YAIMF 33 🍒

Chapter — 33

A Heart Tilted to One Side

The weight of Ji-woon’s mixed feelings was slowly tipping in one direction. Wanting to ignore which side it was leaning toward, he stopped in the middle of the vineyard. Feeling suffocated, he let out a deep breath—just then, his phone buzzed insistently.

He didn’t even need to look to know who it was.

Faintly, he could picture her silhouette in her room. She must have seen his car—the only light shining in the dark vineyard beyond the window.

“Yeah.”

His voice came out cooler than he expected. Hearing it, Saena’s mood twisted strangely.

—What are you doing out there?

“Nothing.”

—…Huh?

“I have something to think about.”

—What kind of thoughts?

“Do you want to know?”

His heart thudded hard. They were only about a hundred meters apart, yet it felt as if he could clearly see her expression. Her clear, pale face. When she was angry, she slightly pushed out her lips and frowned. But her jet-black eyes, like Go stones, always shone brightly.

—…Forget it. Come in or don’t. Whatever.

Saena’s blunt tone made his chest ache. His heart grew restless for no reason. He wanted to run to her right away and calm her down—but knowing all too well that he shouldn’t, Ji-woon tightened his grip on the steering wheel.

“I’ll come in after a bit.”

—What nonsense. Who said I was waiting? I’m hanging up.

She ended the call like that. He saw her step away from the window. It felt as if she might disappear forever, and a sharp pain shot through his heart. His first love—like a vicious fever—came to mind. Ji-woon let out a low groan and clutched the left side of his chest.

“Damn it.”

It felt as if the first love he had forgotten had returned, only to vanish again. Leaning his head against the headrest, Ji-woon stared blankly at Saena’s room. Ever since meeting her, the new life he had carefully lined up had started to come apart, little by little.

The hospital aide who crossed the lines he had drawn. His own pointless pride—him, who had never once run away—hiding in that shabby karaoke room, pulled along by Saena’s hand. And the kiss he had given her.

Everything had been impulsive, yet it felt like it was melting his frozen heart. His heart began pounding again. His legs went weak, as if she were smiling brightly right in front of him.

“This is driving me crazy. Seriously.”

The more he tried to put his feelings for her away, the more they grew, as if mocking him. His heart swelled and swelled, until he wondered if it might burst at any moment.

“I’m really thinking all kinds of ridiculous things.”

A curse slipped from his lips on its own. As if asking whether he even knew who he was harboring feelings for, crickets cried out in a noisy chorus. Their sound felt like a scolding, making his heart unbearably heavy and uneasy.

“Yeah, I know. I know. But I don’t know what I’m supposed to do.”

These feelings were completely new to him, enough to leave him flustered. Even while looking at her, he wanted to see her again. If she moved even a little farther away, he grew anxious. With that stubborn intensity, Ji-woon kept staring at Saena’s room, groaning softly under the weight of his conscience pounding at his heart.

He was telling her a lie that could never be taken back. Not only had he pretended to be the man she loved when she loved someone else, but even now—when her only family member was hovering between life and death—he hadn’t told her a single word. Imagining the pain she would feel if she learned the truth made his vision spin. As if those scenes were playing out before his eyes, Ji-woon squeezed his eyes shut.

“Crazy…”

He banged his head against the headrest, over and over. He desperately wished someone would tell him what to do in this situation. Opening his eyes slowly, still trapped in despair, he saw that the light in Saena’s room—bright just moments ago—was now off.

“Ha…”

The moment he saw it, the breath that had been stuck in his chest finally escaped. But soon after, an uncontrollable wave of aching emotion swept over him. Forcing in a shaky breath, Ji-woon slowly drove the car toward the old house.

After receiving an urgent call from Director Kim, Jeong-taek had no choice but to head to the office.

‘Director Jeong collapsed. What do we do…!’

Director Kim’s panicked voice came through the phone clearly. Hearing that Im-jae had collapsed made Jeong-taek’s head spin—what had happened this time? Since it would take time to get there, he told him to call 119 first. But Director Kim insisted that it would do no good if word got out. CEO Moon was already ill, Saena had disappeared after an incident that was unclear whether it was an accident or a fall, and now even Im-jae—the only person they could truly trust with the company—had collapsed.

At that damn, misplaced sense of loyalty, a sharp curse slipped from Jeong-taek’s mouth.

In the end, he found Im-jae gasping for breath in the conference room. As if someone were strangling him, Im-jae couldn’t even breathe properly. Supporting him as he looked ready to collapse at any moment, Jeong-taek took the freight elevator and went straight to the hospital where CEO Moon was admitted.

The IV fluid dripped steadily into Im-jae. Seeing that he seemed to be breathing properly now, Jeong-taek finally let out a sigh of relief.

‘Stress-induced hyperventilation…’

It made sense. His fiancée, Saena, had fallen one day without warning, and her life or death was still unknown. It would have been stranger if his mind were intact. Holding his throbbing head, Jeong-taek slumped onto a folding chair. He still knew nothing about the woman in the strap heels.

“If I were family, this wouldn’t have happened.”

Because they weren’t on the same family register, he couldn’t do anything—even with the clues they had found about Saena right in front of them. Im-jae was the same; he was only her fiancé, not yet legally related. At this point, nothing could be done until CEO Moon Dong-jin regained proper consciousness.

“Sir, we should have gotten a power of attorney.”

He had never imagined that something would happen to Saena. As Jeong-taek blamed himself for what he hadn’t done in the past, Im-jae let out a low groan and slowly opened his eyes.

“Ah… Uncle?”

“Im-jae, are you awake?”

Startled, Jeong-taek grabbed his hand and checked his condition. His pale face had returned to normal, but his eyes were bloodshot. Feeling inexplicably sorry, Jeong-taek held his hand tightly. Glancing sideways at him, Im-jae asked in a low voice,

“Saena is dead, right?”