Chapter 01
It was a strange day.
Looking back, it was almost surprising that she hadn’t noticed how strange it was.
It began with an unexpected visit from the VIP dedicated team of a department store.
“The personal manager from A Department Store brought it in person.”
Manager Kim’s voice, delivering the message, sounded oddly excited, making Seoyoung lower the book she had been reading.
“To me?”
“Yes. He was all smiles. I told him to stay for a cup of tea, but he said he’d greet you next time.”
“Christmas is still far off.”
Seoyoung muttered listlessly.
On any other day, Manager Kim would have teased her to snap out of it. But today, without a word, she opened the box in front of Seoyoung.
Shoes. And very pretty red ones at that.
Nestled neatly in ebony-like velvet lay a pair of red flat shoes, their soft, signature curves of P Brand finished with a dainty little ribbon at the toe.
“They sent something this childish?”
Grumbling, Seoyoung still reached out and carefully ran her fingers over them. The flawless enamel shimmered like glass slippers.
“It was approved by the CEO’s secretary’s office.”
Manager Kim’s voice rose ever so slightly. Seoyoung’s hand froze midair.
Only then did she understand why Manager Kim had seemed excited. And why the personal manager who delivered the shoes had looked so pleased.
That wasn’t all. Outside the reception room of Yeonhaedang, beyond the traditional sliding door with wooden latticework fitted with translucent glass instead of paper, several shadows wavered.
No doubt they were standing there, nudging each other to go in first.
“CEO Han Seoha. So he can do things like this.”
She tried to sound indifferent, putting on a prim front—but this had never happened before.
Her heart thumped. The corners of her lips lifted despite herself. She looked down at the shoes once more.
“Still… what questionable taste.”
Such toy-like shoes.
If anyone else had sent them, she would have written a thank-you card, let them gather dust in some corner of her dressing room, and eventually donated them. But these were from Han Seoha.
No—rather.
They were exactly what one would expect from a man who likely knew nothing about women’s shoes. Thinking that, Seoyoung let out a faint smile.
He must feel sorry.
A week ago had been her mother’s death anniversary.
Every year, Han Seoha at least stood before the memorial table in a black suit. But this time, he hadn’t come. After waiting until she was exhausted, Seoyoung lit the candles with the people of Yeonhaedang at past eleven that night.
Had her mother, like her, stared helplessly at the chrysanthemums on the table before she passed?
Lost in thought for a moment, Seoyoung’s gaze settled again on the shoes.
Was this his way of apologizing?
She pictured Han Seoha’s face—one she could now draw from memory.
Handsome yet cold, cold yet sunlit when he smiled—her husband’s face.
“That’s fine. There are still two chances left.”
Manager Kim looked at her as if to ask what nonsense she was spouting again, but Seoyoung merely smiled softly.
She had been subdued for days. Seeing her smile, Manager Kim—and even the Yeonhaedang staff watching from a distance—let out quiet sighs of relief.
“Shall we try them on?”
Manager Kim asked cautiously, studying her expression. At a glance, the shoes clearly weren’t Seoyoung’s taste. Or rather, there had been a time when she had liked shoes like these.
When she was younger—when she laughed freely at the smallest things and ran about like a fluttering bird.
For a brief moment, that dazzling version of Seoyoung surfaced in Manager Kim’s mind, making her eyes sting.
Now—
Now, of course, Seoyoung was still beautiful.
Her glamorous looks, identical to her late mother’s, her elegant figure shaped by years of ballet, and the innate grace that radiated from her were beyond merely “striking.” After her marriage, she had often been mistaken for an actress or a model at various gatherings.
For a while, rumors spread that the only son of S Company had married a celebrity.
But to Manager Kim, the Seoyoung she missed was the one in Cambridge—wearing ripped jeans and a paint-stained T-shirt, carrying a backpack as big as her body while running about.
And…
Even if others didn’t know, Manager Kim—who had cared for her since childhood—could tell.
Something in Seoyoung was quietly, gradually withering.
When her mother, CEO Kim Jium, passed away, Seoyoung had grieved but not broken. Yet now, little by little, she was faltering. Manager Kim knew it.
That was why this shoebox felt more welcome than anything else.
“Well. Since the CEO picked them, they can’t be that ridiculous.”
Unaware that Manager Kim was silently grumbling about her husband, Seoyoung, her face brighter than before, lifted the shoes and padded barefoot toward the mirror, almost as if dancing.
How are her feet so small and pretty?
Watching from a distance like admiring a painting, Manager Kim saw Seoyoung’s tiny foot slip neatly into the red shoe. Seoyoung turned toward her.
“It’s a bit big.”
“That can’t be.”
Manager Kim hurried over to check the size. The shoes from the VIP team couldn’t possibly be wrong. They had not only Seoyoung’s size, but the width and instep measurements as well.
“It’s fine.”
It wasn’t, really. But Seoyoung nodded readily. She probably wouldn’t have a chance to wear them anyway. She would just keep them as a keepsake.
Right then, as if on cue, Manager Kim’s phone rang. It was the CEO’s secretary’s office.
“Please confirm the location by text once more.”
Manager Kim ended the call, her voice trembling with excitement, and waved her phone at Seoyoung with a radiant smile.
“Seven o’clock tonight. We’re to go to Le Garden at the Youngjin Hotel.”
Manager Kim sounded thrilled. Seoyoung’s cheeks flushed in response. A warmth spread through her, and she cupped her face with both hands.
A dinner invitation, after a gift.
And at Le Garden, no less.
It was April. The roses in Le Garden’s greenhouse would be in full bloom.
From winter onward, florists carefully nurtured each rose—matching species and shape—so that they blossomed perfectly. And the dessert room set at the center of it all was every girl’s dream.
Seoyoung was no longer a girl, but she vividly remembered visiting Le Garden five years ago with her mother-in-law, Yoo Jung.
The roses had been splendid. The strawberry sherbet with specially ordered mint leaves had been refreshing.
On the way home, the bouquet of roses the hotel manager handed her had been so fragrant.
Of course, Han Seoha hadn’t come that day either. Yoo Jung had fumed endlessly, cursing her son for not even answering his phone.
Did he remember that guilt too?
Perhaps she was too swept up by the unexpected gift and invitation.
Seoyoung forgot how oddly mismatched the trio of Le Garden, red shoes, and Han Seoha truly was.
And she wasn’t the only one.
Manager Kim, who had begun to hope that spring was finally coming to this cold marriage, and the Yeonhaedang staff, who were overjoyed that Madam had finally been asked on a date by the CEO—none of them thought it strange.
In any case, a few hours later, Seoyoung put on a pink tweed dress she used to dislike for making her look too young, and slipped on the red shoes Han Seoha had sent.
As she reached for her usual black clutch, Manager Kim snatched it away and handed her a palm-sized white tote adorned with fluffy fur pom-poms, completing the special day’s outfit.
Pushed in front of the mirror, Seoyoung gazed at her reflection.
It felt like that day.
The day she went to meet Han Seoha again after twelve years—when she had still been a girl.
Smiling shyly just as she had then, Seoyoung spun once before the mirror. The people of Yeonhaedang broke into applause.
And so, amid enthusiastic farewells from Manager Kim and the household staff, Seoyoung got into the car.
Someone muttered crudely behind her that she should just make a baby while she was at it, but Manager Kim pretended not to hear.
Truthfully, she felt the same.
She sincerely hoped that this little lady, cherished like a jewel since childhood, would wither no more.
