“Honey, look at this!”

Chairman Lee’s voice echoed through the hospital room door. Hyun Baek Hap rushed over in a panic at Chairman Lee’s call.

“Honey, did you really embezzle all this money?”

“What?”

Chairman Lee chased after Hyun Baek Hap, his eyes bloodshot from what he had heard.

“Chairman, you don’t trust me?”

Hyun Baek Hap chose to appeal to his emotions first to get out of the situation.

“Our Cheonha Group, did you embezzle this much money from our Cheonha Group! This huge sum of money!”

Chairman Lee, who had finished his investigation, shouted furiously. He looked ready to cause a scene right then and there.

Hyun Baek Hap’s eyes flickered back and forth at the continued shouting. She couldn’t think of a way to get out of this situation.

“Ch-Chairman… That… What did the prosecutors say this time?”

Hyun Baek Hap stammered, too flustered to speak properly.

She tried to force a smile, but her facial muscles were stiff and the corners of her mouth wouldn’t turn up.

“You.”

Chairman Lee’s voice dropped to a terrifying level. He dragged his feet as he approached Hyun Baek Hap.

“Did you play games with my wife’s life?”

It was about Lady Yoon Joo Hwa. Hyun Baek Hap’s eyes shook at those words.

“Chairman…”

“Yoon Joo Hwa, were you the one who hastened that person’s death?”

Backed into a corner, Hyun Baek Hap glared at Chairman Lee with wide eyes.

“Chairman, it’s all in the past now. The prosecutors are just trying to drive a wedge between you and me. Don’t fall for it.”

“How are you going to handle all of this!”

Chairman Lee didn’t fall for Hyun Baek Hap’s plausible words and continued to corner her. Hyun Baek Hap had nowhere left to retreat.

“If that’s what you want, Chairman, I’ll have to reveal the truth. What can I do.”

Hyun Baek Hap turned her head away from Chairman Lee with a brazen face. Then she made some quick calculations.

“Chairman.”

Hyun Baek Hap looked at Chairman Lee again.

“It was an implicit agreement. You didn’t like Yoon Joo Hwa either, Chairman. You said she was too unyielding, too arrogant.”

Chairman Lee was startled, his mouth half open in shock.

“Wh-What?”

“Chairman, frankly, what reason would the Cheonha Group Medical Foundation have to listen to me? Is this a place that would move at my word?”

Hyun Baek Hap tried to make Chairman Lee realize that he was an accomplice with her brazen attitude.

“Frankly, if Yoon Joo Hwa had been at Sunhwa Medical Foundation, she might still be alive. Why did you have to move her to Cheonha Medical Foundation?”

Chairman Lee held the back of his neck, astonished.

At that time, it was Hyun Baek Hap who had pleaded with Chairman Lee, saying she felt sorry for the sick Lady Yoon Joo Hwa.

Back then, Chairman Lee, who was ready to pluck a star from the sky if Hyun Baek Hap asked, had Lady Yoon Joo Hwa treated at Cheonha Medical Foundation, saying it was no big deal.

“The attending physician at the time, Dr. Song, was your person, Chairman, not mine, right?”

Hyun Baek Hap pinned all the blame on Chairman Lee.

“You! Wh-What are you saying?”

Chairman Lee was so dumbfounded that he couldn’t even shout at Hyun Baek Hap.

“Chairman, since we’re husband and wife. We should live together and die together. But I always think about living well with you, Chairman. I don’t think about dying together. So you should make a good decision too, Chairman.”

It was almost a threat.

It meant that she would cling to Chairman Lee’s ankles. Having said that, Hyun Baek Hap left the hospital room.

“Hah, after taking care of that old man all this time, catering to his whims. What? Now he’s saying this to me?”

Hyun Baek Hap was determined that she absolutely could not die alone.

* * *

Je Guk stood in front of his mother’s grave for a long time.

The wind was so bleak, and his heart ached more than usual at the thought of leaving his mother alone.

Je Guk’s cell phone vibrated.

It had been ringing constantly until just before, but Je Guk didn’t want to talk to anyone.

At this moment, he just wanted to be his mother’s son.

“Mother, can’t you teach me a little? How to live righteously, how to have a positive influence. Not that. Can you tell me what to do at times like this?”

He repeated sighing and asking.

Je Guk stayed there until the sun set behind his mother’s grave.

He really didn’t want to leave, but there was a mountain of work waiting for him.

Several of Je Guk’s assistant secretaries had been standing with him for hours behind his back.

When Je Guk turned around, she was standing there as if it were a lie.

“Ha In.”

Je Guk smiled when he saw Ha In.

“Are you feeling a little better now?”

Je Guk always put Ha In’s feelings first.

Ha In nodded. Then she checked on Je Guk’s mood. She had heard something from Gang Jun and had rushed here, worried.

Je Guk wondered how Ha In knew to come here. The tip of her nose was red and frozen, indicating how long she had been standing there.

“How long have you been here?”

“Just now.”

“How did you know I was here?”

“Finding one person with a clear identity like you, Mr. President, is not even work.”

She had heard from the head of the legal department that Je Guk was here. He hadn’t meant to tell her on purpose.

When Ha In said she had an urgent matter to ask Je Guk directly, the head of the legal department asked for her understanding, saying that Je Guk was at his mother’s grave and couldn’t be disturbed for a while.

Je Guk opened his cell phone to check the incoming calls and looked at Ha In.

“I see our head of legal really trusts Prosecutor Cheon Ha In. He’s not the type to mention me unless it’s absolutely necessary.”

Caught red-handed, Ha In flinched.

“I was extremely persistent. The head of legal only answered reluctantly.”

“Since you’re taking his side, it makes me want to hold the head of legal responsible.”

Je Guk took Ha In’s hand and went back to stand in front of his mother’s grave.

“Since you came all the way here, you should say hello before you go.”

Je Guk wanted to introduce Ha In to his mother.

Ha In hesitated and pulled back. She felt she was unworthy to greet Je Guk’s mother.

Je Guk noticed Ha In trying to back away and looked at her.

“Why, do you not want to?”

“No. I think your mother wouldn’t like it.”

“What do you mean by that?”

Ha In avoided Je Guk’s eyes and looked dejected. Je Guk grabbed her wrist and pulled her.

“Mother, this is the person I love. Ha In.”

Ha In just moved her round eyes back and forth, not saying a word.

The introduction was too much for her, and she didn’t know how to react.

“If you don’t want to, we can do it next time.”

Je Guk was used to waiting for Ha In. So this time too, he decided not to force her and wait.

“Thank you.”

Je Guk was about to turn around and leave with Ha In when she spoke. Grateful for her words, Je Guk stopped and looked at Ha In.

“Thank you. For giving birth to Mr. President.”

Ha In was speaking to Je Guk’s mother.

A gentle smile spread across Je Guk’s lips.

“Mother, I’ll come again next time.”

With that, Je Guk took Ha In’s hand.

“Shall we go?”

When Ha In nodded, Je Guk walked towards the car.

As Je Guk got into the driver’s seat, the assistant secretaries stepped back on their own.

Ha In got into Je Guk’s car and just stared out the window.

Instead of talking, Je Guk turned on the radio to a pop song.

Sometimes, he had felt that a single song could be more comforting than countless words.

A familiar melody of a pop song flowed out. Music indeed had the power to move one’s mood.

Je Guk held Ha In’s hand. Ha In also intertwined her fingers with Je Guk’s.

“It was hard, wasn’t it?”

Je Guk asked Ha In. Ha In shook her head.

Although she said it wasn’t hard, it must have been so hard that she couldn’t even say it was hard.

Je Guk couldn’t think of how to comfort Ha In.

A pop song with lyrics saying ‘the best days of my life have yet to come’ played.

Je Guk thought this song might be better than his own comforting words.

Ha In found it difficult to accept the lyrics of the pop song she heard.

A happy life had always been a difficult thing for Ha In.

“Ha In, what are you thinking about?”

“I’m not thinking about anything.”

Ha In quickly turned her head to the car window, afraid that Je Guk would catch a glimpse of the happiness she suddenly thought of.

She hardened her expression even more, saying that happiness didn’t suit her.

Je Guk seemed to know what Ha In was thinking even though she didn’t say it. He held her hand tightly.

He held her hand tightly, determined to push that happiness she feared into her life one day, untouched by any misfortune.

It was when his car stopped in front of the house.

“Ha In, I received some marigold tea as a gift. Let’s try that today.”

Ha In shook her head.

“I want to drink wine today.”

Je Guk nodded. It wasn’t a difficult thing, and tea could be had anytime, so he wanted to let Ha In do what she wanted.

“Shall we get off?”

Je Guk pulled Ha In’s hand he was holding and kissed the back of it. Then he looked at Ha In.

Ha In also looked at him intently, then slowly blinked her eyes. She wanted to lean into his warmth.

“Mr. President, I’m anxious.”

Je Guk faltered at those words. He thought it was because of what Chairman Lee had done to her.

“You must be very startled.”

Ha In shook her head.

“No. I’m… not myself.”

Je Guk leaned towards Ha In, worried that something was wrong with her.

“What’s bothering you?”

Ha In shook her head again.

“I was definitely miserable enough to die. But being with you like this, Mr. President, it’s like nothing happened. I’m so afraid that I might be happy.”

‘I’m so afraid that I might be happy.’ Those words sounded so poignant to Je Guk.

“Ha In, you can be as happy as you want. Even so, I will protect you so that nothing happens.”

Je Guk wanted to prove it.

He wanted to show that even if Ha In lives happily, misfortune will never be able to touch her life.

Je Guk hoped that the pop song lyrics lingering in his ears, even if they weren’t all of Ha In’s life, would be like that, that moment would come to Ha In, and he kissed her.