It was when Seo Yeon was having breakfast with Seong Jun. A message came from an unsaved number.

-Ms. Han Seo Yeon. You’re really persistent. How long are you going to cling pathetically to that position?

It was that woman. The woman who boldly demanded a divorce shortly after the marriage, claiming she was her husband’s lover.

“Who is it?”

Seo Yeon looked up at Seong Jun’s question. Since the day she returned to the past, Seo Yeon had never forgotten the fact that her husband had a woman.

She had experienced painfully in her past life that forgetting this fact meant expecting some emotional exchange from her husband, and the moment that expectation was broken, another hell in her heart would begin.

But due to the fact that the two had become incomparably closer over the past few weeks, and because she had received help, encouragement, and comfort from him, it seems she wanted to pretend to forget that fact deep down.

Seeing how her heart stung as if burned the moment she saw the message.

‘…Should I ask?’

Seo Yeon contemplated while looking at Seong Jun’s face, but soon gave up. Seo Yeon quickly flipped her phone over, lest Seong Jun see. Then she feigned innocence and answered.

“A friend.”

At Seo Yeon’s answer, Seong Jun tilted his chin and said, “Hmm.”

“It’s early to be sending messages.”

“Ah.”

“You must be quite close. Exchanging messages from the morning.”

Seo Yeon was a bit flustered. It was true that it was early to be sending messages, and she didn’t like the situation of having to tell such a clumsy lie. Then she felt resentful.

‘It’s because of you that I had to lie. If you hadn’t cheated, I wouldn’t have had to lie either.’

When Seo Yeon was confused after receiving a message from Ye Rin, Seong Jun was so busy that she couldn’t even see his face. The person who called her then was Hwa Young.

She advised Seo Yeon, adding that it was for her own good, that to live as the daughter-in-law of the Han Kyung Group heir, she should pretend not to know even if her husband had an affair. That she herself was keeping her position by pretending not to know.

The burdensome position of daughter-in-law of the Han Kyung Group. She had expected it to be difficult from the start and was prepared, but Seo Yeon was confused and at a loss, not knowing that the position also meant having to endure her husband’s infidelity.

“Do you have something on your mind?”

Seo Yeon looked up at Seong Jun’s voice.

“No. Nothing like that.”

At this point, mentioning that incident and showing she was hurt would only complicate the situation further.

Seong Jun responded to Seo Yeon’s words in a blunt voice.

“If not, focus on your meal. Unless you want to lose more weight there.”

Was it because she was uncomfortable due to Ye Rin’s message? Her voice came out grumpily.

“I’m at a normal weight, you know.”

Seong Jun replied in a dissatisfied voice to Seo Yeon’s answer.

“For someone who says that, you don’t have an ounce of fat on your waist. I wonder if you eat properly usually.”

“…!”

Seong Jun’s words naturally reminded her of what had happened the night before. Those actions of kissing her and naturally placing his hand on her waist, caressing it.

At the time, she was caught up in the mood and exchanged kisses frantically, but now thinking about it, wasn’t his proficiency in kissing and his lack of hesitation in skinship all evidence that he was a womanizer?

Somehow, she felt betrayed. While I don’t even have a single male friend.

“And I’ve been curious since yesterday, what’s that band on your neck?”

Seo Yeon’s face turned bright red at Seong Jun’s pointed question. How embarrassed she had been in front of Jin Hwa because of this kiss mark. Seo Yeon’s eyes sharpened.

“It’s because of you, Seong Jun.”

Seong Jun raised one eyebrow as if he didn’t understand what she meant.

“Ah.”

And soon, as if understanding Seo Yeon’s words, he looked at her with surprised eyes, and then lifted one corner of his mouth as if he liked the situation.

‘This is ridiculous.’

Seo Yeon’s mouth wouldn’t close at her husband’s expression, which seemed satisfied to anyone who saw it.

*

Isn’t the most pathetic man in the world one who neglects his duties because he’s obsessed with women?

This was the thought Seong Jun always had when looking at his father, who had numerous lovers.

There were many more important things in the world than that.

For example, proving himself to relatives who were waiting with gleaming eyes to seize the opportunity to tarnish his reputation and honor if he made even one mistake.

Proving to his grandfather, who claimed that a child who couldn’t earn his keep wasn’t his child, that he was the most excellent person.

Proving to everyone in the world that his choices were not wrong.

[Seoul Central District Prosecutors’ Office Special Investigation Division 1 Prosecutor Han Jung Hyuk announced that he will indict Han Kyung Group for violating the Political Funds Act and bribery charges.]

He didn’t expect to experience failure for the first time due to the marriage he had chosen.

It took exactly three years.

Not wanting to hear that he had failed again, he achieved results to the point of being called ruthless and accumulated wealth, endlessly proving himself until no one could look down on him anymore.

During that period, his relationship with his wife deteriorated to the point where people would spontaneously say it was the worst.

Seong Jun was irritated by his wife, who was surprised or uncomfortable when she saw him.

He couldn’t remember when he had last slept properly because of her family, and he wondered what kind of attitude that was. And to be more honest, he even doubted whether she really didn’t know about what Han Jung Hyuk had done.

But the moment he received the call that his wife had collapsed, the moment he saw that white face without a hint of blood color lying on the hospital bed, he realized.

What he had been trying to prove for the past 3 years was the process of returning to be the best man suitable for his wife.

“Damn it.”

Seong Jun, who had been lost in thought while getting dressed in the dressing room, suddenly frowned as if irritated.

“I didn’t even ask if the person who sent the text was a man or a woman.”

Seong Jun recalled his wife’s behavior earlier, startled when the message arrived and hiding her phone in a way that anyone would find suspicious.

Who is it that she’s so surprised? Did she receive a message that would be troublesome if I knew about it? Could it be that the friend she said she was dating is a man?

Clearly, he had thought that obsessing over a woman was the most pathetic thing, but where had that self gone? In his head was himself, more obsessed with his wife than anyone else, pondering over the identity of the person who sent the message.

He wanted to merge their rooms as soon as possible, but he wasn’t sure yet if she might be thinking of him not as a man but as a tool to have a child.

So at times like this, he needed to push even harder. Seong Jun was pondering how he could appeal to his wife that he was a man when.

“Are you done changing?”

Seo Yeon’s voice was heard from outside the dressing room. Seong Jun finished tying his tie and went out of the room.

“Yes. What is it?”

“Just now, Manager Joo sent a message saying that Grandfather wants to have dinner with me this evening.”

“Grandfather?”

Suk Hyun, the head of Han Kyung Group and Seong Jun’s paternal grandfather, was a tyrant who would throw objects and shout abuse even at his own children when angry. He couldn’t let his wife meet alone with such an eccentric old man.

“What time? I’ll go with you.”

“You’re coming too, Seong Jun?”

Seo Yeon murmured as if surprised.

“You must be really less busy these days. You usually didn’t participate much in family gatherings. But now you’re even saying you’ll come with me first.”

Seong Jun inwardly winced. He was still incredibly busy, just with a little more leeway than before.

It was just that now his wife’s matters had become his top priority, so he was making time even if it meant pushing himself. It felt like she had completely seen through his heart, which was placing his wife at the top of his priorities above anything else.

“You thought well. He’ll be happy if he knows you’re coming.”

“I don’t want to see that old man’s face.”

At Seong Jun’s grumpy voice, Seo Yeon said in surprise.

“Grandfather must have had no choice. Don’t hate him. He was angry because of what happened with my brother, not because he hates you, right?”

In fact, that was true. After that incident, his grandfather had ostentatiously supported competitor companies and given him difficult tasks that seemed impossible to solve, driving him into a corner. But such things had happened numerous times since he was born.

What made him angry was that even Suk Hyun, whom he had trusted the most, had condoned the whole family’s disrespect and mistreatment of his wife.

Seeing that Seong Jun’s stern expression didn’t soften at all despite her defense, Seo Yeon said persuasively.

“I wish you would be a little kinder to Grandfather.”

“He’s never been kind to me once in my life. So why should I bother?”

Surprised by Seong Jun’s cold words, Seo Yeon replied.

“Isn’t Grandfather the person you trust the most in the family?”

“You’re mistaken. That old man has lost all credibility with me now.”

Seo Yeon looked perplexed.

“Then, for my sake, could you try to open your heart a little?”

Seong Jun fell silent for a moment at Seo Yeon’s continued persuasion.

“Don’t you resent that old man?”

He couldn’t understand how she felt.

“I don’t hate him. Grandfather was the kindest person to me among the family members.”

“Grandfather was?”

That old man couldn’t have been. Seo Yeon’s voice reached Seong Jun’s doubting ears.

“He didn’t particularly hold any prejudice against someone like me. Even though he had reason to hate me, he didn’t show it.”

To say he was kind just for that much. Seong Jun inwardly cursed himself for his ignorance, newly realizing how much his wife must have suffered mentally all this time.