“That call.”
Taejun held out his hand to Seoyoon.
“Give it to me.”
Seoyoon gripped her phone tighter.
“I’m hanging up.”
“Han Seoyoon.”
Taejun’s voice lowered.
“You’re the person I was looking for.”
“No, I’m not.”
“I heard your voice.”
Taejun took a step closer.
Seoyoon moved her finger toward the screen to end the call.
But before she could, a woman’s voice came through the phone.
* Put me on.
Seoyoon’s hand froze.
* You’re going to find out eventually anyway.
“Stay out of it.”
* How long are you planning to keep hiding it?
“I’ll handle it myself.”
* You were even planning to get a divorce, and you’re still protecting him first.
Seoyoon’s face went rigid.
Taejun’s expression changed, too.
“What did you just say?”
Seoyoon ended the call belatedly.
A heavy silence settled over the living room.
Taejun was still holding out his hand.
“Call her back.”
“I don’t want to.”
“I heard it from that woman.”
“Heard what?”
“That I went looking for you that day because of her.”
Seoyoon’s lips pressed tightly together.
“What does that mean?”
“I don’t know either.”
“You should’ve asked her just now.”
“I don’t want to hear it.”
“Why?”
Taejun’s voice sharpened.
“Even if you don’t want to know, I need to.”
“What are you going to do with that information?”
Seoyoon finally lost patience and raised her voice.
“You can’t even remember.”
Taejun went still.
“You don’t remember anything, so what do you think you’re going to hear now?”
“That’s why I’m going to find out.”
“Do you know how long I waited for you that day?”
Seoyoon’s voice trembled.
“Do you know what I was thinking while I waited for you to disappear without even one phone call?”
“You never came to the place we were supposed to meet. You didn’t answer my calls, and when you came home the next day, you didn’t even explain yourself.”
Seoyoon bit her lip.
Taejun had been even colder that day than he was now.
He didn’t return until dawn, and he hadn’t answered when she asked where he’d been all night.
Instead, he’d only said he was tired before disappearing into his study.
Seoyoon had stood in front of that closed door for a long time.
With the divorce papers in her hand.
“So I signed them by myself.”
Taejun’s gaze wavered.
“The next morning, I didn’t say anything either. I just left them on your desk.”
“What did I say when I saw those papers?”
“Nothing.”
“I thought that was your answer.”
Seoyoon let out a quiet laugh.
It was less a laugh than long-buried resignation.
“That you didn’t care if we got divorced.”
Taejun’s face hardened.
Would he really have done that?
If his wife had handed him divorce papers, would he really not have even asked why?
It was hard to believe.
But Seoyoon didn’t seem to be lying, either.
The wound from that day still remained in her eyes.
“Did you know that woman and I met at a hotel?”
Seoyoon was silent for a moment at Taejun’s question.
“Yes.”
“Since when?”
“It wasn’t just once.”
Taejun’s brow furrowed.
“I saw the two of you meeting several times.”
“Personally?”
“In pictures.”
“What pictures?”
Seoyoon didn’t answer.
Taejun asked again.
“Who sent them?”
“Stop.”
“Where are the pictures?”
“I deleted them.”
“Liar.”
“I’m telling the truth.”
Taejun didn’t look away from Seoyoon.
“Did you see those pictures and think I was cheating on you?”
“I had no reason to think otherwise.”
“But you said earlier that we weren’t involved like that.”
Seoyoon’s face went rigid.
Taejun didn’t miss the brief change.
“Did you misunderstand at first, then find out later that it wasn’t like that?”
“When did you find out?”
“That’s not important.”
“It is to me.”
Taejun took another step closer.
“You said you knew why that woman and I were meeting.”
The phone in Seoyoon’s hand rang again.
It was the same number this time, too.
Both of them looked at the screen at once.
Seoyoon didn’t answer.
The call ended.
A moment later, a text arrived.
[Three o’clock today, Room 1802 at Seorin Hotel.]
Seoyoon’s fingertips went stiff.
Another message appeared beneath it.
[This time, both of you come.]
Taejun reached for the phone.
Seoyoon tried to pull away, but she was too late.
He took the phone and checked the messages.
“Let’s go.”
“I’m not going.”
“I’m going.”
“Taejun.”
“Even if you don’t come.”
Taejun handed the phone back.
“I’ll go alone and hear what she has to say.”
Seoyoon looked at him anxiously.
“Don’t.”
“Why do you keep stopping me?”
“What if you don’t know what she’s going to say?”
“She’ll tell the truth.”
“There’s no guarantee everything she says will be true.”
“Then come and hear it yourself.”
Taejun didn’t wait for another answer.
As he turned and headed for the entryway, Seoyoon said urgently behind him,
“You trusted that woman.”
Taejun stopped walking.
“More than me.”
“That’s why nothing I said mattered.”
Taejun turned around slowly.
“What did you say?”
Seoyoon’s eyes wavered.
Her lips moved soundlessly for a long while before she shook her head.
“Forget it.”
“Tell me.”
“I don’t want to explain it all over again to someone who can’t even remember.”
“Then I’ll remember.”
“How?”
“By meeting that woman.”
Taejun was resolute.
“I’ll hear everything from the beginning.”
Three in the afternoon.
Taejun entered the lobby of Seorin Hotel.
When he reached the elevators, a familiar voice came from behind him.
“I’m coming with you.”
Taejun turned around.
Seoyoon stood there, catching her breath.
When he saw the person he’d thought wouldn’t come all the way, his expression softened almost imperceptibly.
“You said you weren’t coming.”
“It’s better than sending you alone.”
Seoyoon threw his own words back at him.
The corner of Taejun’s mouth lifted ever so slightly.
But Seoyoon couldn’t smile.
Silence filled the elevator as they stepped inside.
The higher they went, the paler Seoyoon became.
Taejun silently watched her hands.
They were trembling faintly.
“If you’re scared, you don’t have to go.”
“Now you say that?”
“I’ll wait in the lobby.”
“I don’t want to.”
Seoyoon curled her fingers into a fist.
“This time, I’m going to hear it, too.”
“Hear what?”
“Why you didn’t come to me that day.”
The elevator doors opened.
The two of them stood side by side in front of Room 1802.
When Taejun reached for the bell, Seoyoon grabbed his wrist.
“Wait.”
“Why?”
“No matter what you hear.”
Seoyoon forced the words out.
“Don’t apologize as if you were the one who did it now.”
Taejun’s gaze deepened.
“Losing my memory doesn’t erase what I did.”
“But you don’t know.”
“Even if I don’t, I still have to take responsibility.”
Seoyoon couldn’t say anything more.
Taejun pressed the bell.
A moment later, the door opened.
The woman from the phone looked at the two of them.
Taejun’s gaze settled on her face.
It was a face he had never seen before.
No memory surfaced at all.
“Come in.”
The woman went inside first.
An old document envelope sat on the table.
Taejun looked at it.
“Why did I meet you?”
“You’re asking without even saying hello.”
“I want to hear the answer first.”
The woman studied Taejun for a moment, then shifted her gaze to Seoyoon.
“You really didn’t tell him anything?”
Seoyoon’s expression stiffened.
“Tell him what?”
“What your husband was trying to find out.”
“Stop.”
“Even after coming all the way here?”
The woman picked up the envelope from the table.
“Kang Taejun didn’t meet me to cheat on you.”
Taejun’s gaze moved to the document envelope.
“Then why?”
“Because there was something he needed to confirm.”
The woman pulled several photos from the envelope.
The moment Seoyoon saw the top photo, all the color drained from her face.
Taejun picked it up.
A dark parking garage.
It showed Seoyoon getting out of a car with an unfamiliar man.
“What is this?”
Seoyoon couldn’t answer.
Taejun turned to the next photo.
The man was gripping Seoyoon’s arm.
And the final photo.
It showed Seoyoon handing the man a document envelope.
Taejun’s gaze turned cold.
“Who is he?”
The woman answered,
“The man who had been blackmailing Han Seoyoon since before Kang Taejun’s accident.”
Seoyoon’s lips trembled.
Taejun slowly turned toward her.
“Blackmailing you?”
“Even the reason Kang Taejun couldn’t make it to the meeting that day was because of him.”
The woman placed another photo on the table.
This time, it showed Taejun.
In the photo, he had a man by the collar and was pinning him against a wall.
“Instead of going to you, he went looking for that man.”
Taejun’s eyes wavered.
“Why?”
“To keep him away from Han Seoyoon.”
A heavy silence filled the room.
Taejun looked at Seoyoon, who couldn’t say a word.
“You.”
His low voice fell.
“Were you being blackmailed?”
The corners of Seoyoon’s eyes reddened.
But she still didn’t answer.
The woman spoke for her.
“I thought it had ended that day, but it hadn’t.”
“What does that mean?”
The woman’s gaze turned to Taejun.
“Kang Taejun’s accident.”
She spoke slowly.
“It wasn’t a simple accident.”
All expression disappeared from Taejun’s face.
“That man caused it.”