Chapter 48.2

Even though she knew it all, she felt numb as if someone had slapped her in the back of the head and ran away. Yoo-hwa tightly gripped her slightly trembling hands.

“When will it end? This messy situation.”

“It’ll be sorted out soon.”

It wasn’t difficult to think of the house filled with blood stains from unknown people. It was also clear that these things would occur frequently in Woo-hyun’s life.

“I’ll clean it up. And be careful so that this doesn’t happen in the future.”

As Yoo-hwa was about to pass by Woo-hyun while holding her breath,

“I told you I prepared a new house for you. It’s safe there, so stay there for a while. Let me know if you need anything.”

“…”

Woo-hyun spoke as if he had come with a firm purpose from the beginning. Yoo-hwa stared quietly at Woo-hyun’s face.

“No. I’ll stay here. There’s no reason for me to be owing you. So you should also be careful not to let something like today happen again and make me that kind of offer. Make sure you explain properly to the people who misunderstood.”

“…”

“That there is no relationship between you and me.”

Yoo-hwa said as if emphasizing each and every word. She said those words to Woo-hyun, and to herself. Woo-hyun’s face loosened at those words, but he soon frowned as if he couldn’t overcome his rushing emotions. He pressed his fingers against his frowning forehead.

“Don’t be stubborn. You will really die at this rate.”

A threatening mood rose in his eyes as he cast a furtive glance to the side, and then disappeared.

“Then…”

“…”

“… Can’t I?”

Yoo-hwa asked in a low voice. It was a voice so low that he couldn’t hear it unless he listened closely. Woo-hyun’s expressionless face broke. It was the first time she had seen Woo-hyun being hit by her words.

She thought it would be pleasant and curious, but strangely, she didn’t feel anything.

Yoo-hwa opened her mouth and spoke casually, as if telling someone else what happened.

“Whether something happens to me, or I die, it won’t be a problem for you. Wouldn’t it be better for you if I’m gone? There would be fewer useless misunderstandings… Above all, you want me to be in pain.”

“…”

“Ah, you just want me to be in pain, you don’t want me to die. Like everyone else.”

Yoo-hwa murmured in self-reproach.

If he wanted her to die, a sense of guilt would remain, but if he wished for her to live in pain like the others…

He would be like those who hoped that she would remain a source of mockery and gossip forever.

Yoo-hwa’s eyes were empty. She couldn’t tell whether she was calm or if she had become numb.

“Kim Yoo-hwa.”

Woo-hyun called her full name for the first time in an angry voice. The focus returned belatedly to Yoo-hwa’s eyes.

“Woo-hyun.”

Yoo-hwa cut off his call. As if she was telling him to listen to her first.

Breathing in, Yoo-hwa raised her head and looked straight into Woo-hyun’s eyes.

“If I moved to the place you told me about, wouldn’t there be a bigger misunderstanding?”

“So? Will you continue living like this, not knowing what may happen?”

“They’ll misunderstand.”

“I told you. You don’t know what’s going to happen if you stay like this.”

“Even if I do, it doesn’t have anything to do with you.”

Yoo-hwa gave a faint smile out of self-scorn. She had already suffered such intimidation and threats so often that she felt indifferent. On the contrary, she thought she would even accept it obediently if he said he was going to kill her painlessly. She wasn’t living because she wanted to, but because she didn’t have the confidence to cross the threshold of death.

“It’s something that is happening because of me, why does it not have anything to do with me?”

Woo-hyun’s low voice was sharp. She could clearly feel the emotions he had organized becoming disarranged. Yoo-hwa smiled faintly.

“I think it’s too late to feel such guilt.”

“…”

“If you do this, the other people will misunderstand me even more.”

“…”

“And I’m going to delude myself too. Even now, I’m confused about why you’re doing this.”

“…”

“So if you’re worried about me, instead of locking me up somewhere, try not to let this happen. Put people in a place that they can’t see, like before. And this kind of conversation… Ask someone else to do it. Don’t come personally. This is also easy to misunderstand.”

“…”

After she finished speaking, Yoo-hwa looked at Woo-hyun with calm eyes, unlike before.

It was a long time, and it was a short time. The time she met with Woo-hyun, and the time she parted ways with him.

During that time, Yoo-hwa once again learned to give up. After giving up like that, her heart crushed like sand. No matter how hard she tried to erect her emotions, they quickly crumbled down like a sandcastle. It seemed that she wasn’t able to hold anyone in her heart anymore. Even if that person was Sin Woo-hyun, who she longed for so much.

Yoo-hwa slowly closed her eyes at the blowing wind and then opened them. She slowly opened her mouth with an indistinct face that seemed like it was going to disappear in the air.

“And since I’m seeing you, let me tell you. I’ve taken care of your stuff. Everything you left behind, everything I was going to give you.”

“…”

“So don’t worry. I finished it well.”

The parting that she had promised back then.

“I’m sorry it was late.”

Yoo-hwa smiled vaguely.

She imagined it sometimes. How would Woo-hyun react if she said this? Most of the times, it ended with either him laughing at her for foolishly ending it just now, or him listening with a blank face.

She never imagined him being stiff like he was right now, like a person who had heard something they didn’t want to.