Could it be a coincidence?

Tae Un burst into a hollow laugh as he looked at Ba Ha, wondering about their repeated chance encounters. How did she end up here? Alice was not a place just anyone could enter.

Alice.

It was a secret members-only bar that not just anyone could enter.

Naturally, one’s identity had to be verified, and there were many requirements to become a member. It was a place where not just anyone could become a member even if they wanted to, and it had a rule that absolutely nothing from inside could leak out. That was Alice.

Perhaps because of this, celebrities and figures from politics and business often frequented the place, pretending not to know each other’s secrets even when they did.

Among them were Ba Ha and Lee Han.

“Amazing. I could never have come here. How pitiful, that woman.”

Tae Un, somehow irritated by Seo Ha’s words, raised an eyebrow and took a swig of the whiskey in his hand.

“That woman? Why is she pitiful?”

“What’s this? Such an intense reaction? Woo Tae Un, do you know her?”

“No. She’s not someone I know.”

Seo Ha clicked his tongue, looking at Tae Un who couldn’t take his eyes off Ba Ha while drinking whiskey.

Tae Un could be called ‘perfect’ in other aspects, but not when it came to women. It was natural that he always appeared in gossip columns because he didn’t reject all the women who approached him, but it was rare for him to show interest first.

Nevertheless, Seo Ha, as Tae Un’s friend, couldn’t help but click his tongue at the interest he was showing.

“Didn’t you just say you weren’t interested?”

“Forget it, so what were you saying? Just tell me.”

“Hah… Of course. It would be easier for a dog to stop eating poop. Woo Tae Un, let’s not touch that woman, humanely speaking. I’m telling you she’s pitiful.”

“Stop talking nonsense. No, so what is it? Why do you say she’s pitiful?”

Tae Un’s curiosity about Ba Ha had already surpassed the ordinary level.

The continued coincidences with Ba Ha were enough to draw his interest. Tae Un no longer had any intention of stopping or hiding his growing curiosity towards Ba Ha.

He was just curious.

He was so curious about that woman right in front of him.

“That woman is Lee Han’s girlfriend.”

“What? Lee… Han? That actor?”

“Yes. The actor. Didn’t you see the news article a few days ago? He admitted to dating Cha Hi Ra. That woman’s the only fool caught between Lee Han and Cha Hi Ra.”

Tae Un furrowed his brow at the familiar name that popped up. He couldn’t possibly not know the granddaughter of the KH Group. Moreover, a son of the KH Group becoming an actor? He couldn’t be more familiar. As an unexpected name appeared, Tae Un frowned.

“Cha Hi Ra? The Cha Hi Ra I know?”

“That’s right. Anyway, it doesn’t seem like a recent relationship. It’s famous here. The relationship between Lee Han and that woman.”

“Is that true? Has it been confirmed?”

“Do I need to spell it out for you? Well, they didn’t outright say ‘We’re dating,’ but you can tell just by looking at them.”

So that’s why she cried like that?

Tae Un, looking at Ba Ha’s back sitting alone, felt he could understand a little, if not fully, why she had been crying so sorrowfully.

“Wow… What’s this situation now? Isn’t that person Lee Han?”

Again.

Ba Ha sighed as she saw where her steps had stopped after work. Wanting to drink was just an excuse.

She knew it was already broken glass, but she wanted to touch it. She knew blood would flow if she grabbed it with bare hands, but she wanted to confirm it again by touching.

Ba Ha stopped in front of Alice, the bar she often went to with Lee Han, and after staring at the entrance for a while, she opened the door and went in as if possessed by something.

“Oh my… Ba Ha, you came? It’s been… a while?”

Manager Ma, who seemed surprised as soon as Ba Ha appeared, greeted her with a forced smile.

It was understandable.

Manager Ma must have seen it too. The article about him and Cha Hi Ra.

Ba Ha understood Manager Ma’s attitude, but couldn’t hide her bitterness.

“Manager Ma, it’s been a while. Have you been well?”

“I’m always doing well. Should I… give you the usual drink?”

“Yes, thank you.”

Ba Ha stared intently at the swirling liquor in the glass given by Manager Ma, then started to down the whiskey repeatedly.

Trying to shake off thoughts of him, she drank one glass, two glasses without pause, and soon Ba Ha’s mind was filled with thoughts of Lee Han.

‘Ba Ha. When I become really famous later, shall we… get married then?’

She couldn’t forget his face, blushing and smiling shyly as he made a proposal that wasn’t quite a proposal, his trembling hands holding hers.

As if it were natural, they existed in each other’s futures, and with his words, it seemed like a ray of sunlight was shining for the first time in Ba Ha’s life that had been full of darkness.

If there was such a thing as happiness, she thought it might be like this.

‘…Elder brother, can you live without seeing me?’

‘Yes. I can live.’

It seems impossible to live.

Lee Han still occupied a larger place than anything else inside Ba Ha. When Ba Ha was at her most difficult, when Lee Han was struggling as an unknown actor, when his parents passed away and he was alone, it was each other who was by their side, so they thought it would be forever.

It felt like they would be together for life, and Ba Ha couldn’t even imagine Lee Han not being by her side.

It felt like she couldn’t live without him.

“You came alone today, I see?”

“……”

The words “What business is it of yours whether I come alone or with someone?” tickled at the corner of her mouth, but feeling like she’d have to keep engaging if she started talking, Ba Ha just focused on drinking the alcohol in front of her without even looking at the face.

She didn’t want to get entangled with anyone anymore. She just wanted to be left alone.

“Huh? Acting all high and mighty. I heard she was Lee Han’s woman, but she’s nothing special? No wonder she got dumped.”

“……”

“Hey…”

When she ignored him without even glancing, the drunk man, as if dumbfounded, kept poking at her and picking a fight, but Ba Ha just looked down at her glass, head bowed, completely uninterested in whether he did so or not.

She wanted to ask.

Since when, since when did your heart leave? If you had given even a little hint… if you had, I would have at least tried not to let you go. Why didn’t you say even a single word, why didn’t you give even one chance?

Ba Ha wanted to ask.

“You can’t do this here! If you keep this up, we’ll have no choice!”

“Hah… F**k. What a piece of s**t. Fine. I’m done.”

Feeling ashamed at Manager Ma’s restraint, the drunk man cursed at Ba Ha and returned to his seat.

Was it because she had drunk too much?

Before long, Ba Ha’s eyes started spinning, and her drunk body began to merge with the bar table, unable to come to her senses.

“I miss you….. Hah… You really haven’t come to your senses, Han Ba Ha.”

A sigh escaped Ba Ha’s lips. She felt foolish for still wanting to see him even in this state.

She was tired.

Even though she didn’t want to think about it, once his thoughts burst forth, they had already started to torment Ba Ha, and in the burning agony, Ba Ha put down the glass she was drinking from on the table and curled up, burying her face on the table.

“Han Ba Ha, get up now.”

Hearing a familiar voice from somewhere, Ba Ha immediately raised her head to look at him.

It was Lee Han.

Seeing Lee Han in front of her, it felt like the fact that they had broken up was a lie, and just the fact that Lee Han had come to see her made her happy.

She was glad to see Lee Han even in this pathetic state.

“Huh? Elder… brother?”

“I said get up now!”

It had been such a difficult day.

The sky couldn’t be that heartless… So… It felt like a gift sent from heaven to cheer her up.

A smile spread across Ba Ha’s face as soon as she saw Lee Han, but her face gradually hardened when she realized it wasn’t a gift as she saw him shouting.

She both hated and loved him so much as he was getting angry.

“Elder brother… You know. I’ve been having such a hard time lately.”

Barely managing to control her tangled tongue, she said she had been having a hard time, leaning her staggering body against the table.

So, just a little… She was indirectly asking him to speak just a tiny bit more kindly.

“You know… Elder brother, I still don’t understand why we ended up like this. I still love you so much… The fact that you don’t, that you don’t love me anymore, that’s so hard for me.”

“Ba Ha, get up. Let’s go now.”

Unlike his initially angry voice, seeing him soothe her with a gentle voice while making eye contact, Ba Ha shed tears.

Why was he speaking with such eyes, such a voice, when he was saying they should break up?

It hurt so much, like her heart was being torn apart. This pain of confirming by grabbing broken glass with her hand was too painful, as expected.

“Elder brother, are we really break… ing up?”

“Yes.”

“I went to that house.”

“……”

“They want me to go on a blind date. Chairman Han already knows everything about us.”

It seemed like he would hold her back.

So she said it.

That if he didn’t hold her back, she would have to go out to meet another man who wasn’t him, so please hold her back.

Ba Ha was saying this.

“…If you’re not going, I’m leaving. Do as you please.”

It was arrogance.

The momentary kindness Lee Han showed made Ba Ha misunderstand. The thought that he would hold her back was too big a misunderstanding.

Ba Ha grabbed his wrist as Lee Han was about to leave just like that.

“Didn’t you hear me? I said I’m going on a blind date, I might have to get married!”

“Go ahead. Blind date or marriage. I don’t care. I’m leaving. Manager, don’t contact me about Ba Ha anymore.”

Lee Han shook off Ba Ha’s hand holding his wrist and left, and Ba Ha cried endlessly in the place he had left.

She didn’t care if everyone in Alice was looking at her. She didn’t care if all these people had seen the end of her relationship with Lee Han.

She was just shedding tears because the end with him was too painful.

Lee Han.

He had become someone to forget, not someone to love anymore.

Would she be able to forget?

He had become someone she had to forget even though she didn’t want to.