Who Are You?

The hospital room, emptied of its medical staff and holding only the Royoung family, was thick with an uncomfortable silence.

Jang Hyun-ah, her two sons, and their wives had all been hoping Taejun wouldn't wake up. And yet Taejun opened his eyes in perfect health, without a single thing wrong with him.

Moon Daeshik, by contrast, let out a breath of relief, as if a weight had finally been lifted from his chest. Chaeyoon simply stood at Taejun's side, unable to say a word.

"What happened to me?" Taejun demanded coldly of his secretary.

"Well—sir, you collapsed quite suddenly. Do you... not remember?"

"Where do you get off saying something so inauspicious? Not remember, honestly."

Moon Daeshik bellowed, shoved the secretary roughly aside, and stepped in close before Taejun.

"Who am I?"

"Chairman Moon of Royoung, sir."

"There. And these people?"

Daeshik went around the room one by one, testing him, calling out each name like a challenge. Taejun answered every single one without a moment's hesitation. Only one person remained. But Daeshik, as if deciding there was no need to bother, didn't ask about Chaeyoon. Taejun's gaze, however, stayed fixed on her.

"You don't need to know her. You won't be seeing her again anyway."

"……"

Chaeyoon had nothing to say. Daeshik was right. She had promised to divorce him the moment he woke up.

"I'm so glad you're awake."

Chaeyoon managed to force the words out. Taejun said nothing at all.

"Right, right. Enough of this. You—call the urology department. We need to check immediately whether there's anything wrong with him."

Daeshik hurried his own secretary out of the room.

"And you. Get out of this hospital room. Don't ever show your face in front of my son again."

At Daeshik's icy words, Chaeyoon could only nod her head, heavy as lead.

It seemed better to just walk away. He clearly had no interest in her anyway—he hadn't spared her a single word. It would have been nicer if he'd at least raged at her, but his gaze toward her was as blank as it would be toward a stranger. And for some reason, that look was what Chaeyoon found hardest to bear.

That's it. Time to go. I've seen him wake up. There's no reason to stay here any longer.

"Please call me. I'll be waiting."

"But—"

At the sound of Taejun's voice, Chaeyoon turned her head without thinking.

"Who are you?"

"……"

Every face in the room froze in stunned disbelief.

It's selective amnesia. Think of it as a form of dissociative amnesia.

There had been exactly one strange thing about him: he didn't remember his own wife.

"Let's go, sir."

Every test complete, the day of Taejun's discharge had finally arrived. Chaeyoon stood a little apart from him.

"Ma'am, we should be going."

Secretary Lee had come to collect her. For a moment Chaeyoon hesitated, wondering if she truly ought to follow him back to that house. Then she remembered the doctor's words.

What matters most right now is not to shock him.

"Yes."

She answered briefly and walked over to stand beside him. She couldn't remember the last time the two of them had stood side by side like this.

"We'll take you home, sir."

"No. To the office."

"But, sir... the doctors said you should rest for a while longer—"

"I've rested enough."

"Ah. Yes, of course. Then... shall we take you home as well, ma'am?"

Chaeyoon's heart grew heavy. She didn't want to return to that house alone. When she'd left it, she had promised herself she would never go back.

And yet here she was, returning this easily, this emptily.

Bringing up a divorce right now could send him into shock again. It would be better to wait a little while before having that conversation.

Her heart sank without end, but there was nothing to be done. She had to save the man's life first, didn't she?

The divorce was a settled matter anyway. On her way out of that hospital room, Jang Hyun-ah had told her not to entertain such pathetic little notions as trying to make things work again.

Not that Chaeyoon had ever said she would. No—if anything, she didn't have the slightest desire to start over.

During her five months of travel, Chaeyoon had tried to shake off every ugly memory of what she'd endured in that family. But it wasn't so easy to completely erase the memory of being ostracized by her own family—a cruelty she had never once experienced even in her school days.

They would laugh and chatter among themselves, and the instant Chaeyoon appeared, the laughter would cut off and they would leave the room. If she spoke to any of them, the answer came back as silence or a cold How should I know? Not one of them ever held a proper conversation with her, never once met her eyes.

And in the midst of it all, Chaeyoon had been slowly withering away. She had sworn never to return to those days. The time she'd already spent there was enough.

But still.

"It's fine. I can get home by myself."

Just one more try. One more push.

Chaeyoon forced a smile as she answered. The five months she'd given to herself were what let her summon the courage.

Having more or less reclaimed her old self, the Yoon Chaeyoon of now didn't think their bullying could frighten or daunt her anymore.

So what if they hate me? Let them come. Bring it on.

"I... I suppose that's for the best?"

"Yes. Take care out there. I'll head home first. Don't overdo it, all right?"

Chaeyoon said it brightly, smiling up at Taejun. His gaze lingered on her a beat too long. His expression was as flat and unreadable as ever—the expression everyone knew so well.

"What... is it?"

He seemed to have something to say, his stare fixed on her, so Chaeyoon asked carefully. She wondered, just maybe, if he had remembered who she was.

But without a word, he simply turned and walked away. As if she were a stranger.

There was a time when just seeing that broad back of his had made her happy. Today, somehow, it looked especially cold. The feeling was so frigid that a strange disquiet crept over her, as if he might never turn back around.

Maybe that was why Chaeyoon couldn't bring herself to move for a long while. Her heart sank, heavier and heavier.

"I'm home."

Chaeyoon bowed politely. What she got back was complete, perfect indifference. Not one of them gathered in the living room so much as glanced up at her greeting.

So what? She didn't care.

"Mother, you really should get a massage. Your face has been looking so dull lately."

"That's true. I was just thinking the same thing."

"And what would there be for me to look happy about?"

"Well, sure, but you still have to take care of yourself, Mother. It's your face we're worried about."

"Honestly, what a bolt from the blue this whole thing is. Letting one wrong person into the family."

"You're telling me. I've lived a long time, but this is the first time I've ever seen anything so absurd."

"Same here, Mother."

"Ugh. I'm so disgusted I can't stand to stay in this house. I should go shopping, get a massage, something. If I sit at home, I swear my head's going to burst."

"Of course. We'll get ready right away."

Nothing had changed.

The two daughters-in-law scurried up from their seats and vanished quickly into their own rooms. That left only Jang Hyun-ah and Chaeyoon in the living room. Chaeyoon started to walk on.

"Hey. You."

Hyun-ah's overbearing voice stopped Chaeyoon mid-step. She halted and turned, staring Hyun-ah squarely in the face.

"Stay out of my sight from now on, as much as possible. Do you understand me?"

Hyun-ah wanted to throw Chaeyoon out on the spot, but Daeshik had warned her not to stir up trouble at home for the time being. At least until Taejun's memory came back in full.

"……"

"And we'll be looking for a new bride for Taejun. So don't get any ideas about coaxing a sick man into doing something foolish."

"……"

"And one more thing—even if you were to carry Taejun's child, that child would never be born into this world."

Chaeyoon's fist clenched involuntarily, trembling. Try as she might, she could not hold it in.

How could anyone say something like that so casually?

"How can you say such a thing?"

Who do you even think you are? Chaeyoon demanded, her voice sharp with challenge.

"Well, aren't you just hilarious. What, were you planning to have a baby now, all of a sudden? Weren't you the one who packed up and left this house announcing a divorce? And now your heart's changed, has it?"

Hyun-ah's mouth curved into a full smirk. Chaeyoon glared at that insufferably smug face with everything she had. Hyun-ah only scoffed, snorting as if the whole thing were beneath contempt.

"……"

Her resolve to divorce hardened all the more.

"Well, I suppose I can't blame you. That's just how money is. Nothing makes a person more wretched than having had it and losing it."

Hyun-ah snorted as if she knew all about it. At the sight of her, Chaeyoon laughed inwardly too.

She hadn't been wretched at all. If anything, she'd been happier.

"Take a reasonable sum at the right moment, and walk out clean on your own two feet. That would be best for you."

Her lips trembled, but Chaeyoon clenched her teeth.

Hold it in. Yoon Chaeyoon, hold it in. She soothed herself. These were words not worth answering. There was no need to rise to such cheap bait. Hyun-ah had a habit of needling people bit by bit until she wormed out exactly the reaction she wanted. Ignoring her was answer enough. Chaeyoon turned to walk away.

But then—

"Hey. You."