After finishing the laser treatment and returning to her seat, Chae Won looked up at the sound of a knock.

Nurse Oh peeked her head in.

“Dr. Kim, you changed the appointment for patient Han Ji Sook scheduled for 2 PM today.”

Sitting down, Chae Won thought for a moment with a perplexed expression and asked.

“To when?”

“Next week.”

“That won’t work…”

After thinking, Chae Won raised her eyelids again to look at Nurse Oh.

“I’ll try calling her. Also, could you send me an updated list reflecting all the appointment changes for this week?”

“Ah yes. I’ll tell Yeon Seo right away.”

“Thank you.”

Nurse Oh, who should be leaving now, stands there with a peculiar expression.

“What’s wrong?”

“It’s nothing much, Doctor. You know about our hospital dinner tomorrow evening, right?”

“Ah.”

In fact, Chae Won had been avoiding company dinners for a while now.

She wondered how they managed to hire only people who loved drinking so much. It was fine if they just enjoyed it, but it was difficult to handle their exuberant mood and drunken behavior.

She tried to suggest lunch gatherings instead, but the staff strongly objected, saying it was too short for proper conversation.

“Yes, I know.”

That one time, decided after postponing the monthly events to quarterly, and then to once or twice a year, using various excuses.

They must have been eagerly anticipating it, so if she tried to skip or postpone it again, the staff would surely be dissatisfied.

With Hee Joo lying in bed, she has no intention of smiling and enjoying the dinner, but having already used family as an excuse to avoid gatherings many times before, she plans to just make a brief appearance and leave.

“You’re not going to postpone it or be unable to attend due to some business, right?”

“I won’t cause any trouble, so don’t worry.”

“Okay. It’s also close to your vacation. We’ve had a hard time scheduling this after postponing so many times, so please make sure to attend this dinner, Doctor.”

Nurse Oh emphasized several times before closing the door and disappearing.

Come to think of it, her vacation wasn’t far off.

Turning her head towards the calendar, Chae Won suddenly recalled her scheduled plans with him.

‘Let’s spend just one day together.’

His expression and tone showed not even a hint of ulterior motive.

That’s why she decided so readily, but she keeps recalling yesterday’s events and feeling bothered.

“…Yesterday was just my misunderstanding.”

Remembering his whisper that she mistook for a kiss yesterday, her ear tingles for no reason.

She couldn’t easily forget his bold action of offering his shoulder and cradling her head as if telling her to lean on him and sleep, nor the look in his eyes when he turned to face her once more.

It was just a whisper because they were in a movie theater, and he offered his shoulder because he felt sorry seeing her doze off, but the more she thinks about it, a corner of her heart tingles.

“It feels like an extremely dangerous virus has infiltrated right now.”

Staring into space with a serious expression, Chae Won soon pressed her lips together and muttered as if making a resolution.

“That can’t be, heart. You’re not such an easy heart, right?”

While nodding her head in response with a ‘yes’ instead of her heart, the vibration of Hee Joo’s phone, which was charging, rang out.

After seeing the message, Chae Won soon replied with an expressionless face.

Thud. Putting down the phone, she sprawled in the chair and folded her arms.

It must feel like leaving the bathroom without wiping properly.

He was quite clumsy yesterday after all.

“How can he act so predictably?”

She wonders just how easily swayed Noh Jae Min’s heart is, and plans to find out.

Thinking that a heart moved once could surely be moved again.

Somehow feeling like it might not be too difficult.

*

Sitting in a cafe in the bustling center, Jae Min looked around while shaking one leg.

“When on earth is she coming?”

He had denied and made excuses in his own way yesterday, but somehow he felt he had shown signs of being flustered, which left him quite uneasy.

Just who was this friend who had been staying somewhere and saw him, he wondered. Today he planned to question and probe aggressively about this and that.

He needed to eliminate any suspicions about himself, even if just a little.

“I can’t leave any unnecessary sparks.”

Jae Min’s gaze, which had been sucking his coffee with a slurping sound, stopped at the window he happened to glance at.

And seeing a woman who stood out from afar, his mouth slowly opened.

Plop. The straw he had been biting fell to the floor.

“…Kim Hee Joo?”

Tight-fitting skinny jeans below a snow-white blouse revealing her shoulders.

With a red clutch bag in hand and long flowing hair, she was walking with confident steps, stretching her slender legs.

She always favored oversized t-shirts and sweatpants or long, flowy elastic-waist skirts.

Even before marriage, she enjoyed decorating the house or cooking more than adorning herself, always smiling with a gentle expression.

Even if she was trying to change her style in rebellion against the divorce, there should be limits.

“What’s this, why is Kim Hee Joo like that.”

…She’s pretty.

Though there were many people outside the window, Jae Min could only see his wife’s movements as if entranced.

He rubbed his eyes several times to try to come to his senses, but he wasn’t the only man looking at her.

The moment her figure disappeared from the window, Jae Min’s head automatically turned towards the cafe entrance.

“Welcome.”

With the employee’s greeting, Chae Won entered.

Raising her bag to her navel, Chae Won turned her body as she met the eyes she encountered while turning her head.

Jae Min, who had been taking in her every movement, soon held his breath as he looked at his wife seated in front of him.

“I’m not late, am I? Did you wait long?”

Jae Min came to his senses at Chae Won’s question and finally composed his expression.

“No, not really.”

Putting down her bag, Chae Won naturally swept back her hair that had fallen with her fingertips.

Staring intently at her, Jae Min soon faced her again with a serious expression after rolling his eyes.

“You, by the way. You’ve really changed a lot lately?”

He knew she was trying something new to turn her heart around, starting with what she called a slump, but he didn’t expect her to change this dramatically.

Even her shoulders, which were always hunched, were now held upright with a confident air, as if she had received some kind of correction.

“Do I seem to have changed a lot just because I did my hair and changed clothes?”

It feels a bit different with her constantly using formal speech too…

She looks like a different person without glasses.

“You seem to have lost some weight too.”

“Isn’t it strange to gain weight when your husband suddenly asks for a divorce?”

“…Ahem.”

“What did you want to say?”

Jae Min lowered his gaze halfway and set the mood.

“To be honest, it made me feel a bit uneasy.”

“What did?”

“I mean yesterday. I understand you don’t want the divorce, but it made me feel bad, you know, imagining things like saying you saw me at the movie theater or suspecting I’m meeting another woman, that kind of imaginary defamation.”

Jae Min’s expression suggested he truly felt wronged and upset.

This man must have been in the drama club or something during his school days, his acting is top-notch.

“I was so dumbfounded when I heard that while working on an important case yesterday, I couldn’t speak properly because I was so shocked, but the more I think about it, the more unpleasant and angry I feel.”

Chae Won leaned back comfortably in her chair and thought.

If it were really Hee Joo, she might have fallen for it, given how adamantly he was claiming his innocence.

So this time, she should let it slide.

She wasn’t trying to roll around in the mud fight with him, but rather make him sink into the mud on his own.

“Do you know how angry I got at Ji Yeon?”

“Huh?”

“I told her my husband isn’t that kind of person. I said he was working hard at the office, so why was she falsely accusing an innocent person?”

“…You did?”

“Yes. That’s what I said. That I trust my husband more than anyone.”

Faced with her eyes full of trust, Jae Min, pricked by his conscience, rolled his eyes.

“By the way, what was your friend’s name again?”

“Ji Yeon. Don’t you remember?”

“Ah, that friend who emigrated?”

“She came to Korea briefly for work. I’m staying at her place. Ji Yeon helped me a lot when I had that accident too.”

With a lot of information in Hee Joo’s phone, she could make up an appropriate friend’s name.

It was also mentioned first to prevent relative suspicion from coming back.

“Oh right, how did that accident happen? How much compensation did you get to be wearing such expensive things?”

“You’re a lawyer, so you should know. How much settlement money could I get for a minor fender bender with no broken bones?”

“Then, your designer bag and all.”

“You think it’s mine? I left with nothing, so I’m sharing my friend’s things.”

“I see.”

Jae Min nodded.

He had resolved the suspicious parts, and knew that she trusted him implicitly.

Knowing her tender-hearted nature, if she knew the truth, she would be in tears rather than this composed – it made him feel even more relieved.

“You already finished your drink?”

Chae Won’s gaze fell on the empty ice glass in front of Jae Min.

“Ah, yeah.”

“Then I’ll order for myself.”

“No, I’ll have another too. I’m thirsty.”

“Really?”

“Yeah yeah.”

“Then I’ll have a hot latte. Decaf.”

“…Huh?”

“Is that hard to understand? I said I’ll have a hot latte.”

That’s not it. You’re telling me to go order…

At Chae Won’s words, Jae Min blinked a couple of times. She was instructing him to go order drinks for her, just like a few days ago.

Not once had Hee Joo ever directed him to do something like this, so it was hard to adjust, but faced with her matter-of-fact gaze, Jae Min got up without a word.

“Oh, isn’t that Attorney Noh? Attorney Noh!”

Two men in suits who entered the cafe recognized Jae Min.

Heading towards the counter, Jae Min responded with an “Oh!” to Attorney Kang, his close friend, but soon stiffened his expression upon seeing Attorney Yoon, with whom he was on unfriendly terms, alongside him.

“Attorney Noh is working overtime today too? Seeing you at the cafe at this hour.”

“No. I’m here to meet someone.”

“Ah, a client?”

“Not exactly.”

Attorney Yoon, who had been avoiding eye contact due to their poor relationship, suddenly exclaimed “Oh” and craned his neck.

Following his gaze, Jae Min saw his wife at the end of it.

This caused Attorney Kang to turn his head towards the window as well.

“Wow, it’s been a while since my eyes have been treated to such a sight.”

“Yeah. Totally my type.”

“I wonder who she came with. Did she come alone?”

“Should I give her my business card and try to get her number?”

At his fellow lawyers’ reactions, Jae Min looked at his wife again.

The white neckline leading to exposed shoulders. Perhaps because of the white blouse, she looked both pure and sexy today.

There were thin straps hanging on both shoulders, but still, he felt oddly displeased by the exposed shoulders. Meanwhile, Chae Won’s pretty eyes, which had been on the window, turned towards Jae Min.

Her moist lips, shimmering with gloss, smiled only at Jae Min.

Looking at her, excessively pretty today as if she had eaten some kind of pure fruit, Jae Min unconsciously made a dazed expression.

Just then, Attorney Kang, with a surprised face, hit Jae Min’s shoulder.

“What’s this. Did that woman just smile at you?”

“Huh?”

Even Attorney Yoon, who rarely exchanged words with him if he could help it, approached with an indifferent expression and asked.

“Is she perhaps your client?”

Somehow feeling a sense of conquest.

Jae Min straightened his shoulders and said to Attorney Yoon.

“Not a client, she’s my wife.”

“…What? Wife?”

Seeing the surprised faces of the two, especially Attorney Yoon’s mouth that couldn’t close, he couldn’t feel more proud.

“Well then, go take care of your business.”

Jae Min shouted loudly as he headed towards Chae Won’s seat.

“Honey!”

His voice was so loud that it drew the attention of people conversing nearby all at once.

“It’s hot, shouldn’t you have something cold? Is a hot latte okay?”

“It’s fine.”

“Then, wait just a moment. Honey!”

“But why are you saying ‘honey’ so loudly?”

“Me? Oh, did I?”

Jae Min made a flustered and puzzled expression.

“Well, I guess it doesn’t matter. It’s true that I’m your honey.”

As Chae Won smiled gently, Jae Min, who had been staring blankly, soon cleared his throat repeatedly.