Chapter 25
Three years ago.
It was a night when the sudden autumn chill froze everything in my mind.
“Let’s just… stop here.”
Eunjae, who had come to the prosecutor’s office, suddenly kicked away Baek Woo-kyung—the one she had always adored.
“I don’t love you anymore.”
She gave a reason that even a passing dog wouldn’t believe.
“Just like that?”
Seeing her tiny fists trembling, Woo-kyung asked again.
“…No, it’s not sudden. I’ve been thinking about this for a long time.”
Her long, thick eyelashes trembled nervously. Woo-kyung saw through the lie immediately.
It was the habit she had whenever she lied.
“Right. Don’t love me. I’ll handle it. You should rest a bit.”
Woo-kyung brushed it off and turned his attention to the monitor.
He was on edge, preparing for a trial the next day. As a rookie prosecutor, he had to prepare meticulously to handle the trial perfectly.
“Don’t ignore me! I really… want to break up.”
He stopped typing and just looked up at Eunjae.
“Jung Eunjae. What are you doing? I have a trial tomorrow.”
“You’re… too… suffocating. Why are you so clingy? I can’t breathe.”
Eunjae wasn’t in the mood to talk. She recited the lines she had prepared and delivered them like a notice.
“So, what exactly do you want to say?”
“I want to meet other men too. If after trying, I still think you’re the best, I’ll contact you again then.”
Having announced the breakup, Eunjae turned sharply and left the office.
Her eyes looked like she could cry at any moment.
What on earth was all this?
Only when the door slammed shut did irritation wash over him.
Even in a trial he could barely win if he focused, his concentration had been disrupted by a young lover suddenly throwing a tantrum to get his attention.
“Damn it.”
Woo-kyung roughly ran his hands through his hair and focused back on preparing for the trial. He had no intention of chasing after Eunjae.
However, the next day.
The number you have dialed is not in service. Please check and try again…
It wasn’t until Eunjae’s phone number disappeared that he realized something was wrong.
Rushing madly to her family’s annex, the space Eunjae and her mother had used was completely empty.
“Jung Eunjae, where did she go?”
“Uh… Ms. Jung Jin-sook resigned, so she left the dorm with her a little while ago?”
Even after questioning a few staff members, no one knew the reason for her sudden resignation.
His bewilderment quickly turned into anger.
Does this mean I just have to accept her leaving like this?
After all this time without a single hint, is this sudden breakup really a proper farewell?
The more he thought about it, the more he let out a hollow laugh. Ridiculous.
Now, stubbornness set in. He had to hear the reason directly from her mouth.
Only after that would he decide whether to let her go.
With that determination, he set out to find Eunjae.
Fortunately, her next move was revealed easily with a phone call.
After leaving home, it seemed Eunjae went to law school.
“-Jung Eunjae? She came by the admin office earlier. She said she wants to withdraw… the professors were trying to stop her, it was chaos.”
Even the law school staff didn’t know why Eunjae wanted to withdraw.
He ran blindly to the school, wandering through the campus, unsure if she was even there.
It was when he reached the front of the library that he saw her.
“…Ha.”
The Eunjae he had been searching for was there, covering her face and sobbing.
And next to her, some lanky guy was trying his best to comfort her.
“So this is what she meant by wanting to meet other men.”
A mix of emptiness and relief washed over him.
Why are you crying, Jung Eunjae?
And not in my arms—but with another guy.
He wanted to run over and twist the arm of the guy with his hands on another man’s woman.
As Woo-kyung gritted his teeth, ready to approach, the lanky guy turned. And that’s when he saw his face.
“Shit.”
A bitter laugh escaped him.
Of all people, she had chosen Ahn Jin-hyeok.
Throughout law school, Ahn Jin-hyeok had always come second to him. He had openly declared he would one day give Baek Woo-kyung a major blow.
…Is this the moment that guy finally lands the big blow?
While he cursed his own fate, the two moved on. Woo-kyung followed them.
Jin-hyeok took Eunjae in his car and left the school.
Woo-kyung followed in his own car, chasing them out toward the outskirts of Seoul. He didn’t care about the reason anymore.
He only wanted to see how far Eunjae would go in toying with him.
The car stopped on a quiet, unpaved road. The only thing around was a shabby, unmanned motel.
Surely, this isn’t the destination.
As if mocking his thought, Eunjae got out of the front car and ran madly toward the motel.
Jin-hyeok followed her into the building after a brief hesitation.
“Damn it.”
Bang!
Woo-kyung slammed the steering wheel, resting his forehead on it.
The unspent anger boiled inside him like lava.
It wasn’t the suspicion that they would do something dirty inside.
There must be another reason. Whether to deliberately show him or as a struggle to forget him, he didn’t worry.
The Eunjae he knew always respected boundaries.
Just because she suddenly declared she was leaving, it didn’t mean she would abandon her lifelong love for Baek Woo-kyung and play around with another man.
He felt the same. He had no intention of suspecting her just because of the harsh words she recited like lines from a script.
…So far, this was Woo-kyung’s cold, rational judgment as a man.
He understood it with his head. He acknowledged it.
And yet, the lava of anger exploding inside him continued to consume him, stirring him up.
By now, the reason Eunjae entered with Ahn Jin-hyeok didn’t matter.
Even if she’s going this far to leave me, the effort itself deserves that he bury the reason.
Leaving suddenly in the middle of the night, giving up law school without a word…
The little girl who worked so hard just to leave him seemed audacious yet pitiful.
Or maybe she gave up Baek Woo-kyung to gain something bigger.
Either way, his mood was in the gutter.
“….”
Slowly lifting his head, the outside was pitch dark. The building they entered, Jin-hyeok’s car—everything was silent.
Through the headlights, snowflakes drifted slightly.
Woo-kyung turned the wheel sharply and retraced his path. He then made a call.
“Professor, this is Baek Woo-kyung. About the US study program you suggested earlier—can I still apply?”
He had postponed the program to leave with Eunjae after she graduated law school.
Now, that was no longer necessary. He answered that he would leave as soon as possible and hung up.
What should he do next? To quietly step away from her.
Since he had become the fool kicked aside by a sudden breakup, he would remain that fool until the end.
He intended to help Jung Eunjae, who struggled so desperately to leave him, one last time.
…But he didn’t realize then.
That under the pretext of helping Eunjae, what he really wanted to protect was his own shallow pride and petty arrogance.
“I didn’t let you go just because I saw you say a few harsh words.”
Woo-kyung looked straight at Eunjae, who had sunk like a wet puppy.
“I only matched your steps because you said you wanted to break up.”
“…What?”
“Well, you probably can’t believe this coming from someone who got kicked cleanly by his girlfriend.”
His hand reached out and brushed Eunjae’s cheek. Her wide, trembling eyes captivated him.
It meant he had gotten it right.
“You looked desperate. You wanted to break up with me so badly.”
“….”
“So I let you go without asking why. And now you keep teasing me, kissing, touching down there…”
Eunjae tried to explain in surprise, but Woo-kyung didn’t give her a chance.
“Since you keep provoking me, I want to know. Why did Jung Eunjae have to kick me, the one who chased after her so desperately?”
His hand that had brushed her cheek lifted her chin lightly. Her slightly parted lips looked inviting.
“Tell me now. Honestly.”
“…!”
“What’s the real reason you suddenly kicked me, Jung Eunjae?”
