Chapter Text
“... when he found out who I was and who my family really was, he was so shocked, he quit his job and ghosted me.”
Hae-in
Episode 1
The past forty-eight hours were a whirlwind for Hae-in. Sitting here now in the rooftop garden, it still felt surreal that a beautiful ring sat on her left hand. What started out as an aquarium date turned out to be one of the best days of her life. If someone had told her back then that she would say yes to someone whom she had only dated for a few months, she wouldn’t have believed it.
But Baek Hyun-woo was unlike anyone she had ever met. Humble, intelligent, and hard-working. He was truly her ideal type.
Hae-in was admiring her ring when a voice suddenly interrupted her bliss.
“Hae-inah.”
“Eomma, what are you doing here? Someone might see and recognize you,” Hae-in replied quietly as she stood up, hiding her left hand behind her.
“Where have you been?! I’m here because I’ve been calling you for the past two days. Grace said you didn’t show at the dinner she arranged. The young man is a grandson of a good friend of your grandfather’s.”
“Eomma, I’ve told you repeatedly. Leave me out of the matchmaking business. Besides, I already have someone…”
“I am aware. The junior associate at the Law Department. A man like him doesn’t belong in our world. You should know that by now. Everything you do reflects on this family.” Seon-hwa rolled her eyes.
“Ah, so there it is,” Hae-in chuckled. “It’s all about status.”
“No, it’s reality,” Seon-hwa said sharply. “He is beneath us.”
“You don’t know anything about him! He is kind. He works hard. He…”
Seon-hwa interrupted, “...is temporary. A distraction. A fling.”
“That’s not true. You’re cruel.” Haein’s eyes started to fill with tears, but she couldn’t let her mother know that her words were getting to her. Especially not here.
“It’s called being honest… which is what you need to do. Because the moment he finds out who you really are, he will walk away. Then you’ll realize this was nothing more than a fleeting mistake.” Seon-hwa retorted.
As her mother left, Hae-in’s jaw tightened. She found it unbelievable that her mother had come all this way to give her an earful. Hae-in was about to sit down again when she noticed him in the corner of her eye. Someone who should not have heard that entire exchange.
“Hyun-woo… how long have you been standing there?”
Hyun-woo returned from getting them coffee and had caught the end of the conversation. He ignored her question, asking his own instead as he set down the two cups on the bench. “Hae-inah, what did she mean by ‘who you really are?’ Who is she?”
Feeling the tears about to fall down her cheeks, Hae-in covered her face with both hands. The conversation that she has imagined so many times in her head was about to happen.
“Please say something. You’re crying. Did she upset you?” Hyunwoo asked softly.
“Look, I wanted to tell you. Believe me, so many times I tried to tell you. But I was scared.”
“Scared of what? You know you can tell me anything, Hae-inah. Please tell me what’s going on. I’m confused.” Hyun-woo stepped closer, wanting to envelop her in a comforting hug.
This is it. No turning back. She had been dropping vague hints about her family but never had the courage to tell him the truth.
“This internship… it’s to help me learn the ropes. My father… my father is the CEO of Queens Department Store,” she said rather quickly, as if ripping off a bandaid. “The lady that you saw me talking to is my mother.”
Hyun-woo couldn’t process what he had just heard. “What are you saying? So you’re… you’re…”
“...the heiress. Chairman Hong is my grandfather.”
Hyun-woo let out a chuckle. “So all this time,” he said slowly, “when I was fixing your mistakes, when I helped you with the photocopier, when I covered for you…”
When I cared for you.
“...you were just watching me make a fool of myself?” His voice faltered.
“Hyun-woo, please listen to me. That’s not what this was! I wasn’t lying about all of it.”
“Then what was it? I thought you were just one of us. Now, I don’t even know which parts of this were real!”
“I told you that I was scared… that the moment you knew who I really was, you’d start looking at me differently. Like the way you’re looking at me right now.” Her voice was quieter. “But I meant it… all of it.”
“I don’t know what I’m supposed to say,” he said, tears forming in his eyes. “It feels like I proposed to someone who doesn’t even exist.”
Hae-in took a step towards him and lifted her hand to touch his arm, but Hyun-woo pulled away.
That hurt.
“I’m still me! Everything I felt was real. Please. You have to believe that!”
“That’s the problem,” he replied, voice low. “I want to believe that.”
It tore him apart. If she had been truly lying about everything, it would’ve been much easier to walk away. But Hae-in had just hidden the part that changed everything.
“You let me plan a future with you. A life I thought I could actually give you!” He shot back, yet still trying to keep his composure as they were in a public place and could draw attention from curious passersby.
“And I still wish for that life,” she insisted. “With you.”
“You say that now, but what about your family? I asked you to marry me thinking I was offering you everything I had.” His voice dropped. “Come to find out, you already had everything.”
When Hae-in had told him at the aquarium that he might struggle to get along with her family, he didn’t think she meant this.
“No, you’re wrong,” she responded quickly, as if on instinct. “I didn’t have you.”
A tear finally slipped down Hae-in’s cheek. It took a lot in Hyun-woo not to reach out and wipe it away.
“I’m sorry. I am so sorry. I should’ve told you properly,” Hae-in continued. “Not in hints. Not in half-truths. I should’ve just said it outright.”
“I can’t just pretend this doesn’t change things. It changes everything.”
“But it shouldn’t change the fact that we care about each other,” she whispered as another tear slipped down her cheek.
Hyun-woo said finally, “I need some time.”
Her face fell, but she nodded.
“Okay.”
Hyun-woo went to his apartment immediately after work, the one that he proudly showed off to Hae-in and was signed on a two-year lease. But somehow, being there felt wrong. The happy memories of when Hae-in would stay over replayed in his mind. Then came the memories of when he first confessed his feelings. How he bragged about graduating from the prestigious Seoul National University. How his family was respected in their community. How they owned about thirty-five cows.
“Idiot,” he mumbled to himself. It made him cringe that he even boasted about being the sole breadwinner. How stupid he felt now knowing he had said those things to a chaebol heiress. The one whose family owned the very company that employed him.
He surely couldn’t go back and show his face to Queens now, so he opened his laptop and wrote his resignation letter. Before he could talk himself out of it, he hit send.
Suddenly feeling suffocated, Hyun-woo then decided to go back to the place that always managed to offer him a sense of comfort. Yongdu-ri. Home. Laying on his childhood bed, he wasn’t sure of what the future held for him and Hae-in. Yet he was sure of one thing: despite what he learned that day, deep down, he still longed to stay by her side no matter what. Like he had promised when he proposed.
As difficult as it was, Hae-in was determined to give him the space that Hyun-woo had asked for. She figured that she owed him at least that much.
A day passed. Then two. He didn’t show up at the office.
To respect his wishes, she hadn’t been in touch with him since that day at the rooftop garden. By the third day, she overheard her co-workers in the break room.
“... I know! It’s a shame he resigned. Hyun-woo had a lot of potential. And he’s easy on the eyes, which is a bonus.”
Resigned. Just like that. Hae-in’s chest tightened.
Her mother’s words kept echoing in her head. Because the moment he finds out who you really are, he will walk away. Then you’ll realize this was nothing more than a fleeting mistake.
Hyun-woo wasn’t a mistake. Far from it. She finally tried to reach out to him by going to his apartment but found that no one was there.
And so, she knew what she had to do.
Hae-in took out her phone and made a quick call.
“Hello? Yes, get one of the helicopters ready. I need to go somewhere.”