Chapter 1

“‘Ciao’ in front of Dosan Park.”

As soon as Woo-yeon left the gallery, she got into a taxi and checked the time. It was six-thirty in the evening. It was not a good time to cross through the middle of Seoul.

The sky was cloudy, and the raindrops that had just started falling quickly became heavier. There was no doubt she would be stuck in traffic all the way to her destination.

“Driver, I’m sorry, but could you go a little faster?”

Woo-yeon spoke carefully.

“No, miss. Look outside. Can I go faster just because I want to?”

The driver gave her an annoyed look through the rearview mirror, laughed awkwardly, and turned his eyes back to the road.

The traffic conditions in Seoul during rush hour were obvious. The roads were packed with lines of cars, almost completely paralyzed. Woo-yeon let out a small sigh.

Why did he have to ask to see me on a day like today?

Thursday was the worst day for office workers. The thought that she only had to endure one more day before the weekend comforted her for a moment, but Woo-yeon folded her fingers one by one and counted.

One, two, three, four… ten days.

She had been so focused on preparing the exhibition that she had not even realized how much time had passed. Was it about ten days since she had last seen him?

“It has been a while since we met.”

Muttering to herself, Woo-yeon thought again about the phone call she had received from Yu-gun before he left work.

— Woo-yeon, make some time today. Let’s see each other. I have something to say.

The calm voice on the other end sounded tired, so she swallowed the words she had been about to use to postpone their meeting. She could tell that he had reached his limit without needing to hear anything more. If they met face-to-face, his anger would probably disappear. As an apology, she was also on her way with a box of green-grape tart from the bakery in front of the gallery, his favorite.

In front of Dosan Park was an Italian restaurant called ‘Ciao,’ meaning ‘hello.’

She had met Yu-gun, the owner and star chef of the restaurant, a year ago at a ceramics biennale held in Icheon.

‘Are you Ko Woo-yeon from Nason Gallery? I’m Kang Yu-gun from Ciao.’

They had been introduced through the ceramic artist Master Chun Tae-soo, and they started dating six months ago. Ever since they began dating, he had always been a caring man.

His friendly, pleasant appearance and neat clothes had caught her attention at first sight. His soft voice and gentle way of speaking were also quite pleasant to listen to. What she liked most was his patient personality and witty way of talking. He knew how to entertain people without being too vulgar or too lighthearted.

‘When you have time, come and have a meal sometime. If you don’t like the food, you can come see me instead.’

After getting to know each other through casual greetings and keeping in touch from time to time, they had gone on several dates at his restaurant, pretending they were simply having meals.

And after passing through two seasons, winter finally came. Their relationship had started around Christmas, and another three seasons had already passed since then.

Six months of officially dating. It was neither very long nor very short, just enough time for them to get to know each other. They had met at a suitable age, gotten to know each other at a comfortable pace, and cared for each other appropriately. It had been an ideal relationship.

Could his request to meet today have something to do with what happened a few days ago?

Her gaze, which had been fixed absentmindedly on the tart box stamped with the bakery’s name, shook. Woo-yeon pressed her eyelids and remembered her recent phone call with Hyo-jin.

— Ko Woo-yeon, guess what? Am I eating noodles?

‘What are you talking about?’

— Guess who I saw at Phantom just now, right nearby.

Hyo-jin, Woo-yeon’s friend who ran a flower shop in Cheongdam-dong, said she had seen Yu-gun at a jewelry store famous for wedding jewelry and proposal rings.

— What do you think is the reason he walked out of the store with that excited look on his face? After only six months of dating, you’re going there too, my friend. I hope you didn’t speed things up too much. Ahem.

Hyo-jin had laughed suspiciously, and Woo-yeon had firmly told her there was no way that was happening before hanging up. But her words had bothered her for a while.

“It can’t be.”

It was still too soon. Even if she eventually met the right person and the right time came, she had never thought about marrying Yu-gun. Besides, it was far too early for such a conversation to come up between them. Whenever Yu-gun casually hinted at his thoughts about marriage, she would smile and avoid the subject by saying there were still many things she wanted to do.

“A proposal…”

Hoping that today would not be that day, Woo-yeon sank into the seat.

The rain was getting heavier. The taxi that had left from Gahoe-dong passed through Jongno, went through Tunnel 1, and crossed Hannam Bridge. As they approached Olympic-daero, she sent Yu-gun a message saying she would arrive soon, then untied her hair and fixed her appearance.

When she pushed her soft light-brown hair behind her ears, the slim line of her face became visible. She opened her handbag, applied another layer of peach-colored lipstick, and rolled perfume onto the outside of her wrists. She took in the familiar scent and tried to organize her thoughts. As the destination grew closer, she became more nervous, but she told herself it was probably just her imagination.

The restaurant Ciao occupied an entire three-story building in front of Dosan Park. The combination of red brick and dark green metal frames reminded her of a warm greenhouse. The first floor had the kitchen and dining room, the second floor had private rooms, and the third floor had Yu-gun’s office, a staff room, and a meeting room that was decorated even more carefully than the private rooms.

The meeting room was used when Yu-gun welcomed important guests. Although business meetings were held there, Woo-yeon had always been there when tasting Ciao’s new dishes.

But today was not for either of those reasons, nor was it because of the thing Woo-yeon had been worried about.

“…What did you say?”

What did I just hear?

Woo-yeon raised her blank face. Yu-gun, sitting across the table, showed no change in expression.

“Let’s stop seeing each other.”

As if repeating it was not even difficult, Yu-gun repeated what he had just said.

Ah…

Only then did the situation finally reach Woo-yeon as she slowly opened her mouth in disbelief. The table, which was always filled with freshly prepared warm new dishes whenever she visited, had only two cups of coffee on it. She also remembered how the employees, who always smiled brightly whenever she came, had been avoiding her eyes for some reason.

In the silence, drops of water slowly ran down the surface of the glass filled with ice. Woo-yeon quietly stared at the untouched black coffee in front of her and clasped both hands together.

“Yu-gun, did I do something wrong?”

“No.”

Yu-gun avoided her gaze. His fingernails dug into the palm of his tightly clenched hand. As he casually scratched between his eyebrows, his eyes shook awkwardly. They were the eyes of someone hiding something.

What did I miss?

They had both been busy lately. Twice a year, in summer and winter, the gallery held exhibitions for special guests, and she had been preparing for one of them, so she had no choice but to focus entirely on work for a while. The Baekya Festival was one of the most important events of the year, so there were countless things Woo-yeon, who ran Nason Gallery, had to take care of.

It was true that she had been relatively inattentive toward Yu-gun, so perhaps there had been enough reasons for him to feel hurt. Just as she desperately searched through her memories, trying to remember something she might have forgotten, Yu-gun spoke.

“It’s a difference in our values.”

A difference in our values?

“We’re very different.”

“Tell me so I can understand. Don’t go around the point.”

“I don’t know. I don’t even know where we stopped matching, or when my feelings started to cool.”

His dry gaze slowly came toward her, and Woo-yeon pressed her lips tightly together. He leaned back in his chair, crossed one leg over the other, and continued.

“I’m not asking you to choose between your work and me. I’m not. But I just don’t think there’s any reason for us to keep seeing each other like this.”

Yu-gun’s words passed straight through Woo-yeon’s ears. His complaining voice, asking if she did not have too much work, rang in her ears like a buzzing sound.

‘I am disappointed, but I have a lot of work too, so I understand.’

‘Did you eat?’

‘I’m busy this weekend. What should we do?’

‘I’m going to be on TV, Woo-yeon.’

‘It’s business. It’s work.’

Those ordinary moments flashed through her mind, and Yu-gun’s voice broke through her thoughts again.

“I have someone else.”

Ah. Of course.

Only after hearing the main point could Woo-yeon finally understand. The noise in her mind disappeared in an instant, and one face naturally came to mind.

That woman?

After Yu-gun accidentally appeared on a cooking program this spring, the broadcasting industry began presenting Kang Yu-gun as a capable and handsome chef and inviting him onto various programs. Once his face became known to the public, he started receiving more and more offers. Recently, for the sake of promoting his restaurant, Yu-gun had even appeared on a reality show where young men and women developed romantic relationships.

‘I can’t help it. It’s for the restaurant. Nothing works better for promotion than TV.’

‘I don’t have any other feelings. TV is just TV. There’s a script for everything. You trust me, right?’

So that was why he had started giving long explanations about things she had never even asked about. The truth was, he had been cheating.

The breakup that had come without any warning finally made sense. You had been waiting for the right timing all this time.

“Woo-yeon, you’re a good person, so you’ll meet someone good soon.”

“You went to Phantom.”

Woo-yeon cut off his hypocritical voice disguised as consideration. When she mentioned what Hyo-jin had witnessed a few days ago, Yu-gun’s previously calm face hardened. His indifferent eyes began to shake rapidly.

“The ring. Who was it for?”

“…How did you know about that?”

Seeing how flustered he was, Woo-yeon knew it was not for her.

A mocking smile appeared at the corner of Woo-yeon’s lips. She had been afraid that she might be getting a proposal without even knowing it. Marriage was still far too soon for her. She felt relieved that it was not a proposal, only to become angry again because the truth was that he had cheated.

“It’s that woman, isn’t it? The one you were flirting with on that program.”

Spending a month together in a designated residence, seeing each other day and night—how could they not develop feelings?

He had said it was all business, but Kang Yu-gun ended the program by becoming a couple with the woman he had been flirting and playing hard-to-get with from the beginning.

“That’s right.”

“…You’re really good at business.”