To Me, Who Doesn’t Love You

Even if he thought of me as a fool for being too scared to even get off the boat, there was nothing I could do about it. Why was I so terrified of something so trivial back then? The moment that arrogant thought crossed my mind—”If it were my brother, he would have reassured me that everything was okay”—I wanted to prove myself to him. I wanted to show him that I was just a brave child who was only momentarily nervous and that I could handle this sort of thing with ease. Just as I had finally gathered my courage and was about to step off the boat…‘That’s dangerous.’Instead of pushing me, he gently grabbed my small forearm and pulled me back. While I hesitated, the adults who were planning to fish on the island stayed behind, and the boat owner turned the boat around to take us kids back to shore.As a child, Yeonseo’s favorite moment was when Suhan’s bright, smiling face turned into a cool, expressionless one the moment they were out of the adults’ sight. It felt like they were sharing a secret that no one else knew.But the days when I giggled like a child, happily pondering every day how I could win his favor, were long gone. The truth that I could never return to the good old days was undeniable.“……”So now it had to end. Resolutely, I carried out the plan I had been hesitant to execute. As expected, Suhan was furious. What I hadn’t anticipated was something else entirely.‘I’m going to try to seduce my husband from now on.’Only after completely giving up on him did he say he loved me. As always, he knew exactly how to inflict the most effective wounds on others, even if he wasn’t aware of it himself.* * *The next morning, despite my confident proclamation, I thought as soon as I opened my eyes:‘I’m screwed.’What should I do? It was a weekday, so if I opened the door, no one would be there, but I was afraid to open the door and step into the living room. What kind of crazy person would blow up in anger and then boldly declare their intent to seduce someone? Unfortunately, the room I was in now housed that very deranged person.‘Ah…’I was scared that if I headed to the kitchen, I would find nothing but an empty table waiting for me. Although he had made porridge for dinner after the previous day’s chaos, that was likely out of fear that my health would deteriorate, rather than concern for me. If I got sick from not eating enough, it would harm the health of his beloved “Lee Suhan” as well.The more I thought about how foolish and pathetic I was for proclaiming my intention to seduce him only to regret it later, the more ridiculous and stupid I felt. In any case, I didn’t want to let him go, and I certainly didn’t want a divorce. Even if it was for my future self, who might regain his memories, this was something that should be done with my consent, not something that should be pushed through while I was still without memory. Regardless of the reason, I didn’t want to separate from him, and I didn’t want to let him run away, so I had no choice but to face it head-on.So, the only thing left to decide was “how.” How on earth was I supposed to seduce someone who was clearly in love with me while suggesting a divorce? Hmm… I was briefly lost in thought. The simplest and most straightforward method is usually the most primitive, right? I imagined something blatant for a moment before shaking my head. That should be kept as a last resort. I didn’t want to just have a lucky night with him; I wanted him to be honest and stay with me.‘……’I flopped back down on the bed, briefly escaping reality, but then I realized that I couldn’t just lie there forever. I jumped out of bed, determined to take action.‘First, let’s eat and think.’If he hadn’t made anything, I’d just make something for myself.With a mix of worry and anticipation, I headed to the kitchen and found a delicious-looking sandwich waiting for me, just like always.‘It seems he wasn’t angry enough not to make breakfast.’To begin with, I was the one who was angry all day yesterday, while he was the one who kept getting pressured like a victim. I started to feel a bit guilty and sorry for him, but then I quickly remembered why I was angry in the first place, and my heart turned cold as ice.‘How could he shove divorce papers in my face at a time like that, as if to rub salt in the wound….’Instead of tearing the papers neatly in half, I should have shredded them into a thousand pieces. Shaking off my belated regret, I ate my breakfast. How could I make my husband, who was also someone else’s man, be honest with me? I chewed on my bread, pondering, but no good ideas came to mind. Was the most primitive method really the only answer? After pressing my hand to my forehead and sighing deeply, I decided to distract myself with something else and picked up my phone.The phone, which only had contacts like the library staff he volunteered with, a former colleague he introduced, and Taeoh, whom I befriended at the hospital, felt pathetically empty.Now that I had mostly recovered, I could tell Yeonseo that I planned to use my old number again, and he would undoubtedly help me activate it. But… could I handle the calls coming in for my former self, who was likely quite popular, as if I hadn’t lost my memory? Just reading the reports my past self wrote left me amazed, wondering how on earth I knew such things—there was no way I could manage that.Even though I knew there wouldn’t be any new messages, I absentmindedly opened the messenger app, only to see a notification pinned at the top that a friend had updated their profile picture.‘Who could it be?’It was likely either Producer Cho or Taeoh. I quickly clicked the notification, and sure enough, Taeoh’s profile picture had changed to a photo of him and his child, both beaming happily as if taken on a trip. Come to think of it… before I was discharged, he mentioned that his child was about to undergo a major surgery. He said that if the surgery went well, they would be discharged and planned to go camping together, which the child was looking forward to. In the photo, Taeoh was carrying a child who looked like they had just started elementary school on his back, smiling in front of a lush forest and a stream.Had they finally been discharged? It had been two months since I left the hospital, so asking about the surgery now felt a bit late, but sharing good news is always a good thing. I decided to reach out to him after a long time, partly to show some camaraderie as fellow patients who were practically imprisoned in the hospital.[Hello, Taeoh.]10:57 AM[Have you been well?]10:57 AMShortly after I sent the brief message, he replied with a polite greeting, saying he had been doing well. Skipping the small talk, I got straight to the point.[How is Yoonjin doing?] 11:00 AM[When I was discharged, I think he was about to have a major surgery.]11:00 AMSince the profile picture had changed, I was confident that things must have improved. His response, filled with excitement, quickly followed.(Photo) 11:03 AM(Photo) 11:03 AM(Photo) 11:03 AM(Photo) 11:04 AMThe message window filled with consecutive photos of them packing up in the hospital room, looking relieved.[They said we just need to monitor for a bit longer, and if there’s no recurrence, they might declare it fully resolved. Haha.]11:05 AMIn the photos, Taeoh and even his wife, who I hadn’t seen once during the hospital stay, were embracing their child with joyful faces, a sight that was touching even for an outsider like me.[That’s really great.]11:05 AM[You’ve been through so much.]11:05 AMWhen I sincerely congratulated him, he unexpectedly suggested that we grab a meal together sometime. Normally, I might have dismissed it as something people say without much thought, but I was currently facing a complicated situation that I couldn’t resolve on my own.I didn’t have many people to interact with, and even fewer to confide in, but after seeing Taeoh several times a week over the past few weeks—like classmates you can’t avoid—I could tell he wasn’t the type to mess around.Maybe if I could get an objective perspective on how others viewed me and Yeonseo, I could figure out what the wiser choice would be. With this in mind, I hesitated only slightly before replying to him.[What time works for you? I’ll adjust to your schedule.]11:12 AM.After a few messages back and forth, Taeoh said he was available today, so we decided to meet at a restaurant near my home after he got off work. It was an utterly ordinary barbecue place—not famous for being crowded or particularly tasty, just a quiet, small restaurant. I’d passed by it numerous times on my way to the library or hospital.Meeting at a barbecue restaurant during dinner time almost guarantees drinking, right? When I asked how he would handle getting home, he said it was fine since he could take public transportation as long as it wasn’t too late. Well, if he says it’s okay, it must be. After confirming the plans, I let out a short sigh and put down my phone.Anyway, this worked out well. I felt bad for the young boy, almost school-aged, who had to endure multiple surgeries while I was hospitalized. Hopefully, it won’t relapse, and it will just become a distant memory of tough times. Wishing for that, I got ready to leave.Throughout the workday, the image of Yeonseo as a child, seen in the storage room, kept popping into my head. A small, frail child who looked visibly timid. Given his personality hasn’t changed much since then, it’s easy to imagine what kind of child he was. If you let him out to play with new kids, he’d probably linger around the playground, clutch some sand a few times, and then head back home. That might be cute in its way, but as a guardian, it must have been frustrating.‘Even from a non-guardian’s perspective, it can be exasperating at times.’It must have been a challenging journey to nurture him into an adult, managing homeschooling and all.‘But he’s cute, so there’s nothing you can do.’That was the magic sentence that could dismiss many problems.* * *A little later, as I went out in the evening for the first time in a while, the weather felt quite chilly despite being warm and muggy during the day. I had already texted Yeonseo to let him know that I had plans to meet someone from the hospital and wouldn’t be able to have dinner together. I was half worried and half expectant about what he would say, but he simply replied, “Okay,” without any additional comments. It was a more bland response than I expected.“…….”I confessed with all my might yesterday. Does he not care? I said I would try to win him over, and the next day, I suggested we eat separately, but he doesn’t seem to mind. Or maybe he’s relieved? Instead of letting my imagination run wild with complicated thoughts, it was better not to think of anything. Shaking my head, I entered the meeting place.“Oh, over here!”As I entered the restaurant, Taeoh, who had successfully left work early without any overtime, was waiting for me in a partitioned seat, just as he had said.“Long time no see. Have you been waiting long?”I pulled out a chair opposite his table, took off my coat, and greeted him. Taeoh smiled casually and answered.“No, I haven’t been here long either. I went ahead and ordered a combo set; is that okay with you? Or should we order something else?”I glanced at the menu, noting the combo set started at a minimum of four servings, and smiled back.“I think that’ll be fine. We can order more if we’re still hungry. Or is there a side dish you want?”Some people don’t feel like they’ve had meat unless they have cold noodles, so I asked just in case, but he shook his head.“I’m fine. I thought you might eat a lot, Suhan.”“Oh.”I chuckled at the realization that ‘Lee Suhan’ from the TV show was known to have a big appetite. Well, I suppose… If you’re working as a taster and judge on a cooking survival program with 100 contestants, you’d need a stomach twice as big as others. But I wasn’t eating that much anymore. I ate a bit more than Yeonseo, but that was only because Yeonseo was a small eater given his size.“I’m okay now. I just eat like a regular person.”“Oh…”Taeoh expressed brief admiration and made a lighthearted joke.“Does amnesia change your tastes and habits? Come to think of it, you didn’t eat much at the hospital either, right?”“Yeah, well… Maybe my stomach shrank from lying down for so long.”Speaking in low voices, we started talking about recent events and how the child was doing. Before we knew it, an employee approached and placed the meat on the grill.“Shall we order drinks? Do you want a beer? Or…?”“Oh, it’s been a while since Suhan was discharged, so it’s okay to drink now, right? Is beer okay, or has your preference changed too?”I noticed there was a lot of talk about wine in the materials I had been going through. Lee Suhan, in the past, was known not only for his deep knowledge of wine but also for being quite the enthusiast. I wasn’t even aware of it, but there was a wine fridge full of his collection on the balcony, and he had stashes at his favorite shops too. Yeonseo only knew that was the case, but he didn’t know exactly which stores held what, so it was like having acorns hidden away somewhere without knowing where.For someone who used to drink liquor with the strength of soju, beer would seem a bit dull. Not wanting to hear any more about how I had changed from my TV persona, I readily ordered soju.“If you need anything else, just let me know.”We ordered a bottle of each type of alcohol per person to start, and with a light clink, we downed our first shot. It went down smoothly, the first alcohol I’d had since waking up in the hospital.“Ah, I feel alive.”I let out a chuckle as I unintentionally sounded like an old man, and Taeoh, seemingly having the same thought, laughed along, forgetting to maintain his composure.“I guess that’s one thing that hasn’t changed.”“Yeah. The taste of alcohol is fantastic.”Even before the meat was cooked, the second glass, filled to the brim and almost spilling, was quickly emptied. Maybe it was because we both had abstained like monks during our long hospital stays. One bottle each was empty before the first round of meat was even fully cooked. Oh boy. I wondered if I would be able to walk home later. I felt a momentary sense of alarm at the quickly accumulating empty bottles, but only briefly. Using the excuse that the stew had arrived, Taeoh ordered another bottle, and I finished the remaining alcohol in my glass.A little later, having eaten about half of the ordered meat, we were both pleasantly tipsy. We weren’t completely drunk, but not entirely sober either. It was that state where you could easily make a slip of the tongue and realize it a second too late. I was no exception.“Mr. Taeoh, have you ever regretted getting married?”This was a thought I had since before being discharged. Marriage is supposed to make you happier, right? Being stuck in a hospital room all day, with his wife exhausted from long business trips for work, and the child’s condition fluctuating daily, making everyone anxious. The whole family seemed far from happy, and I wondered how he felt about it.Normally, this question would have been trash the moment it left my mouth, but I was half drunk and had just spent about 15 minutes complaining about my partner and husband. I was grumbling about how he always avoids confrontation, doesn’t try to resolve conflicts because I’ve lost my memory, and insists on handling things unilaterally.“Of course, I’ve had regrets. Who doesn’t? If someone doesn’t, they’re not human; they’re a saint.”His long-suffering sigh sounded as if he had been waiting for the question, and we both burst out laughing.“But you can’t blame anyone else, can you? If you think about it, it’s mostly my fault.”Taeoh poured the remaining soju into my glass, then filled his own without waiting for me to hand over the bottle. He gulped it down in one go and let out a low sigh, smiling bitterly.“Originally, my wife wanted to have a child as soon as we got married, but I persuaded her not to. I thought it would be better for both of us to focus on work for a while and that it wouldn’t be too late if we waited two years. I suggested we just enjoy living together for a bit… something like that.”Since I had nothing to say, I nodded, and he put down his empty glass with a crisp sound.“Life rarely goes as planned, right? A two-year delay became three, then four, then six or seven… and then it hit us that if we delayed any longer, we might never have a child. We realized we couldn’t postpone it anymore.”They never imagined that the child they had later than planned would be born with a congenital illness. There were plenty of people around them who had children later in life without issues, so they assumed it would be the same for them. They thought there wouldn’t be a problem.The child couldn’t come home for more than half a year after being born. Taeoh’s wife, who held an important position at her company, had to return to work without having much time with the child, so Taeoh naturally took on the responsibility of caring for their child’s illness. They believed that once their child underwent a minor surgery, they would be able to live a life not so different from other children. They thought that if they could just get through this, if they could just overcome this crisis, everything would be okay.It was only after Taeoh, who had the lower salary, gave up on promotion that the family was finally able to live under the same roof. However, no one could have predicted that this would be the start of a long hardship. Their child’s condition worsened, leading to a re-hospitalization before he turned three. It was a difficult time for the child, who had to endure rigorous surgeries, and for the parents, who had to support him, as there was nothing easy about those days.“At first, I regretted not agreeing to my wife’s suggestion to have a child earlier. I thought that maybe if we had done so when she first wanted to, Yoonjin might have been born healthy.”Seeing that Taeoh seemed parched and ready to down another glass, I subtly replaced the soju in his glass with water. Whether he was so far gone that he didn’t notice the switch, Taeoh drank it without realizing it was water.“But, you know, I always did the best I could at the time. I always asked myself, how could I make my family happier? How could things get a little better? Ultimately, we made choices we thought we’d regret the least. So what can you do? You have to keep going, believing that this is the best course, hoping our decision was right.”A short silence followed. It wasn’t a story that warranted a simple comment, so I just listened, and he let out a bitter laugh, as if to change the mood.“Did you have a fight with your husband, Suhan?”He was right. Not just a fight—I had just received divorce papers yesterday. I had lashed out, and he had withdrawn, acting as if he were the guilty one, the cause of all our problems, only watching my reactions. What was most annoying was that while he seemed to care about my reactions, he still did whatever he wanted. Why did he bother to tiptoe around me while boldly handing me divorce papers? It was absurd.“Ah, you caught me.”When I burst out laughing and rubbed my forehead, the man across from me responded cheerfully.“Then I should change my answer. No regrets. I live for Yoonjin and my wife.”His obvious display of affection wasn’t annoying, and I couldn’t help but smirk. Meanwhile, Taeoh wrapped a few pieces of meat in a lettuce wrap and ate them, looking much more at ease as he spoke again.“That’s the eternal question for all married men, isn’t it? Do you regret getting married?”Another short silence ensued, but it was Taeoh who spoke up first.“But you know, people always say they regret it, that marriage is hell, that as a senior, they advise you not to live like this… Even though they say that, if they had to go back and make the choice again, most wouldn’t change a thing. Even though divorce is an option, far more people stay married than get divorced.”The next words hit me hard, as if they were exactly what I had been waiting to hear.“It’s because we know we can’t change the past. We’re too cowardly to change it, and even if given the chance, we wouldn’t.”Though our situations were different, it was the same for me. If I had to intuitively decide whether or not I regretted eventually lashing out at him, it was the latter. It was bound to happen someday, and it just happened to be yesterday. Continuing to be vague without clarifying what we wanted from each other was no longer sustainable.If I didn’t like the current situation, I had to change. I had to become different. If it was something I couldn’t do with my own will, I had to create circumstances where change was inevitable. Whether past Lee Suhan regretted it or not wasn’t something present Lee Suhan could undo now. I had no choice but to move forward, hoping that my past choices were the right ones.I rested my forehead for a moment, thinking silently before speaking.“This might sound strange…”“Oh, not at all. Please, go on.”“You sound like you’ve been waiting for me to say that.”“Ha ha, because it’s true.”Though he spoke as if my story was something to be intrigued by, it didn’t come across as irritating.“If I’m the husband, but he likes someone who isn’t me, what am I supposed to do?”He tilted his head slightly at a question that would have been incomprehensible at first and then burst into laughter after finally understanding its meaning.“It’s not something to laugh about. I’m serious. I can’t talk about this anywhere else. I can only tell you, Taeoh. It’s not like I can make my memories return by trying.”He sighed deeply and held his head in his hands, and Taeoh laughed as if watching a great comedy before responding.“There’s no answer to that.”It was a rather breezy remark.“You and everyone else keep saying the same thing. That I’m different from what they saw on TV. That I seemed like a completely different person. So what am I supposed to do about it? Hearing similar things over and over makes me feel like I’m doing something wrong.”I must have been getting drunk too because my words trailed off. Then Taeoh suddenly said,“That, I think I heard it before. Didn’t your doctor mention it too? The fundamental mechanism of amnesia is…”And we both spoke the same sentence simultaneously.“To protect oneself.”“To protect oneself, yes.”Before a brief silence could settle, he continued.“Perhaps your current personality, Suhan, is the person you wanted to be before you lost your memory?”I was so startled by the unexpected hypothesis that it sobered me up immediately.“If you had the same personality as on TV… I’m sorry, but honestly, you probably wouldn’t have had any friends.”“You really hit where it hurts without hesitation.”“Well, didn’t you ask a similar question? Anyway, you didn’t have friends, right?”I was about to say I had many colleagues even if I didn’t have ‘friends,’ but then I wondered what was the point and stopped myself.“Are you saying I have no social skills now?”“Oh, no, no. I don’t have friends either. Sometimes people just don’t have friends, and that’s how it is.”My glass was empty again, so I filled it to the brim, finishing off the remaining bottle, and continued.“Anyway, maybe you wanted to be loved by others and become a good person… so you became the current Suhan. I’ve only known you for about a month, but I think your true nature is that of a good person.”A good person. Everyone has their own definition, but I wasn’t sure if I was a good person by my standards. I lacked confidence. After a brief moment of silence, Taeoh drank down every last drop from his glass and dealt the final blow.“But isn’t it ironic? Your husband loves the Suhan that no one else likes. Isn’t that rather romantic?”Romantic, my foot. That sounded more like a curse to me.* * *“Ugh… I did drink too much.”A while later, as the store was about to close, we were about to settle up and leave, but when we stepped out of the chairs, we wobbled and had to sit back down. Taeoh and I hadn’t had such a carefree drinking session in a while, and even though we drank enough to feel confident about getting home safely, we were still quite dizzy. As it was, we were just a step away from turning the street into a bed and falling asleep.“Taeoh, are you sure you can make it home?”I asked, my words slightly slurred, and he nodded vigorously.“Oh, yes. No problem. Hiccup.”Not really. In the end, since I was slightly more sober, I called a taxi with an automatic payment system to take Taeoh home. While resting my forehead on the table and sobering up a bit, Taeoh suddenly spoke up.“Oh. Come to think of it, they should be arriving soon….”“Who?”I looked at him as if asking what he was talking about, and he smiled kindly and replied.“I called earlier. I contacted the number from the business card I got when we met before you were discharged, and he said he’d come to pick you up.”“Who?”I asked, doubting my ears, and he replied with a dazed expression.“Your husband, Suhan.”“What?”Before I could ask again in confusion, he pointed behind me and said,“Oh, isn’t that him coming? It looks like the car we saw at the hospital before.”I turned around and saw the familiar white sedan approaching. Wait, this suddenly? I knew I’d eventually meet him when I got home, but I thought it would be at least 30 minutes later. The unexpected timing of the reunion caught me off guard, and I couldn’t quite process what was happening.“Wait a minute….”Before I could scold Taeoh for what he had done, the car stopped near the parking lot, and the car door opened.“Hurry and make up with him. It looked like you were fighting over nothing.”“What?”In my shock and panic, I grabbed the bottle of alcohol I hadn’t finished and drank straight from it. Damn it. Maybe it would be better if I wasn’t sober. Whether that was a bad decision or a wise one was anyone’s guess.* * *Thirty minutes before receiving the unexpected call from Park Taeoh, Yeonseo entered the dark house and felt a strange sense of discomfort. Since Suhan had been discharged, the living room lights had never been off when he returned home from work. Even when he worked late, due to the system controlled by the central office, he couldn’t stay at the office without a superior’s approval, and that applied to Yeonseo, who was expected to lead the company in the future, as well.Just as there was no special treatment for being the chairman’s son, the reverse was also true. Don’t mess up the team atmosphere by standing out. When everyone else left for home, Yeonseo would leave the office a little later, and Suhan was always waiting for him in the living room.“…….”He should have set boundaries before getting too accustomed to this. The joy of being needed made him forget about the impending cliff, and he ended up going too far.‘I’m trying to win over my husband.’In the empty living room, he felt like he heard Suhan’s voice suddenly. It couldn’t have been real; it must have been a hallucination he conjured from his desires. Yeonseo shook his head several times, trying to shake off the futile hope, but it wasn’t easy. If giving up were easy, he would have already left Korea long ago. He was grateful yet resentful that he had dragged this on because he lacked the courage to disappear from Suhan’s sight.“Sigh….”Yeonseo pulled out a chair at the kitchen table where Suhan should have been and sat alone, killing time. The place where Suhan usually waited for him felt familiar yet strange, and his face flushed. If he truly cared for Suhan, he should push him away, regardless of any resentment he might face here.No matter how much he thought, this wasn’t right. He was deceiving Suhan. Even though he made it clear that the divorce was for Suhan’s sake, Yeonseo had wanted to stop breathing when Suhan angrily told him not to even think about divorce. The thing Jo Yeonseo feared most was expectation. The foolish hope that maybe this dreamlike time might last forever. The possibility of meeting again as ordinary lovers, as if they were strangers meeting for the first time, seemed like a fantasy.However, dreams are dreams because they inevitably end. He feared the moment he would once again receive a look of contempt from Suhan. What if, at that moment, he couldn’t let him go? What if he made Suhan suffer with his stubbornness? Unable to either run away or accept him, it felt like he was strangling himself.I need to talk to him again. There must be some misunderstanding about me. I’m not the good person he thinks I am. I don’t deserve to be loved. Yet, once again, when facing him, I will say nothing and remain silent. When he smiles at me, the urge not to wake up from this dream will grow even stronger.How long did he wait like that? Just when it was nearing midnight and he started to worry, a call came from a saved number.[○○ Hospital Park Taeoh]010-XXXX-XXXXIt was the guardian of a child who had been hospitalized at the same hospital as Suhan. Yeonseo knew they had become somewhat close after meeting on the hospital’s walking path. He had seen them talking a few times from a distance but hadn’t realized they were close enough to arrange a drinking outing. For a moment, he envied Taeoh for starting a new relationship with Suhan without any prior ties. Though it was a futile thought, nonetheless.His heart sank as he wondered if something might have happened, and he answered the call. A familiar voice, slurred and drowsy, spoke.– Is this Suhan’s husband’s phone? Suhan is a bit drunk right now, hiccup, and I think you need to come pick him up….The voice was so slurred that I could practically smell the alcohol from here.“Got it. If you tell me the location, I’ll head there right away.”The place he texted was a barbecue restaurant within walking distance of home. It was unimaginable for the pre-amnesia Suhan to go to such a place. If he wanted to eat grilled meat on charcoal or a brazier, there was a high-end Korean restaurant he frequented. There, a dedicated server grilled each piece of meat directly at the table and meticulously prepared the sauces, side dishes, and meals. He would never have set foot in a small, barely-reviewed hole-in-the-wall neighborhood place like this.It seemed like he had become a completely different person, yet whenever he showed glimpses of the warm person he used to be, Yeonseo was reminded it was still the same Suhan.‘By the time I get there, he might be asleep.’When Yeonseo arrived with a sigh, Taeoh and Suhan were sitting across from each other, waiting for him. As soon as Taeoh saw Yeonseo’s car from a distance, he waved, and Suhan suddenly picked up the bottle of alcohol on the table and drank from it.“……!?”If it were the old Suhan, he would have criticized such behavior as the height of vulgarity and crudeness. Yeonseo, shocked, ran out of the car and into the shop, where Suhan staggered, clutching his mouth and reeking of alcohol.“Are you okay…”Before Yeonseo could ask, Suhan lost his balance and stumbled backward toward him. Yeonseo quickly supported Suhan from behind and glared at Taeoh. Though Taeoh was equally drunk, Yeonseo resented him for letting Suhan drink so much. When Yeonseo frowned and made eye contact with Taeoh, the latter unexpectedly smiled with his eyes, though not to provoke him.“Go inside quickly. Today, Suhan talked a lot about Yeonseo.”Unlike when they were on the phone, his speech was clear and articulate. When Yeonseo squinted in confusion, Taeoh laughed and added,“He said you’re so cute and lovely that he’s going crazy. I was at a loss for what to say to Suhan, who kept boasting about you.”Just that one sentence made Yeonseo’s face flush instantly. It was probably a lie, but the faint hope that it might be true turned his cheeks red. Instead of responding, Yeonseo bowed slightly and helped the dozing Suhan, who was mumbling nonsense, into the car. Now wasn’t the time for strange thoughts… As he bit his lip and loaded Suhan into the car, the person who had summoned Yeonseo thought with half-closed eyes,“What on earth are you worried about? It’s clear to anyone that he’s smitten with you.”Just as Taeoh muttered to himself, a short honk sounded in the distance. When Suhan and Yeonseo stood up, the taxi Suhan had called was pulling into the parking lot.“Anyway, being honest would probably solve everything.”From a third-party perspective, it was both pitiable and frustrating, but ultimately, only those two could resolve their issues. As Taeoh stepped outside to catch the taxi, despite summer approaching, it felt quite chilly. It was perfect weather for newlyweds to cling to each other as an excuse to stay warm.* * *“Mm…”How long had it been since I last gulped down from the bottle? When I felt my body moving on its own, I opened my eyes and saw countless cars passing by outside the window. Where am I? As I groggily rubbed my eyes, I realized I was in Yeonseo’s car.“Ah.”I let out a stupid exclamation, and when I checked the person in the driver’s seat, I thought my heart would sink.“……”Despite boldly declaring I would win him over, I still had no idea how to do it. There he was, driving with a tense expression on his face.