The word ‘favor’.

Tae Wook had hardly ever uttered it in his life.

He believed that Gyeo Wool would know that fact.

“No matter what you say, my mind won’t change.”

Contrary to Tae Wook’s desired response, her answer was firm.

“I thought if I asked for a favor, you wouldn’t refuse.”

“Have you forgotten? The fact that I divorced you, sir?”

“How could I forget? It was when I was properly backstabbed by Secretary Han.”

Tae Wook glared fiercely at Gyeo Wool.

A three-year contract.

He dreamed of a perfect show-window couple from start to finish.

But human emotions are truly strange.

He began to be drawn even to Gyeo Wool, a cold and insensitive woman.

And then the first and last 3-day trip.

After spending a passionate night with Gyeo Wool, he began to look forward to after the contract ended.

However, she was dreaming a completely different dream from him.

−I’m pregnant with that person’s child! Please let me go.

Gyeo Wool betrayed Tae Wook and left like that.

“If I had refused to the end, divorce would have been impossible. I believe you haven’t forgotten that. This time, I hope Secretary Han will bend her stubbornness for my sake.”

“No.”

Gyeo Wool was still adamant.

“Don’t you know this will cause greater wounds to both of you?”

“Wounds? Compared to the humiliation I suffered because you left before fulfilling the 3 years, I can endure such wounds hundreds of times.”

Unconsciously, his fist clenched tightly.

So tightly that his short, thin nails dug into his palm.

Though he felt pain as if his flesh was tearing, he didn’t loosen his grip.

Tae Wook ended up forcibly losing J Chemical due to the divorce.

−When breaking a promise, there must have been a commitment to pay a corresponding price?

−How can a guy who can’t even take care of his wife properly manage a company?

Recalling that time, Tae Wook felt his throat tighten and couldn’t breathe.

A time like hell.

More than the anger of losing the company, the pain of losing Gyeo Wool made him suffer more.

He realized too late.

The fact that the feelings he had for Gyeo Wool might have been love.

When he learned that his grandfather had lost his memory.

Along with the worry that he might lose the company again, he recalled Gyeo Wool’s face.

It might be a golden opportunity to find her again.

“This is not possible.”

Gyeo Wool’s voice cut through Tae Wook’s thoughts.

She even shook her head from side to side several times.

“I’ve already told grandfather that Secretary Han has gone down to Jeju Island for a while to help with my work.”

“Sir!”

Gyeo Wool shouted angrily.

It meant that regardless of her will, things had already begun.

“No matter what, I have no intention of accepting your proposal.”

“You’re refusing?”

Tae Wook’s intense gaze pierced into Gyeo Wool’s eyes.

He could feel her trying hard to meet his gaze even while holding her breath.

But it was futile.

Snicker.

He curled up the corners of his mouth and pulled out a rolled-up document from inside his jacket.

Without rushing, while keeping his gaze fixed on her, he placed the document filled with dense letters on the table.

“I wonder if you can refuse to the end after seeing this.”

He pushed the paper right in front of her.

“What is this?”

Gyeo Wool asked with uneasy eyes, unable to read it hastily.

“Read it and you’ll know.”

Gyeo Wool reluctantly unfolded the stack of papers.

As she read the letters going down, her eyes grew larger.

There was no need to read to the very last page.

There would be the signatures of Gyeo Wool and Tae Wook side by side there.

The document he presented was the contract the two of them had signed 5 years ago.

“Why this……”

“Why don’t you read it properly? You’ll find out that Secretary Han still has 1 year left on the contract.”

“We’re divorced, what use is this contract!”

Gyeo Wool’s voice resonated through the narrow space as if her emotions were about to explode.

“Why conclude it’s useless? A contract should be about the responsibility to fulfill mutual obligations, shouldn’t it?”

“What are you trying to say?”

“Nowhere does it mention a contract end date, let alone a clause stating the contract is terminated by divorce.”

“That can’t be.”

Gyeo Wool picked up the contract and scanned it over and over.

It’s not there…….

The clause that should obviously be there was not visible.

“If you won’t fulfill the contract…… Just the principal is 580 million. I’ll forgo the interest.”

This must be what they mean by adding insult to injury.

Gyeo Wool could only breathe heavily without saying a word.

“If Secretary Han has at least some conscience left, I believe you’ll accept my proposal.”

Bang!

The sound of the front door closing echoed through the narrow space.

Tae Wook had left.

However, the house where he had stayed was filled with his scent.

Gyeo Wool stared blankly into space, recalling the time when she had made the contract with Tae Wook.

[This is the timeline separator]

5 years ago. Around the beginning of winter.

“Secretary Han, the weather has gotten quite cold. How about having tea sometime……”

“Goodbye, Mr. Song.”

Manager Song, who was leaving after visiting the CEO’s office, once again failed to properly strike up a conversation with Gyeo Wool.

Her expression was so icy cold.

It was hard to find a female employee as strikingly pretty as Han Gyeo Wool in all of J Chemical and Jisung Group.

So among the male employees, she was inevitably nicknamed ‘goddess’.

However, she put up such a strong wall.

She would coldly dismiss any male employee who approached her, just as she did with Manager Song.

That’s why male employees who had been harshly rejected after making advances to her separately called her the ‘Winter Witch’.

“I’ll, I’ll be going then.”

Manager Song left the CEO’s office, awkwardly scratching his head.

Thud!

Gyeo Wool collapsed into the chair.

With her face buried on the desk, she stretched her arms down and firmly massaged her calves.

Her calves, overworked from standing for a long time, had become as hard as stone.

“I’m dying of exhaustion……”

A groan escaped involuntarily.

Thursday, the busiest day of the week.

With the CEO’s breakfast meeting scheduled as well, it had been a forced march since waking up at 6 AM until now.

And all by herself.

“Knowing today is the busiest and hardest day.”

Her fellow secretary in the CEO’s office had annoyingly taken a day off and not come to work.

But where there’s a beginning, there’s an end.

The suffocatingly busy day was almost coming to a close.

“Did I eat lunch?”

Seeing as she couldn’t remember, it was clear she had skipped lunch again today.

Even her stomach seemed to know that today was a busy day now.

It wasn’t even making growling sounds.

“Hng…… I want to go home.”

Surprisingly, a childish whining sound came from Gyeo Wool.

No one in Jisung Group could have imagined that she would show such a weak side.

And such a childlike appearance at that.

“I wish I could go home quickly and collapse into bed.”

Gyeo Wool barely rolled her eyes to look at the tightly closed office door.

Inside was a man whose mind was filled with only two words: company and work.

“Kang. Tae. Wook.”

Just pronouncing each syllable clearly.

A smile formed on her lips and her plump cheeks were tinged with a soft pink.

Just then, her work phone on the desk vibrated.

A moment later, Tae Wook came out of his office.

His head felt heavy, so he thought he should go out for some air to clear his mind.

“Where did she go?”

Secretary Han, who was never away from her desk, was nowhere to be seen.

Thinking lightly that she must have gone to the bathroom, he left the CEO’s office.

As he was about to pass by the emergency staircase.

“Please give me a little more time.”

Gyeo Wool’s pleading voice flowed out from behind the door.

“I told you, I used all that money to pay off debts. I’m really not pretending not to have it while I do.”

Tae Wook pressed his ear close to the door.

The phone conversation sounded ominous.

“I’ve been sending you my salary regularly…… I’ll pay it back, for sure. So please just give me a few more days…… Mister…… Please stop tormenting me. Please…… Hic!”

Gyeo Wool burst into tears.

Tae Wook could no longer hold back and flung the door wide open.

“Secretary Han!”

“Si-Sir……”

.

.

.

Tae Wook told Gyeo Wool to wait in the conference room and went into the CEO’s office.

With her cell phone.

How much longer would she have to wait?

Anxiety settled in her still moist and blurry eyes.

Time always seems to flow more slowly when waiting for someone.

“Haah……”

Gyeo Wool let out a long sigh.

Of all people, to have Tae Wook overhear her phone call.

The moment the emergency exit door opened, Gyeo Wool immediately hung up the phone.

However, seeing Tae Wook’s eyes, she realized he had heard the conversation.

−Follow me.

There was no anger felt in Tae Wook’s voice.

Yet Gyeo Wool felt only fear and trembling.

“What if he tells me to quit the company?”

A few years ago, her father had passed away, leaving only debts behind.

He had been the CEO of a thriving small business, but fell into massive debt due to fraud by a business partner.

The debt snowballed as he took out private loans to try to pay it off.

Her father had passed away, but Gyeo Wool was paying off that debt.

Of course, one doesn’t get fired from a company just for having debt.

But the problem was the ‘dignity maintenance clause’ that could be interpreted in various ways.

She was so anxious that she might have to resign in tears because of that clause.

“How did I endure……”

It had been a grueling year of gritting her teeth and holding on.

She needed the money, but it was also because of Tae Wook.

At first, it was so hard she wanted to throw in her resignation. But strangely, after developing feelings for him, even when it was difficult, it didn’t feel that difficult.

And yet…….

To end so futilely like this.

Try as she might to hold them back, tears kept welling up and streaming down her cheeks.

“Sorry to keep you waiting so long.”

The conference room door opened and Tae Wook entered.

Gyeo Wool quickly pulled out a tissue from the box in front of her and wiped away her tears.

“After talking with the creditor, it seems the amount is quite substantial.”

As soon as he sat across from her, he brought up the debt issue.

“……I’m sorry.”

She barely managed to speak through her sobs.

“It’s an amount that would be difficult to resolve with Secretary Han’s salary.”

“Yes.”

“I’d like to pay it off for you, what do you think?”

“You’re not firing me?”

Gyeo Wool raised her head that she had dropped in surprise.

The words that came out of Tae Wook’s mouth were far from what she had expected.

“Me, fire Secretary Han? For what reason?”

“Because I have too much debt……”

“No matter how terrible I am, I don’t fire my employees over mere debt issues.”

Tae Wook wore quite a perplexed expression.

“I’m sorry.”

“Han Gyeo Wool!”

Tae Wook called her name heavily.

“Yes, sir.”

“I’ll pay off the debt cleanly, so I’d like you to do what I want in return.”

His attitude had changed slightly from asking her opinion just before.

As if he already knew she wouldn’t be able to refuse his proposal.

“Let’s make a contract for just 3 years.”

“A contract?”

Gyeo Wool swallowed slowly.

Her exceptionally dark eyes were helplessly shaking with anxiety that she might hear words she should never hear.

“Let’s get married!”

The words that flowed from Tae Wook’s attractive lips were something Gyeo Wool could never have imagined.