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Cha Young watches Vincenzo's back as he walks away from her.
With each new step, the distance between them grows and stretches. He walks so confidently, steps sure and unwavering, not looking back even once and Cha Young tries not to take it personally.
There's something about this moment, something she can't quite put her finger on. Like an epiphany bubbling under the surface of her consciousness, just out of her grasp. A new emptiness between her ribs, a hollowness she didn't know existed until Vincenzo turned his back and walked away from her. She doesn't like it, but she stands still and watches until the long corridors of the airport swallow him whole, until he disappears. Only then does she drop her smile.
It's ironic, she thinks, how much her cheeks hurt from smiling all day, yet she has never felt less like smiling. She doesn't know why she even bothered to fake it.
It's late, but the airport is still buzzing with people. To her left, two teenage girls are desperately gripping each other's fingers and exchanging hushed whispers. Cha Young doesn't hear what they are saying but it looks a lot like 'i love you', 'i'll miss you' and 'please don't leave'. She refuses to feel jealous of how easily the words are spoken, how easily they are received. Her fists clench and something coils in her stomach.
Suddenly she feels so very alone.
"Get a grip, woman," she snaps at herself. Vincenzo has been gone for less than a minute and she's already moping. How thoroughly embarrassing.
Cha Young gathers herself and turns around. There's a ton of work waiting for her at Jipuragi, so many things to prepare for the lawsuit against Babel. She has no time or tolerance for sentimental bullshit, she isn't Mr. Nam for God's sake. Despite what other people might think, Hong Cha Young is perfectly capable of existing outside the orbit of Vincenzo Cassano.
She shoves the loneliness back where it came from and marches to her car.
And it's almost fine. Everything IS perfectly fine, until she sits on the driver's seat and inhales the lingering scent of Vincenzo's cologne. Cedar and bergamot. It's the same one he'd been wearing on the day they first met. Only back then, it had belonged to a stranger with an even stranger name. A very handsome stranger who threw a guy out of the window like it was nothing.
Cha Young blushes and then immediately hates herself for it.
"You know what?" she hisses at the empty passenger seat. "Fuck you! Fuck you and your stupid cologne, you can go all the way to Italy and never return for all I care."
She slumps on the seat and buries her face in her hands. It's then and there when it finally hits her.
She is alone.
Just like she always knew she would be.
It's different now when her father has left her too. Hong Yoo Chan has followed her mother to a place Cha Young has no access or invitation to. Sometimes she resents them both for leaving.
Even though it's been a while since his passing, she hasn't gotten used to his absence. How do you get used to something like that? How do you rid yourself of the images of your father laying in the puddle of his own blood, cold and dead? And the regret. The regret is even worse than the pain. How do you bury it so deep it can't devour you alive? Cha Young doesn't know.
She has kept her heart cold and filled it with revenge in hopes that the broken parts of her will heal by themselves so she doesn't have to deal with the darkness and grief just yet. She has swallowed her regret over and over and over again, even though the nauseating taste of it keeps getting back up, suffocating her. And then Vincenzo had come along and shown her a path that didn't quite take her back to light, but they had walked on that path side by side and found peace in the violence of it.
She's been using him to drive away the loneliness. She can admit it now because she has to. There's nothing to distract herself with because he's not here anymore.
Somehow it's a relief, but it tastes bitter in her mouth. Or maybe that's just Vincenzo's cologne. The ridiculous thought startles a desperate giggle out of her, but she ends up choking on it. Fucking hell, she thinks. She has been preparing herself for this since that one day an eternity ago, when she had asked Vincenzo if he was planning to stay in Korea. She had done her best to not get too attached, had tried to stop herself from leaning on him too much, from starting to depend on him and his steady presence, his firm hand on the small of her back.
The same hand that had killed her enemies for her.
And that- well. That was a thing that had happened. A thing that she had let happen multiple times, had even asked for, and Vincenzo had delivered. At that point, Cha Young had already known she would never be able to let him go. Then he had gone and drowned their common enemy in pig blood just because she had wanted it and that had sealed the deal for her.
"Who even does that?" she mumbles. Cha Young doesn't know what it says about her that she considers that the single most romantic thing anyone has ever done for her, not to mention the sexiest. Maybe she just needs a therapist. Maybe Vincenzo just needs to chill.
An impatient honk from behind her snaps her back to reality. Quickly she collects herself and drives off, trying to outrun the memories of a man who was never supposed to stay anyway.
Geumga Plaza is eerily quiet when she finally gets back from the airport. The hallways are empty and dark. Silent. Cha Young supposes that most of the tenants have already gone to rest for the night, it is quite late after all. The sound of her heels clicking against concrete accompanies her way back to her office.
Nam Joo Song is still there, bless his heart.
"So he really left, then?" he asks sadly. Somehow Cha Young finds the strength to put a smile back on her face. "You look like a sad puppy, Mr. Nam. There's no need to mope, he'll be back soon."
She hopes her words don't sound as hollow as she feels. Mr. Nam just gives her a pitying look and collapses back to his chair.
She follows his example and moves to her desk. It's a mess of papers and books, binders stacked on top of each other in towers that could fall at the smallest touch. There's a joke on the tip of her tongue, a metaphor about angry gods and collapsing babel towers. Vincenzo would get it, probably. He loves his metaphors and Italian proverbs.
She lets out a sigh and sits down. Out of habit, she glances at the third desk in the room. Vincenzo's seat is empty. It used to be her father's seat too. Hong Yoo Chan had sat there and tried to save the people Cha Young had ruined. Cha Young wonders who's going to sit on it after Vincenzo leaves for good. They are almost done with Babel which means he will leave soon after. Maybe she should start posting job advertisements for new lawyers already.
The new lawyer will have big shoes to fill. She wonders if they would be up for kidnapping, torturing, and killing people for her the way Vincenzo has. She should probably add it to the job requirements.
They work in silence for a little while. Cha Young tries her best to focus on the papers but it's difficult with the weird pressure on her heart. It wasn't there before.
She doesn't have time to dwell on it because there's a noisy disturbance from outside and both her and Mr. Nam jolt up. "What was that?" he asks frantically, but Cha Young is already running. Adrenaline surges in her blood and wakes her body up as she makes her way through the building.
She almost crashes straight into Mi Ri. The girl looks like a mess and her breathing is heavy and labored. She doesn't have time to ask questions because in the next moment the hallway is filled with a dozen gangsters. Fuck, she thinks. Fuck, fuck, fuck. She should have known they would come for Mi Ri, should have prepared for this, but she had been so occupied with Vincenzo leaving she had forgotten. She curses herself for her negligence.
One of the gangsters is holding a bloody Mr. Cho by his collar. And Cha Young isn't fond of the man, hasn't been since he decided to point a gun at Vincenzo's head, but he is still an ally, and seeing him defeated makes her scared. She doesn't know how to make this better.
So she does the only thing she can, and shields Mi Ri with her body.
An ugly man with a tasteless mustache comes closer. He's grinning at her and she wants to kill him. A few months ago Cha Young would have never condoned murder, but that Cha Young had not met this man yet. He grabs her by the hair and she is panicking because she doesn't have a plan yet, she needs to think of something!
There's a subtle shift in the air as the sleazy mustache man raises his hand to strike her and with sudden certainty, she thinks-
Vincenzo is here.
She can't see him and it takes her a few moments to understand how her mind came to that conclusion and when the realization hits her, Vincenzo is already in front of her. He snaps the mustache dude's wrist cleanly and the man screams like a tortured soul. Cha Young barely hears it over the blood rushing in her ears.
Vincenzo is here.
His cologne enfolds her. And ah, that's how she knew. She could recognize it anywhere. She breathes it in and all her earlier nerves disappear. The anxious ball in her stomach relaxes as the scent of fresh cedar and bergamot greet her. Suddenly she doesn't care that there are a dozen gangsters dressed in black about to assault them. She gives zero fucks about the mustache guy's screams of pain and the throbbing of her scalp where he had grabbed her hair. Cedar and bergamot. This is how she knows she's safe.
This is also how she knows she's fucked because she's never wanted to kiss anyone this badly.
Vincenzo proceeds to throw the man through the window. That seems to be a habit of his. Cha Young really needs to have a good talk with him about vandalizing public property, but right now they have more important stuff to settle. Also, it's kind of hot, so maybe she'll let it slide this time.
She turns to Mi Ri and says: "Let's give him some space, okay? Are you hurt in any way? There's a first aid kit in our office, we can take care of it there."
"Oh, I'm fine. But shouldn't we help Mr. Cassano?" Mi Ri bites her bottom lip, looking worried. Cha Young looks over her shoulder where Vincenzo is currently smashing someone's head against the wall. He moves quickly and recklessly, like a nightmare dressed in designer clothes. His next target gets a broken shoulder and a bruised ego after he steps on him with his Italian leather dress shoes.
Some undeserving people really get it all, Cha Young sighs dreamily. Then she clears her throat and turns back to Mi Ri.
"Don't worry, he'll be done soon. If you want to help, we should go fetch the cleaning supplies so we can get off all the blood from the floor after he's done. It's gonna be a bitch to clean if we leave it until tomorrow." Cha Young doesn't know when her life came to this. Hong Cha Young, the most successful lawyer in her class, cleaning up blood her mafia partner splashed on the walls. For some reason, she prefers this to what she had before. Even as the ace of Wusang, she had been- well. She had been lonely. But now, as she feels her heart beating in her chest, she almost hears her blood sing with a feeling she recognizes but has refused to name until now. Love. She welcomes it readily, lets it fill her lungs and chase away the loneliness.
Something crashes in the corridor and the voices of fighting fade after that.
"Oh, seems like he's done," she says with a smile. A real smile this time.
Vincenzo walks up to them and Cha Young has to force herself to stay still. It's difficult, when all she wants to do is to wrap her arms around him and never let go. He stops in front of her. He's so tall, but Cha Young is used to it now and it feels natural to look up to meet his worried eyes.
His hand finds its place on her shoulder and the world snaps back into its proper place. It's such a small touch but she revels in the familiarity of it. She doesn't know how she was going to live without it for two weeks. Hell, she doesn't know how she's supposed to live without it once he leaves for good, but for now, she clings to the feeling of his presence near her.
"Are you okay?" he asks. His hand comes up to rest on the back of her head gently, his fingers tangling in her hair.
Cha Young grins.
"Never been better."