Choi frowned as he removed the rockfish from the fishing hook. Deep wrinkles furrowed his forehead.

[It’s because I haven’t done enough for that young one. You know too, sir. I just want our Eun Seo to live properly.] [Do you think the chairman will believe you now? Don’t make trouble where there is none and just leave, elder.] [How is this making trouble? I’m saying I’ll put everything back the way it was. Everyone has their rightful place, and that place was never meant for Eun Seo.] [You should say that to Butler Jang. Why are you telling me? Besides, you went along with it all back then too.] [Butler Jang won’t listen to me. Would the chairman believe a strange old man like me over Butler Jang? I’ve tried to come several times but couldn’t even see the chairman’s face. Butler Jang chases me away as soon as he sees me, really.]

At first, he begged,

[I’ve been seeing the madam lately. Every night and every day, she appears in my dreams. You don’t know how sorrowfully she looks at me. If anything happens to this household’s young master, it’ll all be your fault, sir. When that time comes, I’ll tell the chairman everything.]

When that didn’t work, he resorted to threats.

[Oh really, that man, why is he being so scary? What does he mean he sees the madam!] [Don’t worry. I’ll soon step forward and tell everything myself. First, let’s get them married, and then when Butler Jang can’t do anything about it, I’ll say I did it all. Driver Choi, you know nothing about this. Don’t blame yourself. The madam chose our Eun Seo anyway. There’s no fault in it. Thank you, Driver Choi.]

And then Grandmother Bok Soon pressed a rather large sum of money into his hand.

[This is my sincerity.]

Phew. Choi sighed heavily as he threw back a shot of soju, tilting his head back.

He couldn’t confess to Chairman Kwon because he had foolishly made a deal with Butler Jang.

Should he not have listened to Butler Jang 23 years ago, or should he have refused the grandmother’s request?

What Bok Soon wanted was one thing:

Kwon Tae Ha’s identification card.

At first, he had no intention of granting that request. But his mind changed the day Woo Young stopped by the house. Getting the ID wasn’t difficult.

His son Woo Young was Tae Ha’s closest friend and secretary, so Tae Ha occasionally entrusted his wallet to Woo Young.

When Tae Ha picked out items, Woo Young would pay for them later.

That time too, saying he was buying a new car, Tae Ha had left his wallet with Woo Young, and he had secretly stolen Tae Ha’s ID from Woo Young’s jacket when he came home.

Putting it back wasn’t difficult either.

[Woo Young. Tae Ha dropped his ID in the room.]

Tae Ha and Woo Young were closer than brothers, and Tae Ha followed Driver Choi as much as Chairman Kwon.

Compared to the always busy Chairman Kwon, Driver Choi who gave piggyback rides and played hide-and-seek was an interesting adult to Tae Ha.

“Hey, Choi, something wrong?”

“Huh? Oh, no. It’s nothing.”

“Why are you drinking straight soju like that? Eat some ramen with it, will you? You’ll ruin your stomach.”

She said she’d come to reveal everything when the time came, but now there’s no contact. Really.

[I have two phones. One Butler Jang gave me that no one knows about, just the two of us use it. So if you contact me on this, no one will know.]

But Bok Soon’s phone had been turned off for a while now. So, afraid he might be made a scapegoat, he set off on a trip as if running away.

Choi couldn’t even take a bite of ramen as he gulped down the soju. The waves crashed against the rocks, breaking into white foam.

The sound of the waves is quite as tumultuous as his insides.

* * *

“Over there.”

Jung Woo, who had just gotten off work, pointed to the grey wing chair.

At the late hour of the night, Eun Seo was sleeping there. Her hands and knees neatly folded, her head resting gently on top.

The wing chair, which had been facing the piano, was slightly turned towards the garden. It seems she had dozed off while admiring the garden.

“Shouldn’t we wake her?”

As Jung Woo approached Eun Seo, Tae Ha blocked his way.

“She looks tired. Later.”

Jung Woo raised his eyebrow awkwardly and climbed the stairs.

After confirming Jung Woo had gone up, Tae Ha sat at the bar. It was just the right distance to see Eun Seo.

Not too close, not too far.

Her petite body was sunk deep into the wing chair, and her feet, having lost their slippers, were covered in thick sleep socks. Around the round neckline of her dress, black hair that looked like it had never been dyed was softly scattered.

Eun Seo was breathing evenly, not stirring once.

She sleeps so well.

Thinking she might have become comfortable, her neat brow furrowed mercilessly as if she was dreaming.

Is she having a bad dream? Like me.

The nightmare was always the same. The letter clearly written on delicate skin, appearing without fail whenever he dreamed.

It was a dream of fear and deep sorrow, and ironically, when small, young hands covered his eyes, a strange sense of relief washed over him simultaneously. Even though it was a dream, those hands were too warm.

It felt so vivid that he thought he could recognize the owner of those hands if he ever met them.

But after being quiet for several years, he had that dream again recently.

Tae Ha stroked his shoulder blade where the Latin tattoo was engraved and approached Eun Seo. She was crying. A tear rolled down her cheek along the corner of her eye.

‘Is she really having a nightmare?’

“Hold me.”

“……”

“Hold me, grandmother.”

“……”

“Just once. Once is enough. Please hold me. Sob.”

Whether in her sleep or dream, Eun Seo sobbed pitifully.

“Come here.”

Tae Ha gently pulled her into his arms. Then pat, pat. He picked her up, lightly patting her back.

Eun Seo buried her nose in his chest and tightly gripped his clothes.

“Don’t go anywhere.”

* * *

Blink, blink.

The ceiling light came into view as her blurry vision cleared. It was a dark night.

As she slowly widened her gaze, her hazy vision sharpened and she soon realized it was her room.

When did I come in here?

She couldn’t remember at all. She was sure she had fallen asleep while looking at the Han River in the living room.

Suddenly, Eun Seo thought the blanket on her right side felt taut.

Huff. Even when she pulled the blanket out of discomfort, it wouldn’t lift.

What is this? This strange feeling as if a boulder was lying on the edge of the blanket.

Feeling frustrated, Eun Seo turned her head.

“Oh my!”

In an instant, Eun Seo sat up against the headboard of the bed.

Why on earth is this person here?

A man with soft black hair covering his forehead. Bending down quietly, it was clearly Tae Ha.

He was sleeping in a very uncomfortable position, with his arms crossed and his head resting on top of them.

Eun Seo covered her mouth with her hand and rolled her eyes. Then she rolled her body. And quickly got down on the opposite side of the bed and stood far away.

After dinner, she had left the dining room due to Lady Ahn’s threat not to let her off if she did the dishes.

And she had sat in the wing chair to look at the Han River.

But after that. Ha. She just couldn’t remember.

She hadn’t drunk any alcohol. She hadn’t done anything with a man. She had just dozed off sitting in the wing chair.

Was I perhaps sick?

Eun Seo touched her forehead with her hand. It was fine. Frustratingly so.

What is this?

Eun Seo moistened her tense lips with her tongue. Should she just leave like this?

Should I wake him?

Eun Seo approached him barefoot, careful not to make noise with her slippers. The path around the bed seemed endless.

After taking a few steps, fine lines appeared on the man’s brow.

Eun Seo stopped in her tracks.

Even though she hadn’t done anything wrong, somehow it felt like that man was the one who had done something wrong. Had he been drunk and mistaken the room?

Still, the conclusion was one.

She had to leave this room before anyone misunderstood. She had to leave this room and sleep elsewhere.

Eun Seo hugged the pillow farthest from Tae Ha. And carefully stepped towards the door.

As Eun Seo finally reached the door and grasped the handle to lower it.

“Where are you going?”

Haaaa. Eun Seo’s surprised shoulders sank at least a span. Her mouth was so frozen she couldn’t speak.

“I asked where you’re going?”

Tae Ha squinted his eyes, looking tired, and stared straight at Eun Seo.

“Um, well, outside.”

“Why? You have a room here.”

“Well.”

“Are you scared?”

“No.”

“Then?”

“It’s awkward.”

Awkward.

“I even held you, and you’re just going to leave like this?”

“Pardon?”

“You asked me to hold you.”

“…I did?”

Only then did a vague memory surface.

She had had a dream. Some day when she was too overwhelmed from being bullied by the children, unbearably sad and wronged by the torment of a girl she once called “elder sister”.

Instead, her grandmother had taken the sister’s side and Eun Seo had clung to her asking to be held even while being beaten badly. It never got easier no matter how often it happened.

“You must have been lonely. Or sad.”

Tae Ha got up from the chair and approached Eun Seo’s side, roughly brushing up his disheveled hair.

At that moment, with the heavy scent that had filled her nose all night, Eun Seo recalled everything.

Someone had taken the hand she was reaching out to her grandmother. As she was sinking into a cold, dark swamp, someone had grasped the hand she desperately stretched out into the void.

It was warm. The hand that held hers was so warm that she wanted comfort from anyone.

The hand lightly patting her back was incomparably kind, and such a warm embrace was a first. Her eyes closed naturally at the coziness seeping deep into her lungs.

‘I asked to be held. Me. To that man who thinks I’m a fraud.’

“You could at least cover me with a blanket before leaving. I even held you.”

Tae Ha tapped the pillow Eun Seo was hugging. Then,

“I was going to wake you, but you were holding onto this so tightly I couldn’t let go, so I carried you in.”

He pointed at his shirt collar. As if to say it wasn’t his fault.

“Ah. I. Um.”

“It’s okay. Thanks to you, I think I’ll be able to buy new clothes. They’re all stretched out.”

Eun Seo found it hard to look him in the eye and just twirled her feet in circles.

“Sleep. I’ll leave.”

As Tae Ha opened the door, dim light seeped through the crack. Eun Seo, who had been staring at the end of his slippers, hurriedly looked up.

“I’m sorry.”

“For what?”

“For asking you to hold me.”

“You owe me. Pay me back later. You might need to be held again someday.”

The door closed.

Thump, thump. Footsteps breaking the dawn silence echoed through the first floor and up to the second floor balcony.

A man’s long shadow slipped out of the entrance to the corridor where Eun Seo’s room was.

Tae Ha?

Jung Woo, who was on his way to get a drink because he couldn’t sleep, checked the watch on his wrist.

2:40 AM.

At this hour. Why was Tae Ha coming out of Song Eun Seo’s room?

Long creases formed between his brows moment by moment.

What about that woman Ha Eun, and coming out of Eun Seo’s room.

One is the fiancée, one is an employee.

Interesting.