“Ah!”

Hae Yeon let out a short cry and quickly bent her waist to pick up the phone that she accidentally dropped from her hand. Of all places, it fell on the rough brick sidewalk, leaving a clear crack on the screen.

Wiping off the moisture on the screen from the drizzling rain since morning, Hae Yeon concealed her frustration and waited for a taxi. For some reason, she didn’t feel like driving today and decided to take public transportation.

“Please go to Deungchon-dong.”

Sitting in the arrived taxi, Hae Yeon checked her appearance. She specifically wore a dress today. The dress that Do Ha liked the most.

− Pretty.

When she first wore this outfit, Do Ha couldn’t take his eyes off Hae Yeon and gazed at her endlessly. It was a clean and elegant trench-style dress, and the slim waist was even more beautiful with a belt around it.

That day, Do Ha didn’t take his eyes off her until Hae Yeon, with a flushed face, asked him to stop. Thanks to that, Hae Yeon didn’t wear it often and only occasionally when Do Ha wanted.

Lost in memories for a moment, Hae Yeon turned her head to look at the drizzling scenery and suddenly touched her empty earlobe. The streets were dark even before evening due to the heavy clouds, and soon an empty taxi approached and stopped.

“Thank you.”

Getting out of the taxi, Hae Yeon opened her umbrella and headed straight to the meeting place. Perhaps because it was an awkward time, the cafe wasn’t crowded.

“You’re here early.”

Entering the interior, Hae Yeon approached the woman who undeniably revealed her presence. Waiting like the first meeting, Lee Su Rin raised her head, met eyes, and smiled thinly.

“I couldn’t help it out of anticipation.”

With sophisticated makeup and style, a beauty that anyone would acknowledge, she pursed her thick lips and replied.

“I ordered the menu appropriately.”

“It’s fine, I don’t mind.”

Hae Yeon responded to Su Rin’s words in her usual tone. It didn’t mean she really didn’t care what the menu was, but that she didn’t intend to have a long conversation with her.

As if Su Rin also had no intention of talking for long, she finished her reaction by shrugging her shoulders once and took a sip of the coffee given to her.

“For what reason did you ask to meet me?”

From the moment Su Rin suggested meeting at the party, Hae Yeon felt displeasure. Because she and Su Rin were not close enough to share drinks at a cafe like this from the day they first met.

Hae Yeon didn’t bother to hide her unpleasant feelings. Now was the time to cut off the lingering relationship with Su Rin.

Or maybe she could no longer endure the anger that arose from the moment she received that strange first call from this woman two months ago.

“I’ve been thinking…”

Stroking the back of her hand with well-manicured nails, Su Rin slowly opened her lips.

“Rather than doing such a bothersome thing to you, there seems to be a more definite way, so I wondered if I should take the long way around.”

Staring intently at Hae Yeon’s brown eyes across from her, Su Rin maintained a relaxed attitude. Suddenly, the phone with the cracked screen that Hae Yeon dropped before coming here caught her eye. It wasn’t even taken out on the table but was in her bag.

Yet, she couldn’t understand why that unrelated object came to mind in the current situation.

Pushing her thoughts aside, Hae Yeon raised her gaze.

“I think you’re misunderstanding something.”

From the moment Su Rin tried to meet the wife while claiming to be another man’s husband’s lover, she fell into a tremendous misunderstanding.

“Do you think that if you get rid of me, you’ll end up with Do Ha?”

That would never happen. Even if she were to leave Do Ha, Su Rin would never be able to take that place. That was an unchanging proposition. Perhaps Su Rin used Hae Yeon’s existence as an excuse to justify and console herself.

That she couldn’t have Cha Do Ha because of a person named Min Hae Yeon.

Was she affected? Cracks began to appear on the face of Su Rin, who had been sitting with her slender legs crossed and a relaxed posture. Hae Yeon didn’t stop.

“The reason I didn’t tell Do Ha about your actions wasn’t because I couldn’t, but because I didn’t want to.”

Su Rin tried to laugh to quickly find a cold poker face, but it was faint. Hae Yeon had already straightened her body without realizing it.

In Su Rin’s expression, Hae Yeon saw what she had felt at their first encounter. When a person is too absurd, when they feel wronged by themselves, they can’t even get angry. Because the body hardens as much as the mind.

Su Rin, who should have dismissed Hae Yeon’s words as nonsense, was quiet. Hae Yeon’s voice became even lower.

“I wanted to hide the fact that my friend’s younger sister, whom I’ve known for over 10 years, was just this kind of ‘kid.’ That’s why. The reason I didn’t tell Do Ha about your tricks.”

Su Rin, who had been smiling uncomfortably throughout the meeting, somehow closed her mouth. Regardless of what she did, Hae Yeon drove the point home.

“Why did I even bother with such consideration? You’re nothing to Do Ha.”

Those words were not only for Su Rin but also for Hae Yeon herself. Because Su Rin was truly nothing. A foolish and shameless person who vainly yearned for another man’s love.

In the end, Su Rin’s existence only informed Hae Yeon of the fact that she had lost her memory, nothing more and nothing less. The expression on Hae Yeon’s face disappeared, leaving only coldness.

“You, who take my silence as a cheap means, won’t be able to continue your childish acts anymore.”

This was the reason why Hae Yeon responded to Su Rin’s almost one-sided suggestion and came out today. Because there was no need to continue the ill-fated relationship. It had to be cut off clearly.

Hae Yeon had received a message from Yoon Ho the day before.

Today, the tomorrow that had arrived, Hae Yeon hadn’t received any contact from Yoon Ho yet, but yesterday when she received his message, she made a resolution. Let’s end it here with Su Rin. Su Rin, who was just another person, not even Chairman Yoon, was now the one who had to leave. Hae Yeon was about to stand up.

“You’re really pitiful.”

It was at that moment that Su Rin broke her silence after listening quietly to whatever was said. The bewilderment that had been seen on her face just before was nowhere to be found as she rested her right elbow on the table and cupped her chin in her palm, staring blankly.

However, Hae Yeon was tired of it. The trite lines she had heard in the past were boring to the point of exhaustion. Even in a situation like now, those words about her being pitiful had already been used in the past, yet she brought them up again.

“If you’re going to say that kind of thing−.”

“What, did you forget something?”

She was going to say to put it away if she was going to say that kind of thing. Until Su Rin cut her off.

Su Rin, who was pretending to be indifferent and simply nodding her head in a businesslike manner, suddenly had a face without any trace of a smile. As if she had finally brought up what she really wanted to say.

It was difficult to grasp her true intentions on her smooth face, and the gaze that looked at Hae Yeon with a hint of pity was absurd. That gaze was annoying, but Hae Yeon didn’t mention it for now.

“It’s really pitiful that you lost something important but can’t even remember it.”

Hae Yeon’s light brown pupils slightly hardened. Because she realized that what Su Rin was referring to as having lost was not her memory. In a situation like this, unlike their first meeting, Su Rin would not tell a lie that would be easily exposed.

Then, something important that she had lost. That meant there was such a thing.

It was a bit startling, but soon a feeling of displeasure rushed in. The fact that Su Rin knew something related to her at this point, when her memory hadn’t even returned yet and she hadn’t received any information from Yoon Ho, felt extremely unpleasant.

“It would be nice to at least have memories when you can no longer give anything to Do Ha…”

Su Rin, who had been making eye contact and subtly lowering her gaze while trailing off her words, somehow didn’t seem unfamiliar. That expression, that glance, was what she had done in the department store bathroom before.

− Compared to you, who can’t give anything to Do Ha and only causes trouble, wouldn’t I be better?

At that time, she was engulfed in unpleasantness and didn’t think deeply about it. She only thought one-dimensionally. She thought it was a sarcastic remark about herself not being able to provide any material help.

But hearing it again, Hae Yeon understood that Su Rin’s words didn’t simply mean that.

Su Rin, who had leaned her upper body slightly forward at some point, lowered her eyes and smiled faintly.

As the sounds of customers in the cafe, the music, and even the sound of rain outside mixed together to create noise all at once, Hae Yeon felt a slight headache and closed her eyes with force for a moment.

When she opened her eyes again, she saw Su Rin smiling fully.

“Do Ha is the only pitiful one. He suffered a loss by meeting a woman like Min Hae Yeon.”

Even though Su Rin spoke as if she was humming a tune, Hae Yeon somehow felt a chilling sensation. The interior wasn’t cold because the air conditioning wasn’t strong due to the rain outside.

“What on earth can’t Min Hae Yeon remember? Or what did she want to forget?”

Unlike Hae Yeon, who felt a chill, Su Rin didn’t stop. Just like Hae Yeon a little while ago.

Ding-dong.

The moment she tried to hug her arms and brush them down, her phone danced in her bag. Without avoiding Su Rin’s eyes, she took out the cracked phone, but she could still check the caller at least.

It was Lee Yoon Ho.

Despite it being the call she had been waiting for so long, Hae Yeon couldn’t think of answering it and put it back in her bag, staring at Su Rin as if she was possessed by something.

“You still can’t remember?”

Was there something wrong with her ears? Su Rin’s voice, her tone, seemed to have a melody again. Hae Yeon instinctively frowned at the bouncy voice that was completely different from usual.

And Hae Yeon knew. Why Su Rin’s voice sounded like that.

She had instinctively realized it.

“You had a miscarriage, didn’t you?”

How Su Rin’s next words would come across to her.