Episode 10
The next morning.
With a splitting headache, Harin woke up to find herself tightly held in Lee Hyun’s arms, as if he were guarding a precious treasure.
Startled, she gently lifted the blanket to check her condition.
Phew, thank goodness.
Thankfully, she was still wearing the same clothes from the night before.
Letting out a sigh of relief, Harin’s mind gradually cleared—and unfortunately, so did her memories of last night.
The image of her drunken self, Lee Hyun carrying her to her room, and her boldly kissing him first came back to her with painful clarity.
She wanted to sink into the ground.
It would’ve been better if I blacked out… Why is it always the most embarrassing things I remember so clearly?
God, what is wrong with me? Have I been possessed by some lewd demon lately? Pull yourself together, Joo Harin… Please…
“Joo Harin, you awake?”
Just as she was internally scolding herself, Lee Hyun’s voice reached her ears. Harin quickly shut her eyes and pretended to be asleep.
“Don’t pretend. I know you’re awake. And from now on—if you drink, only drink with me.”
Harin’s cheeks flushed crimson. Her eyes darted around to avoid his gaze, which made her look all the more endearing in Lee Hyun’s eyes.
Someone who once had no interest in anything in the world…
Why was everything about this woman so captivating?
“I’m sorry… I don’t usually have a drinking habit like that. I don’t know why I…”
“So you do remember? That kind of ‘drunken behavior’ is welcome every day—as long as it’s with me.”
“Haa…”
Harin pulled the blanket over her head to hide her face, wishing she could disappear into the sheets.
“Just rest a bit longer. I’ll call you when breakfast is ready.”
Lee Hyun, contrary to his cold image at work, was skilled at cooking and housekeeping. Though he avoided having anyone enter his private space, the house was always spotless.
People had even speculated that women who spent the night at his place must clean up before they leave—but the truth was quite different.
After living with him, Harin learned that Lee Hyun didn’t keep in touch with anyone besides Jiyeok. He cooked, cleaned, and did laundry himself.
He never asked Harin to do anything.
“I’ll never let your hands touch water”…
So this is what that phrase really meant.
At first, Harin found it unfamiliar, but little by little, she was adjusting to life with Lee Hyun.
They would eat the meals he cooked, clean up together, talk late into the night about work and their wedding plans, and fall asleep side by side.
He had once been just a boss to her, someone she could face without emotion.
But ever since his proposal, something inside Harin had started to shift.
—
Ji-eum Art Gallery.
“Director, Joo Harin’s aunt is here.”
“Really? Let her in.”
“Yes, ma’am.”
As the door opened, Harin’s aunt entered the director’s office and bowed to Yeoun. In one hand, she carried a thick envelope—money Yeoun had asked her secretary Choi to hand over beforehand. The now-crumpled envelope showed it had already been opened.
“Hello. I’m Harin’s aunt.”
“Yes, hello. Please, have a seat.”
Secretary Choi soon brought in warm tea and placed it on the table.
Harin’s aunt took a sip before slowly opening her mouth. Her eyes glinted—clearly eager to say exactly what Yeoun wanted to hear.
“Harin’s a very pretty girl. I practically raised her, so she’s like my own daughter.”
Though she began with compliments, it wasn’t long before her real thoughts came spilling out.
“But I don’t know if she’s lucky or just cursed. The day of the accident, her parents died instantly at the scene—but she survived. At first, I thought she was lucky, but ever since she came to live with us, everything went downhill. My husband’s business collapsed, my son got hurt… I honestly wonder if she brought misfortune with her.”
Exactly the kind of story Yeoun had been hoping to hear.
“That must’ve been so difficult. Losing your brother must’ve been tragic enough, but for your whole household to go through hardship afterward…”
Yeoun carefully probed further, hoping for more dirt.
She could tell from the bitterness in the aunt’s eyes that there was more to be uncovered.
And she was right.
The aunt, clearly resentful, began unloading even more negative stories about Harin.
“Oh, there’s more. A couple years ago, she somehow ended up in a shared house. I visited once, and a man answered the door. Back in our day, we’d call that… indecent, wouldn’t we? Nowadays they call it co-living, I guess? Anyway, and now she’s suddenly engaged to the heir of S Group? I thought I’d go congratulate her, and she doesn’t even pick up the phone! So ungrateful. After all I did for her…”
She exaggerated, of course.
Her husband’s business had failed due to his own poor decisions, and her son got injured while playing with friends.
And the reason Harin stopped answering her calls? Because she only ever called to ask for money.
But none of that mattered to the aunt.
As far as she was concerned, all her misfortunes were Harin’s fault.
She resented having had to take in Harin out of obligation and was bitter that Harin, now grown, no longer handed over money.
And now, with an envelope full of cash in her hand and someone willing to listen, she was more than happy to badmouth Harin.
Yeoun, for her part, already knew much of this wasn’t true. Secretary Choi had investigated beforehand.
But Yeoun didn’t care about the truth.
She only needed evidence—a voice recording full of malice. Something she could use.
It would be the perfect tool to drive Harin away from Lee Hyun.
—
From the moment she’d first seen Harin back in high school, Yeoun had disliked her.
Unlike Yeoun, who wore expensive accessories, shoes, and makeup, Harin had a glow about her that didn’t require any of that.
Yeoun couldn’t understand why a girl with no money and no parents, who lived off her relatives, could shine so brightly.
She hated that Harin seemed to attract attention effortlessly, while she, Yeoun, had to fight for every bit of it.
She had always dismissed Harin as someone beneath her.
After all, she would soon be a chaebol’s daughter. Harin was just a poor orphan. There was no competition.
But then one day, Yeoun saw the senior she liked—someone from the band club—talking and laughing with Harin.
The sight made her blood boil.
What does that girl have that I don’t? Why is he smiling at her like that?
From that day on, Yeoun began tormenting Harin in subtle ways.
But no matter what she did, Harin never cried, never got angry.
She just endured. And that made Yeoun hate her even more.
She wanted to see her break—to make her cry and beg.
She even once asked an older boy she knew to harass Harin on her way home at night.
She secretly followed to watch, but someone stepped in and rescued Harin.
That made her even more furious.
Why does nothing I do work on her?
As Harin’s aunt, Jin-sook, gleefully recounted tales of misfortune, Yeoun thought to herself:
“Joo Harin… This time, I’m not stopping at tears. I want to see you bleed.”
