Yoo-hwa could not say a word and looked only at his eyes. Not long after the man disappeared from her view, a black shadow fell over her body.

It was not until she raised her head for a long time that she made eye contact with Woo-hyun, who was standing in front of her.

Why was he here?

Yoo-hwa stared at him quietly, her eyes containing the words she couldn’t say. Woo-hyun had no such answer. He just stood there, like someone who had a lot to say and couldn’t say anything.

“How are you feeling?”

Woo-hyun asked in a cracked voice after a long time. After hearing the voice that seemed to have been unable to sleep through the night, Yoo-hwa finally looked at her body.

She had sporadic pain here and there, the back of her hand was bloody because he failed to properly stop the bleeding, and her heels were burning. There was no place that was okay.

“I’m okay.”

Nevertheless, she replied so. Even if she told Woo-hyun that she was in pain, it wouldn’t change anything.

“What happened? Where am I?”

Yoo-hwa asked, avoiding Woo-hyun’s gaze. Her voice cracked like the dry soil of a rice paddy. Only then could she guess that it had been a while since she had been lying down.

“This is my home.”

“…”

“You… almost got kidnapped.”

Woo-hyun said, taking a breath at the word ‘kidnapped’.

“The people who tried to kidnap me, are they those people? The people who made you put people on stakeout around me.”

“That’s correct.”

The low voice confirmed.

“… I see.”

Yoo-hwa muttered in a powerless voice. The gaze towards the floor fumbled and looked around from place to place, but it eventually stopped as it was something meaningless.

Ah, so that was it.

The real realization came a little later.

There were people who were really trying to kidnap her. The fact that they planned to kidnap her using the mart event as a disguise meant that they knew that Woo-hyun had someone watching over her.

While they were weighing themselves against each other, she did not notice. Stupidly and foolishly, she considered everyone around her to be Woo-hyun’s people.

What would have happened if Woo-hyun had been late or she had not been rescued? Perhaps she would have reached the worst, the worst that she had never been able to reach before.

So she should be glad, but even if she thought so in her head, her mind felt distant, like she had fallen into a mire. This place was also the worst in another sense.

The brown eyes that wandered around stopped in one spot after a moment. Her gaze shriveled as she looked at the distant place. The brown eyes that had lost their light and even the faint life that they still had, rustled like fallen leaves.

“Thank you, though. For saving me.”

Woo-hyun frowned at the unexpectedly calm voice.

“Don’t thank me.”

“…”

“It happened because of me. You should be angry. Not thanking me.”

Woo-hyun said in a gloomy voice, tilting his head.

“Why didn’t you let me be taken away?”

“…”

“You could have done that.”

“…”

“Even if you did, no one would have said anything. Not even me.”

Yoo-hwa’s rustling eyes were saying that she did not even expect him to save her. Woo-hyun was speechless at the nuance that seemed to ask if they had that kind of relationship.

It was like the Kim Yoo-hwa when they first reunited. The Kim Yoo-hwa who had a moderate amount of vigilance and indifference wrapped around her body.

Knowing that it was he who made her hide like that, that it was he who completely took away even her vivacity, which had emerged for a while, Woo-hyun shut its twisted lips.

“So.”

Yoo-hwa slowly raised her brown eyes, as if she were exhausted.

“What’s going to happen now?”

She asked in a cracked voice after pausing for a second.

She seemed rational, but it was an emptiness beyond helplessness. Seeing that, Woo-hyun held his breath for a moment.

“You’ll have to stay here for a while.”

Woo-hyun barely replied.

“… Can’t I hide somewhere else?”

“They’ll find you in no time. There’s no safer place than here.”

“Their misunderstanding must have deepened.”

Misunderstanding.

The word pierced sharply through the air.

In front of the word that overshadowed their relationship, Woo-hyun and Yoo-hwa’s eyes missed each other. Yoo-hwa’s gaze turned to the outside of the window. The peaceful view beyond the window felt as far away as a drama.

“When will I be able to leave?”

Yoo-hwa asked in a sinking voice.

“When it’s safe.”

“When it’s safe…”

Yoo-hwa repeated the words in a low voice.

As if that was possible.

“I’m trying.”

“I hope that effort will pay off quickly.”

So that she could get out of this house as soon as possible.

Reading the meaning behind Yoo-hwa’s words, Woo-hyun closed his lips firmly.

“Yeah. So stay here until it’s resolved. Then…”

Woo-hyun stopped what he was saying. The words he was about to say were heavy. To the point of wanting to give up.

“I’ll send you somewhere safe.”

“…”

“To a place where you can live the life you want.”

Woo-hyun’s voice, finally saying the words he had prepared, sank deeply. At the same time, Yoo-hwa’s eyes that had been directed at a distant place became blurred.

Although they said nothing, they knew.

That there was no place for them to be together in the future.

Even though they knew it, they were strangled by the emotional debris that blew everywhere like dust.

“… Yeah. Please.”

Yoo-hwa’s voice, answering after a long time, was pitchless.