TNV 32

Chapter 32

At that moment.

A sudden, sharp headache struck, and Muhyeon squeezed his eyes shut.

As he lowered his head against the pain that felt like his skull might split open, a voice—unfamiliar yet strangely familiar—reached his ears.
‘Oppa, do you really not remember me? It’s Chaeyoon. Song Chaeyoon.’

‘Just because I can’t remember something, does that mean I have to accept visits from every random person? Secretary Kim, get this woman out of here.’
‘Oppa, please, just look at me. I’m Chaeyoon! Just for a moment, at least look at my face—’
‘Secretary Kim!’

This was not a lost memory, but a forgotten one.

She was the woman who had come to his hospital room during the time when he had grown irritable, unable to accept the fact that he had lost his memories after waking from a coma.

Everything in the world had felt irritating, and the relentless headaches had only made it worse. Because of that, Muhyeon hadn’t even properly looked at her and had coldly driven her away. And until now, he had completely forgotten about it.

If the woman who had tearfully begged him just once to look at her face was Song Chaeyoon, then the woman he had gone to pick up at Yangpyeong Station on the day of the accident was also very likely Song Chaeyoon.

So… he and Song Chaeyoon really had been in that kind of relationship.

As the headache gradually subsided, Muhyeon opened his eyes.

Perhaps because he had already suspected as much, retrieving a fragment of memory did not make him as excited as he had expected. Instead, he felt a sense of betrayal—because the answer had been so close all along, yet everyone had been hiding it from him.

Song Chaeyoon probably had no choice. The ones involved were his grandfather and his mother.

But setting his mother and other relatives aside, the fact that even his grandfather had not given him a single hint was difficult to accept.

“So this villa was the price you paid to silence her.”

Muttering in a twisted voice, he turned and went up to his room. After changing into his work suit, Muhyeon left the villa again, his expression colder than ever.

‘Seo Muhyeon has recently been confirmed to be commuting from a villa in Yangpyeong.’

The moment she heard that, the person who came to Jinha-young’s mind was Song Chaeyoon.

The granddaughter of the villa’s housekeeper—the girl who had completely captivated Muhyeon three years ago.

Aside from being somewhat pretty, she had nothing worth mentioning. When Jinha-young first learned that Muhyeon had fallen deeply for a girl like that, she couldn’t believe it.

Unable to accept it, she had gone all the way to Yangpyeong herself—and when she saw Muhyeon and that girl smiling warmly at each other, she had almost lost her mind.

I should have just killed her back then.

Jinha-young clenched her teeth as the thought crossed her mind.

She’d had plenty of chances until now. If that girl had simply disappeared, there wouldn’t have been any serious problems. She’d only hesitated because of unnecessary fear.

Should I try again, even now?

The impulsive thought crossed her mind, but Jinha-young soon shook her head.

Not now. If she touched Song Chaeyoon while Muhyeon was commuting from the villa, she herself might become the prime suspect.

If she was going to get rid of Song Chaeyoon, it would be better to act after Muhyeon had completely returned to Seoul.

“But I can’t just leave that bitch alone either.”

She still hadn’t heard anything about Muhyeon recovering his memories. Jinha-young was still speaking with Director Lee once a day under the pretext of checking in, so if Muhyeon’s memory had returned, there was no way Director Lee wouldn’t have told her.

Which meant the real problem was this: Muhyeon was continuing to go back and forth to the villa, seeing Song Chaeyoon.

And in doing so, he might begin to remember the memories and emotions he had forgotten.

Song Chaeyoon, that damn bitch.

After spitting out the curse in irritation, Jinha-young fell into thought once more.

Then, an hour later, she left her house, entered the Yangpyeong villa’s address into her navigation system, and pressed down on the accelerator.

It had been three days since she had last seen Muhyeon.

Three days ago in the evening, after forcing him to leave when he pressed her to confess everything about the past, she hadn’t seen him once since.

Because she cleaned the room he always used every day, and prepared his dinner every night, she knew that Muhyeon hadn’t come down to the villa at all.

Each time she cleared away the food she had prepared for him—food that no one had touched and that had gone cold overnight—Chaeyoon couldn’t suppress the turmoil in her heart.

Should she not have pushed him away like that that day? He must have been desperate to come to her and ask her to tell him about the past.

But even if the same situation happened again, Chaeyoon probably still wouldn’t be able to speak. Saying their memories out loud herself was simply too painful and too miserable.

“Maybe… it’s better for it to end like this.”

Murmuring bitterly as she left the room devoid of any warmth after cleaning it again, Chaeyoon admitted something she didn’t want to acknowledge.

The moment Muhyeon lost his memory, their connection had ended. Even if, by some chance, he were to show interest in her again, their relationship would never be the same as before.

Chaeyoon took one last look around the empty living room before stepping outside.

She had just locked the villa’s back door when someone called her name. She reflexively turned around.

“Song Chaeyoon.”

The moment she saw who had called her name, Chaeyoon’s face turned deathly pale. Watching her freeze in shock, Jinha-young let out a small, amused scoff.

“You remember me, right?”

Of course she did. Chaeyoon had never once forgotten Jinha-young—the woman who had boldly criticized and humiliated her simply because she was Muhyeon’s fiancée.

The memory made her feel as though her entire body was freezing over. Hiding her emotions, Chaeyoon deliberately asked in a flat voice,

“What brings you here?”

Instead of answering, Jinha-young scoffed again. It was a laugh that seemed to mock Chaeyoon’s calm demeanor.

“You’re asking because you really don’t know? I doubt that.”

“Well, I don’t know.”

She could guess why Jinha-young had come. She probably knew that Muhyeon was commuting from the villa and had come to warn her in person.

But Chaeyoon didn’t want to be the one to say it out loud. When she simply stared back in silence, Jinha-young’s smile slowly disappeared, replaced by an increasingly irritated expression.

“Ha… I can’t tell if you’re shameless or just stupid.”

After glaring at Chaeyoon for a while, Jinha-young spat out irritably.

“You stole someone else’s man and even caused an accident. Shouldn’t you at least feel guilty? But instead of looking sorry, you’re just standing there staring with those big innocent eyes?”

“The person who caused the accident wasn’t me. It’s unfortunate that he lost his memory, but—”

As Chaeyoon spoke, Jinha-young suddenly began to walk toward her. Chaeyoon didn’t anticipate why she was approaching, so she didn’t move out of the way—and as a result, she took the full force of Jinha-young’s sudden slap.

Smack.

The blow was so strong that her body twisted halfway around. When Chaeyoon finally managed to steady herself, Jinha-young had already raised her hand again.

Smack.

This time, Chaeyoon was forced to stumble back several steps. Clutching her burning cheek, she lifted her head, only to see Jinha-young sneering at her.

“You’re tougher than I expected.”

“What do you think you’re doing?!”

“What am I doing? I’m punishing the bitch who stole someone else’s man. And hearing you call my man so familiarly with that filthy mouth makes me sick.”

For a brief moment, Chaeyoon tried to recall whether she had ever addressed Muhyeon in a particularly familiar way. Then she remembered that she had just used the word “oppa.”

She suppressed the surge of anger rising inside her. Being slapped twice just for that felt unfair.

But Jinha-young was Muhyeon’s fiancée. Getting angry over such a minor form of address might be natural for someone in her position.

The two of them glared at each other in silence for a while. Once again, it was Jinha-young who spoke first.

“Don’t feel too wronged over just a couple of slaps. Honestly, I don’t think I’d feel satisfied even if I did much worse.”

“……”

“When you decided to flirt with someone else’s man, you should’ve been prepared for this much. You do have a conscience, don’t you, Song Chaeyoon? Or do you not?”