âbut to me, Vincenzo Cassano will not be remembered just as a memory.â
A Cencha AU! that narrates what Hong Cha Youngâs life had been after Vincenzo departed from Korea leaving no trace of him behind.Â
For some stupid reason, I deleted my first blog and now i am reposting this full-length cencha AU back on the tumblr timeline!
After Vincenzo left Seoul to god knows where, everyone, most especially Ms. Hong, felt how empty their days have been.
Her shoulder injury eventually healed with time but unfortunately, it is as if nothing could mend the pain Vincenzo left. If only Babel couldâve created a more humane pain killer, then it couldâve been her saving grace during this time.Â
Sometimes she would snicker alone behind her work table whenever she gets reminded of the silly things about Vincenzo but Mr. Nam would sometimes catch her gloomy frowns as she stares at the empty table on her left. Without her partner in crime, it seems like the small Jipuragi Law Firm has become too spacious for two people to share.Â
Cha young wasnât really alone. Geumga Plaza tenants whom she considered as a family has always been there for her and she could say that somehow, they have been good at making up for the longing she has for Vincenzo and her Dad. After all, as long as Jipuragi Law Firm still stands, the two men sheâll ever love in this life will always be with her.Â
Geumga Plaza tenants always had consistent get-togethers and Cha Young always found herself attending every time for the past few months. Sheâll do everything just to keep herself away from being alone as it always reminded her of longing.
She works until her eyelids fall down on their own and wakes up the next morning still on her work clothes. It was like this for three consecutive months until she found a local vineyard on her way back to Seoul from a conference in Gyeongsang.
At first, it was just a curious visit to a small, cheap local vineyard. But then she finds herself coming back. One of the owners, an old lady, seems to notice her frequent visits and asked her if she wanted to buy a row of grapevines and produce her very own wine out of them so that her every trip wonât go to waste as she often visits. She looked around noticing that some of the grapevine rows actually have names on them. âYou can name yours too,â the old lady sweetly said as she meticulously examines the branches of the grapevines delicately.
âI would love to. But I still donât know what to name mine.â
âNo worries. We can just hang up a sign that this rowâs already taken. But be sure to name your grapevines, sweetheart. They love being called by their names whenever we tend to them. Because of it, they produce the sweetest wines.â
Cha Young could only just nod. Feeling bad about how her grapevines donât have a name. But before the old lady could turn her back from her, she mumbled âVincenzo.â
âVincenzo Cassano. Iâd like to name them that.â The old lady looked back at Cha Young with a sweet smile. âBe sure to always come back and visit Vincenzo like you always do.â
And so she did. Every week, she would never miss a single visit to the vineyard. Sometimes she would grab a coffee with Mrs. Lee, the owner, and just talk about life. The vineyard had become her safe place and a breather for the sadness.Â
Mr. Nam finds it particularly weird how Cha Young would always plot vineyard schedules on her work schedule but he doesnât ask away as he seems contented upon every every wine bottle she gives him every week to which he shared with Mr. Ahn whenever he gets to drop by.
The vineyard was enough to get Cha Young to go through the drastic change in her life after Vincenzo left without a trace until one day she received a snail mail.
It doesnât even have an address or a name and she finds it oddly peculiar how a snail mail got one her desk this early in the morning when Mr. Nam hasnât even arrived yet.
âIs it another death threat?â she thought as she has been receiving several of it on her span emails after she had won cases upon cases vs. injustice.
Her curiosity only led her to eventually open the envelope containing a postcard of a sole island in the middle of a beautiful, blue sea. Familiar handwriting was inked at the back of the material and right then she knew who sent this postcard. No wonder she received it the most unexplainable way.
With this, she finally knew heâs doing well and that he was somewhere safe but even though she was greeted by such a piece of lovely news, she just could not keep her tears from falling.
If only he was with her, he couldâve wiped her tears away. But to her, the postcard was enough for her to smile through it. They were like the tears she shed when finally she had granted her fatherâs death justice. They were tears of relief upon months of wondering how Vincenzo is, where he is, or if he already had his dinner. She finally got a piece of an answer now.Â
After the first postcard, a second one arrived the next month and Mr. Nam happened to find it slipped through the door gap of the law firm. Cha Young found him sitting gloomily at the conference table as he sips his heartful espresso.
âItâs him, right?â Mr. Nam asks Cha Young to which she just silently nodded. âI see that you also received one.â she forced a smile in hopes to brighten up the mood. âWhere the heck can that jerk be hiding? Ever Mr. Ahn couldnât trace him.â
âMaybe heâs living the best of his life in a tropical island in the middle if the Mediterranian Sea. I mean, who knows?â she jokingly exclaimed as she propped her belonging atop her desk.Â
âWhatâs important is heâs alive and well.â she continued. Mr. Nam finally smiled as he stood up and clipped the postcard he received at the law firmâs memory wall. Cha Young followed to clip the postcard she received last month too.
âI miss him,â she breathed.
Cha Young had mastered the art of bottling up her sincerest feeling as she knows that showing this vulnerable side of hers wouldnât do her any good. But she oftentimes wonders if doing this actually saves her from the pain because if it does, she shouldnât have regretted anything when she lost her Dad nor when Vincenzo left.
Cha Young couldâve said something to make him stay. She couldâve. But she canât bring herself to fo so. Their worlds were placed differently in the first place and she thought that having their distant world collide during an unprecedented time sure is more than enough for her. Making him stay is cruel and selfish. But her hopes of bringing their worlds closer once again still sits somewhere in the corner of her heart.
Thinking about it, she sniffles a little as she stares at the postcards sent by Vincenzo. Mr. Nam could only let her be. It is not as if his longing for Vincenzo is equal to what Hong Cha Young was feeling as that couldnât amount to any form of longing he could feel for a lad that he also considered a brother. It wouldnât make sense if he told her that he understood how she felt as Cha Youngâs longing for Vincenzo is equivalent to losing a part of herself. That is what Mr. Nam had realized all this time.Â
But maybe one day, Mr. Nam thought to himself, Vincenzo would find himself back to Cha Youngâs life just like hoy Gyeonu and Jiknyeo find their way back to each other during Chilseok. On an island near Malta, 9,467 km away from Seoul, Vincenzo hopes to do the same.Â
âMs. Hong. I never make promises unless itâs for business purposes. But I promise you this; I will come back.â
I hope you guys enjoyed this CenCha AU! I honestly donât know how to end it or if I even want to end it but there you are!! This is just one of the many more CenCha AUs I have in mind. <3 Tune in for more!~
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