“Are you going to give me that coffee over there?”

So Yeon discovered the famous brand coffee neatly placed on his desk.

“I’m sure he said we’d have tea.”

At least he wasn’t a man who spoke empty words.

At that fact, dimples appeared in So Yeon’s cheeks as loveliness blossomed cutely.

“Can I finish this coffee here before I leave?”

Despite having just been crying, her boldness in making such a confident request was somewhat admirable.

“Of course, Eom So Yeon.”

Seo Jun first gestured lightly with his chin towards the sofa for her to sit, then moved with long strides towards the desk.

So Yeon lowered herself onto the sofa and gently smoothed down her pleated miniskirt that had ridden up to the middle of her thighs.

It was at that moment.

Something quite large suddenly landed on So Yeon’s knees.

“Oh!”

From the dignified logo embossed on its surface, the luxurious shopping bag didn’t seem to be from a common brand.

Inside was a brown leather bag large enough to easily fit a laptop. So Yeon took it out reflexively and examined it carefully in both hands.

It was a design that could be used as either a satchel or backpack, with zippers as a point of interest.

“Surely, you’re not giving this to me?”

“Why not?”

When So Yeon asked with wide blinking eyes, Seo Jun, who had set down two cups of coffee on the table with an elegant motion, sat down next to her without any particular comment.

Her outfit, far from high-end brands, was truly modest. Even though she was a celebrity, he had never seen her with the kind of luxury bag one would expect.

Seo Jun had stopped by his regular store yesterday and suddenly thought of it, so he bought one for her too. If there was a reason, that was all – what more explanation was needed?

Even joking that he picked it up on the way seemed too grand, so Seo Jun ended his explanation with just two indifferent words.

“Why this?”

“Just because.”

“…”

Giving this expensive thing… just because?

Well, he had been nothing but angry before, so there couldn’t be any other meaning.

So Yeon stared at Seo Jun’s sharp features for a while, then tilted her head slightly and brought the straw of the coffee cup to her lips, taking a sip.

“I sent it! That money you love so much! Isn’t that enough? Why are you calling again!”

A shrill voice leaked out from inside a luxury villa in Banpo-dong. It was the voice of Yoo Jung Hwa screaming as she spoke on the phone with her biological father.

“Do you want to see me go crazy? Am I your piggy bank? How much more are you going to squeeze out of me before you stop!”

-No matter how disappointing I am, I’m still your father. How can you speak to me with such a vicious tongue?

“Shut that mouth! Why can’t I!”

Jung Hwa’s teeth chattered just from hearing the voice of her father, who was worse than an enemy. The hand gripping the phone trembled. It was a long, bony hand that might have been beautiful in her dreamy youth, but was now emaciated and stained with greed.

“What happened to Mom because of you! How have I lived! And yet you still only talk about money and claim to be my father? Ha! Don’t make me laugh!”

As his daughter continued to rage, Yoo Byung Hwan seemed to forget what to say for a moment and just repeatedly called his daughter’s name.

-Yoo Mi Kyung, Mi Kyung…

“Don’t call me that! It gives me the creeps!”

Just hearing that long-abandoned name made her grit her teeth. As that name flowed from the palm-sized device, her eyelids, which could no longer even produce tears, trembled with red venom.

A top actress of exceptional beauty, the kind that might appear once in a century.

Contrary to such a description that suggested she had grown up beautifully and walked only flower-paved paths with her outstanding looks, Yoo Jung Hwa’s reality was the exact opposite.

A childhood where Yoo Jung Hwa didn’t exist and only Yoo Mi Kyung did, when even being an orphan seemed enviable.

Although he worked at a respectable company and had a decent appearance, Yoo Byung Hwan would gamble away every penny he saw. Then one day, her mother, who had suffered from poverty and all kinds of violence from her husband, left home as if escaping.

What the small 8-year-old girl had to endure after that was a nightmare in itself.

Jung Hwa had to do household chores with her small hands – laundry, cooking, everything. She often had to endure the cold of winter in a freezing room with just a single thin blanket. She even had to go around the neighborhood borrowing money just for that day to be somewhat peaceful.

On days when there wasn’t even a penny, she needed to have money from begging, otherwise she would face severe beatings from that so-called father.

People who clicked their tongues saying how pitiful she was.

People who sympathetically pressed even a small amount into her little hand.

She had become accustomed to reading the atmosphere among such people, but that wasn’t even considered hardship. The true beginning of misfortune started around the age of 15.

Having passed through that pitch-black tunnel, Jung Hwa became an actress thanks to her exceptionally alluring appearance. And as soon as she changed her name, she cut ties with her biological father.

But blood ties were this tenacious.

No matter how many times she changed her phone number and moved to hide, that man who called himself her father always managed to find her or contact her. It was also difficult to completely cut off a father who knew about her past.

After all, top star Yoo Jung Hwa should be someone who grew up in a wealthy family showered with love, not from the slums.

Yoo Mi Kyung was a completely different person from the Yoo Jung Hwa the world knew. No, she was a person who didn’t exist at all. Jung Hwa’s parents were overseas Koreans who had studied abroad, and Jung Hwa was a princess from birth who had lived without want in that affluent family.

Jung Hwa didn’t think of this packaged version of herself as a lie. She had to erase Yoo Mi Kyung, who had suffered in a miserable, shabby environment and an unfortunate family history, in order to become the Yoo Jung Hwa that everyone welcomed. Therefore, she had simply chosen the image that everyone liked.

Her parents had been of no help in her success as Yoo Jung Hwa.

Unable to resist the pressure, her mother always returned home exhausted after working as a housekeeper for her father’s boss. Then one day she suddenly disappeared. After that, young Jung Hwa had to do everything from running errands to housekeeping for that family.

When she was young, he was obsessed with promotions, offering his family to the company president. Now he claimed to be investing in stocks with the money squeezed from his daughter’s bones. If that were true, he should at least be living well, but this man who squandered every penny she gave him and then held out his hand to his daughter again – could he really be her father?

“How can you be my father? You’re just a leech sucking my blood!”

-Mi Kyung, how can you say such things? Don’t you know how much this hurts your father?

“Don’t call me that! It gives me the creeps!”

Jung Hwa lost her mind at Yoo Byung Hwan’s nonsensical words and thrashed about wildly. She writhed in hatred that gnawed at her bones and flesh.

-Don’t think you became a celebrity all on your own! Just know that I’ve done my duty as your father by keeping your secret to the end. You should know what I mean by now, right?

“You crazy… Whose fault is that!”

Who made me become obsessed with money and fame, even abandoning the first man I ever loved! Who caused this greed in me that makes me crave more and more, even when I already have so much!

This world was a hellish sewer, and Yoo Byung Hwan, who made vicious threats to his daughter, was a beast and a devil.

That’s how Yoo Jung Hwa saw it.

-Stop talking back and just send more money. More than what you sent today…

“Please, stop!”

Bang!

Jung Hwa hurled the phone at her framed photo on the art wall and frantically headed for the mini-bar.

“You son of a bitch…! I’ll kill you for sure!”

A mother who ran away saying she’d live alone? A father who thinks of his child as nothing but a money-making machine? Ha, don’t make me laugh! Aren’t you the ones who made me more of an orphan than an actual orphan?

Jung Hwa grabbed a bottle of whiskey and poured the large amount of alcohol down her throat.

Gulp, gulp, gulp…

She kept swallowing the undiluted liquor, but she couldn’t taste the bitterness at all.

It was because Yoo Mi Kyung’s filthy and wretched life was far more bitter than the strong whiskey.

A luxury sedan entered the Dogok-dong apartment complex and smoothly came to a stop in front of the building where So Yeon lived.

“Ah, no. You don’t have to get out.”

So Yeon hurriedly got out of the car, adamantly refusing as soon as she saw Bong (manager) unbuckling his seatbelt to open the back door for her – perhaps out of chivalry towards a lady.

“Thank you for the ride.”

So Yeon bent slightly towards the open window of the closed car door and politely thanked Seo Jun, who had only turned his head while remaining seated.

“…”

That’s so like Eom So Yeon.

Seo Jun chuckled after a brief delay in responding. He couldn’t help but smile as he watched the woman who seemed to be leaving several times faster than when she arrived.

But knowing full well that this was entirely his subjective impression, Seo Jun slowly withdrew his smile and said:

“Call me when you finish work tomorrow, since we don’t know when the shooting will end.”

“If you’re really short on time, don’t push yourself. We can do it the day after tomorrow.”

“I’ll decide that.”

“Okay.”

They hadn’t just had coffee in the office. The two had briefly rehearsed their lines there. So Yeon was still uneasy about how her breathing had been unnatural due to how nervous she felt reciting lines right in front of Tae Seo Jun.

Also, after practicing for about an hour, they left the company and had dinner together.

In addition to the sudden gift of the bag, So Yeon had guided Seo Jun to her regular cold noodle restaurant as a way to repay him for the chicken she had received before. While it was nice to be with him, So Yeon’s heart was filled with satisfaction as she glanced at him enjoying the cold noodles with pan-fried meat.

However, So Yeon felt strange about Seo Jun’s increasingly frequent use of informal speech. She felt like she had gotten a step closer to him, but also wondered if this was okay.

‘If you feel wronged, Eom So Yeon, you can speak informally too.’

His words floated into her mind at that moment.

“Go in first.”

When Seo Jun’s short informal speech came again, informal speech popped out of her mouth before she knew it.

“Okay, take care.”

Unable to handle what she had just done, So Yeon quickly ran to the building entrance as soon as she finished speaking.

“Heh…”

“!”

“!”

Though caught off guard, Seo Jun only snickered with an amused expression. Rather, it was Bong (manager) and Park Sung Ho in the front seats who were startled.

“You heard her, right? She said to take care. Let’s go.”

As the sedan started moving at Seo Jun’s joking command, So Yeon, who had been secretly peeking out from inside the building, got into the elevator.

So Yeon looked down at the shopping bag she was holding tightly with both hands, her eyes soft.

Regardless of how it happened, it was the first gift she had received from the man she had only wanted to look at. Just that was enough to make So Yeon happy as she gently stretched the corners of her lips and got off the elevator on the 7th floor.

As she entered the house and was taking off her shoes:

“You’re back earlier than I expected?”

“Ahh! You startled me!”

Do Soon, who had come running to the entrance, greeted So Yeon.

Do Soon often came over from the neighboring building where she rented, which had slightly smaller units, and surprised So Yeon like this.

“Can I stay over here tonight?”

“Who’s going to stop Yeo Do Soon if that’s what she wants to do?”

By the time they entered the living room, Do Soon was already distracted by something else.

“What’s this bag?”

Her eyes widened as she peered into the shopping bag in So Yeon’s hand.

“It looks quite expensive? You didn’t buy it yourself, right? Who gave it to you?”

Do Soon knew better than anyone that Eom So Yeon, while not stingy, was too frugal in her spending to buy such an expensive bag.

“Ah, this…? It’s something my older sister sent before. I forgot I left it in the car trunk.”

“It’s pretty! If you’re not going to use it, give it to me!”

“This one’s not for giving away!”

Anticipating that she would be immediately grilled if she honestly said it was from Tae Seo Jun, So Yeon brushed it off and quickly moved to the dressing room.

“Hey, hey!”

Do Soon followed right behind and glanced at one side of the closet, clicking her tongue as if it were a waste.

“You just pile them up, not knowing how to use them. What sin did these poor things commit to never see the light of day?”

As she said, all the luxury bags on the shelf were brand new with tags still attached. Gifts from family members had accumulated quite a collection over time.

The reason So Yeon hadn’t used these bags was that she hadn’t acquired them with her own ability, and she felt that precious items shine best when matched with the user’s position – which she thought she hadn’t reached yet.

“Don’t be like that, give me one.”

Do Soon was just joking, of course.

But So Yeon, feeling guilty for various reasons, was unusually generous today.

“Alright. Pick whichever one you like and take it.”

“Are you serious?”

“Except for this one.”

So Yeon nodded once and hugged the bag she received from Seo Jun tightly to her chest.

As if it were her lifeline.

As if her whole body was saying that everything else could be given away, but not this one, absolutely not.