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“Can you wash up by yourself?”
Seeing Dojun standing before her with his sturdy body exposed, Haejoo quickly covered her eyes. He had also just come out of the shower, wearing only a towel around his waist.
“……Yes.”
“I’ll be outside the door, so get yourself sorted and come out.”
Haejoo couldn’t lift her face, feeling ashamed of being naked and of crying her eyes out over a power outage at her age. As soon as he left the bathroom, she had to tear at her hair.
She rinsed off the bubbles cleanly under the showerhead.
Her discarded clothes were a mess, so she had no choice but to wrap a towel around herself and go out.
She had hoped, but when she opened the door, he was indeed standing with his back to her.
He had been covering only his lower body until now, so she didn’t know where to look.
“I’m…… done showering.”
The sweet scent of the bath bomb Haejoo had used spread throughout the second floor.
He inhaled deeply, then mumbled.
“Ah, woman’s scent.”
The scent of a woman had permeated the house, which had only housed males, since yesterday.
For Dojun, it wasn’t just this scent that was the problem. Before his eyes, the woman who had become his wife appeared in a similar state of undress.
“I was a mess, wasn’t I?”
Haejoo lowered her head in embarrassment.
Even though she had an image as an actress, she had shown him an unsightly side of herself.
It had only been two days since she started living at Dojun’s house. Unexpectedly, Haejoo had been suffering from various traumas since morning.
She was even more upset because she didn’t know the reason.
“You were quite…… shrewd.”
She had expected him to press her about what had happened in her childhood, but he didn’t.
Dojun’s voice was rather nonchalant.
“Are you going to keep wearing that?”
“Ah!”
Dojun, with his back still turned, went straight into his room without looking at Haejoo.
He went into the dressing room, grabbed some clothes, and returned to his room.
He mulled over the words Haejoo had said in fear.
He couldn’t believe Kyung-ae had even locked her in the bathroom.
“It wasn’t just the horny bastards who were the problem.”
Dojun only knew that Haejoo had a hard time because Kyung-ae favored her older sister.
Well, if she was willing to sell her own daughter for debt, that said it all. A bitter aftertaste lingered.
“Lee Haejoo is making me forget all about cigarettes.”
The image of Haejoo huddled in the bathtub clouded his mind.
Her beauty, matured as an adult, kept igniting his dormant desires.
This was troublesome already.
How long had it been since he brought Haejoo here……
On the other hand, he wondered how much longer he had to wait. He was curious about what he was to Haejoo, who persistently insisted on a divorce in a year.
“Secretary Song.”
Lost in thought, Dojun called Secretary Song.
He paused for a moment when asked about the matter.
“You still don’t know where Park Kyung-ae lives?”
-She listed her address as her old neighborhood but moved, so it’s not easy to find her.
Kyung-ae probably knew that the daughter she had mistreated so much had become a famous actress.
There was a possibility she might approach them using the marriage with Dojun as leverage, so it was necessary to keep an eye on her.
Saying that the two had a devoted love was a lie.
The important thing was that Dojun had never lied.
He had actually waited for Haejoo and had spent the time in a war-like state.
“Since she’s still entangled in a debt relationship with us, sue her for fraud.”
-Do you have something else in mind?
“I heard that woman even tried to kill Haejoo. So, I’m thinking of pushing her right to the brink of death, legally of course.”
Dojun knew he had a knack for money while subtly helping with CEO Park’s affairs. Naturally, he had learned for himself how money could save or kill people.
And that it was wise to cut off the bud of misfortune early on.
-I will proceed as you instructed.
After the call ended, Dojun rolled up a blanket.
Leaving the desolate room, he went to Haejoo’s room.
“It’s me. I’m coming in.”
He didn’t even need permission to enter.
Haejoo, who was lying buried under the covers with the light on, widened her eyes.
“What are you doing?”
“I’m going to sleep here. I won’t touch you recklessly like someone else, so hurry up and sleep.”
“That’s not what I meant right now.”
Despite Haejoo’s retort, Dojun spread the blanket he had brought on the floor. Not satisfied with that, he turned off the lights that were on.
“Night repeats until you die. Avoiding it won’t change anything.”
“Who doesn’t know that?”
“If you’re going to fall in your dreams again, fall without worry. I’ll be there to catch you below.”
“……!”
Dojun lay flat on his back under the bed. Only then did exhaustion wash over him, and he raised one arm to his forehead.
“It’s okay as long as you’re not alone in the dark.”
Haejoo looked down at him lying under the bed.
Whether he knew it or not, Dojun closed his eyes and continued talking to himself.
“What’s the point of having a man in the house? This is when you use him.”
With these words, only his shallow breathing could be heard.
That night, after days of cloudy weather, rain poured down with thunder and strong winds.
A disaster alert came on her phone, warning of power outages in various places due to the sudden weather change and advising caution.
The streetlights outside her window went out several times throughout the night and finally came back on in the late dawn.
________________________________________
The morning was bright as if nothing had happened.
Haejoo, who had slept soundly and woken up, stretched.
She couldn’t see Dojun, who had slept under the bed, so she went to the first floor and ran into the housekeeper.
“Where did Dojun-ssi go?”
“The CEO usually goes to work even on Sundays.”
Haejoo, who had tossed and turned until dawn, had overslept.
Jinhan had texted her the meeting place, telling her to come by 12 PM.
Haejoo also hurried to get ready to go out.
While doing her makeup, the events in the bathroom last night suddenly came to mind.
“Embarrassing, really.”
When she lived in the boarding house, there were no windows, so she couldn’t turn off the lights.
On the rare days when there was a power outage like this time, she would endure the endless night and sometimes even faint.
She would have preferred to die. She had hoped someone would come and help, but it was a futile wish.
It was a side of herself she didn’t want anyone to see.
It was the trauma that made Haejoo feel the most pathetic, so she had always dealt with it alone, which made it even worse.
But this time was different.
The name she had instinctively called was Dojun, and he had come running like a miracle.
On the other hand, she didn’t like that he had seen such a weak side of her. Even though he was her husband on paper, it was still something she didn’t want.
So, it was inevitable that she was conscious of him. She was already feeling awkward about how awkward it would be when they ran into each other at home later.
The series of events that had recently occurred were mostly things that were difficult to see as coincidences.
“How much does Dojun-ssi know about me?”
There was something else Haejoo was most worried about.
That she would become so accustomed to his protection that she would never be able to leave this house.
Surely, that wouldn’t happen.
“I’m going out for work too.”
Haejoo got into the sedan parked in the garage. After checking the time, the place she drove to was CEO Park’s old office.
It was there that Haejoo had met Dojun.
They hadn’t made a promise to meet, but she wondered if he had put aside his work and waited for her until she arrived.
“Huh?”
The old neighborhood was undergoing demolition from the morning.
The door of CEO Park’s office, which had been covered in stickers, had been torn off, and office equipment was piled outside.
Haejoo got out of the car and scanned the inside of the office, which was on the verge of demolition.
At that moment, a construction worker waved a baton and shouted.
“You can’t come in here. Move your car!”
“Yes.”
Haejoo quickly got back into the car and started the engine.
She said goodbye to the old neighborhood disappearing into the past and headed to the meeting place.
“Sunkyu, isn’t that Lee Haejoo?”
There was someone who saw Haejoo lingering in front of CEO Park’s office.
It was Choi Inho, a senior reporter with a camera bag, who was loitering around the neighborhood under demolition with his junior reporter Sunkyu.
Having luckily spotted Haejoo, he smirked.
“She’s supposed to be married to CEO Park Dojun, so what’s she doing here?”
“I heard she went to CEO Park’s hospital yesterday too.”
Dojun was one of the young entrepreneurs the business world was watching closely. With an exceptional sense for reading the flow of money, he had achieved great success.
Rumors of him having a woman had circulated subtly. The rumors had died down because Dojun had consistently lived alone.
Women from prominent families with impressive backgrounds had coveted him.
He had heard that famous women had competed to seduce Dojun, but all had failed.
Dojun seemed to be immersed only in work and money.
Such a man actually had a wife in a marital relationship.
Choi Inho couldn’t understand at all based on the materials Haejoo and Dojun had explained.
They had lived as strangers for the past three years that had been glossed over, so he planned to dig into it properly.
“Did you look for any long-time residents here?”
“The supermarket lady at the end of the downhill road seems to have lived here the longest.”
“Let’s go.”
The two got into their roughly parked car and got out in front of an old supermarket.
As they picked out drinks and snacks, a supermarket owner who looked to be in her sixties came out.
“Is this neighborhood where the actress Lee Haejoo used to live?”
“Something like that.”
“What was she like back then?”
“She didn’t talk much and was quiet. But why are you asking?”
“Ah, I’m a fan of Lee Haejoo. I came to see the neighborhood before it disappears.”
Choi Inho smoothly made up an excuse.
As he opened the drink he had paid for and took a sip, the supermarket owner started talking.
“Haejoo grew up very pitifully. Because of her mother.”
“Oh, really?”
“She only ever cared about the older daughter and mistreated the younger one so much.”
“That kind of thing happened?”
Choi Inho added appropriate interjections and pulled over a folding chair to sit down. The supermarket owner, bored with no customers, started talking.
“Then suddenly, the kid disappeared.”
“When was that?”
“About three years ago, I think?”
“You don’t know the reason she disappeared?”
When he probed further, the supermarket owner finally gave Choi Inho a sidelong glance. She smacked the floor with a fly swatter after smacking her lips.
“If you’ve finished your drink, you should go.”
Choi Inho wasn’t one to back down here.
He let out a friendly laugh and raised his voice tone.
“I hear strange rumors here and there that our actress Lee Haejoo lived recklessly.”
“Who’s spouting such nonsense?”
“Everyone is. I even became a fool for siding with Lee Haejoo.”
“Where would they get such baseless talk?”
“I heard it was because she got involved with some loan shark…….”
“It’s all because of that mother. She borrowed money and couldn’t pay it back.”
The person she called a loan shark was CEO Park.
CEO Park’s son was Park Dojun, currently Haejoo’s husband.
Choi Inho, who had been digging behind celebrities his whole life, felt a tingling sensation.
“Did you not hear any rumors that Lee Haejoo got married back then?”
“I had no idea at all. I was surprised when I heard the news of her marriage this time.”
“Ah, I see. ……I’ll be going now. Please do well in business.”
Choi Inho left the supermarket with his junior reporter Sunkyu.
As soon as he sat in the passenger seat, he recorded what the supermarket owner had said.
“Lee Haejoo’s mother borrowed money from a loan shark, and that year Lee Haejoo disappeared?”
“Hmm.”
“A three-year marital relationship, and the husband is the loan shark’s son, that says it all, doesn’t it?”
“It’s a huge scoop.”
“What I don’t understand is why they would tell such obvious lies when it would be so easily revealed.”
“They must have been in a hurry to cover it up.”
“There might be other circumstances we don’t know about. Let’s dig into that.”
The fact that Dojun’s family had a small-scale financial business was information that only circulated within the same industry.
If they framed CEO Park as a loan shark, controversy was only a matter of time.
It looked like they might hit a big one if they did it right.
Choi Inho chuckled and went to the office.
________________________________________
Haejoo arrived at the agreed-upon P Restaurant. It was a popular Asian cuisine restaurant where it was difficult to get in without a reservation.
After entrusting the valet parking, she tidied her clothes.
As she entered, the staff guided her straight to her seat without asking for a reservation.
“Your party is already waiting for you. Please come this way.”
It wasn’t a private room, but a seat separated from the main hall by its location. Jinhan, who had been looking at the menu, got up from his seat when he saw Haejoo.
“Haejoo-ssi, you’re here?”
“You arrived early. When did you make a reservation here?”
“This was a place I was saving to come to with you originally.”
“Ah.”
“After the meeting yesterday, I thought I should treat Director Kwak to a meal first.”
“I’ll pay for today’s meal.”
“It’s okay. I have a corporate card.”
Haejoo sat down next to him.
Then, Jinhan rested his chin on one hand and turned his body towards Haejoo.
“Take a look beforehand if there’s anything you want to eat.”
“Didn’t you say another guest was coming?”
“Yes, it seems the person who decided to invest despite this scandal is coming with him.”
“Really?”
Haejoo thought she was very lucky.
She straightened her shoulders, believing she had already gone through all the hard times early in her career.
That was the moment.
“Director Kwak is here.”
At Jinhan’s words, Haejoo pushed back her chair and stood up.
She smoothed her neatly tied hair and turned, only to see an unbelievable sight.
“Dojun-ssi?”
The guest who had come with Director Kwak, walking ahead, was the man from Haejoo’s house.
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