He was strange during the phone calls they exchanged when he scheduled and later cancelled the dinner appointment.

[Will you be coming home?] [Yes. I have to.] [“When are you going to come in?”] [“……Do I have to tell you that?”] Her heart felt odd due to the incessant interest.

This was her first experience of such kind, so she thought it might be possible, but it was undeniably shocking when he showed up at the restaurant and called her ‘honey’.

Not just that, it was an unbelievable sight when Jae Oh carried me down to the hotel lobby. Furthermore, a while ago, he even said he was worried and couldn’t leave me alone.

‘Why is he suddenly doing this?’
Her head, trying to figure out why Han Jae Oh was doing something he hadn’t done before, made an unexpected assumption.

It was an absurd assumption that maybe Jae Oh had developed an interest in me.

‘Wow, I must be crazy.’
Chae Yoon found it ridiculous that she was making such absurd thoughts. However, she couldn’t completely deny it wasn’t that.

After all, all ‘worries’ were based on ‘interest’.

‘No way. That’s going too far.’
Chae Yoon, who wanted to calm her delusion that was spreading arbitrarily, closed her eyes and took a deep breath.

‘Pull yourself together, Song Chae Yoon.’
She repeated this several times, but her troubled mind did not calm down.

Then, the sound of the driver’s seat door opening startled her.

Seeing Jae Oh get in the car, Chae Yoon was surprised and pretended to sleep by closing her eyes tightly and leaning her head on the headrest.

Jae Oh, who got in the car, looked at Chae Yoon who had her eyes tightly shut with curious eyes.

Why is she just closing her eyes when it’s time to leave now.

“Song Chae Yoon.”
“……”
Even though she heard Jae Oh calling her, Chae Yoon did not respond.

If she pretended to sleep like this, he would just go. She was desperately praying for that inside, but Jae Oh’s hand touched Chae Yoon’s shoulder.

“Song Chae Yoon.”
“……”
Even though he shook her body slightly, Chae Yoon’s eyes did not open.

“Why are you suddenly like this, Song Chae Yoon.”
“……”
“You’re not sleeping, are you?”
“……”
In response to Jae Oh’s mumblings, Chae Yoon shouted inwardly instead of nodding her head.

If it looks like I’m sleeping, please just start driving without worrying about it.

Whether he knew Chae Yoon’s feelings or not, Jae Oh didn’t call Chae Yoon anymore. Instead, he stared at Chae Yoon’s face with her eyes tightly shut.

It would be ridiculous if she fell asleep in that short time, but there was a precedent where Chae Yoon said she could go alone and then fell asleep.

However, at that time, she was so drunk she couldn’t walk, but why is she doing this now when she’s perfectly fine.

‘Did she get drunk in the meantime?’
Jae Oh didn’t understand Chae Yoon’s sudden behavior, but once he had driven Chae Yoon in the car, whether Chae Yoon was drunk or not didn’t matter to him.

Believing that all he had to do was start, Jae Oh absentmindedly reached out towards Chae Yoon’s seat.

He was attempting to fasten her seatbelt, but the approaching sensation startled Chae Yoon, causing her eyes to flutter open involuntarily.

“……”
The tranquility of the atmosphere transformed instantaneously.

Chae Yoon, who locked eyes with Jae Oh from a closer distance than when she was in his arms, felt as if her breath had been taken away.

The silence between them, so intense they could hear each other’s breathing, filled the confined space.

Their senses were heightened.

Thanks to that, his natural scent was more stimulating than usual. The unyielding gaze, as if it was about to devour her any moment, made her already racing heartbeat skyrocket without limit.

Hearing her rapid heartbeat, Chae Yoon thought she might faint if she stayed like this.

She needed to push this man, who was exuding a dangerous vibe, away quickly. She knew she had to, but due to the tension, she found it hard to even move a finger.

‘Why won’t he move away…….’
As Chae Yoon inwardly blamed Jae Oh for not pulling away, his deep eyes moved.

His gaze slid down her pointy nose in the darkness and soon fixated on her lips.

Chae Yoon, who realized where Jae Oh’s gaze was fixed, widened her eyes to their limit.

Only then, Chae Yoon came to her senses and pushed him away by placing her hand on his chest.

With a thump, the tension that had been flowing between them was severed.

Simultaneously, Chae Yoon felt as though her clouded reasoning had returned, and she hurriedly spoke.

“Let’s, let’s start driving.”
Due to the odd shift in the atmosphere, Chae Yoon couldn’t look at Jae Oh.

She couldn’t help it.

If she hadn’t pushed Jae Oh away at the distance where their breaths could have mixed, it seemed as though he would have kissed her.

His gaze was that vivid.

A sigh slipped from Chae Yoon’s lips, recalling the moment when the air had changed.

“Ah……”
Upon arriving home, Chae Yoon, who had run into her room as if escaping, tightly hugged her legs and rested her forehead on her knees.

‘How am I supposed to look at him now.’
She feared that even a brief encounter would bring back that fleeting moment.

‘If that happens, then I…….’
Could she be okay? What if she unknowingly started to hope due to the unfamiliar situation? Those thoughts filled her.

It was a heart she had sorted out after agonizing for three years. But how did such a turbulent situation arise when it hadn’t been long since she’d decided to settle her feelings?

‘The timing is really off.’

As she had felt numerous times, Chae Yoon thought that love too, required the right timing.

But, creating a situation where each other’s feelings resonate, and confirming it was more challenging than expected.

Perhaps, if the situation that triggered subtle emotions between Jae Oh and her had occurred a little earlier, she wouldn’t have considered a divorce, and she felt that the constantly offtiming now seemed to match a bit.

Just when she thought it was the end.

It was hard to say whether it was a welltimed situation or not, Chae Yoon gave a bitter laugh at the strange situation.

‘Just once, and it went too far, Song Chae Yoon.’
She clenched her arms around her legs and thought.

Hoping that the thoughts that filled her mind would fade away quickly with time.

She wished for it very desperately, in her heart.

((()))

Jae Oh parked the car and headed not to the bedroom, but to the study.

Sitting on the sofa inside the room, he leaned his upper body on the soft cushion.

There were faint wrinkles on his neat forehead. As he sat quietly with his eyes closed, he suddenly furrowed one eyebrow and pulled at his necktie.

His grip, a bit edgy, loosened the force choking his neck. But the suffocation filling his chest didn’t disappear, so he sighed deeply.

‘Stop thinking about it. Just stop.’
With a click of his tongue, Jae Oh opened his eyes, which he had kept closed.

He extended his hand towards the whiskey on the table with quite a serious expression.

The whiskey was a choice to erase the woman who was currently stirring his mind.

But looking at the alcohol reminded him of that woman drunk, calling for him.

[Brother.] [Jae Oh Brother.] [It’s funny that you don’t answer even when I call twice.] The image of her laughing with her pale face made Jae Oh let out a hollow breath.

It continued this way.

Every time he ate, he imagined Chae Yoon sitting at the dining table, whenever he saw alcohol, he saw the face of Chae Yoon drunk and laughing, and whenever he went to the office, he remembered the figure of Chae Yoon who had come to see him, and his mind was filled with Song Chae Yoon.

It wasn’t normal.

Thinking only of Chae Yoon was somewhat strange, so Jae Oh pressed his temple with his hand and sighed.

“Have I finally gone crazy?”