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Chapter 06
“Yes, sir.”
“Do I have any other appointments after lunch today?”
“No.”
“All right.”
They say you should strike while the iron is hot. I should head straight out this afternoon and tell her to sell the Yangpyeong villa.
The thought that he would soon be able to drive Song Chaeyoon out of his head—and out of his daily life—made Mu-hyun’s previously furrowed face brighten almost instantly.
Chaeyoon’s study room usually operated on weekday afternoons, from one o’clock to six or sometimes seven.
During exam periods, she would open on Saturdays if the kids asked, but that had only happened once or twice.
The reason the closing time wasn’t fixed was that, from time to time, parents who were late preparing dinner asked her to watch their children just a little longer.
Working an extra hour or two wasn’t difficult. She enjoyed spending time with the kids.
So Chaeyoon generally tried to accommodate parents’ requests.
However, every now and then there were parents who tried to break the basic rules of the study room. Like today.
—It’s not like I’m abandoning my child. I’m just asking you to let him sleep over for one night while I go meet a friend. Why are you making such a big deal out of it? I’ll pay whatever you want!
“Mrs. Kyungsoo, as I said earlier, this isn’t about money. It’s beyond what I can do. And Kyungsoo is only seven. Even if you’re going far away, it’s better for him to stay with his mother—”
—That’s exactly why I’m asking you! Why can’t you understand what people are saying? Honestly, how can you be so heartless? Are all educated people like this? Is everyone who’s lived in Seoul this cold? If it were me, I’d feel sorry for the kid and keep him overnight!
Chaeyoon swallowed the words that surged up to her throat—that if she felt so sorry for her son, she shouldn’t go on the trip, or she should invite her friend over instead. Those weren’t things she could say.
“I’m sorry, Mrs. Kyungsoo.”
Kyungsoo’s mother continued to harass her for a while after that, but when Chaeyoon only repeated her apologies, she eventually ran out of steam and hung up.
…That nearly made my ears bleed.
Chaeyoon set the now-warm phone down on the desk and shuddered softly.
In truth, Kyungsoo’s mother wasn’t a bad person.
Normally she was kind and easy to talk to, but once she became stubborn, she couldn’t be stopped—and that was exactly her type.
It wasn’t hard to imagine how difficult life must be, divorced and living alone with her child after returning to her hometown. Wanting to get some fresh air, meet friends, and chat all night was only natural.
But wasn’t that something you did when you were alone?
From Chaeyoon’s perspective, it was hard to understand leaving a child who had only started elementary school three months ago with a study-room teacher who wasn’t even a relative, just to go meet a friend.
“Ha… I wonder if I won’t see Kyungsoo’s face starting Monday.”
She muttered bitterly as she stepped outside.
There were currently nine students enrolled in Chaeyoon’s study room.
The village parents didn’t send their children there because they were passionate about academics. They simply needed someone to look after their kids after school until dinner.
It was far more reassuring than letting the children run wild through fields and mountains like colts, as long as they stayed somewhere close to home.
As a result, neither parents nor students expected any real “studying” to happen in Chaeyoon’s study room. Given the circumstances, the tuition was much lower than in Seoul.
From Chaeyoon’s standpoint, if even one child left, she couldn’t ignore the financial impact—separate from the sadness or worry she might feel about that child.
She had started the study room because she liked being with children, but perhaps liking something and needing something were never the same.
A quiet sigh slipped from her lips.
It would be difficult to keep the study room running on a barely break-even basis.
In fact, she had already begun dipping into the money her grandmother had left her.
If she quit the study room, her only option would be to find work as a cram-school instructor…
Chaeyoon thought bitterly.
When she was young, she had wanted nothing more than to leave Yangpyeong. Now, just thinking about packing everything up and moving made her feel hollow inside.
At that moment, a familiar sound reached her ears.
She turned her head toward the villa’s driveway, and as if on cue, a black sedan came into view.
It was the same car Mu-hyun had arrived in the night before.
Why…?
The moment she saw Mu-hyun step out of the car, her mind went blank again. Without realizing it, Chaeyoon bit her lower lip and clenched her fist.
Had he already contacted a lawyer?
Despite her tension, her heart began to race, and she let out a small, incredulous laugh. After hearing such filthy things from him, what on earth was there for her heart to be excited about?
The Seo Mu-hyun she had loved three years ago—and who had loved her—no longer existed in this world. The man approaching her now was a stranger who had mocked and humiliated her.
While she repeated that to herself through the dull ache in her chest, Mu-hyun strode over.
He stopped a couple of steps away and looked down at her in silence for a moment.
Then, apparently displeased by the way Chaeyoon was staring straight back at him, he spoke with a crooked sneer.
“Your attitude toward a guest is pretty terrible.”
“I don’t consider someone I didn’t invite a guest.”
“Even if I came to propose a deal that could benefit you?”
She didn’t need to hear the details to know what he meant.
Watching Mu-hyun try to drive her out of this place by any means necessary, Chaeyoon twisted her lips into a crooked smile that mimicked his.
“I’m not selling the villa.”
“We’ll see how long that resolve lasts…”
“To you, Manager Seo Mu-hyun.”
Mu-hyun had been replying as if he didn’t believe her, but the moment he heard her words, he frowned.
As she watched the crease form between his neat brows, she added one more thing.
“If that’s your only proposal, you’ve wasted your time. Goodbye.”
As Chaeyoon turned away with even a faint smile, Mu-hyun’s voice followed from behind.
“You don’t even know how much I was going to offer. It’d be an amount you couldn’t even imagine in your lifetime.”
“……”
“Take the money and stop playing the gold digger.”
At the blatant mockery in his words, Chaeyoon froze without meaning to.
Even with his memory gone, it seemed that arrogant, rude personality of his was still intact.
Then again, the memories he’d lost were only five months—just the time he’d spent with her at the villa. Hardly enough time for someone’s personality to change.
You bastard. You absolute…
She muttered, her eyes reddening.
If he was going to forget her and live on, why come back so late and turn her insides upside down like this?
At that moment, a large hand grabbed her arm. Her body jolted at the force, and the tears pooled in her eyes spilled down both cheeks.
Mu-hyun, who had turned her around with a sharp expression, looked visibly flustered, as if he hadn’t expected her to cry.
Seeing him panic over a single tear after spewing nothing but cruel words made Chaeyoon’s voice twist painfully.
“I’m never selling the villa. I’ll keep it until the very end—and die holding onto it. So stop wasting your time and go back. Back to where you belong.”
“Damn it.”
A low curse slipped from Mu-hyun’s lips as he stared straight ahead, hands gripping the steering wheel.
He felt foul.
Of course, ever since losing his memory, his mood had been consistently foul, so this wasn’t exactly new.
The problem was that the woman who’d ruined his mood kept circling his mind—just as she had for the past few days.
Her reddened eyes, the tears sliding down her pale cheeks, her painfully thin arm in his grasp, the way she said she’d cling to that worthless villa until she died.
But more than all of that, what irritated him the most was Song Chaeyoon’s final remark.
Go back. To your place.
The way she pushed him away, as if there was no place for Seo Mu-hyun there—no space she was willing to spare for him at all—rubbed him the wrong way.
So much so that he didn’t even register the fact that he’d come back empty-handed for the second time.
“When you keep reacting like that, it just makes me want to dig deeper into whatever you’re hiding.”
