A Rin quickly left the department store. She got into a taxi that was parked in front of the hotel.

“Driver, please go to Yeonnam-dong.”

“Okay.”

The tension was relieved only after the taxi started. A Rin leaned her body against the car seat and closed her eyes.

Thump, thump. Her heart was pounding abnormally.

‘You ended it well.’

Now that she thought about it, the time when she left the divorce papers unilaterally without clearly sorting out the relationship seemed to have been wrapped in feelings of hatred and resentment, but she thought that she wasn’t ready to let him go.

While saying that she had forgotten him, in fact, she couldn’t truly let Jae Hyuk out of her heart. But she realized it after he appeared again, telling her to come back to him.

That being with him, who was clumsy in relationships and love, would only bring pain.

After stamping the divorce papers, she felt like everything was over. It definitely was.

‘It’s natural to feel something when you meet a man you loved before, even if not now. It’s because it was an unexpected encounter. That’s all.’

When she thought of Jae Hyuk’s face, it felt like her heart, which seemed like it couldn’t sink any lower, sank with a thump.

A Rin squeezed her closed eyes even tighter. She wanted to erase all of Jae Hyuk’s face that was messing up her mind.

[This is the timeline separator]

Memoria Yeonnam-dong workshop.

“A Rin. You’re here?”

Yu Hyun greeted A Rin, who entered through the door, with joy.

“Sorry, oppa. Eat first.”

However, without even looking at Yu Hyun, A Rin put the paper bag with sushi on the table and went out quickly as if someone would catch her.

“Huh? Where are you going, hyung?”

“I’ll be back in a bit.”

“What? What about the food?”

“Sorry, you guys eat first.”

Taking off his apron, Yu Hyun left a message to Cheol Yong and Su Han and chased after A Rin.

Yu Hyun ran out of the building. He looked around for A Rin’s traces. He spotted her walking quickly across the street.

“A Rin!”

Yu Hyun called out to A Rin in a loud voice. Perhaps because of the noise of the passing cars, she didn’t look back.

“A Rin.”

Yu Hyun called out to A Rin in an even louder voice. But still, she just walked quickly forward.

Just then, the signal changed. He ran towards her. He ran, holding back his breath that was rising up to his chin. And, as he wished, he was able to get close enough to touch her hand.

Yu Hyun quickly grabbed A Rin’s wrist.

“What’s going on?”

It wasn’t difficult for him to notice her strangeness.

“A Rin, how can you go like this? Did something happen?”

“Let go, oppa.”

“A Rin.”

Far from turning back, A Rin only repeated the words to let her go.

“…Let go.”

A very small and sobbing voice flowed from her small and pretty lips.

“A Rin?”

Yu Hyun’s eyes fell on A Rin’s round shoulders. Her body was trembling weakly. He stood in front of her, holding her hand. He couldn’t continue his words after seeing her face.

A Rin was crying.

“Who said what to you?”

Yu Hyun’s expression became serious. He stared at her with eyes that sank as deep as the sea.

“…It’s not like that.”

As if she didn’t want to show her face to Yu Hyun, A Rin lowered her head deeply. But he was persistent too. He cupped her cheeks with both hands and lifted her head to make eye contact with him.

“Then what happened at the department store?”

She was fine until the phone call a while ago.

But why so suddenly?

Yu Hyun asked with a worried heart.

“No…”

“Tell oppa. Something happened, right?”

“It’s nothing much. Oppa.”

“A Rin.”

“Just… It’s just that the store ended well today… Since it was the first day, I was really nervous and all, so that’s why.”

She couldn’t look straight into Yu Hyun’s eyes, afraid that her lie would be caught.

A Rin desperately turned her head to avoid his gaze. She lied to him. She couldn’t bring herself to say that she met Jae Hyuk.

‘I’m sorry, oppa.’

Emotions welled up. A Rin bit her lower lip tightly.

‘I can’t tell you of all people that it’s because of that person. I’m sorry.’

A Rin knew Yu Hyun’s love well. Even if she couldn’t accept his heart, she didn’t want to hurt him.

“It hurts, oppa. Let me go.”

At the words that it hurt, Yu Hyun let go of her.

Tears that didn’t read the room flowed out. A Rin rubbed her eyes with her hands to wipe away the tears. Moisture was all over the back of her hand.

Yu Hyun’s gaze fell on the back of A Rin’s hand and didn’t move. His face was dark.

“Really?”

“Yeah. You know, oppa. I was really nervous. I’m just like this because the tension has been released.”

In the end, she wiped away all the tears that had gathered in her eyes. Her eyes stung from rubbing them roughly, but she didn’t care.

A Rin gritted her teeth.

‘Yeah. It’s because he was the first. That’s all.’

There was something that couldn’t be completely erased from life even if you tried to erase the special meaning given by that first moment.

The reason why her heart fluttered like this when she saw Ban Jae Hyuk was not because of any lingering feelings, but because he was her first.

First love, first man.

‘That’s why. Simply because I liked him for a long time.’

A Rin, who had made up her mind, raised her head. She smiled at him. As if it was nothing.

However, that smile came across as a wound to Yu Hyun instead. He clenched his fists tightly and stared at her face silently.

‘It’s a lie. Something happened.’

Yu Hyun knew A Rin better than anyone else. In fact, even she herself didn’t think he would believe her lie. She just hoped that he would pretend not to know.

“What on earth…”

“Oppa, just pretend you don’t know. Just…”

Yu Hyun decided to do as A Rin wished, swallowing the truth behind his throat.

“Okay.”

Yu Hyun felt stuffy with frustration in the pit of his stomach. Yu Hyun hid his true feelings and gently stroked A Rin’s cheek.

‘Okay. If what you want is for me to pretend I don’t know… I’ll do that.’

The moment their eyes met, Yu Hyun put on a smile. She felt guilty looking at him smiling at her.

“Thank you, oppa.”

Yu Hyun’s lips quivered. Still, A Rin couldn’t give him the answer he wanted.

[This is the timeline separator]

Jae Hyuk, who was in the process of acquiring the department store, visited LW Department Store.

The meeting with Ha Yeon was scheduled for next Wednesday at 12 PM, and the location was also set to be at VAN headquarters, not LW Department Store.

But yesterday, Ha Yeon suddenly requested a change in schedule.

He didn’t like it when schedules got messed up. He refused, not wanting to. Ha Yeon persistently pleaded.

In the end, Jae Hyuk accepted her proposal.

If things had gone according to plan, he wouldn’t have come here at this time. So he wasn’t supposed to run into A Rin.

The schedule changed, and he ended up facing her.

“Hah.”

Jae Hyuk let out a deep sigh.

‘A Rin… I guess I did it to see you.’

It felt like being led by fate. It seemed like that fate had brought him in front of A Rin.

Jae Hyuk staggered.

“Are you alright?”

Instead of answering, Jae Hyuk raised his hand to say he was fine.

Section Chief Han looked at Jae Hyuk with sympathetic eyes. The secretaries, including him, witnessed the reunion of Jae Hyuk and A Rin.

In the heavy silence, no one could easily open their mouths. The silence continued all the way to the 14th floor office.

Thump, thump. Jae Hyuk’s heart was beating fast.

‘A Rin.’

He excruciatingly realized that his existence would only be a wound to her. So he desperately tried not to appear in front of her.

Fortunately, A Rin’s sphere of life was not wide. Since she lived in Jeju Island, the probability of meeting her was low if he didn’t go to Jeju Island. So he didn’t go even when a business trip to Jeju Island came up.

After hearing the news through Section Chief Han that Memoria had opened in Yeonnam-dong, he didn’t go to Yeonnam-dong, Yeonhee-dong, or even Sinchon and Hongdae.

He avoided places where A Rin was likely to appear and cut off all ties connected to her.

Perhaps because of that effort?

He couldn’t see A Rin even once after the divorce.

‘People’s words that if you don’t see them, you can forget them a little more easily are a blatant lie.’

But A Rin’s presence in his heart didn’t fade just because he didn’t meet her. No, it only became clearer. His longing for her also grew in size.

Feelings of longing and regret repeatedly swallowed him and spat him out, leaving countless scars on his heart.

‘A Rin.’

Even though he knew he had no right to regret, he was filled with regret.

He knew well that he had no right to utter it out loud. After A Rin left, he couldn’t utter her name out loud. Afraid that his longing feelings would be heard, he always rolled her name inside his mouth as if chewing it.

‘Even though I know I have no right to miss you, I couldn’t dare let you go.’

Why couldn’t he do anything but that back then?

Whenever he thought of A Rin, he had to be consumed by the regret and apology that came over him.

‘I love you. A Rin… And I’m sorry.’

He had to swallow countless times by himself the words that A Rin so desperately wanted to hear… The words he couldn’t say when she wanted them.

He decided to bear the cruel punishment of having to carry the apology and guilt for the rest of his life until the light of his life went out.

Even if it was an indelible past, even if it was a cowardly self-justification, it was the only atonement he could make for hurting her.

Thinking of that name that felt overwhelming just by thinking about it, he roughly wiped his face.

His heart, which had found its owner, was beating quickly. So fast that it seemed like it would burst.

She was much more gorgeous than he imagined.

‘You’re even more beautiful. Our A Rin.’

Jae Hyuk thought his decision to let A Rin go was the best choice he had ever made in the world.

‘You were shining. You looked like a living person.’

In his memory, she was like a withered flower waiting for death without vitality. She seemed to have lost the will to live, not living because she wanted to live, but living because she couldn’t die. It was an excellent choice for her to leave him.

The current her was shining and sparkling. As if proving that she could only live by leaving him, she was living a human-like and wonderful life.

A pain that felt like living flesh was being cut out washed over him. His heart ached.

Recalling her sobbing with her face buried in his arms in a very old fragment of memory, his mouth felt bitter.

‘Yeah… You’re fine without me. Smile and live like now. I’ll take on the hard part.’

It was a cruel truth, but it was the only thing he could do for A Rin.

[This is the timeline separator]

Jae Hyuk went up to the top floor of LW Department Store. As he opened the door and entered, Ha Yeon stood up as if she had been waiting and greeted Jae Hyuk.

“You’re here.”

“Next time, I’d appreciate it if you don’t arbitrarily change the schedule like this. We’re not playing house, are we? Director Min and I aren’t on friendly terms either.”

Perhaps because he had just met A Rin?

Jae Hyuk’s eyes were more vicious than ever.

“Let’s cut to the chase and hear why you wanted to see me today.”

Jae Hyuk was sharper than usual. Ha Yeon felt a little strange seeing him express his emotions unlike his usual self. But she didn’t have the leisure to think deeply about his condition.

The situation wasn’t easy for Ha Yeon either.

“That kind of thing won’t happen in the future. Today, I urgently contacted you because I had something I must tell you.”

“If it’s about work…”

“No. Have a seat first. Before talking about work, there’s something I must tell you.”