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Chapter 24
After having those strange thoughts about Yool, Ji-hyeok completely lost his appetite.
Thanks to that, he managed to eat just one bite of pork cutlet and couldn’t eat anything after.
As they left the restaurant and headed back to the car, Yool kept stealing glances at Ji-hyeok.
Irritated, Ji-hyeok asked her why.
“What.”
“Uh… are you okay? Should I get you some digestive medicine from the pharmacy?”
“No.”
Ji-hyeok was internally shocked by how curt his own tone sounded.
But no matter how much he wanted to, he couldn’t bring himself to speak gently.
No—wasn’t it true that he’d never really been the gentle-speaking type to begin with?
He felt like he was gradually losing his mind.
Wasn’t all of this because Han Yool had suddenly appeared yesterday?
To sort out his confused thoughts, Ji-hyeok began thinking about what he should do with Yool going forward.
Do-ha liked her this much—should he let her see him once every few days?
Just until the day before yesterday, when she’d been pestering him nonstop with texts and calls, he’d felt genuine disgust.
But after spending time with her since last night, seeing how sincere she was toward Do-ha, and then noticing how she resembled Soo-young at the restaurant earlier, his feelings had softened. She really was Soo-young’s biological younger sister.
“I have something I’m curious about.”
At Ji-hyeok’s calmer question, Yool replied,
“What is it?”
“Why did you—”
“Huh?”
Ji-hyeok hesitated, wondering how to ask about her family circumstances without being rude.
But there was no way to ask something like that without being intrusive.
He already knew that Soo-young and Yool’s family history was complicated.
So Ji-hyeok decided to be direct.
“Why did Han Soo-young cut off contact with you too?”
Yool pressed her lips together, clearly caught off guard by the question.
After taking a few steps, she stopped and answered.
“…I don’t really know either.”
“What?”
“I thought my sister and I were on pretty good terms. So when she suddenly disappeared and cut off contact with our aunt’s family… I thought she’d at least contact me. But she never did.”
Just like Yool’s expression darkened, a shadow fell over Ji-hyeok’s heart as well.
“When we were young, our parents passed away on the same day… and we were really young back then. I was supposed to go live with our aunt, and my sister with our grandmother, but… my aunt’s family treated me pretty badly.”
Her story lined up with the information Secretary Choi had brought him before, which made Ji-hyeok trust her words even more.
He listened more intently as Yool continued.
“I told my sister when we were kids, and since she hadn’t been formally adopted yet, she said she’d live with our aunt instead. Even back then, she knew. She knew that the harsh words and violence aimed at me would be directed at her.”
Once she started talking, Yool seemed unable to stop.
“But my sister always said she was fine. When I got a bit older—maybe when I was in high school—I told her I was sorry. She said it was okay, that she was glad I grew up well. She told me to repay her by being filial when I got older…”
“…”
“So I lived desperately. With the thought of repaying my sister. I thought we were really close… that’s why I don’t understand why she cut off contact with me too.”
As she spoke, Yool became overwhelmed and quickly wiped at her eyes.
“And then I hear that the sister who cut off contact like that died overnight… and that she left behind a child. How could I possibly turn away?”
Ji-hyeok finally understood why Yool was so fixated on the child.
All the guilt and gratitude she’d felt toward Soo-young had nowhere to go anymore, so she wanted to repay it, even if only through Soo-young’s son, Do-ha.
Otherwise, she’d probably have to live her whole life carrying that burden in her heart.
Sensing the sincerity in Yool’s words, Ji-hyeok almost completely dropped his suspicions of her.
The fact that she was Soo-young’s biological sister, the story she’d just told, and the information Secretary Choi had brought all matched. It was all true.
“It’ll be hard to let you see him often. Come by once a week on the weekend and see the baby.”
At Ji-hyeok’s suggestion, Yool stopped in her tracks.
Then, brightening up, she grabbed his arm.
“Really?”
“Yeah. But you have to tell me in advance. And don’t come when I’m not home.”
Having officially secured time to see Do-ha, Yool bounced around in excitement.
Then she stopped again and asked in a quieter voice,
“Um… Director. Would two or three times a week be possible?”
“No.”
Yool looked disappointed, but she didn’t show it openly.
Even so, she seemed purely happy just to be able to see her nephew once a week without having to worry about anything.
By then, they had reached the parking lot.
As they walked toward the parked car, Yool cheerfully took Do-ha into her arms.
She quickly climbed into the back seat.
Her bright, innocent face looked as harmless and pure as Do-ha’s.
It felt strangely like loading two babies into the car.
“By the way, Director.”
“Go on.”
“Why isn’t there a car seat?”
“Do I need one?”
Ji-hyeok had never really traveled with a baby before, so a car seat hadn’t even crossed his mind.
“I didn’t know when I might end up raising my nephew, so I read books and watched videos. They say you absolutely have to use a car seat.”
“Got it. I’ll buy one today and install it.”
When he glanced at the rearview mirror, he saw Yool nodding in satisfaction.
At that moment, Yool’s eyes shifted.
Their gazes tangled through the mirror.
Startled, Ji-hyeok quickly looked back at the road.
“Director.”
Yool called out to him.
Ji-hyeok replied calmly, as if they hadn’t just made eye contact.
“Why do you keep calling me?”
“Can I ask something I’m curious about too?”
Growing even more curious about what she might ask, Ji-hyeok nodded.
“How did my sister and, um… Executive Seo Won-jun meet? No matter how much I think about it, I can’t figure out how my sister met the eldest son of the Sehan Group.”
Ji-hyeok thought it was a perfectly natural question from Yool’s perspective.
“You know Han Soo-young—ah, my sister-in-law—worked at a bookstore.”
“Yes! I recommended that place. My sister was working two jobs at the time, and that bookstore was famous for having good benefits, so I told her to apply as soon as the posting went up.”
Ah. So in the end, Han Yool was the one who connected his brother and sister-in-law.
He didn’t bother saying that out loud.
“So? Did they meet at the bookstore?”
“Yeah. My brother used to go to the bookstore near his office whenever he got tired of work.”
“Oh… come to think of it, that bookstore was only one subway stop away from Sehan Construction.”
“That’s right. He said he fell in love with her at first sight because she was an employee there. After that, he kept going back and passionately courting her.”
“Wow… really?”
As he spoke, Ji-hyeok glanced at the rearview mirror.
Yool’s eyes were sparkling, as if she were listening to a fairy tale.
“Well… my sister really was very pretty. When we walked together, men would come up and ask her for her number all the time. So then? Did she accept his confession right away?”
“No. From what I know, she rejected him for several months.”
“Why? Because he was a chaebol?”
“Yeah.”
Yool nodded, seeming to fully understand her sister’s feelings.
“But… um… wasn’t there any opposition?”
“How could there not be? Father opposed it at first. But not long after, Do-ha came along, and after that, Father urged them to hurry up and get married and doted on my sister-in-law.”
Yool let out a relieved sigh, as if reassured.
“I’m so glad my sister didn’t go through things like conflict with her in-laws. Hearing that she was loved… it puts my mind at ease.”
“Yeah. You don’t have to worry about that. He adored her a lot. He even scolded them, asking why they weren’t holding a wedding yet. It was all because my sister-in-law kept refusing.”
“It was probably because of our aunt’s family. She probably didn’t want to cause any trouble for that side…”
The atmosphere grew heavy for a moment, but then Yool spoke in a brighter tone.
“Still, he almost became my brother-in-law. No—well, since they were in a common-law marriage, he was my brother-in-law, right?”
“……”
“Wow. It’ll never happen, but if the two of us had ended up falling for each other like my sister did, that would’ve been a disaster. Even if my sister and I are legally unrelated on paper, we share blood… so that would make us, in the end, in-laws too.”
“Double in-law marriages aren’t forbidden. So why?”
“…What?”
Over Yool’s startled voice, Ji-hyeok’s calm tone followed.
“And my brother and I are half-brothers anyway, so it wouldn’t really be a problem either.”
