PROLOGUE
The sharp crash of glass shattered the quiet hum of the restaurant.
Every conversation came to an abrupt halt.
A raven haired woman stood frozen beside a table, her chest rising and falling with ragged breaths, an empty glass clenched tightly in her hand. Fresh orange juice dripped from the man's face, soaking into his expensive shirt as he stared back at her in stunned silence.
"You ungrateful cheating bastard."
Her voice cracked, carrying far enough for everyone in the restaurant to hear.
"You promised me you'll be loyal, that we'll marry someday, hah… fuck…I'm such a fool to believe in your trash."
No one dared to interfere. The customers pretended not to look, though every pair of eyes lingered on the couple, ears pointed at their direction. Who'd miss such a juicy drama?
Behind the counter, Yoon Ji-nae quietly watched the scene unfold.
She had always liked watching people.
Not because she enjoyed seeing them fall apart, but because she found people fascinating. The tiny tremble in someone's fingertips before they cried. The way their lips curved without permission whenever they looked at someone they loved. The hesitation before a goodbye. The silence after a lie.
Emotions were strange things.
They made people beautiful.
Whenever the restaurant wasn't busy, Ji-nae would sketch strangers in the little notebook she carried everywhere. Lovers sharing desserts. Families laughing over dinner. Elderly couples sitting together without speaking, yet somehow saying everything.
She painted moments she had never truly lived herself.
Love was easiest to understand when it belonged to someone else.
The woman's trembling voice slowly faded into the background, replaced by a memory Ji-nae had spent years trying to bury.
Rain.
Heavy, cold, relentless rain.
She remembered standing beneath the old awning behind her middle school, clutching her phone so tightly that her fingers had gone numb. Water had soaked through her uniform long ago, yet she refused to leave.
He had been the one who asked her to meet him there.
So she waited.
Every few minutes, she sent another message.
Where are you?
Did something happen?
I'm still waiting.
Will it take some time for you to get here?
Hours passed before her phone finally vibrated. Her heart had leaped with relief. Only to shatter a second later.
"You're disgusting."
"Stop pretending we're something."
"Don't ever contact me again. I am tired of your stinky poor self tagging with me everytime, stop acting like we can be friends, you're so annoying, get a hint."
“I hate you. I LOATHE YOUR PATHETIC SELF. Don't ever text me.”
Even after four years...
Those words never felt right. Not because they hurt. But because they didn't sound like him.
The boy who used to sneak into her mother's restaurant just to help wash dishes. The boy who played with her younger siblings until sunset. The boy who held her hand beneath their classroom desk whenever she looked nervous.
The person who had sent those messages……didn't feel like the boy she had fallen in love with.
Yet the sender's name had been unmistakable.
Kwon Ro-eun.
Her first love and maybe the last too.
The boy who had asked her to meet him…only to never show up.
That rainy afternoon became the last chapter of a story that never even had the chance to begin.
"Excuse me, can you bring the bill?"
Ji-nae blinked. “Huh? Oh .. oh yes…”
The memory dissolved as quickly as it had come. The arguing couple had already left the restaurant.
Through the large window, she watched the man rush after the woman, desperately trying to grab her hand while she stubbornly pulled away.
For a brief moment, Ji-nae wondered if they would eventually forgive each other.
Maybe...
Some endings weren't really endings.
Her phone buzzed inside the pocket of her apron. She excused herself from the dining area before pulling it out.
A single message waited on the screen.
Minchae: You're not going to ditch me, right?
Ji-nae stared blankly at the text.
Then, all at once, fragments of last night's conversation came rushing back.
Cheap drinks.
Minchae's endless motivational speech.
"It's a new city, Ji-nae. A new university. A new life. Stop hiding from the world."
Somewhere between the third glass and Minchae dramatically threatening to drag her out herself, Ji-nae had reluctantly agreed to attend the mandatory freshman welcome party.
With a sigh, she pressed the call button. The phone barely rang before Minchae answered.
"Tell me you're already getting ready."
"...I have work."
"You finish work in an hour."
"I could just... go home after that."
"No."
"Minchae-ah~..." she whined.
"No." A stern no from Minchae made her shoulders slump, a pout forming on her lips. Ji-nae rubbed her forehead.
"Do we really have to go?"
"You promised."
And they never broke any promises till date.
"..."
"And if you change your mind, I'll send my unnie to drag you there."
Ji-nae's eyes widened.
Minchae's elder sister was someone Jinae respected a lot, someone she could never say ‘no’ to, after all she was a scary attorney, at work and at home.
"What? No! Don't do that. I'll come..."
"I knew you'd make the right decision." Minchae snickered on the other side.
The call ended before Ji-nae could protest again. She let out a quiet sigh and slipped her phone back into her pocket.
A welcome party.
It meant loud music, crowded rooms, people gathering, strangers.
Exactly the kind of place she had spent years avoiding.
She had no idea...
That by the end of that night, she'd wake up with almost no memory of what had happened.
No idea that she deliberately tangled herself with someone she was never meant to involve with.
No idea that fate, after staying silent for four long years…..was finally preparing to paint her monochromatic life with different colors.
And this time….nothing would ever be simple again.
