45. Joo Se-hee, it’s love.

In the cozy nest of her husband’s embrace, Tae-ryeong slowly blinked a few times. No way. I must have misheard. But the name her husband had called still echoed in her ears: Joo Se-hee, Joo Se-hee, Joo Se-hee. So distinctly, so tenderly. Then, Kang-joon called that name again.

“Se-hee.”

This time, it was warm and familiar, like a name he’d often spoken. Tae-ryeong felt her heart plummet. How did he know that name? When did he know? Did he investigate me? Barely holding back the words that flooded her mind, Tae-ryeong thought, It must have been that night. Their first night, when she had whispered her real name to him, thinking he was asleep. Just as he had acted like he blacked out when drunk, he must have been pretending to be asleep then too. As her thoughts reached that point, her scattered emotions surprisingly pulled themselves together. Calmer, Tae-ryeong slowly moved out of her husband’s arms.

“You knew my name.”

A hint of disappointment colored her gaze as she looked at her husband. The feeling of being deceived again. As if her loving heart had been cheated.

“So, did you investigate me?”

He must have. There’s no way he didn’t. If so, how much did he know? That she was Yoo Young-guk, the hidden illegitimate daughter of Inno Group’s vice chairman. That her father’s wife was her mother’s twin sister, her aunt. Truths that could never be uncovered through normal means.

“How much do you know about me?”

Despite her continuous questions, Kang-joon remained silent. But his persistent gaze was still fixed on Tae-ryeong. He was reading every emotion that quickly flitted across her pale face: surprise, unease, fear, resignation, regret. And finally, resentment and disappointment towards him. Thinking it was fortunate he hadn’t investigated, Kang-joon slowly opened his mouth.

“I didn’t investigate you. All I know is your name.”

“Why...”

Kang-joon smiled softly, seeing his wife’s slight frown of disbelief.

“Why do you think, wife?”

Because I knew you’d react this way. That you’d resent me, be disappointed in me, and close your heart even more.

“If I said I investigated, you’d treat me like trash.”

As he gently stroked her moist cheek with the back of his hand, his wife’s eyes fluttered.

“I wanted you to trust me and tell me first.”

Looking at her wet, flushed eyes, Kang-joon’s chest throbbed. It was a pain that couldn’t be explained without love.

“I think the reasons are sufficient.”

Tae-ryeong recoiled slightly, trying to avoid her husband, who kept showing tender glances and affectionate touches. Her husband was now deliberately putting on all his charm, trying to shake her and break her down, to make her fall in love like a fool. Tae-ryeong asked, her voice trembling with resentment, “Why are you doing this to me? It’s not love, it can’t be love.”

Instead of acting like a man in love, with eyes and expressions that say there’s only me, just tell me. That you need my help for a newly planned revenge. Tell me you’ll do anything, that you want me to join your revenge. Then maybe I’ll pretend not to know, reveal my secret, and ask for help. We’ll give and take fairly; that’s how a deal is made. When her husband didn’t answer, Tae-ryeong spoke coldly again, “Just tell me openly. What do you want from me?”

Her husband chuckled softly and mumbled, “Why are you so sure it’s not love?”

Kang-joon closed the distance between them again, lowering his face to meet her gaze. With his hands in his pants pockets, he didn’t touch her, but called her name again.

“Joo Se-hee.”

In an incredibly low and clear voice.

“It’s love.”

Her husband overwhelmed her vision, which had widened in surprise. His confession intensely surged into her pounding heart.

“I love you.”

It was the moment she confronted her husband’s sincerity, which could no longer be doubted. She stubbornly tried to resist, but her husband now confessed without pause. With eyes filled with helplessness, with a distressed expression, with a poignant voice.

“I love you, Joo Se-hee. Madly, even.”

His somewhat unrefined yet raw confession.

“Should I confess every day until my lips are worn out, until I die? Then would you believe me?”

Next, came a mumble mixed with a deep sigh and a self-deprecating smile. At that moment, many scenes flashed through Tae-ryeong’s mind. Her husband, who had changed since the first night he knew she wasn’t Yoo Tae-ryeong. Speaking of love, becoming gentle and warm. Her husband’s gaze, expression, tone, hot eyes, and deep sighs directed at her. So many things that couldn’t be explained without love. She truly didn’t know that he would also be love. That it wasn’t a one-sided love. That he too was, ultimately, love.

“...I’ll believe you. And I’m sorry I realized it so late.”

Kang-joon pulled Tae-ryeong, who wore a blank expression, into his arms again, as if unable to grasp reality.

“You can take your time answering my confession. I said I’d wait.”

In Kang-joon’s vision as he looked down, he saw his wife’s wet, long eyelashes.

“Instead, promise me one thing: that you’ll only cry in front of me from now on.”

He had come back to the garage to find his wife who hadn’t returned. The scene he saw there was painfully etched into his heart. Empty eyes, a look of despair, transparent tears flowing endlessly. A delicate body standing precariously, as if it would blow away with a breath. It was also the moment he learned what it felt like for his heart to be torn to shreds.

“It pains me so much to see you cry.”

He gently brushed her wet eyes with his hand. Seeing the transparent tears on his fingertips, Kang-joon mumbled, “Because if you cry somewhere I’m not, it would be even more painful.”

He couldn’t bring himself to tell her not to cry. So he told her to cry in front of him instead. But suddenly, his wife burst into tears again.

“Hmph.”

He hadn’t meant to make her cry. He quickly intertwined their fingers, fearing her small hand hitting his chest would hurt. Kissing his wife’s lips was an irresistible pull of love. Even the transparent tears welling at the corners of her eyes as she looked at him in astonishment were too beautiful.

________________________________________

The coffee shop employee led Jin-woo to a window seat. In the spacious area nestled beside a large pillar, there was only one table. It was a private space, almost like a separate room.

“Wow, why am I so nervous?”

It was no one else but his little one he was meeting. He had called Secretary Kim a week ago, but it took a few days to coordinate their schedules. He was busy, but his little one was just as busy. They finally managed to arrange a meeting at Baekje Hotel, a midpoint. And they only had 20 minutes to talk. Click-clack, click-clack. Hearing the crisp sound of high heels from behind him, Jin-woo sprang up and turned around.

“Se-hee...”

Before Jin-woo could say anything, Tae-ryeong, who had stopped in front of him, coldly cut him off.

“I told you to watch your mouth.”

He quickly clamped his lips shut, understanding she meant not to call her by that name. Only then did the scent of flowers reach Jin-woo from Tae-ryeong as she walked past him. Jin-woo, who awkwardly sat back down, swallowed dryly. He had so much he wanted to say and so much he wanted to ask. But now that his little one was in front of him, his mind went blank. So Jin-woo decided to shut up and wait patiently. It was the effect of being reprimanded just for calling her name once. The biggest reason, however, was that his little one had an uncanny ability to distill things down to their core. The employee took their order, disappeared, and then reappeared, placing their drinks on the table. Tae-ryeong, rubbing the condensation off her glass with her slender fingers, finally spoke.

“One month, two months at the latest.”

Her direct way of speaking, cutting to the chase, was still the same.

“That’s how much time I have left living as Yoo Tae-ryeong.”

As Jin-woo blinked, looking as if he didn’t understand, she calmly continued.

“After that, I’ll go back to my real name, and my original place.”

The nearly four-year disappearance, this absurd situation, his little one ended in just three sentences. No beginning, no middle explanation, just a clean outcome. Yet, he understood perfectly. Joo Se-hee was impersonating Yoo Tae-ryeong. And in two months, she would return to her original place, and everything would be restored to its proper position. He didn’t know why Joo Se-hee was impersonating Yoo Tae-ryeong, but he decided not to ask. She wouldn’t tell him because she didn’t want to, and there was no reason for her to explain. That was just her personality. Quiet, dark, taciturn, cold, and always thinking, deciding, and handling things alone.

“Until then, pretend you don’t know me. That’s why I asked to meet.”

A bitter feeling deeply permeated Jin-woo’s hand as he roughly ran it through his hair. She should have asked how he was doing, should have met his eyes kindly and smiled once. Because of his little one, who treated him worse than a stranger.

“I will.”

Yet, Jin-woo quickly replied with a sense of relief. Until now, Jin-woo had taken pride in his looks and personality. Regardless of gender, age, or status, he was popular with everyone, approaching them warmly and appealing with his charm. But his thoughts had changed after meeting his little one’s overbearing husband. Every time he thought of that man, he couldn’t help but compare himself. An overwhelming aura, intense masculinity, arrogant eyes, and a condescending yet polite tone. His confidence, which had recently soared, was rapidly shrinking. He felt like he would lose every battle if he confronted that man directly. But the fact that she was impersonating Yoo Tae-ryeong, that she would return to her original place in two months, meant that the marriage and her relationship with that man, her husband, weren’t real. It meant he would get another chance.

“Instead, you have to come back within two months, okay?”

As Joo Se-hee, as his little one. Knowing his little one’s reclusive personality until now, he felt he had been too lenient. But he realized now that a confession wasn’t about preparation; it was about timing. Just come back to your original place. He would confess fiercely until she lost her mind, and then he would go straight for it. He would show her what a human roly-poly was. Just as his resolve burned brightly, his little one heartlessly got up from her seat, as if her business was concluded.

“Wait, I just have one question!”

So Jin-woo urgently shouted.

________________________________________

While Kang-joon was in the middle of his workout, Kyung-jin, who appeared late at the fitness club, said, “What? Are you still working out? I saw Tae-ryeong go into the coffee shop. Wasn’t she here to see you?”

As soon as he heard that, he came down immediately in his workout clothes. According to his schedule for the day, his wife was supposed to be having dinner with associates near the hotel. But there was no reason for her to be at this hotel unless it was for him. Perhaps she was planning a surprise event, like the day she came to his office. As his thoughts reached that point, Kang-joon’s steps towards the coffee shop quickened slightly. Still, she should have contacted me. What if our paths crossed, or what if I waited a long time? The staff at the coffee shop didn’t approach Kang-joon. They knew he was a member of the Baekje Hotel fitness club, where the deposit alone was hundreds of millions of won. They also knew that after their workouts, the trio always stopped by to quietly drink coffee and then leave. Kang-joon strode across the spacious area and headed towards the pillar, assuming his wife’s personality would prefer a quiet, private space. As expected, Kang-joon’s eyes froze coldly when he saw his wife sitting there. His wife wasn’t alone. The dog-like man who had always annoyed him for no reason was sitting across from her.

“Wait, I just have one question!”

He saw his wife sit back down at the man’s words. Why did they meet? What’s their relationship? Why didn’t she tell me about this meeting? Amidst all sorts of swirling suspicions, Kang-joon wanted to trust his wife. We confirmed our feelings for each other; we can’t drift apart again due to such a misunderstanding.

“The marriage is a lie, isn’t it? And that tall, handsome chaebol heir husband. It’s not love, is it?”

His wife, instead of answering the man’s question, calmly gazed out the window. It wasn’t the man who was nervous about that silence, but Kang-joon. After a long moment, his wife’s calm words struck Kang-joon’s brain.

“Your expression ‘lie’ is correct, Oppa. Because it wasn’t a marriage made under my name.”

At his wife’s answer, Kang-joon’s brightly lit vision plunged into darkness. The world that had shone with vibrant colors lost its inherent hues. He wanted to rush out immediately and ask his wife, Was I nothing but a lie to you?

“Right? I worried for nothing then.”

The relief and joy in the man’s voice reached Kang-joon as anger. His mind heated up with fury, and a red warning light flashed in his chest. The man had crossed the line. He had warned him that day, but he hadn’t listened. Until now, he had considered resorting to violence instead of words as a loss of dignity. But now he understood. Sometimes, fists had to come before words. Fortunately, his wife’s voice, which he heard again, barely put the brakes on Kang-joon.

“But Oppa, there’s one truth within that lie.”

His wife’s eyes, still gazing out the window, subtly softened.

“Love is true.”

A faint, sorrowful smile flickered across her beautiful face.

“I love my husband.”

His wife’s words struck Kang-joon’s heart perfectly.