I was well aware that it was an absurd rumor.

After all, the tearful love story of a chaebol family’s illegitimate son and a famous actress wasn’t exactly a well-kept secret.

It wasn’t something to argue about, given how long the rumors had been circulating.

“In this line of work, we have to face the cameras even with worse scandals.”

“…Yes? Ah, yes.”

At Jung Hyuk’s timid response, Seo Ji Wan raised his head and rubbed his forehead.

It was like punishing an innocent person while letting the real culprit off the hook.

A deep sigh escaped through his tightly clenched teeth.

Bang! Ji Wan strode into the hospital room as he flung the door open.

On the single bed, Yoon Yi Seol greeted Ji Wan with swollen eyes from crying, one hand wrapped in bandages.

“Elder brother!!”

“The injury.”

Without acknowledging her, Ji Wan asked Jung Hyuk, who was standing awkwardly.

“Fortunately, it’s not deep. The problem is the other actress is making a fuss about receiving an apology.”

“Let her take responsibility for her own actions. If she did something wrong, have her apologize herself.”

Ji Wan declared sharply, glancing at Yi Seol once before looking away.

“…I was bad. Really, I was bad.”

Ji Wan frowned at the woman’s words, spoken as if feeling wronged.

“You, or me.”

The monotone question carried criticism about how her thoughtless actions were exhausting others.

“Who did I do it for! I’m fine with being called the evil woman who tried to catch a rich man to change her fate, who approached you for money. I don’t care if I’m seen as the bad guy, but that girl called you, Seo Ji Wan, an ‘illegitimate child’!”

Jung Hyuk quietly left the room after checking the atmosphere.

“An ‘illegitimate child’ is born between a noble and a commoner. Do you know who that insults?”

The man who was usually indifferent to the modifiers attached to his name would occasionally retaliate against newspapers or broadcasters that spread unfounded rumors by withdrawing sponsorships or advertisements. His reason was likely the same as why Yi Seol was making such a fuss.

He didn’t mind being called an illegitimate child himself, but he couldn’t be okay with the fact that the term insulted his parents, specifically his mother.

“In this day and age, where are there nobles and commoners? Why do you always just endure like an idiot, elder brother?!”

Silence fell between the two.

“Are you annoyed? Wondering how long I’ll be like this? Do you think I don’t know you come here reluctantly, because you have to? Because you feel guilty for taking something precious from me! Because you’re afraid everything will be exposed with one slip of my tongue!! That’s why you come running even though you don’t want to. With a face that says you really don’t want to be here!”

The darkness settling outside the window felt like her inner thoughts.

It was true, when he stood before this woman who only showed her unparalleled anger to him.

To be precise, it was closer to a sense of responsibility than guilt.

It was probably sympathy for a woman who had to lose something most precious at a time when she should have been happiest, regardless of his choice.

Every step towards this place was nothing more or less than due responsibility, so Yi Seol’s words that he came because he felt sorry for her were half right and half wrong.

“Let’s stop this.”

A chilly wind blew through the slightly open window.

Rrrr.

It was a call from Han Woo Seok.

He had sent a message asking for help an hour ago, so Ji Wan thought he might be calling to say he was with her now, or that they were heading to Hwa-an-dong together.

On the other end of the line, Woo Seok’s urgent deep breath came first.

“I’m sorry, sir. We can’t reach the madam at all.”

At Woo Seok’s panicked voice, Ji Wan’s dark eyes began to shake uncontrollably.

*****

Finally, the rain started pouring down.

Ji Wan increased the speed of his car, piercing through the heavy rain hitting the windows.

“Not only is the madam’s phone unreachable, but the drive-in theater we rented has closed for the day. I stopped by the school and came back to Hwa-an-dong, but she’s not at home either. Just in case, I’m heading to the drive-in theater now.”

“No, I’ll go.”

On the way to the drive-in theater address he got from Woo Seok.

Ji Wan’s mind was as turbulent as the pouring rain.

Why wasn’t her phone working, and why didn’t she come home if the person she was waiting for didn’t show up, he grumbled to himself.

The desolate surroundings, making him wonder if taxis even ran here, also weighed on his mind.

Only the parking lot’s blinking lights flickered behind the drive-in theater sign on the empty lot.

Click.

Ji Wan haphazardly parked his car at the ticket booth entrance and started running through the fierce raindrops.

His suit jacket flapped wildly, following the wide strides of his long legs.

His heart was racing fiercely because he was running.

The suffocating feeling was because nothing was going according to plan.

It was certainly not because of Kang Do Eum.

If she wasn’t here either, where else could this woman go?

No matter how much he thought about it, he couldn’t think of anywhere.

Except for Hwa-an-dong, she had no home to return to, and as for friends, there were only dark-faced men.

Wait, could that Eun Hyeok guy have come to pick her up by car?

For the first time, Ji Wan felt relieved at the man’s existence, thinking that if there was no proper transportation to return, Eun Hyeok’s car might be better.

Just as he thought that, under the red awning of the darkened concrete building.

He saw a woman sitting there, her body huddled tightly.

An indescribable emotion surged from the depths of his heart.

It was relief and joy, mixed with unparalleled anger.

His hope that even that Eun Hyeok guy would have taken her was clearly a lie.

Otherwise, there would be no way to explain his heart pounding like it was having a seizure at the sight of that small silhouette waiting for him.

The fierce rain suddenly slowed down, entering Ji Wan’s view slowly, one stream at a time.

Only after his quick strides brought him close enough to reach out and touch her did Ji Wan open his mouth.

“…You knew it was raining.”

Carelessly, abruptly,

It was an incredibly low voice piercing through the sound of the sprinkling rain.

*****

“Chairman Jin of Munjung-dong has fired Shin, the chief secretary accompanying his eldest daughter-in-law.”

Behind the white-haired Chairman Jang Ho Muk, Moo Won reported in a neat attire.

The man with a somewhat fierce impression due to a long scar on his right cheek was one Chairman Jang used like his own limbs.

The sound of rain falling under the eaves was noisy in the fierce downpour.

“I’ve long acknowledged Chairman Jin’s keen sense. It wasn’t a position meant to last long.”

Wrinkled fingertips brushed the wet windowsill.

“So, who did they put in the vacant position?”

“Lim San Ha, twenty-seven. Orphanage background. After leaving the orphanage at eighteen, she received support from the Jin Han Welfare Foundation and learned to work under Chairman Jin.”

“Even if you bring in someone proper and raise them under a thief, they’ll just become a thief’s child. Learning from a thug will only result in gangster behavior.”

Through the wide-open sliding doors of the tea room, the fragrance of tea being brewed by Hyang In wafted gently.

“Well, if you want to influence someone close to you, a blank slate is indeed useful.”

The shuffling of sock-clad feet stopped in front of the tea table inside the sliding doors.

“Keep a close watch, and if something to strangle them with appears, bring it to me. People with nothing to lose are hard to control.”

Moo Won bowed deeply and left.

“Living to this age, I’ve found that even those with nothing to lose are rare. People without flaws are even rarer.”

Hyang In quietly bowed her head.

“Have you seen the child from Hwa-an-dong?”

Hwa-an-dong, child.

Belatedly realizing this referred to Do Eum, Hyang In answered.

“She came to the kitchen before leaving, on the day she dined with Mr. Seo and his wife.”

At Hyang In’s answer, the old man, who was rarely surprised by anything, raised his wrinkled eyes.

“Why the kitchen?”

“She asked about the foods Mr. Seo enjoyed and disliked when he lived at the main house, and then carefully wrote down the seasoning and cooking methods for the foods he liked.”

Withdrawing his fingertips from the teacup, Chairman Jang turned his gaze to the pouring rain.

She was the woman who had sat like a shadow during the dinner with Ki Hyeok and his wife the other day.

It was clear she wasn’t ordinary, sitting quietly as if not hearing this conversation, then defending her husband without blinking an eye at the harsh words directed at Ji Wan.

And what about the ‘Stir-fried Zucchini with Anchovies’ she had brought to show off her skills at the already difficult dinner?

The taste was extraordinary.

The seasoning wasn’t too strong, and the shiitake mushroom scent used to mask the fishy smell of anchovies was exactly the taste of a hometown one couldn’t return to.

He understood her boldness and that she didn’t act carelessly, but she wasn’t a lifelong match for Ji Wan.

For a man as straight as he could break, she was just a gentle breeze, nothing more.

“I hear Seo is going on a business trip next week.”

It was a scheduled trip to a complex new city site in Hanoi, the capital of northern Vietnam.

It was Ji Wan who had brought construction, the only lagging sector in a peninsula where nothing was the best in electronics, finance, manufacturing, or services, to this point.

Although the old man might seem resentful, only stating his wishes without a word of praise, Ji Wan produced results for the given tasks without adding a single complaint.

Chairman Jang was not unaware that this was the best Ji Wan could do for his pitiful mother.

Even if the reward Ji Wan received for his achievements was merely Chairman Jang’s indifference towards his mother, Ji Wan would be grateful that Chairman Jang didn’t seek out his mother Eun Hee.

“As soon as the younger one leaves, I’ll stop by Hwa-an-dong, so be aware of that.”

*****

Next to the tall man, the heels she wore to match his eye level even a little were causing trouble.

No, it wasn’t the heels, but the foot she had injured that night.

With not even a bench, let alone anywhere to sit except the bare concrete floor, her feet ached from standing all this time.

Do Eum sat with her body tightly huddled.

The pink anklet Eun Hyeok had put on her earlier in the day caught her eye near her ankle.

As she stretched one hand out beyond the awning, a puddle quickly formed in the hollow of her palm.

This rain wouldn’t stop soon.

Above the puddle, like sudden debris, a memory from some day flashed through Do Eum’s mind.

When she was nine years old, perhaps.

As soon as they arrived at school after finishing a picnic, it started raining.

Even knowing her mother wasn’t among the many mothers waiting in front of the school gate, Do Eum waited for her mother for over an hour that day.

Calmly lying to a friend being led away by their mother’s hand, “Yes, I’m waiting for my mom too. She’ll be here soon.”

It wasn’t expectation that she would come.

She just wanted to feel what it was like to wait like that.

Raising her heels and stretching her neck long, to see if her mother was coming from afar.

She wanted to look exactly like someone anyone could see was waiting for someone.

If you wait for someone who won’t come, it feels like they’ll surely come someday.

Maybe that’s why she pretended to wait for over an hour that day too.

Why did the memory of that day suddenly come to mind now, at this moment of waiting for the man?

The expectation that he might come if she waited, which had crumbled without fail that day too, and she had accepted it as natural and walked home step by step without any fuss.

Today too, was it because she believed he might come?

Or was it because she knew she couldn’t be as calm as then even if he didn’t come?

Whatever it was, she wouldn’t show it to the man.

Just as Do Eum was about to pour the water collected in her palm onto the ground without hesitation, it happened.

“…You knew it was raining.”