Hae-in lay in her sprawling bed, the plush comforter feeling less like a comfort and more like a heavy shroud. The silence of the manor was deafening, a stark contrast to the turbulent storm raging inside her. The phone lay beside her, a mocking testament to her defeat. Just kidding. My mom would kill me if I did that. And you'd probably just scold me for having an exposed upper body. The words, so innocent and teasing, held a profound power. He knew her. He knew her defenses, her sharp tongue, her carefully constructed walls. He was no longer just the husband she was drifting from; he was a confident adversary in a game she hadn't known she was playing, and he was winning.
Her thoughts, usually as organized as her business plans, were in disarray. She kept seeing the picture of him—that smile, that confident poise—and the comments from the female employees, a swarm of buzzing flies she desperately wanted to swat away. He's mine. The thought surfaced again, stronger this time. It wasn't a product of anger, but of a deep, primal possessiveness that she rarely allowed herself to feel.
He was hers. He was the boy who had captivated her with his quiet strength, the man she had gone to Yongdu-ri for, landing a helicopter in the middle of a field to propose to him. She had promised to protect him, to be his shield against the world. But she had failed. She had watched, drowning in her own guilt and self-blame, as her family's scorn and their sharp words had chipped away at his spirit. Her heart had ached for him, but her pride and her own overwhelming pain had kept her from offering the comfort he needed, from fighting for him as she had promised. Their marriage had become a desolate wasteland of misunderstandings and unspoken grief, a direct result of the unspoken pain they both felt after losing their unborn child. She blamed herself, and in the silence of their shared grief, she believed he blamed her too. That belief was a poison that had turned their love into a cold, polite indifference.
A sudden, sharp pang of loneliness hit her. He was at home, with his family, in the place where he felt most at ease, and she was alone in this gilded prison. She missed him. Not just the physical presence, but the man who had understood her, the man who had once made her feel safe. The new Hyun-woo was a mystery, an enigma she was desperate to solve, but the longing for the old one, the familiar one, was a dull ache she couldn't ignore.
The phone buzzed, a new message from Hyun-woo. Her heart skipped a beat, a mix of annoyance and irrational hope. She didn't know what to expect—another clever jab, another piece of infuriating teasing. She picked it up, her fingers trembling slightly.
The message was different this time. It was soft, sincere, and completely unexpected. 'I'm home. Mom's nagging about why you weren't here, and Dad and Mi-sun are laughing at my expense, but it's good to be back. The stars are so clear here. I just wanted to say… I'm missing you. This place doesn't feel quite right without you to tease.'
The teasing jab was there, of course, but it was nestled between a vulnerability she hadn't seen in years. I'm missing you. The words hit her like a physical blow, a sudden rush of warmth that flooded her chest and pushed back the loneliness. He wasn't just toying with her; he was letting her in. He was telling her that even in the place he called home, he felt a void because she wasn't there.
The frustration and anger she had been holding onto for hours began to melt away. The furious blush, the urge to punch her pillow—all of it seemed to dissipate under the gentle weight of his words. It was an olive branch, a bridge offered to cross the chasm they had built between them. For the first time, she felt a sliver of hope. Maybe, just maybe, this new Hyun-woo wasn't a game she had to win, but a chance she had to take. A chance to heal, to rebuild, and to find their way back to the love they had so tragically lost. She stared at the message, a quiet, fierce longing in her eyes, a question forming in her mind. What would it take to get him back? And more importantly, what would it take for her to let him in?