One month has passed.

Now everything moves fast, too fast. The MV production rushes forward like a storm, while Fine Concepts spins beneath my feet. I try to hold on.

I head to the executive floor for the third time that day, only to be halted by shouting echoing down the hall.

"Yoona, stop this! People are talking. It's becoming unsustainable." 

"Unsustainable?! Are you senile, Joon Hyuk? Or just old and lonely?"

"If you don't end this affair with the driver, I’ll have to intervene. That’s not a threat. It’s a promise."

I freeze. Another secret. Another weight no one handed me, but somehow it lands on my shoulders anyway.

I step away from the door. Fifteen minutes later, my phone buzzes.

"Isabelle... help me..."

"Mr. Seo? What happened?"

The line drops.

I run.

I find him hunched over, coughing up blood. His shirt stained. His skin pale.

I drive him to the hospital. Fast, but not frantic. I know this urgency too well.

He’s treated. Medicated. Soon, he’s asleep, surrendered to the sedation.

His phone vibrates. Seo Jae Min.

I let it ring. A message follows. I don’t open it.

Hours later, I reply on behalf of the father:

"I’m fine. Took care of something outside the office. Will talk later."

Then I finally read the message:

"Dad, you disappeared for hours with Isabelle. The whole company is talking. I don’t know what’s going on, but it worries me. Please be honest with the family."

I close my eyes. Look at the man asleep in that sterile bed, surrounded by wires.

Advanced lung cancer. A wife who cheats. A son who doubts him.

He’s worse off than I’ve ever been. And still, he carries it all with the same grace he once taught me to have.

That’s why, later that night, in the hospital lobby, my hands still shaking, I call Jae Min.

Not for me. Not to defend myself. But because time is short. And truth should never wait for pride to catch up.

He answers on the third ring.

"Who is this?" His voice is muffled. Distant. Like someone dragged him out of another world.

"Isabelle. I'm at Seoul University Hospital. It's about your father."

Silence.

"What happened? Put him on the phone!"

"Just come. Please. I’m waiting in the lobby café."

He arrives twenty-five minutes later. Sweaty. Still in workout clothes. He doesn’t ask another question until he sees me.

"Where is he? What happened?"

I stand. Look him in the eye. Say nothing.

I lead the way.

He follows.

When we open the door, his breath catches. His gaze stumbles over the frail image of his father.

His lips part. A whisper escapes, barely audible.

“No... Not like this.”

His fists clench, as if bracing against something no one prepared him for.

"Your father has advanced-stage lung cancer," I say. My voice steady, though everything inside me is breaking.

He doesn’t react at first. Just looks at me. Like the words are from a language he’s never heard.

"He’s known for over a year. He chose not to tell anyone. He wanted to go through treatment alone. And I... respected that. Because he asked me to. Because I thought I could carry this with him."

I pause.

"Lately, he’s stopped sharing details. I know he went through multiple rounds of chemo. But he hasn’t said much about side effects. Or test results. I fear it’s no longer working. And today I realized I can’t hold this secret alone."

Jae Min closes his eyes. His fists clench at his sides. Then he turns toward the bed.

He murmurs something I can’t hear. But I see the tremor in his shoulders.

"He agreed to work with Nova Sound only to be closer to you," I continue. "I thought if you knew that... maybe you’d see him differently. Maybe you’d understand why he insisted on the project."

I take a step closer. Touch his arm gently.

He doesn’t flinch. Doesn’t look at me.

So I leave. Quietly.

I leave them there. Together. As they should have been all along.

🚫 ERROR_404 // Connection not found

Back home, my body screams for rest, but my mind refuses to slow down.

I shower. Loose clothes. Then dial Hyun Joon.

Deep breath. I could have called NaNa, and normally it would’ve been her, but tonight I needed someone who didn’t know me so well.

Someone I could lie to, if needed.

"Hyun Joon... are you busy tonight?"

"Isabelle?" His voice is surprised, but not thrown. It sounds like a small smile. "This is unexpected... but a good kind of unexpected."

"I need to disconnect for a bit. Talk to someone who won’t try to make it all make sense."

"Then you called the right person. I’m on my way."

He doesn’t ask anything else. He never does.

That’s always been the nature of our friendship, space to breathe.

Two hours later, he’s at my door with a box of beers and the same easy grin.

We talk for hours.

I spill everything. Well, almost everything. The essential parts. But I leave out the rest: the diagnosis, the severity, the confidential pieces that still belong to Mr. Seo.

"There’s something I’ve never told anyone, Hyun Joon. And now... I think I have to. It’s about me and the CEO’s son."

He looks at me. Curious. Patient.

"We met before we knew who we were. No titles. No expectations. Just one night. And somehow, that one night... turned me into the woman who slept her way up. Who rose too fast. Who must owe someone something."

"Did he say that to you?" Hyun Joon asks, low but alert.

"Not directly. But he implied it. In the elevator. At the café. With his eyes, mostly."

"Is there any truth in it?"

"That I’m close to Mr. Seo? Yes. But not the way he thinks. And not the way the rest of the company wants to believe. He trusted me with things that go beyond work. And I took them on."

"And his son?"

"Still trying to piece together a puzzle made of other people’s stories."

Hyun Joon is quiet for a while. Then he exhales, slow.

"Then he doesn’t really know you."

"Maybe not. But now... he knows what matters."

He nods. Not fully understanding, but respecting the weight of what I’m not saying.

"Let’s just drink tonight, okay? Like before. No questions."

He gets it. He always does. He smiles, soft.

We toast in silence.

And for a few more hours, I let the world fall apart somewhere outside my door.