Chapter 10

The visitor was Su-a’s mother.

She was one of the people who absolutely could not find out that Woojin was here. If her mother discovered it, their entire arrangement would fall apart.

In other words, they were in an extremely urgent emergency situation.

“You should have called before coming, Mom. The house is a mess, too.”

Su-a had never been this nervous while looking at her mother before. Woojin had already made a perfect escape to the second floor, but her heart was still pounding anxiously.

Her mother entered the house without answering Su-a’s comment and looked down at the floor.

Su-a followed her gaze and felt her heart drop.

There, sitting in plain sight, was a pair of Woojin’s shoes that they had failed to hide.

Ah…… I forgot about the shoes.

Su-a had hardly ever had opportunities to lie in her life, so she was terribly inexperienced at it.

“Su-a.”

Her mother called her daughter in a somewhat lowered voice.

What am I supposed to say?

Should she claim that her brother-in-law had come to collect some of his brother’s belongings?

Or should she simply tell her the whole truth?

“What are these shoes?”

But before Su-a could make a decision, her mother asked another question.

“Mom, these are……”

“You still haven’t put away Mr. Do’s things?”

Su-a had been certain she was about to be caught red-handed, but her mother’s reaction was completely unexpected.

Su-a quietly exhaled the breath that had been stuck all the way up to her chin from the tension.

“You should sort through the belongings of the dead as soon as possible.”

Only then did Su-a realize something obvious.

If a woman who had lost her husband had a pair of men’s shoes in her house, most people would naturally assume they belonged to her deceased husband.

Very few people would think they belonged to her brother-in-law.

Especially someone as utterly conventional as Su-a’s mother.

“I understand how you feel, but the living have to keep living.”

Su-a could confidently say this was the biggest act of rebellion she had ever committed in her entire life.

“They almost look like they were worn just moments ago.”

From her mother’s perspective, Su-a felt guilty and bitter about becoming someone who was acting so irrationally.

“But why are you sweating so much? Are you sick?”

Then her mother noticed her daughter’s gaunt face and immediately asked worriedly.

She had no idea what an enormous secret her daughter was hiding.

“I was a little sick.”

Su-a answered quietly.

At least that part wasn’t a lie.

She really had been sick.

“Since when? How bad was it?”

Her mother gently caressed her daughter’s cheek.

“Why didn’t you call Mom?”

Su-a had always considered herself fairly independent and strong.

After all, she had endured countless difficult training sessions without complaint.

But she was much softer than she believed herself to be.

The moment her mother touched her, she felt tears welling up in her eyes that she had been holding back all this time.

“Please sit down. I’ll make you some coffee.”

Su-a desperately swallowed her tears, guided her mother toward the sofa, and headed for the kitchen.

“Were you drinking coffee?”

Su-a naturally took out two cups, then tilted her head at the unexpected question.

A moment later, she remembered the coffee Woojin had left unfinished.

“……Yes. I just got up.”

The coffee still gave off wisps of steam.

Unless it had been the coffee Su-a herself had been drinking, there was no other way to explain it.

Her mother believed Su-a lived alone in this house.

“I told you not to drink coffee on an empty stomach.”

While listening to her mother’s nagging, Su-a quietly put one of the cups back into the cabinet.

Then she made exactly one cup of coffee and returned to the living room.

“Did you eat, Mom?”

“Of course. What time do you think it is?”

Her mother kindly pushed Woojin’s coffee toward Su-a.

Su-a hesitated, agonizing over what to do.

But when she saw her mother drinking her own coffee, she finally forced herself to pick up the cup.

Her face turned red when she realized that she didn’t know exactly where Woojin’s lips had touched the cup.

Maybe I’m indirectly kissing him.

This impure thought was something she absolutely could not let either Woojin or her mother discover.

“Are you still feeling sick? Your face is red.”

“Ah, no. The coffee’s just really hot. But why did you really come today?”

Su-a changed the subject as naturally as she could.

“Of course I came because I was worried. Something terrible happened to you, and I couldn’t even get in touch with you.”

“I’m sorry. I wasn’t in my right mind.”

“I don’t know what to say to comfort you, Su-a. What can a mother possibly say to a daughter who experienced losing her husband far too young, something even I have never experienced?”

When Su-a thought about her mother’s words, there was something painfully ironic about them.

A daughter who had to experience losing someone before her parents did.

“That’s why I’m saying this. Come home with Mom.”

Her mother gently took Su-a’s hand.

“I can’t bear to leave you alone in this huge house.”

The warmth of her mother’s hand was almost overwhelming.

“Your father is waiting for you, too.”

Su-a almost nodded without even thinking.

The time she would spend beside her mother would surely be much more comfortable and peaceful than this.

“I really want to, too, if I’m being honest.”

But the presence of Woojin upstairs made her stop herself.

She had a reason she absolutely had to remain in this house.

“But the day before he died, I made him a promise. I promised that no matter what happened, I would protect this house.”

Until she could make sense of Hajin’s death, she couldn’t leave this house even for a moment.

“This may be hard to hear, but you and Mr. Do didn’t really get married because you loved each other. You sacrificed yourself simply to save our family.”

Su-a had thought so too.

But a confession that she had somehow come to like him at some point caught in her throat.

“You’ve done enough. For Mr. Do and for your in-laws.”

As though trying to escape her mother’s words, Su-a turned her head.

Her gaze happened to land on the second-floor railing.

Woojin was standing there silently, looking down at the mother and daughter.

There was no way to know how long he had been watching them.

“You’re still young enough to find a new life for yourself. It’s not too late to start over—with your dreams, and with love……”

This time, Su-a didn’t avoid Woojin’s eyes.

She stared directly up at him.

Their gazes grew denser and deeper, layering themselves through the air.

Like thin sheets of pastry.

And yet, so subtle that no one would notice.

“Have you given up on your dreams and love?”

Woojin asked after Su-a’s mother had left.

He had come down from the second floor and was standing nearby while Su-a gathered the coffee cups they had shared.

Su-a nodded at him.

“I didn’t know you had such a bad habit of eavesdropping on other people’s conversations. And I never said I was giving up on either of them.”

“Then why didn’t you go with your mother?”

For some reason, Woojin’s voice had grown strangely cold.

“Because it wouldn’t be too late to start over after the doubts surrounding Hajin’s death have been cleared up. And I also have a promise I made to you, Young Master.”

“You’re already prepared to start a new life whenever you’re ready, after forgetting my brother.”

“Isn’t that obvious?”

Su-a asked in return as though the answer were self-evident.

She wasn’t even sure whether forgetting Hajin would actually be possible.

But she had concluded that this was the most appropriate answer to give his family and his younger brother.

“Who would want to spend the rest of their life trapped in sorrow?”

“……”

“Everyone wants to overcome the past and move forward into the future.”

But apparently, hearing his sister-in-law say that she would eventually move forward without his dead brother didn’t sit well with him.

His expression had hardened.

“As expected, you’re a wise woman, Sister-in-law.”

“You’re not angry about my answer, are you?”

“Of course not.”

Despite his words, his tone was remarkably flat.

What exactly upset him? Surely he doesn’t expect me to remain in the shadow of his dead brother for the rest of my life.

Su-a wanted to ask him outright, but she desperately held herself back.

“That aside. Right before my brother died, I found out who held the deepest grudge against him.”

Woojin changed the subject without properly explaining himself.

It bothered Su-a, but she let the conversation proceed in the direction he wanted.

“Who was it?”

“Our father.”

“……What?”

Crash!

The shock of his words was so great that Su-a dropped the cup she was holding.

Fragments of the shattered cup scattered in every direction with a loud crash.

Just before one of the cruel shards could fly into Su-a’s face, Woojin opened his hand and blocked it.

His expression remained as impassive as ever, but his eyebrows twitched as though he were displeased.

“My brother was preparing to expose the corruption within our family while he was alive. Our father must have heard about it beforehand and become anxious. He’s a man with an abnormal obsession with wealth.”

“W-Wait a moment. You’re talking about my father-in-law, right?”

The possibility she had wanted to deny until the very end had come back to haunt her.

Su-a fell into a state of panic.

“Yes. Unless I have some secret biological father I don’t know about, I only have one father.”

The revelation was apparently more than she could handle.

Without realizing it, Su-a began to move.

She had momentarily forgotten that the floor was covered with the shards of the cup she had broken.

“Wait. I need a moment to think……”

At that instant, Woojin suddenly grabbed her by the arm and pulled her toward him.

Su-a was caught off guard and ended up falling directly into his arms.

“You’ll hurt yourself!”

His voice rose sharply, something he rarely did.

He’s close again.

Far too close for comfort.

Su-a lowered her head to avoid Woojin’s breath falling directly across her face.