As soon as the drama ended, Gu Won Hoo came down from the representative’s office to the audio-visual room floor and called out Eom So Yeon.

When she came out to the quiet hallway, Won Hoo, holding a bouquet of roses in one hand, smiled broadly.

“The initial reaction was very good. I hear from Director Yoon that up to episode 5, Eom So Yeon will be the main character, and that lingering impression will last until the end.”

“That can’t be. Oh Min Jung would be upset if she heard that.”

“Isn’t tragedy what usually stays in memory longer? Here, take this. Congratulations on your drama debut.”

Was it the aftermath of the earlier contact incident? As Won Hoo took one step closer, So Yeon stepped back by the same distance. However, she couldn’t refuse the bouquet he offered. It was a natural congratulatory message that a representative could give.

“Thank you, sir.”

In fact, there was a small box containing a ring in Won Hoo’s suit pocket. Intending to give it to her after moving to a reserved location, Won Hoo smoothly stretched his lips and began to speak.

“If you’re grateful, would you listen to one request of mine…!”

It was at that moment.

People who had formed groups in the audio-visual room came pouring out.

Oh Min Jung, who was among the people leaving the company saying they should go for a drink somewhere, suddenly found herself standing in front of the two after spotting Representative Gu.

“Don’t I get one?”

Oh Min Jung, who had been staring at the bouquet So Yeon was holding for a while, suddenly asked while looking straight at Won Hoo.

That sharp gaze was because she was already in a bad mood from feeling like she had lost the lead role from the first episode of the drama, and now she felt pushed behind Eom So Yeon again when she should have been properly congratulated by Representative Gu.

As Oh Min Jung’s gaze urged him to quickly hand over a bouquet, Won Hoo spoke with an awkward expression mixed with a stiff smile.

“Oh Min Jung. Congratulations on the first broadcast of the drama. A company dinner is planned for the weekend.”

“Hey, that won’t do. I’m free right now, you know.”

At some point, people had left the company like an ebbing tide, and now only three people remained in the hallway.

Finding it awkward to be stuck between Gu Won Hoo saying it was difficult right now and Oh Min Jung continuing to plead, So Yeon said she would go to the bathroom and quickly turned the corner in the middle of the hallway, entering a narrow passage.

At the end of that hallway where the bathroom was located, there was a glass door leading outside the building. Someone’s toes were slightly visible under the long dark gray curtain in front of that door, but they wouldn’t have entered So Yeon’s field of vision as she passed by quickly.

So Yeon washed her hands at the bathroom sink and came out with her small handbag hanging on her elbow. But her feet, realizing something was amiss, headed back to where she had come from. She remembered that she had forgotten the bouquet she received from Representative Gu.

However, So Yeon’s steps faltered due to the vibration of her phone in her bag.

“…!”

So Yeon’s heart skipped a beat, as if about to make a thudding sound, the moment she took out her phone and checked the caller.

Tae Seo Jun.

It was him.

They had only been together for a few days, never officially dated, so it didn’t fit to say they had broken up. They had parted but never really separated, missed each other but couldn’t convey those feelings, always alone yet unable to be alone – he was that man.

So Yeon, stopping all movement in front of the bathroom door, answered the phone. Even her small breath was careful, so she remained silent like that.

“…”

-…

No words came from the other end of the phone either. All she could hear was his low breathing.

But So Yeon, who desperately wanted to hear even that sound, crouched down, tapping her small fist against her tingling chest. Her two knees, suddenly losing strength, collapsed down as if crumbling.

Even when she answered the phone that suddenly came from him at dawn after putting her son to sleep and feeling empty after the production report meeting ended, So Yeon didn’t cry. Though she had to bite her lower lip hard for the tears she couldn’t shed.

No, So Yeon hadn’t cried even once since leaving Kadis.

“Eom So Yeon…”

The tears she had stubbornly held back all burst out at once because of the low voice calling her name.

“Sob…”

So Yeon, who had spewed out her dry sorrow and pent-up grief in small sobs, covered her lips with the back of her hand to make no more sound.

But the trembling of her sobbing shoulders, the longing that couldn’t be suppressed no matter how hard she tried, was impossible to stop. So Yeon, crying silently while crouched on the floor, pleaded in a small voice.

Sob sob, I miss you so much…

“I want to see you…”

So Yeon felt like she would go crazy missing him. Like she would die. It was a sound that came out without her realizing. And the voice that flowed from the depths of her heart was clearly heard by Seo Jun standing behind the curtain. Distinctly, even without going through the phone.

I’m right here!

So…

“…Don’t cry.”

So Yeon, raised up by Seo Jun’s hand that soon revealed himself, was now outside the glass door.

“…!”

She was very surprised, but didn’t scream. She couldn’t even blink. Afraid that he, like an illusion, might disappear in that brief moment. Afraid she might not see him anymore.

“Is it… really you?”

“Yes… it’s me.”

Seo Jun looked down at her with intense eyes, trapping So Yeon with his two arms against the wall. Who knew a face covered in tears could look so beautiful.

“…”

This isn’t a dream, right? You won’t disappear like this, right?

“…”

So you missed me too. Like I did…

Longing that had passed through a cold path gazed into longing.

The two gazes slowly drew closer and interlocked without gaps.

And the two looked at each other for a long time.

He didn’t want to come, but that didn’t work out well.

He tried to hold back, but he couldn’t anymore.

Because he was dying to see Eom So Yeon.

Because he just couldn’t bear it anymore.

For those reasons, Seo Jun, who had rushed here frantically, lingered in front of the audio-visual room intending to just catch a glimpse of her and leave.

When he opened the back door slightly and peered inside, he could see her figure clearly. She was still pretty. No, she had become even prettier. Objectively, not much had changed from before, but that’s how it looked to Seo Jun’s eyes.

What made him turn back his steps that were about to leave was the sound of hurrying footsteps that began to echo in the quiet hallway. Seo Jun, who quickly moved to the opposite side of the sound, hid himself in the passage next to the audio-visual room.

Seo Jun threw a glance beyond the corner because he guessed it might be Gu Won Hoo.

Wouldn’t it be embarrassing to run into him after saying he wouldn’t come here?

And at that moment, he could confirm that his guess was correct while also seeing Eom So Yeon coming out of the audio-visual room.

But Gu Won Hoo’s gaze towards Eom So Yeon was unusual.

And what’s with the bouquet in his hand?

Seo Jun could tell just by looking at Gu Won Hoo’s hesitant attitude. The woman Gu Won Hoo said he would confess to was Eom So Yeon.

Seo Jun’s lips were full of bitter laughter as he directly confirmed with his own eyes the scene of “no way” turning into reality. Not only was it absurd that Gu Won Hoo liked Eom So Yeon, but he thought that the relationship between cousins could become hostile because of one woman.

Above all, Seo Jun, who absolutely could not tolerate Eom So Yeon meeting another man besides himself, could not control the emotions he had been holding back until now.

But pushed by the murmuring sounds of people suddenly pouring out into the hallway, Seo Jun somehow ended up standing behind the curtain.

It was some time after that.

Seo Jun, who saw Eom So Yeon’s back as she entered the bathroom, couldn’t leave that place. Because he wanted to see her somehow longer, closer. And that desire made Seo Jun’s actions go one step further.

But the moment the call connected with her, his voice wouldn’t come out well. He couldn’t make any sound due to the pain that felt like an unknown force was gripping and twisting his chest.

What caught Seo Jun’s eye at that moment was her suddenly collapsing down.

For some reason, Eom So Yeon cried with her back, which seemed smaller than before, trembling finely.

And her sobbing voice repeating.

Eom So Yeon’s voice saying she missed him so much was very small, barely audible, but it greatly struck Seo Jun’s hearing and heart.

His chest, which had become unbearably stuffy, was about to explode.

Seo Jun moved his long legs out from behind the curtain and hugged So Yeon, who was sorrowfully calling for him, while lifting her up at the same time.

“If you were going to be this hurt, you should have come to me earlier. You should have at least called. If you couldn’t do that, you should have said something when I called. You should have, you foolish woman…”

Seo Jun, who poured out words that came out without realizing in one breath, took So Yeon outside the building without thinking.

Seo Jun, who met her eyes full of teardrops, stroked So Yeon’s face with his thumb and said,

“Don’t cry…”

Now that I’m here in front of you, don’t cry anymore…

Not only his voice, but the affection was deeply embedded in Seo Jun’s fingertips as he slowly caressed her slender face. And his tender feelings were fully conveyed to her.

“I made Eom So Yeon cry…”

So my heart hurts even more.

That’s what he seemed to be saying. Even his sweet-sounding voice felt somewhat different from before. The intense high-handedness had lessened, instead it was infinitely soft as if soothing a child.

“Sob sob…”

Perhaps because of that, childlike tears flowed down from her large eyes.

“Oh my, didn’t I tell you not to cry? You’re crying even more? Eom So Yeon, were you a tadpole? Is that why you ran away when I told you to stay by my side?”

“…”

“Even if it was a bit late, you should have run to me when you realized it wasn’t right. If you missed me that much, you should have thrown away your pride or whatever and come to me.”

“How could I do that… sob sob…”

“Are you afraid I’ll eat you up if you say two different things with one mouth?”

“…”

So Yeon shook her head vigorously with chicken-poop-like tears hanging from her eyes.

“Then why… If you couldn’t pretend it wasn’t true till the end, while missing me so much you were suffering alone, what else isn’t true?”

“Sob…”

Even though she had tried so hard and vowed never to cry again. Her heart, once crumbled, continued to crumble even more uncontrollably because of the sudden appearance of Tae Seo Jun. No matter what happened in the future, she was so happy to meet Tae Seo Jun again that she could die.

However, the Tae Seo Jun that Eom So Yeon knew was a difficult and hard person, a person as big as a mountain that she dared not desire. That’s why she couldn’t tell the truth, and chose to disappear like the little mermaid who turned into foam.

Because he was that hard to attain, she left him, and even now she dared not desire him. But now she was someone who couldn’t see even an inch ahead of what the right choice was.

“I don’t know.”

“Eom So Yeon, you really…!”

Where and how should I start scolding this woman…

“It’s okay if you don’t say it. But what are you going to do now that I’ve caught onto your feelings?”

“Do I have to take responsibility for that too? What exactly are you hoping for?”

“Are you asking because you don’t know? If you really don’t know, should I teach you?”

“Fine, I don’t know anything at all, so tell me.”

“Alright! From now on, I’ll teach you everything one by one until you know.”

“…!”

Seo Jun warned and kissed her.

Because this was the only way to make Eom So Yeon, who was pretending not to know even though she knew, realize what she was doing wrong right now.

So Yeon, unable to push away his kisses pouring down like a sudden shower, just kept her eyes tightly shut. So Yeon, already deeply in love, had no other exit. Except for Tae Seo Jun, who was the father of her child, her first love, and the one she would inevitably love forever.

His intense breath, sucking in and swelling up again, his hot kisses awakened her.

That this man had also been struggling all the time unable to forget her.

That she couldn’t live even for a moment without this man.

Although she had foolishly pushed away this precious man, if she lost this man again, she would become even more foolish.