When someone asks, “What do you want to be when you grow up?”, Do Eum’s answer has always been the same without hesitation.

“A wife and mother who is always in the same place every day.”

In an era where they say people even travel to space outside Earth, the auntie in charge of the grill at the reporter’s restaurant, who thought it was an outdated idea, said,

“A woman should always get a good job and live luxuriously.”

And Uncle Choi from the butcher shop asked,

“What exactly is that place?”

“I want to be a wife or mother who is always standing in the same place when you look back. One who is always there without needing to be found.”

Whether one works, is a housewife, or a student, everyone has a position where they always stay.

Even without looking, ah, that person must be there now.

It was about being in a predictable place, thinking they must be somewhere around this time.

That anticipation was bigger than the joy of agreeing to a contract marriage, paying off debts, and being able to change her name.

Looking back, she wanted to be a wife who always fulfilled her duty in her place.

Going when he goes, coming when he comes, even waiting with a promise was good.

She hoped the home he returned to would be comfortable for him.

The man who seemed to have nowhere to settle no matter where he went looked just like her younger self, so even if for just a few months, she just wished for that man to be at peace.

The man who always tried to appear composed in front of people who were wary of her, in front of Chairman Jang who could save or kill her, seemed as pitiful to Do Eum as herself.

Rather than the “love” he couldn’t stand, yes, it would be fine to see it as just “affection”.

“If you’re grateful, just say thank you. You think I won’t do it because of that? You think Kang Do Eum’s personality is that easygoing?”

Saying she’s not the type to not do something just because she’s told not to, declaring she’ll do as she pleases, the pillowcase she had worked hard to change kept getting wet.

“…This is all because of Dad. This melancholy is all because of Dad.”

For giving her this name, making her want to help that person even when he said he didn’t like it.

*****

From the morning, Ji Wan’s mood was not good.

Did they fight?

Even though it seemed unlikely since they had gone in arm-in-arm so affectionately last night, the fact that Do Eum, who saw off the man’s departure for work every morning, was not seen this morning was very suspicious.

Woo Seok, who had left the lunchbox at the entrance without even saying thank you for the home-cooked meal he had after a long time, was bothered by Ji Wan all day.

That was why he lingered at the entrance of the office even after finishing all the documents and reports for Woo Seok to approve.

“Director Han.”

Without taking his eyes off the documents, Ji Wan lowered his thick eyebrows.

“Yes, CEO.”

“If you have something to say, say it. Don’t act so restlessly.”

Though the tone seemed quite generous, if one was fooled by it and really said everything they wanted to say, a scathing rebuke would follow.

Woo Seok hesitated.

“As the news of the two of you entering affectionately last night was reported, the malicious speculations seem to be subsiding a bit.”

Nod, nod.

The gesture of marking with the pen tip and setting aside the rejected documents on the left side was leisurely.

Not knowing that someone’s mouth was dry and they were on edge.

“Wouldn’t it be better to tell the truth about Miss Yi Seol to the madam?”

At Woo Seok’s carefully broached words, Ji Wan replied without even taking his eyes off the documents.

“Is there any need to explain in detail about something I don’t care much about?”

He knew that the woman’s composure the night before, not asking anything, was false.

Nevertheless, Ji Wan had decided to take on the villain role to ensure no poisonous emotions remained in a marriage that already had a set ending.

“What did Chairman Jang from Anseo-dong say?”

The man, opening the next document, lightly stroked his chin.

“He said to remove the position.”

“Ye…Yes?!”

At the calm appearance of leaning back deeply in the chair and tilting his head side to side, Woo Seok approached the desk with quick steps.

[If you get involved with that wench one more time, know that I’ll pull you out of that position right away, whether it’s construction or whatever. What kind of thing for a man to do, tsk tsk. Even if dirt enters my eyes, no entertainers!!]

His father, Chairman Seo Myeong Han, before he left home.

The story that the person he had eloped with to Japan, abandoning home and company, was the top movie actress at the time was known to everyone in the political and business circles.

That was why the usually composed Chairman Jang trembled at the mention of entertainers.

“He told you to step down from your position, and you weren’t bothered at all? Ha, really.”

“Am I supposed to be sitting here anxiously, afraid of losing this position? It’s really frustrating.”

“…What?”

“What difference does it make if I say that? If it’s his will to put me in this position or to pull me down, I have no choice but to follow.”

Woo Seok silently gathered the documents that had been set aside on the left.

They were documents rejected by the strict CEO.

“I see people who need to learn document formatting from scratch. Contact the department heads and tell them if they waste my time like this one more time, I’ll deduct that time from their salary.”

He just nodded at the harsh addendum.

It was always like this.

More than half of the submitted documents were rejected, and knowing this, each department head was eager to make their subordinates’ document formats, from fonts to spacing, ‘Ji Wan-friendly’.

“Ah, Director Han.”

“Yes.”

Ji Wan called out to Woo Seok, who was about to turn and leave.

“Are the gardener and his wife going to Hwa-an-dong today?”

He had instructed to refrain from entry this week until security guards could be placed just in case.

“No, we’ve asked to restrict outside entry to Hwa-an-dong this week.”

“…Hmm.”

His long fingertips tapped the desk a couple of times.

“What’s the reason for asking?”

“No, it’s fine.”

As if telling him to swallow the remaining words and go out, Ji Wan waved his hand.

After Woo Seok left, Ji Wan took out his phone and hesitated for a long time.

For good reason, the woman had not been seen in the morning.

Though meals could be skipped since he had forbidden it, even citing contract regulations, it was a bit strange that she didn’t show her face even once.

Coming out to the living room without a sound, seeing the neatly placed shoes.

He regretted not going to the woman’s room instead of coming out like that.

No, he had already regretted it earlier.

When he had harshly told her not to do anything in front of the carefully prepared meal, at the moment the woman barely swallowed her tears and dropped her small head on the table.

Damn it.

The man, who had never let emotion take precedence over reason before, couldn’t sleep the night before due to regret that wouldn’t change anything.

He couldn’t shake the question of whether he should have said those words to himself rather than to the woman, even as he lay down on the rustling bedding, chose the tie to wear out, and slipped his feet into the neatly placed shoes.

His mind was entirely on the woman who was nowhere to be seen as he pushed his feet into the neatly arranged shoes.

“Yes, CEO.”

Team Leader Yeon from the secretariat on the other end answered after one ring.

“How is today’s afternoon schedule?”

“You’re scheduled for a site inspection of the Paju civil engineering construction at 6 PM, followed by dinner with the facility management team.”

It was past 4 PM.

After checking the time, Ji Wan quickly instructed.

“Let’s go to the site now. Postpone the dinner for a week. Have the car ready.”

*****

Her eyes opened even before the alarm went off.

Despite tossing and turning with tears and snot, she had already decided on the morning menu.

As soon as she took her first step out of bed, she saw it – red stains on the white sheets she had changed the day before.

It was the second day of the devil.

The day of hell when the amount is heavy and the lower back pain and headache reach their peak.

In a hurry, she gathered the blood-stained sheets, folded them neatly at the foot of the bed, and headed to the bathroom.

Even in the summer heat, her body was shaking for no reason, so she stood under the hot shower stream for a long time.

Water droplets dripped from her roughly dried hair, dampening the shoulders of the shirt she had just changed into.

It was as if finishing one thing created another problem.

‘…Haa.’

Her eyelids were heavy, her head was buzzing, and her body felt like it weighed a ton.

As she took off her wet shirt to put on a new one,

Do Eum collapsed onto the bed that hadn’t even been made yet.

She had planned to make simple toast.

She had intended to just smile and forget about being angry the day before if he ate the nicely toasted bread and fresh salad reasonably well.

As her eyelids, which had been repeatedly opening and closing with difficulty, finally failed to open,

Click.

Through her hazy consciousness, she faintly heard the sound of the front door closing as the man left.

*****

“The neighborhood that was in an uproar about the factory being built has finally calmed down a bit.”

It was past 7 PM when Woo Seok and Ji Wan got off at the Hwa-an-dong garden after finishing the site inspection earlier than scheduled.

“We’ll always need to pay attention to that one cooperative aspect. It would be good to use the excavated soil for changing the quality of nearby farmland rather than exporting it externally, and it would be much more efficient to visit directly and ask for understanding rather than sending official documents when noise or dust occurs.”

Woo Seok’s face, who had been stretching his neck and looking ahead as they passed through the main entrance, was clearly disappointed.

It was because the place where the woman always stood was empty.

“Someone might think Director Han is my person.”

Though he acted as if it were a different story, according to the gaze of driver Park who had watched the two in the car, the person disappointed by the woman’s absence was, precisely, both of them.

Unlike Woo Seok who had obviously waited with his neck stretched out, Ji Wan, who had been resting his head on the backseat headrest, opened his eyes early and straightened his back.

Acting as if he hadn’t waited while waiting, just like that.

Woo Seok, who had been opening the back door primly, suddenly raised his voice.

“Oh, oh!”

The yellow lunchbox he had left in the morning was still at the door.

“CEO, did you see the madam’s face this morning by any chance?”

Ji Wan and Woo Seok, who shook their heads simultaneously, looked at the tightly closed front door at the same time.

Only then did the man’s face cloud with dismay as he sensed something was wrong.

Bam.

The living room they entered by opening the front door was just as it had been when he left in the morning.

Not a single curtain had been drawn, there was no sign of a person, and only the woman’s small shoes were neatly placed.

“Quickly, quickly!!”

Uncharacteristically, Woo Seok pushed Ji Wan’s back and urged him on.

Being the nominal husband, Woo Seok couldn’t just fling open the door to the woman’s room, so he just stamped his feet.

Knock, knock.

He knocked on the door of the woman’s room, which was completely opposite his room across the corridor.

Come to think of it, it was also a place he had never stepped foot in since the marriage.

He didn’t know at all how the woman’s room was decorated or where things were placed.

Knock, knock, knock.

No response.

“Miss Kang Do Eum.”

In the place he turned to look, Woo Seok, with his brows deeply furrowed, made a gesture of pushing with one shoulder.

It was a rebuke asking why he was standing there without barging in.

Ji Wan, who had been following Woo Seok’s instructions without a word for some time now, seemed to have forgotten he was doing so.

With a very tense voice full of obvious anxiety,

“I’m coming in.”

Through the slightly opened door, along with deep darkness, the woman’s scent that had tickled his nose whenever she fidgeted beside him leaked out.

Not being artificial or intense, it probably wasn’t perfume, and the faintly spreading scent

might be fabric softener or shampoo.

The room, which hadn’t even turned on the air conditioner, was full of heat.

The faint fragrance in the room full of heat was like a greenhouse in full bloom.

As the light from the living room poured in through the open door, gradually, the scene inside the room came into view.

“Where’s the madam? Madam, are you in there?”

At the sound of Woo Seok urgently approaching, Ji Wan shouted.

“Don’t come, stay there. Stay right there, Director Han.”

On the thoroughly disheveled bed.

Do Eum lay collapsed, completely limp.

Soaked in sweat or water, half-naked.