“Taeha. I am ready to give you an answer now.”
Tae Ha’s face tightened as he held his breath.
“I have decided to forgive Woojin.”
Si Hyun stated calmly.

Tae Ha lost his words, his face struck with shock, and after a moment, he finally opened his mouth.
“That man, you don’t love him.”
“Why do you think so?”
“You love the man who deceived you and met another woman behind your back?”
“Yes, I’m angry. I want to tear his clothes and slap his face. But it doesn’t mean that the love I had for him disappears overnight.”
Si Hyun asserted.
“Looking at the time we’ve spent together, I can give him one more chance.”
But Tae Ha did not seem convinced.
“A person who has betrayed once will betray twice. You know you’re being foolish right now.”
“Even if I know I’m being foolish, there are times when there are no other options.”
“Why are there no other options, when I’m here!”
Si Hyun lifted her head to look at Tae Ha straight in the face.
“You are the least desirable option of them all.”
She hoped her voice would sound as firm as possible.
“Even if I don’t love him, as you say. But at least, there was a time when I loved him. So, I can try to love him again. Even if it doesn’t go as I want, I can live building on the memories of that love. But I’ve never loved you.”
“We can start loving each other from now on!”
Si Hyun chuckled.
“If I date you or marry you, how will people see me?”
“I told you it’s not like that, it’s me!”
Tae Ha stomped his foot.
“I am the one who liked you. I wanted you from the start!”
“What good does that do? People will see it that way. Ah, she’s been raising him since he was young for this purpose. There was a scheme. Wait, didn’t she touch him when he was a minor?”
She could almost see the dirty stares, hear the disgusting words. Ju Eun was her friend, so she just let it slide as teasing, but how would she explain to others? Would they believe her if she told the truth?
“I raised you with a clean heart, without any shame. I don’t want that heart to be tainted by such baseless allegations.”
Si Hyun mumbled, turning her head away.
“I won’t ask for your congratulations. Just pretend you don’t know.”
As she tried to walk past the dumbstruck Tae Ha, he grabbed her arm.

“Tae Ha, what should I do?”
His always calm expression was devastatingly crumbled. Unable to bear looking directly at his face, Si Hyun closed her eyes.

Desperate to reach out to Si Hyun, who was turning away, Tae Ha clung on with all his might.

“I will do whatever you want. I’ll give you all my wealth. If you want me to act dead, I will. If you want me to kneel, I’ll kneel. If you want me to bark, I’ll bark.”
“……”
“What exactly do I have to do for you to come to me?”
In order to firmly shake off his hand, Si Hyun had to clench her teeth unnoticed.
“Be born again.”
Fortunately, the feigned voice squeezed out sounded cold even to her own ears.
“Next time, try to be born before me. And don’t meet me when you’re nine.”

((()))

After a few days, Woo Jin looked quite haggard when Si Hyun saw him. It seemed he had been greatly tormented waiting for Si Hyun’s decision. She couldn’t help feeling bad even while thinking who asked him to do such a thing.

As she thought about the scary thing called affection, Si Hyun opened her mouth.
“One time.”
Woo Jin’s head perked up.
“I will forgive you only this once. But there won’t be a second time,”
“Si Hyun!”
Like a light bulb flashing on, Woo Jin’s face brightened instantly.
“I thought about it well. I really had nothing with her. We just had meals……”
“That’s enough, stop it.”
Not wanting to hear him talk about those few meals again, Si Hyun cut him off.
“I don’t care how many times you ate, where you dated, or how far you went, I’m not interested in any of it. Since I decided not to ask, don’t talk about it. Let’s just consider it as something that never happened, us.”
“Uh, okay. I understand. I understand.”
Woo Jin reached out with both hands to grab Si Hyun’s hands across the table.
“Thank you, Si Hyun. I will treat you well. I will repay you all my life. This kind of thing will never happen again. I can really swear.”
It was the hand she had always held for years, so why did it feel so strange? She wanted to shake it off because it was so awkward and uncomfortable, but Si Hyun held back and said,
“You said that, right? Someday when I waver in life, you would firmly hold my hand.”
“That’s right. I have to do that. I have to hold on to our Si Hyun.”
That’s right now.

Instead of saying that, Si Hyun firmly held Woo Jin’s hand. She wished for the day when his hand would feel comfortable as it used to, praying silently.

((()))

“”No, we’re holding the formal meeting next week?”
Woo Jin’s mother, Jeong Im, was taken aback by her son’s words.
“What is so rude about this? Don’t you consider our schedule at all?”
Woo Jin sighed and explained.
“Si Hyun has been introduced to our house a while ago, hasn’t she? Her young mother was very angry because the greetings were delayed on our side. So, she said there’s no need to greet separately, and she insisted that we should definitely schedule a meeting next week.”