“So that statement just now… Should I understand it to mean you went hunting with a strange man?”

Tae Sung’s voice flowed out low.

For a moment, Ji Wan’s heart sank, and even though she had nothing to be guilty about, she made excuses.

“Ah, n-no…?”

At that, the corners of Tae Sung’s mouth curved into an even more blatant arc.

It was clearly a deliberate smile.

“Ah, so that’s why you answered my call late earlier?”

“Me? Did I?”

“To not understand the feelings of a husband anxiously waiting while listening to the ringtone. How disappointing.”

Tae Sung raised one eyebrow and made a regretful expression.

Ji Wan, who had unknowingly frozen up, finally regained her senses and said firmly.

“That’s not it.”

“What?”

“You’re not angry. We weren’t that kind of relationship to begin with, so why…”

Right, she shouldn’t let herself be swayed.

To deal with this man with a black heart, she needed to somehow gain the upper hand in the conversation.

Grasping her mental faculties tightly, Ji Wan strung together unyielding words.

“As I said before, ours was a contractual relationship. Even if I really had gone out and had fun with another man, there’d be no reason for it to anger you, Mr. Joo Tae Sung, would there? Because it’s a relationship without even affection, let alone love.”

Drawing such a clear line should prevent this man from barging in.

But even after hearing those words clearly, Tae Sung’s provocative gaze didn’t subside at all.

In fact, at first it was just a formal display of jealousy, something a husband ought to do.

But seeing her react with such distaste, it somehow sparked a stubbornness in him.

Is this what it means to want to tease more the better the reaction?

It felt like discovering a new bad habit in his monotonous life.

“I’m not angry.”

Tae Sung began his full-fledged hobby activities.

When Ji Wan looked at him with an expression asking ‘Then?’, Tae Sung reached out his hand to her and continued speaking.

“It’s jealousy. Jealousy stemming from my unusually strong possessiveness.”

His large, firm hand enveloped hers.

Startled by the sudden warmth, confusion once again crossed Ji Wan’s face.

This reaction, it’s interesting indeed.

As if targeting that momentary wavering, Tae Sung tightened his grip on the hand he held.

“You can shake it off. I find resistance more attractive than submission.”

“H-hand… hand… You’re not letting go?”

“Well, you seem to already know my preferences well.”

Just then, the elevator next to him arrived.

Ji Wan tried to shake off his hand, but because of the passengers inside the newly opened elevator, she couldn’t resist too vigorously.

“Excuse us.”

Whether aware of her inner turmoil or not, Tae Sung entered the elevator with a gentle smile and pulled her into the crowded space.

“Ah…!”

Drawn by a gentle but strong force, Ji Wan’s body pressed close to his.

Her eyes wavered precariously at the clearly felt body heat, making her clothes seem meaningless.

This time she really tried not to get caught up. She had even firmly grasped her reason.

But it feels like the more she struggles, the deeper she gets entangled.

This sense of powerlessness, coupled with Joo Tae Sung’s preference for enjoying resistance, makes her even more flustered.

During the quiet elevator ride to the underground parking lot, Ji Wan escaped from Tae Sung’s hand about 3 times.

Tae Sung lightly caught her again 3 times, and on the fourth attempt, he interlocked their fingers, trapping her completely so she couldn’t escape.

‘Swamp-like human! Shameless human! Psycho! Weirdo!’

In the end, all she could do was curse Joo Tae Sung thoroughly in her mind.

It was truly a perfect defeat.

She’s starting to feel truly scared that she might end up being pushed around for life, unable to even divorce.

* * *

In the department store’s underground parking lot.

Employees trailed behind Hwa Young, who was dressed in a neat suit.

Despite not using the VIP valet parking service in an attempt to come secretly.

His identity was revealed so blatantly, making those efforts futile.

Yang Je Hyun, the secretary who had fully anticipated this, quietly headed towards the parked car.

But Hwa Young, as if he really thought he could hide his identity, didn’t stop complaining to the following employees.

“Are you going to keep following me like this? What will people think of me? They’ll think I’m either a director or the Pied Piper.”

“Then we’ll follow from a distance.”

“The problem isn’t the distance, it’s the following itself. Everyone return to your duties.”

“But…”

“Quickly.”

Hwa Young stopped walking and gestured for them to go away.

The employees, who had been hesitating and glancing at each other, lined up and bowed 90 degrees for a final greeting.

“Have a safe trip home, Director!”

Their voices echoed so loudly.

All the customers heading to their cars in the underground parking lot turned their gazes towards Hwa Young.

Conscious of those eyes, Hwa Young scolded the employees in the smallest voice possible and hurried them away.

“I told you not to draw attention…! Go quickly, quickly. All of you go home.”

Unable to resist Hwa Young’s urging, the employees retreated, and Secretary Yang sighed deeply as if he had been waiting for this moment.

“As I said when we left… a secret visit is impossible.”

Hwa Young retorted with a boldly righteous attitude.

“As I said when we left, it would have been possible if they hadn’t made such a fuss.”

“How many employees do you think could treat the director of the company they work for exactly the same as regular customers if he suddenly appeared before them?”

“I know one.”

“Pardon?”

“Yang. You.”

Always has to have the last word, this guy.

No wonder every secretary assigned to him left within a month.

Secretary Yang, who had been serving this extremely difficult director for 4 years now, felt the back of his neck stiffen at times like this.

If he acted with dignity and thoughtfulness befitting his position, he’d be summoned by the chairman less often, but it was incomprehensible why he insisted on maintaining this immature concept and volunteering to be the family’s troublemaker.

“Anyway… This won’t happen again. Consider today the last time you visit the department store without prior notice.”

Secretary Yang spoke firmly, as if dealing with a teenage boy.

Usually, this tone would earn him a scolding for being disrespectful, but for some reason, Hwa Young gave no response.

Realizing that the sound of footsteps had also stopped, Secretary Yang turned his head towards Hwa Young.

“What’s wrong?”

Secretary Yang asked.

Hwa Young had stopped still, staring intently at something.

“Is that… Joo Tae…”

Mumbling incomprehensibly, Hwa Young suddenly exclaimed with his eyes flashing.

“Get in the car and start the engine right now!”

“Pardon?”

“Hurry and follow that black sedan!”

The atmosphere suddenly became urgent.

“What on earth is it this time?”

Secretary Yang, who didn’t understand the situation at all, asked as he climbed into the driver’s seat in a daze.

However, the excited Hwa Young didn’t have the presence of mind to explain in detail.

And for good reason, as he had finally clearly witnessed the couple of the century that he couldn’t find despite searching desperately for 3 years.

* * *

“How long are you going to stay at our house?”

In the car heading home.

Ji Wan, who had been wary of Tae Sung all along, asked with a grave expression.

Tae Sung leisurely entered the apartment complex and casually retorted.

“Isn’t that a strange question to ask your husband?”

She knows he understood perfectly well while pretending not to.

Thinking that now was the time to clearly convey her intentions, Ji Wan didn’t back down and continued her words.

“Don’t act shameless. We only have about a week left until our scheduled divorce date. It’s nonsense to keep living together.”

“You must be anxious. Bringing up the same topic repeatedly.”

“The one who keeps avoiding answering the same question is you, Mr. Joo Tae Sung.”

At Ji Wan’s persistently clingy attitude this time, Tae Sung let out a chuckle.

It seemed to have a hint of mockery in it, but reacting to every little thing would only blur the main point.

Ji Wan took a deep breath and clapped her hands once, summarizing her position.

“To get to the point, I want the divorce to proceed on the scheduled date. Whether you recover your memories or not. Of course, you should also pay the remaining contract fee on that day.”

By then, Tae Sung’s car had stopped in the apartment parking lot.

Lightly grabbing his car keys and phone, he got out of the driver’s seat without even glancing at Ji Wan.

“Where are you going without answering…!”

Ji Wan hurriedly got out to follow Tae Sung.

In the meantime, Tae Sung had retrieved his luggage from the trunk and very naturally turned towards Ji Wan’s apartment complex.

Unable to watch this brazen behavior any longer, Ji Wan grabbed his arm to get a definite answer.

“Your answer?”

She asked, her eyes flashing sharply.

Tae Sung met her thorny gaze with a subtle eye smile.

“Begging like this?”

Then he firmly wrapped Ji Wan’s arm, which was holding onto him, around his side.

Ji Wan’s face visibly reddened as she suddenly found herself arm in arm with him.

“Ah, no. Who said to stick together like this?”

“You’re asking me to escort you home like this, aren’t you?”

“That’s not it, that’s not it! It’s a misunderstanding, a misunderstanding!”

Who’s misunderstanding and doing this? He’s doing this because he knows it’s not true.

Tae Sung looked down at Ji Wan’s reddened cheeks.

With a face like this, pushing away only makes one want to pull closer, but he wondered if she knew this.

“You resist well. As expected, only my wife caters to my preferences.”

Tae Sung pulled her body even closer with his shameless comment.

It was to firmly imprint his existence on her, who was denying her husband’s existence.

“Ugh, really…! I told you to stop saying such embarrassing things!”

Ji Wan, who had finally surrendered again, cried out pleadingly as she was dragged towards the apartment building.

“Alright! Your wife is begging you! Let’s get divorced!”

Her booming shout reached not only throughout the complex but even to the luxury sedan briefly parked near her house.

“Did you hear that? Just now. Something about ‘wife’.”

Hwa Young asked, his eyes flashing fiercely.

Secretary Yang, realizing that the inevitable had finally come, responded to the question by trying to persuade Hwa Young in a serious voice.

“Now that we’ve confirmed Prosecutor Joo’s newlywed home and spouse’s face, I’ll investigate more thoroughly from now on. It would be better for Director Do to refrain from getting involved as much as possible…”

But as if not hearing those words at all, Hwa Young muttered, interrupting Secretary Yang.

“To think that woman from earlier is Joo Tae Sung’s wife… This might be a heaven-sent opportunity.”

“It’s not an opportunity.”

“It’s like heaven has laid out a mat for me to redeem the family’s disgrace.”

“It’s not a mat.”

Secretary Yang denied each of Hwa Young’s crazed comments one by one.

However, Hwa Young’s eyes merely continued to flash, paying no heed.

“Alright, let’s go back for now. We’re not prepared enough to barge in today.”

A wicked smile formed on Hwa Young’s lips.

This was not a good sign.

Secretary Yang’s expression deepened with worry as he found himself in a suddenly difficult position.

He might seriously need to consider resigning soon.