Chapter 1. Reunion

My child, whom I thought was dead, was alive.

The baby born with cardiac arrest was breathing and living.

Right there beside Yeonsu.

The paper crumpled mercilessly in her hand. It was a DNA test result.

“How could this happen? How……!”

Her heart was not just torn—it was burning to ashes.

The child she had carried for ten months was alive, yet she hadn’t known despite being right beside them. She, who was supposed to be a mother.

〈Auntie, where’s Mom? Isn’t Mom coming?〉

〈I want to be with my mom and dad too.〉

A child who must have felt neglected despite outward appearances of harmony.

Imagining how lonely her child must have been, a surge of grief-stricken rage welled up in Yeonsu.

She never imagined that someone who knew her circumstances better than anyone would steal her child away for mere greed.

In an instant, a suffocating sense of betrayal made Yeonsu’s vision blur.

‘My child, my life—stolen completely.’

I’ll take what’s precious from you too, I won’t forgive you.

Now I must live. I’ll survive desperately and become stronger.

If only I can get my child back, if only I can protect them.

Yeonsu was prepared to crawl through h＊ll. Because she was a mother.

※※※

A peaceful weekend.

Leaving the crowded department store, Yeonsu headed straight for the parking lot.

Seeing her car not far away, she massaged the stiff back of her neck as she got into the driver’s seat.

Is it going to rain?

The seizure symptoms that unfailingly appeared on rainy days. A kind of post-traumatic stress disorder.

The panic symptoms that always came when memories of the day she lost her child surfaced.

Yeonsu looked at her phone screen displaying today’s weather: ‘Clear.’

It wasn’t weather for rain, yet she found it strange that her body showed signs of an impending seizure.

Her body felt heavy like a water-soaked sponge, and her heart pounded as if she’d consumed massive amounts of caffeine.

Moreover, her mood had sunk incredibly low. As if hundreds of heavy weights were attached to her.

Yeonsu was about to press the car’s ignition button but instead leaned back deeply into the car seat.

Then she slowly closed her eyes.

‘…If not rain, perhaps it’s because of the dream.’

Normally she wouldn’t dream under the influence of sleeping pills, but today was different.

The contents of the dream remained vivid in her memory despite taking the medication.

A man who hadn’t shown his face once in the past five years suddenly visited her dream.

〈Ha…… Yeonsu.〉

In the dream, the man dominated Yeonsu with a storm-like kiss.

His soft, hot tongue swept across Yeonsu’s lips and parted her teeth. It seemed to draw out her soul as it tapped against her tongue.

His large hand caressed Yeonsu’s chest. As his fingers rolled in circles and touched the protruding tips, Yeonsu squirmed.

〈You like it that much? Even though we do this every day?〉

〈Hah, yes. I like it.〉

In the dream, she answered with difficulty in a voice close to a nasal moan.

Between her answers, the wet moans escaping from Yeonsu’s lips were incredibly vivid.

It felt as alive as when she had been intimate with the man five years ago.

〈I love you, oppa. Do you love me a lot too?〉

Yeonsu’s face was flushed red as she asked, breathing heavily with excitement.

Looking up at the man, she was more lovable than anyone.

Five years ago. In those days, though Yeonsu had nothing, in front of that man, she felt like the protagonist of a movie.

〈I do love you, very much.〉

When he responded to her love, Yeonsu felt as happy as if she owned the world.

The contents of the dream vividly came back to life in Yeonsu’s mind. The next scene automatically played in her head.

〈After I return to Korea and go back to America, shall we go see the aurora? You said you wanted to go to Yellowknife.〉

〈Really? Will you go see the aurora with me?〉

Yeonsu’s face would flush red. She would look at the man with an incredibly excited expression.

〈Yes. I also have something I want to talk about there.〉

〈What is it? Can’t you tell me now?〉

〈That won’t do, Seo Yeonsu. If you’re curious, come back quickly.〉

With those final words, the man kissed Yeonsu again.

Her first trip with the man she loved.

Yeonsu thought she had only happy and exciting things ahead. Not knowing it would be her last time with that man.

Yeonsu’s eyelashes trembled, and her vision brightened.

Lee Seungjae was the man she had diligently tried to forget for the past five years.

He was someone she met during her studies in America with Chairman Hong’s help.

Love she received from someone for the first time… Those six months there had been like heaven every day.

Though that happiness didn’t last long.

Once passionately loved, now just recalling him brought pain.

That fact twisted Yeonsu’s lips.

Just as she was muttering that she should end these futile thoughts, her phone rang from inside the handbag on the passenger seat.

“Hello, this is Seo Yeonsu.”

—Have you left yet? I heard an employee went for pickup.

It was Sukgyeong. Chairman Hong’s wife and a woman Yeonsu followed.

The reason Yeonsu came to the department store on the weekend was because of Sukgyeong’s request.

“I just got the pickup. I was about to leave.”

—Good. When you get to Hannam-dong, an employee will come out. They said to make sure you arrive by 2 o’clock. They must have another schedule. Hurry along, and be careful—it’s expensive.

At the mention of “expensive,” Yeonsu’s gaze fell on the long shopping bag on the passenger seat.

Domaine Leroy.

A premium wine that would easily cost over ten million won per bottle.

Sukgyeong had asked Yeonsu to deliver this wine as a gift.

—If it weren’t for CEO Moon Seonjae, we would have been in serious trouble. My husband has been unconscious for three years, you know.

“……”

—Thanks to him, we sold Seungji Apparel at a high price, and he’s helping our employees keep their jobs. Tell Director Moon that I send my regards. Understood?

“Don’t worry. I wrote a thank-you card myself and put it in. I’m leaving now.”

A handwritten card that Yeonsu wrote herself this morning was also inside the wine shopping bag.

The person Yeonsu was to deliver the wine to was someone important enough for Sukgyeong to emphasize multiple times.

Someone she might never have the chance to meet in her lifetime.

—Alright. Thank you, Yeonsu. See you tomorrow.

With those words, Sukgyeong’s call ended. And Yeonsu’s car, now started, began to move slowly.

The destination was Hannam-dong 810. An address recognizable to anyone as an ultra-luxury villa.

I wondered if I’d ever have a chance to enter such a place in my lifetime.

And today is that day.

As Yeonsu lowered her gaze, she saw the clock had just passed 1 o’clock.

Her only thought was that she needed to hurry.

※※※

Though she arrived at her destination, the employee didn’t appear even after the appointed time had passed.

After a long wait, Yeonsu called first.

When the call connected, the response from the other end was quite different from what she had expected.

—Gift? Leave it in front of the entrance.

“I was asked to deliver this, so I’d prefer if you received it directly.”

She was told there would be an employee waiting, but some misunderstanding seemed to have occurred.

—Sigh, wait.

The sigh heard through the receiver revealed the recipient’s emotions clearly.

Annoying.

It was exactly the voice of someone who considered Yeonsu a nuisance.

Eventually, with a brief word to wait, the call ended.

‘I hope I didn’t make a mistake.’

Sukgyeong said she had notified them in advance. Asking someone to come out briefly to receive something isn’t that rude, is it?

Trying to shake off these thoughts, she shifted her gaze. Looking around, she recalled the difficult journey to get here.

She had to leave her ID and pass through several security checkpoints before finally arriving.

What an inaccessible existence. She imagined the owner of this place in her mind.

Moon Seonjae, the only son of Taeseo Group’s Chairman Moon Daeho and the future heir to the group.

If Yeonsu was born into darkness embracing all kinds of misfortune, that man must have been born into light.

Every moment from birth until now, Moon Seonjae’s path must have been bright.

He was someone living in a world entirely different from hers.

Perhaps even this wine would be pocket change to that man. While someone else had anxiously carried it in her arms, afraid it might break.

Just then, a presence was heard from inside.

Click. The firmly closed door opened, and the gleaming tip of a man’s shoe appeared.

Yeonsu, who had been staring at the ground, gradually raised her gaze.

A superior stature easily exceeding 185cm. The contours of a firm body revealed over an elegant dress shirt.

The cuffs of the dress shirt rolled up to the forearms and the left hand carelessly tucked into the formal pants.

A sharp tobacco scent wafted from the man as if he had just smoked.

Menthol.

The cigarette Seungjae often smoked. As that man came to mind again at the familiar scent, Yeonsu shook her head.

Here we go again. Perhaps it’s because I dreamed a dream I hadn’t had in years.

Yeonsu lowered her head. Her first thought was to offer a greeting.

“Hel……”

“What is it.”

Yeonsu startled at the low voice that resonated in her eardrums.

It was a deep, resonant bass. She hadn’t noticed on the phone, but the voice was familiar.

“That gift you said must be delivered in person.”

I must be crazy. Even thinking his voice resembles Lee Seungjae’s.

Swallowing a sigh, Yeonsu raised her lowered head.

And the moment her eyes met the man before her, she almost dropped the shopping bag in surprise.

‘Seungjae oppa?’