“I can’t accept your feelings. Not now.”

She said with tears in her eyes, facing his confused expression.

“One year and one month from now.”

“…”

“By then, you’ll be twenty. If you still like me then…”

Finally understanding her meaning, the man asked incredulously.

“Really? Will you really accept me then?”

“Can you wait?”

Seung Joo hurriedly grasped Eun Seo’s frozen hands. Enveloping her cold hands with his large, warm ones as if to thaw them, he nodded several times.

“I can wait! Whether it’s 2 years or 3 years, I can wait as long as it takes.”

There was no mention of him being an adult, or being thirty-three. The expression of the boy with an adult’s face was filled only with pure joy.

To the point where Eun Seo, who had told him to wait, felt apologetic.

“Won’t you get tired of waiting and change your mind?”

“No. I’ll never change. I’ll keep liking only you, elder sister.”

Every word that flowed from his lips was sweet as a dream. Eun Seo realized anew that this was indeed the person she had longed for from afar for so long.

“…Alright.”

Resisting the urge to throw herself into his broad embrace, Eun Seo took a big step back and looked at him straight on.

“Until then, let’s keep this much distance between us.”

“…”

“You work hard to return to your position. And I’ll work hard at my job and search for Eun Ho, then time will fly by quickly.”

As if an invisible line had been drawn between them, Seung Joo did not cross that one step, maintaining the distance. But it seems he still couldn’t help feeling impatient.

“If my memories return before then, we won’t have to wait a year, right?”

Eun Seo smiled faintly.

It seems Seung Joo firmly believes that his original self liked her. But Eun Seo couldn’t help thinking otherwise, which is why she was still afraid.

What if he despises me when his memories return?

What if this promise we just made becomes nothing but a scrap of paper?

But Eun Seo decided to accept even that risk. She didn’t want to let go of this person’s hand to that extent. She had suppressed her desires for food and possessions all this time, but this feeling was becoming too difficult to suppress any longer.

‘What on earth did you do to me while I lost my memories?’

If he curses at me then, I’ll listen silently.

If he condemns me, I’ll sincerely apologize.

Hiding such thoughts in her heart, Eun Seo smiled.

“Yes.”

*

The evening of the day Eun Seo was dragged to the security team.

“Why on earth isn’t he answering his phone!”

Though Sun Ah called several times from the company, Seung Joo did not answer. Anxiously pacing back and forth, Sun Ah had no choice but to take a taxi to Eun Seo’s house.

“Driver, hurry! I’ll pay double!”

As soon as she arrived, she frantically rang the doorbell and, not satisfied with that, pounded on the gate with her fists while shouting.

“Seung Joo! Open the door! Quickly! It’s urgent!”

A moment later, Seung Joo opened the door with a confused look, wearing an apron.

“Oh, Sun Ah? What brings you here? Where’s Eun Seo?”

It seems he couldn’t answer the phone because he was in the kitchen.

“Eun Seo has been taken by the security team! I think they found out she shared internal documents with you!”

Sun Ah said without taking a breath.

“We need to go to the company right now. You’ve been practicing acting, right? You don’t need to say much, just say you saw those documents yourself and bring Eun Seo out.”

However, after thinking for a moment, Seung Joo surprisingly shook his head.

“I can’t go right now.”

“What are you saying? Eun Seo must be suffering so much right now, we need to go rescue her immediately!”

Seeing Seung Joo repeat such frustrating words, Sun Ah felt exasperated.

“Then what about Eun Seo? Are you just going to leave her like that?”

“The CEO appearing at the company after a month. There’s no way we can just bring Eun Seo out right away. Other people will rush over immediately.”

Sun Ah flinched. In her haste, she hadn’t thought of that.

“Then what should we do?”

Seung Joo asked.

“The employee information in the groupware, does it have photos of the executives too?”

“It does, but… There are quite a few, you’re going to memorize them all? Right now?”

“I can do it.”

Seung Joo said with determination.

“I have to.”

*

“That’s how it happened.”

The next day at the company, Sun Ah finished her explanation and clicked her tongue. Fortunately, the other team members besides Sun Ah didn’t seem to know, as they showed no reaction. Kwon Seung Hyun had taken a day off and didn’t come to work.

“My goodness, he really is a national-level genius. He memorized all the executives’ names and photos, even searching news articles one by one.”

Eun Seo recalled his attitude towards the executives yesterday.

[Director Kim, I’m glad to see you looking well. Are there no after-effects from the surgery?] [Senior Managing Director Choi, I’m sorry I couldn’t attend your child’s wedding. Belated congratulations.] [Director Park, how was your business trip to Dubai?]

So that was actually all memorized without even recognizing the other person.

A chill ran down her spine belatedly.

“Not just the memory, but to anticipate and move like that in such an urgent situation. It’s chilling.”

Sun Ah shook her head as if still shaken by the thought.

“He says he’s thirty-three years old, and only lost his memories after eighteen. According to Seung Joo.”

“That seems right. How could that be an eighteen-year-old?”

Sun Ah, who agreed fervently, suddenly asked.

“By the way, was it Kwon Seung Hyun who reported your work to the security team?”

“It seems so.”

Eun Seo nodded and explained the scene where Seung Joo confronted his brother yesterday.

“He was acting like he had the security team chief and everyone else under his feet, but he couldn’t even raise his chin in front of Seung Joo?”

Remembering how he couldn’t even look Seung Joo in the eye with his face turning pale, she couldn’t help but snicker. Well, he must have entered the company trying to do something while his brother was gone, only to run into him head-on.

“Ah, I should have seen that bastard’s face crumpling with my own eyes!”

Sun Ah pounded the ground as if regretting it.

“Anyway, Eun Seo, you must have been surprised, but it turned out well in the end. It’s better to check in like this midway than to stay submerged indefinitely. This way, even the chairman won’t dare to mess with you carelessly.”

Eun Seo nodded and said.

“He said he got his email account and cloud access from the secretary yesterday. Now that he can see much higher-level documents, it will help with his return.”

“Didn’t he say he’d return within the year? Then there’s only about a month left?”

“Seung Joo can do it.”

She could answer with certainty. His acting skills were perfect enough to make Eun Seo cry.

*

Seung Hyun, who had skipped work, was reporting yesterday’s events to his mother.

“What? You’re saying that bastard came to the company?”

When Yeon Hwa asked in surprise, Seung Hyun answered.

“That’s right. He was using a female employee’s email because he was afraid he’d be found if he logged into his own.”

“A female employee? How old is she?”

Yeon Hwa’s eyes lit up as she asked, but she was quickly disappointed by her son’s answer.

“She’s on the same team as me. Twenty-seven years old.”

Normally, she would have suspected there was some kind of relationship between the two. But currently, Yeon Hwa’s thoughts were fixated solely on ‘an older woman in her mid-thirties or above,’ so she failed to consider that far. Of course, there was no way she could imagine that this twenty-seven-year-old was actually that woman.

The same was true for Seung Hyun, who had witnessed the two directly.

[I’ve caused you trouble.]

To Yoon Eun Seo, who came out pale-faced, Kwon Seung Joo simply nodded slightly without a word of apology for causing her trouble. It seemed he had merely used a lowly subordinate employee.

“He said he’s still recuperating, but will return within the year.”

“I see, did he seem to suspect anything?”

“I’m not sure about that… but he did ask me to send his regards to you, mother.”

“What?”

Anxiety crept into Yeon Hwa’s face. The other party might have simply sent their regards, but to someone with a guilty conscience, it was received as sufficiently meaningful.

“Just what is this bastard planning?”

She felt as if her stepson was gradually tightening the noose around her neck. Unable to bear it any longer, Yeon Hwa burst into hysterics.

“You cowardly bastard, if you have something, just bring it out quickly instead of hiding!”

Her shoulders trembled violently. If it came to light that she had tried to kill Seung Joo, even past events might be dug up.

Crash!

The vase on the table flew and shattered against the wall with a scream. As she threw whatever she could get her hands on – magazines, teacups, fruit – while raging, Seung Hyun hurriedly embraced her.

“Calm down, mother.”

“How can I calm down? If that bastard has noticed something, and if by chance all the past events come to light…”

“That won’t happen.”

Tightly embracing his mother who had lost her reason, Seung Hyun said firmly.

“That woman has already become a handful of ashes in the columbarium. She can’t do anything to you.”

“…”

“She’s already dead. The longer you worry about it, the more you lose, mother.”

In her son’s arms, Yeon Hwa gradually regained her composure.

“You’re right. That bitch can’t do anything to me.”

Yeon Hwa repeated as if affirming to herself.

“…Unless she comes back from hell.”