Kwon Jeho got out of the car and was walking towards her.

“Why are you here so early? Didn’t you go to the company dinner?”

Yuri asked the question before he could open his mouth. Jeho, who stopped in front of her, tilted his head slightly.

“I think I should ask that first……”

“Ah, I just ended up here while walking. I didn’t come to meet you…… Ah.”

As Yuri tried to make excuses, he gently cupped her cheek with his hand. Looking at him with startled eyes, Jeho leaned his head close to her.

“Have you been crying?”

“……Ah.”

For a moment, she was at a loss for words and her mind went blank. Had the tear stains been that noticeable? Flustered, Yuri quickly turned her head away. But soon a large hand grasped her chin and turned her face forward. After confirming the tears in her eyes again, Jeho frowned.

“Did you cry because of Minwoo?”

Though his voice was flat, she could feel he was struggling to suppress his emotions. Yuri looked up at his face silently, delaying her answer.

She thought that perhaps she had walked here unconsciously. For some reason, just seeing him made her wounded and churning heart start to calm down gently. Like long ago, when she had comforted herself by imagining crying her heart out in front of him……

“What did that guy do?”

Jeho’s eyes were chillingly cold as he asked again. They were eyes trying hard to hold back anger. Yes, maybe it was because of those eyes. They made her feel the illusion that he was worried about her.

“I don’t cry because of men.”

After a brief silence, the answer finally flowed from Yuri’s lips.

“Huh.”

Jeho let go of her chin and laughed softly.

“That’s nice to hear.”

But he didn’t drop his questioning gaze.

“If it wasn’t because of Minwoo, then why……”

“I wasn’t crying. My eyes just got irritated from the cold wind while walking….. That’s why I teared up.”

It was an obvious and lame excuse, but Jeho didn’t push any further. He nodded lightly as if he would believe her. Then he answered Yuri’s question.

“I sat at the company dinner for about 5 minutes, then handed over the corporate card and left. Everyone would be uncomfortable if a superior stayed too long at a dinner anyway.”

After finishing his answer, Jeho now asked Yuri.

“What did you do out with Minwoo? Did you have dinner together?”

“No, we just had a drink and parted ways.”

“Then you haven’t had dinner yet. That’s good. I didn’t want to eat alone….. Come in and have dinner before you go.”

“No, I……”

As Yuri began to refuse, Jeho quickly added:

“I have no appetite, but I need to eat something to take painkillers.”

Jeho frowned, pointing to his shoulder as if he was still in a lot of pain. It also seemed to subtly imply that she should take responsibility since his wound reopened while helping her.

But to go into a man’s house alone again?

Yuri bit her lip with a troubled expression. It would be proper to politely decline and go home. But she didn’t want to go home, and she had nowhere else to go either. Her feet hurt from walking for so long, and she was starting to feel chilly in the cool night air.

Of course, she could go to a coffee shop and spend time there. However…..

Yuri looked at Jeho, who was standing still waiting for her answer.

The moment she saw him, she felt she didn’t want to be left alone. If she were alone, all sorts of thoughts would weigh heavily on her. Just imagining it made her chest feel tight, as if she couldn’t breathe.

In the end, Yuri nodded and followed Jeho inside.

[This is the timeline separator]

Though it had only been a few days since she last came, the atmosphere inside the house felt a little different from her first visit.

“Meow.”

Was it because of the snow-white cat with big eyes? Typically cats hide when they see strangers, but Jasmine approached without hesitation.

Rubbing against Yuri’s feet and wrapping its tail around her, it was like a child chattering for attention. When Yuri bent down to pat its head, Jasmine tilted its head back with its eyes half-closed as if enjoying it.

“I’ll call you when it’s ready, so wait in the living room with Jasmine.”

“No, I’ll help too.”

Yuri followed Jeho into the kitchen.

“There’s not much to do. I just need to heat up the porridge.”

“Then I’ll at least set the table.”

Jeho gestured towards the refrigerator as if to say do as you like. The fridge that had been empty just days ago was now packed with containers full of various side dishes.

“My friend brought back all sorts of things when he returned from his parents’ house. His mother would have felt bad if he went back empty-handed… These were also made by my friend’s mother.”

Jeho said as he put a pot of abalone porridge on the stove. Soon after, the two sat facing each other at the table with a simple meal set out. Perhaps because it was food made with care? Though she thought she wouldn’t be able to eat even a bite, the savory abalone porridge went down smoothly. But Jeho, unlike her, had difficulties.

“…Ugh.”

As he was lifting the spoon, he suddenly narrowed his brows and clutched his injured shoulder. Pain seemed to follow every time he raised his hand. He switched to his left hand, but while spooning was manageable, using chopsticks didn’t look easy. Watching this, Yuri picked up some soy-braised meat with her chopsticks and placed it in Jeho’s porridge bowl.

“My late mother used to put side dishes in like this.”

“Huh, suddenly I feel like a child.”

At those words, Yuri grinned and picked up some cucumber salad with her chopsticks this time.

Looking back, she had never received such care since her mother passed away. Later, the madam who came in as her stepmother acted like a caring mother on the surface, but she always felt a wall between them. At first, she thought it was because she wasn’t her birth mother, but she acted differently towards her younger sister Yuri.

She thought the madam took more care of Yuri because she was younger. She never imagined it was because she was her biological daughter.

What would have happened if she had never noticed her father’s affair until the end? Would she have lived under the illusion of being a family, like hiding her eyes and saying “peek-a-boo”?

They say you can see the whole picture properly when you step back. Looking at it from a third person’s perspective, she began to understand what kind of existence she was to Assemblyman Chae. She was just the daughter of his deceased wife, not family, perhaps just an expendable resource needed for the election campaign.

Too uneasy to throw away, too uncomfortable to keep close – just an existence that wasn’t truly family.

Jeho silently watched Yuri’s face grow darker with each passing moment.

He had felt it before, but the relationship between Yuri and Assemblyman Chae was not the father-daughter relationship he knew. She lost her vitality noticeably when clashing with Assemblyman Chae.

He began to wonder if there was something he was overlooking about Yuri and Minwoo’s arranged marriage.

Just then, a ding sound of a text message was heard. It was a message from an unknown number. Yuri opened the message without thinking and doubted her eyes for a moment. Along with a brief message, there was one photo attached.

The photo showed a naked Minwoo embracing a woman in a slip. It was a selfie of a drunk Minwoo sprawled out with his face buried in the woman’s neck. Yuri quickly stood up, holding her phone.

“Excuse me for a moment.”

The edges were cleverly cropped so the face of the woman taking the selfie couldn’t be seen. But it wasn’t hard to guess who it was. Yuri went out to the balcony, opening the sliding door, and immediately called Minwoo.

He used to answer on the first ring, but today he didn’t pick up for a long time. Just as she was about to give up and hang up, the call connected.

[……Yuri?]

A slurred voice came through as if his tongue was numb.

“Where are you right now?”

[I, uh…… I…… Where am I now?]

There was a rustling sound as if he was getting up from bed. After a moment of silence, Minwoo’s voice continued.

[……Ah, more than that, Yuri. ……I wanted to hear your voice.]

Barely holding back from saying “Are you crazy?”, Yuri took a long breath.

“Hmm, just how much did you drink?”

[……I didn’t drink much. I just drank a little because I felt upset. Yuri, ……I think I got worked up earlier.]

He spoke haltingly.

[I think I was ……a bit out of it. I’ve been working overtime constantly lately, so I’m on edge. ……The wedding is also approaching.]

As she waited for him to finish speaking, she heard what sounded like laughter from somewhere. To be more precise, it was closer to a moan than laughter.

“Is someone there with you?”

[Huh? Uh….. Ah, no, I’m alone. It must be the TV sound. I’ll turn down the volume.]

At Yuri’s question, Minwoo’s slurred voice returned to normal as if he had suddenly sobered up.

[Anyway Yuri, I was wrong about today. I’m sorry.]

Minwoo didn’t seem to realize at all that she had received the photo just now. The woman who sent the photo must still be with him right now, right? Yuri didn’t have the confidence to act as shamelessly as Minwoo.

“Minwoo, you’re very drunk. Let’s talk when you’re sober.”

Before her voice could crack at the end, Yuri hurriedly hung up the phone. The scene from the photo kept flashing before her eyes, and if she had dragged out the call any longer, she felt like she might throw up.

She prayed that the sound she heard from behind wasn’t the moan of the woman in the photo. She truly, sincerely didn’t want to despise Minwoo to that extent.

[This is the timeline separator]

“What should I do? Yuri is really angry.”

As Yuri hung up on him abruptly, Minwoo dropped his head with a dejected face. The ferocious mad dog that would bite anyone became an obedient large dog in front of his fiancée. A golden retriever wagging its tail constantly, at that.

Dahee hugged the gloomy-looking Minwoo and rested her cheek on his chest.

“It’s okay. She’ll forget everything by tomorrow.”

“Tomorrow is tomorrow, ……I need comfort now.”

True to being called a mad dog, just moments ago he was worried that his fiancée was angry, but suddenly he transformed into a man blinded by desire. But Dahee didn’t dislike Minwoo’s attitude. The more he acted like this, the easier it became to gaslight him.

“How are you going to handle it later if you give in even before getting married?”

“Don’t worry. Once we’re married, the tantrums will end. As soon as the wedding is over, I’ll exercise my rights as a husband.”

Minwoo bit the white nape in front of him, imagining Yuri. How satisfying would it be to leave deep marks of ownership on that fair, slender neck? Just imagining it sent shivers through his whole body.

“But…… it’s an arranged marriage, isn’t it?”

Dahee whispered softly as she stroked Minwoo’s hair.

“If that’s the case, your fiancée might have a hidden lover like me too. Right?”

For a moment, Minwoo raised his face with a grim expression. It seemed he couldn’t bear even the imagination. Minwoo glared at Dahee as if he would kill her right then and there.

“Yuri isn’t that kind of woman.”

Even if every woman in the world was like that, Yuri wasn’t. Proud and cold, not giving a glance to anyone. The Chae Yuri he liked had to be that way.

“Still, shouldn’t you investigate her background? There’s an old saying that you can know ten fathoms deep in water, but not one fathom deep in a person’s heart……”

She cupped Minwoo’s cheeks with both hands and whispered seductively.

[This is the timeline separator]

“Haah.”

Perhaps because all strength had left her body, the phone she was holding fell to the floor with a thud.

Why did they send such a disgusting photo? What were they trying to do by deliberately provoking her?

Feeling like a sharp scream might burst out, Yuri covered her mouth with both hands.

What is this, not even having the confidence to face it proudly, yet acting so cowardly?

The emotions she had tried so hard to compose started jumping wildly with contempt again. Yuri took a deep breath and exhaled slowly. But it didn’t help much.

“Hic.”

The moment a rough breath like a sob escaped her lips.

At some point, Jeho had come up behind her and quietly embraced her.

“……Are you okay?”

A low whisper flowed into Yuri’s ear as she flinched in surprise.

“You’re shaking right now.”