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Chapter 12
Just then.
She sensed a presence behind her.
Haena instinctively shoved the photo into her pocket, maintained her composure, and acted as if nothing was wrong.
When she turned around, Baek Doyoon and the three little musketeers were standing there.
“Hey! Hong Haena! Why are you wandering around alone?!”
Doyoon grabbed Haena and shook her shoulders.
*Ugh, just like a little kid. Little kids don’t know how to control their strength.*
“We’ve been looking all over for you! How could you, the host, disappear after calling us all here?!”
“I didn’t call you. You followed me.”
“That’s not how you treat guests!”
“That’s why I said I didn’t call you.”
Haena lightly smacked Doyoon’s hand away.
“And haven’t you ever heard that you shouldn’t touch other people’s bodies without permission?”
“Wh-What?!”
“I think I’ve heard that at least a hundred times at kindergarten. Doyoon, do you have a bad memory?”
“No, I don’t! My memory isn’t bad at all! I know all that too!”
“If you know it but don’t follow it, that just makes you bad.”
“No! I’m not bad! *You’re* the bad one!”
“Yeah, yeah.”
Haena wasn’t in the mood to deal with Doyoon, so she answered half-heartedly and turned her head to the kindergarten three musketeers.
“I told you to keep Baek Doyoon trapped.”
“We couldn’t help it! We thought if he made more of a scene, the adults would come!”
At Huina’s strong protest, Haena shrugged as if it couldn’t be helped.
*That does make sense.*
*I can handle the little kids myself, but adults coming would be annoying.*
“Fine. Pick one toy each, the ones you want. And then go home now.”
“What?! Already?! B-But…!”
“You haven’t even shown us the autographs of the Still Blue unnis yet, or the photos you said you took with the Ideal unnis!”
“Right, right!”
*Don’t coordinate your breathing so well only at times like this. It’s annoying.*
Haena sighed deeply.
“Fine. Then you’ll go home after I show you those?”
“Yes!”
Having quickly reached an agreement with the three musketeers, Haena nimbly left the room.
“Wait! Wait! I haven’t said I’m going home yet!”
“Okay.”
“I said I haven’t!”
“Uh-huh.”
Despite Doyoon’s intense protests, Haena didn’t look back.
*Who cares if I’m the host?*
Protests from a bean-sized Baek Doyoon didn’t even register in her ears right now.
The real problem was.
The photo currently in her pocket.
Or more precisely, the identities of the two people in that photo.
—
**After sending all the little kids home,** Haena lay down on her bed and took out the photo again.
No matter how many times she looked, the young woman holding a girl who looked about one or two years old in the photo was definitely Haena’s biological mother, Lee Surin.
Just in case, she’d gone back to that room and looked for photos of a younger Surin to compare, and it was certain.
The woman in this photo was Lee Surin.
The problem was the little girl Surin was holding.
At first, she wondered if it might be Haena, but the writing on the back of the photo told her it wasn’t.
*20XX. 01. 23. With Su-yeon….*
Seeing this written, something crossed Haena’s mind.
Throughout the content of *The Chaebol’s Way of Love*, there had been subtle hints.
That Han Su-yeon had a secret about her birth.
The heroine, Han Su-yeon, was born in the United States, neglected by her father, and raised in foster care by a decision from Child Protective Services after an anonymous report. Then, after becoming an adult, she came to Korea to find her biological mother, got a job at Cheongyeong Group, met Baek Doyoon, and fell in love.
Then, just when Han Su-yeon was about to find her biological mother with Baek Doyoon’s help, at the very last moment—
Hong Haena’s interference caused the only way to find her biological mother to disappear forever.
Because Hong Haena burned the only clue Han Su-yeon had: a photo taken with her mother.
That was the decisive moment when Baek Doyoon became completely enraged and told Hong Haena he wanted a divorce.
*’Why on earth is that photo here?!’*
Haena recognized the photo at a glance. Because it was exactly the same as the photo Han Su-yeon had described in the story.
No matter how much she tried to deny reality, the signboard name in the background and the clothes Han Su-yeon was wearing were identical; denying it would be foolish.
*’So there were actually two copies of the photo… One with the biological mother, Lee Surin, and one with Han Su-yeon. And they were using them as tokens to find each other.’*
*Good heavens. So Hong Haena and Han Su-yeon were half-sisters.*
Now she understood why Hong Haena had burned that photo without a moment’s hesitation.
She must have thought she’d lose even her maternal family to Han Su-yeon, and with her villainous personality, she couldn’t stand that.
Of course, Haena’s maternal family was no ordinary family either. They weren’t as wealthy as the Hongil Group, but they were a family with considerable power, having produced members of the National Assembly and figures in the legal world for generations.
If it was revealed that Han Su-yeon was the bloodline of a family like that, even Cheongyeong Group would have no reason to oppose the match, which was why Hong Haena had so desperately interfered.
When she’d read it as a novel, she’d just thought, *’Well, usually the villainess’s plans fail, but here they slightly tweaked the cliché…’* but there was this kind of behind-the-scenes story!
*Damn it.*
Haena stomped her feet on the bed.
*What do I do? What do I do with this photo? Do I pretend I didn’t see it and hide it again? Or do I really burn it, like the real Hong Haena?*
*’No, no.’*
*Why would I get rid of this? Am I crazy?*
*This is the perfect clue to connect Baek Doyoon and Han Su-yeon!*
*’With this, instead of having to have a political marriage with Baek Doyoon, I can completely call off the engagement!’*
If it was revealed that Han Su-yeon was the daughter of a powerful family, even if Cheongyeong Group was a little displeased, they might just allow the breakup with Haena and accept Han Su-yeon as their daughter-in-law!
Thinking that, suddenly this photo became incredibly precious.
*I’ll keep it safe, and when Han Su-yeon returns, I’ll give it to her. Tell her we’re actually half-sisters and that she’s the daughter of a very prestigious family, so she should confidently get permission to marry.*
*Hehehe.*
Haena smiled a wicked smile at how smoothly things were falling into place.
*To reap such a harvest. Isn’t this a little too easy?*
Just as she was about to think that—
*Knock, knock.*
She heard a knock.
“Miss~”
*It’s Nanny Uiryeong.*
She was probably calling her down for dinner.
Haena quickly shoved the photo back into her pocket and hopped off the bed.
“Oh my. You were already getting ready for dinner!”
“I’m hungry!”
Haena looked up at Uiryeong with an innocent smile, as if she knew nothing.
“Oh, you’re so adorable… But, Miss Haena… well… today…”
“Father came, right?”
“!”
*No need to be surprised. I heard the sound of him coming home from work earlier.*
Of course, she’d been pretending to sleep then.
Because she hadn’t wanted to greet that wretched man again.
“If you don’t want to, miss, you can eat separately. In fact, the Director wanted to eat separately, but I thought that you seemed to miss the Director so much… so I thought just in case…”
“Let’s eat together.”
“!”
At Haena’s single word, Uiryeong’s face visibly brightened.
*Is that really such happy news? That a daughter is willing to eat one meal with her father?*
*What is wrong with this family?* Haena shook her head and took Uiryeong’s outstretched hand.
“I’m hungry, so let’s go quickly.”
“Of course! Of course. We only filled it with things Miss Haena likes today.”
“…What do I like?”
“Pizza, steak, lasagna, gnocchi… Lots of things you usually enjoy, miss.”
*Oh no.*
Haena scowled.
*That’s a bit of a heavy meal for a thirty-year-old office worker. It’s a menu I’d only choose when going on a blind date, otherwise not.*
*Greasy food doesn’t digest well either.*
“…Isn’t there something like doenjang-jjigae with egg rolls and stir-fried sausage?”
“!!!”
“Or maybe spicy stir-fried pork or pork cutlet…”
*I just want a warm bowl of rice soup…*
*Eating only greasy cake and bland kindergarten lunch all day is going to upset my stomach.*
But since a seven-year-old saying “Please give me a bowl of rice soup” would look way too strange, this was her compromise.
…Did this look strange too?
“I-I’ll go tell the head chef right now!!!”
*You don’t have to go running like that though…*
With a clattering sound, Uiryeong disappeared, and Haena awkwardly scratched her head.
And in that moment.
“Haena.”
…A not-so-welcome face appeared.
