Ji Yeon Woo, who had been standing still, took a step forward and walked over to Jung Hye, who was lying there as if dead.

Jung Hye, who was wearing an oxygen mask, lifted her heavy eyelids.

“Ji Yeon Woo.”

Even with Jung Hye’s faint smile, Ji Yeon Woo didn’t feel relieved.

The attending physician who was examining Jung Hye’s condition asked Ji Yeon Woo.

“Are you the guardian of Lee Jung Hye?”

“Yes. I’m her daughter.”

“Guardian, could you please step outside for a moment?”

After a while, Jung Hye closed her eyes, and Ji Yeon Woo hurriedly followed the attending physician.

Outside the hospital room, the attending physician, who was checking the chart handed over by the nurse, spoke.

“You remember that about two weeks ago, the patient’s blood pressure rose due to stress and caused a cerebral hemorrhage, right?”

“Yes.”

“After that, I told you to be especially careful about stress.”

It wasn’t a story that Ji Yeon Woo was completely unaware of.

Especially stress was what the attending physician emphasized after the cerebral hemorrhage surgery.

Since everyone was keeping it in mind, Ji Yeon Woo couldn’t talk about the people from her hometown visiting the company and being kicked out of the house.

Moreover, she was delaying announcing the news of her marriage.

“Today, the patient’s intracranial pressure abnormally increased, and she lost consciousness. Furthermore, she fell over from the wheelchair she was riding in and suffered a concussion as well.”

Ji Yeon Woo’s heart sank.

“Is there nothing wrong with her head?”

“There was no additional cerebral hemorrhage, but there are symptoms of headache and sensory abnormalities, so she needs rest.”

Perhaps due to Ji Yeon Woo’s devoted care, Jung Hye’s recovery speed was getting better day by day after the surgery.

Although she experienced hemiplegia, Jung Hye was even brighter than when Young Hoon passed away.

It was hard to believe that Jung Hye’s body, which had been like that, suddenly had a problem.

“Doctor, can intracranial pressure suddenly cause problems?”

“A patient in the same hospital room told me that Lee Jung Hye’s condition rapidly deteriorated after meeting a visitor who came to see her today.”

Now Ji Yeon Woo could understand why the attending physician mentioned stress.

It meant that Jung Hye’s condition, which had no problems so far, changed rapidly due to the person she met today.

“If a cerebral hemorrhage occurs one more time, it’s really dangerous. Please make sure to take care of the patient.”

Ji Yeon Woo bowed to the doctor who was leaving with a stiff neck.

Ji Yeon Woo, who straightened her staggering legs, looked at the hospital room where Jung Hye was.

‘Could it be that the people from our hometown visited Mom too?’

Did they even threaten to give them money while looking at Mom, whose body is uncomfortable?

If not that, did the landlord change their mind and come to receive the remaining monthly rent?

Brushing up her hair with a white hand that had lost its color, Ji Yeon Woo entered the hospital room.

“You must have been very surprised because of me.”

A powerless voice that sounded as if it had been completely burnt out reached Ji Yeon Woo.

Ji Yeon Woo, who was sitting on a folding chair next to Jung Hye, pondered for a while and then opened her lips.

“Mom, who did you meet today?”

Ji Yeon Woo was very nervous, not knowing what words would come out of Jung Hye’s dry mouth.

Jung Hye thought she should even spit out lies for Ji Yeon Woo’s sake, but she knew it wasn’t something she could hide until the end.

“Your mother-in-law was very pretty.”

“Mother-in-law…?”

As Ji Yeon Woo asked, exhaling as if she had been holding her breath, Jung Hye pushed up her white lips.

“The person who will be your mother-in-law, she came to visit.”

“……”

The person who visited Jung Hye was neither a debt collector nor the landlord.

It was Park Young Ran, whom she had labeled as Nam Do Hyun’s outlet.

Ji Yeon Woo knew that she wasn’t someone who would speak politely just because she was Ji Yeon Woo’s mother.

Perhaps she might have hurt her with even more vicious and malicious words.

“In your mother-in-law’s eyes, I must have looked really shabby. All I have is debt, and my body is in this state, so how worthless must I have been?”

Mom found out everything.

How Park Young Ran thinks of her and how she treats her.

Jung Hye placed her hand on the back of Ji Yeon Woo’s hand that was on the bed.

“I’m sorry, daughter, for making you look shabby.”

“I’m proud to be your daughter. Not even once have I been ashamed. I mean it.”

Tears pushed out from the eyes of Jung Hye, who was nodding her head.

It felt like her heart was being torn apart, let alone aching.

“Should I not get married? If you tell me not to get married, I can not do it right now.”

Jung Hye’s grip tightened on Ji Yeon Woo’s hand that she was holding.

“Do it. Don’t break off that marriage.”

“……”

“The person who will walk in step with your world now is not me, but that person.”

“Mom, you’re not going anywhere. You’ll be by my side just like now.”

“……”

“Right? Mom.”

Even at the desperate call, Jung Hye only bit her dry lips.

Jung Hye, quietly holding Ji Yeon Woo in her two eyes, showed a much more relieved expression.

“It was my lifelong wish for you to get married. Now I have no regrets even if I die.”

Blinking her eyes wide, Ji Yeon Woo wiped away the tears that were swirling in her eyes.

“Mom, don’t you have any greed? How can a person have only one lifelong wish?”

Ji Yeon Woo placed her other hand on top of Jung Hye’s hand that was holding her own hand.

She shared her body temperature with Jung Hye’s hand that had no warmth like a tree branch.

“I don’t want much from Mom. Just stay by my side until I give birth to your grandchild.”

“…Can Mom be greedy for that much too?”

“What’s the big deal about that? Be greedy. Be as greedy as you want.”

“Then should I watch until our Ji Yeon Woo gives birth to a pretty child?”

Ji Yeon Woo, who raised her thumb and pinky finger, held out her hand.

“Promise.”

Jung Hye’s hook-like fingers caught Ji Yeon Woo’s pinky finger.

Ji Yeon Woo quickly curled her pinky finger inward so as not to let go.

“You have to keep the promise.”

I made a promise with Mom.

A promise to keep Mom by my side for the rest of my life.

[This is the timeline separator]

Only after seeing that Jung Hye had fallen asleep did Ji Yeon Woo drag her tired body home.

It was already past the time for Nam Do Hyun to go to bed, so Ji Yeon Woo quietly took off her shoes at the entrance.

Ji Yeon Woo, who entered the living room without making a sound, was about to head to the bedroom at that moment.

The door to the study opened, and Nam Do Hyun, who was still in a suit, came out.

“You haven’t gone to bed yet?”

Instead of answering Ji Yeon Woo’s question, he asked a question in return.

“Did you eat dinner before coming in?”

“Yes.”

How could she have the mind to eat anything?

She hadn’t had a sip of water since going to the hospital.

Nevertheless, she deliberately lied to prevent the conversation from getting longer now.

“I’m a bit tired now. Rest well.”

“Today.”

Ji Yeon Woo’s foot, which had been stretched out in front, hesitated.

“Did something happen?”

The end of the question mark seemed to poke into Ji Yeon Woo’s chest.

Your mother came to see my mother today and scraped together all the harsh words in the world and poured them out.

Why should my mother get hurt when it’s a marriage between you and me?

Those countless words were swirling on her tongue.

“It was my lifelong wish for you to get married. Now I have no regrets even if I die.”

But among those words, there wasn’t a single one she couldn’t spit out.

“No. Nothing.”

I didn’t need to pour out the pain I received to you.

Because none of this is your fault.

It was all my fault for saying I would have this marriage.

“Nothing happened.”

“I see. That’s a relief.”

“Yes. It’s such a relief.”

Ji Yeon Woo, who finished what she had to say, moved her feet that were stuck to the floor and entered the room. She closed the door behind her and stood alone in the room with no light.

Her knees, which had barely been holding up, buckled and she sat down on the floor.

“Ugh.”

What flowed out sounded like a groan, or a cry.

The tears she had been holding back with all her might at the hospital inevitably burst out.

Her chest was heavy, so she clenched her fist and struck it hard. Until it turned red, until it bruised.

“Sob. Sob sob.”

I didn’t consider the wounds my mother would suffer for the marriage I’m having just to live for myself.

What’s so great about warm rice, like a stupid idiot?

What’s so great about that measly house?

In the first place, a place of rest doesn’t suit someone like me.

“Sob. Sob sob.”

She tried to suppress the sound of crying by biting her lip, and when that didn’t work, she covered her mouth with her palm.

It was because she didn’t want someone to hear the cry that she couldn’t let out in a refreshing way.

Behind the closed door.

The shadow that stretched long in front of the door was motionless.

Nam Do Hyun’s right hand, which had come out of the study with the marriage registration form, was raised in the air.

The hand that was about to knock on the door fell down.

The suppressed crying sound continued for a long time like a long night.

[This is the timeline separator]

The marriage with Nam Do Hyun, which Ji Yeon Woo thought would be rough, progressed faster than she had firmly prepared herself for.

Thanks to that, the wedding was held just a month after stamping the seal on the marriage registration form.

There was no formal meeting between the families that should have been done, and there was not a single wedding photo to hang on the wall.

If there was anything normal, would it be the wedding ceremony?

There was an officiant’s speech blessing them, and the wedding hall was filled with guests congratulating them.

After the ceremony, Ji Yeon Woo returned to the end of the virgin road with Nam Do Hyun to the accompaniment of the pianist.

The photographer, who brought the camera to his eyes, ordered the two.

“Bride and groom, shall we try a kiss?”

What’s so difficult about that?

Nam Do Hyun’s face, overflowing with composure, was saying that.

As expected, Nam Do Hyun lowered his head first. However, his destination was not Ji Yeon Woo’s lips, but her ear.

“It’s okay, even if we do it.”

“……”

“We’re a married couple anyway.”

The whispered voice was buried in the singing voice that filled the hall.

Ji Yeon Woo wasn’t a young child whose heart would flutter at a kiss shared without feelings anyway.

“It’s okay to do it.”

A kiss with you anyway.

“It’s not the first time anyway.”

One of Nam Do Hyun’s eyebrows, which had been flat, was slightly raised.

Nam Do Hyun’s two hands were placed on Ji Yeon Woo’s slender waist, and in response, Ji Yeon Woo’s hands wrapped around Nam Do Hyun’s arms.

This time, their lips overlapped.

With a bang, flower fireworks exploded above their heads.

‘We really did it.’

Because Nam Do Hyun is the only refuge left for me.

Because it was Nam Do Hyun’s hand that I grabbed at the cliff.

That’s why I married Nam Do Hyun.

I thought I wouldn’t regret it.

I shouldn’t have made such an assurance.

This husband.

I had no idea that I would abandon him with my own hands.