Workshop—actually, she thought it was a trip—if she couldn’t sleep because of the anticipation of it, at least she would be in a good mood.

The past that she could not remember no matter how much she racked her brain only felt uncomfortable.

An adulteress, I’m an adulteress!

…And pregnant.

She might have written it while watching a drama for fun.

“I had an affair.” It wasn’t clearly written, but I tried to run a positive circuit. However, the ambiguous words mixed with the image of my parents saying there was no need to dig up memories, induced a reasonable suspicion.

“Yuna.”
Startled, Kang Hyun, who unknowingly changed the name, shook his shoulder and froze stiffly.

“Executive Director?”
But Jia did not have time to nitpick such things. Whether she was called Secretary Seo, Seo Jian, Han Seoyoon, no titles registered in her ears.

She simply reacted because she saw Kang Hyun in front of her.

“There was no need to come to the company, so I came to pick you up. Let’s start right from here.”
“Oh, okay.”
Having opened the trunk in advance, Kang Hyun loaded Jian’s carryon next to his own luggage and opened the passenger door for her.

“What happened? Your face is pale.”
“Well, something shocking… Executive Director, do you remember the man I met at the bus stop last time, Choi Doyoung? Have you recognized him?”
“I haven’t found him yet because it’s not his real name.”
Suddenly, she thought that the man she had an affair with might be him.

“It’s strange, why can’t I remember. We drank a lot and slept together, and there’s a video.”
The man acted as if he knew her very well and made weird noises, trying to forcefully drag her away.

If the man she had an affair with was Choi Doyoung, there really might be a video.

“…Ugh!”
Jian, who thought of the worst scenario, tried to bury her expressionless face in her thighs, but was caught by the seat belt and gasped for breath.

Kang Hyun, who happened to be looking at Jian caught by the signal, saw her adorable figure and burst out laughing.

“Sorry about that.”
“It’s fine. If it’s funny, you should laugh.”
“What happened? Feel free to talk.”
“I think I opened Pandora’s box last night.”
“Pandora’s box?”
“Executive Director, if I’m deemed immoral and corrupt in society, would you fire me?”
Jian’s eyes, wrapped around her cheeks tinged with surprise, drooped down.

“For example.”
“… Like an affair.”
The insignificant past was embarrassing and Jian mumbled, repeating her contemplation.

“No, I can’t blame anyone for an affair.”
He couldn’t, considering he had once forced an affair.

“Thank you, I’m relieved.”
“Is that friend a married man?”
“Do you mean Ha Joon?”
Kang Hyun nodded. He consciously suppressed the eyebrows that were about to rise fiercely at the familiar call.

“No, he doesn’t even have a girlfriend. I found a note I wrote four years ago, and it was written in it. Like I met a married man.”
“Did Seo Jian have an affair four years ago?”
Affair, again affair.

Not long ago, a term I saw in Koo Sejun’s data asserted its presence again.

Tap tap, Kang Hyun’s finger drummed on the steering wheel.

The face of Koo Sejun, who had been disoriented by the question if he knew Seo Jian, came to mind. It seemed worth delving deeper.

“I’m not certain, but I feel like it’s right. What on earth have I been doing with my life?” I had neither studied nor worked properly. Had I been just chasing a vain dream of becoming an actress?

“Can you tell me more in detail?”
“It’s a bit embarrassing.”
“You already know all my burdens, don’t you? Let’s not discriminate.”
“I guess I wanted to become an actress while working as a contract secretary. And an affair, his wife. Phew, it even mentioned pregnancy.”
“Pregnancy?”
Kang Hyun narrowed his eyes, watching the road ahead.

There was no phrase in the information that Do Siljang had scraped up that said Seo Jian had been pregnant.

“I’m planning to go to the hospital after the workshop. I didn’t look at the medical records separately because I’m fed up with feeling sick.”
“If you need any help, let me know at any time.”
“Why can’t I remember anything at all? I thought something would come to mind when I saw the traces of the past.”
But my mind was just foggy.

“How can I let you go?” It was inexplicable why the false memories about Tae Kang Hyun, even dreamt up, felt so unfamiliar while the real ones were so strange.

“Do you want to find your memories?”
“I’m more curious than wanting to find them. How messed up my life was. Maybe I should try hypnotherapy.”
“Why bother.”
His grip on the steering wheel tightened.

There was no assurance that we would become closer than we are now when the memories returned.

Would he regard me, who pretended not to know and loitered by his side, as a monster? Would he resent me for wasting four years on a momentary delusion?

More than anything, I was scared that he might confirm once again that our love was over and turn away.

“I’ll have to take some time to think about it.”
With a deep sigh, Jian, who straightened up, took out a lunchbox from her heavy bag.

After pouring out a heap of worries, she was suddenly starving.

“Did you have breakfast?”
“Not yet. Are you hungry? It will take a while to get on the highway, should we eat before we leave?”
“No, my mom packed a lunchbox. She was so happy that I’m going to a workshop. As if she’s sending off her grownup daughter on a picnic. There’s a portion for you, too.”
Jian, who spread out kimbap, yubuchobap, and a few side dishes on her lap, first held out a kimbap to Kang Hyun’s mouth.

As if he had been waiting, the sight of him taking a bite was surprisingly cute.

“It’s delicious.”
“My mom is a good cook.”
Jian grinned, her cheeks puffed up in satisfaction.

If Seo Yoon retrieves her memories, then the parents of Seo Jian are…

The child who had spent four years believing steadfastly that they were her family.

The eyes of Kang Hyun, who had fallen into a complicated mood, were directed towards the car window. The speed of chewing and swallowing the savory grains of rice significantly slowed down.

Nothing was easy.

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