Chapter 452: 476 Giving you some trouble, giving me some color (Please subscribe, please vote for monthly tickets)

476 Giving you some trouble, giving me some color (Please subscribe, please vote for monthly tickets)

2013.

In the blink of an eye, time had arrived at the final week of the year.

Counting from that heavy snow in mid-December and that late-night snack, nearly ten days of the calendar had passed by without one noticing.

The weather in Seoul these past few days had been much better than before; it was no longer gloomily holding back as if it were about to snow, and the sky was, for the most part, a clean, wintry blue.

Although the sunlight lacked warmth, it was at least bright, and it felt comfortable to have it shining on one's body.

However, the temperature remained very low; the breath exhaled while walking outside would immediately turn into a puff of white mist, scattering as soon as the wind blew.

And during this past period of time, Lin Xiuyuan did not know what was going on, but he really had not gone over to the 25-year side to mess around.

This state of affairs had persisted in a somewhat unusual way.

One must know that before, he would run over there every few days; sometimes it was to play golf, do a spa with Dalongzai and the others, or go over to act as a temporary companion for chatting.

But this time, he had honestly stayed on this side for a full week, just like a bear that had found a hibernation den, taking root in the Apartment here.

The evenings were not exactly lonely either, as he would occasionally have a drink or two with Sulli or Goo Hara from the room next door.

Sometimes when they were in high spirits, the few of them would turn on the TV to play some random movie as background noise, then chat intermittently.

From the eccentric coaches they met during their trainee days to the brainwashing hit song that was currently popular online, they could chat from eight or nine in the evening until one or two in the morning.

Or he would run off to find Park Hyomin and Park Jiyeon to eat some late-night snacks, then eat from the late-night snack spot to the KTV, and then go straight from the KTV to eat breakfast on the streets in the early morning before going home to rest.

As for the daytime, Lin Xiuyuan, having nothing to do, had also rarely gone over to the Small Tavern to work.

Calling it work was more like playing games there.

Because the Tavern had almost no customers.

However, during this time, although Lin Xiaolu and the others were very busy, they would still find time in their few free moments to come over and sit for a while.

Chatting, drinking a hot cocoa or hot tea.

Watching the final stages of Lin Xiuyuan finishing a game, then mocking him for his poor gameplay.

Sometimes they would simply curl up on the sofa in the booth to flip through the manga on the bookshelf to relax.

It could be said that although life during this period had been somewhat simple and plain, it seemed to have returned to that time at the beginning of the year, those calm days when everyone was slowly getting along.

As for the 25-year side, Lin Xiuyuan was not completely ignoring it either.

After all, there were so many people and so many things over there; he couldn't just let it all go just like that.

It was just that he had swapped his state of affairs with that side for the previous 13-year mode.

He lived his own life on the 13-year side during the day, and when night came, he would find a time slot to go over to the Villa on the 25-year side to take out his phone and check the day's messages and missed calls.

Replying to one or two, or having a long phone call.

Occasionally, when the conversation got lively, he would naturally pass through the Anywhere Door in the dead of night, crawl into a certain quilt to warm the bed for a certain big sister, and thereby earn some hard-earned rewards.

The fruits of this operation were defined by him as "essence money."

He expended physical strength and time, and harvested the other party's peace of mind and his own psychological balance.

It was another morning, and time had reached the final few days of the year.

In the Living Room of the 2013 Apartment, half the curtains were drawn; the morning sunlight shone in through the gap in the curtains that hadn't been pulled shut, casting a pale golden strip of light on the wooden floor.

The TV was on, replaying an episode of "Running Man" from a few days ago; the volume was turned very low, and several guests were chasing and playing on the screen, their laughter softly filling the entire Living Room through the speakers.

Sulli, who had just walked out of the bedroom, was still wearing fluffy pajamas and had thick-soled cotton slippers on her feet; she had originally intended to go to the Kitchen to pour a glass of water to drink.

As a result, just as she walked out of the room, she saw a scene that surprised her a little.

She saw Lin Xiuyuan leaning askew against the sofa armrest with messy hair, one leg crossed over the knee of the other, watching the program on the TV with undivided attention.

Seeing this scene, Sulli first felt quite happy, but at the same time, she also felt a bit strange, so she walked over and asked, "Oppa, did you not sleep all night? Why are you watching TV so early?"

When she spoke, Sulli's voice still carried that softness and hoarseness unique to having just woken up, the end of her sentence a bit dazed and lazy.

Even her hair was fluffy from just waking up, with a few strands sticking up on the top of her head.

"No, I just got back from the 25-year side; I was kicked awake by YoonA." Lin Xiuyuan, wearing pajamas, didn't forget to yawn while speaking.

Originally, he had thought about taking advantage of Lin Yun'er getting off work early last night to go over and keep her company, but Lin Yun'er had a temporary schedule she had to finish before coming back.

By the time he returned to the Apartment, it was already 5:00 AM.

She had rarely used her feet to kick Lin Xiuyuan out of the covers, accompanied by the words, "Xiuyuan, I'm really tired. Don't pester me today, go find someone else."

And so, Lin Xiuyuan had come back in such a dejected manner.

Hearing this, Sulli gave Lin Xiuyuan a look that was quite amusing.

That look was mixed with obvious schadenfreude, as well as undisguised, somewhat cute mockery.

Then she walked around the sofa to Lin Xiuyuan's side and said with a smile, "Hahaha, who told you to go over there when you knew she was so busy? You deserve it."

After finishing her teasing, she changed her expression in the blink of an eye, kicked off her cotton slippers, sat down very obediently beside Lin Xiuyuan, giggled again, and signaled the start of the topic she was truly concerned about.

"But Oppa, is Xiaomin unnie still blocking your door over there? It's already been over a week; does she really have nothing to do?"

"Who knows."

Seeing that Sulli also mentioned this matter, Lin Xiuyuan also had a massive headache.

He simply tilted his head back against the sofa backrest, resting the back of his head on the edge of the sofa, his eyes looking at the chandelier on the ceiling.

Why didn't he go over to the 25-year side?

Was it that he didn't want to go over?

Was it that he wasn't willing to go over?

Are you kidding, of course it wasn't that he didn't want to go over; it was entirely because the front door over there was being blocked by someone.

That married woman over there really did what she said; she almost didn't slack off a single day, driving to the alley where his Villa was located to block the door.

Sometimes she came early, arriving after ten in the morning; sometimes she appeared later, at one or two in the afternoon, but regardless of whether it was early or late, she would definitely come.

After arriving, she would either park her car at the front gate of his Villa, then walk to the coffee shop diagonally across from the alley entrance, find a seat by the window, order an Americano and a piece of tiramisu, and sit there for an entire afternoon.

That position also happened to offer a view of everyone entering and exiting the alley entrance; the angle was perfect, and no one coming or going through the alley could escape her eyes.

Under these circumstances, Lin Xiuyuan almost wanted to change his base.

Fortunately, Park Hyomin was only blocking the door herself; she hadn't called anyone to help, nor had she spent money to hire anyone to tail him.

Dalongzai and Li Juli had both confirmed this repeatedly, which was why Lin Xiuyuan had dismissed that thought and resigned himself to continuing to hide out here in the year '13 to avoid the limelight.

As for why he didn't just sit down with Park Hyomin and have a proper talk to clear things up?

The answer to that question was also the thing that had made him want to sigh the most during this period.

It was simply because that woman was too insane.

Truly, Lin Xiuyuan could not find a more accurate adjective.

Park Hyomin had told Dalongzai and Li Juli herself that she wanted to rediscover the feeling of young love within herself, and thereby shake off the current constraints and sense of morality regarding her marriage.

That was more or less the original meaning, which was then relayed to Lin Xiuyuan by Dalongzai word for word.

If this isn't insanity, what is?

What did she take him for, a human antidote?

A trial-sized boyfriend in his twenties?

A warm-blooded prop for marriage desensitization therapy?

Originally, on the first day Lin Xiuyuan learned that she was really going to block his door, he had thought about making a call to say something, or simply arranging a meeting to talk it out.

But after hearing those words from Dalongzai's mouth, Lin Xiuyuan reached a conclusion.

That phone call would be a waste of time, and meeting to talk would be a waste of time; it wasn't that his mouth wasn't sharp enough, it was that the other party's current train of thought was simply not on a conventional channel.

So he immediately lost the idea of calling, and even took an extra step: he directly added Park Hyomin's phone number to his blacklist and set her Kakao messages to "Do Not Disturb" mode.

After that, the married woman officially began blocking the door.

Starting from the second day after she was blacklisted, without any transition or buffer, she appeared within the radius of his life as punctually as if she were clocking in for work.

To this day, Lin Xiuyuan still didn't know how she had found out his home address.

It couldn't have leaked from Dalongzai and Li Juli; their stance on this matter had always been very clear, or rather, even they were extremely confused by it.

……

……

Year '25.

Park Hyomin, who had slept until high noon, walked out of the bedroom barefoot.

She hadn't slept very well last night, tossing and turning and waking up several times; in the middle, she had even had a messy dream, the content of which she couldn't quite remember, only that in the dream someone seemed to be pressing the doorbell repeatedly, and she ran to open the door, but there was never anyone outside.

The pajamas she wore were a dark blue silk robe, the belt tied loosely around her waist, swaying gently with her walking movements.

Passing by a guest bedroom, Park Hyomin stopped, staring at the half-open door and frowning for a long time, not knowing what she was thinking.

But in the end, she helplessly smoothed her brow, then turned and walked toward the Kitchen, took a bottle of ice water from the refrigerator, unscrewed the cap, and tilted her head back to take two large gulps.

As the ice water slid down her throat, her entire chest cavity felt slightly constricted by the cold, which also made her mind much clearer.

Then, after a while, she returned to the bedroom and simply applied a layer of tone-up cream to brighten her complexion and mask her mental state.

Then she grabbed her car keys and went out.

This was the tenth day she had been blocking the door.

Over these ten days, the bottom line she had set for herself was half a month, which was fifteen days.

If he still hadn't appeared after half a month of blocking, it would mean he was deliberately hiding from her, rather than really being away on business.

At that point, she would stop blocking, which would be a way to give both herself and the person hiding from her a graceful exit, but...

Forget it, she would think about it then.

When this thought slid through her mind, she didn't let it linger for too long, because she herself hadn't figured out what she could do after this half-month passed.

Whether to let it go or to curse at his door before leaving, she hadn't decided.

Thinking of this, Park Hyomin was already sitting in her car, starting the engine, and heading straight for Lin Xiuyuan's Villa.

Upon arrival, it was the same as before; she followed the familiar route, turned into the quiet lane of the Villa area, and parked the car in front of Lin Xiuyuan's Villa.

That's right, right in front of the Villa.

After getting out of the car, Park Hyomin turned and glanced at the large iron gate next to her.

The paint on the iron gate shimmered with a cold luster under the natural light of the winter day; the door was tightly shut, and the courtyard inside was quiet, with no sound to be heard.

After staring at the iron gate for about three seconds, she withdrew her gaze and turned to walk toward the alley entrance.

She stopped again at the alley entrance, looking back at her car.

In her mind, she recalled a fragmented memory of the scene when she and Sunny had come here not long ago to find Lin Xiuyuan for a drink.

That night, Sunny was bored of waiting and said it would be better to walk into the alley for a stroll to kill some time.

Park Hyomin heard her suggestion and didn't think there was anything wrong with it, so she followed her, slowly strolling along the narrow, clean alley of the Villa area.

The two walked one after the other, chatting about trivial matters at work while looking at the high walls and large courtyards they passed by the roadside.

Then Sunny suddenly stopped by the road, staring at a row of cars parked not far away, and exclaimed in a low voice with the tone of someone who had discovered something incredible: "Wait."

Because Sunny had seen one familiar car after another.

Lin Yun'er's car, she recognized the license plate at a glance; Kim Taeyeon's car, that low-key black sedan, she had also seen many times; Krystal's car, that small SUV with a teddy bear pendant, she confirmed instantly.

Afterward, Sunny turned around and pointed to the other side of the alley, and Park Hyomin followed her gaze, then also saw the cars of Dalongzai and Li Juli.

The two women's cars were parked side by side on the side of the road, which Park Hyomin was very familiar with.

So the two of them met each other's eyes in unison, and then, almost in the same second, both their heads turned in unison toward the Villa inside the high wall by the road, where several warm-colored windows were lit.

Because only that place was brightly lit, while the other few buildings around it were pitch black, with only the street lamps shining coldly on the roadside.

The recollection ends here.

Actually, this Villa address was originally just a guess by Park Hyomin and Sunny; it hadn't been confirmed whether it was real.

However, after Park Hyomin came to block The Gate on the first day, and then Dalongzai and Li Juli immediately sought her out and persuaded her with a few words, Park Hyomin finally confirmed that she had not found the wrong address.

She blinked her eyes, and the white mist she exhaled dissipated rapidly in the cold air.

She then turned her head to glance at the Small Tavern not far away; the small wooden sign hanging at the entrance was blown slightly askew by the wind, and the door was tightly shut.

Park Hyomin did not walk over there; she just took a look and then turned to walk toward the intersection.

She walked across a red-light crosswalk, then pushed open the door to visit that cafe across the street once again.

The server already recognized her and nodded at her to say hello; she also gave a slight nod in response, then walked straight toward the window seat where she had sat for ten whole days.

After sitting down, it was still the same order of some desserts and a cup of coffee, and then she took a book out of her bag.

It was a collection of essays she had been reading recently; the corners of the pages had been carefully folded by her, and the paper was slightly fluffy from repeated flipping.

After opening the book, Park Hyomin found the page she had read last time, rested her cheek on one hand, gently held the bottom edge of the page with the other, and began to read quietly, making use of the bright yet cold winter sunlight from outside the window.

While occasionally turning the pages, she also stirred the latte in front of her that had already gone cold, then lowered her head to take a small sip.

Over these past few days, Park Hyomin actually had something in her heart that she had never told anyone.

For example, the reason she could actually run over here and persistently block The Gate.

In fact, besides the confrontation with Lin Xiuyuan that she kept dwelling on, there was another very simple and very honest reason.

That was that she really had nothing else to do.

It was a bit cold at the end of the year, and she did not know where to go for a trip.

Moreover, if she were alone, going anywhere for a walk would just be changing to a nice background to space out; everyone was busy and had their own plans, and no one had the time to spend the day with her killing time.

Her activities at home were nothing more than reading books and watching television.

Since that was the case, she might as well take advantage of this rare free time to come out and block The Gate.

At least blocking The Gate had a very clear goal that she could use as a reason to go out every day when she woke up.

Being able to cause a little trouble for that guy Lin Xiuyuan, while also adding some fun and color to her own pale and colorless life, was enough.

This was enough for her to still be willing to bring a book and go out to block The Gate the next day.

Foster fathers, please come in and take a look.

It is May again, and it is another week of double monthly tickets; tonight's main text and the side story have both been posted above, and everyone can click into the chapters to take a look.

And then, the customary request for guaranteed monthly tickets.

That is all, I kowtow in thanks to all you foster fathers!!