The sensation of her breath landing on his bare skin and the faint touch of her hair that seemed to graze his skin every time she moved was more difficult to endure than the pain caused by the wound.

“Anyway……”
Yul Li grumbled to herself towards Je Ho, who remained silent without a word.

“Why would you recklessly jump in, jump in without fully recovering?”
“Ha, who jumped in without thinking first?”
Instead of rebutting, Yul Li laughed lightly. Every time he spoke, it felt like she was traveling back in time. He had always been so natural with his words since their first meeting.

“But can I ask one thing?”
“Yes, please ask.”
At Je Ho’s question, Yul Li nodded lightly.

“When you see someone in danger, do you always rush in?”
“Not really. I usually do it only for children. …Hmm, maybe it’s because I resemble my mother. She often did that.”
Yul Li responded calmly as she wiped the blood spread on his shoulder with a disinfectant.

“Do you know how our dad first got elected to the National Assembly?”
When he shook his head, Yul Li placed a gauze on the treated wound and continued speaking.

“The opposing candidate was a veteran politician known as a big wheel in the district. Dad was a novice who had just started politics. Everyone around him said it was a nowin game. But then, an accident happened during the election campaign.”
Despite being a child protection area, a speeding car charged towards a child crossing the crosswalk. So Yeon, Yul Li’s mother who witnessed that horrifying sight in front of her, pushed the child away at the last moment and got hit by the car instead.

Coincidentally, the wife of the opposing candidate was also present at the scene. But instead of rushing in like So Yeon, she turned a blind eye and retreated. The reporter present at the scene quickly captured that moment with his camera.

The incident became a hot topic and decorated the news and newspaper headlines for consecutive days. At that time, Representative Chae Hyung Sik’s election slogan was ‘Enough with politics that only speaks. I’ll run directly with my body!’ True to his words, So Yeon saw the danger and rushed in, while the opposing candidate’s wife just watched from afar.

So Yeon’s noble act and Representative Chae’s slogan matched perfectly, and they started to move the hearts of the voters one by one.

“Because of that accident, my mother was severely injured. But thanks to that, my father won by a large margin against the opposing candidate and got elected.”
Everyone attributed his becoming a member of the National Assembly to his wife, So Yeon. So Yeon earned more trust within the district than her husband, Representative Chae, and swept the votes of the electorate in every election.

“But my mother got complications from that accident. Her rib broke and deeply pierced her lung. After multiple surgeries and hospitalizations, she eventually passed away a few years later.”
A year after losing his wife, Representative Chae married his aide An Mi Sook. The remarriage was quicker than expected and received discontented gazes from the voters. The side of Representative Chae hurriedly used Yul Li, who greatly resembled the deceased So Yeon, in the election.

The voters recalled So Yeon from Yul Li’s appearance, and the result was successful. Consequently, in every election campaign, the one standing next to Representative Chae was not Lady An but his eldest daughter Chae Yul Li.

Yul Li looked down at the necklace, a memento from her late mother, around her neck. As she remained silent, Je Ho turned his head to look behind him.

Yul Li seemed lost in thought, slowly blinking as she gazed at the necklace. The necklace seemed all too familiar to Je Ho’s eyes.

“That, you still have it.”
As Je Ho murmured to himself, Yul Li snapped back to reality from her deep contemplation and shifted her gaze where his eyes were.

“Ah, this…”

Yul Li gently touched the necklace with one hand, flashing a faint smile. After nearly losing it, she had kept it safe in her jewelry box for a while. But after discovering her father’s affair, she had taken it out and worn it around her neck. It was her way of always being with her late mother.

“Do you still remember this necklace?”
“Of course. It’s the necklace I found after receiving scars of honor…”
Je Ho lifted the corners of his mouth as if it was obvious.

Back then, he had risked his life to retrieve the necklace Yul Li had dropped off the cliff. Yul Li remembered Je Ho’s arm, bleeding as if scraped somewhere on the cliffside.

“I was really grateful at that time. If it weren’t for you, Je Ho, I might have lost it forever.”
“Huh.”
A sound that was difficult to tell whether it was a laugh or a sigh flowed from his mouth.

“When you were crying so hard, I just couldn’t stand by.”
That was true. Back then, she was going through a period where she could easily shed tears. Yul Li gave a bitter smile. Suddenly, a question popped into her head.

Did he return the necklace just because she was crying?

Or was he a man easily swayed by a woman’s tears?

“Well…”
After a moment of silence, he continued with a blunt voice.

“I’m not kind to everyone.”
What did he mean by that? As Yul Li was applying a bandage to his wound, she listened to his next words.

“I’m only kind to those I want to be.”
At his words of ‘those I want to be’, Yul Li’s hand trembled slightly.

Why was her heart fluttering at such a simple statement? It’s just about the person he wants to be kind to…

“I’m done.”
After finishing the treatment, Yul Li pulled up Je Ho’s shirt and backed away. Je Ho buttoned his open shirt silently. But it seemed hard to do it with one hand. He kept fumbling.

Just when she was about to turn her head away, suppressing the urge to help him…

“…Could you do me a favor?”
She heard Je Ho’s whispering voice.

“Could you button it up for me?”
His words made Yul Li feel strange.

In dreams, she was usually unbuttoning his shirt, but in reality, she was buttoning it up.

“Yes.”
Nodding her head, Yul Li carefully reached out her hand.

But why? From the moment she touched the button, she became tense. Was it because they were sitting face to face? During the treatment, she had been sitting with her back to him, so their eyes didn’t meet.

Perhaps due to his staring, she couldn’t button it properly and kept fumbling.

It was hard to tell him not to stare, and she couldn’t ask him to close his eyes.

Right, it was best to just finish quickly.

Whispering to herself, Yul Li quickly moved her hand. But her heart got ahead of her, and her hand slipped, brushing against his smooth skin. It felt as if her fingertips were burned, but Yul Li hid her turmoil, hardened her expression, and bit her lower lip.

“I’m done.”
Finally buttoning up the last button, Yul Li quickly retreated.

Only then did the tidy interior decoration of the apartment catch her eye as she looked around to avoid the awkwardness. The apartment was mostly decorated in a modern style, with white and gray tones.

“It’s a herringbone pattern.”
When Yul Li pointed out the floor pattern with her hand, Je Ho, leaning on the back of the sofa, shifted his gaze to the floor.

“It’s not my taste. It’s his.”
“His taste?”
“It’s a friend’s house. I’m just staying here for a while.”
“Ah…”
This meant that it was not a house where a man lived alone. As Yul Li sighed with relief, an insinuating phrase flowed into her ears.

“And now, it’s just you and me here.”

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