Having visited the department store for the first time in a while, Eunchae entered several jewelry stores and chose a men’s bracelet. Unlike before, she was careful in her selection.

After considering a few places, she bought one at a representative brand called Quattro Line. It was a sleek white gold bracelet with a sophisticated graphic design, resembling intertwined ropes, fixed as a bangle.

It suited her sturdy and straight wrist perfectly, fitting well with her rather large hands.

Looking down at her left hand, Eunchae glanced at the ring she had received as a gift from Kijoo. It was an undeniably beautiful ring that matched her taste so well.

If only he liked it this much. It made her heart flutter as if she was receiving a gift for no reason. She wanted to give him a matching ring from the same brand, but it was not practical to wear couple rings at this time.

It might seem childish, and Eunchae chuckled softly as she moved to a cafe.

Having entrusted the shopping bag to the bodyguard who followed her, she received coffee and milk donuts. While heading back, she accidentally bumped shoulders with a middle-aged man rushing from the opposite direction. Luckily, the coffee and donuts didn’t spill. When the bodyguard tried to push the man away, Eunchae intervened, blocking him with her hand.

“You dropped this.”

The man who had bumped into her held something out. Looking at the hand extended towards her, Eunchae noticed it was a satin hairband inside the man’s crossbody bag.

“Oh, thank you.”

As Eunchae nodded her head to express gratitude, the man half-closed his eyes, smiled, and walked away.

Wasn’t he coming this way? Eunchae, who was pondering this with a playful smile, sat at a table, put the hairband into her bag, and ate the donuts.

It had a moderately sweet taste. So, without getting tired of it, she could finish it all. While sipping her coffee and swallowing, Eunchae fixed her gaze on the shopping bag placed on the chair.

“…….”

Suddenly, she worried if there might be a misunderstanding due to the gifts. Such a thing had never happened before.

Tapping her crossed leg, Eunchae looked back on the time since her reunion with Kijoo. She vividly remembered what she had done.

She lied about sleeping with Han Seungyoon and even went to the extent of leaving Kijoo alone in the elevator to enter the room, demonstrating to him. She ignored him multiple times as if to say, “Figure out the theme or something.” If he had the same feelings now, he would have been quite hurt.

Of course, in the process, she herself was hurt at times, but that was the squirming of a man whose emotions were not conveyed, and he always had warm hands.

Thinking about it this way, accepting him as a second while deciding on revenge was half successful. Initially, the man was in a state of not expressing his emotions, and he always had warm hands.
Eunchae smiled weakly. However, it meant nothing to my past self. Even if I were to go back, I would make the same decision without knowing anything, and I would still inflict the same pain. And again, I would waver.

Taking her eyes off the shopping bag, Eunchae stood up and put her hand in the coat pocket. The phone she should have grabbed wasn’t there, and the pocket was empty. Even after rummaging through her bag and checking with the store, the phone seemed to have suddenly evaporated.

Returning to the cafe with an awkward expression, Eunchae fell into deep thought.

“You dropped this.”

There was no other moment it could have happened.

However, in broad daylight at a department store?

Eunchae sighed. She recalled Kijoo’s voice telling her to call if something happened. But with no phone, making a call was impossible.

The bodyguard, who had reported the lost item to the department store and checked the CCTV according to the time of movement, couldn’t find anything unusual.

Eunchae personally checked the video footage brought in for the suspected time. Although the CCTV camera was positioned above, making hand movements hard to see, even at the moment she collided with the middle-aged man, nothing seemed to have happened.

“Let’s go home for now.”

Abandoning any lingering feelings, Eunchae headed to the VIP parking lot.

There wasn’t much in her phone. Due to her organized and neat personality, she regularly cleaned up anything like messages that could reveal personal information.

Ah, I should have bought a new phone while I was out.

Looking at the landscape passing by beyond the window, Eunchae, who belatedly thought about it, postponed it to later due to the annoying feeling. There wasn’t anything important she needed to be contacted about. Maybe because she concentrated on choosing gifts, her mind wanted to quickly bathe in warm water, feeling sluggish.

When she climbed the shallow stairs and entered the house, the resident employees greeted her, showing a busier movement than usual. Wondering about the seemingly hectic situation, she turned her body, and an irritated voice reached her from the dining room.