‘Haa… it’s so noisy. So loud.’

Yeon-woo’s smooth brows drew together in a frown.

Had someone turned on the television?

Strange noises kept reaching her ears.

It was a sound she had never heard before in her life.

It almost resembled the cry of an animal—yet at the same time, it sounded like the sharp clap of hands striking together.

She tried to ignore it and go back to sleep, but the sound burrowed relentlessly into her ears.

‘What on earth is that?’

No matter how carefully she listened, she could not recognize it.

At last, Yeon-woo’s eyelids lifted. The black pupils that had been half-lidded slowly sharpened with awareness. Unable to hide her irritation, she roughly pushed a hand through her hair.

“What is that noise?”

When she swung her legs down from the bed, the soft fabric of her pajamas fluttered lightly. She pulled the slipping shoulder strap back into place, then hurried toward the source of the sound with quicker steps than usual.

The moment she opened the door and stepped outside, the long corridor was steeped in silence.

Yeon-woo tilted her head slightly.

As she swallowed dryly, a sudden chill crept down her spine.

‘Maybe… I shouldn’t go.’

Just as she turned to head back into her room, Yeon-woo abruptly stopped.

“Ha—ah…!”

It was a groan.

No—more like a thin, strained moan.

Startled, Yeon-woo turned her head toward the direction where the sound had come from.

“…”

But now the corridor was as silent as a lie, as though no such sound had ever existed.

‘Did I imagine it?’

Thinking she must have misheard it in her half-sleep, she tilted her head in confusion and began to turn away.

“Ugh!”

Yeon-woo spun around sharply.

She definitely hadn’t imagined it.

Swallowing hard, she began moving toward the source of the sound as quietly as possible, creeping forward like a thief of the night.

Several doors lined the long corridor.

Among them, one door stood slightly ajar.

The sound was definitely coming from there—through the narrow gap in the door.

She should open it immediately and check what the noise was.

Or at the very least, press her eye against the crack and look inside.

Yeon-woo stood frozen before the slightly open door, unable to move.

For some reason, she had the strong feeling that she should not open it—that if she did, she would see something she should never witness.

Was it because this was his room?

Lacking the courage to move, she could only bite her lip.

“Taecho…! Hng… Taecho!”

The color drained from Yeon-woo’s face, turning it deathly pale.

A thin, trembling moan was slipping out from inside his room. And within that breathless sound, his name was clearly mixed in.

Her shoulders stiffened until they ached.

Before she realized it, her hand had reached out and grasped the doorknob.

When Yeon-woo pushed the door open and stepped inside, despair flooded her face.

On the bed, a n*ked man and woman were tangled together as one.

“Ah…! Taecho, it feels so good… so good.”

Just as she had feared.

Her premonition had not been wrong.

‘Should I have just turned back?’
‘If I had… would my chest still feel as though it were being torn apart like this?’

The woman lying on the bed had her legs spread wide as she accepted him. Her face was hidden behind his body, but Yeon-woo recognized immediately who she was.

“Ah—! Taecho…”

Hearing the woman repeatedly call his name in breathless gasps made Yeon-woo want to seize her by the throat.

Or at least shout at her to be quiet.

To demand that she leave—right now.

‘Do you even know where you are? How dare you come here and do something like this?’

But her body had gone completely rigid. She could not move a single step. All she could do was stand there, helplessly watching the two of them joined together.

Moans of pleasure spilled endlessly from the woman beneath him. And with every sound, Yeon-woo felt as though she were sinking deeper and deeper into dark water.

Her body and her heart both descended into the abyss of despair.

Down and down.

She could barely breathe.

“…Stop… please stop!”

She forced the words out with great effort. Her voice had gone hoarse, splitting unevenly as it emerged.

Hearing her voice, he paused for a moment. Then he slowly lifted his upper body and turned his head to look at her.

Their eyes met in the air between them.

“S-stop… please… stop.”

Even after noticing her, his expression did not change in the slightest.

And as if deliberately showing it to her, he moved again.

At that moment, the woman wrapped both of her legs tightly around his back.

Their bodies, pressed even closer together, continued to move without stopping.

The world seemed to sway. It felt as though the sky itself were collapsing.

The closer Yeon-woo stepped toward them, the more her eyes filled with tears. She forced herself to hold them back, though they threatened to fall at any moment, and stopped right beside the bed.

“Stop… please stop! Even so… even so… I’m your…”

“…….”

“I’m your wife…”

‘How can you do this?’

“In our newlywed home… in the house where I’m living…”

‘How… how… right in front of me…’
‘In front of your wife…’

She wanted to pour everything out at once, but it felt as though her throat were blocked. The more she tried to speak, the more sorrow surged through her.

Even as she stood there with tears streaming down her face, he did not stop what he was doing.

If anything, his movements grew even more violent.

“How can you hold that woman in front of me!”

The louder she shouted, the louder the woman’s moans became. As if deliberately provoking her, he rolled his hips slowly.

“Get off her right now! Get off! Hng… I said get off!”

The more she cried, the more relentlessly he drove into the woman.

Yeon-woo collapsed to the floor.

All the strength drained from her body. Sitting there on the ground, she could not even make a sound anymore. Only tears continued to fall silently.

“Do you still like me… even like this?”

The sound of skin striking skin gradually slowed, and the man who had shown no reaction until now finally spoke to her.

Yeon-woo’s dim, lifeless eyes lifted toward him. Her dry, brittle gaze looked as though it might crumble to dust at any moment, yet he only stared back with an expression devoid of emotion.

“This is what you wanted.”

As if telling her to pretend she knew nothing, he turned his gaze away.

Unlike the way he had looked at Yeon-woo, his eyes softened warmly as he gazed at the woman he clearly adored. He gently wiped the sweat gathered on her forehead.

The tenderness in the gesture made it painfully obvious how precious she was to him.

Then, leaning close to her ear, he whispered in a voice Yeon-woo had never once heard from him—

“So-hee. I love you.”

A soft confession of love.

“Taecho… I love you too.”

The two of them smiled happily and kissed.

Yeon-woo desperately wanted to stand up, pull them apart, slap his face, and grab the woman by the hair.

But for some reason, she could not move even a single finger. She could only stare blankly at the two people sharing their love.

Hot tears streamed down her cheeks. For a moment they gathered at the tip of her chin before falling, drop by drop, forming a small puddle on the floor.

It felt as though her heart itself were being hollowed out. But there was nothing she could say to the heart that was screaming in agony.

Yeon-woo’s head drooped weakly. Soon her body tilted limply to the side.

Flash.

“Hah—!”

A sharp breath burst from Yeon-woo’s lips as her eyes flew open.

…A dream.

“Haa… it was a dream… just a dream. Haa… haa…”

It was a relief.

Yet even after realizing it had only been a dream, her fingertips tingled as if they had cramped, and her chest still throbbed painfully.

She weakly wiped her dry, exhausted face.

The woman’s moans and his soft confession of love from the dream still seemed to echo in her ears. Yeon-woo lifted her hands and rubbed her ears roughly.

The moment the dream resurfaced in her mind, nausea surged through her.

Even though it had only been a dream, it was revolting.

Bringing the woman he loved into the house where his wife lived—and rolling around with her there.

‘How could I even dream something like that?’

Clamping a hand over her mouth, Yeon-woo staggered toward the bathroom.

Though there was nothing in her stomach, she retched violently, as if trying to throw up everything inside her.

After flushing the toilet, she sank down onto the floor.

Her vision spun.

Her entire body was drenched in sweat. The hand she used to push her hair back trembled uncontrollably.

She tried taking several deep breaths, but nothing changed.

Yeon-woo’s face twisted.

In the end, she buried her face in her palms.

Her slender shoulders trembled faintly.

After washing up for a long time, she finally came out. It was already time for him to leave for work.

As Yeon-woo opened the door without even properly drying her hair, she hesitated.

Perhaps because of the strange dream, she found herself strangely reluctant.

When she stepped into the living room, she saw him preparing to leave for work.

Yeon-woo hurried over to him.

“…You’re coming to Seongbuk today, right?”

Seongbuk was where her parents lived.

Even after hearing her question, he merely put on his shoes without turning around.

Even from his back, a cold indifference could be felt.

Yeon-woo gave a bitter smile.

“Please make sure you come. My father will be waiting.”

Yeon-woo simply stood there, watching him leave the house without giving any reply.

She had never liked the feeling of being pushed far away. Yet every time she tried to talk to him, that was exactly how it felt.

Drawing in a slow breath, Yeon-woo turned around.

“I should go see Mom.”

Just the thought of her mother softened the tightness at the corners of her lips.

She stepped into the dressing room and, after much consideration, chose the prettiest outfit she owned. Whenever she visited her parents’ home, Yeon-woo always dressed her best.

She wanted to show her mother—who already worried about her so much—that she was living happily.

She started to tie up her long hair neatly, but then decided to leave it loose instead.

Over a fluttering one-piece dress, she slipped on a cropped jacket. Then she walked over to the full-length mirror standing beside the door and slowly examined herself from head to toe.

Noticing a bit of dust on the jacket, she brushed it away lightly with her fingertips.

Then she looked at her reflection and lifted the corners of her lips into a bright smile.

“I’m happy. I’m happy.”

They said that things could come true if you spoke them into existence, so Yeon-woo repeated the words I’m happy like a daily spell.

After saying it over and over again, she truly began to feel as though she were happy.

“Always stay positive!”

It was something her father had told her every single day.

Yeon-woo’s smile grew warmer than before.

Thinking about her parents made her want to see them as soon as possible. After picking up her bag, she left the house with light steps and got into the car waiting outside.

A short while later.

When Yeon-woo arrived at her family home in Seongbuk, she did not immediately pass through the front gate. Instead, she tilted her head back and looked up at the sky.

“……”

The nightmare from the night before surfaced in her mind, and she shook her head sharply.

‘Is it because the time for the divorce is approaching?’

To think she would dream about that woman—someone whose face she had never even seen.

No, worse than that. To dream of him being with another woman. She and he had never crossed that line even once, so the dream had felt unbearably vivid to Yeon-woo.

Perhaps because of the stress, her stomach twisted uncomfortably. She pressed firmly against her solar plexus with her hand.

The sigh rising in her chest was forced back down.

If her mother saw even the slightest shadow on her face, she would notice immediately.

She would realize that this marriage was not a happy one.

He had married her to protect the woman he truly loved.

And after two years, they had agreed to divorce.

Yeon-woo, who had been staring down at the ground, slowly lifted her head again and looked up at the sky.