Lunchtime.

Park Jin Sung entered the secretarial office holding a takeout coffee. He began politely greeting and distributing coffee to the entire secretarial team.

“Did you enjoy your lunch? Please have some coffee.”

“Thank you, Jin Sung.”

“We’ll enjoy the coffee.”

The reason Jin Sung volunteered for coffee errands like this was because there were no entry-level employees in the secretarial team.

The reason the entire secretarial team was composed of only experienced staff was because a few years ago, a newly hired female employee had fallen for Tae Seong Jun’s looks and tried to approach him with inappropriate intentions, attempting secret touches.

That day, Jin Sung acknowledged for the first time that living as a handsome man can be tiring too. And that the world is full of people who dream futile dreams even when given no encouragement.

Seong Jun didn’t explode in anger or create a special scene to humiliate her on the spot. However, when she came to work the next day, she found that her desk had already disappeared.

After that, only experienced male employees could join the secretarial team. The reason was to avoid getting involved in troublesome situations.

However, not all members were male. There was exactly one woman in the secretarial office. She was a married woman in her early 40s who had just returned from maternity leave this year.

‘It’s like a dreary men’s bath in here.’

As Jin Sung was secretly grumbling in his heart, Kwon Secretary, who was also personally close to Jin Sung, approached him.

“Jin Sung, has something bad happened to our CEO recently?”

“Why do you ask?”

“He seems to be in an especially bad mood today.”

“Really?”

“What’s going on? Do you know something?”

Come to think of it, Seong Jun hadn’t said a word in the car today.

He was usually quiet anyway, so Jin Sung hadn’t thought much of it. Was he really in a bad mood? Unfortunately, Jin Sung couldn’t think of anything either. He scratched his head as he replied.

“Well, I’m not sure either.”

Kwon Secretary’s face fell at this.

“Oh, really? You don’t know either? This is a big problem.”

“Why is it a big problem?”

Kwon Secretary responded to Jin Sung’s curiosity with a whining voice. He said that while the CEO usually overlooks small mistakes, if you get caught on a day like this, you won’t even be able to pick up your own bones. After hearing the detailed explanation, Jin Sung nodded.

“I’ll go in right away and ask the CEO if something’s wrong.”

“Yes, yes. Go in now and find out.”

Knowing about the special relationship between Seong Jun and Jin Sung, Kwon Secretary even pushed Jin Sung’s back.

“Sir, coffee delivery. Work is important, but please take breaks while enjoying your coffee.”

Jin Sung entered Seong Jun’s office, placed the coffee on the desk, and sat on the sofa. He hadn’t noticed while driving, but now that he looked, Seong Jun definitely seemed to be in a bad mood. Unable to contain his curiosity, Jin Sung asked.

“Elder brother, is something bothering you? Why do you look so unhappy today?”

He was right. Seong Jun’s mood was the worst it had been all year.

‘Did I do something so wrong?’

He had been asking himself this question whenever he had a moment during the few hours since arriving at work. But no matter how much he mulled it over, he didn’t think wanting to kiss his wife was such a despicable thing.

Previously, his wife had been reluctant to even engage in brief conversations with him. But she had recently initiated conversations and even readily agreed to have breakfast together.

She no longer avoided his gaze. She looked him in the eyes and spoke her opinions clearly. Seong Jun had taken all these changes as signals that his wife was willing to try to get along with him.

But it had all been Seong Jun’s complete misunderstanding.

Contrary to his expectations, being firmly rejected hurt his pride.

Seo Yeon was the first woman to make him so concerned and feel so defeated.

The problem was that Seo Yeon had emotionally shaken him to the point of affecting his work.

So he didn’t want to think about his wife anymore, but contrary to his wishes, as time passed, his sense of injustice only grew, and he couldn’t bear wondering what his wife was thinking.

He was unbearably angry at the fact that he seemed to be nothing to his wife.

“Why are you still sitting there instead of leaving?”

Seong Jun slightly furrowed his brow and turned his gaze to Jin Sung, who was glancing at him as if he were some kind of spectacle. Jin Sung complained, sounding hurt.

“Oh, what? You weren’t listening to me? Have I been talking to myself all this time? The secretarial staff were wondering if something was wrong with you. Is something worrying you? You seem to be in a bad mood today.”

“There’s nothing, so stop being annoying and just leave.”

Jin Sung remained unmoved, when normally he would have tactfully left if he sensed a low mood. Jin Sung replied.

“Come on, I can tell from your expression that something’s up. Don’t be like that, if you have a concern, tell me. Who knows, I might be able to solve it.”

“You, Park Jin Sung? I’d like to see you try.”

“Huh? What, so there really is a problem? Is it about your wife?”

Seong Jun’s eyes sharpened at Jin Sung’s guess. He warned.

“Please leave.”

Emboldened by Seong Jun’s fierce glare, which confirmed his suspicion, Jin Sung, unlike usual, didn’t back down and retorted.

“Elder brother, did you fight with your wife? Is that why you’re like this? If you don’t want to get divorced, you should treat her well. Elder brother, you did something wrong again, didn’t you? You did something wrong but didn’t apologize, right? It’s so predictable. Elder brother, when you button your shirt wrong, even if it’s annoying, you have to unbutton it and start over from the beginning. Otherwise, no matter how hard you try to button it, it’ll only get more misaligned. The first priority is to have a serious conversation to figure out where and how it went wrong.”

Seong Jun, who had been glaring at Jin Sung with a fierce frown, fell into thought.

Although Jin Sung probably didn’t know what he was talking about, the part about misaligned buttons only getting worse unless rebuttoned from the start resonated with him. As did the advice to talk about where the buttoning went wrong.

Though his wife’s sudden change was welcome, he hadn’t even thought to have a deep conversation, fearing that if he pressed for reasons, things might revert to how they were before.

Seong Jun looked at Jin Sung as if surprised.

“Park Jin Sung, you can be helpful sometimes.”

“Huh? Really? I was helpful? Really? Wow!”

Leaving the delighted Jin Sung behind, Seong Jun fell into thought.

Why did she suddenly change?

Was there even a small part of her that wanted to try to get along with him?

If she disliked him, what exactly about him did she find so disagreeable? Seong Jun lowered his eyes and crossed his arms, resolving to ask these questions clearly this time.

*

The doctor’s office.

Today was the day to receive the results of the health checkup. Han Seo Yeon had reminded herself countless times on the way to the hospital to stay calm and not be nervous, but once she actually arrived at the doctor’s office, she just couldn’t settle her mind.

As she sat gripping her own hands tightly, feeling like her whole body was about to crumple from tension, the doctor began speaking with a bright expression.

“Blood pressure normal, blood sugar normal, blood vessels clean, very good.”

Seo Yeon slowly raised her head. “Really?”

“Yes. Everything is fine, and you’re very healthy.”

Even after hearing the doctor’s answer, Seo Yeon couldn’t let go of her tension.

“There’s no cancer or any other diseases found, right?”

The doctor smiled kindly once more and answered.

“No. There’s nothing.”

Only after hearing the second answer did Seo Yeon’s tense body slowly begin to relax.

“That’s a relief.”

A whirlwind of relief, joy, and sadness swept across Seo Yeon’s face.

“…I’m so relieved.”

In her past life, Seo Yeon had always worried that she might have failed to protect her child due to her own negligence of her health.

Whenever such thoughts came to her, she would be in such unbearable agony that she couldn’t sleep even for a minute.

But now, very fortunately, she was told there was nothing wrong with her health. While she felt relieved and happy about this fact, there was also a sadness in one corner of her heart because despite having a healthy body, she had still failed to protect her baby.

“Doctor, may I ask one more question?”

“Yes. Please feel free to ask.”

“I’m planning to have a child in the future. I want to have a healthy baby. Is it possible with my current physical condition?”

The doctor pondered for a moment at Seo Yeon’s question.

“I’m not an obstetrics and gynecology specialist, so I can’t say for certain, but it should be fine.”

A smile spread across Seo Yeon’s face at that answer. The female doctor, pleased to see Seo Yeon’s smile, spoke once more in a kind voice.

“Would you like me to make an appointment for you with the obstetrics and gynecology department?”

“Yes, please do that. Thank you.”

Seo Yeon’s steps were light as she walked out into the hallway. Although she would need to have an obstetrics and gynecology examination to be sure, she felt hopeful. But there were still many unresolved issues.

First, she needed to be able to handle her problematic husband.

He was a man who had committed infidelity, was impulsive, selfish, and willful, but despite all that, he was still the father of her child and her husband.

So even though he was such a man, Seo Yeon hoped that he would live a long and healthy life, even longer than herself.

To have a healthy baby, to save that person, and after that?

Seo Yeon paused at the question filling her mind. In her previous life, until she decided to divorce him, Seo Yeon had endured for many days and despaired for many days.

Her life and her child’s life were ruined, and she didn’t want to see her husband living happily alone after the divorce. But when she finally decided to divorce and brought it up first, her husband unexpectedly flew into a rage.

Seo Yeon was lost in reminiscence.