Dosoon quit Tae Seojun’s fanclub today.

She had been living like a silly girl, but before she knew it, she was already 26 years old. Looking back, she realized she hadn’t accomplished anything properly.

It had been several years since she left home and became independent, loudly declaring to her parents that she would become the head of an entertainment company, no matter how small. But in reality, there was no difference between herself then and now.

It was only after watching the drama and seeing Eom Soyeon’s skyrocketing popularity that Dosoon came to her senses. Soyeon was steadily achieving her dreams, so Dosoon couldn’t just settle for the work right in front of her.

However, no matter how much she tried to deny it, Dosoon, who had only had eyes for Tae Seojun for many years, couldn’t help but feel the emptiness of letting go of her one-sided love.

For that reason, Dosoon went to the cocktail bar at Elstella Hotel for the first time in her life to comfort herself, renting out a large room and going all out.

But after laying out the 21-year-old Glen P-dic whiskey and expensive side dishes on the table, she wondered what she was doing all alone in this huge room. So, she thought about calling Eom Soyeon here, but her friend had been out of contact for three days.

Even the house where there should have been four people, including Soyeon’s mother, Hyunwoo, and the nanny, had been empty for days, as if they had all gone somewhere. It was a situation where even ghosts would wail, so Dosoon tried calling Soyeon, but her cell phone was also constantly out of service.

At this point, it didn’t seem like an ordinary situation, but Dosoon thought it might be a family matter that Soyeon couldn’t talk about. At the very least, Dosoon had no choice but to wait silently for Soyeon to show up, as she had received a text message three days ago saying that she would return soon and explain everything.

“Anyway, this girl has a lot of work and a lot of secrets!”

Having no choice but to have fun alone, Dosoon soon became so drunk that her throat was hoarse and her mind was dizzy.

Clearing her throat after singing loudly, Dosoon put down the microphone and gulped down the remaining liquor in her on-the-rocks glass.

Then, as if she had thought of something, she tore a tissue into a long strip, stuck it under her eyes, and pursed her lips, taking a picture against the background of the wide and luxurious room, parodying her sadness.

[I’m doing this alone, Soyeon. Can’t you stop going off the grid and come here? I’m so lonely I could die.]

After sending that photo, her current location, and a message conveying her current lonely state of mind to Soyeon, Dosoon wrestled with the microphone for about another hour.

“Ah, my throat hurts! Is this what vocal cord nodules feel like?”

Around 9 o’clock, Dosoon, who had keenly realized that having fun alone was not something she was good at, was very tired.

However, there was something that made Yeo Dosoon even more uncomfortable than having fun alone.

“Ugh, I can’t stand it!”

The place Dosoon ran out of the room to was the restroom adjacent to the hall.

A little later, as she walked towards the hall with a refreshed mind, it happened.

Thud!

“Eek!”

It was already embarrassing enough to have an absurd accident of tripping over her own feet, but someone was watching her foolish appearance right in front of her.

“Yeo… Dosoon?”

At the man’s voice, Dosoon raised her head and her eyes widened as if they would tear.

“R-Representative?”

The man looking down at her with a barely suppressed smile was none other than the unexpected Gu Wonhoo.

The two met like this in an unexpected place.

Whether it was a coincidence or fate, this was also a mischievous act of God.

The strings of destiny that had already been pulled to make this happen were inevitable.

[This is the timeline separator]

Before coming to Elstella Hotel, Wonhoo stopped by the funeral of Yoo Junghwa’s father.

After paying his respects to the deceased, Wonhoo was about to offer words of condolence to Yoo Junghwa, but at that moment, Junghwa quickly looked around with an attitude that was not at all like a chief mourner and asked,

‘What about Seojun? Today is the last day of the funeral, he couldn’t have not come, right?’

Her expression was not sad at all. Rather, she was looking for her ex-boyfriend first with expectant eyes. It was strange from the beginning when she informed him of her father’s passing and asked him to come with Tae Seojun, but seeing her strange attitude in person, it was beyond odd.

‘Do you think that coldhearted guy would come?’

Wonhoo, who was dumbfounded, gave only this answer and left the funeral hall.

He then went straight to Elstella Hotel and had a drink at the cocktail bar, pondering the relationship between Eom Soyeon and Tae Seojun.

As far as he knew, Tae Seojun never cared about women. Even when he was dating Yoo Junghwa, Seojun was indifferent even to his own girlfriend. There were many times when Junghwa would ask me about his whereabouts because she didn’t know.

Moreover, wasn’t he a guy who never spoke with a forked tongue? But he showed up at the company he said he wouldn’t go to and actively approached Eom Soyeon. Of course, she didn’t push Seojun away either.

Although he only saw the silhouettes of the two through the curtain, the intensity of the emotions he felt from them was very strong.

Then, since when had they been in that kind of relationship?

‘You and Eom Soyeon seem to know each other from before.’

‘We crossed paths once a long time ago.’

‘For a one-time meeting, the way you two looked at each other was quite sticky, wasn’t it?’

‘Isn’t it your eyes that are sticky?’

The feeling he had back then wasn’t for nothing. It wasn’t something to be laughed off like that. It was clear that when Seojun said they had crossed paths a long time ago, he didn’t simply mean they had just crossed paths.

By the way, what his mother did to her was another problem.

His mother, who was not at all repentant of her wrongdoings and was instead being brazen about it. Wasn’t that the worst? Even I couldn’t forgive Mother.

The more he thought about it, the more Tae Seojun seemed like an onion, and his mother was becoming more and more toxic by the day.

Gu Wonhoo, who had been sitting at the bar pondering those two, was not in a laughing mood at all. But right in front of him, some woman fell in a silly manner. Thanks to that, laughter involuntarily burst out of Wonhoo’s mouth.

After meeting Dosoon like that and moving to her room to join her, Wonhoo felt his heart, which had been heavy for days, become much lighter.

Perhaps it was the principle that when you were with a cheerful person, you naturally became brighter too. It was because of this woman that his feeling of wanting to sink into the ground had brightened.

“I thought you were a busy person, but you were leisurely drinking alone.”

“I wonder what Dosoon was doing alone in this huge room.”

The conversation, tinged with the sharp taste of alcohol, flowed unexpectedly well too.

“Why is alcohol called alcohol (sul)?”

“You’d have to ask Dionysus or Bacchus about that, wouldn’t you?”

“Ah, you don’t know! Fire (bul) comes from water (su). So the word ‘subul’! That word was shortened to become ‘sul’. Alcohol is the only means for gods and humans to communicate. So when you drink together, anyone naturally becomes friends.”

“Like you and me?”

“Is that how it turns out? Hehehe.”

“You surprisingly know a lot.”

“Wh-what? So you thought I was stupid all this time?”

“That’s not it, I’m saying this after seeing a new side of you.”

“Tsk! That’s the same thing!”

The eyes that had been glaring sharply softened again and she laughed brightly.

Yeo Dosoon had a strange quality that made you forget complicated thoughts in an instant. Her eloquence in drawing you into a conversation was also excellent. Above all, her easygoing personality was very charming.

With that thought, Wonhoo raised his glass, and Dosoon readily made a toast with him.

It was the moment when a clear clinking sound rang out.

Knock knock.

Following the knocking sound, someone opened the door of the room slightly.

“Soyeon!”

As if she had seen the text message Dosoon sent earlier, Soyeon, who had been out of contact for days, came to find Dosoon with a face as pale as a sheet of paper.

“Representative…”

Soyeon, who had no idea that Representative Gu Wonhoo was there, was momentarily flustered but soon bowed in greeting.

“Never mind the representative, come sit over here!”

Dosoon pulled Soyeon to sit at the inside of the table, and without realizing it, her voice burst out loudly with a mixture of joy and worry.

“What’s with you? Where have you been and only showing up now? Huh?”

“In Jeju Island. I went to my older sister’s house.”

Soyeon answered, glossing over where she had been.

“All of you?”

“Yeah.”

“Then, did your mom and Hyunwoo go home and you came here?”

“No. They left. To Canada.”

“What about Hyunwoo?”

“Mom said she would keep him with her for the time being…”

For some reason, Soyeon ended her words with a sob.

“Did your mother leave for Canada?”

“Yes.”

Soyeon answered Wonhoo’s question in a small voice, but that voice also trembled weakly like a candle in the wind.

“She said she would stay in Korea until next month, so why all of a sudden? And why did she take Hyunwoo with her again when he should be with you?”

“…”

“You wouldn’t have wanted that.”

“That’s… how it turned out.”

Unable to bear Dosoon’s relentless interrogation, Soyeon answered briefly and bit her lower lip, looking down. Her eyes revealed a sense of loss beyond sadness.

Gulp, gulp…

As soon as she emptied her on-the-rocks glass, Soyeon refilled it and drank the bitter liquor like water.

“Oh my, look at this girl?”

Dosoon, who had been watching silently beside her, couldn’t take it anymore and snatched the bottle of alcohol from Soyeon’s hand.

“Are you trying to drink yourself to death?”

“It’s fine, give it back.”

“Why are you really like this?”

“Is this the first time you’ve seen me drink?”

“Yes! It’s the first time! I might expect beer, but it’s the first time I’ve seen Eom Soyeon drink liquor like water and get this drunk!”

“I said it’s fine.”

From her slurred speech to her already quite intoxicated state, Soyeon seemed far from fine in many ways.

“Hah, this is ridiculous! What’s fine about this? Representative, can you hold onto this for a bit?”

Dosoon’s idea of putting the bottle of liquor far away was to entrust it to Gu Wonhoo, who was sitting across from her.

“…?”

Why is she giving this to me…?

Wonhoo alternately looked at the bottle of liquor that had ended up in his hand and Dosoon. Then Dosoon widened her eyes and bit her lower lip as if frightening a child.

“Geez, she’s not doing well! Can’t you see she’s drunk?”

If she were sober, she wouldn’t dare behave this way to the company’s representative, but Dosoon, who was focused on taking care of her friend, was already quite drunk herself.

Wonhoo poured water into two cups in turn and placed them in front of the two women.

“I think both of you are in a bad mood, as am I. On a day like today, it’s understandable to want a drink. But let’s drink slowly. And since I’m buying, if there are any side dishes you want, please order more.”

“Really?”

“Have I ever lied to you?”

“Wow!”

There was no reason to refuse when he said he’d treat them. Dosoon, who had already momentarily gone crazy and was about to blow a month’s worth of living expenses on alcohol, smiled brightly at Gu Wonhoo as if she had met a savior.

Suddenly, he looked even more wonderful, more like a company representative than ever.

“You two have worked hard, haven’t you? These days, most of the public opinion about Eom Soyeon has turned positive, and the response to the aired drama is quite good too. As the representative of CN, it was a gathering I had to hold at some point.”

It was at the very moment Wonhoo finished speaking.

“I’m sorry. For lying.”

“?”

“?”

Wonhoo and Dosoon looked at Eom Soyeon, who suddenly blurted out those words, with bewilderment.

“I… Director… No, I… like Tae Seojun.”

“Tae Seojun?”

As Soyeon spoke slowly as if confessing, Dosoon asked for more details about what she was talking about.

“Eom Soyeon, you like Tae Seojun?”

“Yeah.”

“How much?”

“Very seriously.”

“Oh my, look at this girl? Are you confessing right now?”

“I guess so, and I felt really bad for deceiving you too.”

“What else are you sorry about? Tae Seojun is a top star among stars that everyone can’t help but like, and of course you can be infatuated with a handsome man since you have eyes too.”

“It’s not like that. I’ve liked him as a man from the beginning. Actually, I… met Tae Seojun before. A long time ago, on a day when pretty snowflakes were falling…”

Perhaps emboldened by the alcohol, Soyeon readily spoke about her deep relationship with Tae Seojun, starting from the fact that they had a history to the day they first met, leaving Dosoon dumbfounded.

“What, what is she saying? Put a flower on her head? Hah, this, I didn’t know Eom Soyeon’s habit was pseudologia fantastica!”

“It’s not a lie. Dosoon, I’m sorry I couldn’t tell you until now. And I apologize to you too, Representative.”

“Wh-what… Are you telling me to believe what you’re saying?”

“…”

Soyeon nodded her head and brought the glass of liquor to her mouth. She couldn’t bring herself to say that Tae Seojun was Hyunwoo’s father.

No matter how drunk she was, Eom Soyeon was not one to say empty words. From her disappearance to her drinking like this when she wasn’t even a heavy drinker, it meant she was facing a burdensome matter that had no answer. At least that’s what her friend of 20 years thought.

So even though Dosoon didn’t believe Soyeon’s story, she couldn’t not believe it either, and she couldn’t say anything more.

Meanwhile, Wonhoo was quietly sipping on alcohol.

Although he knew they had a deep relationship, hearing it directly from Eom Soyeon’s voice made his heart feel even heavier.