8.
It was the name she had heard ever since she met him.
Hearing him call that name—her name, “Ye-eun”—so gently, but to someone who wasn’t her, made Haein feel strangely upset.
She had buried her feelings deep and lived only as a mother, but now it felt like a crack ran through her heart.
Steadying herself, Haein put the marinated deodeok on the hot pan. It sizzled, and the smell spread.
The fragrance made Wook’s mouth water.
Grilled deodeok was one of Wook’s favorites. His wife used to make it well.
After she disappeared, he searched many restaurants for that taste, but never found it.
He breathed in to enjoy the smell—then Ye-eun’s worried voice came through the phone.
“Oppa, where are you? Why aren’t you coming? You didn’t answer my calls.”
Wook checked—many missed calls. He must have slept through them, or been chatting with Ha-eun.
He apologized quickly.
“Ah, sorry. My phone was on silent, and I got busy. Is everything okay?”
“I feel anxious when you’re not here. When are you coming?”
Thinking of his amnesiac wife depending only on him made him hurry.
“I’ll come right now.”
He hung up and turned to Haein. “I’m sorry. I think I have to go.”
Seeing he might leave immediately, Haein spoke quickly:
“Please eat first. You said you skipped lunch. And Ha-eun told me to tell you this: grilled deodeok costs way more than two cup noodles.”
Even though sleep had given him some color, Wook still looked thin and worn—like someone who hadn’t been sleeping or eating.
Just as Ha-eun had worried.
I was so worried… He looked really unwell. What if something bad happens?
Thinking of the sweet child shook Wook for a moment. He had even forgotten his wife while talking with Ha-eun.
But guilt hit him: after searching seven years, how could he leave his wife alone and dawdle?
“Something urgent came up. Thank you, but I’ll pass. I’ll pay for the meal instead.”
“No need. You didn’t eat, and from what I hear, you already paid my daughter.”
“Then… I’ll go.”
With a short, firm goodbye, Wook left without looking back. Haein stood there stunned.
He refused a meal he could finish in ten minutes—just to run to that woman.
When they lived together, she had never been first.
Work came first. Elders came first.
But now Wook was different.
She had already seen the news showing Wook happily with that woman, but watching it with her own eyes made her heart feel messy.
She stared after him with a look of hurt she couldn’t hide.
Fool. Idiot.
You searched seven years without giving up—I thought your love for me was real. How can you not recognize the real one right in front of you?
Even if a face can be changed with surgery…
If you’re fooled by a woman who only looks like me, then you only loved my appearance.
That’s why you still haven’t noticed she’s fake after a month.
Maybe the reason you can’t sleep is because you spend long nights with her.
When we lived together, you held me every night—three or four times was normal.
She felt oddly relieved yet also resentful. It wasn’t because she had run away from a man she hated.
He was her first love, the husband she loved with all her body and heart, and the father of her child.
When she had just become an adult—nineteen—
Haein first saw him on the Korea University campus. Back then, she was living as Park Ye-eun, not Kim Haein.
He was stunningly handsome, with a strong build, natural elegance, and the aura of someone born to lead. She couldn’t help but look.
“Hey, hey—Taegang Wook is here! Taegang Wook!”
“What? Really? Wow, it’s him. He’s insanely handsome.”
“How can someone be so perfect? Born with a diamond spoon, heir to Taegang Group—and his grades, looks, even personality are flawless. I’m jealous.”
“I’m more jealous of the woman who marries him. Isn’t living with such a perfect man the best?”
Listening to the girls, Ye-eun learned he was Taegang’s heir—and realized the girls were right.
He was a perfect man.
She had never paid attention to men, busy with study and part-time jobs—but she couldn’t take her eyes off him.
As she watched, the girls kept chatting.
“Should I try my luck?”
“Forget it. Guys like him don’t look at people like us. Don’t be silly.”
“Sometimes there’s a Cinderella, right? Why can’t I be one? With this face, this body, and this school—Korea University! I’m pretty decent, right?”
“That’s not enough. You need status. And even if you become Cinderella, do you think happiness lasts? Real life isn’t a fairy tale—it ends sad.”
“I’d be fine with a short life if I could be Taegang Wook’s wife for even one day.”
Hearing their fresh college talk, Ye-eun forced herself to look away. Cinderella was not a dream she allowed herself—even in sleep.
She had grown up an orphan and knew how cruel reality was.
Unlike students who did part-time jobs for pocket money, she had to cover all her living costs.
When she left the orphanage as an adult, she got only 5 million won as settlement support.
Even with savings from multiple part-time jobs, it wasn’t enough to rent a tiny semi-basement studio on a deposit lease.
She found a room with the lowest monthly rent she could—but living costs in Seoul were brutal. She had to juggle several jobs.
With all that, and I look at a man?
Impossible.
Not even a dream.
Her only goal was to graduate and get a steady job.
And then he shook her world.
One day at a department dinner, dragged there by the class rep, Wook came over to talk to her.
“Our junior, you need to eat more. You’re too thin.”
With clumsy hands, he grilled meat and kept putting it on her plate. A man who stood out even when still now drew even more attention—everyone stared.
Feeling overwhelmed, Ye-eun moved seats. He followed.
“Why are you doing this, sunbae? Please don’t take interest in me. It’s a burden.”
She drew a firm line, but he smiled and asked,
“What’s a burden? Do you know me?”
“Of course. Most students do. You’re famous—the prince of Taegang Group, Taegang Wook.”
“I’m just the same as you. I’m not asking you to date me—just let me sit next to you today. Strangely, I can breathe next to you. I had a hard day.”
“Park Ye-eun, just let him. He never asks favors like this,” another senior added.
So Ye-eun let him sit beside her.
She thought it would be just for one night—but after that, Wook kept appearing in front of her: in lecture halls, in the library, even at her part-time jobs.
A while later, he confessed:
“Let’s date. I think I like you. If I don’t see you, I feel like I’ll die.”
