From That Day On
Their father was the kind of man who could never be content with what he already had. Hand him something large, and he would only hunger for something larger still.
With the weight of the Osong Group behind him, he might already be scouting for a better match for his son—someone more advantageous than Yuju.
The thought pulled an old memory to the surface, one that had long since faded from ordinary days.
“I’ll make sure you get to do whatever you want.”
It had been the height of her entrance-exam misery. She had assumed, without question, that she would walk the path of a lawyer exactly as their father dictated.
Then Oppa had spoken first, as if he had read the wish she kept locked behind her teeth. He stood beside her and helped her apply to the school and the major she actually wanted.
And for reasons she never understood, their father said nothing. There must have been a transaction between the two of them.
Oppa must have given something up. In exchange, he protected me.
Looking back, Yuju realized she had always been shielded by him. Because he had decided that he alone would keep his little sister safe inside that hell of a house, he had shouldered every burden by himself.
The knowledge seized her mind so completely that her lips moved before she could stop them.
“No. I married him because I love him.”
She could not hide behind Oppa forever, watching him sacrifice alone. Perhaps this was the first time she might be the one to protect him.
Hope straightened her spine. The woman who faced her brother now was harder, steadier, than the one who had always flinched.
“We’re really dating.”
Taeju could not believe her. Even under the sharp probe of a gaze that tried to peel her open, Yuju did not waver.
Doubt pricked him. His sister had always been a clumsy liar, yet she stood there so certain that every word sounded like pure truth.
Still, no matter how he turned the story, it refused to make sense. He had watched for years how Seo-won looked at his sister—
not even as a woman.
“What possible reason would the two of you have to get tangled up?”
“There was one.”
Taeju’s voice dropped, low and intent, ready to press her in earnest. Yuju met him head-on, unflinching.
It was nothing like the flustered girl of a moment ago. She faced her brother with new steel in her eyes.
“Something even you would understand, Oppa.”
He had meant to coax the truth from her gently, yet the force of her gaze made him sense something unusual in the air.
It couldn’t be. Atmosphere was something you felt when you stood nearby. He had never once seen the two of them hold a proper conversation; Yuju had always been openly intimidated by Seo-won.
That was precisely why the sudden news of their marriage had filled him with suspicion. Yet somehow Yuju looked utterly confident.
“Mom’s funeral.”
The words were almost taboo between them—a memory so hideous they had both tried to forget it.
The resolve that had driven Taeju to corner his sister, to drag the truth out no matter the cost, finally cracked.
“Even then, Dad skipped the funeral because of that precious network of his. You and I had to keep vigil at the funeral home alone.”
Yuju gave a dry, self-mocking laugh. Only now did she truly feel how wretched the house she had grown up in had been.
Back then both she and Taeju were still students.
An accident had stolen their mother overnight. After that, one unbearable thing after another had piled onto the siblings. Even in those moments their father had managed to disappoint them.
“You weren’t in your right mind then, Oppa. You never expected to lose Mom so suddenly. You couldn’t even play the proper role of chief mourner, and I was still so young.”
That was the first day Oppa had ever crumbled in front of her. It was also the day he had silently sworn to protect his sister from then on.
Because that was when he finally understood just how monstrous their father truly was.
“Seo-won oppa got the call and came running. He took over as chief mourner for us.”
It was a moment Yuju had carried in her heart ever since.
The day she learned that her brother’s distant, difficult friend was a good man.
He must have had important business of his own. The phone that kept vibrating without pause, even though he ignored every call, was proof enough.
Still Seo-won had stayed at the funeral home without a single complaint. Later, the bruises left on his face had told them the price he paid.
Because he had remained at their side, he had failed to do something crucial—and someone had punished him for it.
Seo-won was not the type to go around picking fights. Whoever hit him must have been someone he could not refuse.
“I’ve liked him since then. He was my benefactor.”
Half true, half false.
That day had made her see Seo-won kindly, had drawn her a little closer to the man who had always felt so far away.
But it had never grown into romance. Seo-won never looked at her as a woman, and the quiet affection she nursed alone she had tried hard to bury. He was someone too great to dare want.
Yet now, with a clear purpose, the lie slipped out of her as calmly as truth.
“Is that explanation enough?”
The quiet question caught Taeju off guard.
It explained everything too well. He himself had sworn that day to spend the rest of his life repaying Seo-won.
And yet.
Even so.
Countless words churned inside his mouth and died there.
Accepting his sister’s sudden marriage to his closest friend was not easy. In the end he could say nothing at all. He simply lowered his head.
“…….”
Yuju watched her complicated brother in silence. Over the confusion on his face, a cold clarity settled.
At first she had only been terrified. She had felt as if one careless mistake had detonated something enormous, and she had no idea what their father would do once he learned the full truth.
It was a fear built brick by brick over a lifetime. Even knowing the whole thing was wrong, she had numbed her reason. All she could think was that she had to escape their enraged father right now.
She had decided the mess could be cleaned up later. Once she was free of that suffocating reality, she would wait for the right moment and dissolve the relationship.
But her mind had changed.
This time it was her turn to protect Oppa—the same way he had lived like their father’s dog for years, sacrificing everything just to keep her safe.
The fake marriage she had planned to flee the moment a crack appeared… she now wanted, with all her heart, to keep it real.
A sound pierced the haze of half-sleep and made Yuju frown.
She groped for her last clear memory. Oppa had finished the conversation only to receive a summons and rush away; she had lingered there for a long while before finally returning to Seo-won’s place.
Not only had she failed to tell Oppa the truth—now he truly believed she and Seo-won were in love.
Staying here was no longer only about needing time alone to think. After the talk with Oppa, she had decided what she would do from this moment on.
The next time I see Seo-won oppa…
Click.
The sound arrived the instant she reached her conclusion. Only then did Yuju realize that the noise of someone entering had woken her.
She held her breath without thinking. The scrape of metal, the door opening, soft footsteps, a breath a little heavier than usual—exhaustion, maybe.
Every sense sharpened to a knife-edge. Even with her eyes closed she could picture the entire sequence of someone stepping into the room and moving about. She knew exactly who owned those sounds.
Seo-won had come home.