The soft glow of the moonlight filtered through the bedroom window, casting long, pale shadows across the floor. The air, once filled with unspoken tensions and playful dares, was now thick with an electric silence. Hae-in lay rigidly on her side of the bed, a pristine, overstuffed pillow serving as a fortress between her and the man who was now a stranger and yet more familiar than ever.
She felt Hyun-woo settle in beside her, his body a warm presence just on the other side of her makeshift wall. The silence stretched, and Hae-in's heart pounded a furious rhythm against her ribs. She was acting, pretending to be asleep, but every nerve ending was on high alert.
Then, a low chuckle rumbled from his side of the bed. "A pillow fortress, Hong Hae-in? Really?" he murmured, his voice laced with a gentle mockery. "The great CEO, the queen of the department stores, so afraid of her own desires. I knew you found me irresistible, but I never imagined you'd go to such lengths to protect me from yourself."
Hae-in's jaw clenched. The audacity of the man! Her mind screamed in indignation, but she kept her expression as placid as a sleeping baby. Irresistible? Pounce on him? The thoughts were so ludicrous, so utterly… tempting. Her traitorous mind replayed the scene from the hallway, the feeling of her back against the cool wall, the subtle, teasing bite on her ear. She felt a shiver run through her, and she had to suppress the urge to shift, to close the small distance between them and show him exactly who was in charge. But no, that would be admitting defeat. She was Hong Hae-in. She would not lose control. Not to him. She just needed to ride out this new, infuriating wave of his.
She continued to feign sleep, her breathing slow and even, while her mind went into a familiar state of denial. It's just a game. A foolish game. And I am not a pawn. He's just a child who found a new toy. He'll get bored soon. The conviction was there, but it felt hollow even to her.
A long silence settled between them, and Hae-in began to relax, thinking he had finally fallen asleep. But then, Hyun-woo's voice, now stripped of its teasing edge, filled the darkness. It was soft, contemplative, as if he were talking more to himself than to her.
"I had a strange dream," he began, his voice barely above a whisper. "It was about us. It started when we first met as interns. I remembered everything… your quiet, intense focus, your sharp wit, the way you laughed when you thought no one was looking. I saw us fall in love… the dates, the late-night talks, the day at the aquarium when I tried to be romantic and you just looked at me with that adorable, half-amused smile."
He shifted slightly, and Hae-in felt a sudden, sharp pang of nostalgia. She remembered that day, the clumsiness of his gestures, the pure sincerity in his eyes.
"I remembered when you came to Yongdu-ri," he continued, his voice thick with a mix of fondness and awe. "Landing a helicopter in a field just to propose to me. You looked so magnificent, like a movie star. You promised to protect me, to be my shield against the world. You gave me a world I never thought I'd have, and you kept your promise, even if you never said it."
Hae-in's heart ached. She remembered her bold promise, her fierce love, and the way it had been shattered by the painful reality of her family's cruelties. She had tried to protect him, but her own pain had paralyzed her.
"I remembered our wedding day, the first few years of our marriage… the happiness. The pure, unadulterated joy we felt when we found out you were pregnant." His voice broke a little, a raw edge of grief entering his tone. The pillow fort between them felt like a monument to their shared tragedy. He was talking about their lost child, the unspoken reason for the chasm that had formed between them.
"Then the dream skipped to the end, to the day we lost them." He paused, and Hae-in, her body still and her heart breaking, could feel the immense grief radiating from him. "I remembered the anger I felt… at your family, at the world. I saw the way their snide remarks about your 'mistake' slowly ate away at my soul. And then… I saw the distance growing between us. I blamed myself for not knowing how to comfort you, for not knowing how to tell you that I didn't blame you for a single second. I lost myself in my own grief, and by the time I came to terms with it, the distance between us had become a canyon."
He sighed, a deep, weary sound. "I woke up from that dream and realized… how pathetic I had become. To think I wanted to leave the woman I still love. The woman I want to spend the rest of my life with, no matter what. I had made up the divorce papers. I had even started the process. But after that dream, after seeing it all again, I couldn't do it. I tore them up. I cancelled the process."
A single tear, then another, slid from Hae-in's closed eyes, tracing a wet path down her temple and into her hair. He had never blamed her. All this time, she had been carrying the guilt alone, believing that he had given up on her, on their love. But he hadn't. He had been drowning in his own grief, just like her. The pain was immense, but so was the relief. Her heart, so long a cold, locked vault, felt a rush of warmth—a profound mix of grief for what they had lost and joy for what they might still have. He still loved her. He had chosen her. He had chosen to fight for them.
"I decided to not give up on us," he whispered, his voice full of fierce determination. "To make you fall in love with me again. To tease you, to make you blush and get flustered. I'll make you laugh again. And even if you truly want me gone, I will stay by your side. I will not let our marriage end. Not like this."
The confession, so raw and honest, broke something inside Hae-in. She had been a queen, a fortress of pride and control, but now she was just a woman, a woman whose husband had seen her vulnerability and chosen to stay anyway. A fierce love, a love that had been buried under layers of guilt and misunderstanding, surged in her chest. She would not let him do all the work alone. She would meet him halfway. She would fight for him, for them. She would let go of her pride and show him how much she still loved him. She would not let her family or the world come between them ever again.
She would improve herself. She would work hard to regain his love. She would love him so fiercely, so completely, that he would never doubt her for a second. With that fierce vow burning in her heart, Hae-in slowly, truly, finally fell asleep, the pillow fort forgotten between them.