đ«ïž After the Meeting
The boardroom was still echoing with murmurs of final agreements and polite applause, but Claire Han Mira was already gathering her things with a focused intensity. The moment the meeting concluded, her phone buzzed against the polished table. One glance at the message, and her expression faltered for the briefest secondâjust enough for her assistant, Bae Jisoo, to notice.
Claire's voice was curt but low enough to remain professional. "Jisoo. Ready the car. I need to go somewhere immediately."
Jisoo's brows furrowed slightly. "Do you want me toâ"
"No questions. Just the car," Claire cut in, already walking out of the conference room with brisk, unyielding steps. Her stilettos clicked sharply against the marble floors as she descended the steps of her building, her expression unreadable, face calmâyet there was a shift. A crack in the mask.
đ„ Hospital Room 312
The air was sterilized silence, thick with the distant hum of machines and fluorescent lights. Claire Han Mira stood in the sterile corridor of the private hospital, immaculately dressed in her sharp, custom-tailored blazer. Her heels clicked once on the marble floor before she paused at the door labeled Room 312.
No emotion stirred in her face as she turned the knob and entered.
Her mother lay on the hospital bed â a shadow of the intimidating woman Claire remembered from her childhood. Hollow cheeks, gray skin, and tangled IVs looping around her wrist like unwanted jewelry. The woman who once ruled their mansion like a dictator now lay unmoving, breath tethered to a machine.
Claire didn't flinch. She didn't blink.
The nurse offered a polite bow. "She stabilized this morning, but the liver damage is progressing faster than expected. We may need to start discussing transplant optionsâ"
"Bill it all to my private account," Claire cut in, her voice clipped and devoid of concern. "I'm not here for a medical lecture. Just make sure she doesn't die. Yet."
The nurse hesitated before nodding, then excused herself.
Claire walked over and stood beside the bed, arms crossed. She looked down at the woman she was supposed to call Mother â the same woman who once slapped the innocence out of her for speaking too loudly, who called her a burden every time she smiled like a child.
Unmoved, she checked her wristwatch. Ten minutes. That was more than enough.
"Ironic, isn't it?" she muttered under her breath. "All that power, all that venom⊠and now you're just another weak body relying on strangers to keep you breathing."
She didn't sit down. Didn't hold her hand. Didn't reach out. Her lips twisted into the ghost of a smile, not of sympathy â but detachment.
Claire turned and walked to the door without a second glance. Just before exiting, she pulled her phone from her purse and muttered, "Jisoo, get the car ready. I have somewhere else to be."
Then she shut the door behind her. No lingering. No ache in her chest. Only the cold clack of her heels echoing down the hallway as she left her past to rot in that sterile room.
â CafĂ© Lune
Claire's heels clicked softly as she stepped into the dim warmth of Leo's café later that evening. The world outside was drenched in orange twilight, the golden light sliding across the wooden floors.
She needed coffeeâsomething bitter, real, grounding.
But the moment she looked toward the counter, her gaze locked onto him.
Leo stood with a towel slung over his shoulder, sleeves rolled up, cleaning a metal tray. What caught her attention wasn't his usual cool expressionâit was the bandage wrapped around his right hand, faintly soaked in red.
"Your hand," she said, her voice instantly taut.
Leo looked up, eyes narrowed. "It's fine."
"What happened?" she demanded, stepping closer.
"I said it's fine." His voice was edged, sharp.
She frowned. "Don't give me that again. Tell me what happened, Youngjae."
He turned away from her, drying another cup with his uninjured hand. "Why don't you mind your own business for once?"
That stung.
Claire stared at him, her jaw tightening. "You think bleeding through your hand like that is none of my concern?"
Leo turned to face her, his tone cold. "It isn't. You don't get to pretend like you care. So, don't start."
Her voice dropped to a whisper, wounded but still strong. "I do care, even if you can't see it."
He didn't answer.
She exhaled, deeply hurt. "Fine."
She turned on her heel and walked out, the bell above the door chiming behind her. The silence she left behind seemed louder than any argument.
đ Moments Later â Chaos Arrives
Jiwon had just come out from the back room, humming softly, when the sharp sound of a police radio crackled through the café entrance.
Four officers entered.
"Choi Youngjae?"
Leo looked up. "Yeah?"
"You're under arrest for physical assault and damage to private property. You have the right to remain silentâ"
Jiwon screamed. "WHAT?!"
Leo barely had time to respond before they grabbed him, cuffed his hands behind his back. The bandage pressed under the cuffs, blood soaking anew.
Jiwon's hands shook as she tried to stop them. "Noâhe didn't do anything! Oppa! What are you doing?!"
Leo didn't say a word. He didn't resist.
As the police pulled him away, Jiwon grabbed her phone with trembling hands and called Mira.
đ± Phone Call â In the Car
Claire had just leaned her head against the leather seat, eyes closed, when her phone rang.
"Jiwon?" she answered, confused.
"Mira... it's Leo... Theyâthey just arrested him!" Jiwon sobbed on the other end, her voice trembling with panic. "I don't know why! They just came in! Mira, please do something!"
Claire's eyes flew open. "What?"
"I don't know what happenedâthey said something about assaultâ"
"Driver!" Claire snapped.
"Yes, ma'am?" he answered, startled.
"Turn the car around. Now. Head toâ" she paused, "âGwanak Police Station. Immediately."
"I'm sorry, ma'am, I didn't hearâ"
"I SAID TURN THE DAMN CAR TO GWANAK STATION!" she barked, her voice thunderous.
The driver flinched and quickly did as told, tires screeching lightly as they changed course.
đ Gwanak Police Station
Leo sat on the bench inside the holding area, wrists red from the cuffs, his face unreadable. He hadn't spoken a word. His silence was screaming.
The officers were just finishing paperwork when the front doors slammed open.
Every officer in the room turned.
Claire Han Mira stepped in, tall, composed, every ounce of fury barely contained in the sharp glint of her eyes.
The officers instinctively stood straighter.
She marched straight to the main desk, slammed her designer bag onto the counter.
"Why is he arrested?"
The officer behind the desk blinked, startled. "Miss Han, weâ"
"I asked," she said, her tone lowering like thunder, "why is he arrested?"
"We received a reportâ"
"Free him," she said, flat.
"Ma'am, we're still processingâ"
Claire leaned forward, her death-glare freezing everyone. "I said free him. Or I swear I will burn this station to the ground with your badge numbers as fuel."
Silence. Thenâ
"Yes, ma'am."
Leo was brought out seconds later, still cuffed. His eyes widened slightly seeing her, but he said nothing.
"Who filed the complaint?" she asked.
The officer gulped. "It was... Park Joonhyuk."
Her eyes narrowed. "I see."
Without another word, she took Leo's wrist, nodding toward the door. "Let's go."
đ In the Car
The air was thick between them.
Claire didn't speak. She didn't look at him.
Leo stared at the passing streetlights through the window, hands still slightly trembling.
When the car finally pulled up outside his apartment building, he turned slowly toward her.
"âŠThanks," he muttered.
Claire didn't turn. "Get out."
Leo blinked. "What?"
"I said," she repeated calmly, "get out."
He hesitated, stunned. Then quietly opened the door, stepping out.
Before he could close it, she added, "Don't bleed again."
The door shut.
She drove off without another word.
And Leo⊠stood on the sidewalk, staring after her, heart more rattled than it had been inside the cell.