Reunion on the Rooftop

As she climbed the stairs and stepped up to the railing, the tightness in her chest eased, if only a little. A fierce wind tore across the rooftop, whipping her long hair and sending her wasted frame swaying.

Eun-jae closed her eyes and gave herself over to the wind. If I could just vanish like this—

Her slender body lurched hard.

"...!"

A sudden force yanked her back.

"I'm at the hospital. I haven't left yet."

A low, heavy baritone rolled against her ear. Startled, Eun-jae slowly lifted her gaze. The cool eyes that met hers sent her pupils trembling without mercy.

"I'll call you when I head out."

He ended the call and slipped the phone into his jacket. Then he drew hard on the cigarette between his lips and flicked it to the floor.

"What are you doing up here."

Anger edged the voice that filled the empty air. He crushed the red ember under his shoe, brow furrowing, his eyes never leaving her.

Eun-jae twisted the hand he held, but his grip was iron. She couldn't move.

"L-let go of me."

He had no intention of letting go. She shook her captured arm again and again; each time, his fingers only sank harder into her wrist, as if they meant to cut through skin.

Eun-jae looked up at him with wet eyes.

"Why are you doing this? I said let go!"

Then Mu-yeol pulled her arm again, and her body collapsed weakly against him.

The cold words traveled through every place their bodies touched.

Cha Mu-yeol. Why was he here, now...? She was looking at him with her own eyes, and still she could not believe he had appeared so suddenly.

The third-generation heir of the Chayeong Group. CEO of Chayeong Department Store. The man she had been scheduled to meet for a formal match.

And Go Eun-jae's... first love. She had never imagined she would reunite with Cha Mu-yeol like this.

If not for the accident, they would have had that meeting.

"W-who's dying? Don't say that."

The words cracked out through parched, split lips. But even as she protested, he looked down at her with eyes full of suspicion.

"If you're going to say that—"

Even in the dark, Mu-yeol's eyes burned bright. As if he didn't believe a word. His gaze traveled slowly down from her face, and under that searing look she felt as though she had been stripped bare.

His brows slanted as he finished looking her over.

"Take a look at yourself. You think anyone wouldn't be suspicious?"

The wind had left her long hair a tangled wreck, and crying had ruined her face. Her emaciated body was shaking. She was so thin that even in the oversized hospital gown, every slender line of her seemed visible. Mu-yeol's gaze traveled back up her body and met hers.

She looked at him with wary eyes and put force into her captured wrist again. But the more she struggled, the tighter Mu-yeol held on.

"I—I just felt stifled. That's why I came up."

"And that's supposed to be an excuse."

A hollow laugh slipped from his lips, as if he couldn't believe what he was hearing. His expression was utterly unyielding—as if he had already decided she had come up here to throw herself off.

Of course she hadn't actually meant to die. She had just been so suffocated that she'd climbed up here without even realizing it...

"It's not an excuse."

The end of the sentence cracked, pathetic. The reason her emotions were suddenly running wild was the man standing in front of her. The way he held her wrist so tightly, as if afraid she might die. The heat of his hand against her skin made her throat seize.

She had been alone her whole life. There was nothing to be upset about. She was far too used to it. She had always known that. So why, today of all days, did the pit of her chest ache like this? Tears welled in Eun-jae's eyes again.

"And whether I die or not—what does that have to do with you?"

"Why wouldn't it?"

At those words, her heart dropped like a stone. Mu-yeol glanced briefly at the cigarette crushed under his foot.

"If you fell and died here, I'd be the first one they suspected."

"Hah..."

A self-mocking sigh escaped Eun-jae's lips.

What had she even been hoping for? The thought that, for a fleeting instant, she had made such a ridiculous assumption made her face burn. Had she actually expected him to say that for her sake? How pathetic.

"I came up here for a cigarette. If I get dragged around as a suspect, do you have any idea how much that would cost the company?"

He scowled as if the whole thing were a massive inconvenience. Eun-jae grimaced and twisted her wrist again.

"I heard you. I won't cause you any trouble, so let go of me!"

He stared at her for a long moment, then loosened his grip. A cold emptiness rushed into her newly freed wrist.

"Then go ahead. I don't know what you're planning, but try it right in front of me. If you're going to die, then die."

"..."

"Go on back up."

He spat the words like he was chewing them. She didn't know why that single sentence made something surge up in her chest. Whatever she had been holding down burst, and tears spilled down her cheeks again.

"Hic—"

Eun-jae looked at him steadily, biting her lip, swallowing her sobs. Watching her weep without even being able to make a sound, Mu-yeol let out a small sigh.

At last, the girl who had been standing her ground crumpled to the floor, head bowed, clutching her right arm. The man who had been looking down at her folded his long legs and sat in front of her. Then he took her ice-cold left hand again.

"...!"

Eun-jae flinched violently and shrank back, but Mu-yeol held her wrist firmly. She hadn't even stopped the bleeding; blood was soaking the back of her pale hand. Mu-yeol took out a handkerchief, wrapped it around her hand, and tied it off.

"I didn't want our reunion to happen in a place like this. Not like this."

He shrugged off the jacket he was wearing and draped it over her shoulders. Warmth settled there—the sharp bite of cigarette smoke, and beneath it, his scent.

Eun-jae, who had been crying for a long time, tipped her head back and looked up at the man in front of her.

"Take care of yourself. Next time, let's meet in a hotel lounge."

"..."

She stared at him, not understanding, and Mu-yeol went on.

She had cried so long that she fainted on the rooftop floor. Mu-yeol lifted her unconscious body into his arms and carried her back to her hospital room.

When they arrived and he called for staff, a nurse came running at once.

"Thank you for your trouble."

The nurse reconnected the IV line and started the drip. Then she bowed politely to Mu-yeol and left the room.

He slowly looked around the room. No one had visited, it seemed. There wasn't even a trace of warmth in it. Jung-hyun's hospital room lay along the same corridor as hers, so he had passed it every time he came and went—but this was the first he had ever stepped inside.

Of course, he hadn't expected their reunion to happen like this.

For days, articles about her had poured out without end. Even people with no interest in piano couldn't have missed them. It was an accident big enough to set the whole country talking. Shoddy construction had come under fire, but more than that—the victim was a genius pianist whose name had been soaring.

Many called it a blessing in disguise that it hadn't happened during a performance. Blessing, or complete bullshit. It wasn't wrong that there hadn't been more casualties. But for Eun-jae, it was a misfortune large enough to bring her entire life crashing down.

I—I just felt stifled. That's why I came up.

The image of her making that excuse flashed before his eyes. Whether that had really been the reason, or whether she had truly meant to die, he couldn't know. But the state of her had been nothing short of devastating.

And even without the articles, he would have been forced to hear about it anyway—from Seon-ju, who had called him to talk.

Eun-jae's side had desperately wanted the in-law connection, but Mu-yeol's mother had privately wanted it too. A strategic marriage between two corporations. And so Mu-yeol had known, for years—no, for many years—that talk of marriage had been circulating.

Whenever Eun-jae came back from America, Mu-yeol would be leaving the country. Their timing had never lined up, and they had kept missing each other. But now that they were finally of marriageable age, the families had begun to push it forward in earnest.

"Mother."

When the accident happened, Seon-ju made no effort to hide her displeasure, and Mu-yeol was more than a little disappointed.

He looked at the sleeping girl for a long time, then left the room.

Eun-jae was discharged two weeks later.

She found herself thinking the lonely hospital room, where no one ever came, would have been better. The thought of going back into that house made it hard to breathe.

The secretary of her father, Go Gwang-hyun, had come to collect her and handled the discharge paperwork.

"..."

Eun-jae stared blankly out the window. In just two weeks, the world seemed to have changed; everything felt unfamiliar. She had been sick for days on end. She hadn't eaten properly, and she had no strength left at all.

The car turned onto a familiar road and soon came to a stop before a high wall.

"We've arrived, miss."