Minhoo’s message appeared on the screen.

[Eunha, why can’t I reach you? I’m going to Korea next month! Call me when you see this. You’re the first person I’m telling.]

Eunha’s eyes sank endlessly as she stared at it.

Ever since she learned the unbearable truth, every day had become a cycle of misery. The moment she opened her eyes, the pain began.

So she had no strength left to talk to Minhoo. She couldn’t bear to make small talk as if nothing had happened, so she kept avoiding his calls.

“Why? Is something wrong?”

“…No.”

She kept staring at her phone, and he spoke to her. Across the table, he was busy cutting steak into small pieces and passing them to Hyesung. Eunha quietly watched him.

“Eat plenty.”

“Yes.”

Despite having no appetite, she forced the meat into her mouth and chewed and swallowed it with great effort. Chew, chew. It tasted like rubber — completely flavorless.

The restaurant was famous, having been featured on television multiple times and having held a Blue Ribbon for seven consecutive years. But when her heart was in h*ll, nothing could be enjoyed.

“How is it?”

“It’s fine.”

He kept trying to talk to her, even while his hands were full taking care of Hyesung. The words Stop worrying about us. You should eat, too rose to her throat, but Eunha couldn’t bring herself to say them.

It had been two weeks since she deliberately began treating him coldly. Yet the colder she acted, the kinder he became, as if unaffected. And without realizing it, his warmth only deepened her guilt.

And just recently, she had even told him she wanted a divorce.

‘I’ll pretend I didn’t hear that. I’m not thinking about divorce, so let it go.’

He wasn’t angry. He answered gently. Honestly, she had expected him to explode. If he had, she had planned to use that as an excuse to leave the house.

But he didn’t fall for it. Having made it clear that he had no intention of divorcing her, Eunha could no longer bring up the topic.

“Ahp… Mister! More meat, please!”

When Hyesung asked for more, he smiled and carefully sliced another piece of steak, placing it on the child’s plate.

“You’re eating so well. Since you ate nicely, how about cake for dessert?”

“Wow! Yes!”

If not for that incident, she would have been able to smile as brightly as they did. She would have enjoyed the happy moment, too.

But as Eunha turned her gaze away, she froze at the sight in the window: three people who looked like a warm, happy family. Her eyes burned. It was everything she had once dreamed of, yet instead of feeling joy, she felt only sorrow.

“Want a glass of wine?”

“No. I don’t really feel like drinking.”

“Then I’ll just have one.”

“Go ahead.”

Even when she acted cold, he didn’t flinch. Her desire to fight vanished. A fight only worked if both sides engaged—swinging alone accomplished nothing.

He called over an employee and ordered wine. A vivid red liquid poured into a spotless glass.

“…I’ll go to the restroom.”

“Okay. Take your time.”

His gentle reassurance that she shouldn’t worry about Hyesung and that she could take her time brought a faint smile to her face. She didn’t want the child to see her feeling down.

Perhaps she shouldn’t have come at all, even though he had invited her to dinner. But she had already told Hyesung about it and she had become so excited that she couldn’t back out now. Seeing them now, looking like the perfect family, twisted her conscience painfully.

She rose from her seat, and he looked at her with warm eyes, never suspecting what she was hiding.

Once he learned the truth, he would undoubtedly be disgusted. If that were all, it would be a blessing. But the lips that insisted he would never divorce her would one day bite down on a blade.

Just imagining it sent shivers down her spine. Hugging her goosebump-covered arms, Eunha headed towards the restroom.

It was a long walk down a narrow hallway to reach it. For such a famous restaurant, the route to the toilets felt surprisingly cramped.

As she pushed the door open, someone happened to walk out.

“Oh? Lee Eunha?”

The person calling her name was Choi Heeju. Of all places… why here? Her expression suggested she was thinking the exact same thing.

“Hello. Have you been well?”

In the past, Eunha would have avoided her. But not today.

“Well? Do I look well? Ridiculous.”

Heeju tried to brush past her as if avoiding something filthy.

“Heeju. Tell me the truth.”

Eunha stopped her. Heeju’s eyes turned icy.

“Tell you what?”

“You never dated Tae-yang, did you? You liked him alone and pretended, right?”

“What are you talking about? Are you saying I lied?”

She had been composed at first, but at the word lied, she snapped.

“It wouldn’t be your first lie. Honestly, no matter how I look at it, you’re just not his type.”

“Are you insane?”

“I think you’re the one who needs help. Go get checked at a hospital. They say lying too much becomes a condition.”

She deliberately provoked her, thinking Heeju would take the bait and fight back.

“You should go to hospital. It’s no wonder you’ve lost your mind — does your husband love you? Did you know that Tae-yang suffers from terrible insomnia? I know a lot about him, things that you don’t know. Do you think you can compete with six years of memories? Memories?”

“Oh? He sleeps extremely well. It seems like you’re the one who doesn’t know.”

Voices were rising. Eunha could sense people gathering around them. She had thought Heeju wouldn’t care about being watched—like at the business gathering. But today, Heeju seemed visibly hesitant.

“Don’t live like that! Stop fantazising about stealing someone else’s husband. That’s called having an affair. Do people know? Is it common knowledge that your ambition in life is to be the other woman?”

“Hey! Lee Eunha!”

Finally, Heeju lost her temper and reached out. Go ahead. Pull my hair.’ That was what Eunha thought. She had provoked her first, but she felt no guilt. Because of Heeju’s lies, she had been misunderstood, left alone, and suffered for so long.

“What are you doing?”

His voice came from behind them. Eunha’s lips curled slightly.

“Tae-yang!”

Heeju’s eyes filled with tears as she called him. A staff member stepped in, dispersing the onlookers. He approached and stood beside Eunha.

“Where’s Hyesung?”

“I told him to keep eating his cake. I heard noise and came to check. What happened?”

He didn’t spare Heeju a glance. He looked only at Eunha. That made her strangely tense.

She had assumed he would take Heeju’s side, like at the business event. If he walked out with Heeju again, she planned to pack her things and run either to her parents’ home or anywhere else.

Unable to hide her anxiety, Eunha bit her lip hard.

“Tae-yang, do you know what she said to me? She told me—”

“Go home. We’ll talk later.”

“Joo Tae-yang. How could you… how could you do this to me!”

Heeju burst into tears. He reached for Eunha’s wrist to guide her back to their table, but Eunha yanked her arm away, sharply and without hesitation.

“Why aren’t you taking her side today? You should defend her just like last time.”

“……”

“You two should disappear together.”

She added, almost laughing at herself, that he wasn’t alone today because Hyesung was here. He fell silent for a moment.

“Eunha….”

“Why? Do you think I’m being insecure again today?”

When he reached for her wrist once more, she shoved him away. His face had gone rigid.

“If someone says they don’t want to live, let them go. Go live with the person who actually wants you. Oh—am I not enough? Is it disappointing that I’m too easy? That no matter how you treat me, I still spread my legs?”

“Lee Eunha.”

He called her name, telling her to stop. His voice carried anger.

“You’re the one who stabbed me. So why are you the one wearing a wounded face?”

“……”

“Anyone watching would think you were the one who got stabbed.”

She had fully expected him to explode. But again—he endured it. He didn’t rise to the bait.

“You look like someone trying to detach yourself from me.”

He reached out and touched her cheek. Something in him looked so unbearably sad that Eunha swallowed hard.

“What I said about you being insecure—I was wrong. It won’t happen again.”

“Why not? Go ahead. I don’t care. It’s not like you ever treated me well.”

“…I’m sorry.”

She wished he wouldn’t apologize. She wished he would be cruel again like he used to be, when he would hurt her without a second thought. Would her heart have hurt less then?

“Don’t apologize! You like her. Not me—her—”

“Mm—!”

Eunha’s eyes flew wide open.

He had covered her mouth before she could finish the sentence.