Chapter 462: 486

Seeing Park Hyomin completely lost in a daze, her eyes staring straight at a spot on the table, she didn't even notice that the book she was holding in her hand had slipped by a corner.

Lin Xiuyuan also did not make a sound to disturb her.

It was clear that she was drifting within her own thoughts, and at a time like this, any random noise from someone else would likely startle her spirit, so he simply let her stay there quietly for a while.

As for himself, he reached into his pocket and took out his phone, unlocked it, and casually opened a chat app, preparing to send a few messages to Lin Yun'er and the others to chat and pass the time.

As it turned out, before he had even sent a few messages, a small hand reached over from the other side of the table.

Reaching across the cups, plates, and the open book scattered on the table, her fingers, slender and fair, snapped crisply in front of him...

Snap.

That crisp sound was neither too loud nor too soft, but it yanked Lin Xiuyuan's attention away from the phone screen with a jolt.

Subconsciously, he raised his head, his gaze leaving the small screen of the phone, and looked back toward the other side of the table.

What came into view was Park Hyomin's face, which wore an expression of obvious dissatisfaction; her delicate brows were slightly knit, her lips were gently pursed, and the corners of her eyes held a hint of unhappiness.

But she wasn't truly angry; it was more like the resentment of someone who had been left on the sidelines.

She then pulled her hand back, leaned against the back of her chair, and said in a tone tinged with the displeasure of being ignored, "Xiuyuan-xi, I'm still sitting right here, and you're just playing on your phone like that? Do you dislike me that much?"

Her voice was soft yet carried a sting, like friends having a minor spat; it didn't sound annoying, but rather made one feel a bit embarrassed.

So when Lin Xiuyuan heard this, he didn't offer any excuses, just casually explained, "No, I saw you were daydreaming, so I was just replying to a few messages."

Having said that, he pressed the screen of his phone to turn it off and flipped it over onto the table, producing a slight clattering sound.

The action was done decisively, without any hesitation, indicating he had no intention of continuing to look at his phone.

Seeing his actions were so swift, the little bit of dissatisfaction in Park Hyomin's heart dissipated by more than half, and her expression relaxed again, though her mind was still dwelling on the description of the "happy scene" that Lin Xiuyuan had mentioned earlier.

Thus, after another brief moment of silence, her fingers unconsciously turned the handle of the coffee cup in front of her, rotating it slowly, circle by circle.

She spoke again in a tone that was both curious and earnest, "The scene you just described, Xiuyuan, is truly something to yearn for, but for someone in my position, it should be quite difficult, right?"

After hearing this, Lin Xiuyuan didn't find the question difficult to answer at all and muttered casually.

"Nothing in the world is difficult for one who sets their mind to it. If you can't do it in Seoul because too many people know you, then find somewhere else. Didn't we do the same thing when we finished eating in Europe and walked back? No one recognized you then either."

He had said this off the cuff, his tone very casual, as if he were discussing the most normal thing in the world; he just said whatever came to mind.

As it turned out, the moment he finished speaking, he saw the pretty face before him suddenly enlarge by a significant margin.

Park Hyomin had leaned forward the very second his voice trailed off, her elbows propped on the table, her upper body crossing over it, instantly shortening the distance between the two of them by more than half.

It was so close that he could see the curve of her eyelashes, so close that he could smell the faint scent of perfume mixed with the aroma of coffee on her.

Following that, Park Hyomin's laughter rushed into his ears, carrying the triumph and pleasure of having caught someone in a slip of the tongue; she spoke slowly, word by word, as if she had found some incredible treasure.

"Oh, so what you mean, Xiuyuan, is that taking a walk with me after dinner at night is a very happy thing, right?"

Lin Xiuyuan looked at Park Hyomin's face, which was inches away, and listened to her pressing question; the string in his heart that had been taut all along finally reached a critical point.

From the very beginning of this encounter, he had been constantly retreating.

Avoiding when he could, joking when he could, trying his best to avoid any possibility of a spark igniting with this married woman before him.

But this person in front of him kept pressing forward again and again, provoking him to the point where he decided not to endure it anymore.

He was going to start fighting back.

Thus, he also leaned forward slightly, bringing his own face close, until his face was only inches away from Park Hyomin's.

The distance between the two of them became very subtle, so close that they could almost feel the warmth of each other's breath.

Then, looking into Park Hyomin's eyes, his gaze did not dodge, nor did it have that stiffness of deliberately keeping distance; instead, he leaned in directly and said.

"Hyomin-xi, do you know what your current state is? It's very dangerous, and very bad. I am a man; I could endure it once or twice because of my moral values, but if it happens more times, then it's hard to say."

He said these words neither fast nor slow, his tone devoid of intimidation or triumph; he was simply stating a fact.

He was very clear that he had never been a saint who could remain unmoved from the start; the reason he had retreated again and again was because he had his own moral bottom line and principles for living.

But if this married woman continued to take the initiative to approach and tease him like this, then he truly could not guarantee that he would be able to hold back every single time.

After finishing this sentence, he very clearly saw the change in Park Hyomin's pupils.

They first contracted slightly, as if his words had struck a specific pressure point, and then that layer of dancing brightness dimmed slightly, becoming softer and more earnest.

Next, Park Hyomin slowly sat up straight, withdrawing her upper body from that encroaching posture and leaning back against the chair.

After being quiet for a short while, as if seriously digesting the words Lin Xiuyuan had just said, she then spoke, "Rest assured, I haven't reached the point of thinking about cheating; I just wanted to chat with you. I feel like there are some things that are hard to say to others, but saying them to you makes me feel quite at ease."

When she said this, she wasn't explaining anything, nor was she hiding anything; she was simply laying out her most direct thoughts exactly as they were.

Lin Xiuyuan also leaned his body back against the chair.

The two of them returned to that proper distance across the table.

However, Lin Xiuyuan still felt he couldn't quite understand, "Why is it easy to talk to me? Can't you talk to Zhiyan and the others? I don't quite understand."

In his understanding, Park Hyomin and Park Zhiyan were sisters who had walked together since their trainee days; with so many years of affection, what could they not talk about with each other, such that she had to find him, a person of the opposite sex, to talk to?

Hearing this, Park Hyomin shook her head gently.

She knew Lin Xiuyuan hadn't grasped the point, so she added, "It's not just a question of closeness, but also the identity of being of the opposite sex."

She thought about how to organize this explanation, then continued, "You have to know, when you say some things to friends of the same sex, the way and angle they use to comfort you are just like that; after hearing it too much, you can guess how the other person will respond. But when you talk to someone of the opposite sex, what you get is different. It's not about who is better or worse, it's just different."

Of course, Park Hyomin couldn't just talk about such topics with any random person of the opposite sex; Lin Xiuyuan had been someone she had been observing for over half a year.

And then, after things naturally reached a certain point, that development at the end of the year occurred.

So when Lin Xiuyuan heard her explain it this way, he roughly understood what she meant.

However, these words still hooked another memory in his mind.

He thought of the things Park Hyomin had said before, those things about wanting to find the "flavor of dating" from him; at the time, it had made his hair stand on end, and he felt this woman's mental state was as unfathomable as those lunatics.

So, thinking of this, Lin Xiuyuan followed that memory and asked, "Then what you said to Zhiyan and the others before about dating, what were you actually thinking? It was very scary."

Those remarks at the time had indeed scared him enough that, even now, looking back, he still felt a lingering fear.

Park Hyomin did not avoid the question and stated quite frankly, "I was a bit hot-headed at the time."

But Lin Xiuyuan clearly did not intend to let her off just like that; he stretched out his finger and pointed outside the glass window, or more accurately, pointed to the alley across the street, where the Villa his family owned was in that direction.

Then he asked, "So what is going on now?"

Following his finger to look out the window, Park Hyomin saw the alley entrance she had been blocking for several days, and the corners of her mouth couldn't help but curl up again.

"I got even angrier, obviously. A great beauty like me just asked you to meet up, and you ended up avoiding me like I was a zombie. Who wouldn't be angry?"

After saying this, she found it funny herself and pursed her lips, "But later on, it was just like I said before. Since I was idle anyway, I just treated it like an outing quest. To use current terms, I was just an NPC checking in at a quest point."

This explanation of hers served as a complete account of her behavior during this period.

At first, she was indeed angry, and blocking the door was truly blocking it, but later on, it was more of a habitual action born out of boredom.

So, after Lin Xiuyuan heard her complete explanation, he finally breathed a sigh of relief.

Then he thought about it, and feeling that since the conversation had reached this point, he might as well speak his mind, "Wouldn't it have been better if you had just said so earlier? I really don't want to be some kind of third party. After all, there is a saying back home: it is better to tear down ten temples than to destroy one marriage."

As a result, upon hearing this, Park Hyomin also fell silent for a moment.

She lowered her head to look at the coffee in front of her, then raised her head to look at Lin Xiuyuan, the expression on her face becoming somewhat complex.

It was as if she were touched, yet also carried a faint sense of helplessness.

Then, in a very calm tone, she stated an objective fact, "Rest assured, even if there are problems in my marriage, they shouldn't be able to harm you. The problems between the two of us are much bigger than you."

The amount of information in this sentence was actually quite large; although Park Hyomin's tone was flat, the meaning behind her words was not.

So much so that after Lin Xiuyuan heard it, his eyebrows almost subconsciously twitched, his sword-like brows arched upward, and a flash of curiosity crossed his eyes.

He really wanted to ask, "What exactly happened between you two?"

But reason held him back at the last moment, telling him that asking would be a disaster.

Thus, Lin Xiuyuan forcibly swallowed the curiosity that had rolled to the tip of his tongue and did not pursue the question.

To his surprise, the next second, Park Hyomin executed a sharp turn in the conversation.

The complexity and helplessness on her face vanished in the blink of an eye, replaced by that relaxed, amused expression, and her gaze refocused on Lin Xiuyuan.

"But this personality of yours doesn't quite match your actions. Being so entangled with Zhiyan, Juli, and the others, plus Krystal and YoonA, and then saying that kind of thing to me now? It's very strange."

Park Hyomin's implication was very clear.

The situation with the women around you, Lin Xiuyuan, doesn't look like it can be described as "innocent" by any means. You have unclear relationships with so many people, yet now you turn around and preach to me about "not destroying a marriage."

Have some shame!!!

Lin Xiuyuan, being told this by her, did not panic and replied very calmly.

His tone was concise and clear, using only four words: "They aren't married."

This answer was a valid reason and stood its ground.

Because no matter how he and Lin Yun'er and the others interacted or were entangled, at the very least, it was a matter between single men and women, which was a completely different nature from intervening in someone else's marriage.

However, after saying these four words, Lin Xiuyuan hurriedly waved his hand to put a period to these topics, "Alright, let's end the topic here. Can we talk about something normal? It's the first day of the New Year, let's not talk about anything so heavy."

Seeing that he had said as much, Park Hyomin did not press the issue and just smiled.

"I think it's quite comfortable."

"I find it very heavy," Lin Xiuyuan couldn't help but sigh, his voice full of helplessness.

Park Hyomin, who knew how to read the room, knew that the conversation had reached a sufficient point today; continuing to press further would only make the atmosphere awkward, which would be bad for everyone.

So she sensibly stopped while she was ahead, nodded, and smiled, which counted as tacitly agreeing to Lin Xiuyuan's proposal to turn the page.

In the time that followed, she really did not steer the conversation toward those suffocating topics, but instead chatted with Lin Xiuyuan about other, more relaxed daily matters.

As they chatted, Lin Xiuyuan inadvertently mentioned that he had originally wanted to go out and wander around today to experience the New Year's atmosphere.

As soon as Park Hyomin heard this, her eyes lit up immediately, and she leaned forward toward the table again, indicating that she also wanted to go and keep him company.

But this proposal was very seriously rejected by Lin Xiuyuan.

The kind with no room for negotiation.

Because he knew very well how high the risks of this matter were.

Even if Park Hyomin's current level of buzz and popularity had dropped quite a bit compared to the past, and she was no longer followed by a bunch of cameras wherever she went like in those years.

But she was still a public figure after all, and she would still be recognized by passersby.

If the two of them walked together and were photographed and posted online, it would really be a huge trouble if it spread.

Once such a scandal was attached, it wouldn't be clear even with an explanation, and by then, it wouldn't be something that could be settled by a simple "stroll."

Park Hyomin, who also knew this situation, was not angry after being rejected by him, but just gave a light huff from her nose, feeling a bit depressed.

She pouted, which counted as accepting the result.

Afterward, the two sat for a while longer, chatting about other things intermittently.

When Lin Xiuyuan finished the last sip of lemonade in his glass, he looked at the time on his phone and felt it was about time to go, so he prepared to get up and leave.

But just as he stood up, Park Hyomin across from him spoke, "In such a hurry? Sit a while longer, just keep me company."

Lin Xiuyuan, who had already stood up, heard this and looked down at her.

That gaze happened to drill into the eyes Park Hyomin had raised to look at him; looking down from that angle, he didn't know if it was his own hallucination or what.

He seemed to see that her beautiful eyes were filled with his reflection.

And the other party was just looking up at him like that, with no trace of the previous teasing in her expression, just a simple reluctance to let him go.

So much so that Lin Xiuyuan stared at those eyes, dazed for a short while.

Silent.

He sat back down.

As a result of this sitting, the two, who had come in near noon, sat directly until the afternoon, whiling away several hours in the coffee shop.

The sunlight outside the window also slowly shifted from the eastern angle to the southwest, and the color of the light changed from a cold, pale white to a warm orange-gold.

The pedestrians on the street had also changed more than once.

The topics of conversation changed one after another; sometimes it was movies and music, sometimes it was places they had traveled to, and sometimes it was gossip about mutual acquaintances in the circle.

At other times, they would just look at the people and cars passing by outside the window and make casual comments.

It wasn't until Lin Xiuyuan had finished two rounds of the snacks ordered on the table, the plates had been cleared away by the waiter and replaced with new ones, and even the tea had been changed twice.

Feeling that he really could not sit there any longer, he stood up from his chair once more, said "Goodbye," and then turned to leave.

The result was the same; Park Hyomin spoke up again.

Only this time, the effect of what she said was on an entirely different magnitude than the previous few times.

Sitting there, she looked very relaxed, one hand propping up her chin, and she said to Lin Xiuyuan's back with a smile, "Xiuyuan, the more we talk, the more I feel we are quite compatible. How about we try the bed first? I don't need you to take responsibility, or I can take responsibility for you, either works."

At that moment, Lin Xiuyuan had already stood up, and one foot had even stepped forward.

The instant he heard this sentence drift from behind him, his footsteps didn't even pause for a second, let alone turn back; he quickly walked out the door of the cafe.

He didn't want to answer a single word, nor did he want to give even a single expression.

He left nothing for the woman sitting there, who was laughing until she doubled over, but a back view of him fleeing in a panic.

After that.

Leaving the cafe, as Lin Xiuyuan walked on the street in the afternoon, he realized he had absolutely no desire to go shopping anymore.

Having confronted Park Hyomin back and forth for so many hours just now, he had consumed far more mental energy than he had imagined, and his only thought now was to hurry back and get a good sleep.

It would be best to have a good dream, of course, as long as it wasn't a nightmare; he was truly afraid that he might dream of Park Hyomin's smiling face leaning in toward him.

But then again, this meeting wasn't entirely a bad thing.

At the very least, after this long conversation, that married woman really stopped coming to block his door every day like before.

It seemed she had said what she wanted to say and figured out the questions she wanted to understand, returning to her own life rhythm, satisfied.

Or at least, she returned to a normal rhythm on the surface.

Sleeping, getting spas, playing golf, and meeting people for afternoon tea—sometimes even dragging Li Juli along—her days were lived with dignity and ease, and she truly seemed to have returned to her normal state.

As for Lin Xiuyuan himself.

After enduring that extremely burdensome "chatting marathon" on New Year's Day, he decisively returned to the timeline of 2013.

Because over there, he had already made arrangements with Xueli and Zheng Xiujing, planning for the three of them to go to North America together for a vacation to relax.

But plans could not keep up with changes.

Because of the popularity of the drama *Weightlifting Fairy Kim Bok-joo* she had participated in earlier, various offers followed one after another, and her agency notified her that she had received a cameo offer for a movie.

Moreover, the director's schedule was tight, and the filming dates that were set clashed perfectly with their original vacation plans.

Looking at that schedule, Zheng Xiujing really wanted to give it up, but in the end, Xueli comforted her.

After all, it was just going out for fun, not a big deal, and not worth giving up such an opportunity to touch the big screen.

So there was no other way; in the end, the only ones left to head to North America were Lin Xiuyuan and Xueli.

And in this situation, Xueli pulled in Goo Hara, who was originally going to Tokyo to handle some business.

Upon hearing on the phone that they were going to play in LA, Goo Hara hesitated for only about three seconds before agreeing, and then she neatly packed her luggage and joined them.

So the final situation was that the three of them boarded a flight to North America together.

In the first-class cabin of the plane, the air was filled with a faint scent of a mixture of cleaning agents and leather seats.

Lin Xiuyuan sat down in his seat, fastened his seatbelt, glanced at the ground service vehicles on the runway in the distance outside the window, and then turned his head to look at Goo Hara, who was sitting across the aisle, with some curiosity.

"Hela, didn't you have work in Tokyo? How did you agree to go to LA with Zhenli to play?"

At this time, Goo Hara was digging her earphones out of her bag and winding them around her fingers; hearing Lin Xiuyuan ask her, she turned her head with a grin, "The work in Tokyo isn't until five days later, so I can still play for a few days."

After saying that, she asked Lin Xiuyuan in turn how long he planned to stay in LA this time.

Lin Xiuyuan nodded after hearing this, then turned his head to look at Xueli, who was sitting next to him, "It should be half a month, right? Zhenli, you seem to have a schedule to go to Huaxia at the end of the month."

Unlike Goo Hara in the single seat, Xueli was in a double seat with Lin Xiuyuan, and she was looking down, tidying her personal bag.

Items were taken out and put back in one by one by her, as if she were performing some kind of tidying ritual.

Upon hearing Lin Xiuyuan's words, Xueli's tidying movements paused, and she looked up to answer, "Yeah, some galas and commercial performances that were already set before."

After finishing talking about the schedule, Xueli put the bag in her hand to the side, then leaned her whole body over the partition between the seats, her gaze crossing Lin Xiuyuan to look at Goo Hara on his side, and a sense of eager excitement suddenly appeared in her tone.

"Oppa, Unnie, when we go over there this time, let's rent a boat and go out to sea."

Goo Hara had just plugged in the straightened earphone cable; hearing the words "go out to sea," she subconsciously shrank her neck and decisively shook her head.

She immediately expressed her opposition, "It's the middle of winter, why go out to sea? The wind and waves are huge."

She was naturally someone who was a bit afraid of the cold; her hands were always cold in winter, and she had to wrap herself in an extra coat when going out, let alone running out to sea in the middle of winter to be blown by the sea breeze.

After saying that, she added a constructive suggestion, "If you want to play in the water, Zhenli, then we shouldn't go to LA, but to the Maldives instead."

At this moment, Lin Xiuyuan reached out a hand and gently pressed down on Goo Hara, who was about to continue speaking.

He then turned his head to look at Xueli.

Seeing that Xueli's mouth was already slightly pouting, he smiled and didn't beat around the bush, "You want to go diving, right?"

Xueli, who had been a bit depressed just a moment ago, had her eyes light up instantly upon being so accurately poked in the heart by Lin Xiuyuan.

She nodded rapidly and repeatedly, the frequency a bit like a chick pecking at rice, "Mm-hmm, I want to try scuba diving. It's rare to play by the sea, after all. Although it's a bit cold, if I wear a wetsuit, it should be fine, right?"

Lin Xiuyuan listened to her thoughts without directly saying no, nor directly saying yes.

He just said in a very gentle but also very serious tone as he analyzed with her, "First of all, I'm not disagreeing. Secondly, the ocean in winter is still a bit unsafe, so let's take it one step at a time, okay? I can see it now; you're a bit anxious."

As for what she was anxious about, he saw it very clearly.

Xueli was anxious because her bucket list hadn't been completed yet.

That winter in 2019, a bucket list from the "Human Peach" spread across the entire fan network in Seoul in just a few days, and even flowed overseas.

Some were things she had said out loud, some were things she had written in that little notebook, and some were things she had mentioned casually on a show and then forgotten herself.

But the only difference was that these items were all things Xueli had truly wanted to do.

They were concrete goals that sparked her passion for her own life.

And the reason she was so anxious to finish these things within a limited time was rooted in her attitude toward time.

People who have experienced the fear of death perceive time differently.

The events that occurred in that 25-year timeline, although they may have already been reversed in this space-time.

But the shock of knowing that she would end her life in another space-time still remains deep in her bones, like a silent alarm clock.

It constantly reminds Xueli, making her always feel that time is not enough, and always feel that the things she wants to do must be done quickly.

Otherwise, it will be too late.

And this point, Lin Xiuyuan can understand.

Although in this space-time where the trajectory has already changed, with him and everyone else guarding by her side, it is absolutely impossible for Xueli to walk down that path leading to a suicidal end again.

Of this, he is one hundred percent certain.

But the scenes from that other space-time, those images from news reports, and the shock she felt in her heart after knowing the ending of her life in another version, are not things they can help Xueli with.

That sense of shock cannot completely fade away in a short period of time.

That is why he said "take it one step at a time," meaning there is no need to rush.

There is still plenty of time; just do the things on the wish list one by one slowly, no need to rush forward desperately as if chasing a deadline.

And after hearing his words, Xueli blinked a few times, lowered her voice, and asked softly, "Oppa, is my thinking that obvious?"

Hearing Xueli's words, Lin Xiuyuan softened his voice even more, gently comforting her, "It's alright, take it slow. This kind of reversal gap between two places definitely won't be recovered from in a year or two."

When he said this, he was thinking of his own experience.

Because even he himself has not yet fully recovered from that 25-year space-time experience even now.

Frequently flipping back and forth between the two timelines, he has passed through that Anywhere Door countless times, and it has long since become a muscle memory.

But even so, occasionally when passing through that Gate, he would still stand on the carpet under his feet, lost in thought for a moment.

It is as if his brain needs those few tenths of a second to confirm exactly which year and which version of reality he is currently in.

Or perhaps it is like remembering the other version of himself that once lay in this position.

So he is very clear about the struggle of this situation.

And if he himself is still like this, then let alone Xueli, who is right before him and directly knows that she had already died in the original timeline.

Looking at Lin Xiuyuan's earnest and gentle face, and listening to him say these comforting words in that unhurried tone, Xueli nodded gently.

After being quiet for a short while, she raised her eyes and answered with a smile, "Actually, it has been much better for so long, it's just that recently, after participating in activities with the group at the end of the year and seeing more familiar people, the memories of them in my mind are a bit hazy when compared."

After Lin Xiuyuan finished listening to her words, he opened his mouth and said, "Then do you want to..."

The second half of the sentence had already risen to his throat, but Goo Hara from across the aisle had quietly snuck over without him knowing when.

She squeezed directly to sit beside Lin Xiuyuan, and her head even poked into the space between him and Xueli, then she snatched the second half of the sentence before Lin Xiuyuan could say it...

"Do you want to quit the group??"

Blinking her eyes, she nudged Lin Xiuyuan with her elbow, "Xiuyuan, is that what you wanted to say?"