Chapter 8

Ayeon tilted her head.

She couldn’t quite remember where she had heard that name before.

“Han Nayul… You’re marked present.”

She checked Nayul off the attendance list, then lifted her head to look at her again before lowering her gaze.

She had caught sight of Nayul’s wrist resting on the podium.

There was a beautiful bracelet on it.

It was the same one that had caught the sunlight earlier, flashing like the edge of a sharpened blade.

“Your bracelet is prett…”

She started to comment but stopped mid-sentence.

Now that she looked closely, the bracelet seemed familiar.

It was the same design as the one she had seen in the jewelry box tucked inside Jooheon’s jacket.

“Is that design popular these days?”

She smoothly changed her words and asked.

“This? No way.”

Nayul turned her wrist this way and that, admiring the bracelet.

A look of growing pride appeared on her face.

“Trends are for anyone to follow, but this isn’t something just anyone can wear.”

“Why not?”

When Ayeon asked, Nayul glanced around and lowered her voice.

“It’s a limited edition. Most people can’t buy it. It’s expensive.”

“Ha.”

The remark was so typically student-like that Ayeon let out a small, helpless laugh.

“My boyfriend has the means, so I get gifts like this. Amazing, right?”

Ayeon chuckled and nodded, thinking the boyfriend of a mere college student must be quite capable.

“It’s lovely. But why were you late today?”

“Do I have to explain that too?”

The bright expression on Nayul’s face quickly faded as she furrowed her brows.

“Three times late equals one absence. I was just asking in case there was something I should consider, but if it’s nothing special, you don’t have to say.”

When Ayeon answered with a shrug, Nayul puffed out her cheeks, then deflated them with a sigh.

“My internship ended this morning.”

“This morning?”

Most things started in the morning and ended in the evening. Ending in the morning was unusual.

Shift work?

That thought crossed Ayeon’s mind for a moment.

“Yeah. I worked overnight.”

Nayul’s quiet voice reached her ears.

Overnight work.

Overnight work.

The phrase didn’t sound unfamiliar, and Ayeon stared at her in silence.

“What? Do I have something on my face?”

Noticing her gaze, Nayul asked, her furrowed brow betraying her irritation.

Ayeon finally lowered her eyes to the attendance sheet.

“You’re marked present, so you can go. Just don’t be late next time.”

She couldn’t ask more.

There was no reason to pry into a student’s private life.

It was best to end the conversation here.

Once Nayul left, Ayeon began tidying the podium.

“Professor.”

Hearing someone call her, she lifted her gaze.

“What, something else to say?”

The latecomer looked as though she wanted to say something more, but didn’t.

“Uh, no… I’ll see you next time.”

Watching the unconvincing student for a moment, Ayeon waited until she was gone before packing up her bag.

“Phew.”

She let out a tired sigh for no particular reason. Just then, her phone rang inside her bag.

[Ayeon, can you have lunch with me? Seoan’s cold is finally over. He’s back at daycare at last T_T. I’ve been dying. I want to get some air somewhere nice.]

The message was from her friend Heesoo.

Ayeon checked her schedule.

Fortunately, her next class wasn’t for a while.

She replied saying she could do lunch, then casually glanced out the window.

That was when she spotted the latecomer from earlier.

Someone else was with her.

The person looked familiar.

After a moment’s thought, Ayeon realized it was the returning student who had given her the orange juice.

He was following Nayul around, talking to her, while she looked like she found him bothersome.

Still, they didn’t seem to be just casual friends.

Was that returning student her boyfriend?

The one who bought her that expensive bracelet?

She had thought he was a modest guy when he handed her that vending machine orange juice, but maybe not.

Either way, campus couples who fought one moment and stuck together the next were nothing new. Ayeon shrugged and left the classroom.

* * *

Ayeon met Heesoo at a restaurant on the outskirts of Seoul.

The place had a beautifully arranged garden.

Several outdoor tables were set up, making it a perfect spot to enjoy the scenery while eating.

“The weather is amazing. Autumn’s perfect for being out and about, but I’ve just been stuck at home wrestling with Seoan.”

Heesoo let out a deep sigh.

“Still, I’m glad he’s better now. You and Seungho can finally take him on a trip this weekend, huh?”

Both Heesoo and Seungho were Ayeon’s classmates from the Korea University psychology department.

“Yeah. We’ve already planned it all. We earned it after all that hard work. Time to enjoy this autumn.”

The way Heesoo narrowed her eyes and spoke playfully made Ayeon laugh.

It really was a beautiful day.

The sky was high, a cool breeze blew, and Ayeon felt her chest open up a little.

“Isn’t it packed for a weekday?”

“Right?”

At Heesoo’s words, Ayeon looked around slowly.

“They’re all affairs.”

“Huh?”

Caught off guard by Heesoo’s remark, Ayeon frowned.

“You can tell just by looking. The atmosphere’s not exactly innocent.”

“Really…”

Now that she looked closely, many couples did have a strangely charged air about them.

“You’ve heard of office wives, right?”

Ayeon nodded slowly.

“These days, office wives and husbands are everywhere. It’s ridiculous. Wives stuck at home with the kids are boring, so they look for someone at work to flirt with, someone they can connect with emotionally. If they love romance so much, why get married in the first place? Honestly, there are so many scumbags these days.”

Nearby, there were several couples wearing office attire, or ID cards hanging around their necks.

“Do you think all those people are in that kind of relationship?”

Ayeon murmured softly.

“It’s the perfect excuse. ‘Business trips,’ ‘fieldwork’… this is exactly where they’d come.”

Ayeon let out a faint laugh at Heesoo’s heated words, but the words “business trip” and “fieldwork” didn’t just pass her by.

She turned those words over in her mind.

Fieldwork. Business trip.

“There aren’t many men like Seungho or Jooheon. They’re treasures. Maybe I shouldn’t lump them together though. My Seungho still has some catching up to do with your Jooheon, right?”

“Catching up? Hardly.”

“Right, looks can’t be helped. How does Jooheon look younger every year?”

Ayeon waved her hands, frowning, insisting that wasn’t true, but she didn’t really deny it inwardly.

It was true.

Both Heesoo’s husband Seungho and her own husband Jooheon were well-known among their circle as devoted husbands.

And Jooheon, as Heesoo said, was undeniably handsome.

Ayeon’s smile slowly faded into a straight line.

Suddenly, a strong gust of wind swept through the restaurant’s garden, making the trees shudder.

The leaves, still green and dense, rustled noisily. A few were torn off and scattered across the ground.

And then, unbidden, yesterday’s events came flooding back to her.

The bakery bag and coffee she never got to give him, her detour to his company, the faint hope that he might be home when she returned.

She had been wrong.

He hadn’t come home last night.

Just as he’d said during the day, he had worked through the night.

At his workplace, which she didn’t know.

Where exactly was that?

The words “fieldwork” and “business trip” came back again, and she lifted her head, staring quietly at the unusually blue autumn sky.

“They’ll probably eat lunch here and then head somewhere nice nearby,” Heesoo said.

Ayeon gave a brief laugh but then straightened her expression.

So this was the reality for many people now.

The Mind Publishing really had planned their book perfectly.

How much happiness did these affairs bring?

How much better could their lives possibly get after breaking the vows they made to the person they’d chosen to spend their lives with?

She was genuinely curious about their psychology.

And about how these affairs ended.

As a psychologist. And as someone bound to another person in marriage.

The wind soon died down, and the garden returned to its calm state.

Then Heesoo spoke again, her face serious.

“Hey, Ayeon.”