The suppressed tears welled up all at once.

Ra Jin opened her mouth and shook her shoulders.

Even though she was alone, she didn’t cry out loud.

It had become a habit to suppress her emotions.

She knew early on that crying wouldn’t solve anything, so no matter how hard it was, she never cried.

But now, she couldn’t hold it back any longer.

She felt sorry for a child who hadn’t even been born or considered.
The child who would be born as her own felt pitiable, and she couldn’t bear the thought of being nothing more than this existence.

Her hands, which had been covering her mouth, began to clutch at her chest.

In the midst of the long ringing, the phone call stopped.

“Sob, ugh…”

Ra Jin’s sobbing filled the silence that had descended, and the ringing of the phone resumed frighteningly.

In her blurred vision, she saw Jae Heon’s name on the phone screen.
She was grateful to have someone who accepted her for who she was, and even though it might be a temporary contractual relationship, she felt inadequate standing by his side.

Nevertheless, she was thankful that she never forgot her purpose.

If she had ever let herself imagine a future with Jae Heon, even for a fleeting moment, the weight of the misery she felt now would have been many times heavier.

“Thank you… and I’m sorry…”
She needed to find a way for him to sleep without her as soon as possible, even if it was just for a short while.

Then, she would leave cleanly and neatly.

She would never cling, never leave any lingering feelings, and live as if she had never known him from the beginning.

That was the only thing she could do for Jae Heon.

At the same time, Ra Jin made a vow.

She would never have a child.
As she grew up, the feeling that the sadness, despair, emptiness, resignation, and futility she had experienced might be felt by the child she had borne overwhelmed her.

“I can bear these emotions on my own. I will never… make them feel this pain.”

Ra Jin held onto the phone, which kept ringing incessantly, and sobbed for a while, still sitting there.

Jae Heon’s expression when he put down the phone did not look good.
“…Why isn’t she picking up?”

She had already tried calling several times, but Ra Jin hadn’t answered once.

Why could that be? What happened? Could she have fallen asleep and forgotten?

Yeah, that’s possible.

As she thought about it, an uneasy feeling washed over her.

“Well, then at least leave a simple message.”

She had said to contact her as soon as she got home, but it seemed like she wasn’t listening. Did she not even think about the person waiting for her?
As he returned home and realized that he hadn’t sat down in a chair even once, instead anxiously pacing around, Jae Heon suddenly chuckled.

Seo Jae used to come in and immediately sit down at his desk, dedicating himself to work for hours.

“Was I really this impatient?”

He had never waited so anxiously for someone’s call or been so nervous about not receiving a message, not even once.
These emotions, these actions, these thoughts, all of them were things he was experiencing for the first time because of her.

For him, Ra Jin was synonymous with the word ‘first.’

With a determined sweep of his hand through his hair, Jae Heon decided to try contacting her once more.

After all, there was no point in just sitting there, and a sense of competition burned within him, as if challenging someone to a futile game.

As he reached for the phone, haphazardly placed on the table.

Ding.

A message had arrived.
It was Ra Jin.

His forehead, which quickly checked the message, furrowed even more.

“…Hah.”

Ra Jin’s message was unusually formal.

Didn’t they call each other lovers after work?

“It feels like I’ve turned into a boss who contacts you on your day off.”

He immediately called Ra Jin.

No, even after sharing a kiss and parting ways, was he still stuck in “Secretary Mode”?
Her lips still felt tingly, and her insides were warm.

The memory of the goodbye kiss with Ra Jin kept coming to mind, and she was fighting the urge to run back to her.

Even though they were apart, her thoughts were filled with Ra Jin, but it seemed like Ra Jin had completely forgotten about her, which felt unfair.

To be honest, her anxiety was greater than her sense of unfairness.

It seemed like Ra Jin was thinking of her only as a business partner.

…No, a business partner was what she was, after all.
Although she found Ra Jin cute, lovely, and beautiful, and even considered marrying her, she knew their relationship was contractual.

“Anyway, lovers are lovers,” she thought.

But why wasn’t she answering the phone? Could it be that she was avoiding it again?

As she grew more anxious.

Her voice came through.
Momentarily relieved but unable to contain his built-up anxiety and frustration, Jae Heon blurted out unintentionally.