CH 6

For a while, Jihan listened to the conversation on the other end of the line, his eyes trembling slightly. It was evident that Chae Serin held a special place in his heart that he wouldn’t show to anyone else.

“Ah… Okay. I’ll come now.”

“What call was that?”

“It seems there’s a problem at the company. Like you said, I think I should go for a while.”

I know it’s not the company. That call was from Chae Serin. The words rose to the tip of my tongue. My mouth felt dry from the truths that were gradually revealing themselves, truths I hadn’t known in my previous life.

A bitter laugh escaped me at the thought that I had been deceived by such blatant lies. I had believed this lie. I really thought there was an urgent matter at the company and saw his exaggerated behavior as merely worrying about me being left alone.

…Not knowing it was his anxiety about being caught cheating.

With an awkward smile, he tenderly wrapped his arm around my shoulder.

“You don’t need to come back.”

Just stay by Chae Serin’s side forever.

Jihan looked at me, who was speaking more firmly than before, and let go of my shoulder.

“I’ll be back as soon as the meeting is over.”

***

The hand that had been removing the sweat-soaked strands of hair clinging to my forehead fell limply in the air.

“Ha.”

Only the sound of rushing water filled the bathroom.

I let out a deep breath that had been running down my lips and leaned on the sink with both arms. The image of Jihan’s retreating figure kept filling my head.

“Jerk.”

The more you know, the more you see. After regressing, I realized how foolish I had been in my previous life.

It had been an exhausting day, keeping watch over the empty funeral hall and greeting countless visitors on my own. I felt like I would fall asleep as soon as I leaned back, and my body felt as heavy as a water-soaked sponge.

When I returned to the funeral hall, the clock’s hands pointed to one in the morning.

As the crowd of people quickly disappeared, a heavy silence settled over the funeral hall.

Sitting alone, I closed my heavy eyelids, overwhelmed by the creeping feeling of loneliness. I was alone again. It was hard to bear that I couldn’t save my family, even after coming back like this.

“I’m sorry, Grandfather…”

My shoulders shook until my vision blurred, and then I fell into a tired sleep. In my sleep, I faintly felt something warm covering my shoulder. I woke up as someone gently shook my shoulder.

“Ma’am, if you’re tired, please go rest and come back later.”

It was the housemaid who had brought some clothes from home on my behalf.

As I slowly got up, the suit jacket that had been covering my shoulder slipped off. An unfamiliar, faint citrus scent wafted in the air. It was a soothing fragrance, as if I had smelled it before.

“Did you cover me with this jacket?”

“No, it wasn’t me. It’s a men’s suit jacket. Maybe Mr. Jihan covered you while I was away?”

“It’s not him…”

It wasn’t Jihan. He wouldn’t return until the funeral was over. In my faint memory, it seemed like there had been a similar incident in my previous life. Back then, I couldn’t figure out who the owner of the jacket was either…

There was a rustling sound.

I pulled something out of the inner pocket of the jacket I had picked up.

“A pa*sport?”

With the pa*sport I hadn’t seen in my previous life, a single business card fell to the floor.

***

A black sedan pulled up in front of the man who was walking out of the hospital.

The secretary, who had been glancing at Jaha sitting in the pa*senger seat, asked him about the absence of his suit jacket. He had definitely been well-dressed when he entered the funeral home.

“Mr. Jaha, what happened to your suit jacket?”

“It just happened.”

Despite the secretary’s question, Jaha’s cut-off response seemed to have no continuation.

With his mouth closed, Jaha appeared lost in thought as he looked out the window.

“Ah, right. Let’s get going.”

The car began to move along the empty road towards the hotel as dawn approached. The city streets were eerily quiet.

The secretary glanced at Jaha, who was staring out the window, and asked him a question.

“By the way, Mr. Jaha, you came without letting the Chairman know… Did you really have to attend the funeral?”

“…”

“Isn’t it an uncomfortable relationship?”

An uncomfortable relationship… Jaha thought that might be true.

She was no longer his fiancée, but the woman who would become his half-brother’s wife. Jaha seemed lost in thought at the secretary’s question, and then he opened his mouth.

“It’s been a long time.”

Jaha swallowed the words ‘I wanted to see her too.’ It was the first time he had seen her since she rejected his marriage proposal. He thought about the jacket he had covered her with as she slept, huddled up. It was an uncharacteristically impulsive act for him.

If it wasn’t for that report, I wouldn’t have gone to the funeral home.

Jaha remembered the report he had received upon arriving in the country and tightly closed his lips.

The secretary, who had been glancing at Jaha from the corner of his eye, casually brought up another topic.

“And I just heard this, but it seems that Chairman Yoon and his wife are in critical condition.”

“…How much?”

Jaha, who had been looking out the window nonchalantly, finally turned his head.

The secretary continued speaking to Jaha, who now seemed to show interest.

“The doctors have said there’s little chance they’ll wake up. And the movement among the shareholders is unusual too. I don’t know what kind of conditions they put forth, but there’s quite a group that wants to merge the two companies.”

A merger…

As a husband who couldn’t protect his wife, he was now in a difficult situation where he couldn’t even protect his own share. It was a tough battle for a 29-year-old woman who had grown up sheltered and naïve.

Come to think of it, there was a pa*sport in the jacket pocket.

The moment he recalled the pa*sport he had momentarily forgotten, Jaha furrowed his brow and hurriedly reached out to the secretary.

“Secretary Han, wait a moment.”

“Yes…?”

“Stop the car. We need to go back.”