Is she falling into a sleep from which she will soon awaken, or is it a slumber from which she will never wake up?

A hazy yellow light seeped through Cheon Ha In’s eyelids.

It was an endless path that couldn’t even compare to the road leading to the Cheonha Group mansion.

As an eerie wind blew, something brushed against Ha In’s ankle. Her foot seemed to sting a little too.

Ha In lowered her head and looked down.

It was grass.

She had come all the way here barefoot.

Ha In blearily opened her eyes and tried to figure out where she was.

It was a place with small hills and a large tree, a familiar location.

It was the horse farm she used to visit often when working at the Cheonha Group mansion as a child.

On cold winter days, she had memories of breaking the frozen water and cleaning while blowing on her numb hands.

When did she come all the way here? She also wondered how she got here.

But strangely, it wasn’t cold. Marigolds were blooming in a forest-like expanse.

Thinking that Lee Je Guk would like it if he saw it, the corners of Ha In’s mouth rose very slightly.

Soon, the sunset created a deep light, and a stunning landscape unfolded.

Is it okay to feel this comfortable? It was a feeling she had never experienced in her life.

In the distance, a woman stood with an expression that Ha In couldn’t tell if she was smiling or crying at her.

“Mom…!”

Ha In instinctively recognized that she was her mother. As if enchanted, Ha In took steps in that direction.

The woman kept making gestures that could have meant either to come or to go, but Ha In just walked towards that place.

If she rode the horse grazing on the grass, it seemed she could reach her mother faster, but Ha In had only seen Lee Je Guk riding a horse from a distance and had never ridden one herself.

Not even realizing that her legs hurt, Ha In walked faster and faster towards that place.

She wanted to follow her mother.

“Mom!”

And she called out the name she had been longing to call again.

“Mom! Take me with you too!”

Anxious that her mother would leave her behind, Ha In headed in that direction.

“Hah, hah. Mom! I’m so tired! Please take me with you! Mom!”

Ha In walked with quicker steps, worried she would lose her mother, and eventually broke into a run.

“Ha In.”

At that moment, someone called out to Ha In loudly.

It was Lee Je Guk’s voice.

Even if any obstacle blocked Ha In’s path, she tried to leave everything behind and follow her mother, but that voice made her turn around.

At the end of where Ha In turned, Lee Je Guk was standing there.

Ha In hesitated where to turn her head, between her mother and Lee Je Guk.

“Ha In.”

Lee Je Guk called Ha In once more and spread his arms.

“Ha In, come here. How did you come all the way here? I was worried.”

If she goes to Lee Je Guk, what about her mother? Ha In looked at her mother again.

“Mom… Mom!”

Her mother was nowhere to be seen. A distant fog obscured the path where her mother had been standing.

“Ha In, come this way. Hmm?”

Ha In turned to look at Lee Je Guk. He was still standing with his arms open towards Ha In. Ha In took a step towards him.

The steps walking towards Lee Je Guk were much lighter than when she was heading to her mother.

Her feet felt so light that it seemed like they were floating.

“Sir…!”

The moment Ha In threw herself into Lee Je Guk’s arms, strength entered the area around her eyebrow bone.

“Ha…”

Sighing, Ha In opened her eyes.

Was she on the brink of death? She couldn’t distinguish if it was a dream or reality.

Ha In struggled to open her eyes, but she could only breathe thin breaths, overwhelmed by the suffocating powerlessness pressing down on her body.

“Ha In, are you conscious?”

At that sound, Ha In turned her eyes to the side. And then she looked at the ceiling again. It was a hospital.

“Ha In.”

Lee Je Guk called out in a low and calm voice, as if to reassure the confused Ha In, while holding her hand.

Ha In felt his touch with all the strength in her grip.

It was Lee Je Guk.

Closing her eyes tightly, Ha In’s eyes filled with tears.

Sighing miserably, Ha In writhed. Soon, she began to cry out loud.

Lee Je Guk couldn’t move his body freely due to the deep wound.

Gritting his teeth and enduring the pain, he sat on the edge of Ha In’s bed.

As soon as Lee Je Guk woke up after the surgery, he looked for Ha In. Ha In, who had been unconscious, had just opened her eyes now.

Lee Je Guk was so worried that something might have happened to Ha In.

Ha In also sat up with all her remaining strength.

Enduring the feeling of her head spinning, she touched him with her hands to confirm if he was really in front of her eyes.

“Hah…! Huhu…”

Ha In knelt down, hugged his neck, and wept.

Lee Je Guk stroked Ha In’s back.

Ha In cried until all the energy drained from her body.

Even though she wanted to cry more, she couldn’t because she had no more energy left. Lee Je Guk could also feel that Ha In’s body had become exhausted.

Ha In straightened her body and looked at Lee Je Guk’s face, then hugged him again, confirming his existence.

“Did you cry enough?”

“In the dream…”

Ha In spoke in a very small voice that only Lee Je Guk could understand.

Lee Je Guk listened attentively to that small voice. Ha In was so overwhelmed with sorrow that she couldn’t even continue speaking.

“Ha, trying to be happy, I brought great misfortune. Huhu… With you, looking at the flowers happily, like that. Huhu.”

It was a rambling sound of misery, but Lee Je Guk understood what Ha In was talking about.

Angry at Ha In for pushing herself into trauma about happiness, Lee Je Guk detached her from his embrace and stared at her intently.

“It’s not like that.”

Ha In shook her head, shedding tears.

“Hah.”

Lee Je Guk’s sigh trembled as he let out a deep breath. The pain in his abdomen was still severe. But now, his heart hurt even more.

“I was going to let you rest because you’re in pain, but I guess I can’t. Get up.”

Lee Je Guk placed his hand on his abdomen, held Ha In’s hand, and got up from his seat. Ha In’s gaze followed him up.

“Hold my hand and get up.”

Angry Lee Je Guk looked at Ha In with a stern expression. Ha In got up from her seat, led by his hand.

“Where are you going?”

“Yes, follow me.”

The garden was quiet with only a gentle light spread out at the late hour, with no one around.

Lee Je Guk sat Ha In on a bench and draped the cardigan he was wearing over her shoulders.

He asked his secretaries to prepare warm tea, which he shared with Ha In.

With his large hand, Lee Je Guk pulled Ha In’s head to lean on his shoulder. And worried that Ha In might be cold in the chilly night air, he wrapped his arm around her shoulder.

“You wanted to do this, right?”

“Hah.”

Ha In let out another sorrowful sigh. It was the simple happiness Ha In had dreamed of.

“Ha In, when you are happy, greater happiness awaits you.”

Ha In shook her head with her head resting on Lee Je Guk’s shoulder.

Lee Je Guk didn’t let Ha In lean on him. He wanted to hold onto her shattered heart.

“Ha In, look at me.”

Even at those words, Ha In shook her head, keeping it lowered.

“Then, I can go.”

Although his heart wanted to endlessly embrace Ha In’s saddened heart, Lee Je Guk steeled himself.

“Look at me.”

Ha In looked at Lee Je Guk, afraid he would leave. Her face was turned towards him, but her eyes dropped down.

“I said look at me.”

At Lee Je Guk’s words, Ha In raised her eyes towards his face. She put a lot of strength into her brow, feeling like tears would keep falling.

Lee Je Guk’s heart, which he had tried to harden, softened at Ha In’s delicate touch tightly grasping his thumb.

“Why are you so sad?”

Lee Je Guk asked warmly in a soothing voice.

“I was worried about what would happen if something went wrong with you… Huhu…”

The more Ha In tried to hold back her tears, the more strength she put into the hand holding Lee Je Guk’s thumb.

But that strength was so feeble that it hurt Lee Je Guk’s heart.

“None of the major organs were injured, the surgery was successful, I recovered very quickly because I’m young and healthy, and thanks to the blood transfusion you gave me, I’m alive and well like this.”

Only then did Ha In hear about the progress of Lee Je Guk’s surgery. Ha In was so grateful for everything that she just kept shedding tears.

“You are in front of my eyes, and we are together like this. What on earth is the problem?”

Ha In nodded her head, sobbing with sorrow.

“Ha In, I’m happy.”

Ha In reflexively stopped nodding.

“It’s thanks to you constantly calling me that I was able to come back. When I was on the brink of death and opened my eyes, I was so afraid of what I would do if you weren’t there.”

Ha In had a similar dream. She deeply regretted and felt sorry for not being able to stay by Lee Je Guk’s side because she had collapsed.

“I’m so grateful that you are holding onto me in this world. I can’t tell you how happy I am to sit with you like this.”

Even when Ha In did her best to hold back, the overflowing tears couldn’t be controlled.

Lee Je Guk placed his other hand, opposite the one Ha In was holding, on her cheek. And he wiped away her tears with his thumb.

“Our Ha In worked hard giving me a blood transfusion, so you shouldn’t be so exhausted like this.”

Ha In shook her head, shedding tears. It meant she wasn’t tired at all.

If Lee Je Guk had been even a little conscious, he would have prevented Ha In from giving him a blood transfusion.

Donating blood while her own body was weak was an extreme act. It was no different from sharing not just blood, but flesh and bones.

“Ha In, thank you.”

Flower petals rained down above Ha In and Lee Je Guk’s heads. It was the most beautiful sight that could be seen in the garden of Sunhwa Medical Foundation.

Lee Je Guk gazed at Ha In’s face intently.

“Beautiful.”

Thinking he meant the flower petals were beautiful, Ha In nodded her head, sobbing.

“It’s pretty. Hah…”

“No, not the flowers. I’m talking about you. I’m happy. I’m so happy right now.”

At those words, Ha In didn’t nod.

“If you don’t like it, don’t. I will somehow push happiness into your life.”

After saying that, Lee Je Guk hugged Ha In tightly.

Lee Je Guk was also so worried that he thought he had lost Ha In. He hugged her tightly with all his strength.