“Park Jeonghun might come looking for me after work to cause trouble, so he said he’ll take me home for a week.”

Hyunju blinked and looked at Ina.

“Why are you looking at me like that?”

“Didn’t you say he was prickly when he was young?”

“I did.”

“But now his personality has completely changed? Even extending this kind of courtesy?”

“So I was a bit surprised too, but… since it’s a kindness extended out of concern for me, I decided to just accept it gratefully.”

“No, I mean, of course it’s nice, but…”

Hyunju, who was talking, rested her chin on one hand, lost in thought.

“Is it simply because he’s worried as a friend? Is there no other reason?”

“What reason?”

“Were you very close with him in the past?”

“Well… I tried hard to get close to him. Later on, we became a little close, watching movies together and such… but right around then, I had to go down to Yeosu.”

“……”

Hyunju, who knew well the reason Ina had to go to Yeosu, stared at Ina without a word.

Then she quietly held Ina’s hand and nodded.

“…I see.”

Hyunju’s hand covering Ina’s felt warm.

“Yeah. Anyway, meeting again like this as doctors after 13 years is truly an amazing connection. So see him often and get close from now on. Just for helping you, he’s already a 100-point friend.”

“Yeah. I should.”

Ina nodded with a smile.

* * *

Nothing much happened from spending the weekend at Hyunju’s place until returning home Sunday night, and Monday arrived like that.

Waking up early, Ina finished getting ready for work and slowly went downstairs.

But as soon as she stepped out of the villa entrance, she frowned upon spotting Jeonghun leaning against his car.

Jeonghun also noticed Ina and ran up to her in a hurry.

Ina tried to ignore him and pass by, but Jeonghun grabbed her arm.

“Ina.”

At that desperate voice calling her name, Ina bit her lip and glared at Jeonghun.

“Let go.”

As she spoke in a low voice, Jeonghun’s lips quivered.

“Ina. Listen…”

Though he had grabbed Ina’s arm, Jeonghun took a deep breath as if it was difficult to actually say the words.

“I said let go.”

Ina flung her arm away and glared at Jeonghun.

“I clearly warned you, didn’t I? That if you contact me or come find me, I’ll report you to the police.”

Jeonghun sighed heavily and mussed up his hair before looking at Ina seriously.

“Ina. That day… I think I went crazy because I was so drunk. So I even said things to you I shouldn’t have…”

“Asking how many guys I’ve slept with?”

At Ina’s words, Jeonghun bit his lip and lowered his head.

“What kind of crazy bastard would ask his girlfriend that kind of question?”

“…I’m really sorry. I have no excuse even if I had ten mouths. That day, I must have really gone insane. I’ll… I’ll never drink again. So just give me one more chance…”

“Whether you drink yourself silly or not has nothing to do with me anymore, so don’t ever show up again.”

As Ina finished speaking and tried to pass by, Jeonghun grabbed her arm again.

“Ina. That’s why I came to apologize like this. You blocked my number, right? You didn’t read my texts or chat messages, so I came and waited for two days… You didn’t come home? Where did you stay?”

It was ridiculous to the point of making Ina laugh.

“Hey. What does it matter to you where I stay or not?”

“What do you mean it doesn’t matter? I’m your boyfriend!”

“Are you crazy? Why are you my boyfriend? I told you it’s over that day, so stop saying such creepy things!”

“Who ended it on whose terms? You’re going to end it on your own just because I misspoke a little?”

“Misspoke? You spouted such vulgar words and you call that misspeaking? And did you forget that you twisted my wrist and hit me with your elbow when trying to drag me away?”

Ina pointed to her still-injured lip and asked.

Jeonghun flinched and his lips quivered.

“Ina. I twisted your wrist because I was drunk… but anyway, I was really wrong. But hitting you with my elbow… that crazy bastard suddenly intervened, that’s why. I didn’t do it on purpose.”

“Who are you calling a crazy bastard now? If it weren’t for that man, you would have kept dragging me, right? Who did I become a zoo monkey for that day?”

Jeonghun’s eyes suddenly turned sharp.

“You… are you taking that crazy bastard’s side now? No, do you actually know that guy? Huh? What’s your relationship with him?”

The image of Jeonghun from just a moment ago, with tears welling up in his eyes as he apologized, quickly disappeared.

Instead, seeing Jeonghun’s eyes filled with suspicion and obsession, Ina felt a chill down her spine.

“You… you really are crazy. Now you’re even having delusions?”

Ina took a step back with a disgusted look.

At that, Jeonghun’s eyes widened.

“Hey. Why are you looking at me like that now? Am I some kind of bug?”

As Jeonghun tried to take a step forward, a woman coming out from the first floor of the villa looked at Ina and Jeonghun.

It was a woman living on the second floor whom Ina had exchanged greetings with in passing.

Feeling embarrassed for no reason, Ina turned her head and waited for the woman to pass by.

After the woman glanced at them again with a curious expression and passed, Ina raised her head and looked at Jeonghun.

“I have nothing more to say to you and I don’t want to see your face, so don’t ever show up in front of me again. Got it?”

Ina tried to brush past Jeonghun after retorting, but Jeonghun grabbed her wrist in a flash.

“Are you really going to be like this? Who’s ending it on whose terms? How can you do this to me?”

“What? How can I do this? How can YOU do this? Don’t you have any conscience in that pathetic brain of yours? Not only did you spout trashy words, you tried to drag me away, and now you’re spouting bullshit first thing in the morning acting like you did nothing wrong! Bullshit!”

Surprised by Ina’s vicious cursing that he was hearing for the first time, Jeonghun stepped back faltering.

Taking that chance, Ina flung her hand away, and two men passing by seemed to sense something was off and stared at them.

“Should I scream for those people to help me for you to back off?”

As Ina whispered menacingly, Jeonghun looked at her with a dumbfounded face.

“Don’t ever show up in front of me again. I don’t want to see your damn face.”

Ina shoved Jeonghun hard and walked away.

Jeonghun glared at Ina’s back figure, biting his lip.

* * *

Carrying the feeling of being dirtied to the core by Park Jeonghun, Ina barely made it to work.

But as she entered the office, she forced a smile and exchanged greetings with her coworkers.

Sitting at her desk and turning on her computer, she felt dazed.

Shaking her head, she picked up her mug to get up when the phone rang.

It was Juwon.

Ina hesitated for a moment before answering.

“Hello?”

-Did you get to work okay?

“Huh? Yeah…”

-No trouble over the weekend?

“Huh? Yeah. No trouble.”

She swallowed the words ‘That jerk came by this morning though’.

She didn’t want to spread this dirtied feeling to Juwon too.

-That’s a relief then. I’ll see you after work. I’ll head over as soon as you’re done.

“Okay. Thanks. See you later.”

After hanging up, she felt a strange feeling.

It was her first time talking on the phone with Juwon after meeting again in 13 years, but it felt natural somehow.

She felt a familiarity as if they had been constantly keeping in touch.

Ina went into the break room with her mug.

The day flew by after having an HR team meeting in the morning and meetings with department heads in the afternoon.

As it passed 6:30PM, more and more employees started leaving work.

Ina was also slowly organizing documents and getting ready to leave when she got a chat message.

-I should arrive in about 10 minutes. I’ll see you in front of there.

-Okay. Got it.

After replying to Juwon’s message, Ina turned off her computer and stood up.

Getting in the elevator with other female employees, Ina felt a bit worried.

She had harshly brushed him off, but she was a little tense thinking what if Park Jeonghun was waiting in front of the company.

But fortunately, as she got off the elevator and scanned the area in front of the entrance, Jeonghun was nowhere to be seen.

Sighing in relief, Ina said goodbye to the female coworkers in front of the entrance.

“Ms. Seo’s boyfriend is picking her up today too, right? I’m so jealous I could die. Seriously.”

At Ms. Park’s words, who was a working mom, the other two female employees also looked at Ina with envious eyes.

As Ina responded with an awkward smile, Eun-jeong, the youngest employee, laughed and said,

“If I had a pretty girlfriend like Ms. Seo, I’d come pick her up every day too.”

“Aw, what? Eun-jeong, are you buttering her up even as we leave work?”

At Ms. Park’s joke, Eun-jeong’s face reddened and Ms. Park laughed ho-ho-ho.

“Gosh, so cute I could die. This is why you’re the youngest. I’m kidding. Kidding. The whole HR team knows Ms. Seo is pretty. What, is it only our team? There were quite a few in the sales team eyeing Ina too!”

“No, that’s not it, Ms. Park. You’re overestimating me. You should get going before traffic gets bad. I need to go this way. I’ll see you tomorrow.”

Ms. Park waved her hand telling Ina to hurry along as she bowed her head to say goodbye.

“Okay. Go on then. Ina’s boyfriend’s eyes will fall out waiting. Ho-ho-ho.”

Turning around with an awkward smile, Ina sighed as she took steps.

While they were dating, Jeonghun often sent Ina flowers, and each time he included snacks for the HR team members to share.

Thanks to that, Ina became a lucky woman with a ‘romantic boyfriend’ and the female employees envied her.

But not knowing the terrifying obsession hidden behind that, whenever they said they were envious, Ina just smiled.

Suddenly feeling a headache coming on, Ina was walking slowly rubbing her forehead when her phone rang.

It was Juwon.

“Hello?”

-I’m here. I’m across from the bookstore. The black SUV.

“Yeah? Okay. I’ll be right there.”

After hanging up, Ina hurried towards the bookstore.

Soon, she spotted the black SUV parked across from the bookstore.

And she saw Juwon leaning against the driver’s side door.

Unlike Friday when he was in a hoodie and jeans, he was wearing a neat black suit.

Even from a distance, Juwon’s tall and handsome appearance looking like a model shined.

As she slowly walked towards Juwon, she noticed women nearby stealing glances at him.

‘Yeah… he looks cool to my eyes too, so how much more to yours…’

As Ina was muttering to herself, she was suddenly startled.

What am I saying right now…

Feeling embarrassed, she touched her cheek as she approached and Juwon, spotting Ina, took his hands out of his pockets and smiled.

“…”

At that refreshing smile like a gentle spring breeze, Ina’s heart thumped for a moment.

“You’re here?”

Juwon took a step closer and looked down at Ina with gentle eyes.

“Huh? Uh…”

For some reason unable to look him straight in the eyes, Ina lowered her head slightly and answered.

“Let’s go.”

Juwon walked to the passenger side and opened the door.

“Oh… thanks.”

Ina slowly got into the passenger seat.

Perplexed by her own heart that thumped a moment ago, Ina lightly bit her lip.

Juwon, who had closed the passenger door for her, went around to the driver’s seat and got in the car.

“You’re not putting on your seatbelt?”

Lost in thought, Ina was startled by Juwon’s words and hurriedly put on her seatbelt.

With his hands on the steering wheel, Juwon chuckled watching her.

“Shall we go then?”

At Juwon’s voice asking with the corner of his lips curled up, Ina unnecessarily gulped.

“…Yeah.”

After answering, Ina quickly turned her gaze.