So mortified she could only manage a hollow laugh at Kangwook’s words, Jeongeun didn’t forget to throw in a compliment for him while she was at it. She was laughing because she had no other choice, not because anything was funny. She was laughing because she couldn’t cry, when really she wanted to find a hole in the ground and crawl into it.

“Hey! Lee Jeongeun!”

Hearing the things she had said while drunk come out in front of Kangwook made her voice go up in embarrassment.

“What, you said it yourself. I remember that much even through the drinking.”

“I swear, stop it!”

Watching Yunjoo’s face cycle through shades of red and white, Jeongeun shot a small glance at Kangwook, and Kangwook smiled back.

“Have a seat, Ms. Jeongeun. I’ll bring the coffee.”

“Yes, thank you.”

Kangwook’s graciousness left her speechless, and Jeongeun’s easy familiarity with him left her equally dumbfounded. Jeongeun stuck her tongue out at Yunjoo’s bewildered stare, as if to rub it in, and sat down. Yunjoo was one step away from losing her mind.

She turned her thoughts over quickly trying to figure out how to salvage this embarrassing, absurd situation, but there was no way out. Her expression already made it clear enough what she wanted to do. Kangwook poured coffee into Yunjoo’s cup too and smiled. She had no idea how she could read what Kangwook was saying with his eyes so clearly.

“Cha Yunjoo, stop turning that over in your head, drink your coffee, go wash up, and come back down. You need to eat something for the hangover.”

The kind words coming from his mouth and the warning coming from his eyes were two different things.

‘You’d better not think about running. Cha Yunjoo, not only do you casually tell your friend your husband is a womanizer, you go and get completely soused on top of it.’

And yet his lips kept smiling, and the more Yunjoo looked at Kangwook’s unreadable smile, the more unsettled she felt, unable to get her bearings.

‘Mr. Choi Kangwook, stop smiling and just be angry. I’m genuinely scared to death.’

All she could think about was getting Kangwook out the door and off to work. The thought of a man who begrudged even his sleeping hours when it came to work just lingering around the house made her uneasy.

“No, it’s fine. Jeongeun and I will manage on our own, so go to work. You’re busy.”

“I waited a long time at the office for someone’s call, so I finished everything urgent. Don’t worry. I had plenty of time to work.”

Getting Kangwook out the door to work had clearly failed, so she needed to get Jeongeun out instead.

“Jeongeun, you said you were busy. Go on, hurry.”

“I should at least have some hangover soup before I go. Don’t you think?”

Getting Jeongeun out had failed too. She looked back and forth between the two of them, feeling like she was standing on thin ice. She had no idea where something was going to blow up or when. What Jeongeun might say next, what expression Kangwook might make. Only Yunjoo, caught in the middle, was going out of her mind.

“Ah…… yes.”

Kangwook had said something she couldn’t refuse. More than Yunjoo wanting him gone, he wanted to stay himself, but he couldn’t leave either.

“Go wash up and come back down. I had the driver go out and get it.”

Yunjoo on the verge of tears and Jeongeun trapped with nowhere to turn—their faces weren’t all that different. They shuffled out with their shoulders drooping, their steps heavy as lead.

Yunjoo and Jeongeun went upstairs, and Kangwook went into the kitchen, turned on the burner under the soup, and shook his head. He could already tell just from Yunjoo’s expression that she was in the middle of being punished. Since coming downstairs, she hadn’t been able to look him in the eye once, and watching her face made him go from irritated to the corners of his lips stretching out on their own.

He was grinning to himself for no reason, and his own behavior left him exasperated. Here he was, warming up hangover soup for his soused wife.

‘Choi Kangwook, what do you think you’re doing? Ha…….’

Standing under the stream of water in the shower, Jeongeun wanted to run away. What a state to be in in front of a friend’s husband she was meeting for the first time. She was not in her right mind. She had been so happy to see Yunjoo after so long. She had pretended not to notice, but there were things she had heard.

Word had it that Yunjoo was unhappy and things with her husband were bad, but Yunjoo had looked happy when she talked about him, and the relief of that had made her keep going. The truth was she hadn’t been that drunk even by the time Kangwook arrived. 

Seeing Kangwook come running at Yunjoo’s call had lifted her spirits, and having a few more glasses after that was what had done her in. Kangwook had appeared at exactly the moment she should have stopped, and she had crossed the line.

Jeongeun’s expression was heavy when she came out of the bathroom. Thinking back to Yunjoo stepping out of the room across from hers that morning, something complicated stirred in her. It didn’t seem like Yunjoo was sharing a room with her husband, and even though she had seen them together, they didn’t give off much of a married couple feeling.

From where she stood, the two of them were clearly looking at each other, but she couldn’t begin to guess what was going on. And she also remembered hearing from drunk Yunjoo that there had been a lot of women around Kangwook. Jeongeun decided she needed to ask Yunjoo about it, and got dressed quickly and came out.

“Don’t even think about lying to me. Tell me honestly, about this whole situation.”

“What do you mean?”

“This isn’t normal.”

She knew what Jeongeun was asking. Living as a married couple but using separate spaces—it was only natural to find that strange. Yunjoo thought for a moment. Whether to be honest, or to say something vague that would pass.

“Jeongeun.”

“If you don’t tell me right now, I’m going downstairs to ask Mr. Kangwook.”

“Well…….”

After a long hesitation, Yunjoo told Jeongeun everything—the years of married life and everything that had happened with Kangwook. Jeongeun didn’t say a single word while Yunjoo talked, just kept her eyes on her. Yunjoo’s pain came through to Jeongeun just as it was, and it was hard to find anything to say.

“Hey, Cha Yunjoo, you awful girl. You went through all that and didn’t reach out once? That’s terrible, it really is.”

“I just had one goal. Endure three years.”

“And now?”

“You saw Mr. Kangwook yourself. But I’m still not sure about my own feelings. I’m staying because I want to see how things go, with Mr. Kangwook asking me to give him a chance, and because I like being able to breathe a little easier right now.”

“So you’ve forgiven your husband?”

“Not yet. But…….”

“I understand what you’re saying. I’ll pretend I don’t know for now.”

“Thank you, Jeongeun.”

“If you cut off contact again, you know what’ll happen.”

Even though the time before had been hard, at least Yunjoo looked at ease now, and seeing Kangwook looking at her the way he did made Jeongeun feel relieved. The care he had for Yunjoo, who had always been hurting and struggling, was visible even to her eyes, and it made his words seem genuine, so Jeongeun settled on simply cheering them on.

Their conversation stretched on, and then a voice called from downstairs. Only then did it come back to her that she had to go face Kangwook again. At the sound of Kangwook calling, Yunjoo’s face went stiff on the spot, and watching her back as she headed downstairs made Jeongeun laugh. Not even a summons from the grim reaper would put that kind of look on someone’s face.

Jeongeun was there and he was calling, so she couldn’t not go down, but she was going while wanting to bolt like a bullet and run. But if she ran, what would happen to Jeongeun?

‘How am I supposed to face Choi Kangwook!’

A wave of regret washed over her at how loose she had let herself get lately. She had always kept herself sharp and tense with the compulsion to stay clearheaded going home, and had stayed perfectly fine to the end no matter how much she drank, but yesterday she had drunk without even remembering her promise with Kangwook. 

On top of that, she had called Kangwook drunk and thrown slurred words at him without a second thought. Cha Yunjoo had finally gone off the deep end, truly gone. Hah. All she could do was sigh. Watching Yunjoo like that, Jeongeun burst out laughing.

“Heheh hahaha. Cha Yunjoo, you look like you’re about to die.”

“Be quiet! Mr. Kangwook will hear!”

“Yunjoo, you said yesterday that your husband had a lot of women around him. Should I give him a piece of my mind?”

At Jeongeun’s words, Yunjoo frantically clamped a hand over her mouth. Alcohol was the enemy. She had no idea why she had said something like that.

“Can you please be quiet?”

Yunjoo was hissing at Jeongeun in something close to ventriloquism when Kangwook’s voice reached them.

“I already heard everything. Let go of your poor friend and come eat.”

“Ugh…… this…….”

Yunjoo’s face shifted into an expression of complete resignation and despair, contorting with a strange sound, and Kangwook and Jeongeun caught each other’s eyes and laughed. They ate the hangover soup Kangwook had bought, and when it was time for Jeongeun to leave, Kangwook stopped Yunjoo from trying to slip out with her.

“The driver will see Ms. Jeongeun home.”

“Oh, I can just go on my own—”

“I’ll have you over properly next time.”

“I’m not always like this, for the record.”

“Of course not. I’m just glad Yunjoo has a good friend.”

“Then please do reach out.”

Ignoring Yunjoo’s desperate pleading eyes, Jeongeun followed the driver out as Kangwook had said, and sent Yunjoo a silent message on her way.

‘Cha Yunjoo, I’m sorry, but I have to save myself first.’

She truly was sorry, but she wanted out from under Kangwook’s gaze. He was letting her go in a situation like this, so friend or no friend, when you had a chance to escape on your own, you took it.