Chapter 7
Hadn’t she said just a moment ago that she was going home to fetch some documents?
She must have run into Ha-in there, unexpectedly. Startled, she had opened her mouth without realizing she was still on the call with him, then panicked and abruptly hung up.
If it was Ha-kyung he knew, she was more than capable of doing exactly that.
A chain of thoughts tangled together, branching in every direction until they converged on one conclusion. Jung-ho’s eyes narrowed, sharp and glinting like a blade.
“Four years… already?”
Between that sharp gaze, a strange mix of emotions stirred. Ha-in now carried an atmosphere utterly different from when he had last seen her.
For Cha Jung-ho, those four years had been both painfully long and fleetingly short. Long enough to realize all that he had lost too late, and short enough to regret how easily mistakes could pile up.
Life is full of errors. But to avoid repeating them, one has to reflect on the past and find another way forward.
“This time, you won’t slip away so easily, you little brat.”
He muttered quietly, flicking the corner of a photo frame on his desk with his finger. Then, with a faint smile, he summoned his secretary.
“Did you call for me, sir?”
“That guy—the one who might have left the country with Ha-in.”
“Oh, if you mean the second son of the Seo-jin family…”
Fortunately, Secretary Seo recalled at once who he meant.
“His name was Woo Jung-min, wasn’t it?”
“Yes, but… why do you ask all of a sudden?”
The secretary’s cautious tone betrayed how rare it was for Ha-in’s name to come up these past four years.
“Hm.”
Woo Jung-min. Jung-ho rubbed his jaw slowly, repeating the three syllables under his breath as though testing their weight.
Truth was, he had never confirmed who exactly left the country with Ha-in back then. He suspected the second son of the Seo-jin family, but he could never be a hundred percent certain.
Hadn’t Woo Jung-min spent most of the last four years abroad? Just being overseas didn’t necessarily mean he was with Ha-in, and even Jung-ho couldn’t uncover every detail.
“You’ve been keeping tabs on him?”
“Yes, we have, but—”
“Check again. Find out what he’s been up to lately.”
Woo Jung-min was already lodged in his mind as a presence he couldn’t ignore. After all, there was a good chance the man was the reason behind Ha-in’s sudden, impulsive actions.
Her abrupt departure abroad, coinciding with scandal, had been fodder for gossip-mongers. Even now, years later, rumors still surfaced in the shadows.
The runaway bride of J Group. The fiancée who eloped with a chaebol heir. The scandal’s heroine was actually the real daughter-in-law. The press, armed with scraps of hearsay, would occasionally churn out another article.
If Ha-in were simply to appear with him in public, those rumors would be extinguished in an instant.
At Jinseong, where Ha-in was cherished, and even in her family at Ha-woo’s, where she was treated like a precious jewel, the engagement had been a subject of bitter contention for four long years.
“A broken engagement? Absolutely not.”
Time wasn’t the only thing that had changed in those years. Jung-ho might have been blindsided by Ha-in’s choice, but if it was her… then so be it.
She had returned, and that was enough. This time, vanishing like before wouldn’t be so easy. Certain of her return, Jung-ho began planning his next moves, step by step.
It didn’t take long for news of Woo Jung-min to reach him. Within hours, Secretary Kim entered the office carrying a thick file and set it on the desk.
“Information on Woo Jung-min, as you requested.”
Jung-ho lifted the file, eyes narrowing. “Anything unusual?”
“No, sir. He’s been living quietly.”
“Any recent trips abroad?”
“Almost none. The succession battle at Seo-jin Group has kept him occupied.”
Jung-ho flipped through the pages until his gaze stopped at several photographs.
“So, he’s lying low to avoid the sparks?”
“Yes. It seems he needs to decide where to throw his weight.”
Jung-ho scoffed. Typical. With ambiguous shares, it was easiest to hand them over and escape the mess. Among heirs born into conglomerates, few lacked ambition.
It wasn’t his family’s fight anyway. He skimmed the rest of the report and set the file down.
“Anyone he’s been seeing lately?”
“Only the same group Miss Ha-in used to spend time with.”
“Interesting. So, not even a girlfriend?”
For someone who’d traveled abroad so often, it was curious. Leaning back against his chair, Jung-ho tapped the file with his fingertips, piecing through his tangled thoughts.
Frequent trips for study or business made sense—but had he really not met Ha-in during those years?
If Woo Jung-min was indeed the man who’d accompanied her four years ago, then their paths were bound to cross again. Ha-in might not leave the country so easily this time, but still.
First, he had to confirm for himself whether Ha-in was truly back. With that decision made, Jung-ho checked his watch, then rose from his seat.
“Ha… how did it come to this.”
Standing before the gates of the mansion, Jung-ho muttered under his breath.
It had been a long time since he last came here. In the four years since Ha-in left, he had visited only a handful of times.
At Jinseong, he had been constantly hounded to bring her back. At Ha-woo’s, where they blamed the scandal, he would only have faced scorn if he showed his face.
The engagement, tied for over a decade, had been Ha-in’s choice to discard when she left the country. She had still been young, and the scandal—on her birthday, of all days—had been the final straw.
So he had waited. A year, then three more, until four years had piled up silently.
“If Ha-kyung finds out, I’ll be teased for ten years at least.”
He could already picture it: What, only now your conscience hurts after four years? A jab tossed across every drinking table, his misery made into easy amusement.
And yet, he had no other thoughts but this. At Ha-woo’s, they had been pressing for a breakup for years. Surely it was Ha-in’s wish as much as anyone’s. To run abroad and endure four years meant only one thing: she wanted to end it.
But if she had come back, then he had to see her with his own eyes. Whether to keep the engagement or end it for good, he had words to say—and words to hear.
“First, I need to see her face.”
Time slipped by as he leaned against the car window, staring at the mansion. Another ten minutes passed.
Had he ever waited for someone like this before? He thought back, and faint images came.
A boy in uniform, waiting outside an unfamiliar school gate.
“Of course… every time, it was her.”
Every memory of waiting, every moment engraved in his mind—it was always Ha-in.
Frustrated, he raked his fingers through his hair and looked back at the house. Then, suddenly, his gaze froze.
“…That’s—”
At a glance, there was no mistaking it.
It was Lee Ha-in.
