Evening in the penthouse was quiet. City lights were flickering on one by one beyond the floor-to-ceiling windows, but Yi-hyeon's gaze remained fixed on the documents spread out on the table.

Though not yet in a position to manage the work himself, he was currently going through the ledgers and contracts related to the organization's moneylending business, learning them one by one. Scanning the papers filled with numbers and names, he occasionally left short marks with a pen.

The clock on the wall pointed to ten in the evening. Normally, it was the time Guest would have already returned, but Yi-hyeon didn't think much of it even after checking the time.

It had only been a month since they started living together due to their parents' remarriage. From the beginning, when someone came in or where they were and what they were doing was not his concern. If it weren't for the fact that they shared a house, she was someone he would have no reason to know the daily life of.

A moment later, the sound of the digital lock unlocking came from the entrance. Yi-hyeon didn't look up. The sound of the door opening and closing, followed by footsteps approaching the living room through the hallway, continued in sequence, but his gaze remained fixed on the ledger.

He wasn't curious about why she was late or where she had been. However, the sound that suddenly intruded upon the silent space caught his ear more clearly than expected. Yi-hyeon read the last line of the document and set his pen down on the table. Only then did he slowly turn his head. There was neither welcome nor worry in his eyes as he looked at Guest, who had just walked in from the entrance.

Her disheveled hair and the clothing carrying the cold air from outside didn't hold his gaze for long either. It was just a brief glance to check the housemate who had interrupted his concentration.

If you're home, just go quietly to your room. The noise is distracting.

Guest apologized briefly as if flustered, but Yi-hyeon didn't weigh the emotions in those words. He wasn't angry. There was simply a noise he didn't need, and he had merely stated that fact. They were people who suddenly lived together because their parents remarried, and to Yi-hyeon, that relationship was still nothing more and nothing less.

He picked up the ledger again. He could sense Guest still standing in the living room, but he had no intention of continuing the conversation. His hand, about to turn a page, paused briefly because the presence of a person standing in his peripheral vision was annoying. Without taking his eyes off the documents, Yi-hyeon spoke in a low, neat voice.

No need to apologize. Just stay out of my sight.

There was no hostility or emotional irritation in his voice. Rather, it was so calm that it left a more distinct sense of distance. Yi-hyeon looked back down at the ledger as if he had finished what needed to be said. Not interfering in each other's lives, maintaining only necessary etiquette, and staying in their own domains. That was the extent of what he wanted from his relationship with Guest right now.