RMH 26

Chapter 26

“Um… is it okay if I live here?”

After speaking, Yuseong looked at Suhyuk with eyes trembling violently.

Suhyuk stared at her for a moment, meeting those pitiful, shaking eyes.

Her lips nibbled nervously, unsure what to do.

Her hands trembled faintly even as they held his.

And sweat ran down her face.

Yuseong looked as though she had just woken from a terrible nightmare.

“Of course you can. I was the one who suggested living together first.”

Suhyuk replied casually, as if it were no big deal. Yuseong nodded once, thankful.

He shifted his gaze back to the laptop.

Yet Yuseong stood in front of him for a long while, frozen, as if she had more to say.

Finally, when Suhyuk looked up at her again, as if asking what it was, she spoke hesitantly:

“…Can I sleep on the sofa?”

“What?”

“You do your work, and I’ll just sleep quietly nearby. I don’t even toss and turn in my sleep.”

Finishing her sentence, Yuseong dashed into the room, dragging a pillow and blanket behind her.

Suhyuk looked at her, bewildered, as Yuseong babbled excuses:

“It’s just… the floor is too hard. I don’t think I could sleep comfortably on it…”

After muttering for a while, she quickly lay on the sofa and hid completely under the blanket.

Watching her, Suhyuk once again realized that Yuseong was just a child at heart.

Carrying a blanket and snuggling next to him because of a scary dream—she was truly like a little kid.

‘Am I… attracted to this little girl?’

It made no sense.

His body reacting to a child who wasn’t even fully mature…

‘Am I being taken over or something?’

At first, he denied it, but perhaps he really was an incorrigible scoundrel.

Suhyuk smiled bitterly and returned his attention to the laptop.

There was a mountain of work piled up, as he hadn’t finished handling matters from his time in America.

A few hours passed.

Finally, after clearing all the backlog, Suhyuk turned off the laptop and removed his glasses.

After stretching his stiff body from the long period of concentration, he approached Yuseong, who was sleeping soundly.

She looked like an angel, peacefully asleep.

‘Parents say this too… their children are the prettiest when they’re sleeping.’

He wasn’t sure why the thought came to him now.

Seeing Yuseong asleep, he understood that sentiment to some extent.

He didn’t know what nightmare had scared her so much that she had come to him.

But at least while she stayed in this house, he wanted her to sleep without any worries.

It was a strange feeling for him.

Wishing someone else could sleep well was something he hadn’t felt since childhood.

“Sleep well, Suhyuk. Don’t dream about anything, okay? Then Mom wouldn’t want anything more.”

Really… it had been since childhood…

Lost in these unnecessary thoughts, Suhyuk pulled Yuseong’s blanket up to her chin.

“Good night, little one. Don’t dream at all.”

He poked her soft, white cheek with his finger, then finally got up.

It was a dawn he found deeply satisfying, seeing Yuseong sleeping soundly in his home.

Meanwhile, Daehun woke up.

Kyunghee, holding Daehun’s hand and watching his slowly blinking eyelids, began to sob.

“Honey, it’s me! Can you see my face?”

She thrust her face close to his, and Daehun’s eyes gradually focused on her.

“Ugh…”

Daehun groaned, holding his ringing head as he sat up.

“Honey! Just lie down. Don’t overexert yourself.”

Kyunghee begged him not to move, but Daehun waved his hand casually, reassuring her he was fine.

When he stood up, the doctor and nurse, who were waiting, quickly checked him over and left the room.

Left alone with him, Kyunghee couldn’t stop her tears as she looked at her awakened husband.

“Honey, do you know how much I worried thinking you’d never wake up?”

She buried her face in his hand.

Daehun, seeing her dampening hands, opened his mouth with a displeased expression.

“What about Yuseong?”

That was the first thing he said upon waking.

“….”

A sudden chill filled the air.

“Where is that Shin Yuseong now?”

When there was no answer, he asked Kyunghee again.

“Why are you looking for her right after waking up?”

Her gaze was filled with suspicion, unlike before.

“Before you collapsed, he said… ‘Why didn’t you give me Yuseong?’”

“Did you know he was looking at me—the niece—with those filthy eyes?”

What Yuseong had said right after the meeting with their families seemed like just a dirty trick to separate Daehun from Kyunghee.

Shin Yuseong could have done that.

She was cunning enough to lure her own bachelor brother into adoption.

But Daehun?

He had never even stepped foot in a nightclub despite the frequent visits of other men’s husbands. He was a pure, faithful lover.

So why…

Why would such a man immediately look for Shin Yuseong after waking?

A sharp intuition and suspicion arose in Kyunghee.

Daehun flung his hand out irritably and argued with her.

“I’m looking for her because of what she did to me! What’s wrong with you?”

“Have you ever felt Yuseong as a woman?”

“…What?”

“I’m asking if you ever saw your only niece as a woman!”

Daehun’s mouth opened and closed, unable to respond.

He stammered a rapid defense, insisting it never happened, but Kyunghee saw it clearly.

The tiny trembling in his eyes, as if a secret had been exposed.

Filled with rising disgust, Kyunghee stepped back, grabbed her belongings from the small bed, and prepared to leave.

It was dirty, vile, and sent shivers down her spine.

Their marriage could no longer be restored.

They had opened Pandora’s box.

“When you’re discharged, contact me. We’ll draw up the divorce papers immediately.”

“What? What are you saying! Honey! Where are you going?”

“I always wondered why Yuna grew up so free-spirited… now I know, she takes after you. If you like young women that much, divorce and see as many as you want. I’m not sure anyone will even tolerate you though.”

Kyunghee opened the hospital room door.

She turned her head and faced the unattractive husband she had lived with for over twenty years one last time.

“Why did you marry such a terrible man? In a way, you’ve already been punished.”

Perhaps enduring a man like him was punishment enough.

“Anyway, since we were all fired from Shinyang Corporation because of Yuseong, let’s just live our lives separately. Take care.”

“What?!”

Kyunghee left without hesitation.

Left alone, Daehun kicked off the blanket in disbelief.

“Fired?! What do you mean?! She spoiled me, and now she doesn’t fear me!”

First, he needed to verify whether being fired from Shinyang Corporation was true.

Struggling with his weak body, Daehun searched for his phone.

“Ah! Where is it?! Where is it?!”

But at a time like this, his phone was nowhere to be found.

Frustrated, he decided to borrow one from the nurse and dragged his IV out of the room.

“Huh?”

At the same time, he locked eyes with a patient in the next room.

It was someone Daehun knew well.

“Brother!!”

“…Anchihong?”

It was Anchihong, his loyal subordinate, whose face was completely disheveled.

After hearing the full story from Anchihong, Daehun angrily tried to call Yuseong.

“Why aren’t you answering the phone, you brat?!”

But all he got was the annoying voicemail message; Yuseong did not pick up.

Anchihong said they even went to Yuseong’s officetel but found no trace of her.

They had even staked out places she frequented, but there was no sign.

In short, Shin Yuseong’s whereabouts were a mystery.

“This ungrateful brat ran away. Hah… but you’re still in my hands, you little brat.”

“Still, since there’s a signal, she might answer eventually. I’ve told the others to keep calling. If the phone’s not working, she’ll have no choice but to answer eventually.”

“Yeah, probably. Hah! Let’s see who wins!”

Determined again, Daehun and Anchihong spent the whole day calling Yuseong.

• “The customer you are trying to reach is unavailable. Please leave a message after the beep…”

They endured hours of the endless beeps and voicemail messages.

At the same time, Yuseong, leaving a cellphone store, got into Suhyuk’s car in the passenger seat.

She held a shopping bag with the logo of a mobile carrier.