“Elder brother. This… What is this?”

“It’s the bone broth your mother gave.”

Slowly lifting eyelids trembled faintly.

Anger flowed, choking a stiffened throat.

Shin Joo’s Adam’s apple bobbed as she watched Juliet hastily devouring the bone broth Lee Jung Hye had made.

“Why did mother give this to the dog instead of eating it herself?”

“I guess Mom wanted to give it to her.”

Nam Seung Hee answered halfheartedly, as if it was a pointless question.

Shin Joo’s fists clenched tightly as she bit her lower lip.

Countless indescribable emotions swirled and mixed in her chest.

“Why are you here instead of going to work?”

Shin Joo slowly turned at the sound of Park Young Ran’s voice behind her.

“The housekeepers all went on a group outing today. I told her to come change clothes.”

“That’s good. Pick up the watch I left for service at Rolex too. Help out in the kitchen when you get back.”

Park Young Ran naturally added her own demands to Nam Seung Hee’s orders, as if addressing a subordinate.

Having finished the bone broth, Juliet bounced over to Park Young Ran like a rabbit and rolled over to show her belly.

Park Young Ran knelt down and stroked Juliet’s belly with affectionate eyes.

“Juliet, did you eat well?”

“Woof!”

Park Young Ran raised her chin at Shin Joo’s gaze looking down at her.

“You have a lot to do. Why aren’t you moving already?”

“Why… did you do that?”

“Do what?”

“Why did you give the bone broth my mother made to the dog?”

Park Young Ran raised her bent knees and immediately scrunched her face, raising her voice in a threat.

“Watch your words. It’s not a dog, it’s Juliet.”

She raised her voice about not using her pet dog’s name, but didn’t even respond to the insult Shin Joo had received.

She had endured all kinds of humiliation steadfastly, but now she was utterly exhausted.

She couldn’t take it anymore. There was a limit to how much she could endure.

“Please answer me, mother. Why didn’t you eat this and give it to the dog instead?”

“What’s the problem exactly? Isn’t it fine as long as someone eats it?”

“My mother made this thinking of you. But how could you…”

“Since when was a gift about self-satisfaction?”

The trailing end of Shin Joo’s words faded painfully, swallowed up by Park Young Ran’s anger.

“If it was really a gift for me, shouldn’t she have found out what I like? Sure, your mother doesn’t have much to offer what I want. But a person should at least show some consideration.”

“It’s a gift my mother spent a long time thinking about and preparing. For you. How can you call that self-satisfaction? She made it only thinking about how happy and pleased you would be.”

Park Young Ran shook her head in disgust and admonished.

“As if I’d be touched by that bone broth alone. It’s not just your mother to blame. Weren’t you embarrassed to shove that at me in front of Ji Eun?”

“It’s bone broth my mother made on her first outing from the hospital. She went grocery shopping herself on crutches, and spent over 10 hours cooking it in the kitchen. Did someone’s gift, made with such care despite her condition, make you ashamed?”

Her voice choked up as she held back tears.

She thought Park Young Ran was speaking without knowing her mother’s situation.

Even if Park Young Ran wasn’t grateful for her rebuttal, she thought there would be no further insults. But Park Young Ran’s eyes were filled with even greater contempt as she looked at Shin Joo.

“You really don’t know what the problem is. Poor kids like you think pity is some kind of privilege. Did you want me to eat your mother’s bone broth while shedding tears? Why should I feel sorry for your mother? For spending her old age in hospitals? For her husband dying without caring about his family?”

“Mother!”

Shin Joo finally cut off Park Young Ran’s words with reddened eyes.

But Park Young Ran didn’t stop there, mercilessly driving even harsher words into Shin Joo’s heart.

“Your mother is worse than a stranger to me. Why should I pity such a person? Why should I eat something made with discomfort, feeling uncomfortable myself?”

Shin Joo’s body began to tremble as if surrounded by cold.

It had already been well over a year since she’d known Park Young Ran.

She knew that no matter how hard she tried and struggled, she would never be good enough for Park Young Ran.

Still, she thought that as time passed, the anger towards her would subside, that if she waited, someday she would be acknowledged even once.

Was it so presumptuous to yearn for the attention given to Do Hyun, to Ji Eun, even to the pet dog?

Park Young Ran was unfailingly insulting and defiling her and her family.

“Hey. Stop that useless struggling and go change the clothes.”

Nam Seung Hee urged, clutching a bag of snacks.

The evening appointment was far more important to Nam Seung Hee than the fight between the two.

When Shin Joo stood there without answering, Nam Seung Hee got up from the sofa with wide eyes.

“Can’t you hear me? I need to wear this out tonight.”

“…”

“Hey!”

Nam Seung Hee threw the leather skirt that had fallen on the floor at Shin Joo, shouting in anger at her lack of response.

The leather skirt that left Nam Seung Hee’s hand hit Shin Joo’s chest and fell to the floor.

After that, Nam Seung Hee spewed something like curses, but it was as if her ears had gone deaf and no sound could be heard.

Shin Joo’s eyes, lifting her lowered eyelids, reflected Nam Seung Hee and Park Young Ran.

Gazes of hatred and contempt.

Now she came to her senses.

The reason she wasn’t treated even as well as a dog in this house was because she existed somewhere around the level of a disposable object to them.

How ridiculous must it have been for an object to ask to be treated like a person.

Ignoring Nam Seung Hee’s yelling, Shin Joo went into the kitchen instead of out of the house.

Shin Joo opened the refrigerator door and took out a familiar container tucked deep inside.

It was the bone broth Lee Jung Hye had made.

Nam Seung Hee shouted as she saw Shin Joo trying to leave the house holding the bone broth container.

“Hey, don’t overdo it. Are you going to ruin our mood over one bone broth?”

Shin Joo, still showing her back, spoke with all the emotion drained from her voice.

“Yes. I won’t cater to your damned mood anymore.”

“D-damned? Damned! What’s wrong with your head? Are you crazy? Hey! Aren’t you coming here?”

Nam Seung Hee stretched out her hand and stomped her feet as if about to grab Shin Joo’s hair.

But Shin Joo left the house without paying any attention to the sounds behind her.

Nam Seung Hee, having thrown every curse she knew, turned to Park Young Ran sitting on the sofa after panting.

“Mom. Won’t she go tell Do Hyun everything?”

“She can’t speak. Don’t worry about it.”

Park Young Ran was nonchalant, as if she had something to rely on.

“How do you know? She looked like she couldn’t see straight just now.”

“You still don’t understand after everything you’ve seen so far? If she was going to talk, she would have done it long ago.”

“She might talk today because she’s pissed that Mom gave the bone broth to Juliet.”

“Even if she does talk, you think I can’t come up with an excuse? I’ll just say the housekeeper made a mistake. What can Do Hyun do if I say I didn’t do it?”

Nam Seung Hee laughed and sat down next to Park Young Ran, leaning her head on the sofa.

“That’s true.”

Nam Seung Hee, with her arms crossed, was about to take a nap when something she had forgotten suddenly came to mind.

Nam Seung Hee picked up the leather skirt on the floor and whined.

“Who’s going to change this if that b*tch Shin Joo doesn’t?”

Shin Joo, who had left the house, hailed a taxi on the main road.

In the taxi heading home, Shin Joo was preciously holding onto the bone broth Lee Jung Hye had made.

The long conflict had already left Shin Joo without the strength to lift a finger.

Perhaps that’s why she had no strength left to cry.

Although she felt wronged and resentful enough to beat her chest, her dry eyes only wavered unfocused.

She thought she had grown used to the verbal abuse and physical violence that had been going on for a long time.

But touching her mother was too much to bear, rendering even her built-up tolerance useless.

Her fingers turned white as she gripped the side dish container on her lap.

‘I can’t do this anymore.’

It felt as if every hair on her body, every bit of flesh was burning up completely.

She had tried to endure alone somehow. But it felt like she would collapse before long at this rate.

She was afraid that the consuming drain that had even swallowed herself would someday make her give up on Do Hyun.

She didn’t want to wear a mask in front of him while shouldering things that were too much to bear anymore.

So Shin Joo made a decision. To reveal everything she had been hiding from Do Hyun.

***

She returned home and waited for Do Hyun to arrive.

Even as the moon rose overhead to replace the sun sinking below the horizon, Shin Joo didn’t notice the house growing dark.

She was busy organizing in her mind what to say to Do Hyun.

What words should she start with? How much should she tell, from where to where?

If she told everything, all the facts as they were, how much would he be hurt?

Wouldn’t it be a better choice not to say anything, to cover it up and bury it?

Even until the moment Do Hyun walked through the front door, Shin Joo couldn’t let go of her dilemma.

Shin Joo, who had been sitting at the kitchen table, got up at the sound of movement from the entrance.

Walking out into the hallway, she saw Do Hyun was already on the phone with someone.

Do Hyun paused briefly in front of the entrance and raised his hand, signaling her to wait a moment.

Shin Joo nodded, and Do Hyun continued his call.

‘What kind of call is it?’

As time passed, deep furrows formed on his brow that had only been neat before.

Do Hyun’s eyes flashed sharply as he focused on the voice coming through the phone.