I don’t know how long I cried for. By the time I came to my senses, the dim evening twilight had already descended around me. I had wailed so loudly that my whole body felt drained of energy and I felt dizzy to the point of being unable to open my eyes.

Yuri, with her face resting against Jeho’s chest, exhaled heavily. As her sobs subsided, Jeho, who had been patting her back with his palm, gently brushed her hair behind her ears. Yuri slowly opened her eyes and covered her face with both hands.

“…Don’t look at me.”

She didn’t want to show him her face, swollen from crying. Even without looking, she could tell how much of a mess she must look right now.

“Why?”

Yuri didn’t answer the question and lowered her head. A large hand grasped her chin and carefully lifted it upwards. With his other hand, he took Yuri’s hands that were covering her face and pushed them aside. At first she struggled and resisted, but soon gave up and obediently revealed her face. Fortunately, the darkness that had settled around them somewhat concealed her face.

Their eyes met across the dim air between them.

“Don’t worry. You still look very pretty right now.”

“Don’t tease me.”

Jeho swept his knuckles across her cheek, as if finding Yuri’s sulky words adorable.

“I’m not teasing. I’m holding myself back from kissing you.”

At any other time, those words would have made her tense up, but now, a laugh burst out. Kissing, when she looked like this? He must just be saying that to make her feel better. It was a short laugh, but it blew sufficient oxygen into her stifled lungs. Thanks to that, she seemed to regain a bit of energy. Yuri slowly lifted herself off Jeho and leaned against the seat back.

“…I’m sorry, but could you take Hyunkyung home?”

“Where does your friend Hyunkyung live?”

Jeho silently input the address Yuri told him for Hyunkyung into the navigation system. He wanted to take care of her himself, but it would be too much in this situation. Representative Chae was right. Yuri was still Minwoo’s fiancée. He didn’t want to tarnish her reputation with unnecessary rumors.

As they headed towards Hyunkyung’s apartment, Yuri made a call, and thankfully she was home. When Yuri sent a text saying they had arrived as they parked the car in front of the apartment lobby, Hyunkyung came running out in less than 5 minutes, wearing slippers on bare feet. As soon as she saw Yuri’s swollen cheeks, Hyunkyung hugged her tightly with a face on the verge of tears. But thankfully, she didn’t ask what happened.

“Thank you, Mr. Jeho. I’ll take care of Yuri from now on.”

While hugging Yuri, Hyunkyung met Jeho’s eyes.

“Then I’ll leave it to you.”

Believing that Hyunkyung would comfort her well, he turned his back. But his steps did not easily fall away. When he looked back, Yuri was also standing in place, looking at him.

Leaving her trembling eyes behind him, Jeho took steps forward again.

Getting into the car, Jeho called a private company that periodically provided him with information.

“Hello. There are a few more things I need you to look into… Yes.”

Jeho’s voice grew heavy as he gave new instructions.

[This is the timeline separator]

“Representative, that’s too much! No, you went and left me, but why!”

Hyunkyung raised her voice, seemingly outraged after hearing the whole story. But Yuri just shook her head with a tired face. Explaining it to Hyunkyung allowed her to accept the situation more objectively than before. What Representative Chae said wasn’t entirely unreasonable. These days, you could solve a lot with just a cell phone. It wasn’t completely impossible to come up from Geoje to Seoul.

If her cell phone battery had died, she could have charged it at a convenience store, and when she got in touch with the aide, she could have asked for help from a local party member in Geoje through him. But she chose Jeho. She didn’t consider how others would view it.

She just liked having him by her side. She liked him so much as he ran to her standing in the rain and held her in his broad arms that she didn’t want to leave.

“…Hyunkyung.”

Tears that she thought she had shed completely earlier began to flow again.

“What should I do?”

The moment she saw the photos Representative Chae threw down in anger, Yuri realized something had gone terribly wrong. In the photos, she was unfilteredly revealing feelings she herself hadn’t even known.

Her eyes as she looked at Jeho were filled with affection. There was no way Representative Chae could have overlooked that. He must have been even more angry because of it. With the wedding right around the corner, he must have been tense, worried Yuri might ruin everything.

“About what?”

“…I don’t know.”

Yuri shook her head, shedding tears.

She really didn’t know. She just felt pathetic for constantly being drawn to him. But the more she saw him, the more she wanted to see him, and the more she was held, the more she wanted to be held. His warm embrace felt nice, his gentle gaze made her heart race, his kind touch took her breath away.

Just a little while ago, she had to struggle to hold herself back from following Jeho. Despite loudly proclaiming she wouldn’t easily fall for his temptations, she had collapsed on herself before it even began…

“Yuri.”

“I’m sorry, Hyunkyung. I can’t confide in you right now. Later… I’ll tell you later.”

“Okay. You don’t have to tell me. Tell me when you’re able to later.”

“…Thank you, Hyunkyung.”

She needed to cry just a little more and get a grip. Now wasn’t the time to be crying leisurely. Yuri took a deep breath as she wiped the tears flowing down her cheeks with her palm.

[This is the timeline separator]

After confirming Representative Chae was in his study, Yuri approached Mrs. An who was in the midst of preparing dinner. The atmosphere was bleak, making her doubt the food would go down her throat, but Mrs. An was stubbornly busy making stew, seasoning various vegetables, and grilling fish. She must be doing something out of anxiety.

“Mom, at this rate, won’t elder sister’s wedding fall through?”

“What are you talking about?”

Mrs. An turned around, switching off the gas range.

“I overheard a bit from the study earlier. Did elder sister really do that with Jeho last night?”

“Shh, be quiet.”

Mrs. An put a finger to her lips and frowned.

“Don’t say unnecessary things and further complicate matters, just stay still. Right before a wedding, your heart changes ten times before you enter the wedding hall.”

“Actually, Jeho was originally elder sister’s match. And he’s much better than Minwoo, you know.”

“I told you to be quiet.”

When Mrs. An scolded her, Yuri pursed her lips and turned her back. In Yuri’s eyes, Yuri and Minwoo didn’t suit each other at all.

Honestly, no woman suits being by Minwoo’s side. The woman who could claim the spot beside him should be none other than herself.

When she first heard that Yuri and Minwoo would have an arranged marriage, she was angry. She knew Minwoo never even glanced her way, but she never imagined he would marry her sister. It was because Yuri had already been in marriage talks with Minwoo’s cousin Jeho before.

She envied Yuri claiming the cousins in turns, but she was also jealous. It wasn’t that she was envious of Yuri though.

She just wondered why it couldn’t be her, and why it had to be her sister. Why only her sister got to go out campaigning and receive an angel image. Sometimes she had these thoughts.

Of course she knew the reason. She shouldn’t appear at official events if possible. She had to remain as the frail second daughter who always kept away from the media.

Her very existence was a huge weakness for Representative Chae. If the secret of her birth leaked, it would become a massive scandal. If Representative Chae was selected as a presidential candidate in the future, she may have to go abroad for the time being.

“So annoying.”

Why did she always have to live feeling like a criminal? It wasn’t her fault she was born into this world!

At some point, she had to be mindful of Yuri. Yuri never directly asked if Yuri also knew the secret of her birth. She could ask, but she didn’t. She wanted to keep pretending they didn’t know until the end. But like how when snow melts, sticky mud reveals itself, the truth would come out someday. Whenever that may be, in the end…

[This is the timeline separator]

Yuri was contemplating whether she should ask Yuri to send over some clothes, when Hyunkyung offered her own clothes, saying they were a similar size. There were clothes she had only worn once and never wore again, and brand new clothes with the tags still on piled up like a mountain. In the end, they only bought a few new undergarments at a nearby shopping mall.

She tried on this and that from Hyunkyung’s clothes, but even picking the most subdued one, it seemed somehow racy. It was because her curves were more pronounced as her chest was more ample than Hyunkyung’s.

She picked the blouse with the roomiest bust, but Yuri unintentionally blushed at the feeling of it clinging to her body. In contrast, Hyunkyung looked on with very satisfied eyes.

“It suits you so well. I only took the tags off this outfit, I never wore it once. You take it all.”

“Isn’t it a bit racy to wear to the office?”

“What’s racy about this? Rather than that, come sit over here.”

Thankfully the swelling in her cheeks had gone down, but some redness still remained so it had to be covered with makeup. Due to that, her makeup inevitably became heavier than usual and she looked somehow different.

“While we’re at it, let’s change up your hair too.”

Hyunkyung picked up a hair iron with an excited face.

“Hyunkyung, I’m going to the office right now, not a club.”

“What club just because I’m adding some volume to your hair? When was the last time you went to a club?”

She had only gone once after entering university. But even then, she was dragged out by Representative Chae’s aide before she could play for long. After that, she never even went near one.

“While you’re here, let’s do everything you haven’t done. Go to a club and play all night, watch late night movies, do it all.”

“Okay.”

She had no intention of going to a club, but Yuri hurriedly headed to the office after vaguely agreeing.

She had been worried about how to face Jeho, but he was out attending a seminar with Manager Kim. Manager Kim returned to the office after lunch, but he didn’t come, saying he had another appointment. Fickle as the human heart is, not seeing him made her feel disappointed.

Yuri headed to the rooftop to get some fresh air. She was just opening the rooftop door when her cell phone rang. It was an unknown number. While she hesitated whether to answer or not, the call ended. And then her cell phone started ringing again. This time it was a call from Mrs. An.

[Did you go to work well today?]

“Yes.”

[Come home around next week. By then, your father’s anger will have subsided a lot.]

“We’ll see. I’m also very angry right now… so I don’t know if my anger will subside by next week.”

[Yuri.]

At Yuri’s unexpected response, Mrs. An’s voice lowered.

[You’re getting married soon. Can’t you endure it just until then?]

“So in the end, I have to be the one to endure it again.”

[…I’m sorry.]

“You should say those words to my mother rather than me. If you can.”

After speaking in a cold voice, Yuri hung up the phone. At times like this, she dearly missed her mother who had passed away first.

Was mom like this too? Did she bear it thinking she just had to endure it?

Yuri habitually fumbled at her neck with her hand. But the necklace was no longer around her neck. For a moment, it felt like she had lost her precious mother and tears welled up.

Like a fool, even though crying won’t solve anything…

“I was wondering where you went.”

At the familiar voice, she turned around to see Jeho standing behind her, having come at some point. Noticing the tears gathered in Yuri’s eyes, he frowned.

“Were you crying by yourself? Like a little lady?”

“No, something got in my eye.”

“Hmph.”

Jeho laughed shortly and wiped the tears gathered in the corners of her eyes with his finger.

“So you couldn’t answer my call?”

“Call?”

Yuri recalled the unfamiliar phone number that had called just now.

“I didn’t know it was your call, Jeho.”

At those words, Jeho snatched the cell phone from Yuri’s hand and saved his number. As he handed the phone back, he said,

“From now on, answer right away when I call.”

Yuri opened the recent call log to check Jeho’s number. Her expression subtly changed as she looked at the set name. Instead of three syllables, Jeho’s number was saved under a nickname.

Three letters that made her heart race like crazy.