Chapter 02
Whoooosh.
Despite the tightly closed door that should’ve kept anything from coming in, Secretary Chu’s words stirred the atmosphere like a gust of wind through the hospital room.
Seungeon had managed to endure outrageous claims like losing her memory, jumping forward two years in time, and the sudden appearance of a new will. But this one? This was on another level.
I had… a boyfriend?
It didn’t make sense.
Stay… calm.
Seungeon, engraving the word patience deep within her heart, spoke with trembling lips.
“Who… is my boyfriend?”
“…Well.”
“Hey!”
That was the breaking point. Seungeon, who had been desperately trying to stay composed, lost it.
Are you messing with me right now?
She lifted her still-weak arm to point accusingly at Secretary Chu standing by the hospital bed, but Chu didn’t even flinch.
“You can yell at me all you want, but I really don’t know. Honestly.”
Seungeon’s face twisted in disbelief.
“Forget the two years—I have no memory of that guy at all. And you, Yeong-eun, you don’t know anything about someone I supposedly dated for two years? That doesn’t make sense!”
“I agree. It doesn’t make sense.”
“And yet I’m supposed to believe this—”
Secretary Chu cut her off, voice now tinged with irritation.
“Honestly, I’m not happy about that either.”
Her voice sharpened further.
“I’m your secretary. Your closest staff member. It makes no sense that I wouldn’t know who your boyfriend is. But you insisted on hiding it.”
“Oh…”
“Let me just be honest with you. You should’ve told me.”
“H-Huh?”
“One day… I just couldn’t hold it anymore and asked you outright who your secret boyfriend was. You probably don’t remember what you told me back then.”
‘Sorry, Secretary Chu. He’s really shy. He says he’ll handle it himself so it doesn’t affect my work. My baby… he’s just so cute!’
Watching Chu imitate her old self made Seungeon go speechless.
“Even up until the accident, you never told me what he did or who he really was. You told me several times not to find out. Honestly? That pissed me off.”
Grit. Chu’s clenched jaw betrayed her simmering anger.
Seungeon, lowering her gaze under the weight of Chu’s frustration, began piecing things together.
So basically…
She, Kang Seungeon.
Was 32—no, 34 now.
One day, she woke up to find two years had passed.
Supposedly, she’d had a boyfriend during that time. But she had no memory of him.
And if she didn’t get married by the end of the year… everything she had would vanish?
Is this… a dream?
***
Thankfully, Seungeon’s confusion only lasted a day.
The day she suddenly woke up to this new world.
What’s the big deal?
She had survived the sudden death of her parents.
She had raised her baby brother all by herself.
What’s two missing years compared to all that?
“Did he… not visit me at all while I was unconscious?”
Her gaze turned sharp.
Even if she’d kept her boyfriend a secret from Chu, surely he would have shown up after her accident and six-month coma?
“No one ever came forward claiming to be your boyfriend.”
“For six months? Not even once?”
“No.”
“Ha!”
The absurdity of it all made Seungeon laugh dryly.
“Are boyfriends always this shameless? Okay, so how can I find him? My phone!”
Her eyes lit up, but Chu shook her head.
“I told you. It was a secret relationship—even from me. You had a second phone you used only for him. You made sure no one ever found out.”
Damn.
I was really thorough, huh?
Of course. If Kang Seungeon wanted to keep something hidden—even from Chu Yeongeun—it would’ve been child’s play.
Her head throbbed.
“You didn’t find the second phone?”
“We searched for two months after the accident. Nothing.”
KakaoTalk!
“What about chat logs or something?”
“We checked. There are none.”
What kind of top-secret relationship leaves zero trace?
Seungeon bit her lower lip, staring silently at the unmoved Chu.
“Does it have to be him?”
“Pardon?”
“Is his name actually written in my grandmother’s will?”
“No, it’s not.”
“So technically, I just have to marry someone within a year of the will’s public release, right?”
“And produce an heir.”
“So I agreed to marry a man and have a child… by choice…”
“…”
“Can’t I adopt?”
“Would that count?”
“I’m screwed.”
Letting out a dry laugh, Seungeon saw Chu silently nod.
“I don’t blame you for reacting this way. You… can’t even physically touch just anyone.”
Exactly!
It’s not just “anyone”—she couldn’t handle physical contact with most men.
Seungeon had never dated because she couldn’t stand physical closeness with anyone other than her brother, Kang Woojin.
That’s why she hadn’t believed Chu’s story about a boyfriend in the first place.
Not a full-blown phobia, but a long-standing trauma made physical contact with men extremely difficult.
And yet she supposedly had a boyfriend? And planned to have a child with him?
“Right now, you have two options.”
Chu sighed, seeing Seungeon’s silence, and calmly continued.
“Give up on fulfilling the will and negotiate with Director Kang Juhee to hand over HG’s management rights, just to protect Lukin.”
Or—
“Find the missing boyfriend, marry him, and secure your inheritance and successor status.”
Either way… she was trapped.
***
One month later.
After grueling rehabilitation, Seungeon was finally about to be discharged.
Secretary Chu had silenced the medical staff in case word got out.
No one could know about her memory loss.
Five months left…
That’s all the time she had left to fulfill the will.
“HG is still in your uncle’s hands as acting CEO, but he’s hoping to step down soon. He wants to hand things over to either you or Director Kang.”
“Of course. He was a public servant—he must find this burdening.”
“Yes. Also, after your accident, both HG and Lukin’s stock prices tanked.”
“Hmm.”
“If Director Jeong hadn’t held on, Lukin might’ve been lost to Kang.”
“…Director Jeong?”
HG, a giant conglomerate, probably held firm thanks to Kang Juhee’s presence. But Lukin, her late father’s legacy, was relatively small. Her absence would’ve shaken it deeply.
“Yes. He’s been through a lot.”
Thinking of Jeong Heedo—Lukin’s second-in-command and her friend—Seungeon gave a small, bitter smile.
“I should set up a meeting.”
Anyone who remained loyal during her absence deserved a reward.
Screech.
Once out of the hospital, her face hidden, Seungeon stood in the parking lot and spotted a car pulling up in front of her.
Click!
“Noona!!!”
As the door swung open, a young boy rushed toward her.
Caught off guard, Seungeon instinctively embraced the boy’s soft hair as he sobbed into her.
“Noona, it’s really you? It’s really you, right? Waaaah, Noona!”
…Woojin.
She had missed him dearly. But she hadn’t called for him during her hospital stay.
With their parents and grandmother gone, if she too had been lying unconscious—it would’ve broken him.
She stroked his hair, smiling warmly.
“Woojin. Noona’s back.”
No matter the trials ahead—
She would protect this child. No matter what.
