Chapter 3.5

Room 801 of the boutique hotel.  

He held the card key he received from the hotel front desk against the door.  

With a click, the door opened, and they entered the room as if it were second nature.  

Seeing his face for the first time in two weeks, she noticed he looked a bit thinner. She wanted to ask why but didn’t.  

As he opened the curtains, she gazed out at the distant Red Square.  

Russia was a strange land where the sun didn’t rise even at 8 a.m., and she quietly took in the view.  

“Is it nighttime now?”  

“It’s morning.”  

“I was joking.”  

Even at his sharp gaze, Moonkyeong didn’t react.  

She knew. Maintaining this delicate balance with him wouldn’t be easy forever.  

Someday, just as they had wagered in Ibiza, one of them would have to break away.  

Someone would have to free themselves from this sweet yet fatal trap, she thought.  

Sitting at the edge of the bed, Moonkyeong fidgeted with her fingers.  

“Hey.”  

“Yes.”  

“How long do you think we’ll keep meeting like this?”  

“Why? Are you bored?”  

Though the question about boredom was unsettling, his face betrayed no emotion.  

Shaking her head, she shrugged.  

“No, I like it. I’ve always wanted to live like this at least once. Isn’t that enough?”  

“Seo Moonkyeong.”  

“…Yes.”  

“Don’t make such a pathetic face.”  

She blinked.  

“Why? What kind of face am I making?”  

She had always wanted to ask. What did he see when he looked at her? What kind of person was Seo Moonkyeong to him?  

His dry eyes answered without hesitation.  

“Why ask? I just told you—it’s pathetic.”  

“Oh.”  

A bitter smile spread across her face as she weakly brushed her hair back.  

Once again, he refused to exchange emotions.  

But Moonkyeong wasn’t the kind of weak person who would get hurt by such trivial matters.  

Feigning indifference, she left the hotel after their encounter.  

The bitter cold of Moscow’s winter felt unusually warm that year, and tears welled up in her eyes without her realizing it.  

Wiping away the tears at the corner of her eyes, she headed toward the practice room.  

Suddenly, she was drenched in a downpour of icy water.  

“I knew you’d end up like this.”  

When a tail is long, it’s bound to get stepped on.  

The person who poured the ice water over Moonkyeong’s face was Lee Heejin.  

With a furious expression, she glared at Moonkyeong.  

“Did you think I wouldn’t find out? Were you planning to hide it forever?”  

Moonkyeong, her face cold and wet, busied herself brushing off the water. Droplets dripped from the ends of her soaked hair.  

“Apologize right now!”  

Her gaze fell to Lee Heejin’s feet. Sure, she had done wrong.  

She had maintained a friendly relationship with Lee Heejin while seeing Kim Seojun.  

But was that something worth apologizing for?  

With an indifferent expression, she looked at Lee Heejin and asked,  

“Apologize for what?”  

“You shameless—!”  

“Didn’t you sleep with a Premier League soccer player last Thursday? And a college student you met at a club on Saturday? Who was it on Sunday? You’ve had so many, I can’t keep track.”  

“Hah.”  

On any other day, she would’ve filtered her words and played along with Lee Heejin’s games.  

But not today.  

She wasn’t in the mood.  

So don’t provoke me. Just leave.  

When Lee Heejin lunged at her with venom in her eyes, Moonkyeong grabbed her wrist firmly.  

“Heejin.”  

“…”  

“Are you dating Kim Seojun? Are you two together? Did I interfere? Did he confess to you? Were you secretly having an affair? What’s the problem?”  

“We’re friends! Knowing how much I like him, how could you do this to me? Don’t you have any decency as a friend?”  

A bitter laugh escaped Moonkyeong’s lips.  

Even after their trip to Spain, Lee Heejin had often manipulated and divided her friends.  

Every time they went to Sankt or a club, she would mock and use people like toys.  

Moonkyeong’s response was cold and biting.  

“Were we ever friends? Are you sure? Do you really think so?”  

For the first time, Moonkyeong stood up to her, and Lee Heejin, unable to forgive her, slapped her hard.  

The slap echoed harshly in the dreary weather.  

But Moonkyeong didn’t hold back either.  

Before her cheek could turn red, she slapped Lee Heejin right back.  

As Lee Heejin trembled with indignation, Moonkyeong added,  

“Kim Seojun isn’t your man, and I’m not your friend. You know that, I know that, and even a stray dog passing by knows that. If you don’t have a brain, at least pretend you do.”  

“You crazy—!”  

“Yes, I’m crazy. So don’t talk to me.”  

As Moonkyeong turned away, Lee Heejin screamed behind her.  

The harsh insult that followed crushed Moonkyeong’s fragile sense of self, which had finally reached its breaking point.  

“Seo Moonkyeong! Stop right there! Do you know that my dad funds your dad’s political campaigns?”  

“……”  

“Why do you think your mom insisted that you stay friends with me? Isn’t it obvious?”  

No matter what she did, Jeesung Group always gave her wings.  

They were far too powerful for her father, a mere National Assembly Member, to even contend with.  

In this mafia-infested land of Russia, even if something happened to her today, Moonkyeong knew that Lee Heejin wouldn’t face any charges.  

But what now? Should she bow down here? She had just slapped her too. What should she do? What was she supposed to do?  

Her chest tightened with frustration as though she couldn’t breathe, suffocating her. Moonkyeong felt cornered, with nowhere left to go. She gritted her teeth.  

“Tell me what you want.”  

I’ll drink the liquor you were sipping, as much as you want. Spit in it, I’ll drink that too. Just tell me what you want.  

“Get out of my sight.”  

That’s easier than I thought. Thanks, that’s exactly what I wanted.  

As Moonkyeong nodded, Lee Heejin twisted her lips into a crooked smile. Her words aimed straight at Moonkyeong’s heart.  

“You’ll have to leave Russia too.”  

“What?”  

“Get out of Moscow. Stay away from him. You’ll never set foot here again.”  

That was why Moonkyeong left Moscow and transferred to Germany.  

Lee Heejin didn’t report everything to Do Hyeran, but she boldly made this demand:  ‘Send your daughter away from Russia.’

For Hyeran, who had been looking forward to Moonkyeong becoming the principal dancer of Russia’s top ballet company, Olga, the news was like a bolt from the blue.  

Yet, she never once asked Moonkyeong about what had happened with Lee Heejin.  

The one question a mother ought to ask her daughter first, she never sought to hear from Moonkyeong.  

The following year, Moonkyeong welcomed the New Year in Germany, under increasingly strict surveillance from Hyeran.  

She could no longer savor the aroma of her early morning coffee every Wednesday.  

She had just begun to escape the jealousy of her peers.  

She had just started to adapt to life in the cold country and regain some vitality.  

But everything went back to how it used to be.  

The price for slapping Lee Heejin was far too harsh.  

Only grueling times greeted her like a devil.  

Her escapades with Seojun were also cut short.  

Without even a simple goodbye, Moonkyeong had to leave him.