“No, it’s not work. I just met a friend…”

A gentle smile tinged with a faint scent of alcohol.

At first glance, his smile seemed bright, but somehow today, the smile he wore appeared bitter, as if there was darkness behind the bright facade.

“Was it really a friend? The person you met today.”

Ba Ha stroked Tae Un’s cheek with worried eyes.

He didn’t look like someone who had just met a friend, and seeing his particularly strained expression today, Ba Ha felt sorry for Tae Un, even without knowing the reason.

“…I’m sorry. I lied. It wasn’t a friend.”

Lies beget lies.

Tae Un stopped the reluctant lie and spoke with his eyes closed, rubbing his face against her palm caressing his cheek.

“Then who was it?”

“Just… someone I had to meet once, even if I didn’t want to.”

Is there really a need to know everything?

Tae Un didn’t want to bring up Lee Han to Ba Ha again. He didn’t want to stir up her feelings unnecessarily.

“…”

Concerned about Tae Un’s tired expression, his weakened voice, and monotone speech, Ba Ha quietly looked at him without withdrawing her hand.

“…It must have been tough.”

At Ba Ha’s words, Tae Un opened his eyes to look at her in front of him, then slowly leaned in and pressed his lips against hers.

The faint scent of alcohol passed between them, making their mouths bitter, but the movement of their pressed lips was sweeter than anything else.

“Haa…”

As his gentle yet somewhat persistent movement stopped and their lips parted, a shallow breath escaped Ba Ha’s mouth. Tae Un stroked her head, gazing at Ba Ha with heated eyes.

“I love you, Ba Ha.”

Tae Un whispered softly to Ba Ha.

He finally spoke of love.

Even if Lee Han’s choice was selfish and wrong, the undeniable fact was that Ba Ha was at the beginning of that choice.

Tae Un wanted to keep Ba Ha from knowing this fact if he could, and he decided to do so.

Because he didn’t want to see tears flowing from her eyes again.

“Tae Un…?”

Ba Ha called out to Tae Un, who remained silent, but he still said nothing and just looked at her.

As he realized his love, a small fear simultaneously raised its head.

Would you still speak of love to me if you knew all this? Could you forget that person who was your whole world and come to me?

I can’t let go.

I’ll hold on with everything I have.

I love you.

I love you.

I love you.

[This is the timeline separator]

It was strange.

Ba Ha felt that Tae Un had been acting very oddly lately. He wouldn’t let her go whenever there was even a small chance to be together, and he wanted to do everything together.

He had often been like this since Ba Ha opened her heart to him and promised marriage, but recently he had become even more clingy.

“Tae Un! Why are you like this these days?”

Ba Ha frowned and asked Tae Un, who was sticking to her like glue while she was preparing dinner at his house after work, doubling as a date.

“Like what?”

Tae Un was hugging her from behind, resting his face on her shoulder, watching her prepare the meal.

“Aren’t you tired? I said I’d do it.”

“It’s fine. I want to do it. No, Woo Tae Un! Go sit over there for a moment. You’re making it harder.”

As Tae Un’s breath touched her ear, Ba Ha spoke to him with a smile she couldn’t hide, as if he was incorrigible.

“At work, you don’t even let me acknowledge you because it’s burdensome…”

“Who told you to do that? How surprised I was.”

“Then what about at home? Isn’t it too much to not let me be close even at home?”

Tae Un pouted, speaking with disappointment at Ba Ha who kept pushing him away.

Why did he look so cute like this?

Ba Ha’s mouth kept leaking laughter at his childlike whining.

“Wait just a little. I’m almost done.”

Ba Ha led him to the dining table, sat him down in a chair, lightly kissed his cheek, and turned her back to him, wanting to hurry and finish.

“I love you.”

He said, holding Ba Ha’s wrist as she turned her back, looking at her from behind.

It seemed insufficient no matter how many times he said it.

Every day, with each passing moment, it changed.

The more he faced her, the more his feelings for Ba Ha continued to grow, and the more he faced her, the more Tae Un, though clumsy with this unfamiliar emotion he was feeling for the first time, spoke of love again today.

“…I like you too.”

At Ba Ha’s small expression, Tae Un’s face gradually reddened, and he pulled her wrist that he was holding and buried his lips in Ba Ha’s hand.

“Wait just a little.”

Ba Ha sighed lightly, stroking Tae Un’s hair as she spoke, and only then did Tae Un release her hand.

“Alright.”

Tae Un quietly watched Ba Ha’s back as she went to continue preparing the meal.

Soon, this scene will become our daily life.

As that image naturally formed in his mind, Tae Un’s face gradually filled with happiness.

“Ta-da!”

Putting the dreamy atmosphere aside, Ba Ha placed the prepared dishes one by one on the table and looked at him with a face full of pride.

“I’ll enjoy it.”

Tae Un burst into laughter seeing Ba Ha puffing up with pride, urging him to eat quickly with her hands on her sides, and continued speaking.

“Thank you, Ba Ha.”

He used to think marriage was hell.

The sound of crying heard every day and the words of blame directed at each other every day.

Those insufferable situations were the first images that came to Tae Un’s mind when he thought of marriage, and to Tae Un, love was an emotion that dragged one into hell, something not to be believed, one of the fleeting emotions that couldn’t be trusted.

But Ba Ha seemed to be gradually showing him that that wasn’t all there was to marriage. If this was the married life they were going to have, Tae Un wanted to do it as soon as possible.

“How… is it?”

“It’s delicious!”

Ba Ha’s face, which had turned tense as soon as Tae Un picked up his spoon, finally relaxed and broke into a bright smile at his words.

“You eat quickly too. Thank you.”

She was lovable.

Her bright smile without a hint of pretense was so cute and lovable.

The two sitting at the table began to eat in earnest in the warm atmosphere.

“Thank you… I’ll do this for you for life! Don’t say you won’t eat it later when we’re old because I only make the same thing!”

Ba Ha grumbled as if it was nothing, trying to hide her embarrassment, but that grumbling was full of affection.

“Even if you make the same thing every day, I’ll eat it deliciously every day.”

Now they exist in each other’s future.

As an indescribable fullness enveloped Tae Un, he gazed intently at Ba Ha and placed a side dish on top of her rice.

“Thank you.”

Ding-!

In the middle of dinner with Ba Ha, Tae Un’s phone on the table rang, and a message that appeared on the flashing phone screen made one corner of his mouth turn up.

[ Vice Chairman. The article will be out tomorrow afternoon. ]

I won’t let go.

I will never let go of this happiness. I’ll make Ba Ha’s eyes look only at me.

Because I can do anything to hold onto those small, white hands.

[ Understood. Let’s begin. ] [This is the timeline separator] [ Cha Hi Ra. Staff abuse! ‘It was bound to happen.’ ] [ Daehan Group. Quick damage control begins! ] [ KH Group remains silent. Are they admitting to the abuse? ]

The successive articles and videos made Hi Ra’s face crumple, and the rising anger turned her face bright red.

“Aaaargh! Which crazy bastard is it! Just wait till I catch them!”

Hi Ra started shouting and throwing everything in the room.

“What the hell is the agency doing? Why can’t they put out even one rebuttal article and are still dawdling!”

Once an article broke, it snowballed, targeting Hi Ra.

As if showing her past behavior, there wasn’t a single article protecting her. No, they couldn’t protect her.

The continuously breaking articles were enough to provoke public anger, so no one easily tried to protect her.

One by one, articles dissecting Hi Ra in detail and driving her to the bottom were going out to the world.

“Unni… The situation… I think it might be better to just release a handwritten apology letter.”

“Apology letter? Why should I! Ha, what is Grandfather doing? What does Grandfather say?”

“…”

“Speak! I’m asking if he’s not saying anything!”

As soon as the article broke, Seul Gi came to Hi Ra’s house and was just taking in all of Hi Ra’s wailing while staying by her side.

‘How great am I to be abusing power?’

‘Does Lee Han know what he’s getting into?’

‘Born with a silver spoon in your mouth, living however you want, what could you possibly have to complain about? People like that should just be buried.’

“What…? Buried? What did I do wrong for this to happen? What do you all know!”

Reading the successive articles and malicious comments posted on community sites, Hi Ra threw the tablet she was holding against the wall with a fierce scowl.

Keystrokes made by those who know nothing.

A species that feels superior just by moving their fingers.

It wasn’t me who should be buried, but those who moved their fingers.

“…Sue them.”