“Did you find this in the trash can by any chance?”

Heewon touched his wet bangs with a slightly embarrassed expression.

“I just found it there when I went back.”

“……”

“Does it smell? I washed it thoroughly though.”

When Na Eun just stared at the hair tie without saying anything, Heewon spoke with a bit of concern.

She understood everything from that one remark.

The cafe employee must have thought the broken hair tie was useless and thrown it in the trash can, and that discarded garbage bag wouldn’t have been the only one in that large cafe.

Since it was still broad daylight when they parted ways, she could guess from the now pitch-black sky that it took quite a long time for him to return to the cafe and find the lost item after dropping her off at home.

She fiddled with the hair tie that gave off a clean fragrance despite having rolled at the bottom of the trash can and asked,

“Did you directly rummage through the trash can?”

“Huh?”

Heewon was briefly flustered in an uncharacteristic way. Na Eun raised her gaze and examined him from head to toe.

He had obviously taken a shower and was wearing different clothes from before. The reason for doing this to come find her was clear.

He must have directly dug through that smelly pile of garbage himself. Just to find a single damaged hair tie.

…… Just like what her father had done a long time ago.

“…… Yoon Na Eun.”

Heewon, who had been standing in front of her, called her name in surprise, his hair still slightly wet.

Na Eun belatedly realized that her body was gradually collapsing downwards.

Clutching the hair tie preciously with both hands, she sank to the cold floor on her knees.

Burying her face over her knees, she became aware that she was crying from her suddenly damp pants.

He knelt down with her in fluster. He grasped Na Eun’s shoulders with both hands and supported her as if holding her up.

“What’s wrong. Are you hurting somewhere?”

“……”

When things are excruciatingly difficult, kindness can sometimes make you spill out everything in an even more fatal way.

After facing a truth she would rather not have known, the dam she had been desperately pretending to be calm in order not to collapse crumbled helplessly from a single hair tie.

Crouching down and beginning to wail like a child, Heewon was at a loss in front of Na Eun.

Although he had often stood in front of crying women with his hands in his pockets and watched idly, he was not skilled at comforting them as he had not done it much.

In the end, after confirming that Na Eun was reaching the point of exhaustion from crying so much, Heewon bit his lip for a while and then moved his body as if he had made up his mind.

Na Eun wrapped her arms around Heewon’s neck as he supported her back and knees with his arms to lift her up.

Heewon’s shoulders momentarily stiffened at the soft body clinging to him without any resistance, but Na Eun only clung onto him more, burying her face in his shoulder.

Hugged in his warm and nice-smelling embrace unlike the cold night air, she unknowingly thought to herself as he entered the house.

She didn’t want to let go.

I feel like I’ve become a baby.

Na Eun, who had been carried inside the house by Heewon, meekly received the sips of water he poured into her mouth after taking out a bottle of water from the refrigerator.

As she drank the cold water, her clouded mind was gradually returning.

After making sure Na Eun swallowed a few sips of water, Heewon laid her on the bed and meticulously covered her body with the blanket.

He visually checked the books and stationery spread out on the desk below the bed and spoke as if urging her,

“Don’t study anymore today and just sleep.”

It was because he knew Na Eun would overwork herself with studying whenever she was mentally struggling.

Na Eun blankly stared at the ceiling with her reddened eyes from crying too much.

For some reason, it seemed like Heewon was always by her side whenever she cried these days.

It was strange that the one who stayed by her side whenever things were tough was not family or friends, but Seo Heewon.

“…… Why did you find the hair tie for me?”

Even though you didn’t properly know what it meant to me.

To the question thrown out lifelessly in a very choked up voice, Heewon answered slowly.

“Because it seemed precious to you.”

“……”

“Why.”

“Were you always this kind?”

Heewon was at a loss for words at the unexpected question. He unknowingly avoided the two eyes innocently looking at him as she lay there.

“Or are you only kind to me?”

When Heewon couldn’t answer this time either, she asked him.

“Why?”

Because you feel sorry for me? Having no right to resent someone who still couldn’t imagine any reason other than that, Heewon hid his bitter feelings and smiled.

“Is it not okay for me to be kind?”

“I like it.”

“……”

“I like kind and warm people.”

As always openly revealing her emotions, Na Eun once again devastatingly broke Heewon down like this.

Without properly checking Heewon’s expression, she smiled while looking at the ceiling.

“That’s why I liked Jaekyung.”

Heewon’s gaze that had been wandering unable to grasp the situation was now fixed on Na Eun’s face.

“He was kind. Warm too.”

‘Drink this instead, and I’ll tell you.’

Na Eun still vividly remembered the hand that took away the can filled with caffeine from her and handed her an ion drink instead.

“Once I started liking him, I liked everything about him. Even if he did nothing, just seeing his face…… Everything was just joyful.”

That kindness had all been fake. From the beginning.

The moment she realized that, Na Eun was forcibly made to understand what it meant to be miserable at a young age.

She didn’t have the luxury to cry and cling onto him asking if there was even a single moment he was sincere with her.

She was simply abandoned helplessly and mercilessly trampled on.

Before she could even feel betrayed, at some point she had become not just a woman who was unilaterally dumped, but a victim of a crime.

The position of being a one-sided victim was more convenient and simple than she thought.

Since he had harmed and hurt her without any fault of her own, she just needed to resent and hate the perpetrator.

And once she prepared to get back up strong and overcome it, everything would be perfect.

It was true that she no longer had any curiosity about Jaekyung.

He was the perpetrator, and all the kindness and affection he had given her were complete lies.

Then since she had only things taken from her without receiving anything, it was a matter of just having to miss what was taken and overcome the wounds.

She, who always believed that justice prevailed, cut off all her care for him the moment she realized Jaekyung stood at a very far opposite end from her.

He would ruin himself on his own anyway.

She had no interest whatsoever in a villain who meets a miserable end after being defeated by the hero.

It was right for the villain who had toyed with her, discarded her, and hurt her, an innocent person, to disappear to the other side of the story according to the ending where good triumphs over evil.

Whether that end was death, rehabilitation, or something else, she didn’t want to know.

She no longer wanted to be entangled with him in life, and it wasn’t important whether he was dead or alive.

…… And it shouldn’t have been important going forward either.

“…… That bad guy.”

Heewon wordlessly looked down at Na Eun’s pale complexion as she mumbled with her eyes tightly closed while lying down.

“He should have at least let me be able to just resent him. How could he do this to me.”

There was no way she could love him again. Forgiveness? Out of the question. She had lost too much for that.

The large amount of wealth she had lost, which was difficult to even calculate, was only the tip of the iceberg among what she had lost.

She had to bid farewell to the father she loved.

She would never be able to like someone with a pure heart like she did with Jaekyung ever again.

Even if someone treated her kindly, she started feeling suspicion before gratitude.

What she was robbed of were things that were more invisible.

“…… I want to quit academy.”

She said to Heewon who was silently just listening to her story.

Na Eun slowly opened her closed eyes and turned her head to gaze at Heewon looking down at her.

“I don’t want to see him anymore. Whether he’s alive, dead, or doing something for me…… Don’t let me know.”

Why do I keep acting like a baby only in front of this person? Na Eun desperately swallowed back the tears trying to force their way out again and sniffled.

“I’m sorry. The tears keep coming.”

“Why are you apologizing to me for that.”

Heewon kindly said while dabbing at Na Eun’s teary eyes with a tissue next to him.

It was out of concern that she might rub her eyes raw from constantly wiping them with her sleeves.

“You hate it when other people cry.”

“It’s not that I hate it… No, nevermind. Just don’t cry.”

Realizing that a similar excuse he had made several times before didn’t get through to her at all, he smiled bitterly.

“It’s draining my energy, okay?”

“……”

She quietly felt his hand checking if she had a fever rising on her forehead, with a voice full of worry that she might really collapse from exhaustion at this rate.

This won’t do. I should drink some more water.

It was the moment he twisted his upper body to pick up the bottle of water he had put down next to him for a bit. Na Eun reached out her hand.

Heewon momentarily froze like a fool as Na Eun half-raised her body and clung onto him as if hugging him.

Na Eun tightly gripped her two arms around Heewon’s neck, buried her face in his shoulder like a child would to a parent, and whined.

“Hug me.”

“……”

Should I seriously confess to her so she comes to her senses? Even though he was thinking that to himself, Heewon, who could no longer help but do anything Na Eun asked him to, resignedly wrapped his arms around her back and patted her.

As he was stroking her back, Na Eun felt Heewon’s large hand supporting her as it moved towards the back of her head and she loosened her arms encircling his neck.

This time, Heewon tried not to be flustered by her abrupt action of hugging his waist.

If he thought about it, this level of contact had inevitably happened often due to the situation, and considering Na Eun’s current mental instability, it made sense that she would crave human warmth.

He comforted her moderately and soon detached her from him, taking note of the atmosphere.

Avoiding Na Eun’s eyes that seemed to openly show reluctance to part, he took out his cell phone.

“If you don’t want to be alone, should I call Kay for you? She’s off today.”

They had their own days off too.

Of course, even then, if their pager rang, they had to dash out immediately – a day off so unreasonable that it should be reported to the labor office if it were an official job, but they did technically have days off.

Although Lee Sunjin who was currently on a mission was not possible, Kwon Seungjoo would come if called.

But he pretended to be still at Na Eun’s soft palm stopping his hand.

“Seungjoo is busy these days because she’s dating. Don’t bother her.”

“What?”

Heewon was dumbfounded to only find out now about his team member’s new situation.

“That’s why I purposely don’t contact her much either. She’s in the middle of having a normal experience for the first time in a while, so don’t interfere with my friend’s love life.”

Her tone was resolute even though it was full of tears. But it wasn’t scary at all when she spoke with such swollen eyes.

“So there was a man who could handle that personality.”

Heewon smiled and said as he obediently put down his cell phone following her advice.

“Then I guess it can’t be helped today. If you’re scared, sleep with all the lights on in your room. You can leave your earrings on too. I can rush over to you within 5 minutes if anything happens to you, so don’t worry.”

It was already well past 10 pm.

As Heewon was picking up his outer garment he had taken off next to him and saying he would get going now, Na Eun stared at him intently.

Soon, she grabbed the collar of his clothes as he tried to get up.

Heewon, who was willing to be caught if she grabbed him even with a feeble gesture, immediately stopped moving and sat back down.

Before he could utter his question of why out loud, she turned her upper body towards him.

Smooch. At the sensation of her lips lightly touching and leaving his, the expression disappeared from Heewon’s face.