Outside, the night air was cold and sharp, biting against the skin the moment Junpyo stepped away from the mansion.
It felt different from the warmth inside the house.
Neither Junpyo nor Vivian spoke as they got into the car.
The doors closed with heavy, deliberate sounds, sealing them inside a space that felt far too small for the tension sitting between them. Junpyo started the engine without hesitation, the low hum filling the silence, and slowly drove away from the mansion grounds.
The lights of the estate faded behind them, swallowed by darkness.
The road to the West Estate stretched endlessly ahead, long and narrow, surrounded by towering trees that leaned inward like silent witnesses. The headlights cut through the darkness in steady beams, illuminating nothing but asphalt and shadows.
Junpyo's face was calm, but his jaw was tight. His hands rested firmly on the steering wheel, fingers gripping harder than necessary. He did not glance at Vivian even once.
Vivian sat upright in the passenger seat, her back straight, her hands folded neatly on her lap. She tried to focus on the road ahead, but her eyes betrayed her, drifting again and again toward Junpyo.
Minutes passed.
The silence grew heavier, pressing down on her chest.
Finally, she could no longer bear it.
"Do you love her that much?" Vivian asked softly.
Her voice was controlled, but there was a tremor beneath it, something fragile struggling to remain composed.
Junpyo did not answer.
He did not even blink.
The only sound was the steady rhythm of the tires against the road.
Vivian swallowed and turned toward him fully. "That you are willing to sacrifice everything for her?" she continued. "Your family. Your position. Everything you were born into."
Still, he remained silent.
But his grip on the steering wheel tightened.
Vivian let out a slow breath. "You are not denying it," she said quietly, more statement than question.
Junpyo kept driving.
The rest of the journey passed in a suffocating quiet, each mile carrying them farther away from the world they knew and closer to something raw and unforgiving.
When the iron gates of the West Estate finally appeared, Junpyo slowed the car and drove inside. The place looked lifeless compared to the mansion. The lights were dim. The buildings older. The air heavier.
He parked the car and stepped out immediately.
"I will be right back," he said, his tone leaving no room for argument.
"I should come with you," Vivian replied quickly, opening her door.
"No," Junpyo said firmly, shutting her door before she could step out. "Wait here."
She stared at him through the glass, but he had already turned away.
Junpyo walked into the corridor of the West Estate, his footsteps echoing softly against the walls. The place smelled faintly of cleaning supplies and cold stone. Everything felt stripped of comfort.
A young man stood nearby. Working on a pipe.
"Bobae," Junpyo said simply. "Where is she?"
The authority in his voice made Taeyun straighten immediately. Though he did not recognize Junpyo, something about his presence was intimidating.
"I will call her," Taeyun replied after a brief hesitation.
He knocked on the door to a small room tucked away at the end of the corridor.
Bobae looked up when Taeyun entered, surprise flickering across her face. "Someone is asking for you," he said.
"For me?" she repeated, disbelief coloring her tone.
She let out a small, quiet chuckle, a smirk curling at her lips. It was a defensive expression, "Who would come looking for someone like me?"
Taeyun hesitated. "I think… it is someone from the mansion."
Before he could finish, a familiar voice cut through the air.
"It is me, Bobae."
Her heart stopped.
Taeyun stepped back instinctively, suddenly feeling like he did not belong in that space. He left without another word, closing the distance between Junpyo and Bobae.
Junpyo stepped forward slowly. "I came to take you back," he said.
The smirk vanished from Bobae's face.
She took a steps back without realizing it, until her back hit the wall behind her. The cold surface seeped through her clothes, grounding her even as her chest tightened.
She wanted to speak.
She needed to speak.
But if she opened her mouth now, she would fall apart.
Junpyo moved closer, placing his hands against the wall on either side of her, close enough to cage her without touching her.
"Bobae," he whispered, her name barely audible. "I missed you."
Her lips parted, but her voice came out strained. "What are you doing here?"
"I am sorry," he said immediately, the words tumbling out as if he had been holding them back for too long. "I am sorry I left you here. I am sorry I did not check on you. I am sorry for everything."
Her tears fell freely, hot and unstoppable, spilling down her cheeks like a dam breaking. She tried to turn away, but he saw them anyway.
The sight shattered him.
He reached for her instinctively, desperate to pull her into his arms, but she shoved him away with trembling hands.
"Just go," she cried. "Go. I do not want to see you."
She pushed past him and headed for the door, her steps uneven.
Before she could leave, Junpyo grabbed her wrist and pulled her back. She gasped, turning toward him just as his lips crashed onto hers.
The kiss was fierce, desperate, overwhelming.
It felt like the world narrowed to just the two of them. He kissed her as if he was afraid she would disappear if he let go, as if this was his only chance to make her feel how deeply he regretted everything.
Bobae froze in shock, her eyes widening, her body tense.
Then slowly, against her better judgment, she kissed him back.
She did not want the warmth to end.
When he finally pulled away, his hands cupped her face gently, his forehead resting against hers. "I am sorry," he whispered again.
He pulled her into his chest, one hand cradling the back of her head, holding her as if she were something precious and fragile.
"Come back with me," he said softly. "Let us go back to the mansion."
She stepped away.
Turning toward the window, she stared out into the night. The breeze lifted her hair, and for a moment she looked strong, untouchable, like someone carved from resolve rather than fear.
"I am not going back there," she said firmly. "
Junpyo stepped behind her and wrapped his arms around her waist. "I know," he said quietly. "But you do not have to be afraid anymore."
She turned to face him slowly.
"I will stand by you," he said, meeting her eyes without wavering. "I promise I will never leave you."
She searched his face for lies and found none.
After a long moment, she nodded.
"Let me pack my bags," she said softly.
He shook his head and took her hand. "You do not need anything."
Before she could protest, he led her out of the room and toward the car.
Vivian was waiting outside.
Junpyo opened the back door for Bobae. "Get in."
Vivian's eyes flicked toward Bobae, sharp and cold, a silent glare full of resentment.
"Get in the car, Vivian," Junpyo said, his own gaze hard now.
Vivian looked away stiffly and climbed back into her seat.
Bobae got into the back. Junpyo returned to the driver's seat, started the engine, and drove away, leaving the West Estate behind as the road swallowed them whole.
Vivian sat perfectly still in the passenger seat, her posture composed, elegant, unshaken to anyone who might glance at her from the outside.
But inside, something ugly and sharp was twisting itself tighter with every second.
She did not look back at first.
She could feel Bobae's presence behind her without turning around, like a heat against her spine, like a shadow that refused to disappear no matter how brightly Vivian had learned to shine.
Junpyo's attention had shifted the moment Bobae entered the car.
Vivian felt it immediately.
The air had changed.
The weight in the car was no longer neutral.
It leaned backward now.
Toward her.
Vivian clenched her fingers together in her lap, nails biting into her skin, grounding herself before emotion could rise too visibly to the surface. She had been trained better than that. Raised better than that. She observed. She endured. She calculated.
Still, her chest burned.
She had sat beside Junpyo countless times before.
In meetings.
At formal dinners.
During negotiations that shaped entire industries.
She had always belonged there.
So why did it feel like she had been pushed aside so easily?
Her eyes flicked to the rearview mirror without meaning to.
Bobae sat quietly in the back seat, her face turned slightly toward the window, her expression unreadable. She looked small. Fragile. Unassuming.
And yet.
That girl had undone everything Vivian had spent years building.
Vivian swallowed hard.
What does she have that I don't?
The question came unbidden, sharp and humiliating.
Vivian had grace. Status. Power. A future woven carefully into Junpyo's world since childhood. She understood his family. His responsibilities. His silence. She had stood beside him when things were difficult and never once demanded more than he could give.
And yet he had crossed an entire estate for Bobae.
He had argued with his parents for her.
Defied expectations for her.
Lowered himself for her.
Vivian's jaw tightened.
Her gaze drifted again, this time toward Junpyo's hands on the steering wheel. They were steady now, calmer than they had been all night.
Because Bobae was here.
Vivian felt something dark bloom beneath her ribs.
Something worse.
Envy laced with fear.
Fear that no matter how perfectly she played her role, she would always be second to someone who did not even belong in their world. Fear that Junpyo's heart had already chosen, long before anyone had asked him to.
She wanted to turn around.
She wanted to speak.
She wanted to scream.
Instead, she smiled faintly when Junpyo glanced her way, offering him the same controlled, beautiful expression she had mastered years ago.
He did not notice.
That hurt more than anything else.
Vivian leaned her head lightly against the window and closed her eyes, the city lights streaking past like fading promises.
If love is weakness, she thought coldly,
then I will never let myself lose like this.
But even as she told herself that, her chest ached with the quiet realization that she already had.