"You should have just ignored me and thrown me away when I was hurt. A vegetative person who couldn't even wake up anyway. You should have just spat on that face and run off."
He continued speaking with self-mockery. The ridicule was clearly directed at the past.
I-yeon, who had thrown away her burden, would fly away and live well. Moreover, there were countless men waiting to snatch her away, young and capable as she was.
But Kwon Chae-woo himself, without I-yeon—
Could not wake up. In other words, he could not live an ordinary life.
It was a simple truth.
Rather than just helplessly watching such an absolute person drift away, Kwon Chae-woo thought he would rather send her out in a calculated manner.
So that she, who had endured all kinds of hardships, would return on her own two feet, believing it was her own will and not coercion, realizing that Kwon Chae-woo's embrace was more comfortable than anywhere else.
He was ready to hand out a harsh test at any time.
"Even if I-yeon had run away back then, no one would blame her."
Kwon Chae-woo spoke with profound consideration through his darkened eyes.
"……But our relationship was a clear promise."
"……!"
"It was also an obligation that shouldn't be broken. That's why people say to be careful when signing contracts. I…… although I have regrets and have suffered. Even if I were to go back…… I would have signed for Kwon Chae-woo."
"……."
"At that time, that was the only path."
Kwon Chae-woo could not say anything, as if his throat was blocked. Because he hadn't expected her to bring up promises here.
Just how sincere must a person be to act like that?
The man who had been drifting without even a buoy was finally caught in a dense net and stopped. It was a strange experience of being bound to her from the very roots.
Such a strong sense of belonging enveloped him. The life that had been empty was no longer anxious and hollow. From the bottom, she was slowly and heavily rising up.
Because of the oath that I-yeon considered more important than her own safety, because of that single word.
"Does I-yeon like me?"
She didn't react. Kwon Chae-woo tried to coax her body, but there wasn't even a slight movement.
The answer came with the sound of breath scattering as they neared home. Her hand, rough and scratched from touching wood, brushed his neck.
"……Don't say such, such scary things."
If he really had been given a second chance—
God was on his side.
He lifted the corner of his mouth coldly.
* * *
Waking up clutching a splitting headache, it was already morning. I-yeon didn't even know how the company dinner had ended as she unsteadily rose from her seat.
At the same time, the bathroom door opened and a man with a large towel wrapped around his lower body walked out, dripping water.
Sharply defined shoulders, chest and stomach with clear shadows. The moisture not yet wiped away filled I-yeon's vision unavoidably.
"Did you sleep well?"
"W-why is that. What is that?"
"What do you mean?"
"No, why is it so……."
I-yeon couldn't take her eyes off the man who still had warm steam rising from him. She knew such oblivious observation was bad manners, but human curiosity was more tenacious than expected.
The hangover completely vanished.
Because the towel wrapped around his lower body was sticking out prominently. It was an unsightly shape that anyone could see, but the subtle outline beneath the fabric……
"I-yeon, do you remember what I said yesterday while drinking?"
"……Yes, yes?"
She was startled and met his eyes. She pretended to be calm and tucked her hair back, but her reddened eyes couldn't be hidden.
"What did Kwon Chae-woo say……?"
"That I remembered a little."
The man strangely furrowed his brows. It was hard to tell whether he was laughing or crying.
"……What?!"
Her mouth fell wide open, and her face turned pale. Dust floating in the air suddenly clogged her nose. Breathing became difficult.
"W-what…… What did you just say……."
Her voice trembled pitifully.
Water droplets falling from his hair wet I-yeon's knees. The pajamas being soaked drop by drop felt damp.
Kwon Chae-woo looked down at her trembling form with an unreadable expression and confessed quietly.
"I tried to die."
"……!"
Her pupils dilated as if time had stopped.
Tried…… to die?
That was a story I-yeon didn't know.
"The face I couldn't let go of until the very end seems to have been I-yeon's. Right?"
I-yeon was frozen stiff and couldn't say anything.
I-yeon had been the one hiding the truth and manipulating it, so in her relationship with Kwon Chae-woo, she had always held the upper hand. But for the first time, she lost the position of manipulation.
"Two years ago, I actually died."
Kwon Chae-woo knelt on the bed and looked down at her. It was a posture like begging for forgiveness, but I-yeon thought he was looking down at her as if reigning over her.
I-yeon's two legs were confined between the man's spread knees. It was close enough that the water droplets flowing along his defined muscles seemed to move slowly.
"I died."
He repeated strongly as if brainwashing I-yeon.
"That Kwon Chae-woo is a dead person."
"……."
"I never once wanted to wake up."
Using the gaps in memory was no longer just I-yeon's tactic. Kwon Chae-woo wanted to comfort I-yeon by completely erasing his own past.
The man who had given her irreparable wounds no longer existed. He had died back then.
If only he could wedge his way even a little into I-yeon's closed heart and become a new sprout. He felt no guilt about the lie.
"……Really, really remembered?"
"You don't believe me?"
I-yeon's blank eyes filled with confusion.
The person she had buried said he tried to die?
That couldn't be.
I-yeon immediately narrowed her eyes.
She looked straight at him to determine the truth. Kwon Chae-woo didn't avoid her gaze, and because of that, the staring contest continued endlessly.
Suddenly, the moment she last met Kwon Chae-woo's eyes in the mountain forest that night came to mind.
'He seemed surprised to see me.'
Thinking about it, I-yeon knew nothing about him.
What nightmares he had every night, why someone with good hearing as Kwon Gi-seok had said was taken by surprise.
To doubt his confession, there was too much she didn't know in the first place, so all attempts felt futile.
In that respect, the amnesiac Kwon Chae-woo and herself who knew nothing were no different.
The man kept his flawless pupils fixed as if asserting his innocence, and eventually I-yeon's eyes wavered first.
"There's only one thing you need to remember from now on."
She wanted to organize her thoughts alone for even a moment, but the man allowed not even a single gap. Despite his gentle voice, she strangely broke into cold sweat.
"Because I-yeon told me I was a kind and gentle person, I wanted to become such a husband as soon as possible. So I filled every hole in my head with only my wife's words."
"……."
"Because that's my only guidepost."
He was clear, determined, and sharp.
And this time, Kwon Chae-woo was setting up a guidepost for her.
"Etch it clearly. The first husband died two years ago. I am not that ex-husband. If you still have a ring, throw it away; if photos remain, burn them."
I-yeon was dumbfounded by the swirling words.
"I-yeon has taken a new husband, and I have not even a speck of desire to lose to 'that Kwon Chae-woo' you remember."
He revealed his acrid possessiveness without filter.
"If you tamed me, you have to take responsibility until the end."
I-yeon quietly inhaled and then choked.
The man who had put shackles on his own neck was smiling, and I-yeon didn't know if this was a good thing or not.
* * *
A flat forehead without any indentations and fresh-looking eyes. Kwon Chae-woo sat more peacefully than anyone, bathed in the morning sunlight coming through the window.
It was such an alien appearance compared to this moment of eating breakfast together at the table that I-yeon gulped down water for no reason.
'……Why doesn't he ask anything? If his memory is starting to return, he must be curious about many things. Did Kwon Chae-woo really try to die?'
But Kwon Chae-woo's interest was only in the present. The man who had prepared bean sprout soup from the morning looked in excellent spirits.
I-yeon didn't even know where her rice was going as she began to observe the man before her.
His sitting posture was straight, and the chopsticks held neatly were perfect from the angle to the position, like something from a textbook.
There was no sound of utensils clashing or food being chewed. When unexpected serenity flowed from Kwon Chae-woo, I-yeon slightly narrowed her brow.
She rubbed her cheek meaninglessly and put down her spoon.
"Kwon Chae-woo."
"Yes."
He made eye contact straight away, no different from usual.
"Nothing you want to say to me? Something you're curious about……."
"Not really."
"Why?"
I-yeon chewed her lips slightly.
Then, with a clack, he put down his chopsticks with sound. That was the first noise Kwon Chae-woo had made since sitting at the table.