Assemblyman Chae was standing alone in front of her without any aide.

“Father, what brings you here?”

“I happened to be passing by nearby and stopped in to see how you’re living.”

Happened to be passing by and stopped in? That didn’t suit Assemblyman Chae at all.

Assemblyman Chae Hyungsik was someone who didn’t waste even 1 second of his day. For him to come see how Yuri was living, moving from morning to night according to a plan. There must surely be another reason.

“I’m on my way back from having dinner with Hyunkyung. Would you like to come up?”

Assemblyman Chae quietly shook his head at Yuri’s offer.

“No. Thinking about it, it seems impolite to drop by unannounced even if you are my daughter. Let’s have a cup of tea somewhere nearby.”

After revealing to Yuri that his dead wife had actually had feelings for another man, both Assemblyman Chae and Yuri felt the blade they had been pointing at each other had become dull.

Assemblyman Chae out of self-reproach for not being able to keep it a secret until the end, Yuri because she was able to understand Assemblyman Chae a little, if not completely.

Father and daughter sat facing each other with a cup of tea in front of them for the first time in a very long time.

“Are you managing alright living alone?”

“Yes.”

“If you need anything, stop by the house anytime.”

“I will.”

Even if the blade had dulled, the long-disconnected conversation couldn’t easily continue. They maintained silence, quietly bringing their teacups to their mouths. After a while, Assemblyman Chae spoke again.

“3 years ago, when things were in an uproar over the election. I don’t know if you still remember someone installing a tiny camera in my office.”

“Of course I remember.”

It was an incident where a tiny camera had been placed inside a speaker to monitor Assemblyman Chae’s election strategy trends from the opposing side. It was swapped with an identical product to the audio speaker in the office, but was discovered after a week.

“I couldn’t say anything to you. I was too flustered then… It’s very late, but I should say it now. Thank you so much. Thanks to you, I was able to prevent a big problem.”

It was Yuri who discovered something strange. The wire arrangement inside the speaker was slightly off, but at some point it had become perfectly aligned. It was a small change, but Yuri noticed right away and asked Assistant Kim about it.

– When did you repair the speaker?

Finding it strange, Assistant Kim opened the speaker and was able to discover the camera receiver attached inside.

That incident led to a search of the entire office, and they found a few more wiretapping devices. After that, it became standard procedure to scan the surroundings with a detector before important meetings or gatherings.

Everyone thanked Yuri, but Assemblyman Chae just looked on with an expressionless face without saying anything. But it was something that he was thanking her now, even if late. Yuri gently nodded.

“Besides that, there were many things I should have thanked you for. You’ve followed me around here and there since you were young to help with election campaigns, and it’s true that thanks to you I gained a good image and favorability with voters.”

Not sure why such words were suddenly coming from Assemblyman Chae’s mouth, Yuri quietly listened to him speak.

“Looking at you reminded me of your dead mother and was painful. As you grew up, you resembled So Yeon more and more… Even knowing I shouldn’t, I think I took out my resentment on you.”

“Are you apologizing to me now?”

“Yes, I’ll apologize even now. You did nothing wrong… I was foolish.”

Yuri couldn’t say anything. She couldn’t say she would accept the apology, nor could she refuse it. It was too sudden. As she kept her mouth shut and just stared, Assemblyman Chae gave a bitter smile.

“I like that attitude. You shouldn’t readily accept when someone apologizes. Yes, don’t forget. You are my daughter. Handle things wisely at any moment, and don’t easily crumble at any moment.”

He seemed to have something more to say as his lips moved slightly, but he soon changed his mind and shook his head.

“It’s gotten late, so I’ll be going now.”

As he was about to leave, Assemblyman Chae paused for a moment and added:

“If you ever need anything, contact Assistant Kim. I’ve instructed him to answer your calls right away.”

“Yes, Father.”

Yuri stood in place, watching until Assemblyman Chae disappeared from view.

Is Father extending a gesture of reconciliation to me now?

Even so, the father-daughter relationship that had been strained for 10 years couldn’t return to how it was before with just a few words. Just lowering the height of the emotional wall built with hatred a little…

Only after Assemblyman Chae’s figure completely disappeared did Yuri turn her back towards home.

The next day, Jeho didn’t show up at the office again, going straight to the site. Yuri let out a small sigh as she looked at the empty seat next to her.

While she needed to keep her distance from him, the fact that she hadn’t seen him at the office for two days in a row made her feel down. Then thinking that tomorrow was the weekend, so she could spend time with him, a smile appeared.

Chae Yuri. You really have no self-control.

Yuri found herself pathetic for her constantly changing heart.

Shaking off her distracting thoughts and focusing on work, sometime after lunch, she had to visit a client. The client she needed to visit was only a few blocks away from the site where Jeho was.

Should I drop by casually saying I was passing by? Or should I just look at his face from afar?

Just as a sparrow can’t simply pass by a mill, she couldn’t just pass by the site where Jeho was. Before she knew it, she was in the middle of the site. But Jeho was nowhere to be seen.

“Oh? Ms. Chae Yuri, what brings you here?”

The site supervisor who recognized her approached with a bright smile.

“Are you already looking ahead? Since the interior work needs to start right after the building construction is finished?”

“Yes. Oh, but where is Mr. Kwon Jeho?”

“Was he supposed to come here today? He hasn’t arrived yet.”

Yuri slowly blinked her large eyes at the completely unexpected answer.

“Wasn’t he supposed to start from next week?”

“Ah, that’s right. I must have confused the schedule. If it’s alright, could I take a quick look around?”

“Of course. Please follow me.”

Yuri, who quickly changed the subject, followed the site supervisor who was guiding her. After briefly looking around the site and returning to her car, Yuri stared blankly ahead, forgetting to start the engine. Inferring from what the site supervisor said, it seemed Jeho hadn’t visited the site yesterday either.

What’s going on?

Yuri hesitated as she was about to send a text to Jeho. Maybe she had mistaken it for a different site, and she felt awkward about letting him know she had visited the site to see him.

Putting her phone back in her bag, Yuri started the engine and drove off. Muttering to herself that she would casually ask him when they met tomorrow…

“I’ve finished all the discharge procedures. Let me take you to your temporary accommodation.”

Jeho approached Shin Dahee, who was leaning against the window looking outside, and spoke. She was still in her patient gown. The casual clothes the nurse had brought were neatly folded on the bed.

“Please get me some sunglasses. I won’t go outside until then.”

Shin Dahee said, turning her head towards Jeho. On the opposite cheek, there was a dark purple bruise. Though the color had faded and the swelling had gone down compared to before, it was still noticeable.

“Alright. I’ll bring you sunglasses, so change your clothes.”

“By the way. Did I tell you this?”

Jeho’s feet, about to leave the room, were held back by Shin Dahee’s next words.

“That day, while Kwon Minwoo was reducing me to this state, he kept calling out ‘Yuri’ with his mouth.”

As Jeho turned back with a distorted face, Shin Dahee let out a chilling laugh.

“At the end, while choking my neck, he said ‘Yuri, I love you.’ Ha, that crazy bastard.”

It was Wednesday night when Jeho received a call from Shin Dahee. Without any explanation, she told him to come meet her and gave him the hospital location. Shortly after, Jeho faced her, who had been hospitalized in a miserable state due to Minwoo’s violence.

She said it hadn’t been long since she was hospitalized, but her appearance was so terrible that she couldn’t show it to others until then. When asked if she would report Minwoo as an assailant, she shook her head.

– Do you want me to be secretly killed later? No thanks. Just hide me so that person can’t find me. No, I’ll accept your offer. Send me abroad.

She wanted to leave Korea as soon as possible, and Jeho agreed to help Shin Dahee in every way possible.

“He took out on me everything he couldn’t do to Yuri. That perverted bastard.”

Remembering the moment she was assaulted by Minwoo, Shin Dahee started trembling, wrapping her arms around herself. Tears flowed from her bloodshot eyes looking at Jeho.

“He got furious, saying I was trying to move out secretly. He said Yuri did that too and now you’re doing it too. Saying everyone looks down on him.”

Jeho stood still, quietly watching Shin Dahee. While he could help materially, his attitude was to draw a perfect line emotionally. Of course, Shin Dahee didn’t need any lip service comfort from Jeho either.

Still, one might expect him to pat her back or hand her a tissue to wipe her tears, but he just stood there watching with an expressionless face.

Despite saying he would save his woman from Minwoo, he had ruined everything at the last moment.

Thinking that whether it was Minwoo or Jeho, all Kwon men were unpleasant, Shin Dahee waved her hand as if telling him to leave now.

Jeho, who left the hospital room, headed straight for the elevator. The basement floor of the hospital building connected to a shopping mall, so he planned to buy something suitable there. To cover the bruised area, he would need to buy a generously large size.

“Crazy bastard.”

Waiting for the elevator, Jeho muttered a curse as if talking to himself.

He couldn’t stand how despicable Minwoo was for swinging his fists at a powerless woman. When he was young, he had a habit of exercising violence on powerless animals, which clearly changed to women as he grew up.

During the background check on Minwoo, according to the information obtained, there were even more horrific incidents than Shin Dahee’s, so serious that Madam Na had to step in personally to settle them.

Minwoo, who had been like that, had been quiet without causing any problems for the past year, and that period coincided with when marriage talks with Yuri began.

– He took out on me everything he couldn’t do to Yuri. That perverted bastard.

Jeho frowned, recalling what Shin Dahee had said. Although Minwoo wouldn’t touch Yuri due to the weakness in Assemblyman Chae’s hands, he still needed to be careful.

Thinking about how he choked Shin Dahee’s neck while saying ‘Yuri, I love you’ gave him goosebumps all over his body. When Minwoo was young and felt pleasure while tormenting puppies, they should have treated him right then. Even now, it needs to be corrected…

A dark shadow settled on Jeho’s face as he waited for the elevator.

After work, Yuri entered her officetel and squinted her eyes, feeling something strange. She slowly moved her steps, carefully looking around the house.

The interior structure seemed slightly different from when she left home and when she returned. It wasn’t just because she was being sensitive. The cup placed on the edge of the sink had moved slightly inward, and the wardrobe drawer she had definitely closed was about 1cm open.

It might be nothing, but because of the conversation she had with Assemblyman Chae last night, Yuri couldn’t take it lightly.

Just in case, the next day Yuri densely placed crackers under the doormat and left the house early in the morning, pretending to go grocery shopping with a shopping basket.

“…!”

An hour later, when Yuri returned home and slightly lifted the doormat, her face hardened.

The crackers she had left under the mat were crushed in a shape similar to a man’s shoe footprint. It was evidence that someone had entered the house while she was away.

Who on earth?