When MyungBo’s conditions stabilized against all odds, he was called into trial for treason and received a light sentence of two years. In prison, MyungBo was sometimes favored with a warm comforter or better food. He was even allowed to read a few books. Oblivious to the true reason for his special treatment, MyungBo now recalled Dani as he did SungSoo and his other schoolmates—infrequently and with a vague sense of embarrassment.
SUNGSOO ALSO DIDN’T SPEND MUCH time pining for his old friend after the March. He had been arrested in the late afternoon that day as he was taking coffee in his office with his publisher. He’d been arraigned on the charges of associating with MyungBo, but the raid into his publishing house had turned up no evidence. In fact, the deeper the investigators searched, the more evidence they found of his enduring friendship with the Japanese. The very next day, his father paid ten thousand won in cash for his bail and SungSoo was released, tired and in need of a bath but unharmed.
Neither SungSoo nor Dani reached out to the other afterward, and they both understood that their mutual silence was the end of their relationship. SungSoo was conscious that his intense desire for Dani had been fulfilled; there was something neat and deeply satisfying about its completion after all. Besides her splendid beauty, there was a passion and a mystery about her that would always entice him. He thought he may even miss her in the future. But for now, he was only glad of the natural end of their affair, which saved him the enormous headache of untangling feminine emotions. （And of apologizing when he didn’t feel like it, just to appear to be a gentleman—women had such a desperation for apologies.） After all the chaos and uncertainties of winter, he felt as lighthearted as the parents of Gregor at the end of his favorite short story. His yearning for a woman was replaced by that for industry and progress, and he congratulated himself on this positive new direction. He decided that in the spring, he would look into expanding his bicycle shop and then go for a long ride down in the countryside.
*
ON AN UNUSUALLY COLD APRIL day, as Dani was cleaning the last remaining snow in the garden, the Judge’s driver returned Hesoon to the house in a small wooden reliquary. The Judge hadn’t found her in time. The two younger girls cried unceasingly for three days and nights. Luna, who had always been soothed by Hesoon’s sturdy presence, named her daughter Hesook in her memory.
Dani, who looked down upon public tears, didn’t grieve in front of the girls. It was all the more important to her that she stay resolute, because she believed that she was the reason Hesoon was dead. She’d brought her maid along to the March, and she’d failed to immediately call on the Judge for help. Instead of indulging in her pain, Dani did two things: not knowing how to reach Hesoon’s family in Jejudo, she vowed to go to the South Sea one day to scatter the ashes herself. Then she applied herself with renewed energy to various projects around the house and appeared keen to forget everything that had happened. She had always been lively, but now she seemed to believe something dreadful would catch up to her if she slowed down even for a minute. She dressed as impeccably as ever, and tried new creams to hide the fact that she never slept through the night. She bought clothes and toys for Hesook and made nourishing postpartum soups for Luna. When it was warm enough Dani launched into spring cleaning, wiping down every corner of the house, putting away winter clothes, opening the drawers and airing out the linens.
“It’s strange,” she said, throwing her hands up in front of the paulownia-tree chest. “I can’t find my favorite comforter—the one with peonies. It took my seamstress two months to hand-embroider the flowers with real gold thread.”
Dani questioned the housekeeper, who swore she knew nothing. Unrelenting, Dani ordered all the wardrobes in the house to be opened and their contents laid out. At that point, Jade stepped forward.
“It was me, I’m so sorry,” Jade said, staring down at her feet. “I should have told you, but my friend JungHo was sleeping out in the cold . . . I just wanted to help him.” She began crying.
“What friend?” Dani asked in confusion.
“The same friend who fetched the midwife for Luna.”
“And this friend sleeps outside on the streets?” Dani closed the chest and walked toward Jade.
“Yes. He doesn’t have a home,” Jade said. She’d barely finished answering when something exploded on her face. Dani had slapped her.
“Do you realize what you’ve done? You stole from me. That comforter was worth more than what Silver paid to buy you from your mother. Do you understand that?” Dani stared unblinkingly at Jade, whose face was streaming with hot tears. She nodded.