A Direction Slightly Off Course

Chaeyoon ran her tongue slowly over her lips. It had been a night full of regret. At the thought that she'd nearly thrown her arms around his neck, she shot up from her chair.

"I've lost my mind. Yoon Chaeyoon. A lust demon must have possessed me or something."

She shook her head. Even so, her mind remained anything but chaste.

"No, come on! Why did you stop there? You could've just... gone ahead and done it."

Chaeyoon dropped back into her chair with a thump. Suddenly, the memory of her very first kiss with Taejun surfaced. It hadn't been long after they'd met.

Can I kiss you?

It was Chaeyoon who had put the word "kiss" into her mouth first. He'd always been impeccably well-mannered. She'd liked that about him. But he was just as cautious with physical intimacy, every single time, and in the end she'd had no choice but to ask him herself.

After a look that said are you serious?, he had taken her by the chin and kissed her, just like that.

It had been a kiss so dizzying she could barely breathe. But last night had been thicker, more languid, more relentless than that one. Their tangled breaths spilled out as if about to burst. She hadn't been able to breathe properly at all.

Just like the first time she'd kissed him.

"Ha... honestly..."

The kiss had left her heart in chaos for no good reason. And yet she found herself wanting to kiss him again.

No—if she was being honest, she'd wanted to be held in his arms last night. But he'd only smirked and come no closer. The moment that thought landed, Chaeyoon buried her face in her hands again.

"I've gone crazy. Yoon Chaeyoon."

She couldn't understand herself—considering she was thinking about divorce, why did that man's lips keep floating to the front of her mind? The bigger problem was that her heart kept fluttering anyway.

Enough that she didn't want to think about divorce.

No. Get a grip. Yoon Chaeyoon.

Chaeyoon sprang up from her seat again. A glass of cold water felt like just the thing to knock some sense back into her.

She went down to the first floor and opened the refrigerator.

"Oh? So you were home."

As she poured water into a glass, Jiyoung walked into the kitchen.

"Yes."

"Perfect timing. Have a seat over there."

Jiyoung sat down first, her voice sharp with irritation. Chaeyoon didn't want to, but she took a seat anyway.

"What is it?"

Chaeyoon asked first.

"Honestly, I don't think I'm so bad. I'm practically the most decent person in this house."

Why is she beating around the bush like this?

"Well, we're close in age, you and me."

Chaeyoon was twenty-five this year. Jiyoung was twenty-eight.

"But aren't you being a little too rude?"

"What do you mean, all of a sudden?"

Chaeyoon asked flatly.

"Last night."

"..."

"Why did you bring up me and my husband out of nowhere? Are you trying to humiliate me?"

"I'm not sure what you mean."

"The baby issue. As if I wasn't stressed enough already."

So that's what this is about.

"That was only because Father-in-law picked a fight with Taejun first."

"What fight? He was just making conversation. And he asked whether there was a problem with his son—not with you."

"Isn't that the same thing? Sounds the same to me."

"Oh my. How is that the same?"

"That's how it sounds to me. And there's nothing wrong with Taejun. We were simply using birth control."

At that, Jiyoung's face stiffened as though something had struck a raw nerve.

Wait. So she's not using birth control, and still no baby? The thought flashed through Chaeyoon's mind before she could stop it.

"So what, you're saying you deliberately didn't have a child? Or that you could have one any time you set your mind to it?"

Jiyoung pressed, her tone bristling.

What is wrong with her? Summoning me out of nowhere just for this.

The giddy mood she'd been carrying all morning vanished in an instant. Chaeyoon had no interest in dragging out a pointless argument.

"There's no point talking about this. I'll go back up."

"Chaeyoon!"

Jiyoung called after her, dead serious. The volume of her voice made Chaeyoon flinch.

"Goodness, you startled me. I almost lost the baby."

"What did you say?"

"Why on earth are you shouting all of a sudden?"

Chaeyoon shot back, just as indignant.

"..."

Jiyoung's face flushed crimson in an instant. She forced an awkward laugh, her brow creasing.

"You really are funny. Didn't you hear what Mother said? You know you couldn't stay in this house even if you did carry a son of his, right?"

"Who said anything about having a baby?"

"You did. Just now—'almost lost the baby.'"

Ah. So that's the sore spot.

Jiyoung lived on herbal medicine brewed for fertility. And still, there'd been no news.

"I was just speaking in general terms."

"How can you say something like that so carelessly?"

Jiyoung had been scolded by her mother-in-law, Jang Hyun-ah, just that morning—asked whether she was even trying.

What does a woman even do around the house all day, that she can't manage to carry one child?

Jiyoung hadn't been able to utter a single word in reply. It was truly baffling—she couldn't figure out what was wrong.

It wasn't as though she and Taemin didn't sleep together. And they had never once used contraception. And yet she didn't get pregnant.

Ugh, exhausting. Why is she like this? Honestly, sometimes she's a total child.

It was a complaint beyond ridiculous.

"You seem awfully high-strung today, Sister-in-law. I'll go on up. Talking any longer will just put us both in worse moods."

Jiyoung's face twisted on the spot.

But Chaeyoon, making it clear she was done engaging, pushed back her chair and rose from the table.

Frankly, if the conversation had gone on much longer, she'd have lost her own temper and said something she'd regret.

She had no desire to waste any more emotion on the people of this house. She didn't even want to cross paths with them.

"We've received word that the Chairman will be attending that day."

"Has he?"

"Yes, sir."

"Understood."

The expansion construction had been completed. This renovation was, in effect, a declaration of Royoung Department Store's second launch. Since Taejun had become CEO, the store had climbed to first place in the industry, but with this event as the springboard, he intended to cement an unshakable lead. Beyond that, he planned to fold the outlet and duty-free businesses into the affiliate as well.

The accounting ledgers he'd received days ago had been, quite literally, the worst.

Compared to last year, compared to the year before—sales had been on a steady decline with no end in sight.

There was clearly something fundamentally wrong with Taemin's management strategy.

Taejun planned to use the grand reopening ceremony as his opening move to press Moon Daeshik for the acquisition.

"Will you be touring the floor this afternoon?"

Whenever he had a spare moment, Taejun made a habit of walking the store himself, checking for unnecessary fixtures or inefficient customer flow.

"Yes. Around three."

"Understood, sir."

After Secretary Lee left, Taejun spread out the remaining documents he needed to review. But the work refused to hold his attention.

The sound that had spilled from her lips last night kept echoing in his ears.

Eventually, Taejun slowly set down the papers he was holding. Concentration was out of the question.

Her face, flushed crimson as she gazed up at him.

The way her breath trembled, faint and small, each time their lips met.

Even the fingertips that had clutched at his clothes without her realizing it.

It was all still vivid.

If you don't want it, we won't.

He had said exactly that—and Chaeyoon had never once managed to push him away.

This is driving me insane.

Taejun leaned back in his chair and closed his eyes. He could still feel the warmth of her lips lingering on his own. Honestly, last night had been dangerously close. If it had gone on just a little longer, he doubted he could have stopped. He'd been certain, too, that Chaeyoon would have let him. And yet, strangely, he felt no urge to simply take what was offered. If anything, he wanted to unravel her more slowly.

He wanted to watch a little longer—the way her face flushed the moment their eyes met, the way a single kiss left her utterly undone. When his thoughts reached that point, Taejun let out a low laugh.

"...This is a problem."

He'd set out to become a gentle, devoted husband—but somehow, it seemed he might be drifting off course.