‘These are nothing but crocodile tears.’

Choi A Rin’s gaze towards Yun Kyung Sook grew even colder.

‘I don’t pity her and I don’t want to help her.’

A Rin was surprised to realize that she felt nothing looking at Kyung Sook, whom she once so desperately wanted to be loved by.

A Rin shook off Kyung Sook’s hand. Surprised, Kyung Sook looked at her daughter with a bewildered expression.

“I didn’t come here to listen to this.”

“You!”

“I came because you said you contacted Ban Jae Hyuk. Don’t contact that man. You have nothing to do with him. And you say you need money? You don’t have any?”

“I wouldn’t say so if I did.”

“If you don’t have money…”

A Rin’s eyes turned to the glittering jewelry Kyung Sook was wearing.

“If you sell everything you’re wearing now, it should be enough for treatment costs for a while, right?”

“W-what are you saying?”

Belatedly noticing A Rin’s gaze, Kyung Sook hid her gold jewelry behind her back.

“And all the money you lived so well on because of me, where did it all go?”

“T-that was during your father’s treatment.”

“Don’t lie!”

Jae Hyuk had provided living expenses and housing to the Choi family and Kyung Sook since he married A Rin. It was done with A Rin’s permission.

Support for Kyung Sook and Choi continued even after A Rin left Jae Hyuk.

Until Choi was released early and Kyung Sook unilaterally cut off contact, A Rin had sent part of the Jeju Memoria profits to Kyung Sook’s account every month as living expenses.

Moreover, during the divorce proceedings, Jae Hyuk had handed over his apartment instead of alimony, but even that ended up in Kyung Sook’s hands. This was because Kyung Sook started living there without permission when she found out her daughter had received it. At the time, A Rin had no regrets about the apartment and handed it over without hesitation.

“L-lie? A Rin, how dare you speak to your mother like that. I told you to use words if you have complaints, didn’t I? You’re not a child, why are you grumbling like this? Are you going through delayed puberty?”

This person she once called ‘mother’ and showered with affection was now someone she didn’t even want to exchange words with.

A Rin spoke in a calm voice.

“I’m not angry and I’m more rational now than ever before.”

“Then why are you acting like this?”

“You don’t seem willing to listen even if I explain, so it would only hurt my mouth to speak.”

“Choi A Rin, you!”

“I won’t be giving you any more money, so don’t expect it. The same goes for Ban Jae Hyuk.”

Kyung Sook pointed at A Rin and shouted.

“Are you going to take responsibility if your father dies like this? Huh? It’s practically the same as you killing him, are you going to pretend you don’t know?”

It wasn’t that her heart didn’t ache seeing her father’s pitiful state. Unlike Kyung Sook, she remembered him as a relatively affectionate father.

But even that was just a relative effect.

‘Come to think of it now, it’s practically the same as doing nothing. It was neglect. That’s what this person did to me.’

Choi had neglected A Rin. The reason he was remembered as a good father was because he was next to the cold Kyung Sook. Compared to Kyung Sook, even doing one thing made Choi seem quite affectionate.

A Rin reached out her hand to Choi’s head.

“Choi A Rin, what are you doing?”

Before Kyung Sook could stop her, what little hair Choi had left was grasped in her palm. Surprised, Kyung Sook let out a scream.

“It’s nothing.”

She quickly hid the hair in her pocket. Fortunately, Kyung Sook didn’t seem to notice what she had done.

A Rin turned to look at Kyung Sook.

“I’ll say it again, don’t expect any help from me in the future.”

“Choi A Rin, you.”

“The one who abandoned me first… was you.”

“You, did you just call me ‘you’?”

It took a really long time to admit that she wasn’t her real mother.

“I know. I know that you’re not my birth mother.”

It was a time when she struggled desperately, afraid of being abandoned by people who didn’t even consider her family. For a long time, she suffered alone.

“I know everything about my real parents being elsewhere.”

Why was it so hard to say this one thing?

A Rin looked straight at Kyung Sook. She seemed quite surprised that A Rin knew, her eyes trembling violently.

“Y-you, what did you just say? When? How did you! No, this isn’t right.”

Kyung Sook stammered. A Rin stepped closer to her.

“I’ve known for a long time. Since you’re not my real family, I have no reason to help you at all.”

Kyung Sook’s face turned deathly pale.

“I want to legally end my relationship with you. I’ll be doing a DNA test, so please cooperate.”

“Hey! Choi A Rin, you.”

“Then I’ll be going now.”

“Hey! Where are you going! What about the money! What about the money!”

Kyung Sook’s reason for holding her back was only one.

Money.

A Rin removed her grasping hand without hesitation and left the hospital room.

[This is the timeline separator]

After revealing the secret, A Rin ran out of the hospital as if fleeing.

Despite having thought things through a lot and reassuring herself that her heart wouldn’t ache like before, her heart completely crumbled.

Until the moment A Rin left, Kyung Sook didn’t ask how she found out, why she hadn’t said anything all this time, or how much it had hurt.

Instead,

[Are you saying you’ll ignore the bond we’ve formed? If it weren’t for me, you’d already be dead. Pay me back for raising you before you go. Can’t you hear me?]

Kyung Sook was focused on ‘money talk’ until the end. With a face gripped by fear of losing her source of money, she kept holding on and holding on.

“Sob sob.”

Her legs trembled. In the end, A Rin couldn’t go far and slumped down on a bench in front of the hospital.

“Haa. It’s all over. I said it well.”

She took out Choi’s hair from her pocket. Seeing the short strands on her palm, thinned by long chemotherapy, tears poured out even more. A Rin’s slender shoulders shook violently.

The beings she once called ‘parents’ were now so resentful. Moreover,

“It would be better if I could just hate them… Why can’t I?”

She knew that human emotions couldn’t be cut cleanly like with a knife in an instant, but the feeling of ‘affection’ born over the long years entangled under the name of ‘family’ kept tugging at her heart.

How long had it been?

Feeling someone sit next to her, she turned her head. Beside her was a middle-aged woman with an air of dignity.

“Use this to wipe your tears.”

The middle-aged woman held out a white handkerchief with lace trim to A Rin.

“…Thank you.”

A Rin received the handkerchief in a daze. A cracked voice flowed from between her dry lips.

The middle-aged woman smiled and said.

“Your pretty face is ruined.”

“…”

A gentle voice like jade beads rolling, quiet and beautiful like gentle waves, flowed from between the middle-aged woman’s lips.

A Rin felt strange at the woman’s smile, unfamiliar yet not unfamiliar.

“It’s such a nice day, it’s too wasteful to just cry. It hurts my heart to see a pretty young lady crying.”

“…”

“Look at the sky.”

A Rin looked up at the sky at the middle-aged woman’s words. As she said, the high sky was so blue and the white fluffy clouds were as pretty as a picture.

What happened next was strange. Her heart, which had been engulfed by the rushing sadness, began to calm down as if by magic.

“It’s pretty, isn’t it?”

“…Yes.”

“You’re as pretty as that sky.”

The middle-aged woman’s words seemed to be filled with sincerity.

“It would be too sad later if you only cry at such a pretty age. So I want you to smile as prettily as your pretty face.”

Maybe that’s why?

Even though she thought it was an illusion, the middle-aged woman’s words seemed to resonate more.

After that, there was no more conversation between the two. They just sat side by side, quietly watching the clouds drift by.

‘How long has it been?’

Before she knew it, the tears that had filled her eyes had all dried up.

She didn’t know exactly how much time had passed, but realizing that the sky that had been blue earlier was now tinged with red, she realized quite a long time had passed. It was time to part ways.

“I kept you for too long. Thank you for staying by my side.”

A Rin met the middle-aged woman’s eyes and bowed her head.

“I stayed because I wanted to be with you. Thanks to you, I got to enjoy the sky comfortably for the first time in a long while, so I’m the one who’s grateful.”

‘Is it too funny to say I felt comfortable with someone I just met?’

A Rin thought as she looked at the middle-aged woman who had stayed by her side for so long.

“Thank you so much.”

“What did I do?”

“Just being here with me was a big help. Thank you so much.”

“Thank you for thinking that way.”

The middle-aged woman’s face twisted strangely as she spoke.

“Are you in pain somewhere?”

“No. I just had a stray thought…”

The middle-aged woman had composed her expression and was smiling, but somehow A Rin felt she looked sad.

Her heart stirred.

“Ah, what should I do about the handkerchief? I can’t give it back to you since it’s dirty…”

She looked down at the handkerchief she had received from the middle-aged woman. Having cried her eyes out, she couldn’t return the soiled handkerchief as is.

“Hmm… I’d be fine taking it back as is, but if you’re concerned…”

The middle-aged woman trailed off and took out a piece of paper from her bag.

“Call me when you have time.”

A Rin received the memo with the middle-aged woman’s contact information.

‘Should I ask her name?’

While she hesitated, the middle-aged woman said her final goodbye first.

“As much as you’ve struggled, only good things will happen from now on.”

It was warm. Words that felt sincere.

“Take care on your way home.”

“Thank you, call me.”

In the end, she couldn’t ask the middle-aged woman’s name until the very end.

She had received her contact information but didn’t know her name.

[This is the timeline separator]

A few days later.

“Son, let’s talk.”

From early morning, without warning, Lady Jung barged into Jae Hyuk’s office.

“Are you really going to do this? What are you so angry at your mother about!”

Whatever had irritated her nerves again, Lady Jung yelled as soon as she entered. Jae Hyuk gestured for the secretary in the office to leave.

“What do you mean?”

He put down the documents he was holding and walked past Lady Jung to sit on the sofa.

“Sit down first.”

“Do I look like I’m in the mood to sit?”

Jae Hyuk’s head throbbed every time he saw his mother these days.

‘Even though she was obsessed with her son, I don’t think she was this emotional…’

He pressed his temples as he recalled the ‘words’ Lady Jung habitually said.

[Do you know how terrible and hard menopause is for a woman? Can’t you, as my son, understand even that about your mother? I never once complained while cleaning up after you. Why are you treating your mother like this?]

Sure enough, Lady Jung repeated the same words this time too. She demanded one-sided understanding, saying her emotional changes were due to the physiological changes of ‘menopause’.