Jenny approached with her head tilted curiously.

“New sister-in-law!”

Faced with this awkward situation, Kim Chae Won bit her lower lip hard.

“Elder sister Hee Joo, elder sister? Why are you here?”

Even as she spoke, Jenny’s curious gaze remained fixed on Choi Yoo Gun.

Having finished her thoughts, Chae Won soon turned to Jenny with a bright smile.

“Oh my, how did we end up meeting like this? Goodness.”

“I know, but elder sister, who is this person?”

Chae Won shifted her gaze from Jenny to Yoo Gun. His appearance, waiting for an explanation with closed lips, was quietly threatening.

Swallowing dryly, Chae Won changed her tone to a polite one.

“Yoo Gun, what should we do? I’ve just met a really, really important person. Let’s end it here for today and I’ll contact you. I’m sorry.”

After greeting him, Chae Won quickly picked up her bag and stood up.

“Oh, elder sister, why are you like this? I have an appointment here!”

Then don’t act like you know me.

Chae Won linked arms with Jenny and forcefully pulled her outside.

“Ah! How far are you going to go, let go and talk.”

Chae Won stopped in a suitably quiet space, faced Jenny, and spoke with dry eyes and a barely raised corner of her mouth.

“The world is so small. To meet by chance in a place like this.”

Jenny looked Chae Won up and down, noting her even more elegant attire than before, then lifted her head sharply.

“Wow… This is Hermès’ new collection! Elder sister, how much compensation did you receive? Did you get hit by some chaebol’s car or something?”

“Not quite a chaebol.”

Chae Won brushed away Jenny’s hand touching her clothes and stood in a dignified posture.

“But, young lady, what brings you here?”

“What else? I came to meet our Ho Tae.”

“Ho Tae?”

Jenny, who had been examining Chae Won, soon frowned.

“My boyfriend who’s going to marry me. Wow, elder sister, you really got into a serious accident, huh?”

Chae Won nodded with an awkward smile.

“Elder sister, how much compensation did you receive exactly? Hm?”

“This is ridiculous.”

Jenny’s eyes, with deep double eyelids like a foreigner’s on her slightly tanned skin, widened round.

“…Huh?”

Chae Won let out an uncomfortable breath at the continued talk of compensation.

“When a family member has an accident, shouldn’t you first ask if they’re alright and if they’ve received proper treatment?”

As Chae Won asked with a blank expression, Jenny blinked several times in confusion.

“Well, I…”

“Yes. Go on.”

As Chae Won stepped closer as if to listen properly, the flustered Jenny took a step back.

“What’s wrong with you, elder sister? Why are you acting like this? Your personality has really changed since the accident.”

What kind of existence was Kim Hee Joo in these people’s minds?

How poorly treated had she been living?

And then why couldn’t she divorce cleanly, instead of leaving home as if in rebellion?

“Ahem, elder sister… did they say you’re okay at the hospital?”

At this question, extracted like begging on hands and knees, Chae Won answered with a rotten smile.

“They say it’s temporary, so don’t worry.”

“Hmm.”

Jenny, her expression slightly shrunk as she rolled her eyes, spotted Yoo Gun coming out in the distance and widened her eyes again.

“But, what’s going on between you and that man? Does oppa know too?”

Following Jenny’s gaze, Chae Won inhaled sharply and quickly turned her head. As expected, he was walking out to the lobby, unlikely to dine alone.

“I told you earlier, it’s for work.”

“What kind of work could you do, elder sister, someone who only did housework… Oh? It’s Ho Tae!”

When she turned her head, what she saw was a man in jeans and a denim shirt, whose discordant fashion caught Chae Won’s attention.

That man stood in front of Yoo Gun, who was walking like he was shooting a pictorial in his neat suit, and called out.

“Elder brother!”

At the same time, Chae Won’s pupils trembled slightly.

Elder brother. Did he say elder brother? What kind of elder brother? Surely, it’s just a common term of address like calling anyone ‘elder sister’ familiarly? Chae Won’s gaze, wanting to believe that, clung to Yoo Gun’s lips.

“Yes.”

After watching Yoo Gun’s reaction, Chae Won turned her head forward with her mouth agape.

Of all things, to be on elder-younger brother terms with Jenny’s fiancé.

At this rate, to avoid her identity being discovered, she really needs to end things with Choi Yoo Gun today.

“Ho Tae!”

As both men’s attention was drawn to Jenny’s tactless voice, Chae Won met Yoo Gun’s eyes and smiled with a rotten expression.

Yes, I need to get out of here right away before things get more complicated.

“Well then, young lady, have a good time with Ho Tae.”

Feeling Yoo Gun’s gaze on her back, Chae Won quickly headed towards the emergency exit.

“Elder sister?”

Chae Won pretended to be on a phone call that hadn’t even come, walking away obliviously.

Hoping that Yoo Gun wouldn’t come over and call out “Miss Kim Chae Won”.

Hoping that Jenny wouldn’t call out “Elder sister Hee Joo”.

“Elder sister! Where are you going, elder sister Hee Joo!”

Damn it.

She has a feeling that girl might be someone who’s not helpful in life.

Biting her lip, Chae Won quickly opened the emergency exit door and disappeared.

*

“What brings elder brother here?”

Yoo Gun’s gaze, which had been directed at Chae Won’s retreating figure, returned to Ho Tae.

“Just meeting someone.”

“Did you go on a blind date?”

“I’ll take care of that myself.”

At his stiff response, Ho Tae clicked his tongue disapprovingly and widened his eyes as his gaze happened to land on something.

“Oh, I haven’t seen that watch before. It’s pretty. Must be expensive. How much did you pay?”

“Cheap. Less than the car of mine you totaled.”

Ho Tae rolled his eyes and laughed awkwardly.

“Come on, elder brother. Why are you bringing up ancient history?”

In the past, there was a historic incident where Ho Tae secretly took Yoo Gun’s car from a family gathering and completely wrecked it, leading to its scrapping.

“Ho Tae!”

Yoo Gun turned his gaze to Jenny, who approached with a gentle voice.

“Oh, honey. You’re early.”

“Yes.”

As Jenny looked at Yoo Gun with an expression full of curiosity, Ho Tae glanced between the two and started the introduction with an “Ah”.

“Honey, this is Choi Yoo Gun, my cousin elder brother. Say hello.”

“Ah. Hello, we’ll meet again soon, but I’m Jenny, who’s engaged to Ho Tae.”

Yoo Gun remembered her as the woman who had just left with Chae Won and gave a light eye greeting for now.

“You saw me earlier, right?”

“Yes.”

“But how do you know our new sister-in-law…?”

“New sister-in-law?”

“Elder sister Hee Joo, ah, that is, I’m elder sister Hee Joo’s sister-in-law. I saw you two dining earlier, so I was wondering how you knew each other and why you’re here.”

Yoo Gun stared at Jenny for a moment.

It was an expression frozen in thought, not really looking at her.

When Jenny raised her eyebrows as if to ask what was wrong, Yoo Gun soon spoke in a calm voice.

“We just met for work. Well then, I’ll see you next time.”

After briefly greeting Jenny, Yoo Gun brushed past the two and went outside.

Unable to take her eyes off his retreating figure, Jenny mumbled.

“I thought he was a celebrity, he’s so handsome?”

“What did you say?”

Startled by Ho Tae’s uncomfortable voice, Jenny quickly brightened up and continued.

“No, I mean your family must have superior genes, everyone’s good-looking. Of course, my honey is the best.”

At her placating words, Ho Tae broadened his shoulders.

“Our family is like that. So we don’t have to worry about our children’s looks.”

“Right. I’m not worried!”

Jenny winked at him, then looked once more in the direction Yoo Gun had disappeared and pondered.

“But what kind of work could there be for him to meet with our new sister-in-law?”

“New sister-in-law, that frustrating one?”

“Yeah. I just saw your cousin elder brother and our new sister-in-law eating together.”

‘I thought they might be having an affair,’ she muttered, and Ho Tae scoffed.

“Why would Choi Yoo Gun have an affair with a married woman? Besides, elder brother is a workaholic who doesn’t even date. It’s so bad that grandmother is trying to make him date by staking her fortune.”

“Oh my, to that extent?”

Jenny was about to say it was a waste of his looks but closed her mouth, noticing Ho Tae’s furrowed brow.

“Anyway, he’s weird. Acting all high and mighty by himself, really annoying.”

Realizing that Ho Tae and Yoo Gun weren’t on good terms, Jenny thought for a while with her philtrum extended, then quickly grabbed his arm and shook it coquettishly.

“Honey, Jenny is hungry. Let’s go eat quickly. Okay?”

“Alright, alright. Let’s go, my honey.”

Walking side by side with Ho Tae, Jenny kept glancing back at the lingering image of the two people.

*

‘But how do you know our new sister-in-law…?’

New sister-in-law…

There’s no way Madam Kim’s investigation was so poor that she set up a married woman as a blind date candidate.

‘Elder sister Hee Joo!’

The different name she called out several times.

Kim Chae Won’s response without denial.

“What could it be… this fishy situation.”

While pondering with his hands on the steering wheel, the phone rang.

After quietly looking at her name, Yoo Gun soon answered the call.

− I feel like I didn’t properly greet you. I met an acquaintance I really couldn’t ignore earlier.

It was a polite voice.

− Still, I shouldn’t have left like that… Oh, and I’ll speak well to your father about our blind date. I’m sorry for disappointing you in many ways.

He could cutely overlook her acting that swung between sickness and princess syndrome, but leaving after just cutting two pieces of steak is also foul play.

Even if she said she rejected her, the overbearing Madam Kim, who thinks her bloodline is the best, wouldn’t believe it.

And the mysterious farewell with her, who ultimately scored minus points for consideration, is also unsettling.

“Where are you?”

− Pardon?

“I think we have some things to talk about.”

− Ah, I don’t particularly…

“Then I guess I’ll have to join my cousin’s couple on their date. Miss Jenny seemed very curious about her new sister-in-law. We could talk more about Chae Won.”

An awkward breath flows.

− Mr. Choi Yoo Gun.

“Yes, Miss Kim Chae Won. No, was the name Hee Joo?”

− Let’s meet.

As expected, she’s hiding something.

− No, why are you interfering with a young couple’s date? You shouldn’t do that. It’s not good. Let’s meet quickly. Us. The location is…

After confirming the location she mentioned on the navigation, Yoo Gun ended the call and started the engine.

Thinking that perhaps things might be resolved easily, Yoo Gun increased his speed.