The two people who returned from the market sat facing each other, put their heads together, and carefully arranged the events so far in chronological order. Yoon Eun Seo even took out an old lease agreement from the drawer.

“My mom left the house when I was in the first year of high school.”

“So that was 16 years ago. Your memory goes back 15 years, so until you were eighteen.”

“Yes. When did you start living in this house, elder sister?”

“Me too, 15 years ago. My parents got divorced, so my younger sibling and I followed our mom. We lived in this house with mom and my younger sibling for about 6 months, then lost my sibling.”

The date of the initial lease agreement written on the lease contract was, coincidentally, only a few days after the last date Kwon Seung Joo remembered.

In other words, right after Seung Joo left the house, Eun Seo moved in.

“Then I must have gone to my father’s house at that time 15 years ago.”

He had lived alone in this house for a year after his mother left, and then ended up going to his father’s house.

The reason for leasing out the place right after Seung Joo left was also guessed. Perhaps Seung Joo’s father hastily brought in a tenant so that Seung Joo could never return to this house again.

Anyway, Seung Joo’s memory stopped exactly at that point. Right before entering his father’s house.

“Why that particular time?”

Seung Joo muttered as if he didn’t know, but Eun Seo had a hunch for some reason.

He may not know about his thirty-three-year-old self, but Eun Seo knew both sides. The difference in personality was immense.

Using herself as an example, it didn’t seem like there was a big difference between her second year of high school and now. Well, she must have become that much more mature as she got older, but her personality itself would be the same then as it is now.

But the eighteen-year-old Kwon Seung Joo and the thirty-three-year-old Kwon Seung Joo were too different in personality. No, they were completely separate human beings.

‘What the hell happened during those 15 years?’

The Seung Joo in front of her eyes now smiled often, was mature, and had a kind personality. Even after experiencing his parents’ separation and his mother’s disappearance in succession.

However, the thirty-three-year-old Representative Kwon Seung Joo was a person who only knew work, with no blood or tears.

There must be a reason for his personality to change that much. Eun Seo somehow felt it had something to do with living with his father.

Could it be that he experienced something so difficult while living in his father’s house that his personality did a 180-degree turn?

‘Is that why his memory went back to before he started living with his father……?’

But it was just a guess, there was no need to bring it up. Eun Seo swallowed her words and got up.

“I’m getting hungry. I’ll go make dinner, so you rest a bit.”

But Seung Joo quickly got up and followed.

“I’ll help.”

“It’s okay, you were so sick last night, you should rest.”

“I’m all better now.”

No matter how much she told him to go in, saying she didn’t need help, Seung Joo stubbornly followed her to the kitchen.

“How long did you live with your mom?”

“About 2 years.”

Seung Joo answered while washing the rice with a skilled hand. It was a sight that was hard to believe even seeing it with her own eyes, as he looked like the kind of person who would only have bottled water* in his fridge, yet here he was checking the rice water with the back of his hand.

“One day, my father suddenly said he wanted a divorce. My mother insisted that she absolutely could not get divorced. She didn’t tell me, but it seemed like my father had another woman.”

While Eun Seo was boiling the soup, Seung Joo steamed the rice.

“You said earlier at the market, elder sister. That you felt sorry because I must have only worn department store clothes all this time.”

Seung Joo smiled bitterly.

“It wasn’t like that after mom and I left to live on our own. Father didn’t give us living expenses.”

Eun Seo opened her mouth silently. Kim Sun Ah cursing him as a chairman bastard wasn’t wrong.

“No, he cut off living expenses even though you were there, not to mention your mother?”

“He tormented mom to get a divorce quickly. Because he wanted to go to another woman.”

“……”

“I thought then. What kind of ahjumma was she that my father was so infatuated with her? Throwing away both my mother and me like old shoes……”

Eun Seo recalled Seung Joo’s stepmother whom she had seen at the hospital. Although she didn’t know exactly how old she was, she was indeed too young and beautiful compared to the chairman who was almost sixty.

“When I was in the hospital, some ahjumma came and said she was my mother. I think it might be that ahjumma.”

Eun Seo, who was slicing radish, almost cut her finger in surprise and put down the knife. After hesitating for a moment on what to do, she told the truth.

“That’s right. She’s now remarried and the chairman’s wife.”

“I thought so.”

Seung Joo nodded his head calmly. It was a composure that was hard to believe for an eighteen-year-old. Thinking about how many things he must have experienced to become so mature, her heart ached.

Still, now that it had come up, it seemed better to finish talking about it, so Eun Seo made up her mind and brought up what she hadn’t been able to say until now.

“You know… actually… you have a younger half-brother born from her too.”

At those words, Seung Joo was indeed surprised and stopped his hand while putting the spoon on the table.

“How old is he?”

“I heard he’s three years younger than you. So he’s probably thirty-one.”

After losing his words for a long time, Seung Joo eventually muttered.

“…I feel sorry for mom.”

She seemed to know what he meant by that. The fact that his half-sibling was not much younger than him meant that his mother had been deceived for that long.

The thoughtful and mature Seung Joo was smart too.

“I heard I do well at work too. I wondered why my father wanted to kick me out even though I’m capable, but I guess it’s because of another child.”

Eun Seo had no idea how to comfort him. So she was just cutting the radish into pieces for no reason.

“Thank you for helping me, elder sister.”

Seung Joo spoke as if he had made up his mind.

“I don’t really care about being the successor, but I don’t want it taken away by that ahjumma’s son.”

*

When dinner was almost ready, suddenly the doorbell rang.

“Who is it?”

Thinking it might be a delivery, she asked in a raised voice, and an answer came from outside the front door.

“Eun Seo, I’m here!”

It was Kim Sun Ah’s voice. Eun Seo was startled for a moment and froze. What? Why did she come all of a sudden?

She thought Sun Ah might have come because she was worried after taking the day off sick, but Sun Ah spoke again.

“I bought pork belly, open the door quickly!”

Her heart sank belatedly. Right, Sun Ah said she would buy pork belly and come over on the weekend to hang out!

She had completely forgotten because she was so preoccupied with Seung Joo.

Eun Seo didn’t know what to do. She absolutely could not let Sun Ah meet Seung Joo, but it was already too late to pretend she wasn’t home.

There was only one way.

“Hide. If we get caught, it’s the end for both you and me!”

“Who is it?”

Meanwhile, Sun Ah kept urging.

“Ah, what are you doing not coming out quickly? It’s super heavy!”

“No time to explain, hurry and hide!”

Pushing the puzzled Seung Joo’s back, Eun Seo shouted.

“Uh, just a moment! I’m coming now!”

She ran and opened the front door, and Sun Ah, holding plastic bags in both hands, glared at her.

“I’m dying from the weight. What took you so long to open the door?”

“Sorry, I was doing something.”

Please hide quickly. Eun Seo asked while blocking the front of the door, sweating anxiously on the inside.

“But Sun Ah, didn’t you say you would come on the weekend? Today is Friday.”

“I came early to eat meat tonight and help you pack to move all weekend.”

Sun Ah lifted the heavy-looking bags for her to see.

“I bought pork belly and soju! Let’s eat and die tonight since you’re feeling down.”

“Why, did something bad happen?”

“I haven’t seen our Seung Joo for a week!”

Eun Seo shuddered. If she found out she was living with that Seung Joo…!

“Don’t you find grilling meat a hassle? Let’s not do that and go to a BBQ restaurant to eat, Sun Ah.”

“What are you saying, I bought three pounds of pork belly to eat until tomorrow. Ah, it’s heavy. Let’s go in quickly.”

But Sun Ah didn’t even pretend to listen and finally stepped inside the front gate.

“The wind is blowing gently and it’s cool, perfect weather for grilling meat.”

Sun Ah went into the kitchen like it was her own house and efficiently gathered a portable gas stove and grill. Well, originally she had bought and left them there.

Fortunately, Seung Joo must have hidden well as not even a strand of his hair was visible. Of course, as long as he went into his room, there was no worry of being discovered for now. Because a guest wouldn’t go into a room the owner doesn’t even use.

Praying that he was hiding well in a place she absolutely could not find, Eun Seo set the table together with Sun Ah.

They set up plates, seasonings, garlic, lettuce, and such on the parasol table installed in the spot for soy sauce jars, brought a dining table next to it, and placed the gas stove on top.

Darkness gradually fell while they did that. When they turned on the lighting in the yard, Sun Ah exclaimed in admiration.

“Wow, the atmosphere is killer.”

Soon, the delicious smell of grilling meat began to spread in the yard.

‘First, let’s eat quickly and find an excuse to send her back.’

Thinking that, Eun Seo grilled the meat diligently.

“Well then, shall we have a taste?”

Sun Ah, who was picking up lettuce and placing meat on it, suddenly muttered.

“Oh right, there’s no gochujang. I don’t eat ssamjang.”

Then she got up, opened the lid of a large jar placed in the corner of the soy sauce jar spot, and asked.

“What’s this, is it gochujang?”

When they cleared out all the old jars at the soy sauce jar spot, they had left only the biggest one. Thinking that this size would fetch a good price and she would sell it later, she had left it as is, putting it off day by day.

Eun Seo replied while grilling the meat.

“That’s just for decoration. If you look at the very bottom shelf of the cupboard in the kitchen, there’s gochujang.”

But for some reason, there was no answer from Sun Ah.

“Sun Ah?”

Eun Seo raised her head and looked at Sun Ah. Sun Ah was standing still, holding the lid of the jar.

“What’s wrong?”

The next moment, Sun Ah muttered in a trembling voice.

“Representative…?”

Eun Seo dropped the tongs she was holding.