Finally, on the wedding day, morning.

Jeho leaned against the entrance of the wedding hall, watching the scene unfolding before him with interest.

Though it was a private ceremony with fewer guests, the wedding venue was luxurious enough to elicit gasps of admiration. It was the result of Madam Na’s influence, who wouldn’t even consider anything less than the best.

“Thank you for coming.”

Madam Na was busy greeting guests with a bright smile. But even in the midst of that, she kept glaring at Jeho from time to time. She was clearly displeased that all the guests’ attention was focused on Jeho.

Jeho willingly accepted Madam Na’s hostile gaze as he looked at his wristwatch. There was still time before the ceremony was to begin, but the groom was nowhere to be seen.

When his eyes met Madam Na’s again, Jeho pointed to his wristwatch. Madam Na frowned and turned her gaze to the clock on the wall.

A faint smile appeared on Jeho’s lips as he watched Madam Na anxiously biting her lip.

Hyunkyung looked at Yuri’s face, which was pale to the point of being pitiful, with a troubled expression.

“This won’t do. I need to make the blush a bit darker.”

“Do as you please.”

Yuri nodded indifferently. Looking in the mirror, she saw her own unfocused eyes staring back at her, as if her soul had left her body. But she didn’t care how she looked to others.

Just as Hyunkyung finished the blush and was putting down the brush, ding, a text message alert sounded. Hyunkyung’s face suddenly brightened as she picked up her phone.

“Yuri, I’ll be right back.”

“Okay.”

Yuri, sitting on the sofa, gestured for her to go ahead with her eyes closed. As Hyunkyung left the bridal waiting room, there was a thud as the door closed, followed by silence.

The ceremony would begin soon, but she felt neither nervous nor excited. Rather, her mood had sunk to the bottom. The day that should be the happiest for a bride was turning into the gloomiest day for her.

Shh-. Shh-.

Only the noise from the air purifier filled the quiet room.

But then…

A familiar scent touched her nose. A citrus scent with a subtle hint of musk. Her heart started to race. The moment she realized who the owner of this cool and sweet scent was, Yuri’s eyes opened on their own.

Jeho was standing in front of her in a suit, having arrived at some point.

“Why is your face so pale?”

He asked in a gentle voice as he knelt down on one knee in front of Yuri.

“…Jeho?”

She couldn’t believe it even though he was right in front of her. He said he would come to the wedding, but she didn’t think he would come to the bridal waiting room. When Yuri looked towards the door with anxious eyes, Jeho cupped her cheek with his hand, making her look at him.

“Hyunkyung is guarding the door, so don’t worry.”

Only then did Yuri understand Hyunkyung’s earlier behavior. She must have been excited by Jeho’s text message.

“The ceremony will start soon.”

After checking the time on his wristwatch, he turned his gaze back to Yuri.

“Are you nervous?”

“No. I’m not thinking about anything.”

Yuri smiled faintly. Honestly, it didn’t feel like her own wedding. Everything was hazy, as if in a dream. She wished it was a terrible nightmare. If she woke up, it would disappear like smoke.

“Just hang in there a little longer. It’ll be okay soon.”

“Will it?”

“Yes. It has to be.”

He whispered, cupping her neck with his hand. As he lowered his head to press his forehead against hers, the distance closed enough to feel each other’s breath. Yuri’s heart swelled to the point of bursting at the fact that he was right in front of her.

“I have something for you.”

Jeho took something out of his pocket and handed it to Yuri.

“What’s this?”

What he placed in her hand was a wedding garter worn on the bride’s thigh. Throwing the wedding garter to unmarried men at the end of the ceremony, just like throwing the bouquet to unmarried women, was one of the long-standing Western wedding traditions.

Staring at the wedding garter, Yuri whispered softly to herself.

“It’s really pretty.”

The white lace wedding garter was adorned with tiny jewel decorations. While she had never thought the elaborate tiara and wedding dress were pretty, the wedding garter Jeho gave her was too beautiful. And that made her sad.

“Wear this and think that I’m beside you. I’ll give you strength.”

Was it some kind of lucky charm? Since it would be under the wedding dress skirt, it wouldn’t be a problem to wear it as others wouldn’t see it.

“Thank you.”

As Yuri bent down to put on the wedding garter, Jeho quietly took it from her.

“Let me do it for you.”

As his hand lifted the wedding dress skirt above her knee, her long, straight legs were revealed. Jeho gently held Yuri’s slender ankle and carefully placed one leg on his knee. Then, with slow movements, he slid the wedding garter up to her thigh.

Yuri gently bit her lip. Even though she was wearing stockings, she could vividly feel his caressing touch. She remembered how his hands had handled her body on their last night, sometimes gently, sometimes roughly. The sensation of his lips pressing down softly and hotly also came to mind.

But now she would never feel that again.

“I’ll take it off for you when the ceremony is over, so keep it on until then.”

He said, pressing his palm gently against the wedding garter and her thigh.

Take it off? That’s nonsense. When the ceremony is over, she’ll be another man’s wife, so how could he take it off? He must be saying that to cheer her up a little.

Instead of arguing, Yuri silently looked at Jeho. That wasn’t important now. She wanted to take in his image as completely as possible for now.

For a long time, the two just looked at each other. Regret and longing were clearly visible in each other’s eyes.

Eventually, Jeho slowly stood up. After lowering Yuri’s wedding dress skirt, he turned his back to her. Looking at Jeho’s back, Yuri muttered to herself, ‘This is finally the end.’ She was sad, but fortunately, no tears came.

However, instead of heading towards the door, he walked to the dressing table. He pulled out three or four sheets from the tissue box on top and returned to the sofa, taking a seat next to her.

“This won’t do after all.”

He muttered with an indifferent face as he wiped Yuri’s lips with the tissue.

She wanted to ask what he was doing, but couldn’t. Because she was afraid of getting an unwanted answer. No, she was afraid of getting the answer she wanted. Yuri’s lips trembled slightly under Jeho’s touch as he gently pressed them.

After wiping off all the lipstick, Jeho cupped Yuri’s slender neck with his hand and tilted his head.

“Lipstick.”

He whispered softly over her lips.

“Apply it again.”

At the same time, their lips met. For a moment, Yuri reflexively tried to push him away. But she couldn’t turn her head. Her mind was in chaos.

That night was supposed to be the last, so this shouldn’t be happening today… But instinct was rapidly overtaking reason. She simply couldn’t push him away.

Her lips, which had hesitated for a moment, finally accepted Jeho and slowly parted. Hot passion engulfed her, rushing in roughly as if to swallow her whole.

Jeho tilted his head askew, trying to delve deeper. He reached out to her back, pulling her even closer. The wedding dress had an open back design, so he could feel her soft skin sticking to his palm.

This wasn’t the plan from the beginning. He was just going to see her face briefly because he was worried. He intended to give her the wedding garter and leave, but he couldn’t resist. Seeing her sitting there lifeless and weak made his heart ache, and yet she was dazzlingly beautiful. All moral considerations evaporated.

“Just bear with it a little longer.”

Whispering to Yuri and to himself, Jeho pushed himself deep into the sweet quagmire.

Somehow, the departure time ended up being much later than planned. But Minwoo didn’t get angry and held it in. Because today was a special day. It was the day he was marrying Yuri. Just as he was about to get in the car to head to the venue, Manager Jin came running with a pale face.

“Director, you need to hide quickly!”

“Hide from what?”

Minwoo asked with a puzzled expression.

“President Park has realized that it was us who leaked the information.”

“What?”

Minwoo’s eyes widened, nearly popping out. Recently, Minwoo had secretly passed incriminating evidence related to illegal activities to Prosecutor Cha through a confidential channel to deal with President Park of Moa Industrial Development.

“Which bastard snitched?”

“That’s not important right now. President Park’s men are coming with hand axes right now.”

“What? Hand axes? How barbaric! Are the police in Korea just scarecrows? Call the police right away.”

“You’re being obtuse! What if this makes it into the news? The Chairman will send you to the afterlife before President Park does.”

Manager Jin was right. The Chairman was more frightening than those uneducated gangsters.

If this incident reached his grandfather’s ears, all the corruption, embezzlement, and misappropriation he had committed so far might be exposed. If that happened, he would not only lose his position as heir but would likely be kicked out of the family altogether.

“W-what should we do?”

Minwoo’s voice trembled nervously as he finally grasped the situation.

“First, you need to hide. We must avoid a major confrontation. I’ll try to calm down President Park, so please go abroad for the time being.”

“But I still need to have the wedding ceremony. We were going to Europe for our honeymoon anyway, so we can kill two birds with one stone.”

“Director!”

Manager Jin cut off Minwoo’s words with an exasperated expression.

“What if President Park’s men storm into the wedding venue? They’ve probably already sent men to the venue as well.”

“Then you go to the venue and bring the bride. If we’re going to run away, we should go together.”

Seeing that words were futile, Manager Jin grabbed Minwoo’s arms and forcibly put him in the car.

“I’ve prepared everything so you can board a plane right away. Stay low until things calm down and then come back.”

After finishing his words, Manager Jin threw a passport through the car window. The passport landed with a thud on Minwoo’s thigh.

Ten minutes past the scheduled time, but there was no sign of the wedding ceremony starting. At first, the guests were understanding, but as 20 minutes passed with the ceremony still delayed, they started to murmur.

Then someone mentioned that the groom might not have arrived yet. Another voice said that no one had seen the groom at all.

Hyunkyung, who had been sitting at a guest table continuously emptying her glass, perked up her ears. Come to think of it, it was strange. Usually, the groom would greet the guests at the front of the venue, but Minwoo was nowhere to be seen.

Worried about Yuri, Hyunkyung immediately ran to the bridal waiting room.

“What on earth is going on? The groom hasn’t come?”

In contrast to the confusion outside, Yuri was sitting motionless, holding her bouquet. Although Hyunkyung had opposed the marriage, she didn’t want it to fall apart like this. If Hyunkyung felt this shocked, how must the person directly involved feel?

Yuri slowly got up from the sofa and threw the bouquet she was holding into the trash can. Then she took off her silver tiara and veil.

“Hyunkyung, please take care of the aftermath.”

Leaving only those words, she walked out of the bridal waiting room.

“Hey? Where are you going?”

Despite Hyunkyung’s question, Yuri kept walking forward without looking back.

She couldn’t know exactly what was happening right now. But it was clear that the wedding ceremony couldn’t be held today. Even if Minwoo showed up at the venue belatedly, it was too late to turn things around.

“Ha.”

A held breath escaped through her lips. It felt like her blocked airways were bursting open.

Only after leaving the venue and walking for a while did Yuri stop and look up at the sky. The cloudless blue sky entered her vision, which had been so jumbled that nothing was registering.

Just then, someone’s hand grabbed her. Before she could check who it was, her body was turned around. As she was pulled into a warm embrace, a familiar scent rushed to her nose.

“I’ve finally found you.”

A low, quiet voice followed.

It was him. The man she could lean on. Her only sanctuary.

Yuri closed her eyes slowly as she rested her face against the comfortable embrace.