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“I have nothing to say to you.”
“What?”
“Mother, I have something to tell you.”
“You really are!”
Joo-eun, her face full of anger, tried to push back her chair and stand up, but Madam Cha grabbed her wrist.
“Stop it. Let’s hear what she has to say. Aren’t you bored?”
Joo-eun, who had awkwardly stood up, quickly went and sat next to Madam Cha, even crossing her arms.
Eun-chae ignored the attitude of the two of them and sat in the seat Joo-eun had just vacated.
“Alright, what is it you want to say?”
Madam Cha asked with a face that showed no interest whatsoever.
“I want to get back together with Seok-kyung-ssi.”
“Hmph. As if I need to give my permission.”
“No.”
“...What?”
Madam Cha’s voice wavered, seemingly taken aback by Eun-chae’s confident reply.
“If you don’t need my permission, then why did you come to see me?”
“But I felt I should at least tell you.”
“Ha-!”
Madam Cha’s face flushed red, and fire blazed in her eyes.
“So, you’re finally showing your true colors. All this time pretending to be demure and innocent, this is your real self, isn’t it?”
“You can say whatever you want. I won’t waver.”
“You!”
Madam Cha finally lost her temper and stood up abruptly.
“You need to face reality. Four years ago, it was because you were a pianist that you could bloom like a flower beside Seok-kyung. So that my precious child could stand out until the moment he dies.”
Every single word was laced with poison.
“But what if my child gets bored with a woman who’s just a flower? There’s no joy in life, is there?”
“It’s different now.”
“Do you think feelings that didn’t exist before will suddenly appear just because you’ve slept together?”
It wasn’t a conversation to be having loudly in a gallery, but Eun-chae wasn’t worried.
The gallery director had noticed the commotion and was already escorting the other guests out of the gallery.
Indeed, a gallery sponsored by Baedo Group was quick on the uptake.
“Unlike you, who has nothing, Joo-eun is different. She can help Seok-kyung in every way, not just physically! She’s on a completely different level from someone like you.”
“Love is a feeling that can come and go, and disappear and reappear.”
Joo-eun chimed in from the side.
“You know too, don’t you? Don’t you remember how Seok-kyung-ssi let go when you asked for a divorce because you weren’t getting any attention? Are you really that stupid?”
“There were circumstances then. It’s different now.”
“Having someone by Seok-kyung-ssi’s side who can be even a little bit helpful in his life is the way to care for him. Why are you acting so foolish and pathetic?”
“So you abandoned all those other men and chose Baedo Group?”
Eun-chae recalled the other men Joo-eun had been with, as she had heard from Seok-kyung, and retorted, filled with anger.
How dare she have relationships with not just one but several men while engaged to Seok-kyung.
And the thought that she had shamelessly tried to drive a wedge between Seok-kyung and her sent shivers down her spine.
“Wh-What are you talking about! Other men...”
Joo-eun’s voice trembled with embarrassment, and her gaze darted around, lost.
“I heard everything from Seok-kyung-ssi. Mother, do you know everything too, and do you still think Ha Joo-eun is a match for Seok-kyung-ssi?”
“Ha Joo-eun, what is this nonsense? Other men?”
Madam Cha glared at Joo-eun, as if she had no idea about it.
“I-It’s a lie! This crazy woman is slandering me!”
Joo-eun raised her voice, agitated.
“Seeing the two of you makes it clear. I will not give up on Seok-kyung-ssi no matter what.”
“What in the world?”
A large jewel glittered on Madam Cha’s palm as she raised her hand sharply.
I have to, I have to avoid it!
A warning flashed in Eun-chae’s mind, but she was too surprised and scared to move, her body frozen.
But then, there was a firm hand gripping Madam Cha’s wrist – it was Seok-kyung.
“Seok-kyung-ssi...?”
“Baek Seok-kyung, won’t you let go of this?”
How was Seok-kyung here? Ah, Secretary Won...
As soon as Eun-chae saw Seok-kyung’s face, she felt a wave of relief wash over her, and her strength drained away.
“What are you doing! Are you trying to leave a scar on her face?”
“I’m going to make that shameless woman unable to even lift her head, why!”
Madam Cha twisted her wrist to break free from Seok-kyung’s grip and shouted.
“You two are quite the pair. Why don’t you become sworn sisters? Thanks to you, Eun-chae accepted my feelings, so I’ll cheer on your friendship.”
“What?”
“Or you could just kick me out of the family register and adopt Ha Joo-eun as your daughter.”
“Baek Seok-kyung!”
“You’ll have several candidates for son-in-law, so you won’t be bored.”
Seok-kyung sneered.
“Ha Joo-eun, I warned you, didn’t I? If you want to see what it’s like when Baek Seok-kyung works properly, go ahead and try something.”
“So?”
Joo-eun sharply raised her eyes and lifted her chin.
Seok-kyung looked at her with disdain, then turned his head towards the gallery door.
Just then, the gallery door opened, and a strange man walked in.
A middle-aged man with a dignified air, looking quite old, walked towards them with a stiff expression.
“Ah, Father...”
Joo-eun trembled violently, as if she had seen a ghost.
Her father, Representative Ha, approached her and raised his hand as if to strike her, but then clenched his fist tightly, suppressing his anger.
“I heard everything from President Baek. Unless you’re crazy, why would you try to tarnish our family’s honor with such behavior?”
“F-Father... It’s a misunderstanding.”
“A misunderstanding? Do you even know how much money I spent silencing those men?”
Representative Ha’s face turned purple with rage.
“I should have known something was wrong when you said you wouldn’t come home and would stay at a hotel. I spoiled you too much!”
“Father, it’s not like that...”
“Come with me right now! I’ve booked your plane ticket, so you’re going back to London immediately!”
Having said his piece, Representative Ha glanced very briefly at Madam Cha and Seok-kyung, then left the gallery at a brisk pace.
Joo-eun didn’t move, her lips tightly pressed together and her eyes wide and bloodshot. Suddenly, Madam Cha walked towards Joo-eun.
Then, she grabbed Joo-eun’s hand and pulled off a ring from her finger. It was a classic ruby ring.
“Get away from my son.”
“M-Mother!”
“I said get lost!”
“You can’t do this to me, Mother.”
“Who are you calling ‘Mother’? I kept you by my side, calling you pretty and pretty even though you weren’t good enough, and what? You have more than one man? How dare you treat our Seok-kyung like this...!”
Joo-eun, who had been staring at Madam Cha shouting with crazed eyes, left the gallery in tears.
Madam Cha huffed and puffed as she returned to her seat and gulped down her cooled tea.
“Still, she won’t do.”
“Mother!”
Eun-chae quickly tugged on Seok-kyung’s sleeve.
Stop it, please stop.
She had never seen Seok-kyung this angry before. Let alone talking back to his mother like that.
She was so surprised that her heart was pounding and her hands were trembling.
Seok-kyung held her hand tightly. His large hand was icy cold. His hand trembled slightly with emotions she couldn’t tell if it was anger or disappointment.
“From this moment on, I will never see you again, Mother.”
Seok-kyung spat the words out between gritted teeth.
“Even if you say you want to see me, I will never look at your face again until you acknowledge Eun-chae. Even if children are born and ask who their grandmother is, I will not answer. I will leave you to live a completely lonely life.”
“Baek Seok-kyung, how could you...? How could you do this to me? To your own mother!”
“Even if you say that, I only have two answers for you. Either you accept Eun-chae and see me, or you lose me. For your information, the moment you turn your back on me, anything that Baedo Group could have given you will never be yours.”
“You, you really...!”
“What will you do?”
Madam Cha’s face turned ashen, and her body trembled violently.
Seok-kyung-ssi...
Tears welled up in her eyes, and she couldn’t see Seok-kyung’s face properly.
However, thinking about how heartbroken and in pain he must be to say such things because of her, she couldn’t hold back her tears and held his hand tightly.
The three of them stared at each other silently.
Eun-chae at Seok-kyung, Seok-kyung at Madam Cha, and Madam Cha at the two of them.
In that moment of prolonged silence, Seok-kyung took Eun-chae’s hand, turned, and walked out of the gallery.
The hot sunlight at the end of summer shattered on his broad back.
Eun-chae followed Seok-kyung, who was walking ahead with large strides, looking straight ahead without saying a word, until she suddenly stopped.
Because of her, Seok-kyung had no choice but to stop as well.
The face he turned to look at her then was filled with sorrow.
It was a painful, embarrassing, and annoyed face, just like hers when her deepest insecurities had been exposed.
“Why?”
Eun-chae felt sorry for Seok-kyung, who was avoiding her gaze.
What should she do with these overflowing feelings for him?
Eun-chae approached Seok-kyung and hugged him tightly.
“E-Eun-chae?”
“Let’s get married, us.”
“...What?”
He was a little slow to react, but Seok-kyung gently pulled Eun-chae away from his embrace and shook his head from side to side as if trying to come to his senses.
“What did you say we should do?”
“Let’s get married again, us.”
Eun-chae said again with a bright smile.
If he hadn’t heard her, she could tell him again a hundred times, a thousand times, no, even a million times.
“So you’re saying you’ll... live with me again?”
“Yes. I’m saying I’ll remarry you. Surely you haven’t grown to dislike me now...”
“Dislike you!”
Seok-kyung suddenly hugged Eun-chae tightly.
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