“About the offer you made yesterday… is it still valid?”

At her question, Taeyun let out a scoff, as if it were absurd.

“Ah, this is interesting.”

After making that remark, he fell silent for a moment.

From his reaction alone, Ina knew what he meant.

He had only mentioned it in passing.

From the outset, he had never actually intended to lend her money or strike a deal with her.

She was the only person desperate enough to accept his casual offer as a joke.

That brief conversation only left her feeling more miserable.

Regret washed over her. Ina tightened her grip on the phone.

“I don’t know if you’ll remember. My house. No—come to the house you and I used to live in. Be there by seven.”

With that, Taeyun ended the call.

‘The house you and I used to live in.’

The mere thought of it made her stomach ache.

How could she ever forget?

The happiest of all her memories were the days she had spent living with him.

And yet he was telling her to come there.

Hearing those words made her feel as though her heart had plummeted to the ground.

After hesitating for a long moment, however, Ina eventually made her way there.

“Haa.”

She stood for a moment, staring at the front door. Her eyes trembled with unease.

She had never imagined that she would come back here again.

It felt as though a stone had been placed on her chest, making breathing difficult.

Why hadn’t he sold this house?

Countless thoughts and questions tangled together in her mind.

“…”

Ina’s gaze fell on the door lock.

During their call earlier, Taeyun hadn’t told her anything, yet he had told her to wait at the house they once lived in together.

In other words, that meant the password must be the same as before.

Strangely enough, the moment she stood before the door, she remembered the numbers.

Their anniversary.

The day she shared her first kiss with Han Taeyun after he came to Changwon.

Ina pressed the eight digits, starting with the year.

Beep.

When she pressed the # button, the sound of the door lock releasing echoed through the hallway. Ina’s eyes trembled.

“Ah…”

She gripped the door handle, closed her eyes for a moment, and took a deep breath. Then, gathering her strength, she carefully opened the door.

Ina stepped inside slowly.

Standing just beyond the entrance, she froze.

“…”

Her shoes were still there in the shoe cabinet.

Beside them were Taeyun’s shoes as well—the matching sneakers they had bought together when they went to Gyeongju.

“If you give someone shoes as a gift, doesn’t that mean they’ll run away?”

That was what she had said when he told her he wanted to buy her a pair of sneakers.

“No. I’m buying them so you’ll wear them and come back to me. And we’ll walk together in matching shoes.”

His voice had been firm. His gaze unwavering.

Remembering the way Taeyun had looked that day made her throat tighten with emotion. Ina bit down hard on her lower lip.

“Do you like them?”

“Yes. They’re really beautiful. I think I like them even more because I’m wearing them with you, brother.”

He crouched down in front of her and helped her put on her trainers. His smile was even brighter than hers.

Finally, the tears that had gathered in Ina’s eyes trickled down her cheeks.

After quickly wiping them away, she took off her shoes and went in further.

As she walked down the hallway, she suddenly stopped in her tracks.

The door to her room was open.

Everything inside was exactly as she had left it: The furniture that she and Taeyun had chosen together. The bedding. The white curtains that he had hung for her. The black hair tie that was resting on the dressing table.

Even the couple’s ring that she had taken off temporarily because her fingers had been swollen that day was still there.

Everything remained untouched, as if she had only lived there yesterday.

Forcing herself to look away, Ina turned and walked back into the living room.

Her gaze slowly fell to the floor.

“Hhuu—”

Looking around slowly, Ina eventually buried her face in her hands.

The tears she had been holding back finally burst forth, soaking her palms.

She had forced herself to turn away from these memories and bury them deep in her heart. But the moment she returned to this house, the happy memories came flooding back.

Not a speck of dust could be seen anywhere. It seemed that Taeyun had been maintaining the house every day.

“You had a child.”

“While I was living like a d*mn lunatic.”

His anguished words echoed in her ears.

Looking at the house, she could imagine how Han Taeyun had lived in the years since Ina’s sudden disappearance.

Waiting for someone who never came.

The thought of him enduring that loneliness brought tears to her eyes.

Still, it was some comfort.

During those difficult years, when she had barely managed to hold on by focusing solely on Dahyeon, he had missed her too.

She had not been the only one unable to forget him.

With tear-filled eyes, Ina slowly looked around the house.

“I love you.”

“Hhuu—”

The image of Taeyun whispering those words of love throughout the house was still vivid.

Standing in the middle of the living room, Ina wept for a long time.

***

Slowly, Ina forced her eyelids open.

The blurred haze of her vision gradually cleared, and the familiar surroundings came into view.

She blinked quietly for a moment—then suddenly jerked upright in surprise.

“…!”

It seemed she had been crouching on the floor in front of the sofa, but somewhere along the way she had fallen asleep without realizing it.

Perhaps it was because being here again had made her heart feel at ease.

She had not slept at all the previous night, her mind too troubled to rest—but even so, she had never imagined she would fall asleep here.

“Why are you already awake? Since you were sleeping anyway, you should have slept longer.”

His voice came out crooked and sharp.

Ina flinched and her shoulders trembled as she turned around.

Taeyun was leaning against the sofa, watching her.

Embarrassment washed over her. She had come there to sleep with him, but she had fallen asleep so comfortably. In a fluster, Ina lowered her gaze.

Taeyun slowly rose from his seat and walked towards her.

“You disappeared overnight without a word, and yet you thought of coming back to this house. That’s pretty amusing. You must have been quite desperate.”

It irritated him.

If she was going to come back so easily, why had she left in the first place?

Ina hesitated, her lips parting as she debated what to say. Then she finally spoke.

“I want to know if you really meant what you said to me yesterday.”

At her question, Taeyun let out a short laugh.

“Why? Are you worried I might go back on my word?”

“It’s just…”

That was not exactly it, but she wanted a clear answer.

Her voice trailed off as she hesitated. Then she looked up at him with pleading eyes.

“Please move my grandmother’s hospital appointment sooner. I heard that Korean university hospitals are well known for lung cancer treatment, but it’s really difficult to secure a reservation. Please.”

She stood before him, swallowing her pride and enduring his words because the house was important to her. The money was urgent.

But what mattered most was Youngja’s hospital treatment.

Given his influence, it seemed like something he could easily arrange. That was why Ina had no choice but to come to Taeyun.

“You’re pretty bold for someone asking a favor.”

After listening quietly, he pulled out his phone and made a call.

“It’s me. Check immediately for an opening at a Korean university hospital. Move up the reservation with a professor specializing in lung cancer. Next week would be good.”

Keeping his gaze fixed on Ina, Taeyun added,

“And reserve a VIP hospital room as well.”

After giving the order as if to make a point, he ended the call with a faint, crooked smile.

“…Thank you.”

Ina bowed her head to him.

Watching her, Taeyun’s brow lifted slightly.

The sight of her lowering herself so humbly in front of him did not please him at all.

“How does it feel?”

Staring straight at her, Taeyun loosened his tie.

The cold question, sharp as a blade, burrowed into her ears.

“For someone who even had another man’s child, and yet crawled back into this house yourself because you had no money.”

He stepped right up to her, the corners of his lips curling smoothly as he looked down at Ina.

“I’m curious how that feels. Why don’t you tell me?”

Whenever he spoke, she visibly wavered. Watching her react like that was almost entertaining.

The more she did it, the crueler he became.

He wanted her to suffer as much as he had.

While he had waited alone in this house for the woman who had disappeared without a trace, he had wondered if she had thought of him once while sleeping with another man.

Just imagining it made his blood feel as though it were rushing backwards.

“I just… want us to do what we agreed on.”

The single sentence she barely managed to say.

In other words, she had gotten what she wanted, so now he should simply sleep with her.

“Ah. So you just want to sleep.”

A self-mocking smile slipped from Taeyun’s lips, as if her hope that it would end with only that was nothing but a misunderstanding.

“You said you needed money, so I gave you money. You asked me to arrange the hospital, so I arranged the hospital.”

“…”

“Now that you’ve gotten everything you wanted, you want to finish this quickly. Is that it?”

His voice, twisted with bitterness, echoed in her ears.

“You still see me as a fool.”

If only Yoon Ina stayed by his side, he would have willingly been that fool.

He would not have regretted giving her everything.

From the moment they first met, his mind had been filled entirely with Yoon Ina.

Even now, he knew how pathetic it was—yet it was not something he could control.

“Did you really think I called you here just to have s*x once?”

At his words, Ina’s eyes trembled violently.

“How pitiful. You’re just as pathetic now as you were back then.”

He had brought her into his life with what heart, hoping to pull her out of that miserable existence.

And yet she had walked away of her own accord.

Now she returned because she had regrets.

The thought twisted something deep inside him.

“You should’ve just stayed quietly beside me while I was crazy about you.”

“…”

“If you had, I would’ve handed you everything without hesitation. What a shame.”

The expression vanished from Taeyun’s face.

“Take it off.”

Ina slowly lifted her gaze.

Seeing how cold his face had become, she swallowed the tears rising in her throat.

“Why are you making that face? Don’t tell me you thought I’d gently help you undress like I did back then. That would be shameless.”

“Taeyun…”

“Ah. Or did you never have any shame to begin with?”

As if he had made up his mind, harsh words poured out of Taeyun’s mouth without restraint.

His cold eyes pierced into her.

“If you came here to offer your body, then behave yourself. Don’t ruin my mood.”