The man who seemed to be asking for permission, but would do it regardless if given the chance, was sincere to the point of being shameless.

Smiling absently at that rather unproductive statement, Do Eum frowned as her injured lips parted.

“Ah…”

“It still hurts.”

“No, I can endure it.”

No, it felt good enough to forget the pain.

Since promising not to reveal her true feelings, Do Eum had been busy hiding most of her inner thoughts.

Sometimes agreeing with his words, or even acting cute or childish, but mostly sincere things.

A large hand brushed Do Eum’s messy hair behind her ear.

“I didn’t think I’d end up saying this.”

“Hm?”

“About your adoptive father. I was planning to tell you slowly, when the time was right, after assessing the situation.”

In a way that would hurt you less, if possible.

“It wouldn’t have made a difference even if you had. The difficult life is already in the past, and I can’t turn back the time I believed he was my father, so I’ll just believe that for at least that time, a slightly less affectionate father was here.”

“That’s admirable.”

The touch stroking her small head was so tender that she nearly burst into tears again after barely holding them back.

She wished she hadn’t known this person could comfort her so gently and be so attuned to her feelings.

“And above all, you scolded him, sir.”

“I nearly killed him.”

Since when did this man know how to brag like this?

Do Eum looked up at Ji Wan.

If it was said by a man who didn’t know how to brag, it might not be bragging.

The thought that this man might have actually killed Young Hun made her feel dizzy.

His fiercely contorted face, his voice that wouldn’t come out fully, those eyes that glared as if to kill – they were vivid in her mind.

“Let’s go in, I’ll prepare dinner.”

As Do Eum walked ahead, Ji Wan grasped her hand.

The man who said he would pounce madly had been on a rampage ever since that day.

“I missed you.”

Me too.

“…Yes.”

“I miss you even as I’m looking at you.”

So do I.

“…Yes.”

Responding like an answering machine with rehearsed replies, Do Eum put strength into her toes.

“Is that all you have to say?”

The mischievous face didn’t seem to be expecting any other answer.

It was just an attempt to tease her.

“I’m hungry, let’s hurry.”

Do Eum turned around and quickened her pace.

The soft laughter of the two flowed gently into the descending darkness.

*****

Seo Hyun’s alumni party, which continued with champagne, lasted past midnight.

Ki Hyeok, who attracted attention wherever he went, was busy being called here and there despite it being Seo Hyun’s alumni gathering.

Not only were there many trying to make a good impression using this occasion on the future head of the Bando family, but the area around the man known for his interest in women was crowded with women trying to catch his eye.

Seo Hyun, who originally didn’t like crowded places much, quietly slipped away and stepped down to the backyard of the banquet hall.

The backyard, devoid of dazzling lights, was perfect for being alone.

‘Ah, a cigarette would be just right now.’

The softly whispered words were a desperate truth.

The patience she barely maintained due to many watching eyes was nearly at its limit.

“Wh-who’s there?”

In a secluded corner of the outdoors,

San Ha, with one hand in his pocket and a cigarette in his mouth, would have gone unnoticed if he hadn’t bowed his head slightly to her.

His neat appearance, without a single rough edge despite his delinquent-like stance of standing crookedly with a cigarette clenched between his teeth, was just like that.

“You startled me. Were you smoking?”

As Seo Hyun’s eyes fixed on the thing in the man’s mouth, San Ha held out what he had been holding in his mouth.

The offer was so natural that she took it without hesitation.

It wasn’t the time to be picky when she had been desperate.

“…Ah, now I feel a bit better.”

An indescribable satisfaction settled on San Ha’s face as he looked down at her.

“Where did you go earlier? You’re supposed to be my aide, but you scurry off to your father when he calls, what’s that about?”

“That’s not true.”

“The reason why Father assigned you to me is obvious. So, what did you report to Father?”

“…”

“That I’m steadily going to the hospital, but the husband is consistently ignoring his wife’s pregnancy, or that I’m still being neglected while he’s always out?”

The corner of the man’s mouth, who was looking down at her coldly, lifted slightly.

It was clearly a mocking smile.

“That guy, where did you find him? You brought him, so you must know.”

There was no answer.

At some point, this silent man’s lack of response was taken as an admission he couldn’t bring himself to make, so he must have known where he was brought from.

“Where and with whom that man was, yes. You can’t say. Okay, I won’t ask anymore. No need to be tense.”

Seo Hyun’s long eyelashes closed deeply and then opened.

“Is it fortunate, though? That you’re not Ki Hyeok’s man, but my father’s?”

A person who sees protecting the son-in-law’s private life as more beneficial than his daughter’s happiness.

A person who would unhesitatingly choose the latter if asked to choose between his daughter’s happiness and his own honor.

Come to think of it, there was nothing fortunate about it.

The smoke that disturbed her lungs spread in all directions.

“They say even a dog in a Chinese school can recite poetry after three years. Just by smelling the perfume around that pompous man, I now know, this time it’s a young girl he’s involved with, it’s a fleeting affair in the entertainment world that will end soon, or…”

As if her feet hurt, Seo Hyun took off her shoes and stepped onto the grass.

The gap between the two widened due to her height decreasing by an inch.

“This one will last a bit longer, and such.”

Seo Hyun’s monologue continued as if she were alone despite the two being together.

“I wonder when I was a person of value. I thought I was quite decent at one point. Hey! You did pretty well earlier, knowing how to build me up in front of them.”

It was about how he had bent his knee to polish her shoes in front of those who couldn’t wait to devour her.

“Isn’t it funny? To be so pleased about something like that…”

Suddenly, San Ha snatched the cigarette from Seo Hyun’s hand.

“You, that’s so petty right now!!”

“Representative Jin, shall we talk for a moment?”

It was Ki Hyeok’s voice, who had approached close by, having come out at some point.

Along with the representative of the largest law firm in Cheongdam and Eun Young’s husband.

She thought he was being petty, taking it back after giving it, but it seemed San Ha had seen the two coming out earlier.

“Oh, I’m coming.”

After quickly responding to the call, Seo Hyun turned back and muttered softly.

“It’s fine to report my every move, but at least say something when you leave. I really dislike looking for someone who was by my side and then disappeared.”

Although the distance between them had narrowed as she put her shoes back on, the woman returning to the bright lights past the darkness was an unreachable, distant person.

San Ha stubbed out the cigarette in his hand.

The motion was incredibly awkward for a man who originally didn’t smoke.

*****

Under the pouring shower, Ji Wan frowned.

Even without Do Eum’s words to return before the flowers in the vase wilted, he was going crazy with longing.

The reason he had worked day and night without proper sleep and rest was solely because he wanted to see Do Eum even a day sooner.

Yet, after rushing all the way here for that reason, the moment he saw the woman’s face full of fear.

No, the moment that stubborn hand struck that face.

Ah, I’m really going to kill that bastard, he thought.

Her small hands trembled so much as she held onto his arm, and why were her pleading eyes so desperate? It was an emotion he had never experienced before, where someone else’s pain became his own.

As soon as he got off at the airport, he had bought a bouquet of flowers that Do Eum would like, intending to surprise her, but in his haste, he had left it in the car.

After checking Woo Seok’s message and changing into comfortable clothes, Ji Wan knocked on Do Eum’s door.

Knock knock.

Do Eum, with her hair wrapped in a towel, peeked her face out through the slightly opened door.

“Should I come in, or will you come out?”

Showing the first aid kit in his hand, Ji Wan tapped the area around his lips a couple of times with his long fingertip.

“We need to treat it.”

“It’s not that bad. It’ll heal quickly with time.”

“Time? How long exactly?”

At the nonchalant question of how long it would take for the wound to heal completely, Do Eum made a troubled expression.

“You might not know, but I can’t wait. The treatment is for you right now, but in the long run, it’s for me too.”

So that I can roam over your lips unexpectedly, day and night, like my own front yard.

Finally understanding Ji Wan’s meaning, Do Eum’s cheeks reddened.

“Just let me dry my hair, I’ll come out. Wait outside.”

Barely catching the door that was closing smoothly, Ji Wan asked urgently.

“That… should I do it too?”

He’s gone mad.

How could a man who barely manages his own hair due to time constraints, and sometimes even leaves that to others, now insist on doing Do Eum’s hair?

Even he found it absurd, so how must this woman feel?

The bewildered expression looking up at him wasn’t incomprehensible.

“Don’t laugh.”

Trying to suppress the laughter that would soon escape despite his attempt to stifle it, Ji Wan turned around.

The man who had been afraid of being dragged around on a leash and showing his white belly was now wagging not just his belly but his tail off, so he let out a dejected laugh despite telling her not to laugh.

“I’ll be out soon. Okay? I’ll hurry as much as I can.”

Do Eum’s voice, swallowing her laughter, came back like teasing to Ji Wan’s retreating back.

Though the hand was already fully revealed, he walked with feigned dignity, but it was still embarrassing.

He was afraid of anyone seeing what he was doing now.

Even if Woo Seok saw this, he’d think he was possessed by a ghost.

Like the most well-behaved child in the world, Ji Wan sat at the dining table chair waiting for Do Eum to come out.

As Do Eum, who came out with roughly dried hair and wearing character print cotton pajamas, headed towards the seat opposite him, Ji Wan gestured to the seat next to him.

“No, this way.”

Knowing instinctively that the man was dangerous the closer she was, within arm’s reach, Do Eum hesitated.

“Should I come over?”

“No, I’ll come.”

Reluctantly, Do Eum sat down next to Ji Wan.

“But really, how did you manage to come two days early?”

Despite not sleeping, skipping meals, and enduring a murderous schedule.

“It just happened that way.”

Ji Wan’s answer is short.

Pulling her chair close, Do Eum stuck out her injured lip.

“I thought you hurried because you wanted to see me. Looking at it now, it seems like you’re lying about being swayed by me, sir.”

Due to involuntarily sticking out her lips, the woman’s pronunciation was muffled.