Flutter,

The pure white chiffon curtains billowed greatly, creating ridges in the direction of the wind.

The dim dawn air seeped through the unclosed window gap. Last night, the opening and closing of windows was not important.

The passionately entangled man and woman shared body heat as if they would never let each other go.

The time of passion only ended when even the man, who had been persistently digging in, fell asleep.

The man, who opened his heavy eyes to the cool air, immediately checked the space beside him.

As expected. The woman who had neatly tidied up her sleeping place had already left. Looking back on the past year, Kye Da Hae was naturally diligent.

Haa…… How should I seduce her? That difficult woman.

The man slowly ran his hand through his hair and wrapped a bathrobe over his naked body.

The sharply defined muscles twitched, thoroughly agitated even with small movements.

His height of easily 190cm and broad shoulders toned by swimming made even the carelessly draped robe look stylish. The thick veins running from his well-built forearms to the back of his hands were clearly visible.

The man’s eyes narrowed as he stepped over the discarded clothes on his way to the bathroom, discovering a yellow paper fluttering on the dining table.

“……”

Three 5000 won bills neatly laid out at regular intervals. So, 15,000 won in total.

The man moved the hand that had been on his waist to rub his brow as he peeled off the annoyingly attached post-it.

「Thank you for the meal.」

“Huh.”

Even the straightforwardly written style was neatly characteristic of that woman.

The man slowly licked the inside of his mouth.

……Look at this.

A hollow laugh escaped through his crookedly raised lips. On the other hand, emptiness and impatience rushed in like thirst.

The man’s hand, finding the neglected mobile phone, dialed a familiar number. While the boring dial tone continued, his toes pointed towards the window with an open view.

The sound of high heels hitting the ground echoed up the outer wall through the fully opened window.

Leaning his upper body out and peering, the woman who had not yet left looked as small as an ant.

Though he was watching the woman deliberately not answering his call in real-time, the man unconcernedly dialed the same number again.

Ring ring ring, ring ring ring……

Click.

−What is it.

The voice that finally came through just as the dial tone was about to cut off was curt.

“Is my body worth only three 5000 won bills?”

−The service was quite trite.

Adding that even electronic device OS upgrades when the time comes, recycling the same pattern every time is too complacent, the woman resumed her momentarily halted steps.

Following her quickly walking crown, a satisfied smile settled on the man’s lips. His expression said, ‘Our Da Hae is being cheeky again.’ He was very pleased not only with her unperturbed response to his sarcastic tone, but even her skillful retorts.

“Come up.”

−My battery’s dead. I’m hanging up.

“Come and charge it.”

−I’ll be late for my meeting.

“You have a husband here who’s even a good driver. I’ll take you so you won’t be late,”

−Haa.

An exasperated sigh cut off his words. The shallow breath clearly showed her weariness. The woman who had stopped walking placed her empty hand on her waist.

−Don’t you remember stamping the seal?

“I remember that. But it seems you don’t remember last night?”

−That’s……!

“Did you just have fun? For only 15,000 won?”

You really like getting things for free, it’ll cause trouble.

The man retorted mischievously. Da Hae remained silent.

Even the momentary silence that flowed as if trying to choose the right words was interesting to wait for, but hearing the next voice, his neat eyebrows twitched up, revealing his discomfort.

−Let’s call it a one-night stand. Kang Jae Kyung is good at those things.

The woman who had left the complex stretched out her arm on the quiet road to catch a taxi.

A long sigh blew across the lips of the man who had lowered his head.

“Come in. We should clear up misunderstandings.”

−I like how things are now. Some misunderstandings, some hatred. And a bit of gratitude.

Just then, a passing taxi slowly reduced its speed. Da Hae sharply turned her head towards some part of the building.

The man who had leaned his upper body far out as if to be discovered looked precarious in many ways.

−Ah, I forgot one thing.

“Love?”

What are you talking about,

−Pity.

Pity. Feeling sorry for and pitying someone.

It was the conclusion Kye Da Hae had reached after pondering what her feelings towards Kang Jae Kyung were.

You, Kang Jae Kyung, who constantly craves love while distrusting it, and me, who love-hates such a you.

“I pity you.”

A man who needed marriage as a means to achieve his goal.

A woman who wanted the stigma of divorce.

The two people who needed the institution of marriage were in a relationship of using each other.

Whatever the end may be,

That’s how it started.

* * *

1 year ago.

Christmas Eve evening. The banquet hall where the K-Club event was taking place was full of year-end atmosphere.

Each of the bulbs embedded in the huge chandeliers hanging from the high ceiling shone brilliantly, and light music such as chansons and carols played softly in the background.

Dreamy images of space or the sea were projected from the beam projector onto the platform in front.

As the formal event proceedings ended, wealthy people with similar interests clinked glasses in small groups.

The K-Club was a members-only gathering composed of heavyweight figures in the business world, where even those with hundreds of millions in assets didn’t dare to peek.

The chairmen of various fields each brought along their grown children.

Kye Da Hae, granddaughter of the logistics tycoon Yeong Son Group, was one of them.

Da Hae killed time observing an eagle-shaped ice sculpture. The beak of the eagle, which had been majestic during the opening, had become as small as a penguin’s bill. In the end, it would turn to water, rendering the effort put into making it meaningless.

Her face clearly showed boredom, as useless as her thoughts. Yet she exchanged formal greetings with people who came to make small talk.

Da Hae found these occasions very annoying. They were predictable and boring.

It was pathetic to see power games over who got the latest luxury brand items first, and she had no interest in the conversations about trite gossip between chaebol groups and the entertainment industry.

So the ice sculpture was the only thing that caught her attention.

While pondering the meaningless question of why, of all things, it was an eagle, a voice she had been waiting for came from behind her.

“Why are you staring at that ice block? Why don’t you go mingle a bit?”

“Grandma…… your granddaughter is tired…… Can’t we leave soon?”

Da Hae, who had been looking for a chance to escape, rounded her red lips. As she turned towards the husky voice, her large eyes blinked pitifully. Alternately examining the heels of her high heels while lowering her eye corners flowed naturally.

It was Da Hae’s version of aegyo, as stiff as tree bark.

“Do as you please.”

“Really?”

“If you want to go on a blind date right now. Go ahead.”

As always, it had no effect at all.

The old woman’s eyes, with her hands behind her back, looked past her granddaughter to peer into the distance.

“You know, that phone-selling old man’s grandson, he’s quite handsome but still unmarried.”

“See? I told you being single is the trend.”

“I heard he does some kind of entertainment business……”

“Oh, stop it. I’m not interested at all.”

“Wait.”

“Wait for what? You said this was the last one for this year. Doing this sneakily is cheating, Chairman Bae.”

What cheating.

Her lips pressed tightly, revealing her displeased mood. The old woman, completely ignoring her granddaughter’s words, turned away with a stern back that was still very upright despite her age.

Real estate genius. Investment god. Queen of financial technology.

The modifiers that followed Bae Jung Soon, Chairwoman of Yeong Son Group, were all about being a genius, god, or queen.

Even approaching her eighties, her hair was still abundant, and her fine skin had no deep wrinkles. Though small in stature, her spirit was as straight and sharp as her upright back.

Of course, even the iron lady who had everything had a lack. That which has limits by human power. Family.

Chairwoman Bae Jung Soon, who had lost her parents early, also lost her husband in an accident and even her son and daughter-in-law prematurely. This meant that for Da Hae as well, Chairwoman Bae Jung Soon was her only family.

She wanted to end the fierce fate of not being able to rub shoulders with blood relatives with her generation. In her remaining years, she couldn’t leave the young one alone.

Thanks to her grandmother’s determination, Da Hae, who grew up preciously as an only granddaughter, was in the midst of an unwilling sacrifice.

This year alone, she had been dragged to fifteen events. She had given up counting the number of blind dates she had been pushed into with obvious tricks.

Though she felt sorry for the enthusiastic Madam Bae, she didn’t want to live her life based on shamanism about predetermined fate or destiny. She had no particular attachment to the concept of family either.

It was for the same reason that she couldn’t keep a dog despite being crazy about them. She was afraid of the moment of parting even before meeting.

She had experienced losing people who were her entire world. A day where unfamiliar terror and flesh-scraping pain are routine. That horrific life repeating every season.

She didn’t want to create a new family and experience such pain again.

Because if there is no existence, there is no farewell.

Even knowing that marriage was the only way to break free from this tiresome yoke, Da Hae helplessly kept turning the hamster wheel.

What else could she do? Unless a noble person appeared who would cleanly share just the family registry with her.