Chapter 4
His physique was so impressive that he reminded people of a world-famous top model, and his face was handsome enough to look like it had been carved by a sculptor.
But what made Cha Moon-hyuk special was not simply his exceptional appearance.
There were people like him.
Men who, even when they sat there without an expression, merely twisted the corner of their lips slightly, or even slowly shifted their gaze, could draw in everyone’s attention, or rather, even the very flow of the air around them simply by existing.
And even more remarkably, his uniquely cold atmosphere only made his arrogant charm feel more aristocratic.
Exactly like now.
With his sudden appearance, a suffocating silence descended over the room.
It was a frightening silence filled with such intense tension that no one dared to move even their lips.
Naturally, no one dared to speak to him carelessly.
Even Gicheol became completely speechless.
Feeling once again the overwhelming aura of Moon-hyuk and the burning tension filling the room, Seol-ah swallowed nervously.
Without realizing it, she even stuck out her tongue and moistened her extremely dry lips.
Moon-hyuk’s gaze briefly fell on those lips, but he soon coldly withdrew his eyes.
He pulled the lapels of his jacket straight, removed his shoes, and entered the room.
The executives and employees who had accompanied him all the way to Saudi Arabia followed behind him as one.
“Cha Seo-bang.”
It was Cha Moon-hyuk, the man she had been waiting for so desperately.
Gicheol quickly came to his senses and called out to him, unable to hide his delight and even forgetting his usual dignity.
Beside him, Se-eun politely tucked a strand of hair that wasn’t even out of place behind her ear and spoke shyly.
“You’re here, Brother-in-law?”
“……”
Moon-hyuk did not answer.
He simply walked toward the altar, which was lavishly decorated with white lilies, pastel-colored roses, and white and yellow chrysanthemums.
He looked briefly at the memorial portrait, framed by beautiful flowers of various colors.
Then he lit an incense stick and placed it in the incense burner.
Smoke slowly rose.
As the gentle scent of incense spread through the air, Moon-hyuk began to bow with a straight and dignified posture.
After bowing twice, Moon-hyuk bowed his head once more toward the memorial portrait and finally spoke.
“I’m sorry for being late, Mother-in-law.”
Only after speaking those words in his deep, heavy voice, deep as a cave, did he turn toward Gicheol, who had belatedly composed his expression.
Moon-hyuk bowed to Gicheol, who stood there with an appropriately sorrowful expression carefully painted across his face.
Gicheol also bowed to Moon-hyuk.
Only after exchanging bows did Moon-hyuk straighten his tall body and speak.
“I’m sorry for being late.”
As if he had never been pressuring Seol-ah earlier, Gicheol answered generously.
“No, no. Who in Korea doesn’t know how busy you are? The important thing is that you came. Your mother-in-law will understand.”
Ha.
A tiny breath of disbelief escaped, and Seol-ah’s face twisted.
Understand? How would you know that?
At that moment, the resentment that had been buried beneath resignation and self-blame suddenly surged upward.
A father who could not show even the slightest sadness over his wife’s death.
A father who had once said that when he died, the only person he would be with would be his former wife.
Because of that, perhaps out of consideration for his former wife’s feelings even in the afterlife, he had chosen a tree burial at a memorial park far away from the columbarium where his former wife was enshrined for Seol-ah’s mother.
Her lonely mother’s life had continued cruelly even after death.
And now, the anger Seol-ah felt toward her father for shamelessly using her mother’s death to show his generosity became unbearable.
The anger that had been pressed down for so long sprang up like a compressed spring.
It became a sharp blade, and something inside her chest suddenly snapped.
It was the fragile thread connecting Gicheol and Seol-ah, a thread that her mother had barely managed to hold together.
Her head and heart became cold as ice.
And yet, why did her tightly pressed white lips and clenched fists keep gathering strength?
At that moment, Moon-hyuk’s eyes sharply swept over her.
His handsome brows twitched, creating a crease between them, but as always, Moon-hyuk soon smoothed his brow and withdrew his gaze from Seol-ah.
Then he said,
“I’ll stay here from now on.”
“Thank you.”
Thank you?
Perhaps it was because the final thread of what Seol-ah had wanted from Gicheol as her father had finally snapped.
Every word Gicheol spoke sounded unpleasant to her.
At the same time, the man who had once seemed so powerful and frightening to her now felt incredibly pathetic and disgusting.
With everything inside her becoming twisted and tangled, Seol-ah clenched her back teeth.
“Would you like to change into mourning clothes?”
The funeral director asked hesitantly while holding out a white mourning armband.
He was worried that the expensive, top-of-the-line suit might be damaged while fastening the armband.
Moon-hyuk extended his right arm.
“Put it on.”
“Yes? But…”
Seeing that the director was still hesitating, Moon-hyuk spoke firmly.
“It’s fine. Put it on.”
His arrogant gaze and incredibly attractive low voice drew everyone’s attention like a black hole.
“Then, if that’s the case…”
The director took a breath that made his chest rise and approached Moon-hyuk, carefully preparing to fasten the armband.
That was when—
“No. Don’t put it on.”
A low, subdued voice rang out.
In that instant, the entire world became silent, as though everyone had stopped breathing.
People naturally turned toward the owner of that voice.
And at the end of their gazes stood Seol-ah.
Seol-ah hated this.
This was a place to mourn her mother’s final moments.
But the moment Moon-hyuk appeared, her mourning had faded into the background, and everyone’s attention had turned solely toward him.
She knew.
She knew that her feelings were contradictory.
After all, she was probably the person who had desperately wanted him to come more than anyone else.
But Jihyun’s phone call had changed everything.
They had been in-laws for two years.
Yet the Cha family had considered their precious ancestral rite far more important than the death of their in-law.
Even if that really was the case, couldn’t they have pretended otherwise?
Couldn’t they have at least pretended to be a little sad?
Couldn’t they have hidden it instead of making it so obvious?
Even as her husband… would he really be any different?
Even so, she had been afraid that she might start hoping again.
So she had repeatedly folded those hopes away beneath resignation and self-blame.
“……”
A thin crease appeared between Moon-hyuk’s handsome brows.
His eyes narrowed slightly.
But soon, his dark pupils became frighteningly deep as they fixed firmly on his wife.
His gaze was as cold and hot as a blue flame.
Seol-ah’s extremely dry lips grew even drier.
But where had she found such courage?
Seol-ah did not avoid her husband’s gaze.
No.
Instead, she met it directly.
Seol-ah slowly began walking toward Moon-hyuk.
He did not move at all.
He simply looked down at her arrogantly and silently.
Finally, Seol-ah stopped in front of him.
Moon-hyuk was a full head taller than her, so she had to look up at him as she slowly spoke.
“It was an important business trip. Chairman Cha will be waiting for your report.”
At that moment, the skin beneath Moon-hyuk’s eyes twitched, as if he were trying to figure out what Seol-ah truly meant.
Isn’t it strange?
Until only recently, even the smallest gesture from him like this had been enough to make her tremble.
But today, strangely enough, it wasn’t.
It felt as though white snow that had once been blown around helplessly by even the slightest breeze had frozen over and over again until it had become a solid block of ice.
Seol-ah spoke with a firm gaze.
“So go.”
“……”
Moon-hyuk said nothing.
Instead, he simply stared even more intently into Seol-ah’s eyes.
Her husband’s gaze was so cold that it made her chest ache.
In the past, Seol-ah would undoubtedly have flinched and quietly lowered her eyes.
But she did not want to do that now.
No.
She didn’t want to anymore.
Even when faced with his wife’s defiant eyes for the first time, Moon-hyuk’s gaze remained completely calm.
He merely narrowed his eyes slightly.
And even that lasted only for an instant.
But for Seol-ah, time seemed to pass more slowly than ever.
It was the same for everyone else.
Everyone except Moon-hyuk.
The suffocating tension continued, stretching out the silence unbearably.
And then—
Swish.
Unexpectedly, Moon-hyuk was the first to look away.
His eyes slowly shifted to the side.
There stood the funeral director, completely unsure of what to do.
Moon-hyuk spoke.
“What are you doing? Aren’t you going to put it on?”
“Yes? Yes.”
The director jumped in surprise and hurriedly began fastening the armband.
Moon-hyuk then looked straight ahead, completely ignoring Seol-ah, as though her words were not even worth responding to.
“Cha Seo-bang. Thank you very much. Your mother-in-law must be very pleased.”
Gicheol spoke as though he had been waiting for the chance.
His voice, once again using his own wife to curry favor with Moon-hyuk, was filled with relief and delight that he could not hide no matter how hard he tried.
“Brother-in-law, thank you.”
Se-eun also joined in beside him in her prettily practiced voice.
Perhaps that was why it was impossible not to notice.
Even though Seol-ah did not want to look, she could clearly see her older sister repeatedly brushing her hair behind her ear, her eyes occasionally revealing greed and disappointment.
But just as he had done with Seol-ah, Moon-hyuk did not even give Se-eun a brief answer.
With an expressionless face so cold that it was almost frightening, he simply approached Seol-ah and stood beside her.
