Chapter 5.3

“…What?”

He asked back, his nerves on edge from the bottle she was holding. In the underground cellar, their voices echoed even louder.

“Since I lost my memory… why I kept doubting you, why my body sounded alarm bells every time I saw you.”

Her words made his heart sink. His chest tightened instantly.

“…First, put down that wine bottle. If you drop it, it’ll be dangerous.”

“Who? Me? Or this wine bottle?”

“…Of course, you.”

“You’re saying you’re worried about me now?”

Her lips twisted into a bitter smile. Though the underground cellar was dim, her ever-changing expressions were clearly visible.

“Just earlier, you said you wished I’d fall down the stairs and break my ankle.”

Though her words were somewhat exaggerated, he had no time to correct her. He had to focus on the next words that might spill from her lips or the wine bottle that might shatter in her hand at any moment.

“Wouldn’t that be great for you? If this wine bottle smashed my foot, you’d have an easier time having an affair with Tae Mari!”

Jeong-hyeok found himself wondering what he had just heard. Even after hearing it, he couldn’t comprehend it, leaving him unable to react.

As he remained motionless, the sensor light above his head turned off. That’s how still he was—only breathing.

“See? You can’t even come up with an excuse!” 

Eun-sol’s voice rose in agitation.

“Now I understand. You’ve been involved with Tae Mari even before I lost my memory, haven’t you? I must have caught you, which caused serious marital conflict, and then I ended up losing my memory.”

“What…?”

Her flustered gestures were restless and frantic. Because of that, the sensor light above Eun-sol’s head didn’t have a chance to turn off.

In the dim wine cellar, the light shining on her head made everything about her clearly visible. Her pale cheeks were streaked with wet trails of tears.

“A few days ago, you stayed out overnight with Tae Mari too, didn’t you?!”

This was truly an accusation he hadn’t anticipated.

Tae Mari. Staying out overnight.

The words that fell into his ears scattered without forming any coherent connection. It was too absurd, too far-fetched to make sense.

Soon, the initial shock gave way to a pounding heart.

‘So, right now… she’s jealous of Tae Mari and me.’

It felt as though a ray of light was shining from somewhere.

“Why don’t you at least deny it with some obvious lie?!” 

Eun-sol burst into tears.

He simply watched her, regulating his breathing. He didn’t feel the urge to console her.

No, he wanted her to cry even more. The way her clear tears fell, glistening, was so beautiful.

His vision grew warm, and his breathing became uneven.

“Go! Go to Tae Mari!”

Kim Eun-sol was truly jealous.

On top of that, she had misunderstood that the reason for her excessive wariness toward him after her memory loss was due to his supposed affair with Tae Mari.

It was an unexpected windfall.

His skin tingled with heightened sensitivity. Never in his life had he felt so grateful to Tae Mari.

“…This is a misunderstanding, Kim Eun-sol.”

He spoke without moving a single inch, using only the muscles around his lips. He was afraid that if he moved and the sensor light turned on, his expression might be revealed.

“What kind of misunderstanding?”

“Tae Mari and I are just friends and business partners—nothing more.”

“Really?”

“Yes. Even before your memory loss, you misunderstood us and things got tense between us. That’s when the car accident happened.”

He had no intention of revealing the truth—why their relationship had become so tangled, or what incredible secret she had discovered just before the car accident.

That didn’t mean he planned to deliberately fabricate a lie, either.

“A misunderstanding, you say? Are you telling me I’ve misunderstood twice?”  

“Yes. You’ve misunderstood the same thing twice.”

But since Eun-sol had already misunderstood on her own, this was the perfect opportunity—a chance to deceive her and bury the truth even deeper.

“There’s no way I would misunderstand twice! Something must have happened with Tae Mari, which is why I was like this before my memory loss, and why I’m like this now!”  

Fortunately, she wasn’t doubting the hidden truth beyond all this. Her focus was solely on Tae Mari.  

Well, who could possibly imagine it? That something so incredible had happened before her memory loss. That she had discovered such an enormous secret.  

“Even at the beach villa, isn’t that why you were always late and stayed out overnight so often? You left me stuck at the villa while the two of you had fun, didn’t you?”  

Eun-sol fired back fiercely. With her bristling demeanor, she resembled a small, adorable hedgehog armed with icy spikes. If Kim Eun-sol were truly a hedgehog, he would have preserved her in this exact form.  

“I was just too busy with important meetings and discussions. Even on nights I stayed out, I slept in the room attached to my office. If you don’t believe me, I can make a copy of the office CCTV footage from that night and give it to you.”  

“…Is that true?”  

Eun-sol asked, still unable to let go of her suspicions.  

“Of course. If you want more evidence, I can provide as much as you need.”

The sight of him going so far as to offer evidence to back up his excuse for staying out overnight—how ridiculous it looked. Yet, it was strangely satisfying.  

Eun-sol breathed heavily, trying to make sense of the situation.  

‘Did I really misunderstand everything?’  

She wanted to read his expression.  

But the surroundings were too dark to clearly see his face. His eyes, floating alone in the darkness, glimmered faintly like those of a wolf prowling at night.  

She thought about saying something else but shut her mouth. If she spoke carelessly, it would only make it easier for him to entangle her further.  

As she remained silent, Kwon Jeong-hyeok took the reins of the conversation again. For someone who usually countered silence with even deeper silence, this kind of assertiveness was unusual.  

“Think about it objectively. If I liked Tae Mari, I would have married her. Why would I marry you instead? In every way, Tae Mari would have been much more advantageous for me.”  

“……!”

It was a blow that struck to the bone. How could even his explanation for infidelity be this pathetic?

Despite the shame rising within her, she couldn’t bring herself to get angry. His words were far more convincing than any long-winded excuse could ever be.

“…Then why did you give that medal necklace to Tae Mari?”  

“Medal necklace?”  

It seemed like he only recalled the existence of the medal necklace after thinking for a moment.  

“Ah, that medal necklace—there are actually two of them.”  

Jeong-hyeok explained the necklace briefly.  

“Then… the necklace Tae Mari was wearing originally belonged to…?!”  

“It originally belonged to Taepyeong Group. It was something Tae Mari inherited.”  

“Ah!”  

She had never considered the possibility that there could be two identical necklaces.  

“The necklace you tried to sell off at the jewelry shop is still in the drawer of my study. If you don’t believe me, go check it yourself.”  

“Ah….”  

She had naturally assumed that he had given it to Tae Mari.  

“Then what about the marriage registration? You filed it while I was unconscious after the car accident.”  

“I had planned to do it even before then. Right after we returned from the honeymoon, you started suspecting my relationship with Tae Mari, so the timing wasn’t right. Then the car accident happened. To take care of you as your legal guardian, I needed to be your husband on paper.”  

There was no room for rebuttal. So that was the reason for the sudden marriage registration. And yet, she had been consumed by baseless suspicions all on her own.  

She felt embarrassed. Still, the relief she felt far outweighed the embarrassment.  

“If you understand now, hand me the wine bottle.”  

He cautiously closed the distance between them and reached out his hand. As he moved, the sensor light above him turned on.  

He struck a pose that resembled a police officer trying to negotiate with a criminal holding a grenade.  

“Ah!”  

It was only then that Eun-sol became aware of the weight in her hand—the wine bottle. The slender-necked wine bottle was precariously gripped in her hand.  

If she dropped it, the heavy bottle could crush her foot or shatter on the floor, sending shards of glass flying everywhere.  

Flustered, she tried to adjust her grip on the bottle, but her sweaty palms caused it to slip from her hand instead.  

“Ah!”  

Her eyes squeezed shut in shock. She braced herself for the deafening crash she was sure would follow, but instead, there was only a dull thud.  

“……?”

Her trembling eyelids fluttered open. The situation became clear in an instant.

Right in front of her, a basket that hadn’t been there a second ago was now wobbling.

It was a basket filled with oranges. The dull sound earlier had come from the oranges inside the basket smashing against the heavy wine bottle as it fell.

“Ah!”

Piecing together what had happened moments ago, it seemed that he had swiftly kicked the nearby basket of oranges toward her.