CGC 19

Chapter 19

You just washed—why do you keep sniffing?

Jihyuk kept watching her as if he found her interesting.

Feeling his gaze, Yul slowly lifted her head and looked at him.

“Should I go wash again?”

“It’s fine. My clothes will smell like you anyway.”

“Oh. Well… that’s true…”

Yul quietly moved away and walked over to the sofa.

Then she deliberately avoided Jihyuk’s gaze and sat far away from him.

Watching her try so hard not to look his way, Jihyuk asked,

“Why aren’t you going home?”

“I just… want to see the baby wake up before I go.”

Jihyuk checked the time.

Doha would wake up in an hour or two anyway.

Besides, it was so late that he didn’t feel comfortable sending a woman home alone at this hour.

“…Fine. Suit yourself.”

Only then did Yul brighten noticeably as she looked at him.

But she quickly adjusted her expression, as if realizing she smiled too widely.

Since there was still some time until Doha woke, and since he couldn’t sleep comfortably while this woman—who could turn into a kidnapper at any moment—was still around, Jihyuk decided to ask what he’d been curious about.

“Hey, scammer.”

“Yes, go ahead.”

“Why are you so obsessed with the kid?”

Han Yul’s mouth fell open as if she were about to snap, then shut again.

After taking a deep breath, she answered in a calmer voice.

“It’s not obsession. Isn’t it natural for an aunt to want to see and care about her only niece or nephew?”

Is it, though?

When his sister-in-law had given birth—when he first heard he had a nephew—he hadn’t felt anything.

He wasn’t curious. He didn’t even want to see the baby.

— Young master~ come see the baby sometime, okay?

That was the only reason he saw Doha for the first time—because Suyeong called to check on him and insisted he should visit for the 100-day celebration.

Since he’d never really been around babies, seeing one didn’t stir much emotion. But after holding him a few times, he developed mild interest.

Which was why he didn’t think of Doha immediately when he heard about his brother and sister-in-law’s deaths.

But this Han Yul woman…

She came a month after Suyeong died, asking to see her nephew—meaning she must have learned about him around then.

Yet she desperately wanted to see a nephew she had never met. That didn’t make sense to him.

“I don’t get it. Not every aunt in the world is like you.”

“Well, maybe not. Not every aunt has to adore her niece or nephew. But… I’m different. My sister and I…”

She started to say something but shut her eyes tightly, as if overwhelmed.

She stayed silent for a long moment, then finally opened her eyes again.

“Anyway, it’s just… like that. Mr. Seo—no, sir—you’ll never understand. Not even if you die.”

“Fine. I don’t know what you mean. But I do know one thing.”

Yul turned to look at him.

“You don’t care about your nephew. You’re planning to use him to extort money. That’s why you can’t explain yourself properly.”

“That’s not true!”

She snapped angrily.

“Strong denial means affirmation, you know.”

“Ha…”

Rubbing her eyes with her palm in frustration, she ground her teeth and forced herself to speak calmly.

“I don’t know how much someone could even extort using their nephew in a situation like this… But I don’t care about money. I don’t need it.”

Jihyuk still looked doubtful.

“And I’m rich, you know?”

A laugh slipped out of him.

But the firmness in her eyes made him hesitate.

Maybe she really wasn’t after money.

Maybe she really only wanted the child.

Jihyuk took out his phone and texted Secretary Choi.

Secretary Choi. When you get to work, find out what Han Yul does and what her assets look like.

Then he pretended to check the baby monitor.

“He’s sleeping well.”

While they were talking, Yul had started fiddling with her phone, and now she glared coldly at Jihyuk for suddenly changing the subject.

But he ignored her and actually looked at the home cam.

Doha had changed positions.

Did he wake up for a moment?

But he didn’t cry and went back to sleep. Good kid…

Just then—

Aish, I’m already stressed enough because of the kid, but you keep annoying me nonstop. I swear, I’m reaching my limit. Before I get pissed and dump the kid somewhere, can you stop?

A recording of his own voice suddenly played beside him.

Startled, Jihyuk snapped his head toward Yul.

She was holding out her phone to him.

“How do you feel hearing your own words?”

“…What?”

“What do you think about yourself saying you’ll ‘dump’ Doha somewhere?”

This girl…

His insides began to boil.

“My friend is an influencer with 500,000 subscribers. Through her, I could broadcast how Director Seo Jihyuk of Sehan Group threatened me using my own nephew.”

Jihyuk smirked with a cold twist of his lips.

Now he finally understood why this scammer kept calling and texting him incessantly.

She had been provoking him on purpose, hoping he’d slip and give her something to use.

“You know it yourself, right? How much influence your family has in society?”

“…”

“If a recording like this—trash talk about a baby—spread publicly, won’t it hurt the company? You can imagine what’ll happen, can’t you?”

“Yeah.”

His icy answer made Yul’s hand tremble.

Clearly, she hadn’t expected this reaction.

“Let me tell you what’ll happen. Your friend will get hit with a multi-billion-won lawsuit. For defamation. And I will make sure of it.”

Yul’s eyelids fluttered violently.

She clearly hadn’t expected that.

“Now you say it again.”

“…”

“You pretend you don’t care about money and that you’re just a worried aunt… but.”

“…”

“You recorded our call and planned to spread it. From where I’m standing, it’s obvious you meant to extort money. Your touching family devotion? I’m not buying it anymore.”

Yul shook her head.

“No… that’s not… That’s not what I meant. I wasn’t trying to extort money… I just wondered if someone who said something like that could really raise my nephew properly. That’s why I wanted to take him. Yes, I was trying to use the recording as leverage, but not for money…”

Watching her ramble, Jihyuk let out a bitter laugh.

Whether she meant it or not, it was such a childish and ridiculous plan that he found it laughable.

“How old are you again?”

“…Why do you need to know? Age doesn’t matter when it comes to raising a child.”

“Just answer what I ask. Talking to you is already exhausting.”

“…Twenty-six, sir.”

At least she grasped the situation quickly.

Knowing she was at a disadvantage, she lowered herself again.

She looked like a parent who would do anything for their child—even though the child wasn’t hers.

“Waaah!”

At that moment, Doha’s powerful cry rang from the room.

Yul bolted toward the room like a flying squirrel.

Before standing up, Jihyuk checked the time.

5 a.m.

Doha’s start-of-day wake-up time.

After drinking his formula, he would play for a while before falling asleep again.

First, he needed to check on him and feed him, so Jihyuk set aside his suspicions about Yul and stood up.

Then he walked into the room.

Yul was holding Doha, bouncing him gently.

Doha’s tears were still clinging to his eyes, but he slowly stopped crying.

And he stared at Yul.

Clicking her tongue playfully, Yul spoke to him.

“Aww, did you sleep well, baby Doha? You were surprised I didn’t leave, huh?”

Doha stared up at her.

Jihyuk was quietly shocked—he had never seen Doha stare at someone like that.

Was he… mistaking Yul for his mother?

That would be a disaster.

Suddenly anxious, Jihyuk moved closer to take Doha from her arms.

But the moment he reached out, Doha burst into loud cries again.