Wiping the tears remaining in the corners of her eyes in irritation, Ji Yeon Hwa muttered.

“What the hell is up with this guy. Could it be that he’s caught on to something?”

The house in Yeonsa-dong was directly inherited by Seung Joo from his maternal grandmother. It was also the house he lived in with his birth mother until right before she went missing.

That house with its expensive land value had been left as it was all this time, but suddenly there was word that it would finally be demolished, only for that to be canceled again.

‘You still can’t let go of your mother?’

Come to think of it, his attitude at the hospital had been strange too.

[Why are you calling yourself my mother!]

Seung Joo’s eyes as he glared at her and shouted were filled with pure hatred. For a guy who usually maintained a polite exterior no matter what he felt inside, it had been a very long time since he had so blatantly revealed such hostility.

Remembering the Seung Joo she had first met in his second year of high school, Yeon Hwa got goosebumps.

‘This is definitely suspicious…’

Yeon Hwa anxiously bit her lip.

There was more than one or two suspicious points. Why would the guy who had been lying in the hospital suddenly disappear and out of the blue say he was going to recuperate in the countryside? And without even informing them of his whereabouts at that.

He wasn’t someone who wouldn’t know that his father confided in his younger brother Seung Hyun. So why would a guy who had been working annoyingly hard suddenly take sick leave and go off the grid?

If he really had caught on to something, and had sensed danger and made himself scarce because of that…?

As she was feeling anxious, this time a man in his mid-thirties entered. It was Yeon Hwa’s personal secretary.

“Did you find out?”

“Yes. It seems that because there was someone else with him, the other person was startled right before the collision and ended up reducing speed.”

No wonder she had thought it strange that he only had bruises and not a single broken bone despite her deliberately hitting him with the car.

Yeon Hwa was furious. She had purposely chosen a time on the weekend when even the secretary wouldn’t be by his side, so who the hell had interfered?

“Just who was with him?”

“It was an employee from the planning team. They had come to work on the weekend and happened to see the CEO standing by the road, so they were greeting him.”

Yeon Hwa became even angrier. A mere employee dared to interfere with her plan?

“That stupid son of a bitch. If I said I would take responsibility for the aftermath, they should have just closed their eyes and pushed him together!”

Even hearing curses spill from her pretty lips, the secretary didn’t so much as bat an eye. It was something he was used to.

In any case, what was done was done. Yeon Hwa tried to calm herself.

“Anyway, find out right now where that bastard Kwon Seung Joo is and what he’s doing.”

“Yes. And what about the money we promised? Should we cut it in half?”

If she had it her way, forget half, she didn’t want to give a single cent. But if she needlessly earned his resentment, there was a risk he would spill the beans. If only the guy had died as planned, he would have committed murder too, so the risk of him talking would have been lower.

Yeon Hwa cursed her stepchild in her mind again. Why couldn’t he just drop dead instead of tenaciously clinging to life!

“Give him double. And make sure he keeps his mouth firmly shut.”

*

“Sis!”

In the morning, as Eun Seo was leaving the house to go to work, she heard someone calling from behind. Turning around, she saw Kwon Seung Joo had followed her out and was hesitantly holding out an umbrella.

“The weather forecast said there will be a shower this evening.”

She naturally reached out to take it but flinched and withdrew her hand.

“I’ll take care of it myself.”

The man looked crestfallen at having his umbrella rejected. He turned back without even a goodbye.

“Be careful on your way,” his voice came from behind her.

Leaving through the front gate, Eun Seo sighed.

‘This makes me seem like the bad guy.’

Although it had been a few days since she started living with Kwon Seung Joo, his presence wasn’t something she could accept overnight.

She had thought that he was just an eighteen-year-old who had lost his mother and that she should be nice to him, but it wasn’t as easy as she thought. In her eyes, he was still the adult Kwon Seung Joo, and so it was endlessly uncomfortable. If she spotted him in the distance, she would immediately turn around and go the other way, but now the person she used to avoid was under the same roof.

She couldn’t bring herself to wear old sweats in front of him and she couldn’t lounge freely on the floor either. She even had to be conscious of going to the bathroom. If she took too long, would he think she was constipated? Things like that.

Why did she have to endure this discomfort in her own home? She was angry, but what was done was done.

So Eun Seo tried her best not to run into him and not to exchange words with him. She told herself she just needed to provide a place for him to stay hidden and his meals, and to endure for three months – no, two and a half months at most. She also hoped his memory would return before then.

[You’re back, sis?]

Every time Eun Seo returned from work, he would come out to greet her with a happy face. But Eun Seo always preemptively cut off conversation, buying kimbap or lunchboxes on the way home from work and practically throwing them at him.

[I’m tired so I’m going to rest. There are two, so have them until morning.]

She gave him money and told him to buy his own lunches, but she had no idea if he actually did. She also didn’t know what he did during the day while she was gone, but she didn’t really care to find out either.

After a few days passed like this, Kwon Seung Joo also started to tiptoe around her and stopped striking up conversation. This morning when he tried to give her the umbrella, he must have worked up quite a bit of courage, but she had turned away from that too.

‘What the hell am I supposed to do?’

Eun Seo bit her lip on the bus.

It was unbearably awkward and uncomfortable, but no matter how coldly she treated him, he remained gentle and kind. But trying to steel herself and treat him like a different person was impossible when it was Kwon Seung Joo’s face she saw.

She arrived at work in a troubled state of mind and spotted someone walking down the hallway in the distance, emanating a dark aura. Looking closer, it was none other than Sun Ah.

Sun Ah clung to Eun Seo with a face like her whole world had crumbled.

“Did you see the announcement? Seung Joo took sick leave!”

It seemed the instructions Seung Joo had given over the phone to the secretary’s office had finally been posted.

“It said it was to recuperate from an injury, just how badly hurt is he? Was it a car accident?”

Sun Ah stamped her feet.

“He can’t be gone from his position for long. That damn chairman will use it as an excuse to push his second son!”

At some point, Seung Joo’s father had gone from ‘Chairman’ to ‘that damn chairman’ to her.

In fact, strictly speaking, even taking time off for an injury was grounds for censure. It wasn’t that Eun Seo hadn’t thought of that, but it was a hundred times better than having lost his memory and reverted to being eighteen. If this got out, it was a 100% chance he would immediately lose his successor position. Once he lost his spot, there would be no fixing it even if his memory returned later, so this was the best option for now.

“Even though he worked himself to the bone… Poor Seung Joo, what to do.”

Sun Ah seemed sincerely worried to the point of tears. It was so surprising that Eun Seo spoke without thinking.

“But it’s not like the CEO did anything particularly good for you, right?”

“What did you say?”

Sun Ah leaped up and repeated the story Eun Seo had heard probably a million times.

It was 2 years ago that Seung Joo had taken the CEO position. Sun Ah, who hadn’t started working at the company yet at the time, had boldly attended the shareholders meeting as a stockholder with 3 entire shares. When the agenda item came up to appoint the CEO, she had boldly shouted in front of the other shareholders:

[If not Director Kwon Seung Joo, this company has no future!]

“They tried to drag me out, calling me a chronic meeting disrupter. But Seung Joo stopped the employees dragging me and instructed his secretary to call a taxi for me.”

Sun Ah exclaimed.

“I’m sure he mouthed ‘thank you’ to me from a distance!”

Well, if it was true, it would be a story she could be a fan of for life. But no matter how many times she heard it, Eun Seo found it hard to believe. Kwon Seung Joo just did not seem like the type of person who would do something so kind.

However, Sun Ah’s faith was firm.

“Our Seung Joo may seem cold, but he has a warm heart.”

Suddenly she was curious. If he knew he had such a sincere fan, what would Kwon Seung Joo say? She didn’t really want to talk to him, but she felt she should at least convey Sun Ah’s devotion.

“If I knew which hospital he was at, I would at least send flowers… sob.”

It was a shame she couldn’t tell his actual fan about the situation he was in.

So Eun Seo apologized in her mind. I’m sorry, Sun Ah.

*

As expected, a shower came on the way home from work. Although she had rejected the umbrella Seung Joo offered in the morning, thanks to him letting her know in advance, Eun Seo was able to avoid getting drenched by bringing an umbrella from the office.

Getting off the bus, she bought two lunchboxes near the stop to give to Seung Joo. Avoiding the puddles that had formed here and there, she arrived home to find a young man in a suit pacing in front of her gate.

“Who are you?”

Instead of answering, the man asked a question back.

“Do you live in this house?”

“I do, why?”

When Eun Seo showed clear wariness, the other person belatedly introduced himself.

“I’m from the head office of Daewon Group.”

At the mention of head office, Eun Seo held her breath.

“You’re an employee of Daewon Construction, right? Are you by any chance in contact with CEO Kwon Seung Joo?”

“Why are you asking me that?”

“The CEO instructed the demolition to be canceled over the phone. Not only the sudden cancellation of the demolition, but that call came from Yeonsa-dong, so I thought you might know something.”

Eun Seo felt like her heart would leap out of her chest any moment. A few days ago at the secretary’s office, she had lied relatively calmly, but it was a different matter when it was right outside her house. The Kwon Seung Joo in question was right inside this very gate.

Eun Seo mustered every ounce of strength to feign nonchalance.

“Could it be that the CEO has some history with this house?”

She asked despite clearly knowing. As expected, the other person’s expression wavered slightly.

“He may have come to see it one last time before demolition and had a change of heart. So he called to cancel it. Don’t you think that’s possible?”

After presenting a plausible hypothesis, Eun Seo sighed.

“The CEO’s secretary’s office asked me the same thing. I’m just a powerless tenant, so whether you demolish it or cancel it, I can only go along with it. It’s troubling for me too if you keep asking me about it.”

“……”

“I heard the CEO took sick leave, are you unable to reach him? Just what is going on that you all keep doing this?”

When she turned it around and questioned him instead, the other person flinched. In the end, the man bowed his head toward Eun Seo and turned away.

“I apologize for the intrusion.”

Eun Seo let out a big sigh as if tired and took out her keys from her pocket. The moment she managed to insert the key into the gate with trembling hands and turn it-

From inside, a delighted voice rang out.

“You’re back, sis?”

Behind her back, the receding footsteps abruptly stopped.