Su Yeon awkwardly stood up and stared at the hand extended to her.

The woman remained stubborn, not shaking hands but only sending a blatant gaze even after a while of offering a handshake.

Eventually, she held out her hand and had to shake it as if she was pleased.

“…I am Choi Su Yeon.”
Su Yeon reluctantly extended her hand.

Then the woman, as if she had been waiting, held her hand.

“You are as beautiful as I’ve heard. I didn’t think I would meet you like this. Nice to meet you.”
A refreshing smile hung on the corner of Yu Li’s mouth.

That sight was firmly imprinted above Su Yeon’s dark pupils.

Without realizing it, Su Yeon bit her lower lip hard.

She was beautiful.

Despite being a poor daughter in the play, unlike In Ho, she looked humble in shabby clothes.

Still, the woman shone.

Just facing each other for a moment was enough to make her feel as if she was being suffocated, and the thought that she was a bright and colorful person unlike herself dominated her mind.

“Weren’t you bored sitting here all the time?”
Whether she was a good follower, the woman kept talking.

Su Yeon was very uncomfortable with such a woman.

How could it be comfortable?

That day, when she visited the shooting set with In Ho’s face, she had to receive unusual touches and gazes towards her man.

Su Yeon remembered that day, and the feelings she felt that day were still clear.

It was dirty.

It was miserable enough not to want to remember again.

She could not express her feelings that day in any other words but those two.

“No, I’ve been watching the shooting, so it’s bearable.”
Su Yeon forced out her voice.

Although she wanted to avoid any reply and avoid the place, she couldn’t.

This was In Ho’s workplace, and the woman in front of her did not even suspect that the person who had In Ho’s face two days ago was herself.

“Oppa is a good actor, right?”
As she breathed softly to suppress her uncomfortable feelings, Yu Li’s voice suddenly came.

Su Yeon turned her head and looked at Yu Li.

Yu Li’s pupils, staring somewhere, were shining.

“You know, even though the scene is over, I can see that he’s still in character.”
It was In Ho. The doll deeply engraved in Yu Li’s eyes was definitely In Ho.

Facing Yu Li, Su Yeon nervously watched In Ho indifferently.

As Yu Li said, In Ho was still unable to erase the look and expression of when he was acting, even while facing Myung Woo outside the set.

As if he couldn’t get out of the man’s feelings, who could give up everything he had for the woman he loved.

And the woman he loved in the play was Shin Yu Li standing next to her.

Just by thinking about it, Su Yeon felt a sharp pain in her chest.

It was strange.

He was just faithful to his role, and she was just a costar.

Everything was a fiction, an act, so why did her heart ache so much?

The answer to that question was found not long after.

“He’s so cool. How can he act like that? It seems like he’s born with it, my oppa.”
Su Yeon slowly turned her head.

Yu Li still couldn’t take her eyes off In Ho.

No, she wasn’t just unable to take her eyes off him, she was completely charmed and couldn’t get away from In Ho.

The moment she faced that sight, Su Yeon couldn’t move.

She thought she saw a hidden emotion in the sparkling eyes of the woman.

“He’s so cool, really.”
The woman’s words following immediately were more than enough to turn the hasty suspicion into certainty.

Unconsciously, Su Yeon clenched her lips.

Strength flowed into her hidden hand.

Images of what had happened a few days ago quickly flashed through her mind.

The subtle touch and overly caring tone of the woman who could never have dreamed it was her wearing In Ho’s face.

As all these things rose to the surface simultaneously, Su Yeon couldn’t shake off the feeling of being trapped in a distant darkness.

“He’s a senior actor I really respect personally.”
The woman’s excuse, as if she had regained her sanity belatedly, followed.

But she couldn’t believe that word at all.

Su Yeon silently stared at Yu Li.

His gaze was fittingly indifferent.

He had been staring at the woman with such a gaze all along, and it seemed that the woman was only now feeling his gaze for the first time.

Although it was very brief, an expression of discomfort mixed with difficulty colored the woman’s face.

It was truly just a moment.

However, Su Yeon could tell.

The woman’s sincerity was not in her currently composed face, but in the troubled expression that had briefly passed by earlier that was the real one.

“……”
Su Yeon slowly lowered her gaze that was previously directed towards Yul Li.

Unorganized thoughts flooded her mind.

But amidst that chaos, there was one thought, one intact sentence that held its head up high.

It wasn’t respect, but love.

It was clear that the woman held her husband, In Ho, in her heart as a man.

“I’ve always been curious about who the wife of such a great man I married would be.”
Even knowing that In Ho was a married man, her emotions were uncontrollable.