“No, wh-what is all this?”

After bringing Jooho his medicine and confirming he had fallen asleep, Jinhee came upstairs.

The moment she reached the second floor, she saw Hyejung carrying her belongings out of the room one by one, tears streaming down her face.

“What are you doing?”

Looking utterly dumbfounded, Jinhee hurried over and grabbed Hyejung by the arm.

When she glanced into the room, she saw Da-hye calmly arranging her cosmetics on Hyejung’s vanity.

“…Kyung Hyejung. What exactly are you doing?!”

Jinhee’s voice rose sharply in disbelief.

Hyejung silently carried another box of belongings outside before wiping away her tears and biting down hard on her lip.

“What does it look like I’m doing? I’m moving my things out.”

Da-hye had said she had not threatened her yet.

But then she smiled strangely and told her to move out.

And somehow, that alone had become a far more terrifying threat—one that tightened mercilessly around Hyejung’s throat.

Because if she refused, it truly felt as though Da-hye would march downstairs that very second and reveal everything about her relationship with Ji-hoon.

So Hyejung could only obey in silence.

“That’s not what I’m asking.”

“……”

“Why are you moving your things out of your own room?”

Jinhee pulled Hyejung protectively behind her and glared sharply at Da-hye, who continued moving around the room.

“Hey.”

At that, Da-hye finally paused what she was doing and turned toward Jinhee with cold eyes.

“What exactly do you think you’re doing right now?”

Hyejung lightly tugged at Jinhee’s sleeve, silently pleading with her to stop, but Jinhee paid her no attention.

“This is your older sister’s room.”

Instead of responding to Jinhee, Da-hye looked past her straight at Hyejung, who stood there hesitating nervously behind her.

The moment their eyes met, Hyejung bit down on her lip and tugged at Jinhee’s arm again.

“Forget it, Mom.”

“What?”

“I told her to.”

“…?!”

That was even harder to believe.

Jinhee’s mouth fell open, her expression clearly asking what on earth Hyejung was talking about.

“This was her room anyway.”

“What’s wrong with you? So what if it used to be her room?”

Then Jinhee grabbed Hyejung’s arm roughly and dragged her toward the bathroom.

“…What is going on? Tell me the truth.”

“What do you mean?”

Sharp as she was, there was no way Jinhee would simply overlook this situation.

Glancing at Da-hye, who had begun unpacking again, Jinhee’s expression hardened more fiercely than ever.

Tightening her grip around Hyejung’s arm, she lowered her voice.

“Did she get something on you?”

“……”

“There’s nothing like that.”

“There’s nothing, and yet you’re acting like this? You’re actually moving your things out?”

“Dad is already sick because of her breakup. There’s no need for me to cause another scene too.”

“What?”

“There’s no reason. I just… don’t want things to get noisy. And if I get angry, it might not be good for my baby either.”

“You call that an excuse?”

Hyejung wanted to tell her the truth.

But the moment she imagined her mother storming over to Chairman Kang and causing a scene, the words caught in her throat.

Feeling genuinely nauseous, Hyejung covered her mouth and rushed into the bathroom.

She had not even started having morning sickness yet, but she was so furious that nausea surged up inside her.

“Ugh!”

At the sight, Jinhee flinched in alarm and quickly looked toward Da-hye.

She became extremely wary, afraid Da-hye might notice Hyejung was pregnant.

But Da-hye did not seem particularly interested.

She was merely unpacking her own things and moving Hyejung’s belongings out of the room one by one.

“…I really don’t like this. What the hell is she scheming?”

Just then, Hyejung wiped her lips with a tissue and staggered out of the bathroom.

“Mom. Tell ajumma to move my things to the room next door.”

As though she had no strength left to fight, she weakly shook her head and stepped into the empty room beside hers.

“You’re really going to give her the room?”

Jinhee followed her inside and asked again.

Hyejung lay down on the bare floor and closed her eyes.

“Forget it. Just leave it.”

“…More importantly. Did you know Team Leader Kang and that girl had broken up?”

“……”

“Why would Team Leader Kang not even discuss something like that with me…? Did you really not know?”

Hyejung gave no answer. She simply lay there neatly with her eyes closed, trying to steady her breathing.

Frustrated, Jinhee kept tapping her arm.

“Say something. Huh? Did you know?!”

“No. I didn’t know either.”

“…What?”

“I said I didn’t know. I only found out after hearing Kyung Da-hye say it too.”

But for some reason, Jinhee still could not shake the uneasy feeling lingering inside her.

Because Hyejung’s expression when Da-hye announced the breakup had looked terrible.

If it had truly been her first time hearing it, then naturally, she should have looked just as shocked as Jinhee had.

Hyejung looked flustered, completely at a loss for what to do.

And Jinhee could not forget that brief flash of fear in her eyes either.

“…Is it true?”

“Ah, come on. Why are you acting like this? I’m exhausted. Of course it’s true. What, you think I’d deliberately hide something like that from you even if I knew?”

At her irritated tone, Jinhee could no longer press her further.

Something still felt off, but since Hyejung was denying it so firmly, it became difficult to question her again.

Letting out a deep sigh, Jinhee quietly stared down at Hyejung lying there with her eyes closed.

“So now… what are you going to do?”

“About what?”

“Now that Ji-hoon ended things with her, the only thing left is for you to properly greet Chairman Kang, isn’t it?”

At those words, Hyejung frowned deeply and opened her eyes.

Still staring at the ceiling, she replied sharply.

“In this situation, you think now’s the time to go greet Chairman Kang?”

“Then what? If they broke up, then naturally it’s your turn to confidently take her place now.”

“Mom. Can’t you read the situation? Dad’s already furious, and Chairman Kang is probably still shocked after hearing those two broke up.”

“……”

“And you want me to suddenly show up in front of him and say, ‘Actually, I’m carrying your grandchild, so I’m going to marry Ji-hoon. Please approve of us’?”

“Well….”

“First we need to wait for things to calm down. Isn’t that the proper order?”

Jinhee silently listened to Hyejung’s calm reasoning before finally letting out another heavy sigh and lowering her head.

There was not a single wrong thing in what she said.

If they pushed too hard right now, the backlash would inevitably hit Hyejung directly.

But at the same time, the thought of her daughter—already carrying Kang Ji-hoon’s child—being forced to wait endlessly made Jinhee feel unbearably frustrated.

“You’re right, but… my heart doesn’t feel that way.”

“We’ve already waited this long… what’s one more month?”

“Wait. Then… what about the director position?!”

Only then did it suddenly occur to Jinhee that Ji-hoon had been promised the director position once he became engaged to Da-hye.

Her eyes widened instantly.

Grabbing Hyejung’s hand tightly, she asked urgently.

“So that’s why you said that earlier? About not pressuring Ji-hoon too much even if he loses the director position this time?”

“…It seemed like Ji-hoon really wanted to end things with Kyung Da-hye quickly.”

“Ah, this is driving me insane. Then doesn’t that mean it could all fall apart?”

Jinhee’s face twisted harsher and harsher as she let out one sigh after another.

She had waited so desperately for the day he would finally become director.

Just when it seemed like he was finally about to shine, she clutched her head in frustration.

“Ah… if only he’d endured a little longer. No, even just a few more days. Was it really impossible for him to hold out long enough to avoid turning everything into this mess?”

Grinding her teeth, Jinhee abruptly stood up.

Immediately, Hyejung hurried after her and blocked her path.

“What are you trying to do?!”

It was obvious Jinhee was about to storm off and confront Ji-hoon directly, so Hyejung desperately tried to calm her down.

“Ji-hoo’s struggling too. You think this isn’t hard for him either?”

“Then why did he have to ruin things like this in the first place?!”

“Lower your voice. Kyung Da-hye might hear you.”

“…Haa.”

“If Ji-hoon went as far as breaking up with her…Then she must’ve really pushed him too far.”

As she said that, Hyejung guided Jinhee back into the room and shut the door.

“I don’t know exactly what happened, but… apparently she’d been making things difficult for him these past few days. Kind of like… abusing her position.”

“…What?”

“Ji-hoon was really suffering because of it.”

“She did that? Kyung Da-hye?”

“Yeah… I guess he finally couldn’t take it anymore and broke up with her.”

It seemed better to vaguely shift the blame onto Da-hye like this.

“So in the end, they broke up because of Kyung Da-hye?”

“Huh? Ah… yeah.”

“And if he loses the director position this time… can he get it back later?”

“Probably…? Ji-hoon said he’ll keep trying harder… and if I support him properly as his wife, I think it’s definitely possible.”

“First, I’ll tell your father that Ji-hoon couldn’t endure Kyung Da-hye’s personality anymore and that’s why he ended things. We’ll put all the blame on Kyung Da-hye.”

“…And then?”

“That way, even if you and Ji-hoon start dating later, there won’t be much trouble.”

At those words, something flashed sharply in Hyejung’s eyes.

‘…Kyung Da-hye’s fault.’

For some reason, those words seemed to drive themselves deeply into her mind.

Meanwhile, standing outside the bedroom door and listening to everything, Da-hye slowly turned away with a hardened expression.

As she walked down the hallway, her phone suddenly vibrated.

She reached into her pocket and checked the screen.

“…Ah.”

It was Seo-hoo calling.

Ever since returning to this house, her emotions had been dizzying and suffocating but somehow, seeing his name alone made all that ugliness feel washed away.

A faint smile touched her lips as she lifted the phone to her ear.