In spite of a bitter aftermath of an uncertain love affair and an uneasy speculation that anything might happen at any time and anywhere, I had settled into a fairly comfortable life. I who had been preoccupied with thoughts of death a month ago was now being pampered and made a fuss of by my sister.

When I came back to Seoul after the interview with Fr. Osbourne, I took back from the caretaker the letter I had written for Dr Kang and destroyed it with the other letters.

For the past two years I had hardly eaten a decent meal and had not realized how famished I had been. Now I was ravenous. I ate and ate and was still hungry. Three full meals a day were not enough, so I ate five meals and even six sometimes. I ate five or six juicy pears at once, one after another.

December was halfway through. The Christmas boom had started in the high street. One day Hisun turned up at the office, a month after her elopement. She had the appearance and air of a high society woman. She was wearing a full-length, traditional skirt under a silk overcoat. Her hair was piled up high, her face was heavily made-up and around her neck was a mink muffler. Under her arm was an alligator handbag.

I did not know how to treat her. She introduced me to a man much older than herself as a younger relative. As if he was her bodyguard he followed us at a regular distance.

I sat opposite her across a table in a tea-room. It was our first meeting apart from the brief introduction by Kwŏn during my working hours last August. As soon as we sat down, she called me ŏnni, and showed such a flirtatious affection for me that I was quite embarrassed.

‘I deserve your anger, ŏnni, because I have stolen your lover but he was as much to blame. He arrested my heart at first sight and made me restless day and night until at last I had him. Now I am as good as his wife.’ She cast me a coquettish glance.