Perhaps every day. But Da Jung shook her head.

“It’s okay.”

“Nightmares. Aching.”

Kyung Jun smirked.

“Because of that man, you’re having a hard time?”

“It’s fine.”

“It’s hard.”

Kyung Jun retorted in a tone that suggested he knew everything. Da Jung wanted to refute but didn’t bother as it was all true. The man who gave no excuses or explanations had not contacted her since that day. She didn’t want to wait, but her heart ached from time to time.

They arrived in front of her house.

“Should I sleep with you?”

“……”

“I mean, should I just be in the same space as you? Like we often did before. I don’t know why I have to explain, but anyway.”

“No. Go.”

“You’re scared though.”

“Kyung Jun.”

Da Jung stopped and looked up at Kyung Jun.

“I have something to say.”

Kyung Jun frowned and grumbled for no reason.

“I haven’t confessed yet. Don’t reject me before I confess.”

“…Me breaking up with that person doesn’t become an opportunity for you.”

“Yoon Da Jung. I told you I’m not listening.”

His voice was sharp. Even though the sense of loss was palpable, Da Jung brought out the words she had prepared.

“Let’s continue being friends, Kyung Jun.”

“……”

“For now, go today and….”

Da Jung tried to smile and turned him around. Then, the door of the car parked in front of the house opened and a man with a familiar silhouette got out.

Thud.

The sound of the car door closing resonated dully.

It was Lee Jae Ho.

In an instant, Kyung Jun quickly pulled Da Jung’s arm and placed her behind him. Da Jung staggered a little.

**

“Ms. Yoon Da Jung.”

A fierce flash crossed Jae Ho’s eyes.

“Why are you coming home so late?”

He had waited in front of Da Jung’s house for over six hours, not expecting to see her holding hands with another man. Just seeing that scene made his heart burn as if it had been cut.

A incident he had experienced before passed by like déjà vu. The day Lee Kyung Jun warned him. The way he grabbed Da Jung and turned around.

‘If you’re having unnecessary thoughts, wake up from your dream. There’s no way Da Jung would like someone like you.’

At that time, Jae Ho couldn’t say anything and just watched, but he didn’t want to feel that way ever again.

“Mr. Lee Kyung Jun.”

Jae Ho, who had come up close, expressed his displeasure with his whole body.

“Let go of that hand.”

Jae Ho said, pointing to Da Jung’s arm. The tendons in his knuckles writhed fiercely.

“I heard you broke up.”

But Kyung Jun didn’t back down. He was impudent like that.

Sparks flew from Jae Ho’s gaze fixed on the arm. The very fact that Da Jung’s warmth was being transmitted to Lee Kyung Jun was maddening. Even a handful of warmth belonged to his sweet woman.

Jae Ho took another step closer and growled.

“Let go.”

He wanted to grab her himself, but considering their last encounter, he couldn’t lay his hands on her easily either. Suppressing his anger, he warned in a low, cold voice.

“Right now.”

“It’s not a good time for an ex-boyfriend to show up. It’s almost 1 AM.”

Jae Ho managed to take his eyes off the arm and met Da Jung’s gaze. It was a clear disregard for talking further with Lee Kyung Jun.

“Ms. Yoon Da Jung. I have something to say. Please make some time for me.”

“……”

“I didn’t come late at night. I came early and waited for a long time. It’s been six hours.”

Jae Ho tried to maintain his composure. Da Jung alternated between looking at his eyes and Kyung Jun’s arm, then twisted her wrist to pull it out.

It wasn’t that she particularly cared about Jae Ho’s gaze. She just wanted to keep her distance, knowing that Kyung Jun’s kindness wasn’t purely intentional either.

Da Jung said to Kyung Jun,

“I’m fine, so go ahead.”

“Da Jung!”

Kyung Jun shook his head. No. I don’t want to.

“No, I also happened to have something to say to that person. Don’t worry and go.”

Da Jung, thinking about her mother’s nursing hospital, closed her eyes and then opened them to look at Jae Ho.

“Come in for a moment.”

**

It was a small space consisting of a living room, kitchen, one bedroom, and one bathroom. The man who entered with a flushed expression looked around every corner with an expression that couldn’t hide his excitement. His gaze lingered on the family photos on the wall.

Da Jung looked at him with the most expressionless face possible, not hiding the fact that he didn’t expect to enter the house. She took out two packets of coffee mix, thinking she should at least offer him a drink, but then realized it was night.

After pondering for a moment, she poured a glass of water and came to the living room.

“I don’t have much to offer you.”

“I’ll drink it well.”

The man smiled softly.

“It’s an honor to be able to enter Ms. Yoon Da Jung’s house.”

“Honor, what……”

Da Jung trailed off. The old apartment was neat but couldn’t even compare to Lee Jae Ho’s house.

Naturally, the man was perfect today as well. A tailored designer suit, neatly combed hair, three-dimensional facial features. There was not a single flaw to point out. From head to toe, he didn’t suit Da Jung’s house at all.

Why did you crash land on me?

She thought there must be a separate place where he should be.

To the man who kept approaching her even when she got angry and ran away, Da Jung decided to speak a little more calmly today. Now that he had seen such a humble house, the man must have opened his eyes to reality a little.

“I went to Mom’s hospital. The hospital room had changed.”

“Yes. That was me……”

“I don’t know how you found out, but I want it back to the way it was. Please. That’s what I wanted to say, so I asked you to come in. It seemed a bit dangerous to talk standing outside anyway.”

Seeing Da Jung’s expression with no trace of a smile, Jae Ho slowly erased his own smile. It was because he realized that letting him into the house wasn’t out of goodwill.

Jae Ho replied soberly.

“Just accept it. Think of it as a gift for your mother, not you, Ms. Yoon Da Jung.”

“We’re not in that kind of relationship.”

“She’s someone you can receive from.”

“The amount is too large. The daily hospital fee for that room exceeds 30. If that’s for a year, how much would it be……”

“Ms. Yoon Da Jung.”

Stopping Da Jung from trying to do the math, Jae Ho said,

“Your mother is someone you can receive from me.”

Always kind to you.

Knowing my difficult circumstances, she tried to take care of me with everything. One day she gave me allowance, on my birthday she even gave me quite expensive sneakers as a gift, and nagged me quite a bit like a real son.

‘Come over and hang out comfortably like it’s your own home, Sung Hyun.’

The feelings that couldn’t be conveyed ultimately became regrets.

Mother, thank you for being my second mom. I’m old enough now to greet you smoothly without being shy, but Cha Myung Sook couldn’t hear it.

“I can do even more for her. So accept it. And.”

Jae Ho held his breath for a moment and tried to smile with effort.

“…..I came to explain. Why I called you to Taean……”

“No.”

Da Jung’s cold eyes met Jae Ho’s.

“I won’t accept it.”

Her lips hardened fiercely as if she would never compromise.

“Why do you keep doing this when I say I don’t like it?”

“Da Jung.”

Jae Ho’s gentle gaze swept over Da Jung’s face like that.

What should I do with you?

When he didn’t know the truth, Da Jung’s every action was just frustrating. But now Jae Ho knew about the existence of the envelope and understood how much of a shock it must have been to Da Jung.

“Don’t be like that.”

He didn’t think the lie would be exposed and so he couldn’t prepare an appropriate countermeasure. It was a clear mistake.

It was natural for her to be hurt after learning the truth in the wrong way. Jae Ho spent several nights focused on countermeasures and searching, and had just found his own answer and came all the way here.

After today, there will be no more wandering.

He didn’t want to go back anymore.

She was a woman who smiled like the sun. Jae Ho missed the time when Da Jung smiled without a trace.

“Ms. Yoon Da Jung. Let’s go on good terms.”

Jae Ho tried to speak calmly, slowly closing and opening his eyes.

“Why do you try to fight every time we meet? We can’t reconcile like this.”

“…..Reconciliation? Do you think we fought now?”

“Yes.”

Da Jung let out a short sigh before continuing.

“No. We’re over.”

Then Jae Ho smiled. It was an extremely clean smile.

“I told you I can’t break up.”

“……”

“Da Jung. I can’t end it with you. I’m sorry, but I’ll never let you go.”

“That……!”

“Did you really come to dislike me?”

Da Jung’s cheeks reddened at Jae Ho’s leisurely question. That alone was a sufficient answer.

“No, you’re not. You like me, so stop running away.”

“I don’t……”

“I came to honestly tell you why I called Yoon Da Jung to Taean. Give me a chance.”

Only then did Da Jung’s eyes widen a little.

A trump card.

“This is the truth.”

Jae Ho slowly opened his mouth. Reciting the words he had prepared all night in order, he spoke in an unwavering voice as if reading a practiced script.

“I fell in love with Ms. Yoon Da Jung at first sight.”

This is the Plan B that I found after several sleepless nights.

Everything is true except for one thing.

So Da Jung, please clear up all the misunderstandings with this.

“The first time I saw Yoon Da Jung was 2 years ago. At a fan signing event in D Department Store, Gyeonggi-do.”

“!”

“It was winter, it snowed a lot, and the signing event was delayed by two hours because the organizers’ preparations took long.”

Da Jung’s eyes trembled palely.

“The schedule was a bit messed up and I was quite tired too. Communication didn’t work well, so the number of people for the signing event was also incorrectly conveyed. Anyway, I was thinking of just staying for the promised two hours and leaving…..”

“I, I…… went there.”

“But the fans waited for so long in the cold, so I thought I should do it all before leaving. Later, I got so tired that I didn’t even look at faces and just mechanically signed, but then a woman approached and greeted, ‘I’m Yoon Da Jung.’……”

“No way……”

Da Jung shook her head.

“That fan named Yoon Da Jung who asked me to write ‘I love you’ was so pretty.”

“What are you talking about……”

“I kept thinking about you. For days on end.”

Da Jung kept shaking her head with an expression of disbelief. She bit her lip, looking more surprised than when they first met at the beach.

She must have thought she was the only one whose heart fluttered at that brief encounter.

“I couldn’t forget you. So I had someone look into you a bit, found out you were an administrator of the fan club, and kept looking for opportunities after that. I wanted to approach you somehow.”

“……”

“I tried to send you a DM confidently, but I got scolded by Byung Hoon for it.”

Jae Ho laughed a little playfully.

“I just didn’t want to miss the chance to meet you. The fan cafe where Yoon Da Jung wrote is the official cafe I’m also a member of, as you know, so you knew the fact that I could read it, right?”

So in the end, the one who called me to Taean was you.

“But I really didn’t think Lee Jae Ho would read all the daily life posts……!”

“I can’t read all the posts. I only look for posts by Dajae-nim.”