The eyelids that had been lowered to the floor slowly rose, following the voice offering congratulations.

An indifferent voice. A detached expression to match it.

Throughout the shareholders’ meeting, he had silently kept his seat – Kang Chul Won, the second-in-command of Sammyeong Group.

The gazes of father and son met quietly.

I wish he would be more grief-stricken. I wish he would pound the ground in resentment. This man called father disappoints to the very end.

At that moment. Bang Mi Mi, who had turned the corner, appeared and disrupted the silence.

“Your face is beaming, isn’t it?”

Her jet-black high heels approached, stomping on the tiles as if about to charge.

A face etched with anger and eyes bloodshot and fiercely glaring. Her bitten, blood-stained lips trembled.

Judging by the direction she came from, it seemed she had gone to plead with Chairman Kang Cha Dol. From her expression, it didn’t look like she had much success.

“Well, what are you going to do now?”

“What do you mean?”

“You know better, don’t you? You must have been grinding your teeth waiting for this moment. Pretending to be innocent, pretending not to be greedy. You sly thing.”

The corners of his mouth curved into a smile, his eyes looking down lightly.

The face that had been looking down impassively at the seething Bang Mi Mi soon broke into a relaxed smile.

That really set her off, making Bang Mi Mi’s fists tremble violently.

Her long nails dug into her skin as she clenched them tightly.

“Are you planning to bring your mother back too?”

“Nothing’s impossible.”

“What…!”

“But.”

Casually putting both hands in his pants pockets and leaning forward, Jae Kyung looked at her face indifferently.

Though she couldn’t avoid meeting his gaze out of pride, Mi Mi’s eyes, colliding with his cold ones, lost focus and shook wildly.

“I don’t want to bring her back to this cesspool. My mother.”

So this is its true colors finally revealed. Hiding its claws and pretending to be a cat, but in the end becoming a beast. That wicked thing.

“Acting all high and mighty. By that logic, you grew up in a cesspool too.”

“…Let’s go.”

“Don’t assume it’s over. I’m Bang Mi Mi!”

For now she retreats, but she won’t just stand by and watch such an arrogant display.

As he passed by, escorting the still venomous Bang Mi Mi, Chul Won’s hand patted Jae Kyung’s shoulder. As if praising a worthy son.

Even as the elevator carried them away, the man who remained standing in place had no expression.

His deeply sunken eyes only occasionally closed and opened again.

Loosening the suffocatingly tight necktie, he pressed the elevator down button. Once, twice, three times.

Though there was still much to handle, Jae Kyung’s hands were already urging him to leave work.

In this hollow moment. Because he felt he needed to see that face right away, the only one that came to mind.

Because it felt like that was the only way he could go on living.

* * *

The sun, having fulfilled its duty, seemed ready to lie down as it began to engulf the gray sky in red.

With each trudging step, the well-cushioned slippers dragged listlessly, making a direct, direct sound.

The convenience store bag dangling from her fingertips rustled against her calves.

On top of it, the Melona ice cream she held was melting softly, with teeth marks only at the very end.

“For something that’s setting, it sure is dazzling.”

The grumbling voice scolded the innocent sunset.

5:30 PM. Still early to be getting off work. Unable to focus on anything, Team Leader Kye left early, unlike her usual self.

She had seen on the news that the shareholders’ meeting had ended well.

Articles expressing concerns and interest, expectations and criticism about the young executive, with a photo of the protagonist at the top.

Is this really the same childish man who’s always looking for a chance to play pranks? The all-black three-piece suit enveloping his torso and proportions that defy the composition.

Though his face wore a relaxed smile, an overwhelming aura emanated from his intellectual eyes.

The bridge of his nose, rising gracefully on his small face, was also distinctly prominent.

Judging by how his features didn’t overlap at all with the round, gentle impression of President Kang Chul Won, the maternal genes were clearly dominant.

Her thumb was about to trace over that face on the screen, when she caught herself, wondering what she was doing.

Ziiing, as the screen flipped, the sudden appearance of those three syllables of his name made her small shoulders jump in surprise. Her heart pounded as if caught peeking.

Catching her breath while standing still, Da Hae brought the phone to her ear.

-Have you eaten.

Before she could even form the four syllables of “hello,” he abruptly asked about her meal.

As this was the first greeting in two weeks, a breathy laugh escaped between her vermilion lips.

It’s also a skill to naturally lead the atmosphere as smoothly as flowing water.

He has a knack for making people feel at ease. Despite his rather uncomfortable appearance.

Da Hae glanced down at the bag in her hand and started walking again.

“I’m about to eat now.”

-I’m hungry too.

“Aren’t you having dinner with your family? Even though you’re at odds, today’s an important day. You should gloat triumphantly as the victor.”

For some reason, there was no reply. Her slowed feet stopped again as she focused on the noise from the other end of the line.

She could hear breathing, so the call was still connected, but… As Da Hae brought the phone in front of her eyes, a large shadow suddenly loomed over her head.

At the same time, a familiar scent of skin wafted over.

“That’s why I came.”

The protagonist of today, who until just now she had only seen in photos, snatched the bag from her hand and took a big bite of the Melona ice cream to boot.

“You’re my family, after all.”

He appeared out of nowhere and stretched his lips into a grin.

Family. It was just an ordinary word with nothing special about it, but for some reason it made a corner of her heart tingle.

Taking a step back to maintain distance, Da Hae lifted her head tightly to meet his eyes.

Thanks to his hairstyle, which had been meticulously styled for this important day, the shadow of his nose bridge leading to his forehead was especially prominent.

His fine-textured skin still glowed, but he somehow looked gaunt, as if he had lost weight in the meantime.

As his gently resting gaze silently examined her face, Jae Kyung, who had lowered his upper body significantly to approach her, chuckled.

“Now I see why you’re always in high heels.”

The man’s gaze, with his head tilted slightly, slowly rose from the woman’s slipper-clad feet to her face.

Saying that he’d throw out his back trying to look at her face.

To which Da Hae let out a short, exasperated breath. This is so Kang Jae Kyung, she thought.

That mischievous expression always looking for a chance to tease, the corners of his mouth turned up impishly, even that snickering laugh.

“Are you shrinking?”

“Just do the first verse.”

“When was your last health check-up?”

“You should get one yourself, Kang Jae Kyung. I’m still young, so I’m fine-”

“Thirty isn’t exactly young…”

Jae Kyung’s words were cut off by her piercing gaze, and he raised his palms in surrender.

Yet his broad shoulders heaved with uncontrollable laughter that burst forth.

As if trying to make up for days without laughter, that laughter continued endlessly.

The small woman, glaring with her lips firmly pressed together, was lovable in every aspect.

He had missed her.

Saying he had missed her wasn’t enough.

When longing for Da Hae overwhelmed his consciousness, he had to surrender his entire body to an emotion resembling fear.

After such moments passed and he came to his senses, he always found himself here.

One day, two days, three days like that.

Before he knew it, there wasn’t a single day he didn’t come here. It was the end of his daily routine. Coming to this place where traces of her lingered.

Yet he couldn’t bring himself to contact her.

Seeing that bright smiling face made everything he had done until now seem futile. It felt like things could be good just as they were.

So he held back. Waiting only for today.

“You’re the only one who hasn’t congratulated me. At least buy me a meal.”

“Is it really just cause for congratulations? Thanks to you, I’m going to be harassed by reporters.”

Sighing that even on her way to work today, it was a struggle just to avoid the reporters waiting in front of the company, Da Hae turned her gaze to the distance as she prepared her next words.

“I’m planning to go abroad next spring.”

His eyes, tilted askew, stared at the woman at this sudden escape plan.

“It’s already this chaotic just because you’ve become the largest shareholder. What if we get divorced? They’ll come running like crazy, making it hard to commute normally. Thinking about it again, I’m getting the short end of the stick in this contract.”

Looking at the orange-tinted street, Da Hae laughed dryly.

The tender flesh inside her lips was being chewed between her teeth.

The man straightened his lowered back, stepping backwards and crossing his arms in displeasure.

“Again.”

A heavy sigh escaped briefly.

“Why do you keep mentioning divorce?”

“There’s not much time left, right? Summer is almost over.”

A relationship that began with an end date set.

It was ironic how difficult it now was to speak of parting, when in the past she had only eagerly anticipated the end of the contract.