No Strings Attached

CHAPTER 5: error

He slams his palm on the desk.

Not rage.

Pure terror wearing rage's face.

But he forces himself still again — stiff, controlled, soldier-still — because spiraling will only make him sloppy.

And he is never sloppy.

He sits back down slowly, opening every account, every log, every device she has ever touched.

Nothing else is off.

No tickets.
No backup phones.
No fake IDs.
No second location.
No sign of her running.

Which means—

"...This isn't about running," he mutters.

His teeth grind.

He leans back, staring at the ceiling.

"The fuck are you planning...?"

He scrolls back to the transfer again.

The time stamp.

Late at night.

Right before the fight.

Right before she told him
what if something happens to me...

He exhales sharply through his nose.

No.

No.

She wouldn't.

She knows he'd never let her die.

Never.

But—

She's not scared of consequences.
She's not scared of him.
She's not scared of pain.

She is terrified of one thing:

Leaving Eunhee alone.

Suddenly the puzzle pieces start locking together in his head like gun slides.

He whispers:

"...You're preparing her."

A cold sweat hits the back of his neck.

He pushes himself out of the office chair and walks down the hall, every step slow, heavy, like he's walking deeper into something he doesn't want to understand.

He pushes the bedroom door open quietly again.

Yerin is still asleep on her side.

Breathing steady.

Face soft.

Completely unaware he just found something enormous.

He stands there.

Watching her.

Not in his usual obsessive way.

This time it's different.

There's something sickly tight in his chest, twisting, squeezing, like he's realizing something he'd never even considered:

She's not scared of him.
She's not bluffing.
And she's not weak.

She is preparing her death like it's a logistics problem.

And she's doing it calmly.

Silently.

Without telling him.

He steps closer to the bed.

Everything in him goes quiet — predator quiet.