Even if it’s a twisted relationship between stepmother and daughter, he couldn’t easily handle his daughter’s unhappiness. Yuli looked calmly at Congressman Chae.

“You don’t have to worry about it anymore. The prank is over.”

Yes, it was just a prank; it wasn’t love. They couldn’t call it love when they couldn’t trust each other, when they stabbed each other in the back.

Just as he intentionally approached her, she intentionally rejected him.

Disappointed in him, Yuli felt disappointed in herself as well. Even if the swapped secret ledger was fake, nothing changed. In this state, they couldn’t continue the relationship.

So, before hurting each other more, it was wise to end the prank here.

However, accepting it in her mind didn’t make her broken heart any less shattered, cracking and breaking with each passing moment.

Pressing her chest with her hand as if struggling to breathe, Yuli opened the front door and stepped outside.

It was slow, but time continued to pass steadily.

After a few weeks, an article about KG Group’s Vice President Kwon Woosik appeared in the corner of the domestic newspaper’s business section.

Following the sudden overseas assignment of Kwon Minwoo, who was designated as the successor, and the dismissal of KG Group’s second-in-command, Vice President Kwon, would there be a change in the succession plan? Speculations followed.

Naturally, everyone’s attention focused on Kwon Jeho.

“Could it be that he’s not coming to KG Group to deal with Arcadia Shopping Mall but to follow the succession process?”

During lunch, a colleague cautiously brought up the topic.

Since the day after Yuli and Jeho broke up, Jeho hadn’t shown up at Bauhaus.

Officially, Chairman Kwon personally asked Jeho to thoroughly review the design from the beginning for the construction of the shopping mall building, as issues had arisen. However, judging from the situation, it seemed like Jeho was brought into the company for the succession issue.

“It’s possible. It seemed odd from the beginning. Why would a globally renowned architect come to our company, which is like a hole-in-the-wall, as a partner?”

“Oh, didn’t you know? Officially, he’s a partner, but in reality, he’s the owner.”

“Really?”

“Yes. The chairman kept having a hard time operating the company while continuously suffering losses, so Jeho invested almost as if he was taking it over. Don’t worry about the money and work as much as you want.”

“Wow, Mr. Jeho is really cool!”

Everyone got excited and engaged in the conversation, but Yuli remained expressionless, focusing only on her meal.
From the beginning, Yulri never thought that Jeho was avoiding her by going to KG Group instead of Bauhaus. On the day they parted ways, he had said he would carve out the festering sore within KG Group.

Even though they were no longer together, Yulri hoped he would successfully accomplish what he had planned. But that was it. She didn’t want to show much interest.

“But Yulri, are you okay?”

On the way back to the office after lunch, Sunyoung asked, handing Yulri an iced tea.

“Of course, I’m okay. Why?”

“I don’t know, you seem to have turned expressionless again, like before.”

“…Ah.”

Sunyoung’s words were right. Yulri had returned to her old self, the emotionless and cold period. While she was dating Jeho, she used to laugh at someone’s silly joke and sympathize with anger, all with a furrowed brow.

The world, which had been vividly colored with natural hues, turned back to black and white after their breakup. A world where only monotone shades existed… just breathing and continuing day after day.

“My younger brother left for New Zealand a while ago. I thought we would be apart for a while, and it felt… sad. So, unknowingly, I guess my energy drained out.”

It wasn’t a complete lie. When thinking about her brother, who left like he was being chased, she felt a bit emotionally drained. It was true that she worried about her brother being alone in a foreign country, even if he had no one to turn to as a fellow Korean.

Sunyoung didn’t say anything. She just gently nodded and smiled.

Back at her desk, Yulri woke up her sleeping computer and opened the SketchUp file she was working on.

However, distracting thoughts kept coming up, making it impossible for her to concentrate on her work. Eventually, Yulri put down her digital pen and turned her head to the empty seat beside her.

They say the day after a breakup is the hardest, but for her, the day after that was even harder, and then the day after that. Strangely, it got harder as the days went by.

Even now, looking at Jeho’s empty seat made her feel a pain like her insides were burning.

Still… she would eventually forget.

Yulri whispered to herself and picked up the digital pen again, turning her head back to the computer screen.

She believed that with effort, she would eventually overcome it. People are creatures of forgetfulness, so eventually, memories would blur, and the pain would become dull.

So, time passed once again.