Prologue

“Hello, Honey.” 

Time, which had been frozen, began to flow again. 

Her eyelids blinked slowly three times. In her widened eyes, there was nothing but him, filling them completely. Unable to speak for a while, Seo-hwa revealed her confusion openly before hastily hiding her expression. 

Then, as if meeting him for the first time, she asked, “Would you like to place an order?” 

“You know what I like.” 

“……” 

Even though she wouldn’t be able to hide it properly anyway. 

Yooheon barely suppressed the smile tugging at his lips as he carefully observed the woman in front of him. He absorbed every small movement Seo-hwa made, imprinting them deeply into his mind. 

Hair that flowed down to her waist, shimmering with a dark reddish hue. A face that had grown slightly sharper, shedding its baby fat, exuding a sense of maturity. Yet, her cheeks still looked soft enough to bite into. 

It was undoubtedly the same face he had seen yesterday, but seeing her this close felt entirely different. 

Most of all, her startled expression, her gaze as if she couldn’t believe it, staring blankly—it was maddeningly adorable. 

Even her clumsy attempts to act indifferent. 

That’s why. 

“You’re still so beautiful. My Seo-hwa.” 

He had planned to just show his face today, so as not to surprise her. 

“Why… why are you here?” 

“Why else? I came to find you, Seo-hwa.” 

Seeing her cute, flustered expression made the boundaries he had carefully set in his mind crumble completely. 

“Why that expression?” 

“……” 

“Did you think I wouldn’t come looking for you? After you ran away like that?” 

She should know by now. 

The time that had been a blank space for her had been days filled to the brim for him, with no room to breathe. 

Days where he checked on her daily life, gazed at her from afar, enduring the stench of despair—those suffocating days flashed before his eyes like a revolving lantern. 

“Let’s get married now, Seo-hwa.” 

This was the reward for those days. 

For him, it was a hard-earned achievement, full of meaning. 

The sweet scent emanating from Seo-hwa, who stared at him in disbelief, letting out a hollow laugh, tickled the tip of his nose. Suppressing the urge to seize that scent and swallow it whole, Yooheon raised the corners of his lips in a mischievous smile.