She’d asked him not to touch her, and he granted the request.

Taken it a step further.

He’d left her completely alone.

He’d left her alone that night. And again the next night as she ate her dinner in the enormous, empty dining room under the watchful eyes of the maids. She was getting used to them, at least, and was quite proud of herself for not blushing through the entire dinner.

And again the night after, while she stood at the window of her room looking out of the night sky. And the next morning. It went on like a pattern.

She was lying on her bed one evening, with the TV on but her mind was elsewhere, when the door opened suddenly cutting her off her wandering thoughts.

“Ji hyo-ssi, you startled me.”

The housekeeper dipped her head. “You have a visitor, ma’am.”

Shin Hye’s brows snapped together. “A visitor?”  Who would visit me here?

The housekeeper looked at her. “He said he is your best friend.”

He?

Chakama....Ha Neul?

Happiness thrummed through her. He was the first person to visit her here in this large, empty house—not even her omma had come, instead sending word that she would visit soon.

She was unable to keep the smile from Ji Hyo. “Omo, he is here. Prepare some tea please”

She literally ran out of the room screaming “Ha neul-ah!”, moving directly to him, thrilled to see him. “What are you doing here?”

He smiled. “I’m here to steal you away.”

It should have been a joke, but there was an edge to the words that she did not like.

She ignored it, “come” she led him to the living room “how have you been?”

“I’m fine, but that’s not what I’m here for” He looked down at her, uncommon seriousness in his gaze. “Kwenchana?”

The words were soft with concern, and she wasn’t expecting the emotion that crashed through her at them, the tears that sprang instantly to her eyes. It had been a week she’d been married in a tiny, rushed ceremony, and no one had thought to ask after her. Not even her husband. “I—” she stopped, emotion closing .

Ha Neul’s normally friendly eyes darkened. “You’re miserable. That bastard...I’ll kill him.”

“Hajima.” She put one hand out, resting it on his arm. “I’m not miserable. Chincha. I’m just . . . I’m . . .” she took a deep breath, finally settling for, “It’s not easy.”

“Has he hurt you?”

“ANI!” She leapt to defend Minho oppa before considering the question. “Ani . . . .” Not in the way you mean.

He did not believe her. He crossed his arms. “Yah! Don’t you dare protect him. Has he hurt you?”

“Ani.”

“Kure? then?”

“I don’t see him much.”

“Pft, that’s not a surprise,” he said, and she heard the sting in his words. The emotion that came with friendship lost. She had felt it when Min ho oppa had left. When he’d stopped writing. When he’d stopped caring.

Ha neul was quiet for a long time before he said, “Do you wish to see him more?”

It was a question without an easy answer. She wanted nothing to do with one-half of Min ho oppa, with the cold, distant man who had married her for land. But the other half—the man who held her and cared for her comfort and did delicious, wonderful things to her mind and body—she wouldn’t mind seeing him again.

Of course, she couldn’t say that to Ha Neul. Could not explain that her husband was two men and that she was at once furious with and fascinated by him.

“Shin Hye-ah?”

She sighed. “Marriage is a strange thing.”

“Yah, it is if you married that man. I knew he’d come for you. Knew he’d be cold and heartless and devise a way to marry you quickly—for that land.” Belatedly, Shin Hye realized she should be protesting the words and telling him their well-spun love story, but he was moving on, and it was too late. “I tried to marry you first . . . to save your marriage to him.”

His words from the morning of his proposal echoed in her mind. “That’s what you meant. You wanted to protect me from Minho oppa.”

“He’s not the same as before.”

“Why didn’t you tell me that?”

He tilted his head. “Would you have believed me?”

“De.” Ani.

He smiled, smaller than usual. More serious. “Shin Hye-ah, if you’d known he was coming for you, you would have waited.” He paused. “It was always him.”

Her brow furrowed. It wasn’t true. Was it?

A vision flashed—a warm spring day, the three of them inside the old tower that stood on Gyeonggi lands. As they had explored, a staircase had given way beneath Shin Hye, and she’d been trapped a level above Minho oppa and Ha Neul. It hadn’t been far, but far enough for her to be afraid of jumping. She’d called for help, and Ha Neul had been the first to find her. He’d urged her to jump, promised to catch her. But she’d been frozen in fear.

And then Minho oppa had come. Calm, fearless, who had looked up into her eyes and given her strength. Jump, I will be your net.

She’d believed him.

She took a deep breath at the memory, at the reminder of her time with him, of the way he had always made her safe. She looked to Ha Neul, “He’s not that boy any longer.”

“De. He’s not. My Abeoji made sure of that.” He paused, then said, “I wish I could have prevented it. Biane.”

She shook her head. “Ani. He’s cold and infuriating when he wishes to be, but he’s built so much for himself—proven his worth tenfold. The marriage maybe challenging, but most of the marriages is like that, right?”

“Ours would not have been.”

“Yah, ours would have been a challenge in a different way. You know that.” She smiled.

His smile was there, then gone. He changed the conversation. “I’ve been thinking of going to America. They say there is a world of opportunity there.”

“You would leave? Wae?”

“Your husband plans to ruin me.”

It took a moment for her to comprehend the words. “It can’t be true.”

“It is. He told me.”

Confusion flared. “Eo? When?”

“On the day of your wedding. I came to find you, to convince you to marry me, only to find that I was too late and that you’d already left with him. I followed you. Went straight to his club.”

Minho oppa hadn’t said anything. “And you saw him?”

“Long enough for him to explain that he had plans for revenge against my Abeoji. Against me. When he’s through, I will have no choice but to leave Seoul.”

The words did not surprise her. Of course the land would not be enough for her husband. Of course he would want vengeance against President Jang. But Ha Neul?

“He wouldn’t do that. You have a past. A history. The three of us do.”

He smiled a small wry smile. “Our past does not weigh so heavily as revenge.”

She shook her head. “What could he possibly plan—”

“I am not . . .” He took a deep breath. “He knows . . .” Paused. Looked away. Tried again. “I am not the rightful heir to Jang heritage”

Her jaw dropped, along with her voice. “What?”

He laughed a small, self-deprecating laugh.

“You are not—”

“Ani”

“Who—”

“I don’t know. I didn’t know I was a bastard until a few years ago, when my abeo—when President Jang told me the truth.”

She watched him carefully, registering the quiet sadness behind his eyes. “You never said anything.”

“It’s not something I can say.” He paused. “You do what you can to keep it a secret . . . and hope no one discovers.”

But someone had discovered.

Shin Hye swallowed, turning her attention to a large oil painting on the wall,  “It would ruin your Abeoji.”

“His only child, a bastard.”

Her gaze returned to his. “Don’t call yourself that.”

“Everyone else will, soon enough.”

Silence. And in it, the keen awareness that Ha Neul was right. A means to an end. He saw the moment she recognized the truth and took a step toward her. “Come with me, Shin Hye-ah. We can leave this place and this life and start fresh. America. Italy. Spain. Anywhere you choose.”

Her eyes went wide. He was serious. “Yah! I’m married.”

One side of his mouth crooked up. “To Lee Min Ho. You need escape as much as I do. Maybe more—at least my ruin at his hands will come swiftly.”

“Still, I’m married. And you . . .” She trailed off.

“I am nothing. Not when he’s through with me.”

She thought of her husband, to whom she had vowed fidelity and loyalty, who had fought for so long to rebuild his fortunes without his name. He knew the importance of a name. Of an identity. She couldn’t believe he’d do this.

She shook her head. “You’re wrong. He wouldn’t . . .” But even as she said the words, she knew they weren’t true.

He would do anything for his revenge.

Even ruin his friends.

Ha Neul’s jaw set, and she was suddenly nervous. She’d never seen him so serious. So driven. “I’m not wrong. He has proof. He’s willing to use it. He’s ruthless. . . no longer the friend we once knew.” He was close, and he took one of her hands in both of his. “He doesn’t deserve you. Come with me. Come with me, and I’ll make you happy.”

She was quiet for a long moment before she said softly, “He is my husband.”

“He is using you.”

The words stung. She met his gaze. “Of course he is. Just as every other man in my life has done. My abeoji, Geun suk oppa,  . . . you.” When he opened his mouth to deny it, she shook her head and raised one finger. “Don’t. Don’t try to make fool of us both. You might not be using me for land or money or reputation, but you are afraid of your life once the truth is out, and you think I will make a friendly companion—someone to keep the away the loneliness”

“Is that so bad?” He asked, desperation creeping into his voice. “What about our friendship? What about our past? What about me?”

She didn’t pretend to misunderstand the words and the ultimatum in them, born of distress. He was asking her to make a choice. Her longest-standing friend—the one who had never left, or her husband, her family, her life. It was no choice. Not really. “He’s my husband!” she said firmly.

She stopped, irritation and frustration taking her breath. Ha Neul watched her for a long moment, her words hanging between them. He smiled, sad. “I am not surprised. You always liked him best.”

She shook her head. “That..that’s not true.”

“It is, one day you’ll realize it.” He lifted one hand to her chin in a brotherly gesture. That was the problem; Ha Neul had always been more of a brother. Not like Minho Oppa. There was nothing brotherly about him.

There was nothing kind about him, either. And while she might have chosen him in this strange, sad war, she would not stand by as he tore down Ha Neul. “I won’t let him do this to you”, she vowed. “I promise”.

He sliced one hand through the air, his disbelief obvious. “You can’t stop him.”

The words should have made her sad. She should have heard the truth in them.

But instead, they made her angry.

Min ho oppa had taken her from her family, changed her life in a hundred ways, forced this fake marriage upon her, and now threatened her best friend. And he’d done it all while keeping her at a safe distance, as though she were an insignificant person in his life.

Well, he had better begin to worry.

She lifted her chin, straightened her shoulders. “He is not God,” she said, her voice firm. “He doesn’t have the right to toy with us.”

Ha Neul recognized her ire. He smiled, sad. “Don’t do this. I’m not worth it.”

She raised a brow. “Ani! That’s not true. And even if you weren’t, I am. And I am through with him.”

“He will hurt you.”

One side of twisted in a wry smile. “He’ll likely hurt me anyway. All the more reason to face him.” She headed for the door to the living room, pulling it open to let him exit. As he neared, sadness twisted through her. “Biane Ha Neul-ah”

He took her shoulders in his and pressed a warm kiss to her forehead, before he said, “I want your happiness, Shin Hye-ah, you know that, don’t you?”

“De.”

“You’ll let me know if you change your mind?”

She nodded. “I will.”

He stared at her for a long time before turning away, a shadow crossing his handsome face. “I will wait for you. Until I can wait no more.”

She wanted to tell him not to go. She wanted to tell him to stay. But whether from sadness or fear or a keen knowledge that her husband was a ship that would not be turned, instead she said, “Good bye.”

He turned and left. The door closed behind him and she was alone.

Alone in this grave of a house, filled with things that were not hers and people she didn’t know. Alone in this quiet world.

There was a movement in the shadows at the far side of the foyer, and Shin Hye knew immediately that it was Ji Hyo. She knew, as well, where the housekeeper’s loyalties lay.

Shin Hye spoke in the darkness, “How long before he hears that Ha Neul came to visit me late in the evening?”

The ho