“Can you endure it?”

“…Yes.”

A faint voice, as if about to fade away.

Tae Wook glanced sideways at Gyeo Wool sitting in the passenger seat.

She was still breathing heavily, unable to even open her eyes.

“We’re almost at the hospital. Just hold on a little longer.”

Tae Wook’s hands gripped the steering wheel tighter involuntarily.

To think that all he could do for Gyeo Wool was tell her to endure!

He was furiously angry. At the fact that he had left her alone, not knowing she was suffering in agony.

At the fact that he couldn’t be in pain in her place.

Upon arriving at the hospital, Tae Wook forgot to even turn off the car engine and rushed to the emergency room carrying Gyeo Wool.

.

.

.

As dawn was ending, Gyeo Wool was moved from the emergency room to a private room.

She had been writhing in pain, and even after receiving painkillers through an IV, it took several hours before she fell asleep.

Tae Wook looked down at her with pained eyes as she frowned in agony even while sleeping.

A pale complexion devoid of any color. Lips cracked and dry from the high fever.

“Haa…”

A sigh escaped involuntarily. A sigh mixed with distress and relief.

Tae Wook had actually been afraid while watching Gyeo Wool crumble from the pain.

The fear that this time she might leave for a place he could never reach.

“If I had known it would be like this, I shouldn’t have even hated her.”

The divorce had been a big shock for Tae Wook too.

At first, consumed by hatred, he thought Gyeo Wool was just like the many others who had abandoned him and left.

His birth mother.

The stepmother he had lived with thinking she was his real mother.

The people who had approached him for his background but then betrayed and turned their backs on him.

Like those people, he too had tried to erase Gyeo Wool completely from his memories.

But why?

The more he tried to erase her, the clearer the memories of their time together became.

And he missed her.

A feeling he had never experienced with any other woman.

A feeling so unfamiliar that he had tried to ignore it, thinking it couldn’t be his own.

“Now I don’t want to lose you. I can’t even think about being without you.”

Just then, the door to the hospital room opened and a nurse entered.

“You requested to meet with Professor Seo Jin Hee, correct?”

“Yes. Where should I go?”

“Please go to the Pain Management Department on the 6th floor of the main building.”

“I understand.”

Tae Wook glanced at the sleeping Gyeo Wool and got up from his seat.

Gyeo Wool’s attending physician was a female doctor in her mid-40s.

“You heard from the emergency room that there’s a possibility of shingles for patient Han Gyeo Wool, right?”

“Yes.”

Tae Wook answered briefly.

“The test results came back positive for shingles.”

The doctor said while checking the monitor.

“We administered strong painkillers because the pain was severe. The area where blisters are forming, from the side to the back, is quite extensive. It must have been really difficult for the patient to endure this level of pain, don’t you think?”

The moment he heard the doctor’s words, Tae Wook’s face flushed hot.

It sounded like she was reproaching him for leaving the patient alone until it got this bad.

“There’s a record of her being hospitalized for shingles 3 years ago as well.”

“What? 3 years ago?”

Tae Wook asked in surprise.

This was a fact he had been completely unaware of.

“Shingles is a disease with a high risk of recurrence when stressed or immunocompromised.”

The doctor also added that in Gyeo Wool’s case, due to the severe pain, she had been transferred from dermatology to the pain management department.

“3 years ago…”

Tae Wook’s steps suddenly stopped as he was returning to the hospital room after meeting with the doctor.

Rubbing his chin with his fingers, he looked deep in thought.

“To think I didn’t even know she had been hospitalized.”

If it was bad enough to require hospitalization, it meant that last time must have been just as painful as this time.

But why didn’t he know about this?

As he was lost in thought with an unfocused gaze, a vibration sound came from his pocket.

It was a call from Lady Lee.

“Have you arrived? Where are you?”

Tae Wook rushed to the ward’s lounge.

He had asked Lady Lee to bring Gyeo Wool’s belongings.

Lady Lee was standing there holding a large Boston bag.

Perhaps due to anxiety, she had been pacing back and forth in the lounge without sitting down.

“Lady Lee.”

When Tae Wook called out, Lady Lee quickly approached him.

“How’s the madam? Is she alright now?”

Worried, Lady Lee’s speech flowed with a heavy dialect.

“She’s fallen asleep after getting painkillers.”

“Oh, so I can’t see her then?”

Tae Wook nodded at Lady Lee who looked disappointed.

Then he took the bag from her hands.

“Thank you for bringing this.”

“Don’t thank me. I slept through all that commotion without knowing.”

Lady Lee felt terribly sorry for having slept through Gyeo Wool’s pain and trip to the hospital in the early morning.

“What did the doctor say?”

“They said it’s shingles.”

“Oh my. That disease has come back?”

Suddenly, a glint flashed in Tae Wook’s eyes.

“You knew that she had shingles before too, Lady Lee?”

“What? No… well…”

Lady Lee stumbled over her words, flustered.

Tae Wook’s gaze was sharpening with suspicion.

“When was it? When she was hospitalized without my knowledge?”

“The madam has kept it a secret from CEO Tae Wook all this time, how can I speak of it?”

“I need to know.”

Tae Wook’s piercing gaze was fierce as he stared at Lady Lee.

It was a resolute look that said he absolutely would not back down without an answer.

“It was when CEO Tae Wook went on a business trip overseas. She was hospitalized for a week then. The doctor was very concerned, saying her symptoms were more severe than other patients.”

“3 years ago, when I went on an overseas business trip, you mean?”

Tae Wook asked as if to confirm.

“That time is certain. She was so afraid I might contact CEO Tae Wook, she desperately stopped me from doing so. Saying you had an important contract coming up and shouldn’t be disturbed.”

As soon as Lady Lee finished speaking, Tae Wook let out a rough breath.

“The young madam asked me to keep it a secret…”

Lady Lee’s face showed both relief at unburdening a long-held secret and regret for failing to keep it.

“I’ll pretend I don’t know. You can go back now.”

“When will the madam be discharged?”

“They said they’ll decide after observing her condition until tomorrow.”

Tae Wook sat in the lounge chair for a long time even after Lady Lee had left.

“3 years ago, overseas business trip… Haa… No way.”

He rubbed his face dry with both hands.

He remembered clearly.

During that 2-week business trip to Dubai, he had no contact with Gyeo Wool at all.

And when Tae Wook returned from the trip, Gyeo Wool told him something unbelievable.

– I went on a week-long trip with that man.

She said it proudly, without even a change in her expression.

After that, Gyeo Wool persistently demanded a divorce from Tae Wook.

“It wasn’t a trip, but hospitalization?”

Why on earth?

Why would Gyeo Wool tell such an absurd lie to him?

Tae Wook agonized, clutching his head painfully.

.

.

.

When Tae Wook returned to the hospital room, Gyeo Wool was awake.

“Did Lady Lee come and go?”

She asked, looking at the bag in his hand.

“She must have been very worried?”

“Worried? She nagged at me for being indifferent before leaving.”

Of course, this was a lie Tae Wook made up.

But if he hadn’t asked about Gyeo Wool’s hospitalization 3 years ago, Lady Lee would have surely scolded him with tears in her eyes.

“I’m sorry she had to…”

Gyeo Wool trailed off, seemingly feeling guilty.

“Secretary Han being sick is partly my fault too.”

“How is it your fault, CEO?”

“I should have made you rest somehow.”

“Don’t say that. It’s because I stubbornly insisted.”

When Tae Wook blamed himself, Gyeo Wool looked even more apologetic.

“Are you feeling a bit better?”

Tae Wook asked as he sat in the chair beside the bed.

“I’m fine. Don’t worry about me, go back and rest.”

“Secretary Han is the patient. Don’t worry about me, worry about yourself.”

“You haven’t slept at all, CEO. You look so tired.”

As Gyeo Wool said, Tae Wook’s face was haggard and his eyes were bloodshot from not sleeping at all.

On top of that, he looked even more tired from not having shaved.

“I told the company I’d be in late.”

“Please try to get some sleep before going to work.”

“I’m fine, I said.”

“CEO…”

“Alright. Just until the caregiver arrives then.”

A hastily hired caregiver was on her way to the hospital now.

“Go now.”

Gyeo Wool didn’t back down even at Tae Wook’s words.

“There are nurses here, and I can move on my own once I get the IV. So CEO, you should…”

“Have you ever properly rested even once since going down to Jeju?”

Tae Wook cut off Gyeo Wool’s words and asked an abrupt question.

“You said you worked with CEO Bang right after the divorce.”

“Well… Hmm…”

Gyeo Wool furrowed her brow slightly, as if trying to recall.

Seeing her unable to answer right away, Tae Wook realized she hadn’t rested.

“I’ll give you a vacation, so take a proper rest this time.”

“I haven’t been with the company long, and I’m not doing much work.”

“Do you really think you’re not doing much? Why do you think the other employees’ workload has decreased since Secretary Han joined?”

“You… knew?”

Gyeo Wool smiled awkwardly, looking embarrassed.

“Isn’t it stranger to think I wouldn’t know?”

“I’m not sick because of work. I just wasn’t feeling well.”

“Even so, the result is that Secretary Han has shingles.”

“It’s an illness that heals quickly once the blisters on the body subside.”

“You speak as if you’ve had it before.”

Tae Wook said, as if testing Gyeo Wool.

“How could that be? I’ve just heard a lot about shingles… You can find out just by searching online.”

Gyeo Wool stammered, flustered.

Watching her, Tae Wook felt his suspicions deepen.

Why on earth was she trying to hide the fact that she had been hospitalized?

And on top of that, telling that ridiculous lie about going on a trip with a man.