With each breath, Ji Wan’s chest heaved roughly.

“This time I’ll hide properly. I’ll find every last hair, until death! I’ll squeeze and torment you.”

The moment the exploitation carried out for years, posing as a father to a child who grew up without knowing paternal affection, was exposed.

Young Hun trembled with his burst lip, nodding his head repeatedly.

“I-I’m sorry.”

Ji Wan turned his body slightly, roughly wiping his face, and snapped irritably.

“No, the apology isn’t for me!! It should be for her.”

Startled by the shout, Young Hun grabbed Do Eum’s hand desperately.

“I’m sorry, Do Eum. For lying that I was your dad all this time. I’m really sorry. But for a while, you really did feel like my child. That’s the truth.”

Was that so?

In your eyes, was I sometimes like a daughter, not just someone easy to use who cleaned up after you?

Do Eum’s sorrowful gaze looked at Young Hun.

The comfort of at least having a father in place of her departed mother was torn to shreds.

It was pitch-black darkness.

“…Go. Don’t ever come back.”

Taking that resigned sentence as permission for forgiveness, Young Hun immediately turned and ran down the hill.

Watching him go, Do Eum forcefully swallowed her tears.

She thought she was used to being alone, but apparently not.

*****

The president of Seoul National University Women’s College Alumni Association.

Under the magnificent chandelier, the banquet hall was packed with people.

Today’s gathering, which included a charity auction, required couples to attend.

In keeping with the event’s purpose, Ki Hyeok boasted about how well he took care of her by donating an expensive artwork recommended by Chairman Jang.

The man who claimed to take terribly good care of her hadn’t shown his face even an hour into the event.

Like the swan ice sculpture at the entrance, Seo Hyeon’s heart melted drop by drop.

Standing alone amidst couples with arms linked, enjoying the party at leisure, her dignity as the eldest daughter-in-law of the Bando Group was in tatters.

“Oh my, Seo Hyeon. Why do you look so unwell? You’ve aged a lot too, dear.”

It was Eun Young, who married the head of a major law firm in Cheongdam.

She approached so boisterously that the wine glass in her hand seemed about to spill, and indeed the red liquid ended up staining Seo Hyeon’s white shoes.

“Oh my!!”

The woman, wrapped head to toe in luxury brands, smiled unnaturally with her Botox-ed face.

Pretending not to know after dirtying someone else’s shoes.

“How can one fight the passage of time? One must age naturally.”

Seo Hyeon, who had received skin care worth tens of millions of won just two hours ago, replied calmly.

“Where’s Ki Hyeok?”

“Not here yet.”

“Are you two still living like that? Still no children?”

As Eun Young started talking, other classmates who had been pretending not to notice gathered around.

Like hyenas drawn by the scent of blood.

“Hey, live your own life. Don’t just get dragged along by your child or husband.”

“Yeah, at least get a lover or something.”

“Is that even a flaw in today’s world? Frankly, there are rampant rumors that your husband is running around with other women. Why are you the only one living like an idiot?”

Thump, Eun Young elbowed Ji Yeon who had belatedly joined.

Ji Yeon, who barely graduated thanks to scholarship support due to poor family circumstances, had stepped into the bourgeois world thanks to marrying well.

She married well into the Bando family, but her husband was a notorious womanizer, and her story of frequenting hospitals trying to have a child had long been fodder for gossip.

For a pitiful woman waiting for her runaway husband, there were not a few gazes seeing her as deservedly miserable, so it was nothing to get upset about.

In this respect, Seo Hyeon was a seasoned person.

“You know, Ji Yeon.”

Seo Hyeon, who had been just listening, swirled her wine glass.

“There’s a Korean saying that goes, ‘A puppy guards against thieves and a chick pecks at the roost.'”

The unusually accented word made Ji Yeon’s expression darken.

“It means something like everyone has their predetermined position and duty.”

Bringing the swirling wine glass to her lips, Seo Hyeon surveyed her classmates gathered before her.

“Know your place, Ji Yeon. Taking a lover when you have nothing to your name, gladly accepted by your husband. Aren’t you being too shameless?”

Blood rushed to Ji Yeon’s eyes, who had tried to be elegant in a limited edition designer dress.

“What?”

“You seem to have forgotten, though we all remember, how you lived like a beggar unable to even pay for meals throughout college. I’m telling you this because you seem to be the only one who’s forgotten. Ji Yeon, get your head on straight. Don’t get thrown away.”

“Jin Seo Hyeon, you’re truly the worst, aren’t you?”

Eun Young pulled on Ji Yeon’s sleeve.

It was a sign to hold back since there were many watching eyes.

“I can show you what’s truly the worst. If you give me one more piece of pathetic advice, you’ll end up in quite an amusing state.”

Just as Seo Hyeon leaned forward and spoke as if muttering.

The doors to the banquet hall opened and Ki Hyeok appeared, impeccably dressed from head to toe.

An expensive white suit with a bowtie, clearly high-end at a glance.

It was no surprise that Ki Hyeok’s appearance, unlike his behavior, was sophisticated and manly enough to draw attention wherever he went.

However, the gaze towards the other man following him, San Ha, was different.

The rough feeling, like unpolished porcelain carefully crafted, evoked the image of a raw, natural gemstone.

“Who is that man?”

The eyes of Ji Yeon and Eun Young, who had said why not have a young lover, looked San Ha up and down in his black suit.

He was the man who had always acted like he would guard her back, but had been out of sight for some time.

Seo Hyeon frowned at San Ha, who had been invisible all this time, rather than at Ki Hyeok who was walking proudly despite being very late.

“Did you wait long, honey?”

The scent of an unfamiliar woman wafted over as Ki Hyeok slyly put his hand on her waist.

Again, it seemed this man had been in the arms of another woman until just now.

“Have you eaten? Our CEO Jin looks like she hasn’t eaten anything, come here. Let’s eat something first.”

Ki Hyeok’s meager flattery was disgusting, but Seo Hyeon, wanting to avoid this moment, smiled again as if nothing was wrong.

“Shall we?”

Even as her insides were burning black.

Just as the two were about to turn away affectionately.

“Excuse me, CEO, just a moment.”

San Ha bent his knee, pulled out the handkerchief from the left side of his suit, and began wiping Seo Hyeon’s shoe stained with red wine.

The story of the strikingly handsome man kneeling before a woman with her arm linked with another man circulated among the women throughout the banquet.

*****

Without even a greeting, Woo Seok and Driver Park turned the car around at the foot of the hill.

With her cheek red from Young Hun’s slap, Do Eum walked helplessly with her wrist held by Ji Wan.

“Um, CEO.”

There was no answer.

The tightly clenched jaw still carrying obvious anger, Do Eum reached out her hand, then withdrew it.

“Look at me. Didn’t you come two days early because you wanted to see me?”

Despite the cheap trick, the man still holding her wrist and hurrying towards the house smelled of the forest she liked.

Though she shouldn’t like it and shouldn’t show it at all, a smile kept escaping.

“Even if it’s hard, walk just a little more.”

“…?”

“We’re almost there.”

“Walking isn’t hard at all.”

I want to see your face.

That’s what’s hardest to endure right now.

Swallowing the last words, Ji Wan knelt in front of Do Eum and presented his back.

“Then, want a piggyback ride?”

“What? I said I can walk. I said that’s not hard, whoa!”

Regardless, Ji Wan turned around, picked up Do Eum, and ran up the hill as if being chased.

Wondering if someone was chasing them, Do Eum glanced down the hill.

If not that, then wondering if he had left something up there, she glanced up the hill once.

It was very strange for someone who would never rush for either reason to be acting like this.

“Um, CEO. This is all well and good, but slowly. Let’s go slowly. If you really fall…!”

As soon as the main entrance opened and closed behind the two with a clang.

Only then did Ji Wan set Do Eum down on the concrete floor.

Silence fell over the empty garden, a space with just the two of them.

Huff, huff.

Disregarding his labored breathing and the beads of sweat on his forehead, Ji Wan embraced Do Eum.

As if this was why he had climbed the steep hill desperately.

“…Are you okay?”

“I’m fine.”

Whether from climbing the hill or not, Ji Wan’s embrace was hot.

Do Eum’s jumbled heart settled calmly in his arms.

“Are you hurt anywhere?”

“I’m not hurt anywhere.”

At the words that she wasn’t hurt, Ji Wan seemed to scan Do Eum carefully after slightly separating her from his embrace, then fixed his gaze on one spot.

The red blood beading on Do Eum’s plump lips stung as if it were his own.

“You are hurt.”

Ji Wan’s elegant fingertip traced Do Eum’s injured lip.

It was an infinitely slow and gentle touch.

Over nothing at all, the gazes of the two meeting were unbearably hot.

“…Does it hurt a lot here?”

It was the lip injured by Young Hun’s rough hand.

“No, really, I’m fine. It just looks bad, but it doesn’t hurt at all.”

“Are you sure?”

Pff.

When she lowered her head at the laugh that escaped without her realizing.

“Yes. It doesn’t hurt at all…!”

Ji Wan urgently reached out, lifted Do Eum’s lowered face, and immediately found and bit her red lips.

Her chest, rising and falling repeatedly, felt like it would burst from being so full.

The reason the man climbed the hill without a word became clear with this.

“J-just a moment.”

The man did the walking, the man did the carrying, so rightfully he should be the one out of breath, not her.

Having been obediently carried in his arms, somehow her breathing was more labored, and Do Eum felt like she would die of suffocation before doing anything.

“Just, just a little breath.”

I’ll rest.

Before she could finish her words, Ji Wan urgently pressed his lips against hers again.

Separating, then biting again.

Pushing away, then attaching again, several times.

Holding the small hand that pushed against his chest, Ji Wan lightly kissed Do Eum’s eyes once, then her nose once, before finally separating.

“From now on, breathe through your nose, not your mouth.”

“That’s the problem, it’s not easy. I’m not skilled like you, CEO. I’ve only done this two times? No, three times?”

The woman who had been rolling her eyes in the air,

“Anyway.”

Glared at him.

“Humans aren’t called evolved animals for nothing. Learn through repetition. It’ll be quick.”

After stating firmly like a lecturing teacher, Ji Wan tightly embraced Do Eum’s waist as she tried to subtly distance herself.

The lips that had just been withdrawn traced her philtrum, upper lip, lower lip, then seemed to separate before burying his face in Do Eum’s white, delicate neck.

“This is driving me crazy.”

It was a sigh that could be mistaken for a curse.

Desperately wanting to become something, desperately wanting to possess something.

It was like the desperation of a man who had never felt such things throughout his youth and adulthood.

With just this small woman in front of him, he became desperate for anything.

Like a bright green young boy who hadn’t even lost his virginity, even just holding her hand was insanely good.

“You must think this man has gone mad? I think so too. I think I’ve gone mad too.”

Do Eum laughed at the confession of the man who planned to go even madder in the future.

Her laughter was only clear, as she had no way of knowing the inner thoughts of the man who was constantly struggling between reason and desire while firmly holding her.

“I thought you were angry earlier.”

“I was.”

It was an answer without a trace of hesitation.

“For someone who was angry, you still did everything you wanted to do.”

Ji Wan’s face, which had been fiddling around her neck area, lifted up and retorted as if wronged,

“I didn’t do everything. Want to try doing everything?”