Everything started to annoy him subtly.

Being here, in this crowded place, after driving for over an hour on the weekend.

Having to wait for an hour just to have a meal.

And having witnessed Eun Ji Yeon with a man.

This feeling didn’t fade over time but rather intensified.

‘Should I ask her the next time we meet?’
But what does it matter if she is seeing a man?

Isn’t it better this way?

If he plays his cards right, he might be able to speed up their divorce.

[When’s our next meeting?] Several minutes passed without a response from her.

[Are you busy?] But again, no reply.

Annoyed, Min Woo tossed his phone onto the desk.

Then it happened.

Ding, ding

Startled, he picked up his phone to check the message.

[XX Card approval / 3,000,000 KRW onetime payment / XXXX Department Store]

It was a card payment approval message from Se Ah, adding fuel to his irritation.

He had not set a limit for her, but judging by her recent spending, she had been using quite a bit of money.

She was continually going to skincare clinics and shopping at department stores, and recently she had even been causing a fuss about wanting to shop for furniture to redecorate the house.

The limit for the card he had given Se Ah was 30 million KRW per month. Not long after he had given her the card, she was already close to reaching the limit, and at this rate, she would soon exceed it.

“I can’t let this go on, I need to say something.”
There were more and more things that he hadn’t said to Se Ah but needed to.

However, just thinking about scolding Se Ah gave him a headache.

Se Ah, whose mentality was as fragile as glass, always ended up crying when Min Woo reprimanded her.

He used to soften at her tears until recently, but now Min Woo was increasingly getting annoyed.

Beep, beep

“Madam, it says the limit has been exceeded. What should we do?”
“What? That can’t be. Can you try again?”
As before, a warning message that the card was declined flowed out of the card machine along with an alert sound.

“Madam, it’s indeed an overcharge. If something is wrong, you might want to call your card company.”
The employee, with a troubled expression, returned the card to Se Ah.

At that moment, Se Ah was shopping in the luxury department of a department store.

“That can’t be. That’s impossible. Just a moment, I’ll sort it out right away.”
Her face started to heat up in embarrassment.

She tried to act nonchalant and flashed an awkward smile at the employee, but inside she was burning.

Rrrr Rrrr

“Pick up the phone, Mr. Min Woo….”
After several attempts, Min Woo finally picked up the call on the fifth ring.

“I’m in a meeting right now.”
“Just a moment, Mr. Min Woo! Don’t hang up. It’s urgent.”

In response to Se Ah’s urgent voice, Min Woo didn’t hang up, so Se Ah quickly spit out what she needed to say.

“I came to the department store to buy something, but my card has been suspended. It says I’ve exceeded the limit, but something seems wrong.”
A deep sigh from Min Woo could be heard, followed by a faint sound of ‘please hold on for a moment’.

“I don’t know what could be wrong since I haven’t even spent that much, but it says I’ve exceeded the limit.”
“You did exceed the limit. Se Ah, you’ve spent over 30 million KRW in just a few weeks.”
“What? That can’t be… And even so, everything I bought was absolutely necessary. I even came to buy furniture now.”
“Stop shopping for today and go home. We can go together over the weekend.”
Se Ah glanced at the department store employee standing next to her and shaking her head.

“No, that won’t do! Please handle it right away. I absolutely need to buy it now. People are waiting… It’s really embarrassing for me. Hurry up.”
Min Woo, who was in an important meeting with team leaders, was so annoyed that he didn’t even reply.

If Se Ah had been perceptive, she would have stopped there and gained more, but unfortunately, she was not.

“You’re going to take care of it right away, right? Right?”
“Try again in 10 minutes.”
Saying so, Min Woo hung up the call without any formalities.

Regardless of what he said, Se Ah turned around to face the employee with a sloppy smile.

“You see, my man forgot he bought a few pieces from the H collection a few days ago and that’s why the limit was reached, silly him.”
Se Ah rattled off an explanation no one had asked for, with an awkward laugh.

‘Ah, really, what a disgrace. Why would Min Woo give me such a lowlimit card and make me so embarrassed?’
Se Ah tried to cool her flushed face by fanning it with her palm.

Ten minutes later, she bought a sofa worth 12 million KRW in a lump sum.

“Does she even have her mind right these days? She just decides to go back to work without even discussing it with me. No contact at all…….”
Ju Ran put down her cellphone with an annoyed look after staring at it.

After the last visit, Ji Yeon’s contact had stopped abruptly.

The occasional checkin calls she used to make every few days, the side dishes she used to bring once or twice a month, and the trips she used to take to the department store when new items were released……. Everything abruptly ceased.

“I’ll have to go see her again. When I’m nice to her and let her loose, she does this.”
When the news of Ji Yeon’s marriage to Min Woo first came up, Ju Ran had been vehemently opposed.

There was nothing bad for Min Woo about his family, but strangely, Ju Ran was put off by the fact that Ji Yeon was smart enough to graduate at the top of her class from the same school and department as Min Woo.

“Smart ones look down on their motherinlaw. If it’s not the birth mother but the stepmother, like me, they’ll do everything to climb up.”
Kang Ju Ran had taken advantage of the gap when Chair Cha’s relationship with his birth mother, Mrs. Kim Ji Won, was not good.

She used to be a maid helping out at Chair Cha’s house.

On the day Chair Cha had a fierce argument with Kim Ji Won over a trivial misunderstanding and got drunk in his study, Ju Ran deliberately approached him.

Whether alcohol was his enemy or Chair Cha had always had an eye on Kang Ju Ran, it was unclear.

That day, Chair Cha embraced her, and Ju Ran became pregnant with Min Woo.

Upon Min Woo’s birth, Chair Cha added him to his family register.

However, the precarious relationship between Chair Cha and Kim Ji Won did not break off, and they had been living separately for decades without divorcing.

Despite her numerous attempts to persuade Chair Cha with her charm and persuasion, he did not budge and thus continued his life going back and forth between his birth home and Ju Ran’s house.

Every now and then, at family events, she would run into Kim Ji Won and her children, accompanying Cha Min Woo.

She would occasionally hear hallucinatory rebukes like, “Where do you think you are, following us around?” However, Ju Ran would attend steadfastly, making it known that she was also a member of this family.

But whenever she faced Kim Ji Won, Ju Ran’s pride would hit the floor.

When she had Min Woo, when he was added to the family register, whenever Ju Ran appeared at family events, Kim Ji Won showed no reaction, but her eyes spoke volumes.

Why should I care about a fly tangled in food?
Her gaze always looked down on Ju Ran, as if to say, why should I waste my emotions on someone like you?

Eun Ji Yeon, a welloff girl from a welloff family, seemed just like Chair Cha’s birth mother, Kim Ji Won.