The person distributing rice cakes for Tae Kyung’s move-in was neither the residents of the villa where he moved in, nor many people, but only Seo Ha.

Although he had been acting harshly due to resentment and hatred towards Seo Ha, in the end he couldn’t erase her from his mind. He didn’t want to lose her.

The more he put up thorns and treated her strongly, the more Seo Ha tried to run away.

Rather than strongly pursuing and holding onto her, he vowed to stick to Seo Ha and not let go. Even if pushed away, he would stay firmly by Seo Ha’s side.

Tae Kyung carefully pressed the doorbell while repeating his resolution to himself.

Ding dong.

A moment after ringing the doorbell, Seo Ha’s voice was heard from inside.

“Yes! Who is it?”

Tae Kyung’s heart was not just pounding, but leaping to the point of bursting out of his mouth. However, he suppressed his voice as much as possible and answered calmly.

“Ahem. I’ve moved in. I’m here to distribute rice cakes.”

Seo Ha opened the front door without much suspicion, then froze in place.

Her expression showed she couldn’t understand why Tae Kyung was standing there with move-in rice cakes.

After a moment of silence, Seo Ha asked.

“What are you doing?”

“Move-in rice cakes.”

Tae Kyung nonchalantly lifted up the box of rice cakes to show her.

One of Seo Ha’s eyebrows twisted. Min Joon peeked his head out behind her.

Min Joon saw Tae Kyung and greeted him cheerfully.

“Oh? Hello?”

“Yes, hello?”

“Why did you come to our house?”

“The teacher moved nearby. It’s customary to distribute rice cakes when you move.”

Min Joon had already come out in front of Seo Ha and was examining the box of rice cakes.

Then Myung Hoon also came out and greeted Tae Kyung.

“What brings you here?”

“I moved nearby. I brought move-in rice cakes. I thought it might be hard for you to carry if I left them at the security office.”

Seo Ha didn’t know exactly where Tae Kyung had moved to, but she was bothered by how close he seemed to have become with Myung Hoon without her knowing.

How should she handle this relationship that was growing closer the more she tried to distance herself?

“Who distributes move-in rice cakes by the whole box?”

Seo Ha complained, finding it absurd how Tae Kyung kept repeating the same answer shamelessly.

Myung Hoon nudged Seo Ha. It was a signal to quickly accept the rice cakes, but Seo Ha pressed her lips together tightly.

“Oh my, come in. Seo Ha, what are you doing? Why are you leaving the guest outside?”

“Thank you.”

Tae Kyung quickly entered the entryway before Seo Ha’s permission even came.

Passing by Seo Ha as he entered, he bowed politely to Myung Hoon.

“I’m Han Tae Kyung, who will be your neighbor from now on. Please take good care of me. I live alone, so I’d appreciate your help.”

“Elder brother!”

Seo Ha shouted. However, both Myung Hoon and Min Joon had all their attention on Tae Kyung.

For whatever reason, Myung Hoon pretended not to notice Seo Ha’s uncomfortable appearance and exchanged friendly greetings with Tae Kyung.

“Have you had lunch? We were in the middle of eating.”

“Please speak comfortably. I haven’t had lunch yet.”

“Oh my. Then why don’t you join us, though we don’t have much prepared?”

“I’d be grateful if you’d allow me to.”

Regardless of Seo Ha’s opinion, Myung Hoon and Min Joon took Tae Kyung into the kitchen.

The bubbling soybean paste stew, crispy grilled mackerel, and golden pan-fried tofu stimulated Tae Kyung’s appetite.

Grrrumble.

At the timely rumbling of Tae Kyung’s stomach, Myung Hoon smiled kindly.

“Wait just a moment.”

Myung Hoon personally scooped rice for Tae Kyung.

As the warm rice was placed in front of him, Tae Kyung swallowed his saliva.

Chopsticks were set out, and Tae Kyung, Myung Hoon, and Min Joon sat down at the table and began eating, disregarding Seo Ha.

Seo Ha stared blankly at them with an incredulous expression.

Tae Kyung took a big spoonful and put it in his mouth. Myung Hoon served soybean paste stew onto the side dish plate as if taking care of his son.

Min Joon fixed his gaze on Tae Kyung and chewed his rice slowly.

Tae Kyung ate the stew with a good appetite.

It was warm. Not like the cold meals he always ate alone.

His emotions stirred at the warmth rising from deep in his heart.

It felt like he had entered a cozy family picture.

‘Seo Ha. If I had been with you, this would have been my place now.’

Tae Kyung’s throat choked up. He firmly resolved that he would never let Seo Ha go again, and that he would reclaim this place he had lost.

Seo Ha reluctantly sat down and forcibly moved her spoon that wouldn’t go down.

Min Joon hesitated, then placed a piece of kimchi on top of Tae Kyung’s rice.

“Mom said you have to eat kimchi to be strong.”

“I see. Don’t you eat kimchi?”

“I already ate one earlier!”

Tae Kyung smiled brightly, as if finding Min Joon cute for answering his question with a startled response.

Seo Ha sat in her seat, picking at her food with chopsticks. Tae Kyung picked up some pan-fried tofu and placed it on top of Seo Ha’s rice, which she wasn’t eating properly.

“You liked that, didn’t you?”

“Ah, it’s fine. Elder brother, you eat it.”

Seeing Tae Kyung so naturally put side dishes on her rice, Seo Ha was reminded of when they first met 6 years ago.

Back then too, Tae Kyung would casually put side dishes on Seo Ha’s rice. That was his way of showing interest in her.

Tae Kyung, who grew up with a single mother, was clumsy at expressing affection. Perhaps that’s why Seo Ha was drawn to him more. The two became close quickly because their pain regarding their parents was a common ground.

Seo Ha choked up at the old memories.

Min Joon tilted his head and looked at Seo Ha as she spoke gruffly, trying to hide her emotions.

“Mom, why do you call the coding teacher ‘elder brother’?”

“Huh? Well, that’s…”

As Seo Ha stumbled over her words, unable to answer, Tae Kyung intercepted the response.

“Your mom is younger than the teacher. The teacher is an elder brother to your mom. And your mom and the teacher knew each other before you were born, so that’s why. Back then, she called me elder brother.”

Hearing the unexpectedly detailed explanation from Tae Kyung, Min Joon nodded. Seo Ha furrowed her brow, not knowing how to react.

Seo Ha bristled at Tae Kyung’s next words.

“Your mom was surprisingly picky about food. Why do you tell the kid to eat kimchi when you don’t eat it yourself?”

“I, I do eat kimchi! Why wouldn’t I eat it?”

“You don’t eat young radish kimchi. You don’t eat green onion kimchi, and you don’t eat perilla leaf kimchi. You barely eat cabbage kimchi.”

Seo Ha’s face turned red.

‘There’s nothing he won’t say in front of the child!’

Seo Ha was upset, feeling like her efforts to correct Min Joon’s picky eating were going to waste.

But Min Joon, sensing his chance, pouted his lips and voiced his pent-up complaints.

“Mom! You said it hurts if you’re picky! Mom, you eat kimchi too! That’s unfair!”

“What? How dare you call your mom unfair, you!”

Unlike her mature and determined appearance at kindergarten, Seo Ha bickered with Min Joon like a friend.

Myung Hoon, watching the natural interactions between Tae Kyung, Min Joon, and Seo Ha, unknowingly smiled contentedly.

It was evening when Tae Kyung returned home.

Vroom vroom vroom.

Kyu Won was enjoying a car racing game, having set up his game console as if it were his own home.

Tae Kyung frowned at the sight.

“This is my house, not yours.”

“Huh? Weren’t you planning to use this place like our company’s rest area? You should do that much for employee welfare. Are you going to use this big house alone?”

“Your dreams are ambitious. Wake up.”

As Tae Kyung sneered and pressed the power button on the game console, Kyu Won opened his mouth wide and jumped up and down.

“Hey! I was about to get first place for the first time! You cruel bastard! You sneaky bastard!”

“Why are you installing your game console in my house anyway? Don’t casually covet my house. Aren’t you going to Seoul?”

“I don’t know! I don’t know! When did you use me? Now you’re kicking me out?”

Kyu Won sulkily pushed out his lips.

“Go throw your pointless tantrums at your girlfriend.”

“Girlfriend? I wonder if my girlfriend has even been born yet? Where are you, my dear?”

“Oh my! You’d better just finish the game you were playing. What’s with ‘my dear’?”

Kyu Won suddenly spoke in an exaggerated theatrical tone. Tae Kyung mocked such Kyu Won and put the soybean paste stew he had brought into the refrigerator.

It was the soybean paste stew he had practically snatched from Seo Ha.

Back in those days when they were together, Seo Ha was good at cooking other dishes too, but she often made soybean paste stew. Although Tae Kyung didn’t have much of an appetite, Seo Ha’s soybean paste stew was perfect for settling his stomach.

It wasn’t luxurious side dishes, but when they ate the soybean paste stew Seo Ha made together, it felt like they had become a real family.

“What’s that? Where did you go anyway?”

“Don’t touch it. This is mine.”

“Ugh, you’re really stingy.”

Tae Kyung paid no attention to Kyu Won.

Kyu Won stretched his neck out and looked at the soybean paste stew Tae Kyung was carefully putting away.

“You don’t like that stuff. You hate even the smell of soybean paste stew, what’s gotten into you?”

Kyu Won tilted his head again, then put his face close to Tae Kyung’s and asked worriedly.

“Are you okay? You didn’t get some incurable disease, did you?”

“What are you talking about! I don’t dislike soybean paste stew.”

It’s been 5 years since Tae Kyung stopped eating soybean paste stew because it reminded him of Seo Ha.

At first, he went around looking for soybean paste stew because he missed Seo Ha’s, but at some point he gave up.

The more he searched, the deeper his longing for Seo Ha grew, and the more hungry he felt.

After that, he didn’t eat soybean paste stew. He even avoided the smell, not wanting to smell it.

“Where did you get that?”

“You don’t need to know. Anyway, don’t touch it. And I’ll be staying here, just so you know.”

“You’re going to commute from here?”

Kyu Won’s eyes widened.

“You left your perfectly good family home to live closer to the company, and now you’re going to commute from this far away? What about the Seoul house?”

“I’m going to leave that as is for now.”

“Rich chaebol kids are different. Others have a hard time getting even one house.”

“Shut up.”

Kyu Won plopped down on the sofa and turned on the television.

On the news screen, Congressman Jin Chul Wook appeared. He was shaking hands with market merchants, wearing a friendly smile.

“I heard Congressman Jin Chul Wook is running as a presidential candidate this time?”

Tae Kyung looked at the screen with an indifferent face.

‘Yoo Na really resembles her father, Congressman Jin Chul Wook.’

He had never considered getting involved with Yoo Na, her father Chul Wook, and that family.

Tae Kyung vaguely sensed the cunning hidden behind that warm smile. There hadn’t been any particular incident, but the feeling he got from them wasn’t good.

“Is that why Yoo Na seemed anxious? Worried she might get caught up in rumors with you. Be careful how you act. One wrong move and our company could get involved too.”

“……”

Tae Kyung gets a headache.

‘Should I have cut ties earlier?’

Tae Kyung rubbed his temples. But it’s his own fault for not cutting ties with them earlier. He wanted to beat up his past self, thinking it was his just deserts.