Chapter 38.1

Chapter 38.1

Crunch, crack.

The phone screen, crushed under Jae-heon’s heel, shattered like a spider’s web, splintering into tiny fragments that scattered in all directions.

Goyo stared blankly at Jae-heon as he destroyed her phone.

“Is there a problem?”

Jae-heon asked casually, tilting his head with a hint of amusement.

It wasn’t because he didn’t know. Goyo, trembling, managed to force out a single question, “Why?”

She couldn’t focus on the phone being destroyed—what bothered her more was the message Jae-heon had sent to Lee Yoon-gun. While the phone was beyond repair, she couldn’t bear the thought of what Jae-heon might have sent. Given his temperament, there was no way he’d send a normal message. The moment Yoon-gun saw it, he would probably lose his mind. Goyo feared how she might handle the consequences of all this.

“It’s just irritating.”

Jae-heon muttered nonchalantly, continuing to crush the phone under his foot.

“It’s nothing but Yoon-gun’s calls and messages on my woman’s phone.”

Jae-heon spoke as though it was no big deal, but Goyo felt differently.

Her eyes trembled as she looked at the broken phone fragments under his feet. Her legs shook uncontrollably as she stood helplessly.

“Is that, is that really the reason?”

Her body swayed as if about to collapse.

A high-pitched noise, like a shrill screech from a speaker, began to echo in her mind.

It was the trigger—the years of abuse had created a sort of “button,” and now, Yoon-gun’s bombshell message and Jae-heon’s violent actions had pressed it.

“You’re breaking it just because you don’t like the message?”

The ringing in her ears made her head spin. Her own words felt distant, like they were being spoken underwater, faint and muffled.

She tried to stay calm, but for Goyo, who had been exposed to violence for so long, the current situation had far surpassed the limit of what she could endure.

“You could just delete it, like always.”

Goyo stared down at the broken fragments of her phone, her hands clenching and unclenching into fists. The shattered phone seemed to resemble her own shattered self, her body trembling like a willow in the wind. With every breath, a dark fear seemed to emanate, consuming her whole being like a suffocating stench.

“Darling?”

As Goyo leaned against the wall, unsteady, Jae-heon furrowed his brows.

“Are you shaking?”

“I-I’m cold…”

Goyo lowered her head, her gaze fixed on the floor.

The broken phone wasn’t me. It’s not for me. It’s not my fault.

No matter how many times she repeated it in her mind, her body’s trembling wouldn’t stop.

“Cold? In my house?”

Jae-heon raised his hand, as if to touch her forehead, but Goyo flinched, pulling her neck back.

“I… I’m just not good with the cold… that’s why.”

Her words were an excuse. It was near the entrance, but the apartment was warm enough that she could have taken off her coat. The reason she was cold was something else entirely.

Humm— hum.

There shouldn’t have been any sound coming from the broken phone, but strange noises continued to echo in the air.

Seeing that Goyo’s gaze was fixed on the phone, Jae-heon’s expression turned even colder.

“Is it me you’re afraid of, or Lee Yoon-gun?”

Jae-heon pulled a pack of cigarettes from his pocket and put one between his lips. Tick, tick. The lighter wheel clicked nervously. When the cigarette lit, Jae-heon took a deeper breath than usual.

Whoosh. The smoke quickly filled the space between them.

“Is it okay if I smoke?”

“…”

Goyo nodded weakly as she leaned against the wall.

She held her breath, trying to suppress the urge to cough. She swallowed a dry gulp, carefully exhaling, inhaling, pausing, and swallowing again.

“You know, Goyo, people get angry when they receive abnormal messages. They don’t just give up.”

Jae-heon exhaled a long stream of smoke as he spoke softly.

Goyo, listening to his words, let out a breath. As she focused on controlling her breathing, her trembling limbs gradually started to calm down. Her nose and lungs quickly adapted to the smoke, and she no longer felt the urge to cough. The mechanical noises that had been constant in her head also began to fade.

“I’ve gotten angry, too.”

Goyo struggled to speak, her gaze fixed on the cigarette between Jae-heon’s index and middle fingers.

It wasn’t that she hadn’t tried.

When backed into a corner, even a rat will bite a cat.