Episode 34. Evening Primrose (1)
Saturday evening.
Even though it was a weekend, symbolizing tranquility, Kang Dae-oh’s expression, as he looked at his laptop, was quite serious.
“This… I don’t think two weeks will be enough.”
Kang Dae-oh tilted his head several times.
Min Seung-yeon, who had finished the housework, took off her apron and sat down opposite Kang Dae-oh.
Then, she subtly offered her husband freshly cut apples and pears with a fork.
“What’s wrong? Is something bad happening?”
“No, it’s not that. You know I have an overseas business trip scheduled for next month. I’m looking at the schedule for it, and I’m worried whether I can visit all these places within two weeks.”
At the mention of an overseas business trip, Kang Yera, who was sitting on the living room sofa, showed interest.
“Appa. Are you going on a business trip?”
Kang Dae-oh nodded, putting one of the fruits his wife handed him into his mouth.
“Yeah. I’m trying to find distributors.”
After several internal company meetings.
An opinion arose that instead of extending the contract with the current distributor, it would be better for Amare to directly import coffee beans by skipping the intermediate distribution process.
Although this argument had been rejected until just last year due to reasons like manpower shortage.
This year’s Amare is different.
Despite the short period of one year, Amare recorded rapid growth.
Kang Dae-oh periodically exposed his face and name on broadcasts, raising recognition. As a result, the existence of a company called Amare became increasingly known to the public.
Amare was certainly treated as a latecomer in the cafe business.
But now, it was rapidly expanding its size, surpassing the middle-tier companies and even aiming for competition with top-tier ones.
This competition will become even fiercer.
To prepare for this, it is essential to secure high-quality coffee beans.
F&B is ultimately a battle of who secures good ingredients first and more than anyone else.
Therefore, Kang Dae-oh and the company executives decided to visit various countries directly to secure distribution channels.
“Where are you going?”
At his eldest daughter’s question, Kang Dae-oh used his index finger to smoothly scroll down the laptop’s touchpad.
“Ethiopia, Brazil, and Vietnam. For now, I’m planning to visit these three places.”
Ethiopia and Brazil were well-known countries for coffee beans, so that was understandable.
However, from Kang Yera’s perspective, Vietnam felt a bit unfamiliar.
“Is Vietnam also famous for coffee?”
Just as Kang Dae-oh was about to answer.
Kang Yebin, who was sitting near Kang Yera, spoke first.
“Vietnam is the main producer of Robusta coffee. The beans produced there are well-known for being widely used in espresso blends and instant coffee.”
A small exclamation of ‘Oh~’ escaped Kang Dae-oh’s lips.
“Yebin knows even better than Appa?”
“No way.”
No matter how much Kang Yebin knows, she cannot know more than someone who works professionally in that field.
Still, Kang Dae-oh was greatly surprised by the fact that Kang Yebin’s answer possessed expertise beyond common knowledge.
How Kang Yebin became so knowledgeable about coffee.
In fact, the reason could be easily guessed with a little thought.
It was due to Kang Dae-oh’s influence.
“Because Appa likes coffee. So I naturally got to know about it too.”
Kang Dae-oh fully accepted Kang Yebin’s words, saying it was perfectly possible.
However, Kang Yera found it a little hard to understand.
“You didn’t live with Appa before we were reborn, did you? I was the one who actually lived alone with Appa.”
Yet, Kang Yera knew nothing about coffee.
That’s because Kang Yera didn’t particularly like learning things.
She had no aversion to learning about singing, as it was a field she genuinely loved.
But the hurdle for ‘learning’ new things was quite high compared to others.
This was also why she had no interest in studying.
After hearing Kang Yera’s words, Kang Dae-oh also felt that Kang Yebin’s claim didn’t quite add up.
“Didn’t Yebin say she lived with Mom when she was little?”
Kang Dae-oh doesn’t particularly like talking about the family’s fate in the world before the children’s regression, i.e., in another timeline.
It would be different if it ended in a happy ending.
But it ended in a bad ending that he didn’t even want to imagine.
Of course, the current Kang Dae-oh did not conclude the story that way.
It was only Kang Dae-oh from another timeline who did so.
But what if the daughters weren’t regressed?
What if Kang Dae-oh hadn’t received help from his daughters?
Perhaps Kang Dae-oh in this world might have committed the same mistakes.
That’s why Kang Dae-oh instinctively avoided talking about other timelines.
However, if there’s a story connected to his daughters, Kang Dae-oh will usually try to listen intently, regardless of his own thoughts.
Just like now.
Despite Kang Yera’s question, Kang Yebin merely kept her mouth shut, unable to easily continue speaking.
At that moment, Kang Yera, seemingly having noticed something, glared and said:
“You wanted to live with Appa too, didn’t you? You were so interested in Appa, so that’s why you studied coffee and all that, right?”
At her unnie’s remark, Kang Yebin’s delicate shoulders flinched once.
“…Why. Is that not allowed?”
“Huh? What? Was it true?”
Kang Yera had only said this to tease her younger sister.
She never thought it would be true.
What Kang Yebin truly wanted, to be precise, was for her family to live together under one roof.
Whenever Kang Yebin saw friends her age happily shopping hand-in-hand with their mom and dad, this wish of hers grew even stronger.
This wish remained even after she became an adult.
However, as her longing grew with time, the relationship between Kang Dae-oh and Min Seung-yeon was crossing a river of no return.
There would be no reunion.
When she heard these words directly from them, Kang Yebin felt like the world was crumbling.
Perhaps that’s why. This current situation felt like a dream to her.
The shame of her true feelings being exposed because of her unnie belatedly washed over her.
Eventually, Kang Yebin stood up abruptly and hurried back to her room.
Just then, Kang Yeyoung, who had come out of the bathroom, let out a shrill scream of ‘Eu-at!’ at the sight of Kang Yebin suddenly approaching.
However, Kang Yebin paid no heed, entered her room, and closed the door.
“Wha- what? Yebin unnie, why is she like that? Her face was really red!”
Kang Dae-oh and Min Seung-yeon’s gazes simultaneously fixed on Kang Yera.
Kang Yera then forcibly swallowed her embarrassment and pointed to herself.
“It’s… because of me, isn’t it?”
Given the circumstances, it seems that’s correct.
Departure day.
Since Kang Dae-oh had to go on an overseas business trip for two weeks, he naturally had a lot of luggage.
Min Seung-yeon, who had diligently stacked items neatly into the carrier with her husband, additionally asked:
“You’re not leaving anything behind, are you? Think one more time.”
“No, no.”
“Don’t lie and do it properly. You said it was fine last time and just wanted to leave, but then you arrived at the travel destination and realized you’d forgotten your charger, so you had to buy one there.”
“Well, a charger wasn’t that important.”
“You left your portable charger at home too.”
“Did I…? I don’t remember well…”
“You left your swimsuit too.”
“…”
Min Seung-yeon asked Kang Dae-oh one last time.
“What are you going to do?”
“I’ll check again.”
Having been pressured to this extent, he couldn’t stubbornly refuse until the end.
Eventually, Kang Dae-oh, raising the white flag, thoroughly scanned the inside of the carrier to make a final check for anything he might have forgotten.
Inspection result.
“I forgot my toiletry bag.”
“See? What did I tell you?”
At this point, wouldn’t it be fair to call it almost a jinx?
Still, Kang Dae-oh was fortunate to have his wife.
If Min Seung-yeon hadn’t taken care of things by his side, Kang Dae-oh might have had to make useless purchases abroad again.
“I can’t live without you.”
“Be grateful to me.”
His wife, puffing out her chest, looked especially cute and lovely today.
At the same time, he also had this thought.
‘They said Seung-yeon and I were sworn enemies in the original world where the kids were. It’s hard to believe.’
Despite being so harmonious.
Indeed. Perhaps they could maintain such an affectionate relationship because there were no serious issues like money problems.
No, that’s almost certainly the answer.
Ultimately, thanks to his daughters, Kang Dae-oh was able to live and share love with his wife like this.
So, Kang Dae-oh wanted to repay his daughters as much as he could, within his power.
“Now that I think about it, didn’t Yebin say she had an important schedule next week?”
“You know that drama she’s been appearing in since late last year.”
“What was the title again…?”
“It was ‘Our House Gardener’.”
“Right, that one. I heard that drama had really high viewership ratings.”
“It was a huge hit. Well, Yebin chose to accept casting offers only for dramas that would get good ratings from the start anyway.”
Min Seung-yeon was right.
Kang Yebin had set her direction that way from the beginning.
Her goal in this life was to become a global actress, beyond just a famous actress in Korea.
Kang Yera’s goal was to achieve her unfulfilled dreams, and Kang Yeyoung’s was to do everything she wanted.
The three daughters each had their own goals.
In Kang Yebin’s case, because the scale was large, she had to put in even more effort.
First, to become a successful actress in Korea.
She was already rapidly approaching that goal.
This was because a formula had already begun to spread widely in the entertainment industry: dramas and movies starring Kang Yebin were without exception huge hits.
Thanks to this, drama PDs, film directors, and various industry officials were eager to work with Kang Yebin.
The PD of ‘Our House Gardener’ was no exception.
“Next week, that one, has its final filming.”
“Already?”
“Yeah. They said Yebin’s final appearance is included in the last episode’s filming day.”
“Hmm… really?”
“Mom, Yera, and Yeyoung are going to the set that day to congratulate Yebin. You… probably can’t go.”
“Probably not.”
By then, Kang Dae-oh would probably be diligently traveling around Brazil under the hot sun, checking coffee beans.
A belated regret washed over him, wondering if he should have adjusted his business trip schedule if he had known this.
However, unlike Kang Yera’s situation, since it involved a long-term overseas business trip, adjusting the schedule was not easy.
In fact, this was an itinerary they barely managed to secure.
Nevertheless, Kang Dae-oh also wanted to convey a congratulatory message to Kang Yebin somehow.
For such a husband, Min Seung-yeon offered this suggestion:
“If there’s anything you want to give her as a gift, let me know. I’ll prepare it with the kids and give it to Yebin, telling her it’s a gift from Appa.”
“That sounds good. Alright. I’ll do that.”
It was indeed fortunate to have his wife.
