The Tyrant Husband - Chapter 2.5

Chapter 2.5

It was already 4 p.m.  

Eun-sol felt as though she had become a wandering spirit, unable to leave the spot. Although she thought she should leave, her lingering attachment kept her hovering around the luxury store on the second floor.  

Today had been unexpectedly fruitful. For one, she had confirmed through Hye-mi that Kwon Jeong-hyeok and she had met and married as a customer and store clerk.  

‘Perhaps the reason I couldn’t meet my in-laws is that they opposed the marriage due to the stark class difference.’  

However, there were still many unresolved questions.  

Why hadn’t he told me about my past job or acquaintances? Why hadn’t he shared anything about our dating process?  

Her tangled emotions, like a knotted ball of yarn, refused to be unraveled.  

Hoping vaguely to encounter someone who might recognize her, she lingered around the luxury store. But the longer she stayed, the more suspicious glances she attracted.  

Her attire didn’t exactly scream luxury shopping, and she was merely circling the area, so it was understandable.  

‘Maybe I should just go back now.’  

As she tried to take a step away, a male customer entered the store where she supposedly used to work. The female employee, after exchanging a few words with him, smiled brightly and pulled out a tie to recommend to the man.  

‘Huh? That tie!’  

The design of the tie was familiar. It was the same design as the one Kwon Jeong-hyeok often wore.  

Instinctively, her feet moved toward the store. She pretended to browse items while observing the employee and the customer.  

“This color would suit your cool-toned skin well, Sir. The base color is khaki with a gold combination, making it suitable for any season.”  

The employee’s pitch about the tie felt oddly familiar.  

“This particular tie is one of our brand’s steady-sellers. It embodies our brand’s unique artwork and harmonizes Eastern and Western aesthetics. Most importantly, only ten pieces are produced each season….”  

Gasp!  

She almost let out a sharp breath.  

Only ten pieces per season…!  

The employee’s words, like an incantation, triggered a crucial memory.  

It was a fleeting, fragmented memory, like fireworks that briefly illuminated the night sky before fading away.  

“This is a steady-seller tie, with only ten pieces produced per season.”  

In her memory, she was holding the exact same tie that the female employee was now holding and saying similar lines.  

Before her stood a tall male customer, so tall that she had to tilt her head back to meet his gaze.  

“You’re lucky. We just received ten pieces this morning. This is a limited-edition tie that can only be found at our store in Korea.”  

Even that line was similar to the one the female employee had just said, as if it were part of a standard sales script.  

Although it was a soulless, business-like pitch, the male customer showed no reaction whatsoever, his demeanor almost desolate.  

The corners of her lips, which she had forced into a smile, began to twitch faintly.  

Was the recommended tie really that unappealing to him? Should I try suggesting something else? 

Just as she was contemplating,  

“I’ll purchase all ten.”  

“Pardon?”  

She had stupidly asked again. His response was completely unexpected. Sure, there were wealthy people for whom the price of a single tie was nothing, but to buy all ten of the same tie?  

Her confused eyes were filled with the image of the man.  

“I’ll pay for all ten now, but just wrap one for me.”  

The man spoke, his red lips curling lazily. His voice was calm yet commanding. 

Come to think of it, there was something oddly familiar about his voice and demeanor.  

Had he visited as a customer before?  

If not, there would have been no way for her to cross paths with someone like him.  

But if she had ever assisted such a customer, she surely wouldn’t have forgotten.  

“…Miss? Hey, Miss? Are you deaf? I asked to see a scarf.”  

The voice of a middle-aged female customer, who had entered unnoticed, snapped her out of her thoughts. At the same time, she realized she had been silent for far too long in front of the male customer.  

She panicked. How could she lose herself in thought with a customer right in front of her?  

“Oh, I-I’m so sorry.”  

However, what was even stranger was the man’s reaction.  

His gaze, which had been directed at her, reminded her of a calm yet menacing crocodile. It was the kind of gaze that evoked the image of a predator quietly lurking beneath the water’s surface, its massive body hidden as it observed its prey with only its eyes above the surface.  

A chill ran down her spine.  

After telling the middle-aged female customer to wait for a moment,  

“I-I’m sorry, Sir. Could you please repeat what you just said?”  

She clasped her hands together as politely as possible and spoke. Judging by the man’s demeanor, he seemed to be a VVIP of the department store. If the male customer lodged a complaint, she might end up being called upstairs to write an incident report.

“When is your day off, Kim Eun-sol?”

However, once again, the man’s response was completely unexpected.

Why would he suddenly ask something like that? 

But she had already missed the chance to question him. If the customer got angry, there would be no excuse for her, and she couldn’t afford to argue over his question.

“Oh, I have Wednesdays off every week.”

“Then I’ll exclude Wednesdays.”

“…Pardon?”

“I’m saying I’ll come to pick up one tie each day, except for Wednesdays when you’re not here.”

It was an abrupt development, like a book with the entire first half torn out, but it was clearly a sign of personal interest.

“Ha…!”

Recalling the moment, Eun-sol let out a blank sigh. The man from her memory was undoubtedly Kwon Jeong-hyeok.

His image back then was a little sharper, his aura colder, but it was definitely Kwon Jeong-hyeok.

The fragments of memory that surfaced matched what Hye-mi had said—the information about meeting him as a customer and eventually marrying him.

‘Could it really be true? Could I really have been a Cinderella straight out of a drama?’

Unfortunately, that was as far as her memories went. Though fragmented, even that much left her stunned.

“…Ma’am? Ma’am! Are you looking for something, Ma’am?!”

“Oh, oh, no. Sorry.”

It wasn’t until a store employee spoke to her brusquely that Eun-sol came back to her senses.

* * *

Eun-sol stood in front of the department store’s main entrance. A crowd of people had gathered there, unable to leave because of the sudden rain.

“I don’t think I heard anything about rain in the weather forecast. If I’d known, I would’ve brought an umbrella.”

“Waiting won’t stop the rain.”

She overheard the conversation of a couple standing in front of her. Soon, like a scene from a romantic movie, the couple shared a jacket over their heads and dashed into the rain.

Others also began leaving one by one—some opening umbrellas, others covering their heads with whatever they could find as they hurriedly left the department store.

Eun-sol remained rooted to the spot for a long time.

It wasn’t because she didn’t have an umbrella that she couldn’t step out. She simply didn’t know where to go or what to do, lost in confusion.

Even though she had found fragments of her memory, she still didn’t feel completely clear-headed.

‘It’s like fumbling around while blindfolded and wearing gloves. I could vaguely sense the shape, but that’s all.’

However, now that she had confirmed for herself that Kwon Jeong-hyeok was indeed her husband, there was no longer any reason to continue her runaway act.

At that moment, she noticed department store employees hurriedly wrapping up a promotional event and rushing indoors as the rain began to pour harder. Judging by the banner they were carrying, they appeared to be employees of a juice extractor brand.

One of the employees, rushing inside, accidentally dropped a plastic bottle from a basket they were carrying.

Eun-sol picked up the juice bottle, which had rolled across the wet floor to her feet. It contained freshly squeezed carrot juice.

She was reminded of the carrot juice he always left by her bedside every morning without fail.

“Oh, thank you for picking that up. You can drink that carrot juice if you’d like. It’s one of the samples we made for the demonstration, and it’s made from Jeju carrots, so it smells great.”

The female employee spoke kindly before walking away.

Eun-sol opened the bottle and took a sip of the carrot juice. As the scent of the juice moistened her throat, Hye-mi’s words surfaced in her mind.

“Do you know, Unnie? You said the exact same thing to me back when your husband was just a customer. You told me that customer was scary.”  

“You were so wary of him at first. That’s why I was even more shocked when I heard rumors that you were marrying him later on.”  

It seemed she had felt very uncomfortable and afraid when she first met him. Since she had lost all her memories, it was only natural that she now found him even more unfamiliar and perhaps just as uncomfortable as before.

‘If only he had told me in detail how we met, how we dated, and how we got married, maybe I wouldn’t have been so doubtful.’

But come to think of it, he was never the affectionate or warm type, and even less so someone who would chat endlessly about every little thing.

Perhaps even if he had told her everything, she might still have doubted his story. After all, she hadn’t even trusted him when he mentioned her shellfish allergy.

‘If that’s the case, doesn’t that mean the problem might also lie with me?’

It was a thought she had never entertained before.

What was certain was that running away was merely an act of avoidance, complicating matters further rather than solving them.

‘Let’s go back.’