“What did you just say?”

Who did you say you met? How dare you, who did you meet?

Woo Jin asked Seo Woo again in disbelief. As if he might have misheard. But Seo Woo repeated the same words like a parrot.

[Min Tae Eun. I met Tae Eun. Yesterday.]

He hadn’t misheard. As he gripped his phone with more force than necessary, blue veins bulged.

“How did you…”

[Want to hear the details? Then come see me today.]

Seo Woo’s calm voice was violently scraping his insides. His stomach burned. Only then did he recall Tae Eun lying with her back turned, unlike usual, the night before. Not knowing this, he had still turned her over and embraced her.

[If you don’t believe me, go ask Tae Eun directly. But… do you have the courage? Wouldn’t it be better to hear from me first and then go make excuses?]

Enraged, he closed his eyes tightly. His stomach churned and his eyes burned.

Tae Eun met Seo Woo? And yet she didn’t show any sign of it yesterday?

[Are you coming or not?]

As Seo Woo’s voice scraped his ear again,

“If this is a joke…”

He muttered lowly through clenched teeth.

“It’s not funny.”

* * *

At the mention of leaving work on time, Tae Eun’s movements became busy.

“Ma’am, do we have any grapes?”

“No grapes, but we have blueberries and strawberries. Shall I wash them for you? So they’re easy to eat later?”

“Yes. That would be great, thank you.”

She started by checking the ingredients to prepare a dish herself to eat with wine, timed for when Woo Jin would arrive. She had the ham and cheese he liked, so with just a few fruits for her to eat, the plating would be perfect.

But then a call came from Woo Jin.

“Hello.”

[Tae Eun. I don’t think I can make it home on time today. Something suddenly came up.]

“Sud…denly?”

[I’m sorry. Let’s go on a date this weekend instead.]

“Okay. I’m fine.”

In truth, she wasn’t fine. Though she hadn’t said it, she had been secretly excited for their home date of drinking wine and watching a movie.

The air hissed out of her puffed-up balloon. Her shrunken heart made her feel even more insignificant.

[Alright. I’ll try to get home as soon as I can.]

“Okay.”

The call ended, but she felt uneasy. It was because Seo Woo’s face had suddenly flashed through her mind.

Was he ultimately running to Park Seo Woo? It seemed that way. Why wouldn’t he, for his cherished love?

She stood there for a long time, dazed, holding the hung-up phone.

Misery washed over her. Though she had resolved not to love him, there was no way to stop her heart from flowing towards him.

What should I do now?

She never wanted to be hurt by someone again. Her father alone had been enough for that kind of pain.

Her chest felt empty, as if she had lost something important. And as the cold wind fiercely clawed through that empty space, Tae Eun unknowingly shivered.

“Ma’am, these blueberries are really delicious. They’d be perfect with wine tonight. Would you like to taste some now?”

Mrs. Hong, not yet knowing that Woo Jin would be late, asked as she was putting the bowl of strawberries and blueberries in the refrigerator.

“Yes. Just a little, please. I’ll eat after I shower.”

To shake off the distracting thoughts in her head and calm her trembling body, Tae Eun took a warm shower. But she simply couldn’t shake the image of Woo Jin with Seo Woo. Thinking that he might show Seo Woo the same tenderness he had shown her last night made her chest tighten, unable to breathe.

At first, she thought it didn’t matter. She had gained more than she had lost from this marriage, so she considered it a sufficiently advantageous marriage.

But now she was growing increasingly weary.

She was his wife, yet the one he loved was not her, but Park Seo Woo.

That unbreakable equation… was driving her crazy.

* * *

After hanging up, Seo Woo was briefly excited at the thought of seeing Woo Jin.

Of course, Woo Jin’s chilling words about it not being funny if it was a joke weighed on her mind, but she still thought his anger would dissipate when he saw her face. After all, he was a Woo Jin who could be so harsh to others, but never to her.

She quickly showered and prepared to welcome him.

A moment later, when the doorbell rang, Seo Woo opened the front door with an excited feeling. Through the open door appeared Woo Jin’s chilling figure.

“You’re here?”

Though Seo Woo flinched momentarily at his darker-than-expected charisma, she feigned nonchalance as best she could.

She had to be tough. She thought that if her heart softened here, her relationship with Woo Jin could really end. He strode in, pressing down on Seo Woo’s tense figure with a threatening gaze.

It was the first time she had seen Woo Jin this angry.

Though he hadn’t said a single word, it already felt like a chilly air had settled in her spacious living room.

“Let’s sit down and talk.”

At her words, Woo Jin’s dark gaze fixed on the wine and cheese platter prepared on the table. But seeing that made him even angrier. The thought that if it weren’t for Seo Woo, he would be eating that wine and cheese with Tae Eun right now.

“I’m not in the mood to sit and talk with you right now. So cut the small talk and just answer my questions.”

“…”

“Yesterday, how did you meet Tae Eun?”

His question carried a coercive force that could not be refused. Seo Woo, who had never before experienced this kind of charisma from Woo Jin, was so flustered her hands and feet tingled. This wasn’t the meeting with Woo Jin she had imagined.

Though Seo Woo’s large eyes wandered briefly at the unexpectedly brutal atmosphere, they quickly found their place again.

“I didn’t meet her on purpose. It was by chance.”

“How?”

“At a hotel restaurant, completely by coincidence.”

“And then.”

His voice, not even adding question marks to his questions, seemed to invisibly pressure her.

“We chatted briefly. And that was it. Nothing else happened.”

Seo Woo didn’t mention how she had provoked Tae Eun with the lipstick. She felt that if she told that story now, it would be like adding fuel to Woo Jin’s anger that seemed about to explode. And her strategy worked perfectly.

If Tae Eun had met Seo Woo by chance at a restaurant, it would have been natural to have a conversation. Seo Woo was a top star in Korea, and it might have been exciting for Tae Eun to see her in person. Seo Woo’s special status could have piqued Tae Eun’s interest.

But through this incident, Woo Jin realized. That Seo Woo could try to approach Tae Eun at any time. And that gave him another chance to wake up, when he had been so lax in his thinking until now.

Now, he needed to cut Seo Woo off completely. So that she could never again threaten his relationship with Tae Eun.

“Listen carefully, Park Seo Woo. Our relationship is already over. No matter what you do, that won’t change.”

“Who said anything? That’s why I let you go. To marry that woman. But I said marry her, not love her. It was just a marriage of convenience anyway!”

“Convenience? Do I look like someone so incapable that I’d marry for convenience?”

“Wh-what do you mean?”

“I’m saying that conditions had nothing to do with this marriage.”

“Then, are you saying you… loved that woman? In such a short time?”

It was unbelievable. It took exactly 2 months from when they met to when they got married.

Really, just 2 months. And counting from the moment Woo Jin and Seo Woo first met, the years they spent together were approaching 15. Those 2 months couldn’t beat their 15 years. That’s what she believed.

But today, Woo Jin was saying something different.

“It turns out you don’t need that much time to fall in love.”

Seo Woo’s eyes widened at the unbelievable words. But even in this moment, she didn’t believe Woo Jin’s words. Because Woo Jin wasn’t a generous man who would rush over at a moment’s notice when Seo Woo said she was sick, leaving behind the woman he loved.

Seo Woo saw that as hope. That his heart hadn’t completely left her yet. So she just had to reclaim the lost heart. Even as she confirmed his turned-away heart each time, she held onto hope each time.

That’s how much she couldn’t give up. She was fine with calling it an obsession. Because if she could just have Woo Jin, she could do even worse things.

“Don’t lie. You can fool everyone else, but not me. You rushed over like that when I said I was sick, even though you don’t love me? On your wedding night? Leaving your beloved wife at home? Say something that makes sense.”

She snorted and replied calmly. But the cold truth pierced her heart again.

“That was because I thought you had attempted suicide again.”

“!”

“That was the only reason. I felt it was my responsibility to take care of you anyway. Nothing more, nothing less. You know. Why I had no choice but to do that.”

“…”

“Park Seo Woo. To me, you’re a substitute for the dead Seo Jin. That’s why I couldn’t abandon you. Because I’m indebted to your brother. I wanted to atone for my sins, even if that’s how I had to do it.”

Shocked by the truth, Seo Woo muttered as if talking to herself.

“Just… for that reason?”

Seo Woo asked in a trembling voice, as if she couldn’t believe it. But Woo Jin didn’t stop here, casting a huge shadow over Seo Woo as he stepped closer and warned in a chilling voice.

“But.”

“…”

“If you touch my woman.”

“…”

“That’s a different story.”

His voice, enunciating each syllable precisely and sharply, sent chills down her spine. But even in that moment, there was a word that painfully pierced her heart.

My woman.

He said my woman.

Even in those days when they were lovers and their love burned so fiercely, she had never heard that word, yet he casually dropped it for Tae Eun.

“I’m going to cut you off. I can’t stand you meddling in my life like this anymore. Especially if you become a threat to Tae Eun.”

“…”

“So don’t you dare come near Tae Eun again.”

Seo Woo stepped back, clenching her fists so tightly her nails dug into her palms. She didn’t want to cry, but her vision blurred. Through that blurred vision, she saw Woo Jin slowly turning away as if in slow motion.

She couldn’t bear it. So to Woo Jin’s retreating back, Seo Woo

“If you’re doing this to hide my existence from that woman, it’s too late!”

spat out the truth she had been holding in all this time.

“Min Tae Eun… already knew about my existence before the marriage.”