“Are they dating? No way. They probably just had dinner together.”

“Is that so?”

The sound of clinking could be heard for a while, as if someone was fixing their makeup.

As Ju Ri was about to leave, Hwa Young spoke up again.

“But it’s not completely baseless. Song Da Eun applied for a different position before becoming a secretary.”

“That’s right. She didn’t know anything about secretarial work, so I had a hard time teaching her.”

“I heard Director Cha personally selected her.”

Ju Ri covered her mouth and listened intently. Da Eun had definitely applied for the product development team. But she became Cha Yu Kwon’s secretary and even thought about quitting the company.

She didn’t know the details of their relationship, but there were rumors that the two were dating. However, Da Eun said they were just interested in each other in the past, but it ended before developing into anything special. Da Eun thought of Yu Kwon not as a wistful first love, but more like an unfortunate connection she didn’t want to encounter again.

Something was definitely going on, but tight-lipped Da Eun never told Ju Ri anything.

“Come to think of it, they’re both from S University’s Business School, right?”

“Really? Is there really something between them? Could Song Da Eun become the wife of a chaebol family?”

“What are you talking about? Would Song Da Eun be good enough for Director Cha? At best, she’d be a second wife.”

“I’d be happy to be even a second wife, if he’d let me.”

“What about a third?”

“Shut up.”

A burst of laughter was heard. Ju Ri, who had missed her chance to leave, slumped down on the toilet.

Ju Ri was appalled. Would Cha Yu Kwon be crazy enough to fool around with such lowly people? She wanted to tell them not to even dream about it.

“By the way, about Assistant Manager Go Young Hoon. I heard he became a father. Who could the mother be?”

“I heard it’s someone from our company.”

“Someone from our company? Who? Do I know her?”

“Well…”

Ju Ri, who had been sitting in a daze eavesdropping, snapped to attention. These were people who loved gossip, and there was no guarantee she wouldn’t become their next target. She had been too careless.

She got up, opened the door and walked out, startling the two women who had been gossiping.

“Sounds like you were having an interesting conversation.”

Ju Ri washed her hands with a nonchalant expression. The two women just glanced at her nervously without saying a word. Gritting her teeth, Ju Ri left the bathroom with her back to them. Water dripped from her hands that she hadn’t fully dried.

Just then, her phone in her pocket vibrated. Young Hoon was calling. Frowning, Ju Ri reluctantly answered the phone.

—Mother has woken up.

Young Hoon received a call from his father that his mother had woken up and immediately headed to the hospital. He had many questions. He couldn’t understand why his mother had come to Ju Ri’s house without contacting him, leading to this misfortune.

Hyang Mi, who was half-lying down looking out the window, turned her head to look at Young Hoon.

“Why is a boy who should be in the army here?”

“Mom, what are you saying? It’s me, Young Hoon.”

Sung Bok, who was sitting next to her, let out a deep sigh.

“Your mother seems to have amnesia.”

“Amnesia?”

“The tests showed no problems and the surgery went well, so she should get better soon.”

“Mom…”

Young Hoon grabbed Hyang Mi’s hand and burst into tears.

“Why is this child like this?”

Hyang Mi looked down at the crying Young Hoon with a bewildered expression.

“By the way, who is that woman? She’s been standing there for a while.”

Hyang Mi glanced at the door and asked Young Hoon. At those words, Ju Ri, who had been standing still as if nailed to the spot, approached.

“…Mother, are you alright?”

“Mother? Are you perhaps Young Hoon’s girlfriend?”

Ju Ri scrutinized Hyang Mi’s expression. It didn’t seem like she was acting.

She had been worried when she heard Hyang Mi had woken up, but if it was amnesia, it was somewhat of a relief. Ju Ri secretly let out a sigh of relief.

“…Yes, hello.”

Ju Ri awkwardly bowed her head in greeting. Hyang Mi, who had been looking at her with a prim expression, opened her mouth.

“Are you older? You look a bit older.”

She muttered, looking Ju Ri up and down as if disapproving.

“You should go now. Don’t confuse her unnecessarily. They say she needs to rest.”

Sung Bok pushed the two of them out as if shooing them away. People in the hospital room were giving them dirty looks because Young Hoon was crying so loudly.

Having no choice, Young Hoon left the room with Ju Ri.

Ju Ri glanced back at the hospital room once more and then turned her gaze to Young Hoon, who was still crying.

“Stop crying. Her memory may be gone, but she’s regained consciousness.”

Ju Ri scolded Young Hoon, but he seemed to have no intention of stopping, continuing to sniffle. She clicked her tongue.

The problem was what lay ahead. They didn’t know when Hyang Mi’s memory would return.

“You have a lot of vacation days left, right? I used up almost all of mine preparing for the wedding. You should use your vacation days to take care of my mother.”

Ju Ri, who had been lost in thought, snapped back to attention at Young Hoon’s words.

“Me? Why should I?”

“I just told you. I used up all my vacation days preparing for the wedding, remember?”

Suddenly, Da Eun’s words came to mind.

“Like a savior.”

Had she really become a savior to Song Da Eun? A savior who got rid of the trash named Go Young Hoon.

Ju Ri bit her trembling lips hard.

“When can you start?”

Ju Ri silently glared at Young Hoon.

Why did I ever like this man?

Young Hoon was tall, neat, humorous, and popular among the female employees.

But more than those qualities, the fact that he was Da Eun’s man had a big impact on Ju Ri. Due to her feelings of inferiority, jealousy, and envy towards Da Eun, at some point Ju Ri became unable to make objective judgments. Now that the rose-colored glasses were off, Young Hoon seemed even lower than an insect to her.

Moreover, she had expected Da Eun to be miserably broken after being abandoned by Young Hoon, but now she might be moving on to Cha Yu Kwon. Her body trembled with jealousy. Ju Ri slowly exhaled before speaking.

“I wasn’t going to say anything for a while because you seemed to be having a hard time, but…”

Ju Ri took out a paper from her bag and showed it to Young Hoon. It was a doctor’s note saying she had miscarried. Of course, it was a fake note that she had fabricated.

“The shock must have been great.”

Ju Ri forced out tears. Young Hoon’s eyes wavered as he stared blankly at the note.

“Our child died…? No, how did this happen? Why weren’t you more careful!”

Both the pregnancy and the miscarriage were lies. But even in this situation, Young Hoon was busy blaming Ju Ri.

She thought she couldn’t be any more disappointed, but she was even more disappointed.

“Careful? Was that something I should have been careful about? You never even went to the hospital with me once to check if your child was growing well!”

“No, you never asked me to go with you.”

Young Hoon muttered, pouting. Ju Ri let out a disbelieving laugh.

“I want to be alone for a while. I’d appreciate it if you didn’t contact me.”

“Wait! What do you mean don’t contact you? What does that mean?”

“It means exactly what I said. I’m sorry about your mother, but it’s hard for me to see your face, Young Hoon. Let’s end this now.”

Seeing Young Hoon trying to pass off his mother’s care to her, Ju Ri made up her mind. It was a thousand blessings that she wasn’t actually pregnant. It seemed better to live alone for the rest of her life than to live with such an incompetent and irresponsible man.

“…Um, wait a moment.”

As Ju Ri tried to break away from Young Hoon to catch a taxi, he grabbed the hem of her clothes and clung on. She looked up at him with piercing eyes. He stammered as he spoke.

“Th-then, can you lend me some money? My mom doesn’t have insurance, so it’s going to cost a lot.”

Ju Ri realized once again. His boasts about having enormous wealth and land from his parents were just bluffs.

“I think I’m the one who needs to borrow money…”

She showed him her bank account balance and credit card statement on her phone. There was about 300,000 won left in her account, and her credit card bill was over 6 million won.

“Why is your credit card bill so high?”

“You know I love luxury goods, right? I’ve put all the luxury items I’ve bought so far on 12-month installments, so it’ll be like this for the next two years, but my salary isn’t increasing?”

Ju Ri said nonchalantly. It wasn’t a lie. She really did like luxury goods and had many installment payments. The only problem was that they were top-grade counterfeits, not authentic. She had actually been planning to ask Young Hoon for help.

“…You should think before you spend money. You’re completely irresponsible.”

Young Hoon muttered as if disappointed. It hurt her pride, but it was necessary to get rid of Young Hoon.

“What about you? Don’t you have any savings?”

“It’s not that I don’t have any, it’s just all tied up…”

“Anyway, let’s not get entangled with money and end things here.”

“Honey, no matter what, ending things like this is…”

“Otherwise, why don’t you ask Da Eun? Isn’t Da Eun obedient and capable?”

She threw his own words back at him. Young Hoon blinked with a stupid expression.

Please ask. Please!

Ju Ri clenched her sweaty hands. The only way to completely get rid of Young Hoon was to use Da Eun. She felt hurt and angry seeing Young Hoon waver between her and Da Eun, but now she was glad.

Please let them meet again. Ju Ri fervently wished.

“But Da Eun has already…”

“As hard as it is for her to give her heart to someone, it’s equally hard for her to let go.”

She whispered as if trying to brainwash him. Normally, he wouldn’t have fallen for such words, but Young Hoon’s heart was very weak due to Hyang Mi’s condition.

“Ah, it might be too late. Like you said, it seems Da Eun is seeing Cha Yu Kwon these days.”

Ju Ri, who had been staring at Young Hoon, said casually.

“Wasn’t I right? I told you that bastard’s eyes looking at Da Eun were dirty.”

Young Hoon raged as if Da Eun was his possession. Watching this, Ju Ri laughed silently.

It was as she expected. With Hyang Mi collapsed and nowhere to turn, it was obvious Young Hoon would cling to Ju Ri.

Sure enough, he who only paid lip service to filial piety finally asked her to take care of his mother. However, Ju Ri was different from Da Eun.

‘Da Eun, I’ll give you back what’s yours now. You can have Go Young Hoon and be done with it.’