Engrossed in thinking, Yu Gun failed to notice Lee Hyun’s expression hardening. Unable to contain himself, Yu Gun was rambling on alone.

Lee Hyun half-listened to Yu Gun’s words while focusing on the subject of his smirking. He knew that Yu Ra had not yet been seriously shaken up.

Lee Hyun, who had assigned someone to follow Oh Se Jin, knew that the only time they had been alone was when he escorted him to the hotel on the first day.

Fortunately, it seemed Kang Ji Ho had not created situations where he was alone with Yu Ra, as if he was being cautious.

But at this point, the two of them went out together, and he was even in a good mood, which meant he had seized some opportunity. For him, an opportunity would likely be a plan to try and shake Yu Ra when they were alone.

“I should meet with President Baek to separate them.”

Hearing Yu Gun’s voice trying to put such a simplistic thought into action, Lee Hyun mechanically stopped him.

“Don’t.”

“You cold-hearted bastard. Right, she’s not your sister, she’s mine.”

Lee Hyun frowned as he looked at Yu Gun whining.

As the vice president leading Jin Hwa Group, Yu Gun had an extremely clean and straightforward style of handling work. He made the most rational and objective judgments, resulting in minimal complications and hardly any losses.

The one thing Yu Gun was absolutely not rational about was matters related to his sister Jin Yu Ra. His emotions often got ahead of him, leading to frequent mistakes. Those mistakes always came back as Yu Ra’s reproaches.

“If you really do that, Yu Ra will seriously hate you.”

As if understanding Lee Hyun’s words, Yu Gun let out a groan and roughly ran his hand through his hair.

“Think rationally, like you do at work.”

“How can I be rational about my only sister? You don’t understand because you don’t have siblings. It’s impossible.”

“Doting fool.”

It was the word that naturally came to mind when seeing Yu Gun thinking about Yu Ra. Though it might not seem so, he truly was blindly devoted when it came to Jin Yu Ra.

“It would be really troublesome if her involvement with Oh Se Jin became known.”

“What do you mean?”

“Father is rushing Yu Ra’s marriage.”

Lee Hyun’s brow furrowed sharply at this unexpected information.

He knew that Jin Kang Su, the president of Jin Hwa Group, had recently been putting out feelers in the marriage market.

He had been discreetly pursuing meetings with several groups, but the reason Lee Hyun hadn’t connected that information to Yu Ra was because the eldest son Yu Gun was still unmarried, and because of the gender of the heirs from those families.

Dong Ho Industries had a son and daughter like Jin Hwa Group, while Young Jin Foundation had two daughters.

So he had naturally assumed Yu Gun would be the one entering that marriage market. But at the unexpected mention of Yu Ra’s marriage, Lee Hyun felt an involuntary tension come over him.

“You’re still single, but Yu Ra?”

“He’s wanted to marry her off quickly for a long time. You know our father. He thinks a woman’s only contribution to the family is to marry well.”

Lee Hyun’s eyelids twitched as if convulsing at the sudden surge of unpleasantness.

“If he finds out about her involvement with Oh Se Jin?”

As Lee Hyun paused as if gauging the outcome, Yu Gun continued the obvious conclusion.

“He’d try to marry her off immediately to one of the families he’s been in contact with. If she doesn’t comply easily, he’d use any force necessary.”

“He’d force her to quit Song Rim. And make sure she can’t set foot in concert planning again.”

“That would be no different from killing Yu Ra.”

Yu Gun’s expression was not at all extreme. Jin Yu Ra was the type who would rather die than be confined with all her hands and feet tied. She was a woman who didn’t have the slightest intention of living according to her father’s wishes.

Lee Hyun took a deep breath and stood up.

“Why?”

“I’m going.”

“You’re leaving like this?”

Yu Gun looked up at Lee Hyun fixing his clothes with displeasure. Lee Hyun’s indifference, not offering any help after hearing this dire situation, seemed especially cruel today.

“I made a plan, so I need to act.”

“What?”

“Or should I leave it alone?”

Seeing Lee Hyun smirking as if amused, Yu Gun hurriedly stood up and grabbed his arm.

“You actually have a plan?”

“Just cooperate well.”

Lee Hyun added gruffly, then brushed off Yu Gun’s hand and disappeared from the office. Yu Gun’s insides burned with anxiety at Lee Hyun’s unpredictable behavior.

“What’s going on? Somehow I have a bad feeling about this.”

Yu Ra congratulated herself on driving safely while recalling that damned moment. If nothing else, she vowed not to create situations where they rode in a car alone together again, by any means necessary.

“We’re already here.”

“Let’s get out.”

Yu Ra stubbornly maintained her politeness in response to his friendly words once again.

“What do you think? It’s a bit more luxurious and elegant than before, right?”

Though the changed exterior made her wonder if it was really the same place, Yu Ra silently followed him.

She was already being swayed enough by him in their relationship as concert planner and artist. She didn’t want to be swayed personally by indulging in unnecessary sentiments.

As they approached the practice room door, Se Jin’s manager suddenly appeared.

“Hyung, you’re here? I was going to… Oh, hello, Team Leader Jin.”

“Hello, Manager Ko Jin Woo.”

“Ah, yes.”

Se Jin checked on the instructions with his manager, who smiled awkwardly as if flustered by Yu Ra’s appearance.

“Did you air it out?”

“Yes, yes. It’s usually well-maintained so there wasn’t much to do.”

Se Jin nodded lightly, then turned to Yu Ra and held out his hand.

“Let’s go in, Yu Ra.”

That action was too personal, and what he said was even worse. It was as if he didn’t care about anything now that they weren’t at the company. It grated on her nerves.

Yu Ra glanced past his hand and repeated the words she had said so often they were tiresome.

“Pianist Oh Se Jin, I’d appreciate it if you’d use the proper form of address.”

Se Jin shifted his gaze to where Yu Ra was looking and stared at Manager Ko. He seemed to think she was being so formal because of the manager’s presence.

“Jin Woo knows about us. It’s fine.”

He had missed the point. Yu Ra looked at him with contempt, not understanding at all why she was being formal. She was appalled by his carelessness in saying such things so casually.

“I’m uncomfortable with it.”

“I see. Jin Woo, wait outside.”

“What? Oh, yes.”

Manager Ko bowed awkwardly and quickly disappeared around the corner of the building.

Yu Ra found Se Jin’s method of transferring the displeasure of her expressed emotions onto others ridiculous.

It was as if Yu Ra had upset him, so Manager Ko had to bear the consequences. Somehow it seemed he wanted to instill a sense of guilt in Yu Ra through this flow of events.

He hadn’t been such a petty person before. What had changed Se Jin like this? Or was he always like this and she just hadn’t known? Yu Ra’s heart felt even more uneasy at Se Jin’s changed demeanor.

“You’ve changed a lot.”

“Have you finally taken an interest in me?”

Whether she wanted it or not, as long as they were tied together in an official relationship, Oh Se Jin had become an object of Yu Ra’s interest. But it seemed the type of interest wasn’t to his liking.

Yu Ra smirked disdainfully.

“How old are you to be tormenting an innocent person for attention?”

“If that bothers you, stop being so stubborn.”

For a moment, Se Jin’s eyes shone with a faint smile. The unfamiliar look, as if she were seeing a different person, pierced Yu Ra’s eyes eerily.

Thinking she might be too sensitive, Yu Ra followed behind him without further reply.

As she tried to recall what the practice room was like long ago, a fresh grassy scent stimulated her senses. It was enough to make her feel as if she were standing in a vast meadow.

As Yu Ra looked around carefully, she saw countless plants placed throughout.

Shelves were attached to the wide windows displaying small potted plants, and on the walls without windows, various flowers decorated wood frames.

In addition, the small terrace was filled with pots of diverse plants, reminiscent of a small botanical garden.

She had once told him she wanted a small greenhouse, saying she loved the refreshing scent emanating from plants. The nature-friendly practice room seemed to have been decorated with her wishes in mind, but she felt no further emotion.

Yu Ra instinctively sensed that she had to be careful with every small action and meaningless word around him, whose thoughts were unknowable. She resolved not to create unnecessary connections by fostering pointless misunderstandings.

Following him to the sunny window while surveying the surroundings with an indifferent gaze, a familiar piano caught her eye.

“Do you remember this piano?”

Se Jin gently stroked the piano with a touch of nostalgia. In contrast, Yu Ra simply stared blankly without showing any emotion.

“It was hard to get. You wanted to buy it for me, but it was quite expensive for us at the time.”

The piano Se Jin leaned on with his arm was one Yu Ra knew very well. They say if a memory is good it’s a reminiscence, if bad it’s an experience. For Yu Ra, that piano was just part of a past experience.

For Yu Ra, who had her family’s support cut off after a fierce confrontation with her father, and Se Jin, who was a poor working student, even acquiring this unremarkable piano was not easy.

She struggled to save money from the job she had found with difficulty while avoiding her father’s interference.

When she finally saved enough for the piano, Se Jin was already gone from Korea. So for Yu Ra, this piano was an unpleasant instrument that made her ruminate on the frustrations of that time.

“It seems somewhat inadequate for practice use.”

“I’ve ordered a separate piano, but it hasn’t arrived yet. This will do for now.”

Since the performer said it was fine, Yu Ra didn’t want to add any more and simply nodded lightly and closed her mouth.

They had come here for piano practice, not to indulge in unnecessary reminiscing, so there was no need to respond further to Se Jin’s words. Just as Yu Ra was about to turn away to give him space to practice:

“Whenever I saw this piano, I thought of you.”

An unwanted topic suddenly emerged, holding Yu Ra back.

Now he’s saying he thought of someone? He seemed to think the pure Yu Ra of the past would cry and be happy to hear such words. Yu Ra could only laugh hollowly, finding it too absurd.

“I still love you.”

Yu Ra turned around without hesitation. And she stared at Se Jin with colder and chillier eyes than ever before.

Se Jin’s attempt to show affection with moist eyes only looked intensely hypocritical to Yu Ra.

If not for their relationship as performer and concert planner, she would have wanted to slap him hard across the face. Sweat seeped from her tightly clenched fist.

A dry voice devoid of even common lingering attachment or resentment flowed from Yu Ra’s lips.

“I feel nothing.”