Zack and Victor staggered into their home around 2:00 a.m., their faces etched with fatigue. Their shoulders slumped under the weight of their exhaustion, and every step seemed to take an effort. Zack's eyes were bloodshot, and he barely registered the surroundings as he headed straight for the home office. Victor, equally drained, ran a hand through his dark hair, a deep sigh escaping him as he followed.

As he held the doorknob, he caught Victor slipping away, rushing to his room.

"Where do you think you're going?" We only have a few days left to f**k this crap."

"I'm going to get some shut-eye; otherwise, I'll die from fatigue!"

The door swung wide, slamming against the wall with a loud thud that echoed through the quiet house. The unexpected commotion made Zack and Victor startle, their fatigue momentarily forgotten as they looked up in surprise.

"The hell are you up to at this hour?"

"Your wife is still waiting for her hard-working husband, love."

Yuna's method of making fun of Zack often took him off guard.

She stuck her head out the doorway and called Victor.

"Have a warm soup before bed, Victor. It'll help you relax and calm your body for a wonderful night's sleep."

Victor sat down, inhaling the bowl of broth with refreshing herbs. He leaned back against the couch, his posture gradually becoming more relaxed. The warmth of the broth seemed to melt away the fatigue etched into his features, and a subtle, contented smile touched his lips.

"Do not look at me with this kind of eyes, sweetheart."

A smile of pleasure twisted Yuna's lips as she met Zack’s glare, which could bore a hole through steel.

"Do you know how many months the new tech product preparation is supposed to take?" Zack asked, his tone laced with frustration and fatigue.

She's not helping Victor stay awake by giving him a soothing soup instead of coffee.

She stepped closer and cuffed her hands against Zack's shoulder. Yuna gently massaged him while he was sitting straight on the swivel chair.

"Your wife is brainless and can only use her body to help her hard-working husband."

Using her thumbs and fingers, she applied pressure to specific areas of his neck. It helped reduce the pain in his head from lack of sleep and relieved his stress from overwork.

Victor hid a sudden laugh behind a cough.

"Then, how did you come up with an idea to invite those people for product launching?"

He quenched his teeth as he asked her.

When Zack looked up at her pleasant face, his face stiffened up. It was clear that he had sensed something more beneath Yuna’s seemingly innocent gesture, his mind quickly calculating her motives and the underlying intentions behind her soothing touch.

"Hmm... Is that why you are working your ass off that you barely get some sleep?"

"Oh, I'm sorry."

A smile touched the corners of Yuna's mouth and played in the laugh lines beside her radiant eyes.

Victor and Zack analyzed her gesture and concluded.

'Shit! She's Yuna! Why didn't we ask her opinion in the first place?'

They were cursing their minds.

"Tell us."

The expressions on Zack and Victor's faces were utterly vibrant as they waited to hear her excellent suggestions.

When Lucas's guests, including the president, began making excuses and offering apologies for not noticing Zack’s situation sooner, Yuna seized the opportunity to further her plan. With a calm yet decisive tone, she responded, “If you are truly sincere, you will address your apologies directly to Zack himself.” Her words carried a weight of expectation, compelling them to confront Zack face-to-face.

“Surely you’ll attend if Zack himself calls for your presence at an important event, won’t you?”

Yuna’s question was a calculated nudge, subtly highlighting the expectations she had set. And everybody assumed that what she meant was a product launching event.

"What we needed to build isn't a new product but your honor, love, because you married a whore, ill-reputed woman, or whatsoever, as they said."

Yuna continued her gentle massage, her fingers deftly working along Zack's shoulders and back. As she softly moved his head to the left, her touch was soothing and deliberate, easing the tension from his muscles

"Mmm... So?"

He smothered his breath, unwilling to admit he was pleased with the massage.

"Let's rob them!"

Yuna said confidently with her fortune smile.

"I'm in!"

Victor's voice tinged with eager agreement. The sharpness of his tone, combined with a genuine spark in his eyes, revealed his readiness to dive into the plan Yuna had proposed.

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“I can simply massacre them if they don’t give anything.”

Victor’s excitement momentarily shifted to a dark thrill as he said.

"Don't beat around the bush."

To make her face him, Zack effortlessly lifted her over the office table after catching her hand over his shoulder. He then kicked the table leg, making his swivel chair move back a meter from her.

"OOh. How long will it take a computer whiz like you to create an e-commerce and social media application?"

"It won't take long if we have all the feature ideas."

Yuna anticipated it because Victor and Zack co-owned social networking platforms.

"As expected of my husband. Let's make a charity auction, then."

Yuna got up from the table and sat comfortably beside Victor on the couch.

"Our motive is to support the non-profit organizations to build your image."

Zack ran over to Yuna's side with a pen and paper, while Victor took his tablet with him for important notes as Yuna began to discuss the features she envisioned for the platform.

For the first time, they paid serious attention to other people's perspectives, as if Yuna's words were their salvation, and they didn't know how close they were.

Zack arched his gorgeous lips, and Victor's eyes dilated. Yuna purposely bowed her head and chuckled, bringing their heads closer together. A second later, Victor and Zack smashed each other's faces with enormous hands.

"Is our mind synchronized now?"

Yuna inquired as if she had not caused their discord.

"Hmmm. I got it."

Zack responded by bashing Victor's head with a throw pillow while standing up, dodging Victor's kick, and then returning to his table.

"Very well! Only our body isn't synchronized yet."

Yuna glanced at them and murmured as she left the office with Victor's empty bowl to wash in the kitchen.

'They really are like Shan and Sam.' (Her twin sisters)

"..."

For a moment, the office was deafeningly quiet, the only sound being the muted hum of the air conditioning and the shuffling of papers.

"I wasted weeks of my life and went sleepless!"

The pillow sailed through the air with a sharp swish before thudding against Zack's chair.

"When did you turn into a slugabed, greedy for sleep?"

His tone was a mix of annoyance and disbelief. Zack brow-furrowed.

"Jeez..."

Without a word, he shut the door behind him and left the room.

Yuna came back with a cup in her hand.

"This tea is good after the massage."

"Okay. Just leave it there."

"No. I want to see you drink it."

She said it firmly.

He was surprised that she was a bit persistent. Usually, she would say it once and never again.

"Why bother? Just leave it."

'I am not bothered, but I don't want him to be like this forever. I wonder what's bothering him and why he prefers to stay up. He made the work an excuse, but I noticed last month that he had plenty of time but barely slept.'

Yuna pondered whether Zack's long uninterrupted sleep—which lasted more than three days—resulted from the drug event or natural fatigue on his body.

Yuna sat on the couch, staring solemnly at his extremely handsome face. But beneath the beauty, she could see the strain, the subtle lines of fatigue that only made her more aware of the burden he carried.

'Is his sense of security shattered?'

Yuna got up, turned off the lights, and with surprising strength for someone her size, pulled him onto the sofa.

Yuna’s voice was soft yet firm as she whispered, “Hush... I told you to sleep. You can scream, but nobody can hear you. It is absurd for a husband to act hysterical about his wife turning out the lights.”

Zack couldn’t believe the strength she possessed. Yuna wrapped her arms around him from behind, holding his hand tightly as she intertwined her legs with his. They lay together on the wide couch, urging him to rest.

"I'll let you decide." Lie comfortably with your head on my lap, or remain in this position until you fall asleep."

"Huh! You are so weird!"

His exquisite face glowed under the soft moonlight streaming through the windows. The gentle illumination cast a serene and almost ethereal light across his expression, emphasizing the contrast between his calm demeanor and the turmoil he was feeling inside.

"I know. I am also your wife."

When Zack mocked or criticized her, Yuna counterattacked with the reminder, "I am your wife." She found his reactions particularly satisfying, especially when his eyebrows furrowed in frustration.

"I will lie down."

"Good boy."

Zachary tried to peer up at her face as he put his head on her lap, but the moonlight silhouetted her.

"Can we open the lights?"

"You can see my face if the lights are on."

Yuna obscured his eyes with her hand.

"Now, sleep. I won't leave you even until you fall asleep."

Yuna's voice was soothing, like a lullaby.

She gently yanked his curly, silky ash-gray hair and massaged a circular circle around his head with her fingertips.

The silence rolled for an hour when Zack startled Yuna as he gasped for air, like someone who had just popped his head from the water after drowning.

She lightly slapped his face countlessly to wake him up. "Hey."

"Please. Turn on the light."

Zack begged, his voice trembling with a vulnerability he rarely showed. He was sweating profusely, his usual composure shattered as he resembled a frightened child.

Yuna lifted his head from her lap, and then she followed with his request.

Yuna sat with her feet flat on the ground, watching his beautiful face as he rested on the sofa. She didn't attempt to ask him anything, even though Zack's countenance showed how eagerly he had anticipated her question.

"What's on your mind?"

He looked at her, hoping to catch a glimpse of her thoughts through her calm demeanor.

"If you have any questions, tell me." Zack added.

She watched his face with an impartial gaze, from which no one could infer her thoughts.

Yuna’s thoughts churned as her gaze fixed on his beautiful, weary face. I'm such a coward. I'm afraid even to ask you whether you had a nightmare.

She was afraid of probing into Zack’s nightmares because it might force him to confront and reveal deep, painful experiences he’d been fighting. This could also make them face uncomfortable truths and emotions they’re not ready to handle.

Zack's chin bumped into her head as he tried to look at her face.

"What are you doing? You can sleep comfortably in your room."

"You should have noticed how stubborn I am now, Zack. You can't change my mind after I've made a decision.'

Yuna spoke with her head buried on the couch, avoiding his eyes.

"Go back to sleep. You can't chase me away."

"Why?"

His tone was terse.

"What?" Why am I so stubborn? According to science, your personality qualities are inherited from your mother and father. You should check with my great-grandparents."

'Wrong. My father is a wonderful man. My siblings are angels, too.'

She corrected the joke in her mind. She smiled as she thought about her family.

Why do you act as if everything is just fine and normal? Why don’t you have a single question? Why don’t you show disdain towards us?

These were the WHY Zack wanted an answer.

"Aren't you loathing us?"

The question he had been dying to ask, despite his attempts to hold it back, finally slipped out.

"No."

She gave a brief response. She then gently patted Zack's head with her right hand.

'I feel disgusted with myself instead of hating you. Forced marriage is wrong. But everything was my choice. I know myself very well. Over my dead body, no one can force me, even if you threaten to send me to hell if I don't. On top of that, they threatened me with Mr. Greg, but I could tell by the look on their faces that they weren't earnest enough to deliver a helpless lady into a pig like Greg.'

Yuna's decision to stay, despite having the chance to run, was a result of her careful consideration of the situation. She knew that Greg would not let her leave without consequences after discovering the deaths of the bar manager and Erica.

"I can tell you are a talented person. You can lie with a straight face."

He muttered with a disdainful smirk.

She sighed, raised her face, and locked her gaze on him from only a few inches away. And she said, "No. Yet."

Zack's eyes were extremely earnest as they traveled across her face.

A few seconds later, he dozed off.

"I am sorry."

She whispered when she saw him finally asleep.