Chapter 14
Click.
As if jealous of the pleasant weekday weather, rain fell on the weekend.
After spending the entire day in the study, Yoonjae stepped out but stopped mid-stride when he heard faint music spreading softly.
It wasn’t loud enough to be annoying, just lightly audible.
“……”
Though he was well acquainted with classical music—even attending concerts for work despite not being a fan—the fast-paced rhythm of this music was completely unfamiliar.
Following the sound down the hallway, he passed through the living room and eventually reached the farthest, largest room from his own.
Thump, thump, thump.
The modest beat was clearly coming from here.
Naturally, this was the room used by “Aejeong,” since the two of them had always lived in separate quarters. Bathrooms, dressing rooms, everything was individually divided.
Yet in this strictly divided space, hearing such mysterious music made Yoonjae instinctively press his ear to the door.
It wasn’t rational—just a reflex.
A reflex to eliminate a potential threat.
Clatter—
“……!”
Only, he hadn’t expected that “threat” to be himself.
“What are you doing?”
Caught off guard when the door suddenly opened, Yoonjae froze stiff, unable to even step back. Looking up at him, “we” tilted our head in confusion.
Finally straightening his posture, Yoonjae replied,
“What are you doing.”
Luckily, she didn’t notice the faint flush coloring his face.
I quickly turned off the music and scratched the back of my head.
“Was it too loud? Sorry.”
Her sheepish face was dotted with beads of sweat. Her clothes too. Yoonjae’s gaze made me feel embarrassed, and I stepped back a little.
“I was just exercising. It feels good to work out to music, you know? But I didn’t have earphones, so I played it on the computer instead.”
Truly new.
So new that the very newness didn’t even feel real.
How could someone change so much overnight?
While his eyes flicked between the sweat glistening on my forehead and the lively curve of my lips, I added,
“Staying home all the time makes me stiff and unhealthy. I’ll keep it quiet.”
I quickly apologized, and Yoonjae turned away without further comment.
“Ah, wait.”
As he started to leave, I hurriedly stepped out and called him.
“If you’re done with work, talk with me for a bit. I’ll wash up quickly and meet you in the living room.”
With that one-sided appointment, I closed the door behind me.
“……”
Was it just my imagination, or was I gradually getting swept up by Aejeong?
After rushing through a shower, I came to the living room holding a bundle of blank paper and a pen.
Thankfully, he had stayed as I asked, sitting on the sofa with his documents. As soon as he put them down, I offered him the paper and pen.
“I thought carefully about what I need to do first.”
“What kind of things.”
“There’s a lot, but this seemed most important.”
The most crucial information right now was about Joo Aejeong and Ha Yoonjae—specifically, the nature of their contract.
‘It’s too late to pull the amnesia excuse now.’
I had already decided to brazenly play it off as “this is just who I am,” but I still needed some information. On the paper in front of me, I wrote in large letters:
<Contract Terms>
Though my handwriting wasn’t exactly neat, at least it was legible when I tried. Certainly not pretty, but readable.
Holding up the paper, I said,
“Why don’t we try putting this together again?”
It was a natural way to probe their relationship. But Yoonjae tilted his head skeptically.
“Again?”
“Again.”
“How can we ‘redo’ something we never did in the first place?”
“…Come on. How could you make a contract without terms?”
“We did.”
“……”
“You needed money. I needed a wife. That was it.”
I had assumed he was being petty, but it seemed there really weren’t any formal clauses.
Feeling pity for naive, foolish Aejeong, I set the paper down on the table and sat right beside him.
“Then let’s make them now. Doesn’t need to be many—just the important ones.”
A strong whiff of shampoo filled the air.
Her damp hair brushed his skin, cool droplets grazing pale flesh. Yoonjae stopped breathing for a moment.
“……”
A buried instinct, one he hadn’t realized was there, twitched of its own accord. He closed and opened his eyes, reacting to subtle signals.
She was always supposed to sit across from him, at least a step away. But this woman ignored permission, stepping closer without hesitation. Slowly, Yoonjae was getting used to it, though he didn’t yet realize.
“Here, look.”
Taking advantage of his unusual silence, I pushed the pen toward him, determined not to lose momentum.
“Each of us writes what we want. Anything that overlaps goes in; the rest we agree on and decide. Then we follow those terms.”
“Mutual agreement, contract enforcement.”
“Yes. We can even notarize it. Whether it’s your lawyer or mine doesn’t matter. What do you say?”
Her bright, clear eyes behind her glasses didn’t waver.
So Yoonjae pointed out the critical flaw she hadn’t noticed.
“You don’t have a lawyer.”
“What? Of course I do.”
I had an expensive law firm on retainer…
Gulp.
Realizing my blunder, I pressed the paper to my chest.
“They’re in my heart.”
“……”
“The only one who can protect me is myself. Naturally, I’m the only one who can defend me. That’s who I am.”
Cold sweat prickled my back.
It wasn’t the first time I slipped up, but this one was a bit much. I swallowed hard, watching Yoonjae carefully.
He stared at me silently for a while. Then, still calm, asked,
“Did you always talk like that?”
Thud.
This time, maybe I had gone too far. I averted my eyes, mumbling,
“People… you know, they change.”
“Sure, they go. But they don’t come back.”
My fidgeting stilled. My darting eyes, my shrinking shoulders, my restless fingers—all froze.
Lightly fiddling with the pen in my hand, I finally opened my lips.
“Do you want me to come back?”
Even as I asked, a bitter taste lingered in my chest.
I was me—but no matter how much I tried to adapt, it still felt like I was borrowing someone else’s body without permission.
‘Because what Ha Yoonjae wanted… was the real Joo Aejeong.’
Our eyes met. Each of us locked in our own thoughts, I was the first to look away.
“Anyway, after this, I need to buy a phone. It’s so inconvenient without one.”
Changing the subject, I had just started writing “1” on the paper when—
Rrrrr. Rrrrr.
As if to break the awkward tension, a phone rang loudly. Like a child crouched under the desk, I bent over the coffee table and gripped the pen.
“Answer it. I’ll keep writing.”
But despite my words, Yoonjae didn’t move.
Rrrrr. Rrrrr.
“Don’t mind me, just answer it.”
When I even waved a hand, he didn’t stand up. Instead, he pointed.
To the table, barely thirty centimeters in front of me.
“…Huh?”
There, at his fingertip, lay his phone. Silent. Not ringing.
Then where was that ringing coming from? Surely the soundproofing in this luxury apartment wasn’t that bad.
Blinking like a fool, I followed Yoonjae’s gaze.
Rrrrr. Rrrrr.
The ringing came from the TV stand.
“What—?”
I quickly rushed over and picked up the phone lying there, still buzzing relentlessly.
When I looked back at Yoonjae, he only stared silently.
“This is…”
A phone. Plugged into a charger. Sitting on the living room TV stand.
I had never even turned on the living room TV, so I hadn’t noticed it before.
I didn’t know how long it had been there, but even in my hand, it kept buzzing away.
I didn’t need to ask whose phone it was. One glance at the screen was enough.
“…Oh.”
My eyes narrowed.
<Oppa>
That was the caller ID displayed on the screen.
