“Do I really have to go through with this marriage?”

For a moment, Yuri doubted her own ears. The question he asked was extremely personal and private.

“That’s an unpleasant question.”

There was no need to hide her displeasure. His help at the shopping mall was one thing, but this question was far beyond the bounds of propriety.

“If it was unpleasant, I apologize.”

Though his words apologized, his expression seemed amused by her sharp reaction. Fixing his gaze on her, Jeho whispered in a low voice.

“I’ll see you tomorrow. You know I only have you, right?”

Yuri frowned in bewilderment at the unexpected content.

Were you listening to my phone call?

The soft whisper continued.

“…I love you too.”

Of course, it wasn’t a confession of love for her. He was merely repeating what she had said to Hyunkyung. Yet somehow, was there a subtle difference in the tone? For some reason, her heart fluttered. Had the word “love” always felt this weighty?

As Yuri took a short breath, a faint smile appeared on Jeho’s face. Though they both tried their best to restrain changes in their expressions, they couldn’t hide the subtle tension between them.

“Judging by the talk of an event, your call couldn’t have been with Minwoo… right?”

Jeho stared at Yuri blankly, as if expecting an explanation.

“So what?”

Instead of explaining, Yuri snapped coldly. His overstepping attitude greatly irritated her. Just because he had an uncomfortable dinner with Minwoo didn’t mean he had to show his thorns to her as well.

“You seem to have a bad habit of eavesdropping on others’ calls.”

She could have corrected him that she was talking to her girlfriend, but she didn’t. She didn’t feel the need to. At Yuri’s cold response, Jeho raised the corner of his mouth in a smirk.

“Rather than a bad habit, I have exceptional hearing… Well, it’s not my business if you want to marry another man while having a lover. You’re not my fiancee anymore anyway.”

I thought you’d pretend not to know until the end…

As he acknowledged it, her sunken mood lifted a little. But Yuri maintained her cold tone as she asked:

“You acted like a complete stranger earlier, and now you’re pretending to know me?”

“I’m sorry for pretending to know you so late.”

Jeho nodded lightly with a languid smile on his lips. Looking at his smiling face, then and now, made one corner of her heart tickle.

He was the first person of the opposite sex to ever shake her heart, a first love that didn’t feel like a first love. Though it ended before it even began…

Back then, he spoke casually from the moment they first met, but now he’s speaking so formally – the increased distance from the past is palpable.

“Anyway, thank you for earlier.”

“It’s fine. I didn’t do it to receive thanks… You still live in Hannam-dong, right? I’ll give you a ride since I’m heading that way anyway.”

Jeho walked towards the parking lot without waiting for an answer. But Yuri didn’t move from her spot. When she didn’t follow, Jeho stopped and turned around. As he gave her a puzzled look, Yuri calmly asked:

“Didn’t you drink?”

Though it was in the form of a question, her tone was certain. There was clearly a glass of alcohol in his hand, and it was almost empty by the time the meal ended. Surely he’s not planning to drive drunk?

“Alcohol?”

Jeho frowned for a moment before bursting into laughter.

“Were you observing while pretending not to look?”

“Observing? I was just…”

“It was non-alcoholic. My shoulder was torn and stitched up, I’m not foolish enough to drink.”

Your shoulder was torn badly enough to need stitches?

As the image of the white shirt stained red with blood flashed in her mind, her shoulder ached as if she were the one injured. As Yuri stood still in place, Jeho strode over.

“If you really don’t believe me, want to check?”

Before he finished speaking, he leaned his upper body towards her. His face came close enough to touch, and a sweet yet cool scent suddenly hit her nostrils.

Yuri’s eyes widened in bewilderment at the sudden action. Though she had been almost embraced when leaving the shopping mall, this felt completely different. As she sensed his subtle scent that she hadn’t noticed earlier, her cheeks flushed hot.

Why are you acting like a fool?

He simply lowered his head for her to check if he smelled of alcohol. There was no need to overreact. Maybe it’s because you’re tired? It couldn’t be because the other person is ‘Kwon Jeho’.

“I believe you that it was non-alcoholic.”

Yuri quickly returned to an expressionless face and spoke in a brusque voice.

“But I find taxis more comfortable. So, I’ll be going now.”

After finishing her words, she turned around and walked in the opposite direction.

“…Hmm.”

Watching Yuri’s retreating back, Jeho tilted his head slightly as he put his hands in his pockets.

Her attitude was certainly different from when they met at the shopping mall. It didn’t seem to be because of their past connection, but rather because she had clearly realized during the dinner that he was Minwoo’s rival. She was on Minwoo’s side, after all.

It’s nice to say they’re cousins, but there was always an invisible wall between Jeho and Minwoo. As time passed, the wall grew thicker, and thorns sprouted here and there. Before they knew it, the thorns had become sturdy and sharp enough to pierce each other. One day, they would penetrate one’s heart and make it bleed.

A fate he tried to avoid, but couldn’t.

It’s too late to turn everything back now.

“Heh.”

A dry smile appeared on Jeho’s lips as he watched Yuri walking away.

“Yuri, didn’t you say you were going to Arcadia Mall today?”

As Yuri entered the front door, Mrs. An approached as if she had been waiting. She had seen the news but apparently didn’t have the dedication to call and check like Hyunkyung. But Yuri wasn’t upset. That was just how her relationship with Mrs. An was.

They treated each other politely, but nothing more and nothing less. Just a relationship of coexistence between an ex-wife’s daughter and a stepmother, neither close nor distant.

Of course, it wasn’t always like this. There was a time when they were very close. They shared worries, leaned on each other, and depended on each other, not much different from any mother-daughter relationship. Until the twisted lies were revealed…

“Yes, I was supposed to meet a wedding planner there.”

Yuri answered indifferently as she took off her shoes.

“I saw on the news that there was chaos. Were you there then?”

“Yes.”

“You’re not hurt anywhere?”

Mrs. An’s voice trembled faintly as if worried. Whether it was trembling because she was truly worried or as a result of repeated learning, Yuri couldn’t really tell. Honestly, she didn’t want to know either. Whether she was genuinely worried or not, what did it matter?

“No, I’m fine.”

“Whew, that’s such a relief.”

Mrs. An exhaled a sigh of relief as she stroked her chest with her hand. Anyone who didn’t know better would think she was really catching her breath. That’s how excellent Mrs. An’s acting was.

With that superb acting, she must have deceived my mother, deceived me, deceived everyone.

That’s how she, once a mere aide, became Congressman Chae’s lover, and eventually took the wife’s position.

After learning about father and Mrs. An’s hidden relationship, Yuri had cried tears of tremendous betrayal, but now she felt nothing. Far from tears, her eyes were dry to the point of feeling parched. Yuri blinked her dried eyes slowly.

“The congressman heard the news and was worried, he called.”

Congressman Chae is currently unable to return home for days, participating in an urgently convened National Assembly plenary session. He’ll only be able to come home after the plenary session ends. He probably didn’t see the news himself, most likely an aide reported it.

I wonder if father was really surprised when he heard the news? Or did he just pretend to be surprised?

Yuri smiled bitterly as she neatly arranged the shoes she had taken off.

“But what about elder brother Minwoo? Isn’t the mall his responsibility?”

Yuri, who was passing through the living room, was casually asked by Yuri, who was watching TV. When Yuri stopped and turned her head, Yuri, her sister three years younger, smiled brightly at her. However, Yuri couldn’t smile back at her sister.

“He’ll handle it well, I’m sure.”

“That’s good then. Consider it getting rid of bad luck before the wedding.”

“Yeah.”

Yuri gave a short answer and moved her steps towards the stairs. Today was longer than usual, and a lot had happened. In her current state, she didn’t have the energy to deal with Yuri. It took great patience to face Yuri.

Once, she was the most precious sister in the world, but not anymore. On the day her mother passed away, Yuri had promised to take care of Yuri as an elder sister. However, on the day she learned the secret of Yuri’s birth as a half-sister, that promise became a scrap of paper.

She knows it’s not Yuri’s fault. It’s not like she chose to be born, or chose her parents.

She doesn’t hate her sister either. But she couldn’t help feeling uncomfortable with Yuri’s existence as an illegitimate child. Sometimes, she resents her mother who left for heaven without saying anything. Especially on days like today, filled with unexpected events like the accident at the mall, the unexpected reunion with Jeho, and the suffocating dinner.

Still, I shouldn’t resent her. Mom must have been the one most deeply hurt.

Arriving in her room, Yuri rubbed her dry eyes with the back of her hand as she headed to the bathroom. As she walked to the sink, her eyes caught an unfamiliar garment hanging on the bathroom wall. It was the jacket Jeho had put on her at the shopping mall.

Blood had stained the jacket, so she had first washed only the bloodstained part with cold water, then hung it in the bathroom to dry. She had planned to take it to the dry cleaners on her way to work, but it seemed she would need to have it repaired first. If his shoulder was injured badly enough to need stitches, the jacket must have been torn too.

“…Huh?”

Yuri frowned in confusion as she looked for the part that needed repair. No matter how much she examined the jacket, she couldn’t find any tear.

―My shoulder was torn and stitched up, I’m not foolish enough to drink.

He had clearly said that. But why is the jacket intact?

Yuri stared intently at the jacket, pondering deeply. But no appropriate reason came to mind.

Right, I’ll ask him when I return the jacket.

Unable to find a satisfactory answer in the end, she carefully folded the jacket and put it in a shopping bag.

The next day, Yuri dropped off the jacket at the dry cleaners and arrived at work earlier than usual. She needed time to carefully review the work she had postponed by taking a day off yesterday.

The company Yuri works for, ‘Bauhaus’, is a small design office called an ‘atelier’ with fewer than 10 employees, where Yuri has been working as an interior designer for several years.

At first, Congressman Chae disapproved, saying it wasn’t a large corporate design office, but now that Bauhaus has become famous for renovating old houses for the underprivileged, he’s busy actively promoting it as his daughter’s workplace. It seems anything related to raising approval ratings is fine with him.

As she entered the office, she saw Seonyoung, who handles accounting and general office work. She was so focused on glaring at her computer monitor that she didn’t notice Yuri coming in.

“Seonyoung, you’re here early?”

When Yuri spoke to her, Seonyoung finally lifted her head from the monitor. Her bloodshot eyes were immediately noticeable.

“Yes. To be precise, I came to work at dawn. The director suddenly contacted me last night saying it was urgent…”

Seonyoung stood up from her seat, quickly glanced around, then pulled Yuri aside.

“You haven’t heard the news yet, right?”

“What news?”

“The director has finally found a partner to invest in us.”

Bauhaus has been struggling with financial difficulties since the company’s early days. Mainly doing house repairs for the underprivileged, they were lucky if they didn’t make a loss rather than turning a profit. Until now, they had managed somehow with donations from KG Construction, but after rejecting a merger proposal two years ago, all help was cut off.

“The potential partner is coming to look around today. So I’ve been preparing the necessary documents for that…”

Just then, the sound of the door opening was heard along with Director Kim’s voice.

“Oh, Yuri, you’re here too?”

“Yes, Director.”

Yuri turned around without thinking, then froze for a moment when she saw Jeho standing next to Director Kim. At first, she thought she had seen wrong, but no. The man standing before her eyes was indeed Kwon Jeho.

Why are you here?

Yuri’s eyes shook in confusion.