SATURDAY 24

I slowly raised my head. I definitely hadn’t been able to open my eyes properly because of the thick rain, but the rain had stopped at some point. No… it hadn’t stopped. Mr. Taeseon had come close with an umbrella, blocking the rain from me as well.

In my arms, Lili cried loudly.

“Have you lost your mind….”

Mr. Taeseon muttered in a low voice.

“Managing Director!”

Manager Shin, who was still in the car, hurriedly opened an umbrella and got out. Mr. Taeseon didn’t even glance at him as he came around the car. Manager Shin hadn’t done anything wrong. It was just that all of his attention was focused on me.

“Manager Shin, put the car away and get off work now. Make sure not to breathe a word about what happened today.”

“Yes, I will do that.”

The manager glanced at me out of the corner of his eye, quickly averted his gaze, and moved fast. A short while after the taillights disappeared into the garage with a low engine hum, Manager Shin’s personal vehicle came out and quietly vanished into the curtain of rain.

“Mr. Yoon Inha. Are you not going to answer?”

“….”

“I’m asking what you think you’re doing. …Are you out of your mind? Do you want to brag to the neighborhood that Yoon Inha has gone crazy? If this were Gyehwa-dong, it would already be plastered with articles too hideous to look at.”

Gyehwa-dong was a wealthy neighborhood on par with Hannam-dong and Cheongdam-dong. It was where we originally intended to set up our honeymoon home. With high walls and security cameras attached to every house, it looks as though no one is there, but people often spy on other houses through those cameras or over the high walls from inside their own homes.

In that neighborhood, if you were to get into a fight in the garden or outside the gate in the middle of the night, it was no different from generating a “stock market tabloid” while everyone knew exactly who lived in which house.

Because we hated that, Mr. Taeseon and I abandoned the wealthy neighborhoods and deliberately moved out to Cheongin-dong, on the outskirts of Seoul. Mr. Taeseon gladly agreed to it, even though it meant being further from work. That was what Mr. Taeseon’s words just now meant.

Here is much better than Gyehwa-dong, but it’s not as if nobody lives here either. If I caused such a disturbance outside the house, not only would rumors spread throughout the whole neighborhood as Mr. Taeseon said, but articles might also be published suspecting “Yoon Inha” of having a mental illness.

Even without that, I am still the subject of attention because of the car accident a while ago. “Yoon Inyoung” was practically unknown, but it was a known fact that Yoon Inha had a twin younger brother. As well as the fact that his twin brother died in a car accident on a rainy road.

My family and Mr. Taeseon’s family joined forces to block the articles as much as possible regarding this matter. Usually, more people wouldn’t know about it. In other words, it meant that those who know, know.

When I was already receiving negative attention due to the car accident, there was nothing good about rumors spreading that I had gone crazy. Especially since it could affect Mr. Taeseon’s business. I wanted to avoid that. Before I knew it, I regained my senses and bowed my head low.

“I-I’m sorry, the window was open, and Lili got out, so… I came out to get her. I was startled when I saw the car headlights.”

I felt a gaze from above my head. Mr. Taeseon stared at me without answering. I slightly raised my head and my eyes met his. He… was looking at me with that strange expression he occasionally wears.

An expression that’s hard to read—as if he was conflicted, confused, or perhaps finding the situation awkward or difficult.

“It seems you remembered something from when the accident happened.”

“….”

“Isn’t that all something you feel because you survived?”

Suddenly, Mr. Taeseon’s voice turned cold. I flinched. Something you feel because you survived. I felt fear at the car approaching with its headlights on. As Mr. Taeseon said, that was something I felt because I was alive.

“That’s enough. Come inside, if you don’t want to end up in everyone’s gossip any longer. It’s a relief it’s raining. Most people wouldn’t have seen this absurd spectacle.”

“…Yes.”

That answer came out before I knew it. He must have found my answer of “Yes” amusing too, for he chuckled, tossed the umbrella to me, and went inside the gate. The umbrella fell to my side with a thwack, making raindrops bounce.

“Lili…. are you okay?”

“Meooow…. Blech.”

“You must not be feeling too good. Let’s go in.”

“Yes.”

“….”

It was exactly as if she were answering my words…. Anyway, hugging Lili, who had become a lump of wet laundry, I held the umbrella Mr. Taeseon had given me and stepped inside the gate. It seemed Mr. Taeseon had already gone inside the house.

I entered the house, opened the umbrella to stand on one side of the entryway, and stepped inside. Water was dripping from my whole body like a waterfall. Considering I had been rummaging through the garden in this weather looking for Lili, it was only natural.

It was a relief that all of Lili’s things were in the bathroom of the living room on the first floor. Because that’s where I bathe Lili. It hadn’t been used originally, but since using it as Lili’s bathroom, I had roughly stocked it with things for me to wash with as well.

I took Lili in and turned on the water. Rarely, and fortunately, Lili was a cat who liked water. I had only bathed her once so far, but that was definitely the case when I first brought her and washed her. She liked it from the moment I filled the bathtub with water and lightly sprinkled it on her body, and later she voluntarily went into the water.

“Lili, you’re a mess.”

“Meoooow. Yowwwl. Yaaaow.”

Lili chattered the whole time she was being washed, as if making some sort of excuse. I wrapped the clean Lili in a large towel, placed her in front of a warm heater, and washed myself too. I was covered in dirt and leaves, with debris even stuck to my face, and my whole body was soaked in muddy water.

Looking in the mirror, I felt dizzy for a moment at the thought of having run into Mr. Taeseon in this state, but then I realized that the current Mr. Taeseon wouldn’t care at all about my appearance and felt a little relieved. No, no, is it right to feel relieved….

When I took off my clothes, the state of my clothes was also truly a sight to behold. I barely managed to take off the clothes, which had become heavy from soaking up so much water, and when I put them on the floor, they made a splat sound. I checked if there was a robe and washed for a long time with water hot enough to sting my skin. Debris and leaves kept falling from my body.

After even finishing cleaning the bathroom, I threw on a robe and came out, but Lili, who should have been next to the bathroom, was nowhere to be seen. When wrapped in a towel like that, she usually doesn’t move…. Tilting my head, I looked around and heard the sound of the dry room running.

“…?”

Could Lili have set the timer herself, gone inside, and closed the door?

…That’s impossible.

I was lost in serious thought before looking up at the second floor. If Lili was in the dry room, it must naturally have been Mr. Taeseon’s doing. I sat in front of the dry room.

Lili also likes the dry room. Even though you’d think she’d hate the whirrr sound.

When our eyes met from inside the dry room, Lili blinked slowly. Because I know this is an expression of affection, my chest tickled.

I stayed until the dry room timer ended, took Lili out, and the moment I held her in my arms and picked up a brush, Lili shot away like a bullet and ran. One of the few things Lili really didn’t like was brushing. But she just came out of the dry room, her fur is sticking up in all directions, and it’s a mess.

“….”

Since Lili is good at grooming, maybe it’ll be fine….

“Achoo.”

Suddenly, a sneeze came out. It came out once, then twice, three times in a row. After that, a chill came over me, and my whole body trembled unpleasantly.

It was a familiar cold symptom. It seemed it was because I had been exposed to the rain too much. The constant shivering and chills made it feel like a severe cold was coming.

While rubbing my arms, feeling the fever beginning to rise, I suddenly felt a gaze. When I absentmindedly raised my head, Mr. Taeseon was standing midway up the stairs to the second floor, holding the railing and looking down at me. I felt embarrassed for no reason at his cold, blunt gaze and expression tinged with contempt.

Just then, unfortunately, a sneeze came out. Several times in a row. I sniffled and avoided Mr. Taeseon’s gaze, but Mr. Taeseon slowly came down the stairs. I had no choice but to look at him again. He was standing, leaning against the railing.

The traces of the rut were already nowhere to be found. The awkward atmosphere, yet the feeling that I should say something, made me force my mouth open.

“Director…. Were you alright? That….”

I hated myself for asking such a thing. But what could I do when it bothered me. However, Mr. Taeseon spoke coldly.

“Is that something you should be concerned about?”

“….”

It was a mistake. Even though I knew this answer would come back.

“I stayed at a hotel and got through it fine with inhibitors. Hah…. I don’t know why I’m answering this.”

I had nothing to say in response, so I only blinked. Even in the midst of that, it was truly ridiculous of me to feel relieved confirming that Mr. Taeseon hadn’t met another partner for his rut.

“It seems you even have a cold.”

“…A-no, it’s just… a little.”

Mr. Taeseon stared at me for a while. Under his gaze, I increasingly didn’t know what to do with myself, so I rubbed the tips of my toes. He opened his mouth with a cold expression.

“Yoon Inha wouldn’t have had such a weak constitution to catch a cold right away just from getting a little rain.”