Yunjoo found herself relaxing because of how readily Kangwook agreed with her. Eating somewhere other than home still felt a little uncomfortable. The way he tried to meet her in everything she said stirred up a sentimentality she hadn’t expected.

If only he had looked at her like this from the start, met her eyes like this. She shook the pointless thought out of her head. And then the image of Kangwook from when they first met surfaced. The expressionless face, blank like a mask, coldly proposing marriage. The businesslike tone as he slid the contract across to her. Yunjoo sat looking at Kangwook quietly.

Back then, that contract he pushed toward her had been exactly what she wanted. If she could see the end, she could endure it. The one thing Yunjoo had seen in that contract was a single word: divorce. The promise of a divorce after three years had made her heart leap.

Kangwook met Yunjoo’s gaze as she looked at him, and said nothing. The two of them sat like that for a long moment, just looking at each other. Then Yunjoo picked up the tail of the eel and placed it on Kangwook’s plate.

“I’m giving you this because it reminded me of the moment I was most grateful to you.”

“You must have been very grateful.”

“Aren’t you curious when it was?”

“Isn’t it now, when you’re feeding me both?”

“It was the moment you handed me that contract.”

“……!”

“That’s what let me live. Because it had an end.”

Kangwook pressed his lips together at her words. The moment he regretted most was the moment she said had been her best.

“I regret that.”

“Pardon? When?”

“The moment I drew up that contract.”

Yunjoo’s eyes, which had been busy picking up meat and eel, went straight to Kangwook. She wondered if he was taking what she said as a joke, but his expression was entirely serious and his eyes were deep. She needed to look away, but she couldn’t. Those darkened eyes looked ready to swallow everything whole if they shifted even slightly.

“Mr. Kangwook, you know you’ve been acting very strange lately.”

“How so?”

“You talk to me more than in all three years we lived together, you let me work, you even came to the worksite. If you keep doing that, I might misunderstand.”

“Misunderstand what?”

“That you might like me…… or something…… hahaha.”

The one who should have laughed at her own words was Kangwook, but his face went still instead. The awkward smile she had put on froze too.

“Cha Yunjoo…….”

The low drop in his voice made her own voice rise slightly out of embarrassment. There was nothing to do but laugh it off with some bluster. Even by her own judgment, it had been a thoughtless joke.

“You might find it unpleasant, it was a joke. I know you’d never feel that way about me. Why are you looking so serious over something I said just to get a laugh.”

“Cha Yunjoo.”

She couldn’t even look at him. What kind of man couldn’t just let a joke go, she thought. He was being so stiff about it. Either way, she had started it, so she had to be the one to fix it.

“You’re right, a joke should suit the person you’re telling it to. I’m sorry. Let’s eat. I’ll eat well!”

She had said something unnecessary and the mood had grown heavy, so she had tossed it out like a joke, but Kangwook’s face had turned too serious, boring into her, and she panicked and quickly shifted gears, trying to smooth things over with chatter. But no matter what she said, Kangwook’s expression didn’t change.

‘The mood was so good, and now what is this? Cha Yunjoo, did you really think that kind of joke would work on Choi Kangwook? I’m going to lose my mind.’

There was nothing she could do. Yunjoo turned her eyes away from Kangwook, dropped her head, and started pushing meat into her mouth. Kangwook still hadn’t said a word, just watching her with those darkened eyes.

Sitting across from a man who had gone silent, doing nothing but putting meat in her mouth, was driving her crazy. This is uncomfortable, what do I do, should I just leave? 

All kinds of thoughts were running through her when she heard Kangwook’s low sigh. She squeezed her eyes shut. Whatever he said, she had to take it. But then a hand appeared in front of her. A glass of water came with it, and the words made her head lift on their own.

“Eat slowly. You’ll get indigestion.”

Kangwook hesitated for a moment. Since Yunjoo had brought it up herself, should he just be honest? Thinking it over had naturally made his expression set and go serious, and Yunjoo had started to panic at the sight of it. Let it go, just feed her and take her home tonight.

Putting his feelings aside left him with a sigh of regret. Not yet. Being honest would have to wait for the right moment. Yunjoo needed time for him to seep in. He had already seeped into her life without realizing it, but Yunjoo hadn’t done the same at all.

Watching the Yunjoo who had changed so much, Kangwook understood better than anyone that if he pulled her toward him by force, she wouldn’t be sitting across from him like this. It seemed better to hold her quietly to himself for a while, this woman who was only just beginning to smile and meet his eyes. But his heart, contrary to his thoughts, filled with a deep and bitter regret.

‘Choi Kangwook, this is your punishment. For not recognizing what was yours and thinking so highly of yourself.’

The hand passing the water trembled slightly at the look in Kangwook’s eyes. It felt like something kept punching holes in her heart.

“Mr. Kangwook, eat too.”

“The eel’s done.”

“Yes. What I said was a joke. You’re not upset, are you?”

“There is something that upset me.”

“What…… is……it?”

“What do you mean, what about Cha Yunjoo! Don’t say things like that again. You’re more than enough of a remarkable woman. You don’t need to think otherwise.”

“Mr. Kangwook…….”

What is this? Why is there a sound coming from inside me? Why is my heart pounding like this? When Choi Kangwook said it, she actually felt like that kind of woman, and she wanted to be seen that way by him.

“Why, the meat is burning. Eat. You’re hungry.”

At Kangwook’s words, Yunjoo felt something fill her chest and the hunger fade. He had looked at her with those same eyes once before and told her she mattered. And he had said it with a sincerity she could feel.

Tears gathered in her eyes before she knew it, and she quickly dropped her head and pushed the eel Kangwook had slid toward her into her mouth. Right now, it wasn’t the beef or the eel filling her chest. It was Kangwook’s words. 

Just knowing there was someone who recognized her was enough to make her feel full. And having someone like Choi Kangwook be the one to say it moved her in a way that was something else entirely. A person everyone called successful had recognized her.

This man wasn’t hers, but for the first time, she felt genuinely grateful that he was here with her, even just for now.

After that evening, Yunjoo began to look at Kangwook with slightly different eyes. Along with the thought that he wasn’t such a bad person after all. She found herself wanting to be a comfort to him at least once while they were living together, and wanting to give something back if the chance ever came.

* * *

The stage was nearly fully installed, and the finishing work was underway in coordination with the lighting team. The play would open in a week. It was the first stage she had ever built with her own name on it. Yunjoo looked at the stage taking shape before her and felt her chest swell. 

Every dream she had was right here. She was smiling at the stage with quiet pride when Sangyun appeared beside her and watched.

“Ms. Yunjoo, let’s have dinner with Mr. Seok. Once the play opens I won’t have any time.”

“Oh, when did you get here?”

She felt embarrassed to have been so absorbed in the stage that she hadn’t noticed someone standing beside her, and gave a sheepish smile.

“While you were being moved all by yourself.”

“I must look a bit silly. But bear with me. It’s my first solo work. What do you think, it looks good, right?”

“Yes, I really like it.”

“Oh, you mentioned dinner with Uncle. I’ll go tell him.”

“Then I’ll wait at the entrance.”

She didn’t think she could ever get tired of looking at it. Yunjoo took out her phone and snapped a photo, then turned to find Uncle Seok.

“Uncle!”

“I’m right here. So loud.”

“Yes, the director wants to have dinner.”

“Alright.”

Uncle Seok answered her and then tossed out a quiet remark.

“By the way, is the fool not coming?”

“Uncle! Please don’t. Nobody knows. That I’m married.”

“What!”

He was genuinely surprised. He had assumed everyone knew, given that Kangwook had shown up at the worksite.

“I haven’t told anyone yet.”

“Why not!”

“Because I’m going to get a divorce.”

“Who is?”

“I am.”

“Is that so? And the fool agreed to give you one?”

“Yes, he said to wait.”

“Wait until when? Wait a hundred years and see.”

“Uncle! Honestly.”

“Keep waiting. Just keep waiting!”

He scoffed at her words. Not as long as he remembered the look in Kangwook’s eyes the day he watched Yunjoo. The real fool was Yunjoo. That man clearly knew her worth. A man like that would never give her a divorce.

Uncle Seok watched Yunjoo pout and turn away, and smiled quietly at her back. The idea that a man planning to divorce someone would come all the way to a dusty worksite and carry his wife out was enough to make even a passing dog laugh. He had seen with his own eyes how full of Yunjoo that man’s gaze was, and it made him laugh. Hahaha, the sound of Uncle Seok’s laughter reached Yunjoo’s ears too. That man had already come to know Yunjoo’s worth.

‘You think a man like that is going to let you go? Then he’d be the real fool.’