Kkaeal Couple — Chapter : 04

She had graduated from the same university and the same department as her senior, the Department of Journalism and Broadcasting.

When she had first entered the university as a freshman, she thought she had fallen for her senior the very moment she first saw him.

That was how the young and inexperienced girl’s unrequited love began. It continued even after she married him, all the way until now.

If someone heard this, they would probably ask how it could possibly be unrequited love when they had even gotten married.

‘My senior has never loved me.’

It was true that she loved 태하.

But he had never loved her. Not once.

And now, 재인 had decided to empty even her unrequited love from her heart.

Along with the divorce.

재인 shook her head.

Don’t waver.

“Are you hurting somewhere? Are you still not better?”

재인 asked while examining 태하 with her thin, thread-like eyes.

‘Maybe he really is acting like this because he’s hurt.’

“I’ll contact your secretary. Since you’re here, I’ll have them take you back and get you examined again—”

“There’s no need.”

He stopped 재인, who was about to take out her phone.

“Why isn’t there a need? You definitely injured your head. Otherwise, this doesn’t make any sense.”

How could you say you like me?

“My senior has never liked me.”

To him, she was simply one of many juniors, and by some twist of fate, she had become his wife.

People said that living together would eventually make you grow attached to each other, but that had never happened.

Whenever he came to Korea from time to time, he was just as indifferent as he had been before their marriage.

If it hadn’t been her, someone else would surely have been standing in this place.

He had needed a bride to walk down the aisle with him, not 서재인.

When 재인 raised her head properly, their eyes met head-on.

One second, two seconds. Silence passed as they stared at each other.

After staring at her for quite some time, the man’s lips slowly parted.

“You like me.”

At the certainty in his voice, which contained not even the slightest doubt, 재인 felt a sting in her heart for no reason.

I did like you.

Madly, like someone who had lost a screw in her head.

Thinking about the past, she swallowed the sigh that was about to escape.

“I don’t like you.”

At her firm response, his smooth eyebrows curved upward.

“There’s no way that’s true.”

And there was a faint smile at the corner of his lips.

Was it not a smile?

Was it perhaps ridicule?

With that mysterious smile and his unwavering gaze fixed on her, 재인 looked away.

“I said I don’t like you.”

“You used to chase after me like that. How many years was it again?”

“Why are you doing this, senior?”

Her voice came out sharply before she could stop it, overwhelmed by the emotions welling up inside her.

“I didn’t say I wanted a divorce lightly. Do you know how much I agonized over it?”

Until she finally decided to divorce him.

As the difficult process came flooding back into her mind, 재인 felt her chest burn.

‘How could I have been the one to ask for a divorce?’

She was just beginning to get angry at his incomprehensible behavior when—

“I lost my memory.”

At the man’s voice that etched itself into her ears, 재인 immediately raised her head.

“What do you mean?”

“Exactly what I said. I lost my memory because of the accident. According to the doctor, it’s partial amnesia.”

Unable to believe him, 재인 blinked both eyes repeatedly. Her light brown irises trembled greatly with confusion.

‘He doesn’t remember?’

A month after her father’s funeral ended, 태하 returned to Korea.

Around the time her father had passed away, she had heard that 태하 had been in an accident in the United States and couldn’t come back. But by then, 재인 had already been exhausted by this marriage for a long time.

So when he returned, she handed him the divorce papers.

He was a person who was already so busy that he barely had time to breathe.

It would be better for him to take care of everything while he was in Korea and then leave.

He had definitely accepted the divorce.

‘But he lost those memories?’

Just as this absurd situation was beginning to sink in, he took another step closer to 재인.

He stood so close that the tips of his shoes nearly touched hers, and his breath settled across the bridge of her nose.

Before she could even process how close he was, 태하’s large hand gently cupped 재인의 cheek.

“재인아.”

His deep, low voice flowed into her ears.

“I came back alive after nearly dying. If my wife tells me she’s leaving me, don’t you think I’d go crazy?”

“……”

“So don’t pack up my things.”

As 태하 spoke while looking around the living room, 재인 clenched her fists.

At first, she had been so flustered that she let him push her around, but after a moment, her common sense returned.

The reason he had changed like this was because he had no memory.

Once his memory returned, both his words about liking her and his talk about love would disappear as though they had never happened.

Just as it was impossible to hold water in one’s hands, 우태하 was that kind of existence to 재인.

“No. I’m getting a divorce.”

She no longer had the strength to foolishly inflate her expectations and nurture hope.

“As soon as your memory comes back, it’ll all be over anyway. Go see the doctor and get treatment. It seems like a temporary aftereffect of the accident.”

Wasn’t amnesia something that appeared frequently even in dramas?

And it wasn’t just anyone—it was 우태하 of the Daehah Group.

If the elders of his family found out that he had amnesia, they would probably resurrect even Hwata and bring him back to cure him.

That was the kind of world he belonged to.

For just a brief moment, she had been excited by the sweet words he whispered.

Wouldn’t it be okay to stay with a man who mistakenly believed he liked her, just for a little while?

‘This was the situation I had wished for so desperately.’

For 우태하 to love her.

But reality soon woke her up.

Three days? One day?

No. It was nothing more than a fleeting dream that could end at any moment—even a few hours from now.

“I’ll see you at the courthouse next week.”

Good job.

This is the right thing to do.

But then, the man’s strong arm wrapped tightly around 재인의 waist, preventing her from stepping backward.

He lowered his head, and their eyes met again.

“What are you doing?”

“I mean it. I’ll do anything as long as it’s not a divorce.”

태하’s gaze was deep, as if asking her to believe him.

When 재인 looked at him as though asking what he meant, 태하 spoke first.

“I mean I’ll give you whatever you need. For every year you stay with me without getting a divorce, I’ll give you 1 billion won.”

“……”

“And I’ll provide unlimited financial support for your mother’s nursing hospital expenses. And I’ll immediately transfer the house I promised to give you into your name.”

‘So that’s what he meant.’

Support for the hospital expenses.

He was saying this because he knew she was in financial difficulty.

After marrying 태하, he had covered all of her father’s surgery expenses.

But perhaps because of her pride, 재인 couldn’t bring herself to ask him to pay off the debt she had already had before that.

If even that was taken care of by her senior, then she would truly become someone who had married for money.

The interest on the hospital loan, which amounted to hundreds of millions of won.

That was the reason 재인 had continued working without taking a break even after marrying him.

She hadn’t known that he was aware of it.

‘Money. He still reduces everything to money.’

You make me feel so miserable, senior.

“I’m not that incapable, senior.”

재인 looked straight up at 태하 and said,

“I can support my mother myself.”

Of course, it wasn’t as though his offer didn’t tempt her in the slightest.

He was offering to cover the nursing hospital expenses for the rest of her mother’s life.

Even just getting rid of the nursing hospital bill, which cost several million won every month, would allow her to breathe a little easier.

‘And on top of that, 1 billion won?’

재인 suppressed the hollow laugh that naturally threatened to escape.

1 billion won a year.

Five years would be 5 billion won?

She had never even possessed 100 million won in her life, let alone 5 billion, so she couldn’t even comprehend such an amount.

But—

‘Even so, I can’t go back into that hell.’

태하 wasn’t the only problem.

Whenever she thought about her in-laws, 재인 would sometimes wake up in the middle of the night, unable to breathe.

The Daehah family was what had finally made even her devoted, single-minded unrequited love surrender completely.

Now she truly wanted to end it.

If the interest on her loans was added to her mother’s nursing hospital expenses, life would certainly become difficult.

‘If things really don’t work out, I can always sell the newlywed home.’

“See you next week. And now, please go. Just go. I want to rest.”

재인 pushed 태하 toward the entrance again and again.

“If you don’t leave, I’ll leave. Should I?”

Contrary to her expectation that he would resist and stand his ground, he obediently allowed himself to be pushed outside the front door.

재인 had just pushed 태하 out and was about to close the door again.

When the front door was halfway closed, a large hand reached out and grabbed it.

“Don’t wait for me.”

태하, who appeared through the gap, said to 재인,

“Because I’m not leaving.”

Before she could ask what he meant, he released the door, and it closed.

And it wasn’t long before she found out exactly what he meant.