“Ra Jin, did you post the photo?”

It was a conversation that ordinary lovers would have. Ra Jin held out her phone screen to Kim Yu Jun, who wanted to see the photo.

“Let’s take a photo with you in it too. Should I take it for you?”

“Taking photos is work for me. It’s enough to just have the food and background.”

Thinking that there was no need to take a selfie when it wasn’t even a real date, Ra Jin refused. Then, as she put the dessert in her mouth, she gauged the timing to slowly get up.

“Mmm! The yakgwa tastes good when eaten with ice cream.”

“Is it that delicious?”

“Do you want to try it?”

She picked up the dessert spoon in front of Yu Jun and scooped up the ice cream and yakgwa until it was overflowing.

“Here. Have a taste.”

“Weren’t you going to feed me?”

Clicking her tongue inwardly at him making a fuss, Ra Jin stretched out her arm. The white bear’s head melted smoothly inside Kim Yu Jun’s mouth.

“It’s delicious.”

“Should I give you more?”

“If you want to.”

Ra Jin was thankful if Kim Yu Jun ate it for her, as she was already having a hard time swallowing the food. She scraped the ice cream thoroughly and held it out to Kim Yu Jun.

He ate it so well that it was very strange compared to his usual self. What was special about today?

“Should we order more single items?”

“No. I don’t like sweet things.”

Why is he eating so well if he doesn’t like sweet things? Grumbling inwardly, Ra Jin still smiled brightly. If they kept up this pace, they would get up in 10 minutes at the latest.

“I’m eating it because you’re giving it to me.”

Ra Jin stared blankly at Kim Yu Jun, who was smiling like a boy.

‘What is it about me that makes him so happy?’

The person who would become the head of the nation’s top company, pushing aside his sick elder brother. Kim Yu Jun, who was acknowledged for his cold yet excellent appearance and abilities, what more could he want? If he fell for Ra Jin’s looks, there were celebrities prettier than her.

It’s not like she was being friendly to Kim Yu Jun either, so what on earth was it?

Could it be because of that one line, ‘It’s not your fault, elder brother’?

Ra Jin recalled that day long ago.

Like a flashback scene in a drama, that day unfolded before Ra Jin’s eyes with elegant music playing and the laughter of people adorned in luxury goods overflowing at the Myungjin main house.

Back then, Ra Jin had wandered around near the glass garden to avoid the unfamiliar people.

Not a botanical garden, but a glass garden inside the house. At the time, she had felt dreamily enchanted.

‘If Yu Jun had gotten hurt instead of young master Chul Jun, that would have been filial piety.’

‘It would have been better if Yu Jun had died, so at least he could be buried in the chairman’s heart. This is like the runt stealing from the main heir.’

People clicked their tongues, saying the fate of Myungjin Group was over, and carelessly made remarks cursing the fact that Kim Yu Jun had survived.

‘That Buddha-like lady was wailing that it was Yu Jun’s fault. How resentful must she have been to do that?’

Someone who liked to gossip as if confirming a kill said whatever they wanted. Unable to wait any longer for the endless gossip to end, Ra Jin plopped down on the lawn.

As she plucked the densely grown grass with her hand and looked around, a large silhouette caught Ra Jin’s eye.

His eyes were red and bloodshot, as if he had already cried or was suppressing his anger.

‘Oh!’

As if caught doing something very wrong, Ra Jin hid her face, pretending not to see. Then, Kim Yu Jun’s breath fluttered above Ra Jin’s head and soon came closer.

‘It’s you.’

‘Pardon?’

‘Oh Jong Hyuk’s new little sister.’

Kim Yu Jun’s eyes sparkled like jewels as he looked down at her. Feeling like she shouldn’t acknowledge that he had cried, Ra Jin buried her face again.

‘What are you doing here?’

‘I was admiring the flowers. I was bored…’

‘I’m sorry. For making you hear curses while admiring the flowers.’

‘Oh, no. No, that’s! Those people are bad. It’s not your fault, elder brother.’

As Ra Jin waved her hands wildly, trying to explain somehow, Kim Yu Jun’s face tilted at an angle.

‘I heard what my new father and mother were saying. They said who can control what happens in the sky.’

‘……’

‘Um. What I mean is… it was an accident. It’s not your fault, elder brother.’

Ra Jin felt it was unfair for Kim Yu Jun to be treated as someone who deserved to die for something he didn’t do on purpose. Was that why? Ra Jin wanted to comfort Kim Yu Jun.

‘When my father died… A grandmother I had never seen before said to me.’

‘……’

‘She said nothing good happened since I was born. That I broke up the couple’s relationship and caused my father’s death.’

The words that started as an attempt to comfort him suddenly crashed down on Ra Jin like a huge tidal wave.

Her parents’ discord, her father’s death. People gossiped as if it was all Ra Jin’s fault. Saying she had bad luck like her mother, warning her to be careful of her stepfather, and all sorts of unspeakable things were said. Reminded of those sharp words, Ra Jin just kept crying.

‘We’re not gods. How can we make others get hurt or die?’

‘……’

‘Talking nonsense, hurting others. People who say bad things should all be punished.’

Ra Jin gasped for breath and buried her face in Kim Yu Jun’s shoulder. Not only did she soak his expensive shirt with tears, but she also blurted out unnecessary things.

After saying it wasn’t the elder brother’s fault, she sided with him by grouping them together as ‘we’. Then she even cheered him on, telling him to overcome everything.

Kim Yu Jun blankly watched the monodrama of an emotionally volatile teenage girl.

‘Your name is Ra Jin, right?’

‘Sniff, I’m not Oh Ra Jin. I’m Park Ra Jin. Park, Ra, Jin.’

Smiling with a chuckle, Kim Yu Jun wiped away Ra Jin’s tears.

‘Park Ra Jin. But why are you crying so much?’

‘I hate those men cursing you, elder brother.’

‘What?’

‘You’re so pretty and kind even when I first see you. But they talk recklessly without knowing anything.’

When she said she was upset, Kim Yu Jun had burst out laughing.

“Ra Jin. Park Ra Jin.”

“…!”

“Did you hear what I just said?”

At Kim Yu Jun’s gentle voice, Ra Jin returned to reality from wandering through past memories.

“Oh, sorry. I was lost in the night view.”

When she met his eyes, asking him to say it again, Kim Yu Jun tapped the table with his finger.

“Do you want to walk a bit?”

“Where to?”

“Over there. The plaza.”

“We’ll stand out to people.”

Not wanting to do anything unnecessary, Ra Jin politely refused. However, Kim Yu Jun seemed unwilling to listen and got up from his seat first.

“Who’s going to see us at 11 pm on a Saturday night?”

“What if someone takes a photo?”

“I’ll make sure not a single hair on your head gets exposed. Let’s go.”

At his urging gaze to hurry, Ra Jin reluctantly got up.

Surrounded by tall bodyguards, they left the hotel and saw the empty plaza in front of the city hall.

“Ra Jin, hand.”

As Kim Yu Jun held out his palm, the bodyguards spread out widely.

“I’ll be disappointed if you don’t hold my hand.”

“We’re outside.”

“Just until we make one round. And I’ll take you home after. Okay?”

One round? Just one round and that’s it? Ra Jin looked around anxiously and grabbed the tip of Kim Yu Jun’s pinky finger.

“You’ve always been timid since you were young.”

Kim Yu Jun seemed to have forgotten about Oh Jong Hyuk’s matter from earlier, as his mood looked quite good.

“It’s nice walking like this.”

Having nothing to say in response, Ra Jin smiled back. As they walked side by side, matching their pace, Kim Yu Jun’s gaze never left Ra Jin.

“When we get married, you know. I’m going to live only for you and our child.”

“?!”

“Loving you hard every single day.”

Did something happen with the chairman? His flirtatious attitude, different from usual, was becoming more and more suspicious.

“Not having eyes for anyone else like my father, and not letting my love change like your mother. Only for you, for a long, long time.”

At his passionate confession-like words, Ra Jin abruptly stopped walking. Then Kim Yu Jun, who was walking beside her, and the bodyguards who were following at a distance, also halted.

“Why?”

Ra Jin’s true feelings suddenly slipped out without realizing it.

“There are many people who suit you better than me. Why me?”

“Ra Jin.”

Kim Yu Jun’s pale hand cupped Ra Jin’s cheek. His hand was warmer than she thought.

“Back then, when I was barely living.”

“Back then?”

“When I met you in front of the garden, remember?”

“……”

“You told me to fight and win no matter what. To take Myungjin too. You did.”

She had said something like that. Babbling on about using any means necessary to show the chairman and punish the people who said bad things, and to take Myungjin Group.

But those were the immature words of a naive girl. To think he still held them deep in his heart.

“You were my one and only ally, you said.”

In an instant, it felt like being hit hard with a huge hammer.

“You were the one who made me, who wanted to die, come this far. So of course it has to be you.”

Kim Yu Jun smiled brightly and gently rubbed Ra Jin’s cheek.

The one who turned Kim Yu Jun, who was barely living, into a cold-blooded monster, and made him become a criminal who would stop at nothing to have Myungjin.

‘It was me? I was the one who made Kim Yu Jun like that?’

Stunned by the unbelievable fact, Ra Jin froze as if struck by lightning.

“It was the first time. Someone cried sincerely for me.”

“Back then… I was emotionally sensitive.”

Kim Yu Jun laughed silently as if recalling a precious memory.

“A kid I met for the first time was crying profusely. Later, not only was my shoulder soaked, but my arm too.”

“Our situations were different then. I empathized unnecessarily and that’s why.”

“Our situations were indeed different. You were not at fault. And I had committed a sin deserving of death.”

The story of a shadow who couldn’t even reach the toes of his talented elder brother and then brought that brother down flowed from Kim Yu Jun’s mouth. As if it was someone else’s business.

“That day, for the first time, I was freed from the guilt that was strangling me.”

The moment Kim Yu Jun mentioned guilt, Ra Jin was gripped by intense regret.

If that short conversation that day had turned Kim Yu Jun into a monster, would working with Prosecutor Kang Ji Ho change anything? No matter how much she struggled, if she was the start of everything, it seemed she could never escape from Kim Yu Jun.

“Ra Jin.”

Kim Yu Jun pulled and held Ra Jin’s hand. Then, as if blowing his breath into the ear of a dazed Ra Jin, he came close.

“You’re the only one for me.”

“……”

“So please look at me.”

Tears welled up in Ra Jin’s eyes at the sight of Kim Yu Jun smiling wistfully. The words she had uttered out of self-pity were coming back like a boomerang.

“I know I’ve been doing you wrong all this time.”

“Elder brother, I…”

“I’ll try from now on. No, I’ll change even more. Okay? Ra Jin.”

It was the first time.

The first time Kim Yu Jun admitted his wrongs, and didn’t hesitate to vow to change in the future. But why now…

As if the power button in her head had gone out, Ra Jin couldn’t register any of Kim Yu Jun’s words. She just nodded her head in response to the sound and repeated mechanical answers. As if her feet were stuck in deep quicksand, she struggled in place without taking a single step forward.

“Ra Jin.”

The moment the back of Kim Yu Jun’s hand touched her cheek, Ra Jin knew they had arrived in front of her house.

What time was it now, was Kang Ji Ho still waiting, what should she say to him first, no, was it even okay to meet him? Fleeting thoughts flashed by like a candle in the wind, blurring and shaking wildly.

The small escape route she had painstakingly found was instantly blocked, and Ra Jin’s mind was filled with only one thought, feeling so hopeless.

‘After making Kim Yu Jun like that, what right do I have… with Ji Ho?’

It was despair beyond devastation.