My head was too complicated.

Although I accepted his proposal, two minds were still fighting in Ba Ha’s head.

Ba Ha refused Tae Un’s offer to take her home and parted ways. This unreal situation was frustrating. Feeling stifled, Ba Ha walked and walked in the chilly wind, and stopped in front of a familiar building.

It was his house.

Before she knew it, Ba Ha was habitually looking for him again.

“Ha……”

Unable to press the doorbell, Ba Ha was crouched down in front of his house.

She thought it would be okay for just a moment. Really just a moment, she planned to sit for a very short while.

This time’s excuse was ‘My legs hurt too much.’

“Han…… Ba Ha?”

How long had it been?

Ba Ha raised her head at the familiar voice and saw Lee Han standing there, seemingly just returned home from his schedule.

“Why did you come?”

A cold voice.

Lee Han didn’t say a word to invite her in. As soon as Ba Ha heard his voice, her throat choked up and her chest ached again.

The gentle tone and voice he always gave her was no longer gentle.

It was cold.

“Elder brother……”

What would you say if you heard these words?

Would you say you don’t even care now?

“I went on a blind date.”

“……”

“That person wants to marry.”

Marriage.

Ba Ha thought that if she were to get married in her life, the partner would naturally be Lee Han. She imagined smiling at him, holding his hand, walking down the virgin road.

For Ba Ha, the virgin road was a path to promise a lifetime with him, so when she thought of marriage, Lee Han came to mind.

Her heart fluttered.

Ba Ha found it too hard to wait for Lee Han’s next words, not knowing what answer he would give.

“That’s…… good.”

Her fingertips trembled. At Lee Han’s cold words, Ba Ha clenched her fists, hiding her increasingly trembling fingertips.

“Is that…… true?”

“What do you want to hear? That it’s not true? It is true. So you should stop too now.”

It was unfamiliar.

This Lee Han stabbing at her heart was so unfamiliar. Ba Ha shed tears again at his sharp words.

“Hic…… elder brother, you’re really a bad guy. You know?”

“……”

“Was I nothing to you?”

“……”

Lee Han didn’t give any answer to Ba Ha’s words, and Ba Ha looked at such a Lee Han with moist eyes.

“That person is really nice. He wants to marry even knowing all about my situation.”

She cried with her hair fluttering in the cold wind. There was no sound in front of Lee Han’s house, only the sound of Ba Ha sobbing and crying out in sorrow could be heard.

“But I can’t do it…… Elder brother, hic…… Elder brother, please do something about me. You tell me. Okay? I don’t know how to let go of your hand.”

“……”

“I wish I could hate you instead. Hic…… I really wish I could.”

Once the tears started, they wouldn’t stop.

Ba Ha cried endlessly like that in front of him. She received no comfort, not even a bit of kindness.

“Go back.”

He passed by Ba Ha who was crying and pleading. Lee Han opened the door and went inside the house, leaving Ba Ha crying endlessly.

Lee Han coldly abandoned Ba Ha again this time.

“Bad guy……”

The tears didn’t dry.

Ba Ha came home and fell asleep without knowing when she had dozed off. Until just before falling asleep, tears kept flowing from her eyes without stopping.

Today again, she fell into a difficult sleep, exhausted from crying.

Riiiing-!

5 AM.

A cold day when the sun is still short.

From the morning before the sun had even risen, the phone on the bed kept ringing incessantly. Ba Ha opened her eyes on the tear-soaked pillow and looked at the phone waking her up from early morning.

Hoping it was someone.

Seeing the unsaved number, Ba Ha sighed and put down the phone, closing her eyes again.

There was still an hour left to sleep thoughtlessly. It could be a long or short time, but she just wanted to close her eyes and sleep without thinking for the remaining time.

So don’t disturb me.

Riiiing-!

The phone she tried hard to ignore was busy whining and ringing again.

Who could it be, calling so rudely at this early hour when she wasn’t answering.

Despite the rising irritation, Ba Ha fumbled for the crying phone and picked it up.

“Hello?”

– Are you still sleeping?

Surprised by the low voice ringing and digging into her ears, Ba Ha opened her tightly closed eyes wide and looked at the phone again.

Still the same unsaved number.

This number was unknown so she could have ignored it, but the voice heard through the phone was a voice she couldn’t ignore.

“……Vice Chairman? Is this the Vice Chairman?”

Ba Ha greeted Tae Un with a voice cracking from crying too much yesterday. She greeted him with a voice completely opposite to his calm, low-pitched voice.

– Are you up?

“……Yes. Thanks to you. What’s the matter so early?”

– Early? Aren’t you going to work today?

At the word ‘work’, Ba Ha took the phone away from her face and checked the time displayed on the screen once more.

5:10 AM.

Ba Ha sighed.

“I am. Vice Chairman, you know it’s not even 5:30 yet, right?”

– I’m aware.

“Then you also know how important 30 minutes are to an office worker?”

– I understand. Come by 8. Let’s go to work together.

Surprised by Tae Un’s sudden request to go to work, which wasn’t planned, Ba Ha sat up abruptly.

“What? I can go to work alone……”

– Every minute, every second is precious to me. I don’t know when you’ll say you want to quit. So come. I’m starting from today.

“Yes…… See you later.”

Ba Ha ended the call with Tae Un and let out a deep sigh while tightly gripping the phone.

Now that Lee Han was gone, Ba Ha knew it was right to accept a new person as quickly as possible. She knew that would be good for Lee Han, for herself, and for Tae Un.

‘I won’t just hide you. If you want, I’ll bring you out into the world.’

Tae Un’s words from yesterday passed through Ba Ha’s mind after ending the call with him.

It was such a comforting thing to say.

He was such a grateful person, and that made her feel more sorry.

Ba Ha was so grateful that if she could just flip this feeling, she wanted to go to Tae Un instead of Lee Han who betrayed her, and she was sorry that she couldn’t do that.

She was sorry to Tae Un for loving Lee Han instead of him.

Ba Ha was being eaten away by sadness, gratitude, and all sorts of emotions mixed between the person she had to forget and the new person who had reached out his hand.

A cracked voice from the morning.

Waiting for Ba Ha in front of her house, Tae Un recalled her voice he heard over the phone at dawn.

Did she cry again?

Did something happen?

“Making me worry about you like this every time is also a talent.”

Tae Un murmured softly as he faced the cold wind.

What is the answer to this emotion?

Waiting for Ba Ha in front of her house, Tae Un just stared at the empty apartment entrance door she would soon come out of.

With some time still left before the promised time.

Far away, the elevator doors opened and Ba Ha appeared between the door cracks, fixing her clothes and looking somewhat solemn.

As soon as Tae Un saw Ba Ha, a smile slowly spread across his face, and he turned his body pretending not to have seen her so she wouldn’t feel embarrassed.

“Why are you out here?”

“Just because. It’s refreshing. Let’s get in.”

As expected, it was quiet inside the car.

Tae Un just drove without saying anything, and Ba Ha looked out the window next to him, feeling awkward.

Even the air inside the car seemed to be floating with awkwardness.

“Save my number.”

“Huh……? Vice Chairman, how did you know my number?”

“Why, is something wrong? Isn’t it stranger not to know the number of your blind date?”

At Tae Un’s words, Ba Ha’s face turned red.

She didn’t want to have any conversation with Chairman Han, so she didn’t even ask who was coming out, and after meeting Tae Un, she was too flustered to ask.

Ba Ha wanted to clear up the misunderstanding that it wasn’t intentional to Tae Un who seemed somewhat hurt, but she just held back her words due to this overflowing awkwardness.

“I saw you drinking coffee yesterday, so I also bought some warm chamomile just in case. Drink it.”

The silence in the car was broken by Tae Un’s voice. Ba Ha was startled by the sudden voice and just stared at the two drinks he mentioned.

“Both of…… these? What about you, Vice Chairman?”

“I meant for you to drink one. If you want to drink both, go ahead.”

Finding Ba Ha’s nervousness and awkwardness amusing, Tae Un’s mouth corners slightly lifted, and Ba Ha, disliking herself for it, hurriedly grabbed the iced Americano and started gulping it down.

With Tae Un’s words, the car became quiet again, and as Ba Ha drank her coffee and looked out the window, the scenery she saw was still cold and lonely-looking, with bare trees stuck between buildings here and there.

“Vice Chairman. You don’t have to do this much. I’ll commute alone from tomorrow.”

“Why?”

“What if someone sees……”

“It doesn’t matter. Ah, Han Ba Ha, you’re not embarrassed of me, are you?”

At Tae Un’s question, Ba Ha turned her gaze from the window to look at him. She knew it was a playful remark thrown to ease the tension floating in this awkward car, but why?

Was it because of yesterday’s events?

Or was she just on edge from too many things piling up?

With a surging feeling, Ba Ha closed her eyes tightly and said to Tae Un, who was innocent:

“I’m…… uncomfortable.”