cha Yoon picked up the car key, then put it down. He felt incapable of driving in his current state. Once in the back seat, he instinctively called Sun Woori. 

Did he want to find her, or not? He didn’t know. His mind and heart were violently clashing. Yet again, all he got was the cold, automated message that the call could not be connected. He clenched his jaw and stared out the window.

Arriving at the hospital, he went straight to Suho’s old room. As in any hospital, the room had already been filled by another patient. He stood outside the closed door, doing nothing, for quite a while.

A light touch tapped his back. Expectation surged, and he quickly turned around.

“Oh, did I startle you? I’m sorry.”

When Cha Yoon furrowed his brow in response, the man before him looked embarrassed.

“I called because there was no answer. You’re… Cha Yoon, right? We’ve met a few times. My father is Vice President Lee Pil-ho of Taerim Construction…”

“Really, now… everything’s getting ridiculous.”

For a moment, he thought it was Sun Woori. Everything in his view was Sun Woori. The instant he realized it was someone else, an uncontrollable wave of disappointment surged. 

Cha Yoon ultimately surrendered. He couldn’t live without Sun Woori. By now, whose feeling this was didn’t matter.

***

“Ugh, I’m dead!”

Before the entrance sensor lights even turned off, I flopped onto the floor. Suho, who had come to greet me, clicked his tongue like an old man and helped me remove my shoes and socks.

“Why do you always make things harder? I told you not to do it.”

“Don’t nag. My head hurts, Noona.”

Suho squatted next to me, knees together, poking my shoulder, head, and arms with his fingers. 

Even as he urged me to get up, I couldn’t move. I hadn’t had a single day off since a week before Suho’s discharge.

Thanks to the successful surgery, Suho was able to leave the hospital safely after a few tests. He could have stayed longer, but I felt guilty about Cha Yoon continuing to pay the hospital fees. 

I couldn’t rely on him forever, so I made it clear I wanted to be discharged immediately.

To find a place that fit our situation, I had to leave Seoul. But not too far, in case of emergencies that required a major hospital. After a week of searching, I found a monthly rental house. 

It was an older detached house with one living room and three bedrooms, conveniently close to Suho’s elementary school.

But cheap houses have their reasons. This one had been empty for years, overgrown with weeds, peeling wallpaper, dusty floors, and cluttered with trash. 

Yet, who was I? I had survived on a deserted island before. Compared to that, this structure was solid. After carefully inspecting it, I signed the lease. 

It would be tough, but I was confident I could transform it into a livable home with my own effort.