Pff.

Kang Do Eum smiled, showing her even teeth.

“If you want me to cry, I’ll cry. If you want me to laugh, I’ll laugh. Didn’t we promise? To be faithful to our roles?”

After wiping Seo Ji Wan’s forehead, Kang Do Eum withdrew her hand and met his gaze.

“So, don’t come running like this next time. Even if you make me cry, I’ll try not to and endure it well.”

The woman who had confidently finished speaking walked ahead.

Watching her gently stroke Han Woo Seok’s arm as if to say not to worry, as he waited anxiously, Seo Ji Wan felt foolish.

To think he had rushed over in one breath, not expecting this small woman to be so resolute.

Thinking how pathetic he must have looked, like a puppy needing to relieve itself, Seo Ji Wan deliberately avoided Han Woo Seok’s gaze as he got in the car.

*****

Knock knock.

At the sound of knocking on the study door, Seo Ji Wan looked up from his documents.

It was past 11 o’clock.

Having unintentionally left work without finishing his tasks, he had been in the study for several hours.

“It’s five-flavor berry tea. The gardener gave me a bunch of berries he picked this year, so I made some into a concentrate.”

More than the deep red color and fragrant sweet scent, what caught Seo Ji Wan’s eye was the couple cups they had bought together.

“What do you think, does it still look tacky?”

“Not really-”

He was about to say there wasn’t much difference, but held back the rest of his words, thinking of the woman’s potential disappointment.

“How does it taste?”

Worried the woman might stamp her feet impatiently after he had barely taken a sip, and that it would make his own heart flutter needlessly, he hastily replied.

“It’s sweet.”

It was sweet.

Whether it was his imagination or not, all food shared with the woman tasted that way.

Sweet enough to make his head spin.

“Come to think of it, you have a habit of furrowing your brow. I almost felt hurt thinking you only did it when you saw me.”

The woman, who always observed him closely whenever she saw him, marveled at his every reaction as if seeing a new insect or animal.

At first she was too scared to even make eye contact, but this seemed a bit better.

Bzzt, bzzt.

It was the vibration of the cell phone placed on the study sofa table.

Kang Do Eum, who had been standing in front of the desk, quickly turned and reached for the phone.

[Seol.]

Faster than her outstretched hand, his eyes read the name that appeared on the screen.

Congratulations on your marriage, I sent a gift to your newlywed home, and at this hour you’d likely be with your wife, but a woman’s late night call was not welcome.

Fortunately, the man probably didn’t see the cheerful expression on her face turn cold.

When she had asked who Seol was, he had snapped not to interfere in his personal life, so Kang Do Eum forced a bright expression as she turned around.

“Here you go.”

Kang Do Eum handed the phone to Seo Ji Wan nonchalantly and left the study. Less than 5 minutes later, Seo Ji Wan came out holding his jacket.

“…Where are you going?”

It was his first movement in three and a half hours since coming home.

And right after receiving that woman Seol’s call.

“Something came up. Don’t wait up, go to sleep.”

“At this… hour?”

It was strange.

Her heart felt heavier than when Chairman Jang of Anseo-dong had told her to only stir the man’s heart and leave.

Feeling wronged without any real injustice.

“…”

Without answering, the man hurriedly left through the front door, his figure wavering like a mirage.

Her heart, which had remained calm even in front of the fearsome Chairman Jang, now pounded as if it would burst.

Don’t wait, he said, but she was determined not to wait at all.

*****

An entire floor of the VIP ward at a major Korean hospital was restricted to only designated doctors and nurses.

“Is it still not over?”

As Seo Ji Wan strode hurriedly across the hallway, Yoon Yi Seol’s manager Jung Keun approached.

It was like an annual event – just when things seemed to have calmed down, as soon as interest waned, this would happen again.

“She seemed down for the past few days, and then today again…”

As Seo Ji Wan roughly rubbed his face, Dr. Choi, Seo Ji Wan’s personal physician and the VIP ward’s attending doctor, approached.

“We’ve done a stomach pump, but she’s sleeping due to the remaining effects of the medication. It seems she gradually increased the dose when she couldn’t sleep for several days. She should wake up in two or three hours. Do you want to see her face before leaving?”

“I’ll just see her wake up and go.”

After Dr. Choi left and Jung Keun went to the company to check on the situation, Yoon Yi Seol opened her eyes.

“…Oppa?”

Seo Ji Wan, who had been looking down at the dark city, turned around.

His casually folded arms and tightly closed lips clearly revealed his displeased mood.

“Um, that…”

Yoon Yi Seol’s dry lips cracked as she tried to make excuses, and red blood seeped through.

“This isn’t what you think. I really couldn’t sleep, I didn’t do it on purpose…”

Even as he carelessly pulled out a tissue to wipe the blood from her lips, his uncaring eyes remained cold despite the seemingly affectionate gesture.

“Every time you say it’s not like that, I come believing you again. You know that and keep doing this, don’t you?”

“It’s really not! I don’t want to be the talk of the town anymore either. I really don’t want to do that, so I was trying my best in my own way!”

Yoon Yi Seol raised her voice as if wronged.

“And who asked you to come? You could just pretend not to know, so why do you keep coming on your own and turning my insides out!”

Seo Ji Wan picked up the jacket he had taken off.

For a moment, an indescribable boredom showed through his cold expression.

“Go ahead, let’s see. Let’s see how far you’ll go. I guess this is what I have to do for you.”

Knock knock.

Jung Keun hesitated as he entered the tense atmosphere of the hospital room.

“The article?”

“We couldn’t stop it. They got caught by ‘Dispatch’ who were staking out in front of the house.”

It was a notorious paparazzi outlet famous for celebrity dating news.

They were also the first to publish photos of Seo Ji Wan and Yoon Yi Seol meeting in Jeju Island two years ago.

“The company is trying to cover it up as overwork due to a demanding schedule, but don’t you think everyone knows by now? It’s not like this is the first time Yoon Yi Seol has done this.”

“Keep an eye on the situation and contact me. If it doesn’t work out, I’ll look into other options.”

As Seo Ji Wan was about to leave the hospital room, Yoon Yi Seol shouted:

“What, are you going to buy out ‘Dispatch’?”

It was a joke no one would laugh at in this situation.

Jung Keun glanced at Yoon Yi Seol with dismayed eyes.

“Then, I’ll leave her to you.”

As Seo Ji Wan left the room, entrusting Yoon Yi Seol to Jung Keun, the woman added one more remark:

“If you can’t buy it, at least make it go bankrupt! Huh?”

Faintly, the sound of Jung Keun’s sigh followed.

*****

Planning to go to his officetel since it was already late, Seo Ji Wan returned to Hwa-an-dong after 3 AM.

He had told her not to wait, and it would have been much less draining to go to his officetel in the city, especially since he had to go to work in a few hours. Why he came to Hwa-an-dong was inexplicable.

The inexplicable became clear the moment he saw the woman asleep on the living room sofa, hugging her legs.

“…Haa.”

He had told her not to wait, but knew she would.

That’s why he came here as if drawn, again like this.

Something hot rose deep in his lungs, touched by the dawn air.

‘Yes, this is Kang Do Eum.’

Seo Ji Wan draped his jacket over the woman’s shoulders, which were hunched up from the cold air conditioning.

Had she thought he would come?

Or had she waited knowing he wouldn’t come?

Neither was what he wanted.

It was already a foregone conclusion.

This marriage that began with a predetermined end would be nothing but endless waiting for the woman.

With the numerous tasks and trials before him, the only certainty he could give her was divorce in 6 months, or at most a year.

This small woman should no longer expect anything from him.

He should stop coming like this, knowing she would wait even when told not to.

When told not to wait, she should simply not wait.

When told not to do anything for him, she should just do nothing – that was all he wanted.

Giving hope that would soon crumble was not consideration, but torture.

Seo Ji Wan got back behind the wheel and drove off.

He was fleeing down that same road again, after coming all this way to the woman through the pitch-black darkness.

Before the woman woke up and asked with a clear face, “You came?”, before he wanted to answer that question again.

*****

The man did not come all night.

Or more precisely, it seemed he had stopped by briefly to change clothes and left again.

Unless the jacket he had been wearing grew legs and came to her on its own, whether he went to that woman named Seol or to the officetel where he used to live alone, he must have just taken off his jacket for her as she slept and left.

He didn’t think to wake her up and take her to the bedroom, or lay her on the bed like before.

It seems he just took off his jacket and hurried out again.

‘Well, I guess he was in a big hurry? So much that someone like me didn’t even register. Tch!’

Kang Do Eum put Seo Ji Wan’s jacket in the air dresser and took her small revenge by glaring at it whenever she passed by.

“Ma’am, are you feeling unwell? They say even dogs don’t catch colds in May and June, but you’re sniffling and your eyes look sunken. You look quite pitiful.”

At the gruff concern of So-kyung, who said she had married from Jeolla-do to Chungcheong-do, Gardener Kim jabbed her side.

“How dare you speak so rudely to the madam. I apologize, ma’am. This person has lived in many places, so her way of speaking is…”

Though her speech was rough, her concern was sincere. Kang Do Eum smiled at So-kyung.

“What are you saying? It’s because of your casual way of speaking that we became close so quickly. I like it. I really like it, so please don’t scold her.”

After Kim left, Kang Do Eum whispered in So-kyung’s ear.

“It’s that time of the month for me. I always make a fuss like this every month with what all women go through.”

On top of an uncomfortable night’s sleep, she was suffering from the headache, body aches, and menstrual cramps that unfailingly visited once a month.

“Oh my, I see. If there’s anything uncomfortable, don’t hold back and tell me anytime. I’ll take care of everything, alright?”

“Yes, shall we start from the second floor?”

Kang Do Eum got up cheerfully, tying a crisp white apron.

As always, if she kept her body busy, she might be able to forget completely.

That was her intention.

*****

[Eden Entertainment’s Yoon Yi Seol rushed to emergency room for sleeping pill overdose.] [Stress peaks for Mr. A, second son of major group, upon news of marriage to rumored girlfriend.] [Mr. A spotted entering VIP ward of Korea Hospital.]

The agency’s plan to downplay it as simple fatigue accumulation crumbled under Dispatch’s tenacity.

Not only did it make the front page of dating gossip, but Seo Ji Wan’s name and Bando Construction topped real-time searches all day.

“What should we do?”

Han Woo Seok cautiously asked Seo Ji Wan, who didn’t take his eyes off the documents.

“What can we do?”

“Perhaps we should tell the PR team to prepare a rebuttal article…”

“There’s nothing incorrect in the article, is there?”

“Pardon?”

“It’s true that Seol overdosed on sleeping pills and that I went to Korea Hospital. That’s what I’m saying.”

Thud.

At the end of his calm voice, Seo Ji Wan folded the completed documents and stood up.

“Let’s go.”

“Huh? Where…”

“Who else? The person who will summon me before the HR director can come to verify the facts?”

As if on cue, as soon as Seo Ji Wan finished speaking, the secretarial team leader Yeon entered.

“Chairman Jang of Anseo-dong has summoned you.”

As if it was later than he expected, the man’s brow furrowed slightly as he raised his left wrist to check the time.