Apollo’s Heart - Chapter 159
Chapter 159 – Tae-jun Side Story (5)
Upon arriving in the United States, Tae-jun was busy. The schedule wasn’t flexible since he was spending his time on personal matters and work related to the Seoin Group. As soon as he had arrived at the airport, he headed to the meeting place for negotiation with Bio Origin. Throughout his entire journey, he was busy looking through his paperwork. Otherwise, he thought it would be difficult to calm the excitement that began from the moment he arrived in this country. Just knowing that Yuri Han lived here made his heart pound.
The negotiations went smoothly. The young president of Bio Origin was a man who was much more suited to research developers than the CEO. He wanted to protect his employees and their research results. It was what Tae-jun wanted as well. It didn’t matter who studied it as long as the new drug development succeeded. He would welcome having more excellent research personnel.
“Are you returning to Korea immediately?”
Even if it was a friendly negotiation, many things had to come into agreement. After three days of a long meeting, the lawyer asked Tae-jun when he got into the car.
Tae-jun answered while he was looking through the documents, “Yes.”
“Then shall I finish the contract for the renovation of the apartment? It’s an old building, so there are many parts that need to be fixed.”
“You take care of it.”
“Got it, Sir.”
Just then, the car drove into the downtown area. When he saw a familiar landscape, Tae-jun had the car stop, without realizing it himself.
The lawyer who looked around wore a puzzled face. “Here?”
“There’s a place I want to take a look around for a while.”
“Should I wait?”
“You don’t need to. Return to the company and look through the last document. I will go back myself.”
The lawyer answered in affirmative without questioning but couldn’t erase his doubtful face. He couldn’t help it. Where Tae-jun got off was near a franchise sandwich shop that was quite popular in the area. But didn’t he just have a meal with the CEO of Bio Origin a while ago?
Even after the car left, Tae-jun remained standing in front of the shop for a while. It was a place he often saw from the photos that Jay sent. Yuri Han was a regular customer of the shop.
[She seems to be visiting there about 3 times a week. The menu she chooses is usually a salmon sandwich and latte.]
The shop, past lunchtime, was quite empty. Tae-jun looked at the menu board, thinking about what Jay had said. Salmon sandwich and latte. Since he had just eaten, he bought a latte instead of a sandwich. Then, along the path Yuri Han would have walked, he headed to the park.
He sat down on the bench and looked at the park. Beyond it, there was also an Alzheimer’s care center where Yuri volunteered once a week.
‘What day is it today? Would she be doing volunteer work around this time?’
It was strange. It was strange that he was in the time and space of Yuri that he only had seen in the photos. He knew that he shouldn’t meet her or interfere with her life. But he was still curious about all the things that the girl in the photo would have felt and thought.
Tae-jun looked for traces of Yuri in different places of the park. Her jogging, sitting on a bench eating a sandwich, and listening to music. However, no matter how much memory he poured out and traced, there was only one thought that surged within him.
I miss her.
I miss her and I miss her… I miss her like crazy. I miss Yuri Han.
He moved along the path Yuri would’ve walked without realizing himself. He walked along the park, crossed the crosswalk, and then took the sidewalk block again. If one were to go a little further into the alley from there, there’s an apartment where Yuri lived. It was an old building built thirty years ago, so it wasn’t easy to find a new owner. But Tae-jun bought it this time because he wanted her to stay at least a little comfortable.
Just after a while, a woman passed in front of his eyes. He stopped in his tracks. His eyes fluttered, and his heart raced like it was about to explode. It was Yuri Han, who was said to be smiling well, eating well, gaining weight just fine, and getting along well with people, just like in the photo that Jay sent.
Tae-jun froze and stared at her. Wearing jeans and sneakers, she entered a building that appeared to be a supermarket. His body naturally reacted. He followed her and moved his steps into the market. She pulled the cart and meticulously selected items. She picked up vegetables at the vegetable corner, and several packs at the meat corner and compared them…then pulled out a big milk carton from the refrigerator. He followed her the whole time with a display stand in between.
