The memory was hazy.

Consciousness barely returned, but eyes that opened with heavy lids easily closed again.

Meanwhile, faint sounds of someone moving around were still perceived.

Pat, pat.

It was the sound of bare feet brushing against the marble floor.

To him, who always wore slippers indoors without exception, it was an unfamiliar sound and the presence of the only person who walked barefoot in this house – a woman.

It was that day when he saw her walking fearlessly on the marble floor with feet smaller than his palm.

The night he was ambushed by the woman in the unlit living room.

In the spilling moonlight, her dazzlingly white feet caught his eye before the smooth calves revealed under her cotton pajamas.

He kept finding his gaze drawn to those dainty feet standing neatly together, making him wonder if he had developed a foot fetish without realizing it.

The woman’s bare feet, wearing neither socks nor slippers, were that striking.

Pat, pat.

Slowing down a bit.

Pat pat pat.

Then hurrying.

With those tiny feet from before, the woman busily came and went all day long throughout every corner of the house.

With eyes closed, all his keen senses focused on the footsteps echoing through the house.

Just when he thought his mouth was too dry to scold her for being so annoyingly busy, cool water invariably flowed into his mouth.

His head gradually cleared, the heat on his eyelids cooled, and a smile even spread across his lips when he heard the rustling sound of the pillowcase that had been clammy with sweat being changed.

Ah, this woman even changed the pillowcase.

In the end, he found himself listening for Do Eum’s footsteps even in his not fully conscious state.

He thought he was getting better, but maybe not.

To think that I, the great Seo Ji Wan, would be searching for another’s presence at a time like this.

Yes, I must still be suffering from a severe bout of illness.

More severe than ever before.

As Ji Wan thought this, his right arm unfailingly came to rest on his forehead.

*****

The world spread out before his eyes was infinitely low.

It was like that when he rode on his father’s shoulders.

“Even if you have nothing and nothing to show for yourself, there are many ways to be of help to the world. Just being that kind of person is enough, you understand?”

His father’s deep voice felt like it was flowing through his body.

‘Yes, Dad.’

Just as the softly murmured response felt strangely hollow, he opened his eyes.

It was a dream.

A dream with Dad in it, after such a long time.

The unfamiliar air floating in the dark surroundings made him realize this wasn’t his room.

‘Why, why am I on the CEO’s bed?’

Do Eum’s eyes, startled awake, saw the sheet covering up to around her chest.

10 AM.

Gasp!

A warm current of air swirled under the soles of her feet as she jumped up.

Only the man’s neatly folded silk pajamas lay at the foot of the bed, but Ji Wan was nowhere to be seen.

She rushed out to check the living room, bathroom, study – nowhere.

‘He must have gone to work. The fever didn’t rise overnight, so he seems to be alright.’

There was no presence anywhere – in the man’s bedroom she had just burst out of, the living room, the kitchen – so she was alone again.

The two days the man stayed home sick were a time she couldn’t sleep deeply, but it was nice not being alone.

Since coming to this house, no, since her earliest memories of childhood, she had always been alone.

At nine years old, when she came home after school to a silent house, the first thing she did was open the rice cooker to check for rice.

If there was barely enough rice to close the lid, she would plop down in front of it and cry for a long while.

It meant her mother wouldn’t come home until all that rice was gone.

The emptiness she felt in front of the steaming rice cooker came flooding back now as a full-grown adult.

It was a long-forgotten feeling, one she hadn’t felt in a long time.

As her chest tightened, she soon felt hungry.

It was because she hadn’t eaten properly while taking care of the man.

Just as she entered the kitchen and started washing rice for one serving-

Rrrrr.

It was an unknown number.

“Hello.”

− Are you awake.

The deep voice that swallowed up the quiet stillness in an instant was Ji Wan’s.

From the moment she confirmed it was the man, her mind went blank.

Was it an auditory hallucination, or maybe a mistake?

‘There’s no way this person would call me. He always relayed messages through Manager Han, so why…’

When there was no answer, a soft sigh came through from the other end of the line.

− This is Seo Ji Wan.

It was an undeniable confirmation.

“Yes, I know. Husband.”

Pff.

This time it wasn’t a sigh.

What came from the other end was small but definite laughter.

− That’s right, husband.

Only after hearing the word ‘husband’ from the man’s mouth did she realize.

That she had casually called the man ‘husband’.

As Ji Wan’s laughter eased the tension, Do Eum laughed along.

− You were sleeping soundly this morning, so I put you in the bed without permission.

“Yes, thanks to you I slept well. I didn’t even realize you had left. How are you feeling?”

− Thanks to you.

The laughter from earlier had long since disappeared from the voice that didn’t add any lengthy words.

− If nothing comes up, I should be done around 7.

“Okay.”

The man had never reported his commute schedule separately before.

Even if he worked late or early, or even stayed out overnight, she never thought he would contact her about it, so it was strange.

That he was suddenly telling her his return time.

− I was thinking of having dinner out.

It seemed he was saying he had dinner plans so don’t prepare anything.

“Ah, okay. I’ll keep that in mind.”

A moment of silence passed.

− If you’re okay with it, I meant let’s go out together.

At the suddenly shortened speech, Do Eum’s face lit up at once, even as she wondered if she had offended the man who hated repeating himself.

“S-Sounds good!”

She blurted out an answer without even thinking about it.

Whatever the menu, whatever the time, she was happy with any outing.

“7 o’clock. I’ll be ready and waiting on time, not late.”

Who knows what expression Ji Wan on the other end made at the rapid-fire words.

After all, she was a woman who was happy just at the thought of going out, no matter what.

− Alright then.

Do Eum, who had put down the disconnected phone and turned around, walked a couple steps before sitting back down at the table where the phone was placed.

After pressing the save button for the number that had just called, she hesitated for a long time in front of the blinking cursor before getting up from her seat, hiding her flushed cheeks.

Above the call log, the name of the contact she had just saved was clearly imprinted.

*****

It was clearly different from other days.

Something must have happened during the two sick days, because Ji Wan’s expression was unusually gentle even when looking at the signature line on backed up documents, causing Woo Seok’s eyes to drowsily examine his superior.

The man who used to schedule meetings regardless of quitting time told them not to schedule any after 5 PM, and even took out his suit jacket before 6 o’clock.

Beep−.

“CEO. Mr. Seo Ki Hyeok from Bando Electronics is here.”

At Team Leader Yeon’s voice through the phone, Ji Wan’s expression, which had been gentle until just now, distorted without fail.

An already unwelcome guest had barged in without warning, so he wasn’t the type to comply easily.

“Tell him I’m out.”

Bam.

Before Ji Wan’s words were even finished.

Ki Hyeok strode in boldly, kicking open the CEO’s office door.

Loosening his tie knot in a striped gray set-up suit, not hiding his clear sneer.

“I know you’re here, so such an obvious lie is.”

Due to being born of the legal wife versus a concubine, Ki Hyeok and Ji Wan’s ranks were clear in the Bando family.

Despite being only a year apart, Madam Jang treated Ki Hyeok as the future head of the Bando Group, while only holding up the standard of propriety to Ji Wan.

Even the dogs raised in Anseo-dong knew clearly enough which line to stand in between the two.

It was a tense tug-of-war between a man who wouldn’t be satisfied unless he brought the other under his feet, and a man who would never bow his head even if driven out penniless.

From the start, it could not be a fair game.

After all, it began heavily favoring Ki Hyeok, the legitimate bloodline of Bando.

Whichever side let go of the tightly pulled rope would have to admit foul play, and whichever side was dragged would have to admit defeat.

There was no need to agonize over which of those two to choose.

Whether admitting foul play or defeat, the one who had to do so was solely Ji Wan, the illegitimate child, and had nothing to do with Ki Hyeok.

“You could have at least called ahead so I couldn’t avoid you with such an obvious lie.”

“Somehow every time I call, you’re in a meeting. I came wondering if a CEO really has meetings all day long, figuring it wouldn’t matter if I made a wasted trip since I couldn’t see you anyway. Your schemes, I can never figure them out whether as a child or now.”

It was that story again.

When Ji Wan, who was living in America, briefly stayed in Korea at Madam Jang’s summons.

Ki Hyeok, who was playing around, broke one of Madam Jang’s cherished orchid pots.

Afraid of Madam Jang’s wrath, Ki Hyeok told Ji Wan he would give him a transforming robot toy if he said he did it.

Under Madam Jang’s urging, Ji Wan never said he did it. But he didn’t say Ki Hyeok did it either.

With the two of them standing there, Madam Jang called Ji Wan closer and asked.

“I’ll buy you that robot if you tell the truth, how about it?”

Madam Jang, whom no one in the main house could even properly make eye contact with, was a scarier existence than the grim reaper or goblins to the two boys at the time.

Naturally, she thought the young Ji Wan would nod and say he would.

But the young Ji Wan said:

“Grandmother, you already know who the culprit is. You’re using the robot as an excuse to ask me, aren’t you?”

That’s when Ki Hyeok, who was standing there trembling, wet himself.

Madam Jang, who scolded the crying Ki Hyeok to keep quiet, lashed out at Ji Wan.

“To someone who knows the culprit and is still asking, you should have just named the culprit and gotten the robot.”

The young Ji Wan answered without hesitation.

“I may have gotten the robot, but I would have been scolded for tattling on my brother. I don’t want to be scolded for something I didn’t do, nor do I want to benefit from something dishonest.”

Ji Wan sat down on the sofa opposite Ki Hyeok.

As if recalling the past, Ki Hyeok’s brow furrowed.

“And then, when you went back to America. Didn’t you end up taking a robot from Madam Jang after all?”

It was an incident from over twenty years ago.

To be precise, it wasn’t one robot but five sets of combining transformer robots.

“What brings you here today?”

“Ah, Madam Jang said to arrange a meal with you and your wife. What’s with that old lady getting more demanding and sharp-minded as she ages. Sigh, being the eldest grandson is so tiring.”

Woo Seok, who was seen turning away Team Leader Yeon bringing in tea at the door, appeared.

The quick-witted man knew well that this wasn’t the atmosphere for drinking tea, and thus he should refrain from actions that would unnecessarily waste time.

Ji Wan raised his left wrist to check the time.

Even accounting for rush hour traffic, it was plenty late.

“Alright, set a date and let me know.”

As Ji Wan stood up, Ki Hyeok let out a sardonic laugh behind his back.

“You, you’re not doing this because you’re upset about not inviting your mother to the wedding, are you?”

The man who was about to leave slowly turned around.

“That’s why. You avoiding my calls repeatedly, your infrequent visits to Anseo-dong, it’s all because of that, isn’t it?”

Eyes that darkened in an instant coldly looked down at the seated Ki Hyeok.

“Is this also Chairman Jang’s orders?”