"Winter, I'm sorry. I'm out of my mind right now..."
"Hayel, tell the maids to take my mother."
When Winter called loudly, Hayel, who was at the door, came in with the maids.
"Winter! Please!"
Line screamed and protested, but the maids, though restless, took her out. After his biological mother disappeared, Winter kicked the table roughly and called out Hayel. As he came running, Winter let out a grim voice.
"Give my mother some money."
"Yes? To your biological mother?"
"Well, the twins in that house are saying something. Just give her what she asked for and send it to her. Because it's annoying."
"Yes."
Hayel looked slightly aggrieved.
"If it were me, I wouldn't give it to her."
Hay too was abandoned by his parents and spent his days begging in the slums. He would have been a petty thief if Winter hadn't taken him because he thought one of his dogs looked smart. Normally, he would have immediately yelled at Hayel to get out of the way, but Hayel and he had a common feeling that their parents had abandoned them, so Winter tended to look at Hayel only when he talked about his parents.
"Your parents came to ask you to pay off their gambling debt. The situation is different."
"Anyway, that's true. It's shameless."
"You gave money to your father. It's given because of equity."
After Hayel ran out still looking dissatisfied, Winter walked to the balcony. He looked down and saw Hayel handing money to Line. As soon as Line received the money, she bowed repeatedly and then ran away frantically.
"...You don't even look back."
Winter muttered helplessly. It's not that he didn't know that, but he didn't know why he was so depressed. And what was really crazy was that, while feeling disappointed in his own mother, he remembered Violet looking out the window of his room.
In the early days of their marriage, Violet made such a request with a kind smile.
"Can you tell me in advance when you are going out? I want to see you off."
Until Winter was 24 and married, he had never had the concept of talking to anyone or going out.
Violet, insisting on an unfamiliar concept, was troublesome and did not respond, but as soon as she noticed that Winter was leaving, she would rush over and wave in a Princess-like teasing. However, it was clear that her husband did not like her seeing him off, so after a while, she greeted him quietly by watching him leave from the window of the bed.
Whether it was because of his biological mother or because of Violet, Winter felt heartbroken.
***
Winter left the hotel and started walking. As he passed through the oak forest and got closer to Violet's house, he happened to see her outside.
Be felt ashamed of this damn habit he had developed one day, of running to her when he was in pain. It seemed like shamelessness was hereditary.
She was just moving a flower pot outside her house because she was worried about it. Violet, who was holding a pot with young shoots still growing in her arms, saw Winter suddenly appear in front of her and her eyes widened.
"Uh, Winter? What are you doing? "It's raining like this."
Even as she was urgently putting down the flower pot inside the house, Winter did not follow but instead stood in front of the house in the rain.
As he stood like a pillar, Violet grabbed his arm and dragged him into the house. After barely entering the house, Winter slid down to sit against the closed door. Violet sat down in front of him, hugging her knees with a worried expression.
"What happened?"
When she asked, Winter, who luckily didn't seem to open his mouth at all, muttered.
"My mother came."
"Lady Catherine?"
"No. My biological mother."
Violet's eyes widened at Winter's words and she asked.
"Did you find it?"
"She came on her own feet. Please help my children because they are sick."
"No way..."
"Ask me for money. So, I came because I felt like crap."
Rainwater ran down his hair and the nape of his neck. The wallet he took out was also soaked from the rain. Winter, who was checking inside, held out his entire wallet to Violet because the money was wet and looked like it would tear when he took it out.
"I'll give you all of this. Please lighten my mood."
"..."
A longing for death flickered in Winter's dull gray eyes.
There was no point in ending his life right now because his body would be swapped with Violet.
His body was too heavy. He thought it would be better if he were a flat material like paper. Then, will the world feel less heavy?
Violet, who was examining Winter's face, reached out both hands and took the wallet.
"I'll take it, money."
Then she put his wallet aside and pulled Winter down.
Violet, with his head in her lap, gently patted his shoulder. Winter muttered, closing his eyes.
"I don't know what you're doing."
"You try to get everything you need with money. So, I decided to take the money for now."
"..."
"This is what I wanted to receive when I was having the hardest time. I was lonely, so I thought it would be nice for someone to touch me like this."
"..."
"It was heartbreaking, but I needed physical contact. I thought it was strange."
As she said, it was really strange. Violet's hand was in his hair and patted his shoulder, and death, which was just around the corner, took a step back. And for the first time in his life, he felt complete satisfaction.
Countless amounts of land were purchased, and sky-high buildings were constantly built on that land. He thought that was the only way to his happiness. However, he was dissatisfied and was driven by a greater desire.
But now, lying on the rain-soaked and carpetless floor. He was drowning in overflowing satisfaction that even his size could not handle. But it wasn't long before Winter returned to the reality that the woman who had given him such satisfaction was leaving him.
Violet, who was gently patting Winter, said as she wrapped her fingers through his soft hair.
"I don't think I've ever seen your hair this messed up."
Winter paused and frowned at her touch. The look on her face showed that she didn't like it, but the way she acted was that she pressed his forehead a little closer to her hand. After a while, he didn't move and Violet removed her hand, and Winter frowned.
"It looks like you didn't check my wallet properly earlier. I paid much more for my labor than this."
"You still say the same nonsense."
"It's non-negotiable. This much."
Winter looked at her with eyes filled with a desire that had not been there when he first entered the house. Violet was looking at him anxiously with her quiet eyes that were especially charming on a rainy day. She couldn't leave Winter wet for long, so she pulled his arm away, then stood up first, pulled his arm, and said.
"You're going to catch a cold. Take a shower, come on."
"I take care of my body. I don't want to be the idiot being looked after by her wife."
"Why do you think that's stupid? We take care of each other equally."
"It's not fair to you to take care of each other equally when you are much weaker than me."
When he got up, Violet pushed his back and said.
"Okay, I know that's the case, so hurry up and wash up. It's not a very smart thing to worry about me and be stubborn."
Winter seemed to agree with that statement, but instead of being stubborn any longer, he went into the bathroom.
***
Pushing him away, Violet lit the brazier.
She felt very strange. Now, rather than hating him, she was filled with regret, wondering how she should appease him.
At first, she thought he was going to use all kinds of tricks to drag her to bed for three months straight. So she thought of a number of different ways to refuse to sleep.
But It was completely different from what she expected. Rather, it was she who suddenly got hot and Winter seemed to enjoy holding hands the most. After three months, the person who offered to divorce her suddenly appears covered in wounds, like an animal that escaped from a trap and asks for help.
How does she get this seriously injured man out into the rain again?
In the end, it seemed like he had no choice but to sleep here tonight.
Violet couldn't sit down and was walking around because she felt disoriented when she heard Hayel's voice outside.
"Little Madame, are you there?"
Violet opened the door and saw a man wearing an umbrella, carrying a large luggage.
Hayel came inside and babbled as he diligently organized the things in the bag.
"On the outside, he came out fine. He didn't know it was raining. So, don't be too weak-hearted, Little Madame."
Violet smiled vaguely at his words.
"Isn't it the opposite?"
"That's not possible. What should you do If you become too weak-hearted and try to be nice, but then the CEO storms out and says he won't divorce? I am in favor of divorce for both of you."
"You too."
Violet laughed and as if she felt sorry for sending him out in the rain right away, she talked further to him as he was about to leave.
"How can he go back when it's raining like this? My husband is probably going to sleep anyway, so here we are today..."
"That's not true, Little Madame. I will be cursed for the rest of my life."
Hayel smiled back, nodded, and left the house.
The rain and wind outside were cold, so Violet adjusted her collar. She couldn't understand her husband's feelings, why he had come all the way here through this heavy rain.
Not long after, Winter finished his bath, changed into the clothes Hayel gave her, and Violet offered him a cup of hot lemon tea.
"Go to sleep."
"Am I that pitiful?"
Winter seemed to feel better as he accepted the tea and smiled. Violet, relieved to see that, glanced at him.
"Do you laugh when you make people worry so much?"
"Do you want to appease me after I've been such an asshole?"
"It can't be helped. Because you came here in this rain without even an umbrella."
Violet said, still looking concerned. Winter took a sip of tea and asked again.
"Are you really going to sleep?"
His voice gave off a strange, desperate feeling. His hair, which was not dry and dripping with moisture, was wet and matted.
It was money that his mother had finally asked for, so there was no way Winter was in his right mind. That fact thinned the walls of Violet's heart. She nodded her head.
"But I'm not particularly sick, so I sleep on the floor."
"I understand, but Hayel didn't bring any alcohol?"
"He brought it, but Why don't we just drink a cup of warm tea?"
"Ordinary men don't drink tea or anything like that when they're depressed."
Violet didn't want Winter to drink alcohol when he was depressed. But she couldn't stop him anymore, so she took out a glass, put her ice in it, and poured out the vodka that Hayel had brought.
Winter took the bottle along with the glass and sat down under Violet's bed.
Violet, who was quietly watching him drink, poured herself a glass of milk, hoping to help Winter think about something else for a moment. Then he opened the umbrella in the bedroom and placed the milk under it.
Winter asked, looking at the figure.
"You want to give me a house elf?"
Then Violet nodded.
"Yes, I heard that the house elf of Rockround likes to be under an umbrella."
"It did."
"When I was young, whenever it rained, I would bring cookies and milk under the umbrella."
At those words, Winter took a swig of his drink and spoke without any malice.
"Our Princess grew up very wealthy. I didn't even have anything to eat."
"..."
He be really an A-hole. He wants to be comforted yet always being sarcastic at her.
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