“Court?”

Ah Rin’s words pierced his heart like a dagger.

Jae Hyuk’s face fell in an instant.

“Court……”

His selfishness was the reason he couldn’t accept her divorce.

If it was for her sake, perhaps divorce would have been the better choice.

But……

“Divorce is not an option. Never……”

Jae Hyuk clenched his fists.

[Honestly, I can’t understand. It seems so selfish of you to act this way now. We’re already over.]

Ah Rin’s words from earlier echoed in his mind.

It must be absurd.

She probably couldn’t believe it if he said he loved her now.

“Still, Ah Rin, can’t you give me a chance to say I love you?”

Jae Hyuk felt foolish for not knowing his own heart in the past.

“I’ll do anything. I’ll do whatever it takes if you come back. So please give me a chance……”

He wanted to tell her all the words lingering in his mouth. But he couldn’t.

Because nothing she said was wrong.

“I hope you can make a fresh start too, Jae Hyuk.”

A fresh start……

Jae Hyuk’s heart sank.

Ah Rin looked straight into his eyes and continued.

“You can’t fix a misaligned fate. Don’t dwell on the past.”

Her words ripped through his chest like a blade.

[This is the timeline separator]

“I’ll trust that you’ll agree to the divorce.”

At her final words, he didn’t hold on any longer.

“I’ll get going first.”

He didn’t even respond.

Ah Rin got into a taxi, leaving behind a dazed Jae Hyuk.

“Driver, please go towards Moraenae Market.”

“Yes.”

The taxi started moving.

Even in the taxi, she was concerned about what was behind her.

Ah Rin looked back.

Jae Hyuk was standing where she had gotten into the taxi, looking this way.

Her heart felt strange.

As if caught stealing, Ah Rin quickly turned her body around.

“Sigh.”

A sigh flowed out between her dry lips.

“What are you doing, Choi Ah Rin?”

Although they had only been together for a short time, her head was dizzy from Jae Hyuk’s scent emanating from her body.

The unpleasant feeling that had strangled her wrist disappeared, covered by Jae Hyuk’s scent. Her heart, which had been beating irregularly with fear, quickly found stability in the warmth he provided. Her trembling body started to feel okay, as if by magic.

She couldn’t deny that it was all because of Ban Jae Hyuk.

“Don’t waver. You said it yourself. It’s simply the suspension bridge effect.”

Don’t forgive him. Yourself and that man……

Ah Rin bit her lower lip hard. Hard enough to draw blood on her lips.

Three years ago, she felt like it was her and his fault for sending their child away. So she resented him and killed herself.

“I have to say let’s end this quickly. That’s better for him and for me. Besides…… I never want to see elder lady again.”

The main reason she didn’t want to get involved with Jae Hyuk was not only because of her resentment towards him, but also because of Jung Yeo Sa who had tormented her.

“I don’t want to go through that experience anymore.”

Recalling what Jung Yeo Sa had done to her in the past sent chills down her spine.

Like Pavlov’s dog, her body trembled unconsciously.

It was a reflexive reaction.

“There will only be hardships by elder brother’s side. You know. You’ve experienced it. So just let it pass. End it with gratitude, nothing more.”

Ah Rin steeled her resolve again and again.

Not to confuse gratitude with longing.

“It’s over between elder brother and me now. You said it yourself, Choi Ah Rin.”

Ah Rin leaned back in the car seat and closed her eyes.

“Elder brother coming to find me is just a whim. So don’t worry about it. It’ll all be over once the divorce papers are signed.”

For some reason, Ah Rin’s eyes felt hot.

[This is the timeline separator]

Ah Rin took a taxi and got off near Moraenae Market.

It was her first time coming here after receiving news of the move earlier this year.

“But it would be strange to go empty-handed.”

After getting out of the taxi, Ah Rin stopped by a nearby mart.

Her feelings towards the people called family were close to love-hate. She hated them and wanted to distance herself because they were people who tormented and made her life difficult, but she couldn’t completely cut ties.

The existence of family was still hateful and resentful. It was a feeling close to love-hate. She hated them and wanted to distance herself because they were people who tormented and made her life difficult.

The thing they said to her the most was asking for money. They had even reached out to Jae Hyuk, embarrassing her more than once or twice.

During her married life, she was tormented and had a hard time because of Kyung Sook and her immature siblings. Their influence was a big factor in her decision to divorce Jae Hyuk.

But the memory of being abandoned was too great and terrifying, so she had no choice but to always give in to their demands.

There was a time when she foolishly hoped for affection from her always cold family, which she had never received even once.

[Here, eat a lot, my babies.]

Kyung Sook would give delicious things to her younger siblings, but even if there was food, she wouldn’t share it with her, yet she wouldn’t allow her to leave either.

Still, the reason she couldn’t completely cut ties was because of the expectation proportional to the time she had lived.

Ah Rin wanted to believe.

“Mother must have changed. I even got divorced…… She’ll be different from before.”

Although she was a mother who wasn’t affectionate towards her, Ah Rin still wanted to have expectations since they had lived together for a long time.

Though not related by blood, for better or worse, Choi Ah Rin was Yoon Kyung Sook’s daughter.

“I guess it’s because we’ve been living apart.”

Living with Ji Yoon and lady Seo also made her miss her family more.

“Right. She liked shine muscat grapes. Father liked tangerines.”

Ah Rin bought a small fruit basket at the mart. Walking absentmindedly, she found herself in front of a red brick multi-family house.

“This must be it. It’s not as bad as I thought. At least it seems livable.”

It was an old-looking house, but it was better than the house they used to live in.

Ah Rin went up to the 2nd floor as informed.

Ding dong.

Ah Rin waited for the door to open.

“Who is it?”

“……”

The person who came out when she knocked on the door at the address she was given was an unfamiliar woman.

“Isn’t this the residence of Yoon Kyung Sook?”

Ah Rin checked the unit number written on the front door.

202.

The address she was given was correct.

“What’s going on?”

Ah Rin had an inexplicable feeling of unease.

“No, it’s not.”

“What?”

“No one by that name lives here.”

The address her mother had given was definitely this place, but she said there was no one.

With a slight hope, Ah Rin confirmed with the unfamiliar woman several times.

“This is 3**-** Namgajwa-dong, right?”

“I’ve told you several times the address is correct. Really.”

“I’m sorry, but are you sure this isn’t Choi Soo Yong’s house?”

The unfamiliar woman, who seemed to have just woken up, answered in an annoyed voice.

“Hey. I said no. How many times do you need to check to be satisfied? I don’t know who lived here before, but we moved in a year ago. Anything else?”

“……A year ago?”

At the woman’s answer, Ah Rin’s grip loosened.

The box containing the shine muscat grapes fell down the stairs.

“Hey, what are you doing in front of someone else’s house right now……!”

The corridor became a mess as the grapes spilled out. The woman shouted angrily. But only for a moment, the shouting woman closed her mouth at Ah Rin’s expression.

“……Did you just say a year ago? You really moved in a year ago?”

“Yes, that’s what I said. Quickly clean up those fruits. What are you doing in front of someone else’s house?”

But Ah Rin couldn’t hear a thing.

“That can’t be. It hasn’t been a year since I received news from Mother about moving.”

Who was lying?

Ah Rin’s mind was in turmoil.

“Clean this all up before you go. Or I’ll report you.”

Bang.

As if she didn’t need Ah Rin’s response, the unfamiliar woman slammed the front door shut.

“I’m sorry. I’ll clean it all up.”

Ah Rin muttered words the other person couldn’t hear while looking at the closed door.

“I must have misheard the address. Right. That’s it.”

It was over the phone, so she could have mistaken the house number.

“I, I need to call Mother.”

“It can’t be that she…… me……. like that time.”

The memory of being excluded came to mind, and Ah Rin became frightened. Her hands trembled as she picked up the fruits.

“No. She said it was a mistake that time. She said she couldn’t contact me because I was on a school trip.”

Even as she thought it couldn’t be, she kept imagining the worst.

After returning from a school trip in her second year of middle school, there was no one at the house she returned to.

Kyung Sook’s close friend, Joo Young, lived in the next building, and she must have heard Ah Rin’s cries because she came running out.

[Yoon Kyung Sook, did you mean what you said then?]

Joo Young, who held her hand, uttered incomprehensible words. She said she would take her and headed to the bus stop.

Kyung Sook’s expression upon seeing her face was endlessly cold.

The words Joo Young said to Kyung Sook were still etched in her mind.

[Don’t hurt the child.]

The memory of being abandoned once before was revived.

Since then, Ah Rin tried harder to please Kyung Sook.

[The number you have dialed is currently unavailable due to the customer’s……]

On the way down to the bus stop, Ah Rin tried to contact Kyung Sook several times.

But all she got was a missed call notification.

The memory from that time made Ah Rin’s hands start to tremble.

−Mother, I’m in Seoul. I went to the address you gave me, but someone else lives there. Did you move again? Please contact me.

Ten minutes later, Ah Rin called Kyung Sook again.

[The power is off due to the customer’s situation……]

The cell phone that had been on until a while ago was turned off.

Ah Rin’s legs gave out and she plopped down.

“She said Father was released……”

Ah Rin’s father, Mr. Choi, who was the chauffeur for Chairman Ban Ho Jun, was falsely accused of stealing money and valuables.

It wasn’t true. Despite never having done such a thing, Mr. Choi was booked not for ordinary theft but for special theft on the grounds that he intentionally stole items by opening the car door at night when everyone was asleep.

Without a moment’s hesitation, Chairman Ban and lady Jung declared they had no intention of settling. Mr. Choi was arrested and sentenced to 8 years and 2 months in prison when the special theft charge was proven.

[If you listen to me well, I’ll get your father Mr. Choi out. However, if you don’t meet the conditions I want, I can’t keep my promise either.]

Lady Jung forced the marriage on Ah Rin with conditions.

Even though they weren’t related by blood, she couldn’t betray the grace of being raised by them. Even if it was a relationship that couldn’t be called family, Ah Rin, who was afraid of having no one, accepted the proposal.

In the end, she couldn’t have a child, and the promise wasn’t kept.

But earlier this year, for some reason, she received a call from her mother.

[Your father is being released.]

Last year, when news came that he would be released early, Ah Rin was puzzled. There was still a long time left in his sentence.

To such Ah Rin, her mother Kyung Sook bluntly said,

[They said it’s because your father lived diligently.] [Diligently?] [Yes. So you should know.]

Ah Rin couldn’t ask more due to Kyung Sook’s attitude of avoiding the subject. Time passed quickly and the day before Mr. Choi’s release arrived.

[Father is being released tomorrow, so I’ll come too.]

Anyway, she thought it was her duty as a daughter for her father who had suffered.

However, Kyung Sook firmly refused.

[What’s so good that you’re coming? Your father is fine. Come when he’s settled.] [Still.] [Jeju Island isn’t close to Seoul. Just stay.]

Not wanting to doubt her mother Kyung Sook’s words, Ah Rin said okay and hung up the phone.

It felt somewhat strange, but she concluded it was her way of saying it would be a hassle for her to come all the way from Jeju Island to Seoul.

And not long after that, she received a call from Kyung Sook.

[We moved.] [Moved? Where to?] [I’ll text you the address. If you want to come, contact me in advance. Don’t just show up.]

It hadn’t even been a year since then.

Since then, Kyung Sook occasionally replied to her text messages but never answered her calls.

She was anxious, but still she thought it couldn’t be……