Woo-jin hesitated for a moment, wondering whether to answer, then touched the screen.

“Yes.”

Mr. Kwon, can I come to your place?

“Are you outside?”

Yeon-seo sounded startled as she replied.

How did you know?

“You always call when you’re outside.”

Ah, hahaha!

Her loud laughter rang out, causing Woo-jin to slightly frown.

So, can I come up? If it’s inconvenient, I can go back.

She always asked this upon arriving at his house. If it had been Ji-hyun, she would have told her to go away, but he couldn’t do that to Yeon-seo.

He let out a soft sigh.

“Come in.”

Yay! Okay!

Yeon-seo’s ridiculous cheer made Woo-jin’s brow furrow again. He was genuinely curious about her face. Was it as young and cute as her voice? Or was it just the voice?

Yeon-seo always smelled of lemons, as fresh as her voice. Woo-jin thought the best decision Ji-hyun made in her life was marrying her.

“Give me your hand.”

As Woo-jin extended his hand, Yeon-seo placed a bottle of a new drink on it.

“What’s this?”

“It’s a new drink from the food development department. Try it.”

“Do I look like a beta tester?”

“If Mr. Kwon says it’s good, it really is. Everyone’s looking forward to your opinion.”

Woo-jin lightly opened the bottle and took a sip of the drink inside.

“How is it?”

Yeon-seo watched his expression closely. Woo-jin licked his lips, savoring the taste for a moment, then closed the bottle again.

“Tastes the same as the juice I had before.”

Yeon-seo, who had been staring at him, asked in surprise.

“Really? Even with the added strawberry flavor?”

“I can’t really tell.”

“Of course. Our Mr. Kwon is the best.”

Yeon-seo was the head of the food development team at Sam Foods, an affiliate of her father’s company.

Ever since she became friends with Woo-jin, she would have him taste any new products they developed. His taste assessments were more accurate than most professional tasters.
Initially, Woo-jin was displeased when Yeon-seo asked him to taste unfamiliar foods, but gradually he let himself be used by her due to her innocent insistence.

It was also a form of consideration for Ji-hyun.

“This isn’t just to have me test something, right? What’s up? You don’t have any side dishes with you, and it doesn’t seem like you’re here to see Ji-hyun.”

Despite it possibly being unpleasant for a sister-in-law to always refer to her husband as Ji-hyun, Yeon-seo didn’t seem to mind and cheerfully said,

“You’re sharp as always. I wanted to ask your permission for something.”

“What permission?”

“I want to scout Mrs. Jo Young-mi, who comes to your house…”

“Out of the blue?”

“No, every time I come here, your house is so clean. It’s like a model home. But now she’s injured her back, and her niece is working instead, right? Since her niece is coming here anyway, I thought about asking Mrs. Jo to come to our place once she’s better…”

“What’s your motive in doing this?”

Suddenly, Woo-jin’s pumpkin-colored eyes became cold, and his voice chilled as well. Even simple-minded Yeon-seo immediately realized that Woo-jin was upset.

“There’s no ulterior motive…”

“Are you trying to set her up with me?”

“What? No, I mean…”

Stung by his direct hit, Yeon-seo was greatly flustered and also felt doomed.

“Would a sister-in-law really want someone visually impaired like me to date or marry? Would she?”

Yeon-seo’s face turned red. She hadn’t thought about that. After all, who was talking about marriage?

“Don’t carelessly meddle with others’ lives.”

Woo-jin abruptly stood up and went to his room. The door slammed loudly.

Yeon-seo pressed her hand against her racing heart, trying to calm her breathing. She had touched a nerve. What now!

Knowing that the repercussions would directly affect her husband, Yeon-seo felt even more frightened.

He realized he had been rude to his sister-in-law but was still angry, not at her but at himself.

When Yeon-seo asked if she could scout the former housekeeper for her place, he was intrigued. Maybe then she would keep coming to our house.

But then a part of his head felt numb. Keep coming? What then? What am I going to do with her?

In a fit of anger, Woo-jin raised his arms to sweep everything off the desk but slowly lowered them again.

If things flew all around, setting them back in place was one thing, but he might trip or get hurt before that.

If he got hurt, it would be difficult to treat the wound because he couldn’t see. It’s my body, yet I can’t take care of it.

He slowly sat down on the floor and then started crawling on all fours. Like eight years ago, he crawled under the desk, hugged his knees, and buried his face in his arms.

Only then did he feel safe.

Maple and ginkgo trees were abundant in the apartment complex.

Soo-yeong felt a bit guilty towards the trees but deliberately picked a few big and pretty leaves still attached to them, rather than the ones that had fallen to the ground.