Chapter 5.1 – Jealousy

Jeong-hyeok unlocked the mansion’s front door with his security card. It had been quite some time since he opened the door himself and walked in.

“CEO?!”

As he entered, the staff inside looked at him as if they had just seen a ghost. Even the usually composed Housekeeper Woo, seemed slightly flustered.

It was amusing how the reactions from the office to the house were all so predictable.

‘Is it really that shocking for me to leave work at the same time as everyone else?’

He considered making a remark about it but decided otherwise.

“Where’s my wife?”

Instead, he asked a question that made him sound like a lovesick fool.

Without waiting for an answer, his feet were already carrying him toward the bedroom, which made the scene even more comical.

“Ah, Madam isn’t in the room right now.”

Housekeeper Woo, who had quickly followed after him, informed him only after he had already entered the hallway leading to the bedroom.

“Then where is she?”

He stopped in his tracks.

“I’m not exactly sure where, but she is definitely somewhere within the townhouse. If we had known you were coming home early, we would have already brought her to you, but we didn’t have the chance to do so.”

His surprise return home seemed to have lost its charm. Well, it might have been a “surprise” to him, but to her, it could very well be “dreadful.”

He took out his phone to call Eun-sol but quickly remembered that she didn’t have a phone.

“Sigh…”

His otherwise smooth forehead creased slightly.

He had firmly refused Kim Eun-sol’s request for a phone last night, secretly enjoying her reaction.

Yet now, it was him who found it inconvenient that she didn’t have one. In hindsight, he had granted her the freedom of not being bound by his calls.

“Yu-jeong, Anna, please find Madam and bring her here.”

Housekeeper Woo promptly gave instructions to two younger staff members.

“No, that’s alright. I’ll look for her myself.”

He quickly stepped back out of the front door.

By now, the sunset that had painted the sky earlier had completely descended. Feeling the deepening darkness, his pace quickened slightly.

There was a way to check the CCTV cameras within the townhouse to locate Eun-sol.

‘But there’s no need to make such a fuss.’

After all, she was somewhere within the grounds. His surprise return home had turned into an impromptu game of hide-and-seek, but he found the idea enjoyable in its own way.

He began to consider the places where Eun-sol might have gone.

The A trail, where the animal farm was located, and the B trail, which led to the pond, came to mind but were immediately ruled out.

Kim Eun-sol was afraid of the dark. Even though she had lost her memory, that part of her hadn’t changed.

During the incident with the pregnancy test kit at the convenience store, she had left the house in a hurry. But without a specific purpose, she would never wander around dark streets.

So, where could Eun-sol possibly be?

“The Aritaum Resident Center.”

Muttering to himself, he headed there. After walking briskly for about five minutes, he reached Aritaum.

The Aritaum building, which had undergone renovations a few months ago, now boasted a more refined exterior.

He stepped inside. The first floor was completely empty. He climbed the stairs and entered the café on the second floor.

The first thing he noticed was Eun-sol’s back as she sat by the window. The person sitting across from her was unexpected.

“…Park Hae-seong?”

Though they lived in the same townhouse, it had been a year since he’d seen the young man in person. In that time, Park Hae-seong had grown into a more masculine frame. However, his youthful, delicate face remained the same.

Jeong-hyeok quietly scanned their table. Scattered across it were whiskey, tonic water, and lemon slices.

Most notably, an empty bottle of whiskey.

‘Did Eun-sol drink all of that? By herself?’

A sharp throb pierced his temple.

“Ah… uh, Jeong-hyeok hyung… when did you get here?”

Realizing his presence, Hae-seong awkwardly stood up to greet him.

Jeong-hyeok had never once given him permission to call him “hyung,” but the boy did so anyway, as he pleased.

Yet, behind his back, he eagerly spread rumors about him. Tales about how he liked men or how he had killed someone during his studies in the United States circulated around the townhouse.

He didn’t care. The rumors were so absurd that they were laughable. Besides, what grudge could he possibly hold against someone over ten years younger than him?

More importantly, he knew the source of all this childish behavior—it stemmed from Hae-seong’s long, unrequited love for Tae Mari. It was simply the kind of immature jealousy and reckless behavior typical of someone his age. He wasn’t a bad person.

In fact, he pitied the boy for being so consumed by an unattainable love. Perhaps that was why, in a way, he felt a sense of kinship with him.

Regardless, this boy had never once truly irritated him since the day he was born into this townhouse.

And he might have continued to feel that way—if Hae-seong hadn’t interacted with Kim Eun-sol. If he hadn’t given her alcohol.

“…Who? Who came here?”

Eun-sol’s voice, slurred and loose, was unmistakably drunk. Moving sluggishly like a caterpillar, Kim Eun-sol turned her head.

Their eyes met. Her gaze, which had been unfocused and limp like wet glue, suddenly hardened like a stone.

‘No matter where I go, she always looks at me as if she’s seen a ghost.’

Still, considering she had emptied an entire bottle of whiskey by herself, Eun-sol’s condition wasn’t as bad as one might expect. It seemed that even with her lost memories, her alcohol tolerance remained intact.

“…Get up, Kim Eun-sol.”

He spoke, shoving both hands deep into his pockets.

“Oh, don’t misunderstand, Jeong-hyeok hyung. I mean, this is low in alcohol content, and I originally just wanted to let her have a taste. Really, noona said she wouldn’t drink, but I kept insisting…”

The buzzing voice of a mosquito kept interrupting.

“Park Hae-seong. Let’s meet separately sometime soon. I think we have a lot to talk about.”

The suggestion of meeting separately seemed to have a significant effect. Without a single curse, Park Hae-seong immediately shut his mouth.

“…Hae-seong, you should go first. Let’s meet later.”

Eun-sol awkwardly stood up. She had the audacity to call another man’s name right in front of him.

What’s more, earlier, when she thought only Park Hae-seong was present, her speech had been slurred and clumsy. Yet now, in front of him, she was making an effort to pronounce her words clearly. It was infuriatingly cheeky.

“No, noona. Are you really going to be okay?”

“…Yes.”

“If you think you won’t be okay….”

“Don’t worry. Just go.”

The whispered conversation between the two was absurd. 

What did they think he was going to do, eat her alive?

“Th-then… I’ll head out first….”

As she watched Hae-seong’s retreating figure disappear down the stairs, Eun-sol began to move.

Her behavior, as if he were invisible, pretending not to know him, was infuriating.

One step, two steps… ten steps.

Though she seemed to stagger slightly, she stubbornly kept walking, as if determined not to give him any excuse for physical contact.

Still, when she reached the stairs, she looked quite unsteady.

“You’d better come down carefully. If you fall, it’s high enough to easily break an ankle.”

Clinging tightly to the stair railing, she panted heavily.

“Breaking an ankle and being stuck at home wouldn’t be so bad either.”

As he brushed past her trembling form, he leaned in and whispered softly into her ear.

Perhaps his words helped, as Eun-sol seemed to regain some clarity and began descending the stairs cautiously.

“Ah!”

As she was descending carefully, her body wavered. There were some stairs where the anti-slip pads had worn out and no longer functioned properly.

He recalled that it hadn’t been long since the place underwent renovations, but it seemed they had focused solely on aesthetics, neglecting minor safety concerns.

While thinking about tracking down the person responsible for planning and overseeing the repairs, Eun-sol, who had apparently developed some skill, descended the stairs at a slightly faster pace.

They left the Aritaum building together and began walking toward the mansion.

They didn’t walk side by side. Instead, he quietly followed behind Kim Eun-sol, as if he were her shadow.

The sight of this was so peculiar that it made him let out a dry chuckle.

As they passed by Tae Mari’s mansion, he noticed Park Hae-seong hiding behind a large tree.

He already knew that Park Hae-seong often hid behind that tree, waiting for Tae Mari to come and go.

He had once heard from Tae Mari that when Park Hae-seong happened to run into her, he would pretend it was a chance encounter during a stroll and hand her all sorts of ridiculously flashy gifts.

“At first, I thought he was just a kid trying to mess with me, but it turns out he’s sincere. Honestly, it’s kind of cute. When he showers me with affection like that, it makes me feel ten years younger. And let’s not forget, he’s ridiculously handsome—he could rival any idol.”

At the time, Tae Mari’s words hadn’t stirred any particular emotion in him, but now, they suddenly irritated him.

However, today, Park Hae-seong wasn’t facing Tae Mari’s mansion.

Instead, he was standing with his back to it, watching the direction where Eun-sol was walking. It seemed he was hiding and keeping an eye on her out of worry.

The phone clutched tightly in his hand gave off a determined air, as if he was ready to call 112 (the emergency hotline) at the slightest sign of trouble.

‘Wow, he really goes all out.’

Then again, what was the latest rumor that guy had spread? 

Jeong-hyeok tried to recall.

‘Was it the one about me locking my wife up in a seaside mansion in Seoan County?’

Of all the baseless rumors Park Hae-seong had fabricated, that one was probably the most plausible. While it was heavily spiced up with exaggeration, he couldn’t entirely say it was untrue.

Judging by how much Park Hae-seong seemed to believe his own rumor, it was clear he was genuinely concerned about Eun-sol.

Jeong-hyeok suddenly stopped walking and raised his head. He gauged the height of the tree.

‘Should I just hang him from that tree?’