Don't You Dare Touch My Family

"Why no answer? You really are a stubborn one. Is that how you want to play this?"

Jang Hyun-ah's eyes turned glacial as she looked Chaeyoon up and down.

"……"

Chaeyoon said nothing. She simply met those cold eyes head-on. In the beginning, that icy stare had cowed her in an instant. But she didn't want to cower anymore. No—she had no reason to.

"Am I a joke to you? Or should I make your father unemployed first? Maybe then you'll answer."

In that instant, Chaeyoon glared back at her with fury blazing in her eyes. She knew exactly how Jang Hyun-ah handled people. Her mother-in-law found a person's weakest point and squeezed it without mercy. So the remark itself came as no surprise—and yet, in this moment, Chaeyoon found her attitude unbearable.

"What did my innocent father ever do to you?"

"Innocent, you say?"

"What crime has he committed, exactly?"

Curses clawed at the back of her throat, desperate to escape. Chaeyoon fixed both eyes squarely on Jang Hyun-ah and glared.

Jang Hyun-ah continued at a leisurely, unhurried pace, her expression utterly composed.

"The greatest crime there is. The crime of raising a child badly. A professor, no less—and that's the best he could manage with his own daughter's education? What could possibly be worse?"

"That's… how… that makes no sense—"

Chaeyoon bit off the words and shut her mouth. Tears were about to spill over at any second.

She clenched her jaw. It was infuriating that her family should be insulted on her account, but if she said one more word here, the tears would surely burst free.

Enough. I'm done dealing with these people. Fine—I'll give you your answer. I don't need your money.

"Keep the money. I don't want it."

Having fired off the words like darts, Chaeyoon stomped up the stairs to the second floor, her footsteps thundering on each step.

"Oh my, oh my. What in the world is going on here?"

Jiyoung, the second daughter-in-law, chose that exact moment to sweep back into the living room, clucking and fussing with theatrical concern.

"Honestly, where on earth did that creature crawl in from? It's beyond belief. Someone get me water, please."

"Of course, Mother. One moment."

Whatever they said next,

Chaeyoon walked straight into her room and shut the door firmly behind her. Then she took a deep breath.

Her racing heart gradually slowed. Even so, her emotions refused to settle so easily.

She had steeled herself for this. And still, it wasn't easy.

She knew all too well how much more torment Jang Hyun-ah had in store for her.

It was hardly the first time her mother-in-law had insulted her parents behind that polished, ladylike smile. Whenever something displeased her, Jang Hyun-ah would summon Chaeyoon's parents out of nowhere purely to humiliate them. Even her younger sister, away studying abroad, hadn't been spared. And until now, Chaeyoon hadn't said a single word in response.

"You idiot. How could you have lived like that all this time?"

The surging wave of indignation made her eyes burn hot. She was ashamed of the person she'd been all these months. And she was so, so angry.

Her father had lived his whole life as an honest man. A professor respected by countless students.

"What do any of you even know about my father?"

Chaeyoon glared fiercely at the closed door.

"Did your upbringing teach you to look down on people? To treat them like dirt and insult them right to their faces?"

The grievances she had swallowed for so long came pouring out, one after another. She had never once, in all this time, let a single complaint about Jang Hyun-ah pass her lips. Her mother had always said that words spoken aloud become habit, so Chaeyoon had done her best to keep ugly things unsaid. But she couldn't hold it in any longer.

"Still—family is where you draw the line. Even for you."

Her sobs finally quieted, and Chaeyoon made up her mind: I will protect my own family. Jang Hyun-ah's shoddy threats would no doubt continue, but she doubted the woman could actually touch her father, who had built an impeccable teaching career.

Besides, this situation probably wouldn't last long anyway.

Sooner or later, Moon Taejun would recover all of his memories. And even if he didn't—so what.

If anything, it might be better that he never remembered at all.

Her mind made up, Chaeyoon's gaze drifted to the wedding photograph on the bedside table. In its small frame, the bride was smiling more brilliantly than anyone in the world. The groom's face, by contrast, held no trace of a smile at all.

That's right. I hope he never remembers. Not me, not any of it. It'll make forgetting him that much easier.

Chaeyoon smiled a bitter smile. Divorce really was the only answer.

"Are there any issues with the Luxury Hall's opening schedule?"

The expansion and remodeling project was in its final stages.

"No, sir. Everything is on track."

"The fifth of next month. Is that correct?"

"Yes, sir. The fifth."

"Good."

Taejun's memory was flawless. He remembered the exact date he had personally set for the Luxury Hall's opening. That wasn't all. He remembered things that appeared in no document—everything he had ever said. Which was why, at this afternoon's meeting, the head of the marketing team had been thoroughly torn apart.

A man like that, and yet he supposedly couldn't remember his own wife. Secretary Lee simply couldn't believe it. And yet this morning, Taejun's manner toward her had been that of a complete stranger.

Even a total stranger wouldn't look at someone like that. How to put it—just watching the two of them together left him with an oddly uncomfortable feeling. An atmosphere he couldn't quite name. A wife at a complete loss, and a husband quietly wondering how to handle her. At least in Secretary Lee's eyes, Taejun appeared to hold no affection for his wife whatsoever. He couldn't have worn that look otherwise.

"Send out another notice of the promised date and see that everything proceeds without a hitch. And pass the relevant details to the departments involved so the opening event goes off without a problem."

"Understood, sir. Though, Director—perhaps you should head home early today and rest. Of course I'm worried about you, but it seems Madam took quite a shock as well…"

Since no one knew when Taejun would wake, all non-urgent appointments had already been pushed back, leaving nothing else on his schedule after this.

After a brief silence, Taejun rose from his seat.

"Heading home, sir?"

Secretary Lee asked quickly, gathering up his tablet.

"I suppose that's for the best."

"Absolutely, sir. I'll have the car ready right away."

Delighted at the reprieve, Secretary Lee hurried to fetch his jacket.

Chaeyoon descended the stairs to the first floor with careful, measured steps.

It was dinnertime. Yet no one had come looking for her.

She knew they had deliberately withheld the call to dinner. She tried to bear it, but her stomach—she hadn't even managed a proper lunch—was howling in protest.

Petty. Childish. But she had no intention of starving herself just to please them.

No—honestly, eating alone suited her better anyway. She no longer needed to let things like this upset her.

She was done buttering up people she didn't even like just to share a table with them.

"Ma'am, could you bring us some tea? Something cold. It's warming up fast out there."

"Isn't it, though? Feels like summer already."

"They say this summer's going to be a scorcher."

Halfway down the stairs, Chaeyoon froze. She'd assumed dinner was long over, but apparently they had only just finished.

Not wanting to run into them, she stopped on the stairs.

That was when it happened.

"Oh, my—come to think of it, we completely forgot, haven't we? Unnie."

"Forgot what?"

"Calling you-unnie. For dinner."

"We're not children. Why would anyone call her? She can come down on her own."

"True enough. And with Mother right here, too—not once has she come out to join us. If I were her, I'd be flat on my face groveling just for the sake of the household's atmosphere."

"Don't expect anything from her. Enough talk. What if Mother's stomach turns again? Ma'am, cold tea, and hurry, please."

Birds of a feather, squawking together.

Hilarious, really. Did they think their sniping would cow me?

"Exactly. She's still young, I suppose. The shamelessness is truly something else."

"Who says it isn't?"

The two of them had begun their snide duet. Chaeyoon was just debating whether to put in a word over their parade of pettiness, her foot already stepping off the last stair, when—

"M-Master Taejun."

"B-Brother."

At the utterly unexpected arrival, the atmosphere fell silent in an instant.

"What brings you home… at this hour?"

"I'm off work. Where is my wife?"

"She's upstairs in her room. She already ate dinner."

Jiyoung lied.