She stopped breathing for a moment, her heart pounding like crazy. This is the freedom she had been waiting for all this time.
The moment she could finally break free from the constant surveillance and blackmail. She clasped her knees with her sweaty palms.
The ridiculous charges against her would be lifted, her shackles removed. She would finally be free from the horror that had taken her life as collateral. It was all there, right in front of her.
And yet, that intense feeling of bliss suddenly slipped from her grasp. She felt oddly uneasy. Instead of feeling relieved that it was all over, it was as though something was being stolen right from under her.
Lee-yeon sat frozen, unable to reply. Ki-seok turned to look at her.
As he turned, the leather seat made a sound like someone grinding their teeth together.
“I’ll be taking Chae-woo with me.”
“……!”
“Thank you for taking such good care of him, Lee-yeon.”
“……Well, wait, just hang on a second.” At that, Lee-yeon finally pulled herself together. “What are you saying all of a sudden?”
“Is there some kind of problem? We have already met all the terms of our agreement, have we not?”
“You think you can just leave him in my care and take him away as you like. How can you treat people like this?” Lee-yeon tried to settle her rising emotions and continue calmly. Still there was no hiding the tremor in her voice. She wasn’t cold at all, yet her whole body was shaking from Ki-seok’s chilling gaze.
“We made a deal that was mutually beneficial. Or would you rather I had thrown you in jail?”
“….”
“If I had, I wouldn’t be sitting here now listening to you spew this nonsense.”
Lee-yeon gently chewed her lip. You could hear a vague feeling of shame in her pitiful sounding tone.
Perhaps, she really was an idiot, just like he said, for not jumping at the opportunity to put an end to all this.
“…but the marriage registration.” Lee-yeon, unable to keep her hands still, couldn’t stop rubbing her hands together almost to the point of wearing out her fingerprints.
“If you already knew the extent of my lies to Chae-woo, then why―”
“So, you think I’m being unfair?”
“What?”
“I was trying to help you.”
“Exactly! Just why…!” She pushed her hair out of her face in frustration. Suddenly, Ki-seok lowered himself, so their eyes were level with each other. His stared at her, silent, searching.
“Do you know what my brother despises most in this world?”
“….”
“Being lied to.
Beneath his glasses, she could see his sharp eyes and was reminded of Chae-woo. Lee-yeon felt as though her heart, frozen inside her chest, was impaled on a harpoon.
“I, on the other hand, am quite fond of your lies.”
As the light in Lee-yeon’s eyes darkened, Ki-seok exuded a terrifying energy.
“We’re the same, you and I.”
This remark was gut wrenching. She had never felt more guilty for lying to Chae-woo than she did in this moment. Lee-yeon clutched her stomach and dropped.
“…please, don’t take him away,” she pleaded, her voice as small as an ant’s.
Even as Ki-seok stood looming over Lee-yeon, pale with fear, the resemblance was striking. She frowned suddenly. The change was especially noticeable, for her face, which white as a sheet, suddenly contorting into a strange expression.
“I didn’t expect to see another lie become true.”
They could hear a faint wind overhead. Ki-seok was just as formal as the first time they’d met, but rather it was the lack of change in his attitude that made her realize his ridiculing sneer reflected his honest emotions.
He slowly rapped his fingertips against the armrest.
“Nothing you have learned about Kwon Chae-woo up until now has been real.”
Lee-yeon’s shoulders shook with fear.
“Even so, are you confident you won’t have any regrets?”
* * *
Who knows how she made it through the rest of the workday.
Night had fallen, and she was just coming through the front door, her mind in a daze.
The lights were off, but in the darkness, an even darker shadow rose silently, blanketing the tops of Lee-yeon’s feet. Startled, she dropped her bag with a thud.
“…!”
She rubbed her eyes roughly, unable to tell if this was a dream or reality. Just when she thought her heart would explode, her eyes filled with tears.
Right there in front of her, the man who for the past month had been the source of all her dread and anxiety, Kwon Chae-woo stood calmly looking down at her. Perhaps because he’d been asleep for so long, his eyes still seemed a bit blurry, but there was no doubt in her heart. It was Kwon Chae-woo.
“Lee-yeon, how have you been?”
“Chae, Chae-woo….”
He slowly stepped toward her. When he smiled at her with that same feeling of warmth and affection, she was struck speechless.
He stood with his hands clasped behind his back, twirling a web-like silver thread around in his hand. The string was coiled tightly around the back of his fingers and hands.
When he clenched his fist, the tightly wound string dug into his skin. The thin silver thread shone sharply on the back of his hand cutting of his circulation and turned his hand a dark red color.
“It’s been a while, Lee-yeon.”