“You’ll be surprised since I came without telling you, right?”

Ro Na chuckled imagining Jae Min’s surprised face.

She was angry yesterday when he left her alone at the movie theater, but he contacted her sincerely and by the afternoon her anger had subsided.

But not wanting to let him off easily, she pretended to still be angry and didn’t respond to his messages, and now she was on her way to surprise him with a packed lunch.

“Little bean, Mom’s still angry, right? Dad will be surprised when I show up with something delicious, won’t he? Let’s surprise Dad!”

Ro Na muttered while holding her belly, then soon entered the building.

This building near the courthouse housed numerous law offices.

Among them, Ro Na entered the 3rd floor where Noh Jae Min’s name was displayed, walking while recalling a memory of coming here before.

“Was Noh’s wife that pretty?”

“I didn’t know either. I couldn’t go to Jae Min’s wedding because I had something to do.”

Ro Na, walking down the hallway, stopped at the words of the men passing by her.

“Where on earth did he meet a woman like that? I mean, how did he manage to seduce her?”

“I think I heard they met through work. Something about his wife’s father’s hit-and-run case. I heard he felt an overwhelming urge to protect her because she seemed so fragile.”

“That bastard Noh Jae Min is so lucky. I’ve never met a woman like that in all my years of handling cases.”

“I know. I was surprised when I just saw her at the cafe.”

Listening to their words, Ro Na stood still, regulating her irregular breathing and straightening her head.

“Excuse me!”

The two men stopped at her voice.

Ro Na approached them and checked the brand logo on the takeout cups they were holding.

“I’m sorry, but I was wondering where the restroom is.”

“Oh, the women’s restroom is one floor up.”

“Thank you.”

The men turned away nonchalantly, and Ro Na, with a flushed expression, caught the elevator.

After realizing that the brand cafe where Jae Min was said to be with his wife was located right below the building, her feet were naturally heading there.

As soon as she reached the first floor, Ro Na boldly exited the building but stopped abruptly upon seeing Jae Min and his wife.

Ro Na’s gaze quickly shifted to the woman standing close to Jae Min.

“…Kim Hee Joo?”

Ro Na’s eyes trembled slightly at the woman’s eye-catching aura.

Her eyes swept over the exposed shoulders, the skinny jeans and heels that revealed her slim waist and long leg lines, then returned to her face.

“That woman! That woman is… Kim Hee Joo?”

Though she wasn’t wearing glasses and her style was completely different, it was clearly her face.

Instead of a shy smile, a haughty gaze; instead of hunched shoulders, an upright neckline; clothes that revealed a slim and elegant line, makeup that was not excessive but dewy and smooth, and a different hairstyle.

There was no denying it was Kim Hee Joo.

‘She’s struggling before the divorce. Her style has completely changed.’

That’s all she could do.

She had inwardly scoffed when Jae Min said this.

But to think she had changed this much.

Ro Na’s surprised eyes now moved to Jae Min.

“W-What… Why are you smiling?”

He was smiling at Kim Hee Joo.

The atmosphere between the two did not look like a couple about to divorce at all.

Rather, it was Kim Hee Joo who smiled benevolently from time to time.

Watching them, Ro Na took out her phone with trembling hands.

“Answer, Noh Jae Min…”

Ro Na called him while secretly observing the two.

Feeling the vibration, Jae Min took out his phone and looked at it for a moment, then put it back in his pocket.

Moreover, as if not to miss anything, he focused on Kim Hee Joo again.

“…Did you deceive me?”

Ro Na’s pupils shook, losing their place, at Jae Min’s smiling face as he looked at his wife.

It seems he never had any intention of divorcing in the first place.

He planned to keep her, the pregnant mistress, while living a double life like this.

“Noh Jae Min… How could you!”

As her imagination reached its peak, Ro Na felt dizzy from extreme stress.

Yet she didn’t take her eyes off them for a moment to observe Jae Min’s actions.

Leaning against the wall, she thought how ridiculous she looked, hiding and watching them.

*

Clang clang.

The shaman shook the bundle of beads.

Young Ja sat in front of the shaman, who was rolling her eyes and chanting spells, swallowing hard.

“I see it! I see.”

“You see?”

“Yes! I see, I see!”

Young Ja smiled broadly and said to her friend who came with her, “It must be a son!”

“It’s a boy, right? It’s a male child, right?”

The bundle of beads that had been shaking chaotically enough to confuse the mind stopped.

“He’s wandering.”

“…What is?”

“Your daughter-in-law’s father is wandering, unable to leave this world!”

Young Ja’s arm broke out in goosebumps. She hadn’t mentioned that her daughter-in-law’s father had passed away, yet this supposedly skilled shaman had guessed it.

“Well, I’ve heard that a lot when I go to fortune-tellers. But why on earth won’t he leave and keeps sticking around our house?”

“He has a grudge. He can’t close his eyes!”

“That’s right. I heard he was hit by a hit-and-run driver. My son is going to divorce her soon anyway, so there’s no need to check her fortune. Anyway, can you see if it’s a boy or a girl, our grandchild? And a good day for the birth, okay?”

“Wooo wooo.”

The bundle of beads started shaking again. Looking at the shaman chanting spells, Young Ja rubbed her hands together as if praying.

“Ah ah I see it! I see!”

“Oh my! It is a boy!”

“No, that’s not it!”

“No? Then… is it a girl? Oh dear, but the first child should be a son!”

“It’s not that woman. It’s not that woman!”

Looking at the shaman rolling her eyes while shaking the bead bundle, Young Ja blinked in confusion.

“Not a daughter, not a son, what are you saying?”

“Wooo wooo.”

Young Ja lowered her posture at the shaman’s appearance, seemingly receiving the divine energy at its peak.

“It’s quite tangled. Your son has tangled it all up. Your son is doomed to live a troubled life, that’s what I’m saying.”

Young Ja’s eyebrows twitched as she raised her head from her praying posture.

She quickly raised her head and soon pursed her lips with a displeased expression.

“Hey, I asked you to tell me the gender of our grandchild and a good date. What nonsense are you spouting, you shaman!”

“Your son and daughter have ruined everything. It will be difficult to live smoothly.”

“What, now you’re bringing up our daughter too? You fraud! You’re just babbling nonsense to extort money! Huh?”

As Young Ja’s voice grew louder, her friend beside her tried to stop her.

“Ah, let go! I came because I heard she was skilled, but she’s a complete fraud!”

“Wooo wooo I see it I see!”

The shaman rolled her eyes and shook the rattle again, but Young Ja roughly scrunched her face and stood up.

“You frauds! Enough! Ah, let go of this, I’m leaving alone!”

“Oh my, Jae Min’s mother, how can you leave like this. This place is incredibly skilled.”

“Skilled my foot! How many fortune-tellers do you think I’ve been to!”

She had been to countless fortune-tellers, and all of them said it was a relationship that shouldn’t be, that she had brought in the wrong daughter-in-law, but this was the first time someone blamed her son.

Exiting the fortune-teller’s place, Young Ja picked up the eagle doll placed at the entrance and threw it to vent her anger.

*

Noh Jae Min was much easier than expected.

He reacted as anticipated to all her intended words and actions.

Judging by the fact that he became a lawyer, he must have some brains, but seeing how his heart flutters at any time, he seems weak to women.

‘I’ll think about it as much as you want until this week.’

‘Oh, well. Take your time. Take your time.’

Since there’s even a child involved, it must be the mistress who’s anxious.

Noh Jae Min must have hidden the affair for minimal property division and a clean divorce.

Seeing their inner psychology, it’s clear how to manipulate them.

Noh Jae Min, with everything exposed, is just a matter of time now, so the mistress first.

“You should feel the same emotions too.”

Recalling the woman’s face she had seen from afar, Chae Won turned the steering wheel.

After parking her car in the apartment’s underground parking lot, Chae Won left Hee Joo’s phone behind and turned on her own phone.

Starting with a small light on the black screen, many signals came in.

Checking the left messages, Chae Won opened her mouth in exasperation.

“Ah! Crazy…!”

Come to think of it, Yoo Gun must have made plans for today too, but she hadn’t thought about it.

Chae Won hurriedly called him.

Beep-. Beep-.

Feeling guilty, she became more anxious as the unanswered signal continued.

With a click, his voice was heard.

– Yes.

“Where are you?”

– I’m behind you.

“What?”

Chae Won, with the phone to her ear, turned around and saw a black car that had just entered.

After finishing parking in the designated spot, he soon got out of the car.

Chae Won quickly approached and faced him.

“I’m sorry.”

“Oh, so you do know how to apologize?”

Yoo Gun smirked at the unexpected words.

“Noh Jae Min suddenly wanted to meet, and I forgot. Did you wait long?”

“Probably.”

“Let’s go now. Let’s not just take pictures, let’s eat too. I’ll treat.”

The actual long wait was 30 minutes. After that, thinking Chae Won might have some circumstances, he had turned on his phone and was on his way back from working out at the gym.

He hadn’t stupidly wasted a long time, but if he hadn’t planned to meet Chae Won, he would have spent productive time at the company, so numerically, it was clearly a loss.

But just a meal…

“Doesn’t that seem a bit light as compensation for three hours?”

“If you want, I’ll buy drinks too.”

Yoo Gun tilted his head slightly and stared into Chae Won’s eyes.

Seeming very sorry, she thought more as if searching for an answer, then met his gaze again.

“What should I do for you? As compensation.”

He had no intention of getting treated to meals or drinks.

If it were to be a satisfying compensation…

Yoo Gun looked at her red lips that caught his attention.

Whether it was something she applied or if she had moistened her lips with her tongue, he couldn’t tell, but they looked particularly wet and moist today.

“There is something I’m curious about.”

“…What is it?”

Yoo Gun’s gaze, which had been fixated on Chae Won’s lips, suddenly detached.

“Let’s keep that for now. It’s better not to drink.”

As he turned away as if satisfied for today, Chae Won quickly grabbed him.

“I can’t see you tomorrow. I have to go to my sister’s hospital, and I have unavoidable hospital schedules. So we need to take two days’ worth of photos today.”

Yoo Gun faced her again.

“It seems too late to take two days’ worth of photos, Ms. Kim Chae Won.”

Chae Won checked the time on her phone, then looked up again with a troubled expression after thinking.

“Then, let’s not go far, let’s take two shots at home.”

“…At home?”

“Yes. We could watch a movie at home, or we could eat. It’s a space that could definitely exist for a dating couple. Let’s take pictures at home. Us.”

Chae Won spoke while still holding onto Yoo Gun’s arm.

“Bring one more set of clothes to change into, and come to my house.”

Although it was an unexpected space, Yoo Gun nodded shortly after.

“Alright.”

It was a proposal he liked for once.