The three girls sitting in the café couldn’t say anything.
Yoo Ha-neul, Shin So-hee, and Lee Soo-ah all believed they were doing their best for Sara in their own ways.
Of course, none of them had taken any decisive action.
None of them had become more than just friends with Sara, after all.
Whether they admitted it or not, they wanted something deeper.
Being close to Sara was something they had done out of their own liking.
But to justify their actions, they used the excuse, “Sara asked for it.”
Even when they crossed a line, or even stepped slightly over it, Sara didn’t complain much.
Of course, she would feel a bit uncomfortable or question their behavior sometimes—
—What did I say to Sara when that happened?
Yoo Ha-neul thought to herself.
She had mumbled excuses and distorted the concept of ‘friendship’ that Sara didn’t fully understand.
She competed with others, clinging to Sara, recklessly satisfying her own desires.
It was something she did lightly, without much thought.
Of course, she thought she understood Sara’s situation—no, she believed she did.
A princess trapped in a cage, unable to come out for a long time.
Finally, the princess gathered the courage to open the door of the cage and step outside into the world.
Yes, she understood that much in her head.
But thinking she truly empathized with her was too shallow an emotion.
It was just because she liked it.
Half in jest.
Being close to Sara felt good.
She found Sara beautiful, and her reactions when flustered were cute.
Every time Sara narrowed her eyes and smiled, Yoo Ha-neul thought she was stunningly beautiful.
But what could Sara have been thinking during those times while Yoo Ha-neul was enjoying her school life?
Sara wasn’t just determined to step outside into the world.
Every action Sara took was already a desperate struggle.
It was only after reading Sara’s harrowing letter that Yoo Ha-neul began to glimpse a bit of Sara’s true feelings, buried beneath her surface joy.
How much courage must it have taken for Sara, who had never really spoken properly with people, to approach her?
It wasn’t just that.
Every cheerful act Sara displayed at school, every step she took, was her barely holding herself up, staking everything on it.
So… for Sara, none of it was a ‘game’.
“…”
Even though she was dressed warmly, even though the café was heated, Yoo Ha-neul felt a chill.
“Sara…”
Lee Soo-ah mumbled.
She must have been thinking the same thing as Yoo Ha-neul.
She must have realized, even a little, how harsh Sara’s past had been and how desperately she had wanted to escape it.
That despair, so intense she was willing to risk her life to run away, was fully contained in this letter—no, in this ‘suicide note.’
“……”
Shin So-hee stared fiercely at the letter on the table.
Her slender jaw was clenched tightly, as if she were grinding her teeth.
Yang Hye-in, who had been quietly watching the reactions of the three, reached into her pocket again.
What she pulled out was a white plastic pill bottle.
A rattling sound came from inside the bottle.
Yang Hye-in carefully placed the bottle on the table.
Even without reading the label, Yoo Ha-neul could roughly guess what kind of pills were inside.
The sleeping pills mentioned in the suicide note, obtained through illegal means.
It said the pills contained an ingredient no longer prescribed.
“These are barbiturate-based sleeping pills. They are no longer prescribed due to the risk of misuse.”
Yang Hye-in paused for a moment, as if unsure whether to continue.
But soon she made up her mind and spoke with a hardened expression.
“If the dosage is increased, it can be used for euthanasia.”
“Did Sara… use these pills?”
Yang Hye-in shook her head.
“We don’t know.”
After a brief pause, she added,
“But I think she did.”
Yang Hye-in picked up the bottle and opened the cap.
The bottle was about half full.
That rattling sound earlier was probably because of that.
“But still, these are just sleeping pills, right? Maybe she took them because of insomnia…”
“…”
Yang Hye-in thought for a moment at Yoo Ha-neul’s words, then shook her head again.
“I have a day in mind.”
Yang Hye-in told them about the time Sara screamed and struggled violently.
When she was taken to the hospital, Sara’s back was covered in dark bruises.
Even the doctor and the police thought the marks were signs of child abuse.
Now that she thought about it, they were right.
“But still, there’s no reason for bruises to appear just because she took sleeping pills…”
“She might have despaired because she failed.”
Even though she was no longer a maid, Yang Hye-in still used formal speech when talking about Sara.
Though there seemed to be a significant age gap, she spoke respectfully.
“When the last bit of hope shattered, and she woke up in bed… How much pain must she have felt?”
In truth, Yang Hye-in didn’t know what kind of effect barbiturates had on the human body.
She could only believe the doctor’s words that Sara’s body showed no major issues.
Maybe she had taken the pills even before that day.
That day was when she was supposed to meet Yoon Da-ho.
Sara had been extremely uncomfortable around Yoon Da-ho.
Yoon Da-ho didn’t seem to hide his dislike for her at all.
It was puzzling why the Chairwoman had arranged their engagement.
So, Sara might have taken the pills for that reason.
But she failed—and ended up meeting Yoon Da-ho after all.
Yes, Sara had changed since then.
Perhaps from that day, Sara had already given up on everything.
Everything Sara was doing now might be the result of that day.
Despairing over her failure to die, bruising herself in anguish, and twisting her body in pain in the middle of the night.
That was all Yang Hye-in could think of.
…Even after being by her side for three years, Yang Hye-in realized she knew nothing about Sara.
“…”
A brief silence.
It was an unbearably suffocating silence.
That silence seemed to condemn Yang Hye-in for her past indifference, and at the same time, rebuke the three girls for not thinking more deeply.
One thing was certain: no one here blamed them.
They blamed themselves.
Whether it was truly their fault or not, they felt they had to take responsibility.
“Why are you showing us this letter?”
Yoo Ha-neul, who had been staring at the open pill bottle, finally spoke.
There was a faint trace of anger in her voice.
As if she had just heard something she didn’t want to hear, she felt uneasy.
Anger towards the people who had left Sara to deteriorate for so long without doing anything.
Disappointment in herself for ignoring something she could have discovered if she had just looked a little deeper.
Resentment towards Yang Hye-in for bringing this up at such a time.
But then again, thinking she could have just enjoyed being with Sara without knowing any of this was already a deeply selfish thought.
How was that any different from Chairwoman Choi Na-kyung?
The woman who, for her own selfish desire, left her adopted daughter in the mansion, slowly ruining her while making her dependent on herself.
And how was she, who had used Sara’s pure heart, forced to remain innocent due to her abnormal upbringing, any different?
‘Only now’ did Yoo Ha-neul feel goosebumps on her back and become even more disappointed in herself.
“…I can no longer stay by the young lady’s side.”
Yang Hye-in spoke heavily.
“Being dismissed from that place also means I’m not allowed to approach her at all anymore. No matter how I try to get close to her, the Eugene Group will block me.”
Yoo Ha-neul, or rather, the three girls sitting across from Yang Hye-in, vaguely realized why she had come to them.
She must have wanted to ask them to take care of Sara in her place, now that she couldn’t be by her side anymore.
The first to react was Shin So-hee.
“Isn’t that the same for us?”
Shin So-hee, who had been silent for a long time, asked sharply.
“What makes you think we’re any better? What power do we have that makes us better than you?”
Perhaps she wasn’t just talking about the difference in power.
It was clear that Shin So-hee was feeling the same emotions as Yoo Ha-neul had just felt.
“What can we do if those people up there try to stop us?”
Though she bared her teeth angrily, it was reminiscent of a small, frightened dog barking fiercely.
No, it wasn’t barking at people. It was barking at shadows.
After all, Yang Hye-in was no longer one of those people.
“…I can no longer approach the young lady. If the Eugene Group is serious about blocking you, it will be the same for you as well.”
Yang Hye-in spoke with her head lowered, as if she felt guilty.
But soon, she lifted her head again.
There was a firm resolution in her eyes.
“But there is one significant difference between me and you.”
“What’s that?”
At Yoo Ha-neul’s question, Yang Hye-in took a deep breath and answered.
“The young lady doesn’t try to approach me. But it’s different with you. She will gladly approach you first.”
“…”
“And because of that, if you don’t give up on her, maybe she won’t… give up on anything either.”
“…”
Silence fell over the table again.
“…That’s what I wanted to tell you.”
Yang Hye-in once again bowed her head politely to the three girls.
“…”
The three of them silently looked at one another.
They didn’t exchange words like, “What do we do?”
There was no need to ask.
In truth, all three of them had already made their decision long before reading the letter, long before seeing Sara meet with the Chairwoman—
No, perhaps from the very moment they met Sara, they had never intended to give up on her.
The letter only made them reflect on everything that had happened until now.
…I wanted to live a normal life, even if it was just for a week…
It had been a week since they met Sara.
If that meant the happy and joyful time they had spent together over the past week—
If Sara intended to give up on life once more—
…In truth, it didn’t matter. From the beginning, their answer had already been decided.
They had no intention of letting Sara go.
From the start, even before seeing this, they had never considered giving up.