“Are you telling me not to read a book?”

Kwon Chae-woo turned his head and looked down at Lee-yeon. His eyes were suffocatingly silent like a tranquil sea.

“What? But what did I do?”

“How can I concentrate on my book when my wife is looking at me like that?” He let out a long sigh and rubbed the back of his neck.

“It’s because I can’t sleep.”

He put the book down as he looked into her big eyes. “Then, Lee-yeon, can you tell me about the old days?”

“About what?”

“About the two of us. For example, our first-”

“―our first night?”

Kwon Chae-woo lay down on her side. His slightly twitched eyebrows looked dissatisfied.

“Not that one, but about how we first met.”

“….”

“I don’t want to hear about a worthless bastard who only c*ms quickly.”

Immediately, Lee-yeon coughed in awkwardness, hoping he wouldn’t notice her flustered cheeks.

‘A man in a black raincoat holding a shovel was in the mountain…’ Lee-yeon tried to erase the image that immediately came to her mind. She instead said, “We met in the mountains. I left my belongings behind that day, but you thankfully followed me and gave it to me. That’s how we met.”

Fortunately, it wasn’t that hard to change the genre from horror to romance.

“That’s classic.”

“Yeah, it was.”

“Don’t tell me that it was a handkerchief that I brought to you.”

Hearing his question, Lee-yeon smiled and swallowed words she couldn’t say. ‘It was my favorite electric saw.’

“It was just a small comb.”

The man also smiled as if he was trying to picture their first meeting in his head. When she saw the man’s eyes softly smiling at her, she suddenly had the bitter taste of guilt in her mouth.

“From now on, you will have to be more faithful to your husband if it’s true that we got married because we really love each other.” She remembered Kwon Chae-woo’s words which now rang in her ears. It was full of hope and affection. ‘If only he knew…’

The more lies she made, the more she felt like she was being pushed to the edge of a cliff. Kwon Chae-woo seemed obedient most of the time. But once in a while, he would say things that made her blood run cold.

And that meant that he was still doubting. Therefore, Lee-yeon needed to make lies that appeared more sincere.

‘There’s a saying that one climbs over a hill only to face yet another hill, and I guess I’m the one who’s climbing that hill right now.’

* * *

“Is Spruce Tree Hospital here?”

Finally, it was the day of the open tournament.

“Yes, we are here!” Lee-yeon raised her hand as she gasped.

On the slope of the dense forest with a two-lane road behind it, people gathered there looked up at the 30-meter-tall Ginkgo tree with their mouths open in astonishment.

Anyone could tell at a glance that the crooked branch was dangerous. Besides, the orientation of the other trees surrounding the crooked Ginkgo tree was also leaning in a dangerous angle.

“There are two other people besides Director So Lee-yeon working in Spruce Tree Hospital, am I right?”

“Yes… Wait what?!” She turned to the inspector and asked again. “Two people?”

Of course, in her mind, Spruce Tree Hospital was a prestigious hospital consisting of tree doctor So Lee-yeon herself, arborist Gye Choo-ja, flower arranger Kwon Chae-woo, and insect doctor Lee Gyu-baek. But the reality was that the two women were barely paying the electricity bill to run a hospital.

‘But who’s the other officially registered employee besides Choo-ja?’

“It says here it’s Mr. Kwon Chae-woo.”

‘What?! But as the director, I’ve never officially registered him as the hospital’s employee!’ Lee-yeon was frozen in place, as much so as if she had been turned to stone. But when she noticed Kwon Chae-woo staring at her right next to her, she quickly smiled and pretended like she wasn’t surprised at all.

“Yes, yes…. That’s right.”

‘I see. If someone secretly did this, there is only one person that comes to my mind right now.’

It can only be that man.

Kwon Chae-woo’s older brother, Kwon Ki-seok.

Lee-yeon pressed her forehead with her finger and closed her eyes. The man who reminded her of his existence occasionally. The thought of him made her tense, and her breathing got faster.

– So Lee-yeon, how have you been?

He called Lee-yeon once every three months. The intention was clear. His call was the firewood that was trying to ignite her tension. Just hearing his voice reminded her of the threat of that night.

As the number of calls piled up, Lee-yeon slowly lost her will.

‘…I feel like he’s watching me.’

Her heart began to thrum wildly against her chest.

‘When will I be free from the shackles…?’

When Kwon Chae-woo was in a vegetative state up to the moment of his awakening, Lee-yeon had been stressed. She thought she would lose her mind eventually.

Luckily, there were times of respite when she could forget of the man residing under her roof. All the expenses, including the nursing cost, were taken care of by Kwon Ki-seok. Besides, Kwon Chae-woo’s doctor regularly visited for a medical check-up. Lee-yeon didn’t have to worry about anything and could focus on her work.

As if everything that had happened on that night was a dream, Lee-yeon quickly returned to her normal life, and everything was peaceful. She sometimes couldn’t believe she came out of the slaughterhouse without a single finger cut off.

To Kwon Ki-seok, Lee-yeon was a hostage, and to Lee-yeon, Kwon Chae-woo was a hostage, her lifeline.

But ever since Kwon Chae-woo woke up, everything changed. A seed of suspicion began sprouting in her because it didn’t make sense that a man like Kwon Ki-seok still couldn’t catch the real culprit after two years had passed.

Perhaps she had already foolishly walked into the prison built by Kwon Ki-seok.