“Why did I bother with such consideration? You’re nothing to Mr. Doha.”

That statement was both a message to Isurin and to Haeyeon herself. Indeed, Isurin was nothing to Haeyeon. An absurd and shameless person seeking love from another woman’s man.

Ultimately, Isurin’s existence was nothing more, nothing less than the revelation of the fact that Haeyeon had lost her memory. Emotions vanished from Haeyeon’s face, leaving only coldness.

“You, who uses my silence as a shallow means, won’t be able to do such naive things anymore.”

The reason Haeyeon reluctantly agreed to Isurin’s almost one-sided proposal today was because of this. There was no need to continue the ill-fated relationship. It needed to be definitively severed.

Haeyeon received a message from Yunho the day before.

[I’ll send it to you tomorrow.] Today became tomorrow, and although Haeyeon hadn’t received a message from Yunho yet, she had received his message yesterday. Haeyeon made a resolution. Let’s end it here with Isurin. Isurin, who was nothing more than a stranger, not Chairman Yoon, had her turn to be cut off now. Haeyeon tried to stand up.

“You seem quite pitiful.”

Isurin, who had been pretending to be asleep, spoke at that moment. Resting her right elbow on the table and cupping her chin in her hand, the face that looked at Haeyeon with curiosity a moment ago showed no trace of it.

However, Haeyeon was bored. The cliché lines she had heard in the past were tiresome. Even in the current situation, saying that she was pitiful was already a worn-out expression, used and discarded.

“If you’re going to say that.”

“Well, haven’t you forgotten anything?”

She was about to tell her to throw away such talk if she was going to say that. Until Isurin interrupted.

Pretending to be indifferent, performing only mechanical gestures, Isurin’s face, which had lost its smile, now showed a bit of discomfort. Haeyeon didn’t mention it immediately, although that gaze, slightly more awkward with added distaste, was irritating.

“It’s quite pitiful not to remember while losing something important.”

Haeyeon’s light brown pupils slightly stiffened. She realized that when Isurin said she lost something, it wasn’t referring to memory. Unlike the first meeting, Isurin wouldn’t easily reveal a lie in the current situation.

So, it was something important that she lost. That was what it meant.

It was a bit embarrassing, but soon discomfort surged. At this point, where her memory hadn’t returned, and she hadn’t received any information from Yunho, it was very unpleasant that Isurin knew something related to her.

“Even if you can’t give anything to Mr. Doha anymore, it would be nice to at least remember….”

Isurin, who had subtly shifted her gaze down while keeping eye contact until now, blurred her words, pretending not to care. Somehow, Isurin didn’t seem unfamiliar. That expression, that gesture, was something she had done in a department store restroom before.

Rather than someone who can only think about a topic where nothing can be given to Mr. Doha, isn’t it better to be me?

At that time, she was engulfed in discomfort and didn’t think deeply about it. She thought one-dimensionally. A mocking remark about herself who couldn’t provide any material help. That’s what she thought.

However, hearing it again, she understood that Isurin’s words weren’t just that simple.

Unconsciously, Isurin leaned forward slightly, her upper body, and laughed with a bit more awkwardness added to her previously smooth face.

In the midst of the noise of cafe customers’ voices, music, and even the sound of rain outside the window, when a slight headache came, Haeyeon closed her eyes for a moment, putting some pressure on them.

When she opened her eyes again, Isurin was clearly laughing.

“Only Mr. Doha is pitiful. Meeting a woman like Min Haeyeon is just a loss.”
Even though Isurin spoke as if humming a melody, Haeyeon felt a strangely chilling atmosphere. It wasn’t cold indoors, as it was raining outside and the air conditioning wasn’t on.

“Why on earth can’t Min Haeyeon remember anything? Or perhaps, what did she want to forget?”

Unlike the chilled Haeyeon, Isurin didn’t stop. Just like Haeyeon a moment ago.

Ziiing.

In the moment when she pulled her arms together and tried to brush it off, the phone danced out of her bag. Even though Haeyeon couldn’t help but check the caller ID, which was somewhat visible on the gold-streaked phone, she did not think about answering the call, and instead, she stared at Isurin as if possessed by something.

It was Lee Yunho.

Even though it was his call she had been waiting for so eagerly, Haeyeon didn’t consider answering and put the phone back into her bag. She looked at Isurin as if she were enchanted.

“You still can’t remember?”

Did something go wrong with her ears? In Isurin’s voice, in the tone, it felt like she could sense the melody again. Haeyeon involuntarily furrowed her brow at the completely different and bouncy voice.

And Haeyeon understood. Why Isurin’s voice sounded that way.

She instinctively recognized it.

“You, you inherited, didn’t you?”

Haeyeon wondered how Isurin’s next words would affect her.