Minra was confused.
Frustrated.
And, if she was being honest—
Hurt.
And she didn’t know why.
Because nothing happened.
Because he said nothing happened.
Because she didn’t even remember what happened.
So why.
Why did it feel like she lost something important?
Why did it feel like she was being avoided?
Why did it feel like she had done something wrong?
And worse—
Why did it feel like it wasn’t just HyunSeong who was ignoring her now?
Because Shuun wasn’t talking to her either.
Not like before.
Not like they used to.
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His messages were still brief, distant, cold.
"Busy. I’ll check in later."
"Can’t talk now."
"Hope work is going well."
No teasing.
No comfort.
No Shuun.
And suddenly, for the first time in weeks—
Her phone felt empty.
Her heart felt empty.
And she had no idea why this was happening all at once.
.
HyunSeong wasn’t avoiding her.
Not really.
Not on purpose.
He was just giving her space.
Just trying to figure things out.
Just trying to figure out how to explain himself.
That was all.
So why.
Why did it feel so much worse than he expected?
Why did it feel unnatural to ignore her?
Why did he keep waiting for her messages?
Why did he keep thinking about how quiet she was?
Why did it feel like—
Like he was cutting himself off from something he wasn’t supposed to let go of?
And the worst part?
The worst part wasn’t the distance.
It wasn’t the silence.
It wasn’t even watching her try to act normal while he pretended nothing happened.
It was the fact that—
That she was suffering from it too.
That she was hurting.
And it was because of him.
Because of Shuun.
Because of HyunSeong.
Because of the man who was both.
And now, he wasn’t sure if he had just made the biggest mistake of his life.
.
It had been three days.
Three days of silence.
Three days of distance.
Three days of watching her quietly suffer.
And now—
Now, as he watched her stare at her phone, waiting for a message that wouldn’t come—
As he watched her force a smile she didn’t mean, struggle to focus on work, and try not to care—
He almost caved.
Almost sent her a message.
Almost asked her if she was okay.
Almost called her like Shuun would.
Almost broke his own rule.
But then.
Then he stopped.
Because.
Because what if he was just making it worse?
What if he was just playing with her emotions?
What if he was just leading her in circles?
So he clenched his jaw.
Curled his fingers into a fist.
And forced himself to stay silent.
Because.
Because if he were to reach out to her now—
It would only make things further complicated.
So he had to come up with a way.
A way to explain himself.
A way to let her know that he hadn’t meant to deceive her in the first place.
But that?
That was somehow harder than he thought it would.
.
Chapter 44: "The Woman Who Turned the Game"
