Yunjoo stuck out her tongue, pumped her fist, and broke into a bright smile. It was simpler to eat early and head home early than to go through the trouble of asking for permission. Just then, he said something that made it seem like he could see exactly what she was doing.

– Go home early. Don’t get any ideas.

“What do you think I’m going to…”

– Cha Yunjoo, I don’t think you’re in a position to say that.

“Fine. Go back to work.”

After the call ended, Kangwook felt a wave of unease wash over him for no clear reason. He knew that Cha Yunjoo was the kind of woman who, the moment you let your guard down, could do something completely unpredictable, so he had laid down the law even more firmly, but she was still on his mind. Kangwook still found Yunjoo remarkable. The more he thought about how a woman like her had lived the way she had, the more it amazed him.

“I love you, Cha Yunjoo.”

Yunjoo always said what she had to say and hung up fast. Kangwook held the dead phone and laughed to himself. At first he had been so flustered that he called right back to give her a piece of his mind, and Yunjoo had answered in the most unbothered voice. “Did you? I didn’t know. Say it faster next time.” 

That was all she said. He couldn’t believe it at the time. And the next time, and the time after that. Well, now he just says what he has to say to the dead line and hangs up himself. And sometimes he repeats what Yunjoo used to say and laughs.

“Cha Yunjoo.”

Again today she hung up first, so Kangwook said his last words alone, then smiled to himself the way he had grown used to doing, and bent his head back down into the pile of documents. With Kangwook gone, Yunjoo hummed to herself as she wandered around the theater company.

‘Good thing I didn’t say anything first. I’ll just eat and head home quickly.’

The performance schedule was nearly over now, and her work wouldn’t pick up again until the next production was decided, so it was a good stretch of time for her in its own way. She had already made plans to eat with Jeongeun, so she just needed to let Kangwook know, and the thing weighing on her was Kangwook’s birthday, which was coming up soon.

What should she get him for his birthday? He was a man who lacked for nothing, and no matter how hard she thought, nothing came to her. It was the first time in three years she was doing anything for Kangwook’s birthday. She felt a quiet flutter of excitement, a kind of giddiness she couldn’t quite contain. These were things she had never done while living as husband and wife.

What kind of face would he make when she gave him a gift? What kind of gift would he actually like? Watches, ties, tie pins, cologne, he had more than enough of all of it. She wanted something special, a gift only she could give him. Lost in thought, she didn’t notice Sangyun approaching.

“Ms. Yunjoo, let’s go.”

“Is today a special occasion?”

“What makes you think that?”

“Well, Mr. Sangyun, you’re insisting I have to be there, and everyone from the company is gathering too. We don’t usually all get together like this before the run is completely over.”

“So you do pick up on things, Ms. Yunjoo.”

“What is it?”

“You’ll see when we get there. Come on, everyone’s waiting.”

“All right.”

Something was definitely going on, and Sangyun’s little grin wasn’t helping.

She went along with a feeling that something was up, and it turned out to be none other than Sangyun’s birthday party. She shot him a look, thinking he could have at least dropped a hint so she wouldn’t have shown up empty-handed. Sangyun watched her with a smile.

“Ms. Yunjoo, your eyes are going to roll out. Stop glaring.”

“You should have told me. Now I’m the only one who didn’t know and I look like a fool.”

Everyone around them was handing over gifts and offering congratulations, and she was the only one standing there awkwardly, feeling like an idiot. Sangyun kept smiling his good-natured smile even as Yunjoo glared and grumbled at him. It made her feel silly for pushing it any further, so she just laughed it off. Wait, though. Sihyeong was nowhere to be seen. He wasn’t the type to skip these things, so his absence made her curious.

“Mr. Sangyun, isn’t Mr. Sihyeong coming?”

“Ah, he said he has a shoot. Ms. Yunjoo, are you waiting for Sihyeong?”

“Oh! No. I just noticed he wasn’t here.”

“If you keep fussing over Sihyeong, I’m going to get jealous.”

“As if that would happen. You know how much I think of you as a friend, Mr. Sangyun.”

At Yunjoo’s words, Sangyun looked at her quietly for a moment. Just then, one of the actresses from Hamlet brought up Kangwook. The actress, still fairly new to the industry, spoke about him as though she knew him quite well. The moment Kangwook’s name came up, Yunjoo’s ears turned toward that conversation without her even meaning to, and she caught every word.

“President Choi Kangwook from Juon is something else.”

“Why, where did you meet him?”

“At a media forum.”

It sounded like a gathering from before Yunjoo and Kangwook had grown close. She still wasn’t fond of those events, and Kangwook understood that. Even so, they had been telling each other where they were going and who would be there. Still, hearing it like this didn’t sit well with her.

“He came to our team dinner a while back and he looked so good. But he has a wife, doesn’t he? Why don’t they ever go anywhere together?”

“What does it matter if he has one? Word is they don’t get along and the divorce is coming. Apparently almost no one has ever seen them together since the wedding.”

“Really?”

The actress was busy pouring out her story about the media forum to the lead actress and another woman, lighting up as she talked, clearly eager to show off how close she was to him.

“Everyone there was falling over themselves trying to get President Choi’s attention.”

“I can imagine. He really is something.”

“Miyeon, why didn’t you try your luck?”

“He kept refilling my wine and stayed by my side for quite a while.”

“Really? That must have been nice.”

She had heard enough. Yunjoo told herself it was nothing, got up, said her goodbyes to Sangyun, and left. Sangyun followed her all the way outside at her sudden departure, and she told him she would treat him to a proper meal another time before heading home. When she got back, Kangwook still hadn’t returned. She kept telling herself it was nothing, but her feelings were hurt.

* * *

It was always the one who got home first who waited for the one running late, but tonight Yunjoo had no desire to wait for Kangwook. She went straight upstairs, showered, lay down, and turned off the light. Even so, she couldn’t help but keep her ears trained on the floor below.

Every time she heard things like that, she found herself resenting Kangwook. At some point she must have fallen asleep, because when she opened her eyes it was morning. Her gaze jumped quickly to the clock on the nightstand. It was past six. She hadn’t heard Kangwook come in. Without even fixing her hair, she went downstairs, checked the shoes at the entryway, and turned to head back inside, only to walk straight into Kangwook.

“What are you doing?”

“Nothing.”

“Cha Yunjoo, don’t suspect me.”

“That’s not what this is. You don’t even know what happened!”

Who made her suspicious in the first place, and now he was telling her not to suspect him. She tried to walk past him with a cold expression, but Kangwook grabbed her arm and turned her around.

“What is it? How am I supposed to know if you don’t tell me?”

“I just hate Choi Kangwook right now.”

“Cha Yunjoo!”

“I hate that I’m being childish about this. That’s why I can’t say it!”

“Tell me what happened. You know I’m not letting this go. Tell me.”

“I know it’s nothing, but my feelings got hurt. That’s all.”

“Then tell me why your feelings got hurt.”

“At the company dinner tonight, one of the new actresses was talking about you. Like she knew you really well. I could tell she didn’t, but it still bothered me.”

She hadn’t even realized she had said something she probably shouldn’t have. But Kangwook caught it immediately.

“So what you’re saying is, you heard I’d be late and went out and about… and that’s how you ended up hearing all this.”

“Ugh! Mr. Kangwook.”

She hadn’t thought of that. She was an idiot. She scowled, cursing her own brain, and then Kangwook’s low, firm voice reached her.

“Cha Yunjoo! You don’t listen, and then you go around picking up nonsense like this.”

“Don’t raise your voice at me. I’m not in a great mood either, you know. I’m the woman who just sat there listening to a pretty actress talk about you like your wife doesn’t exist, acting like she’d be happy to throw everything at you. President Choi Kangwook. What’s so great about you, anyway. Let’s see how wonderful it actually is, living with you!”

He had barely poked at her and she had gone up in flames. The sight of Yunjoo fuming made Kangwook want to laugh. And yet the best this woman could manage was checking his shoes first thing in the morning.

“That’s enough.”

“What do you mean, enough. Every time something like this happens I’m going to get angry at you like this. And the fact that I keep doing this, I really don’t like it about myself.”

“Yunjoo.”

Kangwook’s voice dropped even lower.

“I know that if you say it’s not true, it’s not. I trust you that much, at least. But I guess I still can’t stand next to you and just smile like everything’s fine.”

“Yunjoo, as long as you trust me, I’m fine. So do everything else. Get angry, raise your voice, all of it.”

“Mr. Kangwook, I’m sorry.”

“Yunjoo, lately all I can see is Cha Yunjoo. Maybe I need to get my eyes checked. And my wife causes so much trouble that I’m too busy keeping up with her to have any attention left over for anything else.”

“What did you just say? Honestly!”

“Yunjoo, I love you.”