The two of them sat across from each other at a pub near the theater company before the sun had even set, laughing. Yunjoo felt sorry, and envied her friend for still throwing everything she had into her work.

“Hey! Cha Yunjoo, you awful girl! Do you know how worried I was, how much I missed you.”

“I know, I’m sorry.”

“Sorry is all you’ve got?”

“We can see each other from now on. Where are you these days?”

“I’m at a children’s theater company. I love kids. So that’s where I ended up.”

“Hahaha, Lee Jeongeun the wild one, with children.”

“Hey! What do you mean by that?”

“No, I mean it suits you perfectly. Hehehe.”

“Why are you laughing like that?”

They hadn’t seen each other in years, and yet it picked up right where it had left off on that last day. Was this what friends were good for? She had gotten an earful from Jeongeun, but they could sit face to face and laugh. She was back in that time when her heart had been light and full of passion.

The joy of reuniting with Jeongeun had long since swept away any memory of the promise Yunjoo had made with Kangwook that morning. She lifted her glass, filled to the brim with alcohol.

“Cheers!”

“Cheers!”

Kangwook had been breathlessly busy all day and yet the smile never left his face, and he had been smiling to himself in the middle of meetings and leaving work on time—remarkable things that had people around him staring—though he himself had no idea.

At this hour he would normally be irritable, but lately Kangwook felt he understood when people used the word happy. He had been working while waiting for Yunjoo’s call, and when he checked the time he looked at his phone in surprise. But there were no missed calls. Kangwook picked up the intercom and connected to the secretarial office.

“Team Leader Moon, was there any call from home?”

— No, sir, there wasn’t.

Nothing. That couldn’t be right. She had made a promise with him that very morning, and there had been no call—he was checking just to be sure, but there was no reason she would have called the secretarial office.

‘Ha, Cha Yunjoo, did you forget?’

Forgetting was the only explanation he could think of. Kangwook dialed Yunjoo’s number and waited, but she didn’t pick up. He ended the unanswered call and tried phoning the theater company directly. But the answer that came back was that she had already left.

‘Good grief, Cha Yunjoo.’

She wasn’t answering at home either, and she wasn’t picking up her phone, and a quiet worry began to creep in. From that moment on, his attention stretched toward Yunjoo and he couldn’t keep his mind on his work.

At that very hour, Yunjoo was blissfully unaware, riding high on a storm of chatter with Jeongeun and the drinks they had been pouring since the afternoon. They had been talking nonstop, and Jeongeun, who had waited and waited but never heard Yunjoo bring up her husband, finally said what was on her mind.

“Yunjoo, let me meet your husband.”

“Sure, I’ll show you my Mr. Kangwook. Jeongeun, my Mr. Kangwook is incredibly handsome.”

As the alcohol worked its way through them, the two women were giggling and cackling with their tongues growing looser by the minute, looking like they were having the time of their lives. They had gone straight back to being college students. 

Reuniting with Jeongeun after so long, Yunjoo let herself get pleasantly drunk, and for the first time in she couldn’t remember how long, she was just having fun without watching herself or reading the room. There was no chance she would remember a promise she had made with Kangwook.

Yunjoo had lived her life not knowing what it meant to get drunk or let herself go and play. Now that the reins were off, there was no way anyone would have remembered.

Going home drunk had been unthinkable to her. Before marriage, she hadn’t done it because she was afraid of her father, and after marriage, it wasn’t the kind of life she was supposed to live. There had been no one to do it with, and she had never dared try—that was probably closer to the truth.

Jeongeun watched Yunjoo laughing with all her walls down and grew genuinely curious about her husband. She had asked about him, and Yunjoo had agreed surprisingly readily, which made Jeongeun think he must be a good person. Yunjoo had lived in hiding ever since she got married.

No one had attended Yunjoo’s wedding, and nothing was known about how she had been living. In fact, no one even knew who she had married. So hearing this Yunjoo say she would show her husband, whether it was the alcohol talking or not, was something to look forward to.

Yunjoo hadn’t said a single word about her husband or in-laws until Jeongeun asked. With most married friends, it was either bragging about how well the husband treated them or complaining about him, and when it came to the in-laws, they would launch into it frothing at the mouth. Jeongeun grew more and more curious about both the husband and the in-laws.

Thanks to Jeongeun not peppering her with questions, Yunjoo felt at ease, and she found herself feeling sorry for having gone without contact for so long for no good reason. They had been sitting together without Jeongeun asking a single thing, and the one thing she had finally said was just that she wanted to see the husband’s face.

That much she wanted to give her. It was the boldness that alcohol brings. Yunjoo smiled at Jeongeun and dialed Kangwook’s number. She was still registering the ringtone when Kangwook’s voice came through so fast it startled her, and instead of being surprised, she did something she never did.

“Kang…… wook…… Mr…….”

“Yunjoo.”

“Hehe, Mr. Kangwook.”

He had been so worried that when the call came through he called out her name without thinking about his voice, and then there was this woman who never had an ounce of aegyo in her, drawing out the end of his name in a long, soft lilt.

“What is this, Cha Yunjoo! You’ve been drinking!”

“Oh, how did you know? Heheh.”

“Ha…….”

Kangwook drew in a breath and asked, followed by a long exhale. He hadn’t been able to work since he lost contact with Yunjoo because he was so worried, and now here she was calling him drunk, her voice perfectly carefree, and he pressed down the anger that was about to blow.

“You forgot our promise today and went drinking?”

“A promise?”

A promise? At her words, steam practically rose from his head. He needed to know where she was and who she was with. If she was with that actor, he wasn’t sure he could hold himself together. He kept his voice as level as he could and asked where she was.

“Where are you?”

“Curious, aren’t you?”

“Yes, I’m curious. Tell me.”

“I don’t know.”

“Cha Yunjoo.”

His patience was running out fast. One second from exploding. Still, he took one last breath, kept his voice from rising, and asked firmly.

“Where are you! Tell me where you are!”

“Here? Jeongeun, where was this place again?”

Where is this place? This was getting worse by the second. Was she saying she didn’t even know where she was?

“It’s a pub near the theater company, but what was the sign out front?”

The voice coming from beside her left Kangwook speechless and incredulous. She didn’t know where she was, and both women were drunk. Kangwook was clenching and unclenching his fist, forcing himself to hold back the explosion.

“I don’t know the name, it’s next to the theater company.”

“Who are you with?”

“A friend. Her name is Jeongeun, she was my closest friend in college. I was so happy to see her after so long, hehehe. Oh, and Jeongeun says she wants to see you, Mr. Kangwook. I was bragging about how handsome you are.”

Even with steam practically rising from his head, the corners of his mouth lifted at hearing that she had been bragging about how handsome he was. Idiot, he said to himself—that was the word for someone who broke into a smile over something like that. He cursed himself and let out a baffled cough.

“Just the two of you?”

“Yes.”

Her tongue was quite loose—she was fairly drunk. Kangwook felt a rush of urgency at the thought of finding her and getting her home before she got any more drunk. And he wanted to see what Yunjoo looked like drunk.

“Wait there, I’ll be right over.”

After checking a few pubs, he arrived to find Yunjoo looking a little more drunk than she had sounded on the phone. He looked with some seriousness at her face flushed from the alcohol and the way she kept breaking into smiles.

“Cha Yunjoo.”

“Oh! Mr. Kang……wook. Hihihi.”

Even her laughter had gone strange. Yunjoo’s condition was serious. Thinking he couldn’t leave her like this, he called for the driver, and in the meantime the two of them put their heads together and started whispering.

“Jeongeun, he’s as handsome as I said, right?”

“He really is, and he looks incredibly cold. Seems like he might be a bit of a piece of work.”

“Heheh, he kind of is.”

“He’s not treating you badly, is he?”

“Oh, how did you know?”

“I figured as much. Being cold and aloof is only appealing before marriage—once you’re married, the best kind is one who’s completely wrapped around your finger.”

“He’s still popular though, there were a lot of women around him.”

The things the two of them were saying—he could tell they knew he was standing right there and could hear every word, but they were going too far. Then Yunjoo said something that made Kangwook’s voice go up.

“Cha Yunjoo! That’s enough!”

The two of them were talking about him behind his back and giggling nonstop over who knew what. They didn’t seem to care in the least that he was standing right there listening. The friend was just as drunk. He found himself already looking forward to tomorrow, wondering whether they would even remember what they had said when they woke up—it was going to be quite a sight.

But honestly, was it possible for two women to carry on like this at a pub? He frowned at the sight of them drunk out of their minds without a care in the world, grinning and laughing away. The two women were drawing stares from the men at other tables.