His other name was ‘Jay K’.

He was a famous architect working on a global stage. Recently, the architectural master Thomas Heidi, who won the Pritzker Prize, showed his genius talent to the extent that he gave glory to Jay, his disciple and partner, in his acceptance speech.

Yuri first met Jeho when she had just entered college. At that time, the atmosphere was different from now. He was a person who smiled with soft features and upturned eyes. But now, he had changed to be so sharp that he seemed like he would cut you just by looking at him, let alone smiling.

“It’s nothing, don’t worry about it.”

10 years ago, Jeho said that with a bright smile. It would be a blatant lie to say that her heart didn’t flutter at the sight of his crescent-shaped eyes. It might sound silly, but if it was first love, it was first love, and it was a beautiful memory.

The faded memories from 10 years ago slowly began to resurface in Yuri’s mind.

It was a time when Assemblyman Chae’s popularity was soaring. As his political influence grew, more companies tried to make connections, and everyone paid attention to Yuri, the eldest daughter.

Even though she was just a freshman who had just entered college, Yuri was flooded with endless marriage proposals, and Assemblyman Chae chose KG Group, which was high in the business world hierarchy, from among them.

At that time, the heir to the KG Group was not the second son, Executive Director Kwon Woosik, but the eldest son, Vice Chairman Kwon Jewoong. As a result, the arranged marriage partner was not the current Kwon Minwoo, but Kwon Jeho.

Yuri was speechless at her father’s words to marry someone she had never even seen.

When she went to her best friend Hyunkyung to complain, she opened her mouth as if surprised.

“Kwon Jeho of KG Group? Wow, amazing! I’ve only heard of him, never seen him.”

If it was Hyunkyung, the youngest daughter of the Cheonga Group, wouldn’t she know about Kwon Jeho? But she said she had never seen him. The only answer was that he was a mysterious figure.

In the end, Yuri decided to go find Kwon Jeho and confront him directly. But it wasn’t easy to meet him.

Then one day, she received a call from the Assemblyman Chae’s assistant, who was an informant, saying he had found out where Jeho was.

“He’ll be at the outdoor tennis court all afternoon.”

It was a sports club where non-members couldn’t enter, but fortunately, it was outdoors. Thinking she could see him if she just climbed over the wall, Yuri climbed up the wall, grunting despite wearing a skirt.

As she was carefully climbing down, stepping on the crevices, she heard a whistle sound ‘Beep!’ from afar along with the voice of a security guard.

“What are you doing there?”

Ack!

Startled, she ended up misstepping. As she thought she was going to fall, someone’s hand grabbed Yuri’s waist and gently put her down on the ground.

Did the security guard uncle run over so quickly?

Yuri turned around with a surprised face. And soon realized that her thought was wrong. The person who helped her was a man in tennis clothes, and behind him, she could see the security guard running over, panting.

But…, wow…!

It was a critical situation, but Yuri couldn’t help but lose her mind.

Why is he so dazzling?

He was a perfect man with looks that seemed to combine all the ideal types she had ever dreamed of, to the extent that she would want to get his number if the situation wasn’t like this.

But now she had more important things to do.

“Thank you for helping me.”

Yuri quickly thanked him and turned her back. But before she could take a step, the man’s hand grabbed her shoulder. Without a chance to resist, she was half-embraced by the man and turned towards the approaching security guard.

“There’s no need to run. She’s with me.”

At the man’s words, the security guard stopped in his tracks, panting. But he didn’t remove his suspicious gaze. The man smiled brightly and pulled Yuri a little closer to him.

“She’s my fiancée. She climbed over the wall because she was too lazy to go around to the main entrance. I’m sorry.”

As the man bowed his head in apology, the security guard bowed his head in return with a bewildered face.

“No, it’s alright, Mr. Kwon Jeho.”

Yuri’s eyes widened at the name that came out of the security guard’s mouth.

Mr. Kwon Jeho?

She tried to turn her head to check the man’s face, but it wasn’t easy because he was so tall. Only after the security guard had completely gone did Jeho remove his hand from Yuri’s shoulder. Finally free, Yuri hastily stepped back and raised her head.

Looking again, he was even more handsome. It was the first time in her life to see such a beautiful creature up close. Is this a sculpture or a person?

“The Assemblyman’s assistant was asking about the schedule…”

Then a low voice brought Yuri back to the real world. As she blinked, waking from her reverie, a cold expression came into view.

“Is this why you did that? To come find me directly and beg?”

The bright smile he had shown when with the security guard had disappeared without a trace, leaving only a contemptuous gaze.

Although Yuri was seeing Jeho for the first time today, he seemed to already know her. Due to being frequently mobilized for Assemblyman Chae’s election campaigns, he could have easily found her photos online.

“I have no intention of getting married, so don’t waste your effort and give up. Got it, little girl?”

Jeho stroked Yuri’s head with his hand as if she really were a little girl.

Yuri, who had been bewildered, soon understood the situation. He wasn’t happy about this marriage either.

Yuri blocked Jeho’s path as he was turning away with a frown, spreading her arms wide.

“Who’s begging? I hate this arranged marriage as much as you do!”

“Then that’s fortunate. We won’t have to see each other’s faces after today.”

After finishing his words, he pushed aside Yuri’s arms that were blocking the way with his fingers. He acted as if he didn’t want to touch her at all now, despite being the one who had first made physical contact by grabbing her waist and pulling her shoulder.

Ha, what’s the use of a handsome face? He’s completely obnoxious!

Cancel everything about him being the perfect ideal type! Although it was a brief moment, the fact that her heart had wavered made her feel annoyed.

If there was any consolation, it was that he didn’t want the marriage either. Yuri comforted her unpleasant feelings, thinking that she would never see his face again.

However, her wish turned into a bubble less than a month later. They met again at a volunteer group for repairing houses for the underprivileged, which she participated in through an introduction from her major advisor professor.

Is this what it feels like to meet an enemy on a narrow bridge?

They had to maintain politeness in front of the professor, but behind his back, they were busy glaring at each other. So naturally, the volunteer work couldn’t go well. Since she had lost the initiative last time, Yuri was determined to take the lead this time.

Watching for an opportunity, Yuri quickly followed Jeho as he went outside to throw away trash.

“Don’t come to the next volunteer meeting, okay?”

Although he knew what she meant, Jeho pretended not to hear and went down the stairs in front of the house. Having no choice, Yuri followed him, pitter-pattering behind while adding an explanation.

“We said we wouldn’t see each other’s faces, right? This is uncomfortable for both of us.”

“But why should I be the one to leave the group, not you?”

Jeho only gave Yuri a glance after putting the trash in the collection box installed at the bottom of the stairs.

“Are you telling me to leave then?”

At those words, Jeho shrugged his shoulders and went up the stairs. Again, Yuri followed him, adding more explanation.

“As much as I’d like to, I can’t easily quit like you. Because…”

“Worried that people might say the Assemblyman’s eldest daughter quit volunteering after just one day?”

Yuri stopped in her tracks at Jeho’s words. He was right. It was obvious that quitting the volunteer work as soon as it started would lead to negative rumors. When Yuri stopped following, Jeho also stopped walking and turned around.

“Judging by your frowning face, I guess I’m right?”

“Yes, that’s right. You’re correct.”

She had no intention of making excuses. At this point, she thought he would back down and say he would quit first. But there was no reaction from him. He just turned his back again and went up the stairs.

“Hey!”

As the distance between her and Jeho widened, Yuri hurriedly followed him up the stairs. But maybe because she was in a hurry, she ended up misstepping. Although she grabbed the railing in time, in her haste to swing her hand, she ended up pulling her necklace.

With a snap, the broken necklace flew towards the cliff beside the stairs. She reached out to grab the necklace, but in a split second of misalignment, the necklace fell down the cliff.

“No!”

Yuri, with a pale face, bent over to climb over the railing. But soon she was grabbed by Jeho’s hand.

“Are you crazy?”

“My necklace fell down there.”

Yuri pointed to the necklace that had fallen to the middle point of the cliff. Jeho frowned as if dumbfounded.

“Do you think this is like climbing over a wall? You’re going to go down there for a mere necklace?”

“It’s not just a mere necklace. It’s my mother’s keepsake!”

As she spoke, tears fell from her eyes. As Jeho said, going down there might be a reckless act. But she couldn’t lose the only keepsake of her mother like this.

If I had known this would happen, I should have kept it safely in a jewelry box instead of wearing it around.

Thinking it was her own fault made her feel even more sorrowful, and tears blurred her vision. But she couldn’t just cry. She had to stop crying quickly and carefully go down the cliff…

That’s when it happened.

“Damn it.”

Jeho, who had been watching the sniffling Yuri, cursed briefly and then, with a leap, jumped over the railing and started going down the cliff. A moment later, in his returned hand was the necklace.

Yuri looked at Jeho and the returned necklace in disbelief. Then her gaze stopped on Jeho’s arm, which was bleeding as if scratched from going down the cliff.

Jeho also glanced down at his injured arm. Then he smiled gently at the teary-eyed Yuri, even making his eyes crinkle. It seemed like he had changed his attitude to be kind, worried that she might feel sorry.

“It’s nothing, don’t worry about it.”

It might seem like nothing special, but to Yuri, it was comforting words. Maybe that’s why? Once again, tears started pouring out.

“I said don’t worry about it.”

As she not only failed to stop crying but shed even more tears, Jeho frowned and grumbled lowly. Then he reached out and wiped the tears flowing down her cheeks. At that seemingly indifferent action, Yuri felt her heart drop for the first time in her life.

After that day, Yuri was confused.

Although she was dead set against the arranged marriage, whenever she thought of Jeho, her resolve kept wavering. Should I just give in and get married? She lost sleep over such temptations.

Is it fortunate? Or unfortunate?

Shortly after, an unfortunate incident occurred. When problems arose in an overseas construction project, the arrows of blame pointed towards Vice Chairman Kwon Jewoong. In the end, he stepped down from his position, taking responsibility for the entire situation.

Vice Chairman Kwon went abroad with his family, and the marriage talks between the two ended without much ado. She didn’t know what happened after that, but people around said that the Vice Chairman’s entire family would never return to Korea.

That’s how her first love ended without even getting started. After that, Yuri’s life was engulfed in a storm-like confusion, and love became a story from a distant land.

The moist emotions dried up, and the heart that had been beating vigorously stopped as if dead.

.

.

.

But…

Yuri, waking from her reminiscence, furrowed her brow.

Why did he suddenly come back?

Judging by the way he looked at her calmly as if dealing with a stranger, it seemed he didn’t remember Yuri.

In fact, they say even mountains change in ten years, and their connection was too short to remember each other after such a long time. Moreover, it was a chaotic situation, and they were both soaking wet.

Or maybe he recognized her but just pretended not to. Their connection was too brief to greet each other as acquaintances. It ended as soon as it began, so honestly, there wasn’t much of a connection to speak of.

Just as she was about to start the car, a ‘ding ding’ message alert sound rang from inside her handbag. It was a message from Minwoo.

Has he finally realized the mistake he made?

Instead of replying to the message, Yuri put the phone back into her handbag. Although she might overlook his mischievous behavior for now since he would be in trouble due to today’s accident, she wasn’t in the mood to talk right away.

The message alerts rang a few more times, then soon fell silent.

Yuri’s gaze shifted to Jeho’s jacket placed next to her handbag. Yuri reached out and gently stroked the dark-colored jacket.

The wound looked quite deep… He’ll go straight to the hospital, right?

The texture of the jacket, cold yet soft as if reminiscent of its owner, was felt on her palm.