Well, if it was Sooyoung, why would she press the door lock instead of knocking on the door? Maybe it was because it was uncomfortable with the crutch.

“Say hello.”

Following behind Naeun and coming in, Wujin dryly replied, sitting on the sofa.

“I’m here.”

The dry face and dry greeting clearly showed the meaning contained in them. Why did you come…

Although the greeting that stabbed her side made her heart hurt, Naeun, who had done her best to remain calm, changed the subject.

“Today, is the housekeeper not here? Did she finish work?”

“It’s not the housekeeper, it’s Kim Sooyoung. Don’t you know her name?”

“…I forgot.”

Although Wujin and Naeun both knew that there was no way, they both pretended not to know.

“I sent the modified manuscript by email. What’s going on?”

“Tomorrow is Christmas. I came because I have something to give you.”

Although she tried to say it calmly, a feeling of disappointment was clearly evident.

“…Don’t bother. With such things.”

“It’s my heart.”

“Still, don’t.”

It was a clear refusal. Not you. I can’t do what your heart desires.

If it had been like before, even if the thought of refusal came up, I would have comforted myself that it was a misunderstanding. I would have denied that.

However, now it was impossible.

Naeun bit her lip, took out a wrapped box, and muttered while holding it.

Knowing that putting effort into wrapping it prettily was useless, she brought it just like that, covered with paper with a product mark from the store.
“This, I bought it thinking of you.”

As Naeun spoke, Wujin’s eyes caught sight of two canes placed on one side of the sofa.

If there hadn’t been a heart sticker attached to the handle, he would have thought it was a cane he had given as a gift.

Wujin wondered what she had brought, so he quietly focused on her next words. However, she remained silent.

After a while, she said coldly,

“A cane?”

However, Wujin continued to gaze in her direction without saying a word.

“I bought it for you?”

Inquiring with a hint of uncertainty, the response that came back was indifferent.

“No.”

“Did that girl named Sooyoung buy it for you?”

Wujin did not answer, but the childish heart sticker attached to the handle clearly indicated that a response was unnecessary.

“You don’t use a cane, though.”

“…I’m trying.”

“When I bought it for you, you threw it away, saying to stop treating you like a disabled person.”

Although the words contained more reproach than a feeling of hurt, Wujin remained consistently indifferent, as if to say it was not her concern.

“…I’m going to try using it now.”

“Why?”

“…”

As Wujin did not respond, Naeun asked again.

Since witnessing the intense exchange of lips between the two, there had been a question she wanted to ask all along.

“Why can she do it when I can’t?”

“…”

“What’s different?”

Upon hearing this, Wujin sighed quietly. It was not an expression of pity or irritation.

From high school until now, Naeun had known him, but the expression she saw now was something she had never seen before.

“Sorry, Naeun.”

It was a new expression accompanied by a phrase she had never heard before.