January 30th

Being alone in house this big feels scary...

Those were Jiwoo's thoughts as she takes a long look at the building before her, Taehyung family's mansion that has been passed down for generations. Old facade couldn't stand against time and was already falling apart when Taehyung expressed his wish to live there with the woman he loves, one day. House was, therefore, renovated two weeks before their marriage.

"Now the only thing missing is the woman I love.", Taehyung would often say, poking in their loveless relationship.

After that turbulent night, there wasn't one day when Jiwoo didn't think of him. He would constantly haunt her in her dreams, telling her he's in pain, begging for help. And she would always try to run to him, to reach her phone and call the ambulance but her feet were stuck in one place, refusing to obey. She would then start apologizing, but Taehyung just shook his head. It's too late...

She would then wake up, her blonde hair spread on pillows washing in sweat. Tears start rolling down her cheeks and only sound heard in silence for the next 15 minutes are soft weeps. Ever since those nightmares started repeating, young woman was certain of two things:
1) she was deeply regretting what she's done and
2) she missed him.

His state in hospital was always uncertain and she doubted his family would be glad to take her in after funeral so she was getting ready to say goodbye to luxurious life. The new beginning included continuing studies she postponed after getting married to one of Korea's most popular businessman. With such popularity, it's no wonder the whole country found out about his comatose state in the matter of a day. The worry raised among close business friends made Taehyung's father organize an emergency conference press. He assured public representatives that "his son is in stable state", "company is going to keep functioning without him for a while, but it is certain Kim Fashion will have a heir".

Some of his female fans even went so far they sent letters directly to his home address. Jiwoo read all thirty that arrived in past seven days with skeptical thoughts. They started thinking whole coma thing is a scam, supposedly set up by a rival company and Taehyung's father was just their marionette. Some assumed Taehyung being murdered earlier last year and replaced by a lookalike who has reached his limits after attempting suicide due to media pressure.

His wife never appeared on TV to give official statement, which made crazy theories even more possible in eyes of ordinary people. Now she wore label of almost-widow at twenty-one.

Jiwoo sighed, picking up another letter from the ground, probably thrown over the wall surrounding the house. Although there was no sender or addressee information, she assumed it was another mail from people who have absolutely nothing to do in their life other than spectaculate what's going on in hers, so she places it in pocket.

At least I'll have what to read tonight... , she thought sarcastically and went to her bag to get keys for front door. She gets a hold of door handle but to her surprise, it was unlocked. She remembers clearly that housekeeper, maids and gardener left four days ago to spend Lunar New Year with their families.

Jiwoo enters as quietly as possible and reaches hand in her jacket pocket, her fingers gripping pepper spray tightly. Lights were out so she didn't bother looking for switch. She took off high heels and headed to main room.

"You're back...", a voice speaks from darkness and without thinking twice, Jiwoo pulls out small bottle and manages to spray it directly to her guest's eyes. He lets out surprised shout and as her fingers snap a light switch, she sees more than familiar face.

Being caught off guard, Taehyung had his palms over eyes.

"You nasty little...", he stops in the middle of sentence. That's how Jiwoo knew her husband didn't expect a warm "welcome home" but still tried to act like a good housewife.

"Honey! W-when did you get out? You should have called, I would've sent the driver at very least...", she places one hand on his arm empathisingly. Her heart was beating so fast she thought it's going to jump out of her chest.

Could it be that life has given her second chance? A chance where she's able to correct her wrongdoings and show him she's not just a cold-headed girl whose role she's taken for two years. A chance where they could start over. Okay, they don't love each other, but many arranged marriages ended up being much longer and healthier than those in which people want to get divorce after some minor problem where their dream person has showed some other side. They could still respect each other and live long life together. Right?

Taehyung grabs her wrist less than gently and bottle of pepper spray hits the floor, proceeding to roll away. Before she knew it, he had her up against the nearest wall, his face so close to her their noses were almost touching. Her other hand was free but she dared not to move it, doubting it would end good for her. She wanted to see what's he up to.

"Give me one good reason why I shouldn't kill you on the spot?", he hushed like a snake, his eyes burning with hatred. Hatred aimed at her, for a reason they both knew well. Jiwoo was genuinely scared for herself. Who was this man and what did he do to apathetic person she called her husband?

She couldn't bring herself to keep cool and answer but prayed this doesn't end with a slap or dead body, this time definitely.

Then suddenly, as if he thought of something else, Taehyung let her go and stepped back.

"It doesn't actually matter whether I kill you or not. Because starting now, you're a dead person to me.", he says before heading outside.

After hearing doors banging, Jiwoo slid down the wall with her hand over mouth, still shocked by the fact that he's alive, let alone going around threatening her the moment they look at each other.

Why did this have to happen right when she realized that she loves him?