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Sehee calmly spoke to Chairwoman Cho, who was trembling, covering her slapped cheek with her hand.
“I acted in self-defense, so I won’t report it.”
“You, you! How dare you!”
Pointing at Sehee with her other hand, Chairwoman Cho couldn’t continue speaking, seemingly in shock. Alisha’s face was pale as she watched Chairwoman Cho. But Sehee, surprisingly, had an emotionless face, devoid of even a trace of feeling. She thought she’d feel relieved. She thought she’d feel a thrilling sense of satisfaction. Why did she feel nothing? Sehee slowly lowered her gaze and looked down at her own hand, which had slapped Chairwoman Cho for the very first time. Her palm was hot, throbbing from how hard she’d hit her. But that was all. Why did I waste 29 years obsessing over something so futile? Even if I lay my hands on something dirty to punish it, my hands only get dirty too. Perhaps this is why people practice forgiveness. But Sehee was never even given the option to forgive. Chairwoman Cho’s boundless, irrational rage had never let Sehee go her entire life. It was a game that would only end when one of them completely crumbled. Sehee, with empty eyes, slowly reached out and gently stroked Chairwoman Cho’s reddened cheek. Chairwoman Cho froze, completely unprepared for Sehee’s action.
“Did it hurt a lot, Aunt?”
Sehee had been holding her breath, lying low for a long time, waiting for this very day. With the perseverance and patience learned from a harsh world she understood too early. She hadn’t failed to hit Chairwoman Cho until now; she had chosen not to. Not until she had built up her strength. Not until she could retaliate in a way that would leave Chairwoman Cho speechless, just like this moment. As Chairwoman Cho recoiled, batting her hand away, Sehee said softly,
“I was hurting enough to die too. My heart hurt more than the body you hit, Aunt.”
Looking at Chairwoman Cho’s still beautiful face, Sehee recalled their first meeting. She shouldn’t have smiled so sweetly at my young self when we first met. The moment Sehee first saw her young and pretty aunt appear in their rural village, she was dazzled. It was astonishing that someone so beautiful and graceful could exist. Her mother and aunt were twins, so was her mother this pretty too? With such a beautiful, rich aunt appearing, the villagers would no longer be able to ignore her grandmother and her. Her young heart, filled with all sorts of expectations, swelled infinitely like a balloon. But her aunt mercilessly burst the balloon that young Sehee held in her chest. She was so beautiful that Sehee unknowingly reached out and grabbed her aunt’s skirt. But her small hand was not only shoved away, she was also slapped. In her aunt’s eyes, as she looked at young Sehee, who was too stunned to even cry, there was only irritation and contempt.
‘Do you know how vulgar your face is, so exactly like your mother’s?’
Even at the mere age of nine, Sehee could understand the meaning of that lovely smile her aunt had shown her. It wasn’t a smile of finding kinship, but of finding a target for revenge. The moment she realized the meaning of that smile, a potent seed was planted in the young girl’s heart. Recalling that moment, Sehee looked at Chairwoman Cho with pity and asked,
“But Aunt, I’m just getting started. Can you handle this?”
“You, you crazy bitch! Do you think I’ll let someone like you get away with this easily?”
“Then try hard to figure out how not to get away with it. And...”
Sehee calmly opened her clutch and took out a business card. -Joo Sehee, CEO of Inno Fashion.- The business card, printed with splendid gold lettering on a black background, was a gift Director Kang had prepared in advance for this very day. She gently placed the business card in Chairwoman Cho’s hand.
“Contact me if you’re curious about what cards I hold.”
Sehee did not avoid Chairwoman Cho’s murderous gaze. Each time she used to lower herself and pretend to be scared when their eyes met, but there was no need for that anymore.
“Still, we’re blood relatives, so let’s resolve this through dialogue instead of ignorant violence, okay?”
Chairwoman Cho, who had been glaring at Sehee speaking with a annoyingly gentle expression, suddenly relaxed her face. She put Sehee’s business card into her handbag and, instead, took a step closer. For a fleeting moment as they faced each other, a taut yet subtle silence enveloped them, threatening to explode. Alisha, caught in between, couldn’t even breathe properly.
“No matter how gracefully you act, you can’t hide dirty blood. What is inherently vulgar remains vulgar.”
Far from being provoked by the remark, Sehee instead smiled sweetly and retorted,
“I believe that vulgar, dirty blood flows more thickly in your body, Aunt.”
Chairwoman Cho bit her lip tightly and narrowed her eyes.
“Let’s see how long you can maintain that composure. Your composure must be because you’re relying on that Seo Kang-joon. I wonder how long that affection you gained by degrading yourself will last. Just like your mother.”
Thump. The word ‘mother’ pierced deeply into her heart, hurting her. Nevertheless, Sehee kept a poker face and endured calmly.
“I’ll contact you soon.”
Without even glancing at Alisha, Chairwoman Cho turned and disappeared. Only then did Alisha, who had been holding her breath, exhale, while Sehee’s face remained coldly hardened. A ghostly intuition tingled. She’s definitely planning something else, but what? Just then, Sehee’s phone rang. Her eyes, checking the caller, subtly furrowed.
“...”
It was England.
________________________________________
Kang-joon watched the entire situation from a distance. Until Sehee and Alisha met, he had no intention of intervening. But Chairwoman Cho, reappearing with Director Jung, was someone he couldn’t ignore.
‘Have you forgotten my warning not to approach Joo Sehee?’
‘So, are you going to sue me?’
‘I might as well.’
‘Then sue. I have nothing left to lose anyway, but a scandal would be fatal to a child who’s finally succeeding. And as you well know, those who have nothing are more concerned with their meager pride and public attention, aren’t they?’
Still, when Kang-joon’s hired guards didn’t give way, Chairwoman Cho gritted her teeth and said,
‘Today, I lost, and that child won. So that child will want to see me more than I want to see her. She’ll have a lot to say, you see. Am I wrong?’
Kang-joon couldn’t deny that the person Joo Sehee most wanted to meet right now was Chairwoman Cho. However, he had Director Jung held by the guards in case of any unforeseen circumstances. To Director Jung, who looked to him for instructions, Chairwoman Cho gave a short nod, then left Kang-joon with a single remark.
‘I’ll see how long you can protect that filthy thing.’
Watching Chairwoman Cho walk away gracefully, Kang-joon felt a strong, cruel urge for the first time. The urge to shove that shameless woman headfirst into a gutter. But unfortunately, punishment wasn’t his place. He couldn’t let Joo Sehee’s efforts, enduring insults and sorrow for so long, go to waste. However, the moment Chairwoman Cho slapped Sehee’s cheek, sparks flew in his eyes, and he almost ran forward. Thankfully, Sehee retaliated in kind, and he barely held back.
“Let him go now.”
At Kang-joon’s command, the burly guards released Director Jung. Director Jung, glaring with piercing eyes, strode quickly towards Chairwoman Cho. With his gaze fixed on Sehee, who was talking on the phone, Kang-joon instructed a guard,
“Bring an ice pack to the VIP lounge.”
________________________________________
In front of the elevator, Sehee ran into Kang-joon. At Kang-joon’s single icy gaze, Alisha scurried away without looking back.
“Did you perhaps scare my sister?” Sehee asked. Kang-joon shrugged indifferently.
“I didn’t scare her.”
“Then what?”
“I just told her not to run into me by chance.”
Kang-joon answered calmly, then carelessly lowered his gaze.
“You hit her hard, didn’t you?”
Only then did Sehee bite her lower lip slightly, her face flushed. In a way, she had shown Kang-joon an unpleasant sight. Men’s fistfights were crude, but women’s fights were no less so.
“Did you see everything?”
“By chance, yes.”
“...It wasn’t a pretty sight, was it?”
At her cautious question, Kang-joon finally lifted his gaze from her cheek.
“Well, would it have been a pretty sight?”
Despite his indifferent murmur, his dark eyes revealed raw fury. A man who hadn’t shown a trace of emotion even when he first found her again. Sehee, caught in a strange feeling, lowered her long eyelashes and whispered,
“I hit her harder, and this time my lip didn’t even split.”
“And your cheek is swollen?”
“Ah,” Sehee made a small sound and reached for her cheek, but Kang-joon caught her hand.
“Follow me.”
The place Kang-joon led her was the VIP lounge on the first floor. A few minutes later, with a knock, a man in a suit handed Kang-joon a small bag. Kang-joon placed an ice pack from the bag on Sehee’s cheek and said,
“Honestly, I was a bit surprised. I thought the Joo Sehee I knew would use it as a weakness in a different way, instead of retaliating.”
As the coolness spread over her burning cheek, her eyes closed involuntarily.
“I’ve already secured the video of my aunt assaulting me, and truthfully, I wanted to hit her once myself. I was curious what it felt like to hit someone, why she hit me so much when I was little, and even after I grew up. Why she was so desperate to hit me.”
Sehee opened her eyes as the coldness left her cheek and met Kang-joon’s gaze, which was deeply observing her. There was no pity in Kang-joon’s eyes, which listened quietly without asking anything. Was that why? This man’s calm gaze kept making Sehee soften. It kept tempting her to pull out the words in her heart.
“I thought hitting my aunt would feel incredibly thrilling and satisfying, but I just feel like I’ve dirtied my own hands. What was so good about it that she hit me so much?”
“From now on, don’t dirty your hands, Sehee. Tell me, and I’ll dirty mine instead.”
At Kang-joon’s serious voice, devoid of any hint of a smile, Sehee deliberately asked playfully,
“You’re going to hit her instead of me, Mr. Kang-joon?”
“I’ll have to hit her. Not with my fists, but with the power I have. People like that need to be completely buried so they can’t show their faces anywhere.”
Kang-joon spoke cruel words in an indifferent tone. But his touch, as he re-applied the ice pack to her cheek, was gentle.
“Mr. Kang-joon, do you know how much you’ve changed?”
At that, Kang-joon looked up. Meeting Sehee’s eyes, he said with a hint of a smile,
“What can I do? The person who loves more has to change.”
This unchanging man’s gaze, his gentle voice, his deep love, still felt overwhelming. Yet, she craved it madly. Knowing that Seo Kang-joon was the only man who could handle her shortcomings and completely fulfill her. Could she truly let go of the joy and happiness she felt because of this man? If she was going to let go anyway, wouldn’t it be okay to be brave just once? So that this perfect man could be hers forever. So that Pré could proudly call this wonderful man her father.
“Indeed, why do you love a woman like me and live such a difficult and complicated life? I can’t love you as much.”
Despite the faint resentment in her words, Sehee’s hand, cupping Kang-joon’s sharp cheek, was soft. Smiling sweetly as she looked into Kang-joon’s eyes, Sehee whispered her selfish wish.
“But I hope you keep loving me.”
To the only man who could make her smile and be happy.
“Can you do that for me?”
The moment Kang-joon saw Sehee’s sparkling eyes looking at him, he realized. Something was beginning to change within her. Sehee’s intensely selfish request was something Kang-joon had desperately wished for. Kang-joon interlaced his fingers with the small hand cupping his cheek and brought it to his lips. Caught in an indescribably profound emotion, he gently kissed the back of her hand. His heart was pounding painfully from the overwhelming love he felt for this woman.
“Actually, I’ve already planned to love only Joo Sehee until I die.”
As he whispered with his lips on the back of her hand, a soft smile spread in Sehee’s eyes, perhaps from the ticklish sensation.
“Then can I really use you however I want, Mr. Kang-joon?”
“As much as you want.”
At Kang-joon’s unhesitating reply, the courage that had cautiously sprouted in her heart took deeper root. He loved her, he came to her, he loved her without changing. He gave her Pré, he made her smile and happy, he gave her beautiful love. What could she do for him, who had given her so much that she couldn’t express it in words? If she mustered the courage, and came to him with the love she had protected herself, would he be happy?
“Could you hug me?”
Again, without asking or wishing for anything, Kang-joon willingly opened his arms to Sehee. Feeling at peace in his cozy embrace, Sehee quietly closed her eyes. She couldn’t give Kang-joon any hope right now, but she was going to try anyway. The ill-behaved acts and selfish decisions she had never made before. For him and Pré, she would try to change. So please, watch over her, see how ill-behaved and selfish she becomes.
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