There are days like this.

Days when nothing goes right, no matter what you do.

It seemed today was such a day for Yeo Eun.

She ate the most expensive food in Seoul but couldn’t taste it, and as soon as she returned to the company, she had to throw up everything in the bathroom.

Coming out of the bathroom, her leg scraped against the doorframe, putting a hole in her stockings, and she bumped into the cleaning lady, staining her cream-colored knit with coffee.

The laptop crashed without saving, losing the report she was working on, and finally, she got a call from her villa landlady.

“Young lady, when are you getting off work?”

The unusually gentle voice made her slightly uneasy, but she didn’t expect such terrible news.

“At 6. Why?”

“Oh dear. Still an hour to go.”

After a brief pause, the landlady started chuckling.

“Well, you see, the house is old…”

The house had always been old, was this really worth calling about?

Yeo Eun sighed quietly and whispered in a low voice.

“I’m in a consultation right now. If it’s not urgent, maybe later…”

“It’s urgent. It’s an urgent matter.”

The landlady urgently held back Yeo Eun, who was about to hang up, and continued in a small voice.

“The plumbing in the upstairs unit burst, causing a flood.”

“What?”

“Your place is completely submerged in water right now.”

After hanging up, Yeo Eun’s mind went blank for a moment.

What she had just heard didn’t feel real, as if it were someone else’s story.

“What’s wrong? Did something happen?”

Cha Hyun, sitting across from Yeo Eun in Persona’s rooftop lounge, looked at her curiously as she was talking with Ji Soo.

“Yeo Eun? I asked if something happened.”

Cha Hyun’s black eyes reminded her of Cha Do Ha.

Perhaps the slight worry in those pitch-black eyes made her think of him even more.

Gazing quietly at Cha Hyun, Yeo Eun suddenly covered her face with both hands.

Thick tears rolled down her cheeks, drop by drop.

“Oh my, what’s wrong with her?”

Surprised, Ji Soo came around the table to her side.

Without asking why, Ji Soo hugged Yeo Eun tightly and patted her back.

Ji Soo’s embrace was warm, and she smelled nice.

She missed her mother.

“Hic, senior.”

She tried not to cry, but in the end, the tears that had been building up burst forth.

“They say the house is flooded. Not a single place is intact. But they say I don’t need to hurry back because nothing can be done right away. How can this… happen.”

Finding a proper excuse to cry, Yeo Eun blamed her ruined house as she shed sorrowful tears.

“Really, all day long… I’ve had such bad luck.”

That’s a lie.

It’s just that she felt pathetic about her situation.

Every word she heard from Chairman Cha Ji Seop stuck in her heart like a dagger, making her depressed, causing bad things to happen one after another.

It wasn’t bad luck, she was just taking it out on herself.

Of course, she never imagined her house would be hit by a water bomb.

“They say not to worry too much since it’s an old house anyway, and all the things inside are old too. That even if they get wet, they’re already worn out.”

At those words, Cha Hyun jumped up from her seat.

“Who said that? The landlady?”

“Yes.”

As she nodded, swallowing her tears, Cha Hyun slung her handbag over her shoulder.

“Is she crazy? Let’s go.”

“What?”

“Get up. Hurry.”

Cha Hyun reached out and grabbed Yeo Eun’s wrist, finally pulling her to her feet.

“While you’re renting, it’s your house. You’re the owner. Of course, the owner should go and check the situation.”

Fuming with anger, Cha Hyun left the rooftop lounge, taking Yeo Eun with her.

“I’m going to meet that woman and give her a piece of my mind.”

Ji Soo quickly followed behind the two of them.

* * *

The situation at home was even worse than what she had heard.

Water seemed to have poured down from the ceiling in the living room, kitchen, and bathroom.

The upstairs plumbing had been shut off so water was no longer falling, but the house was sufficiently ruined.

Most of the soaked wallpaper had peeled off, and everything placed on the floor was flooded.

Many items had electrical cords, so the electricity had been cut off as well.

In the hallway, Cha Hyun’s voice echoed loudly as she argued with the landlady.

Ji Soo looked around the house in disbelief, while Yeo Eun just stood dazed in front of the kitchen table.

Yesterday, she had kissed Cha Do Ha here and made love in the bedroom.

The scent of his skin had filled her room until morning, but now it was all just a musty, damp smell.

That was unbearably sad.

He’s a man who needs to be nurtured and placed beside Jin Yu Hee.

It’s a relationship that starts with threats, lest she might even bear his child.

She struggled all day wanting to keep even a small trace of such a man.

She thought she’d lie down on the bed first when she got home.

Lie down and breathe in his scent to her heart’s content.

She endured the day with such thoughts, but now it felt like even that small trace had been taken away.

Stepping through the splashing water to open her room door, Yeo Eun had to swallow back the tears that suddenly welled up.

Just then, Cha Hyun’s voice came from behind her.

“Yeo Eun, pack your things.”

Turning around, she saw Cha Hyun panting with anger, her large sunglasses pushed up on her head.

“I’ll get a hefty compensation from that woman, so let’s stay somewhere else for now.”

That was going to be necessary anyway.

Her room too had water flowing in from the living room, soaking even the rug laid on the floor.

“This place can’t be used until it’s fixed up.”

Nodding at Cha Hyun’s words, Yeo Eun took out a bag from the closet.

Saying she’d call people to clean up the house, Cha Hyun made a call somewhere, while Ji Soo was busy wiping up water in urgent spots with a rag.

Watching listlessly, Yeo Eun packed her things as Cha Hyun had said.

She had no idea where to go.

“What else can we do? We’ll have to go to a jjimjilbang at least.”

She’d have to text In Tae. Tell him not to come home for a while.

After roughly packing like that, Yeo Eun went to the living room and finally packed the family photo.

Watching this scene, Cha Hyun looked at Ji Soo, who was wringing out and hanging up rags.

“Director Yoon, do you have a spare room at home?”

“Well, there is, but…”

Ji Soo hesitated to answer.

Yeo Eun knew the reason well.

Due to business troubles with her husband, Ji Soo had recently left home and was staying at her parents’ house.

Instead of the troubled Ji Soo, Yeo Eun quickly replied.

“It’s okay. I have plenty of places to go.”

Perhaps because she had cried her fill while packing, Yeo Eun even managed a faint smile, now seemingly composed.

At that sight, Cha Hyun flared up.

“What plenty of places? Don’t I know you? Your only relatives are your grandmother and uncle, and even they’re in Goseong.”

Background checks are really convenient at times like this.

Because you don’t have to explain everything one by one.

As Yeo Eun smiled bitterly, Cha Hyun’s expression also crumpled a bit embarrassedly.

“Don’t be like that, let’s go to my house. It might be uncomfortable, but I think that’s best. It’ll be convenient for work too.”

That’s when it happened.

A long shadow suddenly fell across the wide-open entrance where workers were coming and going.

“Why go there?”

Ji Soo’s eyes widened first.

Then Cha Hyun’s brow furrowed slightly.

As Yeo Eun turned around, about to move her lips to say something, the handle of the suitcase in her hand left her grasp.

“Director.”

It was Cha Do Ha.

Cha Do Ha, who had snatched away her bag, looked around the house with a frown.

His furrowed brow seemed tinged with irritation.

Then his gaze fell on Cha Hyun.

“I’ll take care of Seo Yeo Eun’s matter, so you two can go back now.”

Then he casually grabbed Yeo Eun’s hand.

Surprised, Yeo Eun tried to pull her hand away, glancing at Cha Hyun, but she couldn’t overcome the firmly gripping strength.

Unlike the troubled Yeo Eun, Cha Do Ha’s face wore a relaxed smile.

“Let’s go. We need to have dinner.”

“Director Cha Do Ha!”

Finally, Cha Hyun spoke up.

“What are you doing in front of people? Why are you taking Yeo Eun?”

“Is there a reason I can’t take her, Aunt?”

Cha Do Ha, instantly shutting down Cha Hyun, turned towards the entrance.

“Manager Kim Jung Joo.”

At his call, Manager Kim Jung Joo, who had been waiting outside, came in.

“Yes, Director.”

“Please take care of this house.”

“Yes, I understand.”

Barely glancing at Manager Kim Jung Joo, who bowed deeply, Yeo Eun had to leave the house, following Cha Do Ha who forcefully pulled her hand.

* * *

“I can’t believe this.”

Cha Hyun muttered softly, watching Do Ha’s retreating back.

The situation had taken a slightly strange turn.

Appearing like a ghost and taking Yeo Eun away, the timing was too perfect.

Cha Hyun checked the time and furrowed her brow.

5:50 PM.

She had heard that Do Ha’s afternoon schedule today included a Hanju Investment Trust executive meeting and individual consultations.

She was thinking of calling him out for dinner together around 6, since it was supposed to end around then.

There was also the matter of him spending the night with Yeo Eun, and since Yeo Eun seemed to have become the Chairman’s target, she thought they should discuss it together.

But to appear so early, as if he had been waiting, and take Yeo Eun away like this.

“Manager Kim?”

“Yes, Director.”

Manager Kim Jung Joo responded immediately to Cha Hyun’s call.

Manager Kim Jung Joo was the former personal secretary of her twin brother, Cha Kang.

Because he personally trusted, respected, and followed Cha Kang, he is now Do Ha’s right-hand man, loyal only to Do Ha.

But he was also someone she once had under her.

So she should be able to ask this much, right?

“Tell me what Director Cha is up to. I need to know so I can help.”

It was true that Do Ha’s recent actions had been suspicious.

He was originally a bit cunning, but lately, he’s been blatantly leaking something.

Even the matters related to Yeo Eun were like that.

“He’s plotting something separately, right? Both company matters and this house issue.”

At Cha Hyun’s question, Manager Kim Jung Joo’s smile also crumpled ambiguously.

“I can only tell you what the Director has instructed me to say.”

Cha Hyun bit her lip tightly.

“Just one more thing.”

Cha Hyun couldn’t be uninvolved in all the matters Do Ha was stirring up.

Especially if it concerned Yeo Eun.

“Is Do Ha sincere about Yeo Eun?”

Her heart pounded even as she asked.

“I don’t know well either, Director.”

Manager Kim Jung Joo quietly answered Cha Hyun, who was waiting for the answer with an anxious face.

“But one thing is clear.”

As Manager Kim Jung Joo paused briefly, Cha Hyun guessed the answer.

It was the answer she least wanted to hear.

“The Director has been smiling a lot lately.”

And yet, it was also the answer she most wanted to hear.

An empty laugh split Cha Hyun’s lips.