Chapter 1. Their Wedding Anniversary

Han Seoyoon replaced the candles on the cake for the third time.

It was their third wedding anniversary.

The braised short ribs she had prepared because they were Jaeheon's favorite had long since gone cold, and the wine had lost its aroma. As the clock crept past eleven, the ticking of the second hand seemed unnaturally loud in the silent mansion.

"Madam, would you like me to warm the food again?"

Butler Kim Junho asked carefully from the entrance to the dining room.

"It's all right. He said he'll be home soon."

That was what Seoyoon said, but even she wasn't sure anymore.

The only message Kang Jaeheon had sent all evening was a single line.

The meeting is running late.

For the past three years, they had lived under the same roof without ever truly living like husband and wife.

They slept in separate bedrooms. The only photograph they had taken together was their wedding portrait.

Jaeheon had told her that he needed time to forget his first love—the woman he believed was dead.

Seoyoon had believed him.

And so she had waited.

Tonight, just for once, she had hoped he would finally look at her.

As midnight approached, headlights swept across the front windows.

Seoyoon rose before she even realized she was moving.

The front door opened.

Kang Jaeheon stepped inside in a black coat, a fine layer of late-summer rain glistening across his broad shoulders.

"You're home."

Relief warmed Seoyoon's voice.

It lasted only a few seconds.

A woman in a white dress appeared behind him.

Wet hair framed a pale face, and one slender hand was wrapped tightly around Jaeheon's arm.

Seoyoon recognized her immediately.

She had seen that face only in photographs.

Cha Yuri.

Jaeheon's first love.

The woman who was supposed to be dead.

"Jaeheon, I'm cold."

Yuri shivered.

Without hesitation, Jaeheon took off his coat and draped it over her shoulders.

The gesture was effortless.

Natural.

As if he had done it countless times before.

Seoyoon's fingertips went cold.

"You said she was dead."

Jaeheon's brows drew together.

"Watch what you say. Yuri is a patient."

"How can a dead woman be a patient?"

Yuri looked up at him in surprise.

"You told her I was dead?"

"Yuri."

Jaeheon stopped her with a low warning.

Yuri quickly turned to Seoyoon, an apologetic expression settling over her face.

"I was treated overseas after the accident. I lost a lot of my memory too. I only remembered Jaeheon recently."

"And that's why you brought her here tonight?"

"She has nowhere else to go. She'll stay here for a while."

"Without even discussing it with me?"

"It's my house."

Just three words.

Yet they struck harder than Seoyoon had expected.

The housekeeper standing near the kitchen entrance lowered her gaze. Butler Kim clasped his hands awkwardly in front of him.

No one dared interfere.

Then Yuri noticed the cake on the dining table.

"Is today a special day?"

Silence.

Yuri suddenly covered her mouth.

"Don't tell me it's your wedding anniversary. Oh no. I ruined it, didn't I? Jaeheon, I'll go to a hotel."

Despite her words, her hand never left his arm.

"No."

Jaeheon answered without hesitation.

"I'm not leaving you alone."

Seoyoon stared at him.

She had never heard those words from her husband.

Not on the day she had gone to the emergency room alone.

Not on the night thunder had kept her awake until dawn.

Jaeheon had always been too busy.

"What about me?"

He finally turned toward her.

"Is it all right to leave your wife alone?"

"Don't start again."

A bitter chill spread through her chest.

"What exactly did I start? You're the one who brought your supposedly dead first love home on our wedding anniversary."

Suddenly, Yuri clutched her chest.

"Jaeheon... I can't breathe."

Jaeheon caught her immediately.

"Prepare a room."

Butler Kim hesitated.

"Which room, sir?"

"The master bedroom."

The blood drained from Seoyoon's face.

"That's my room."

"Yuri has seizures at night. It's safer if she's close to my room."

"The room next door is empty."

"Changes in her environment make her anxious."

For a long moment, Seoyoon simply stared at him.

All the consideration he had never once shown his wife was being offered so easily to another woman.

Jaeheon looked down at Yuri in his arms before turning cold eyes toward Seoyoon.

"It's only temporary."

Then he added,

"You should understand."

And in that moment, Seoyoon finally understood something else.

In this marriage, she had always been the only one expected to understand.

Understand his grief.

Understand his distance.

Understand his coldness.

Understand why the memory of another woman had always stood between them.

A drop of water landed on the back of her hand.

It wasn't rain.

It was a tear.

Seoyoon wiped it away immediately and raised her head.

She didn't want Yuri to see her cry.

She didn't want Jaeheon to see it either.

As Jaeheon started up the stairs, he glanced back.

Their eyes met.

He was the first to look away.

There was no apology.

No explanation.

That indifference shattered the last fragile hope Seoyoon had been foolish enough to keep.

Even the employee washing dishes in the kitchen had stopped moving.

No one looked directly at Seoyoon.

But their silence made everything painfully clear.

Everyone in this house knew what day it was.

Everyone knew who Jaeheon had brought home.

And everyone had witnessed exactly where his wife stood in his heart.

Seoyoon returned to the dining table without a word.

The candles had burned low, wax pooling around their bases.

She looked at them for a moment, then slowly closed the cake box.

For three years, she had waited for Kang Jaeheon.

Tonight, she finally stopped.