“Namkyoung Residence? At Jung-gu?”

Mr. Do gave his executive assistant a skeptical look as he read down the report written on a folder. “Yes, sir. This was reported to me a couple weeks ago. The next day after you had a family meeting with Chairman Cho of Daehan Telecom, he was seen by one of our guys getting dropped off at his Hannam villa by an unknown woman and he picked his car up from there. They then drove in two cars in that same location, around five in the afternoon, seemingly after work.” The man explained in detail, keeping his head low. Mr. Do put the folder down and sighed into a deep though. “Are you sure it’s not Miss Gong of Halliway? Because I assume, they remained friends even after the engagement, maybe she’s giving him a lift and they went to hang out.” He suggested.

His executive assistant bowed his head a little. “Sir, I believe Miss Gong doesn’t own a property in that building and also. . . after getting there, they seemed to have stayed all throughout the night. Sorry, my men were only able to observed until midnight.”

A frown started growing on his face as he darts his eyes down to the folder. “This residence doesn’t seem like the type that my son would have a property in. And whoever that woman is, you need to give me more information. If you have to follow him again today, then do it.” The old man leaned on his office chair. “If he’s secretly seeing someone then I must say, he’s being good at keeping it from me. Find out everything you could this week, we can’t be having this problem right now. After all my hard work just to convince Daehan Telecom to consider a partnership in the future, this is not going to happen right now. So do your job and give me more.” He ordered before pushing the folder all the way to the end of the table, towards the man. “Yes, sir. I’ll be heading off now.” The assistant bids a farewell with a bow before leaving the office.

An unimpressed chuckle fluttered out of his mouth as he glanced at Kyungsoo in their family picture right by his office table. “What are you doing this time, son. . .” He shakes his head in disappointment. Just then, the door opened again and it was his wife this time, bringing a tray of tea and snacks. “Dear, I heard you haven’t had lunch so I brought you some snacks while you work.” She stepped in and placed the tray down his table. “Thank you.” He looked up at her. “Does Kyungsoo own a property at Namkyoung Residence? It’s at Jung-gu area.” He then asked.

Mrs. Do went silent as she stared in space. “Hmm. . .” She folded her arms and tapped her chin. “Possible? He mentioned to me before that he actually has a couple of properties. I think he’s interested in real estate. He likes to know different areas of Seoul, I guess.” She answered casually, making up a random excuse to seal the truth for her son. “Sure. . . but not with another woman. I was told that he went there with a woman who stayed there overnight with him. What did they do there?” As soon as he finished his sentence, Mrs. Do let out a laugh. “Oh god, he’s a grown man, dear. I don’t want to know about his private intimate life, m-maybe. . . maybe he’s just hanging out with different people right now, you know kids these days don’t take things too seriously anymore. Let him be, I’m sure he’s fine.” She assured, nonchalantly.

Keeping silent, he tilted his head to the side but glued his eyes to his wife. “Do you know something?” He asked earning a panicked smile from his wife. Mrs. Do swayed a hand before chuckling. “Know what? What do you mean know what?” She asked, trying to wave off the fear building u[ inside her.

“I don’t know, how do we even know they have an intimate relationship in the first place? Why are you just. . . assuming that already? Like you know something. I mean you’ve changed lately so I don’t know if I can really trust you.” Mr. Do bluntly said and this time, she had nothing more to say. “Honey, Daehan Telecom is the biggest shot we could possibly get to help us rise back up. Don’t ruin this for me, you have to be on my side or else you’ll be left with nothing. You know that, right?” He asked and stood up. Mrs. Do looked away while faintly nodding until he grabbed her by the arm, hard enough to make her tremble. “Don’t forget what my family did for yours many many years ago, the reason why you’re even here still alive and comfortable. . . we’re experiencing the same problem your parents had, right? So, I know in my heart, you understand that I’m doing this for us. So I’m going to be so hurt if I find out that you’re hiding something from me, your husband.” He added.

“Y-yes, dear. I und—I understand. I won’t hide a-anything, don’t worry.” She nodded eagerly before pulling her arm off, starting to feel the pain from his grip. “Good.” He then planted a kiss on the side of her head making her flinch. “I love you so much. You know that, right?” He added before walking back to the table like nothing happened at all. He grabbed a cookie from the tray and ate eat while looking at her. “As always, your baking is very good.” He smiled while chewing. Mrs. Do forced a smile back before turning away to leave. It was just another day of manipulation, fear, gaslighting and everything she could possibly fear for being married to this guy but she never gets used to it, somehow. She always wants to hide, to escape and to ask help.

Hiding, there’s been a lot of things that helps her hide momentarily. Hobbies and internal escape for her to find a moment of peace. Most recently and officially will be visiting her granddaughter, Inyoung. The thought alone makes her completely forget what just happened.

Escape, it’s never as easy as they always say. It’s simply not. She has tried many times to fight herself but somehow, she keeps coming back. She’s too scared to go anywhere else but under him and it’s something even she can’t explain for herself.

Help? No one knows what she goes through every day. She doesn’t even know how to help herself. For some reason, her husband has this power of making her doubt if there’s really even something wrong in the first place.

Waking up next to her felt like a dream. Once, twice or a couple more times, this has happened. They’ve always been a dream.

But she’s still there, no matter how much he closes and opens his eyes. His brushed his fingertips along the line of her cheekbone down to her chin. She’s always been beautiful in his eyes but her beauty last night. . . it was different. He could fall for her over and over again and it would always feel the same, if not greater. He slipped his hand back under the pillow and grabbed her bare waist, pulling her closer. The light movement eventually woke her up. It too a moment for her to fully open her eyes but the moment she did, a smile automatically formed on her lips. “Hey. . .” She hushed before moving even closer until her and cold chest felt his warm once. “You’re always so warm, why is that?” She muffled in his chest. “I don’t know, Inyoung tells me the same thing. That’s why she complains when I hug her for too long on a hot day. My skin is just naturally warm, I guess?” Kyungsoo replied before resting his lips against her temple.

“What time is it, even?” Yerin lifted her head to look at the wall clock. “Hm, almost six o’clock. Still have a little more time, why are you up so early after last night? Not tired?” She added in between giggles. She looked up and their lips instantly meet for a light innocent kiss. “Are you kidding me? How can I actually sleep after that?” Kyungsoo shifted his body lower so that he could bury his face on the crook of her neck. “Can we not go to work today?” He added earning a gasp from her. “Wow, CEO? Is that you? You? Not going to work? Really? How is Avantgarde going to open? You do the opening even before the security staff can, you should be in security instead.” She mocked and without arguing back, Kyungsoo tackled her body until he was on top of her.

“Yah—” Yerin covered her face to giggle from what he just did. “Sure, I will be in security. But I can only guard you, fair enough?” He chuckled back before capturing her lips for a firm kiss this time. She immediately cut it, whimpering in protest. “My breath smells.” She muffled. “Mine too.” Kyungsoo casually argued before lowering his head again and started planting kissed on her face and her neck. “I-it doesn’t bother me really but yo—” Yerin couldn’t help but stop talking when he started touching and kissing her in many places. “I have to get up soon to wake Inyoung up and get ready myself. You know that, right? You on the other hand can literally go to work anytime you want.” She breathed heavily in between words.

Finally, Kyungsoo stopped and moved his body higher again to face her, still on top. “How can I hold myself from kissing you today at work? Tell me, how?” He asked. “I think I just woke up the beast from you.” Yerin laughed before wrapping her arms around his neck. “Yeah, imagine being locked up for years? How can he behave now?” He joked along before kissing her again. Before it gets hotter and hotter, Yerin pushed him off gently while sighing to hide the moan that had escaped . “O-okay, I should really get up now.” She laughed but Kyungsoo gave in eventually and got off her. She sat up and picked her night gown up from the floor to wear it.

Kyungsoo stayed on bed while she gets up and wears a robe