SERIES: An Impure Reunion
CHAPTER: An Impure Reunion Chapter 21
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21.
Just then, Jian's phone, which was on the nightstand, vibrated briefly.
Barely moving her stiff body, Jian picked up the phone.
Checking the screen, she saw a message from Kangji.
[Kangji: The article came out this morning. That Joo Taejun guy works fast. Are you and Seol-ah okay?]
Instead of replying, Jian checked the article Kangji had sent.
[Geonan Group President Joo Taejun's Official Statement: The girl in the photo is his biological daughter, and any excessive, baseless speculation will be met with legal action.]
Biological daughter. That word made Jian's heart ache again.
Letting out a deep sigh, Jian checked the time on her phone and was startled.
It was well past 8 o'clock.
“I have to tell Seol-ah she’s skipping kindergarten today.”
Jian managed to lift her stiff body. She was about to leave when she noticed her neck and stopped.
“My neck is…”
It was covered in dark bruises.
‘Was it from him choking me last night?’
Sighing deeply once more, Jian covered her neck and left the room.
She headed straight for Seol-ah's room on the second floor.
When she opened the door, Seol-ah was struggling by herself to put on her kindergarten uniform.
Finding the sight utterly adorable, Jian watched for a moment before carefully approaching Seol-ah.
“Look at our Seol-ah, getting dressed all by herself.”
“Mom!”
Jian stroked the head of a brightly smiling Seol-ah and added,
“Seol-ah. I think it’s best if you skip kindergarten today.”
“Why?”
The child's face clearly showed she couldn't understand at all.
Seeing the verge-of-tears expression on Seol-ah's face, Jian felt uneasy.
Jian quickly took both of Seol-ah's hands and met her gaze.
“Let’s take today and tomorrow off, and you can go next week, okay?”
“Tomorrow too?”
“Yes, I think we have to.”
Realizing it was now one more day, the child's lips jutted out in a pout.
There was nothing Jian could do but stroke the child's hair.
Seeing Seol-ah's face, which refused to brighten, Jian was just beginning to worry about how upset the child must be.
When the child spoke.
“Okay, Mom.”
Sensing the sulky, dejected tone in her voice, Jian stopped stroking the child's hair.
Her wish was to give her child everything she wanted.
But since coming to this house, it felt like all she did was tell her child to endure.
How many more times in the future would she have to tell her to endure?
The thought made her heart heavy.
“So I can go to kindergarten next week, right?”
Jian was grateful that she gave in without asking more, but she couldn't hide her apologetic feelings.
Jian gently tidied Seol-ah's hair and replied.
“Yes, you can go to kindergarten all next week.”
“Okay, Mom!”
At her mother's promise of next week, Seol-ah smiled happily and spoke brightly.
She then deftly took off the kindergarten uniform she had been working so hard to put on.
As Jian tidied the uniform Seol-ah had tossed aside, she said,
“How about I make your favorite omurice for you today instead?”
“Yes, yes! I’d love that!”
The child answered with a radiant smile, as if she had completely forgotten her earlier disappointment.
Seeing Seol-ah's smile, Jian could finally relax a little.
“Then make your bed, get dressed, and come downstairs.”
Jian hung Seol-ah's uniform on a hanger to one side and left the room.
The sound of the doorbell reached Jian's ears just as she stepped onto the stairs.
No one should be visiting at this hour. Jian hurried to the intercom.
“……!”
And upon seeing the face on the intercom screen, all the color drained from Jian's face.
The person on the intercom was a familiar face, one Jian knew.
‘Father, why is he here now….’
The face was none other than Taejun's father, Daesik.
Jian forced her trembling legs to move and approached the front door.
“You’re, here.”
The moment she opened the door, a displeased gaze fixed on her, and Jian's hands began to tremble.
Daesik looked Jian up and down, then brushed past her.
“Tsk.”
As he passed her, the sound of Daesik clicking his tongue bored right into Jian's ears.
In that moment, Jian felt as if she had gone back seven years.
‘I don’t need a daughter. You must give birth to a son.’
To the day Daesik had forced her to stamp her thumbprint on the Written Pledge.
As he moved into the living room, the sound of a child's footsteps came from the stairs.
The moment she heard the sound, Jian's heart began to pound.
The fact that the child coming down the stairs was the very daughter Daesik had not wanted made her tense.
“Mom!……”
Seol-ah was running over, excitedly calling for her mother, when she spotted the stranger and quickly shut her mouth.
Then, stepping off the stairs onto the floor, the child stuck close to Jian's side.
She gripped her mother's clothes tightly, as if determined not to be separated.
Daesik looked at Seol-ah with that same displeased gaze.
“So you’ve finally brought something useless into this house.”
Something useless. Jian's brow furrowed instinctively.
It was impossible for her to feel at ease seeing Daesik describe her precious child, whom she could never live without, in such a way.
Daesik, of course, had no interest in Jian's feelings.
His gaze fell directly on Seol-ah, standing beside Jian.
“Have you forgotten the promise you made to me back then?”
The contents of the Written Pledge she had made with him naturally flashed through Jian's mind.
[The undersigned, Heo Jian, shall faithfully fulfill the contractual condition of bearing Joo Taejun's son within three years. Should a breach of this pledge occur, the undersigned will assume full responsibility and pledges not to raise any objections whatsoever.]
In particular.
[…I swear to terminate the pregnancy immediately should the child be confirmed to be a daughter…]
Even after leaving Taejun's side, that phrase had remained firmly embedded in Jian's heart.
With an expression showing his displeasure with the situation, Daesik clicked his tongue again.
“There’s nothing to be done now that she’s already grown…and the news is already out, so it can’t be helped. Plan on sending her abroad when she’s old enough.”
“…….”
“Before that, I’ll have to confirm if she’s really our bloodline.”
Daesik suddenly approached and reached a hand toward Seol-ah's head.
Startled by Daesik's sudden movement, Seol-ah completely hid herself behind Jian's back.
“Honestly, who does this child take after to be so ill-mannered!”
Jian could feel Seol-ah's body, hidden behind her back, trembling.
She quickly reached her hands behind her back to cover the child's ears.
“She’s very shy around strangers.”
“Useless thing. I wonder who she takes after…”
“First, let me take the child to her room, and then we can talk, just the two of us.”
With an annoyed expression, Daesik just waved his hand dismissively and resumed walking.
When he was out of sight, Jian quickly picked up Seol-ah and started up the stairs to the second floor.
After setting the child on the bed, Jian patted her back comfortingly.
“Our Seol-ah, you were surprised because a stranger came so suddenly, weren’t you?”
“Yes.”
Seol-ah seemed very frightened.
Seeing her deathly pale face, Jian's heart ached.
‘She warmed up to Taejun so quickly….’
It was a little strange to see her being so distant and wary with Daesik.
I thought she might recognize her grandfather instinctively, just as she did her father,
but does she somehow know that her grandfather doesn't want her?
Jian forced a smile and gently pinched the child's cheek.
“Grandpa wants to talk with Mommy. Can our Seol-ah read a picture book quietly up here?”
“Uh-huh!”
The color had returned to Seol-ah's face.
The child immediately ran to the bookshelf, pulled out a picture book, and sat down at her desk.
Seol-ah turned her head, her expression burning with enthusiasm, and said,
“Mom, I’ll be studying!”
A small laugh escaped through Jian's lips.
Even in the midst of this stressful encounter, her child's simple words allowed her to take a step back from the turmoil.
It was like that long ago, and it's the same now.
Thanks to her, Jian was able to step back from the turmoil that had enveloped her just moments before.
“Okay, my daughter will be studying.”
“Yes!”
Seol-ah waved to Jian, then immediately turned her gaze to her book.
Jian's lips, which had been smiling right up until she closed the door, let out a sigh the moment it clicked shut.
Her expression hardened the closer she got to the first floor.
When she reached the living room sofa where Daesik was sitting, he looked at her and frowned.
“Give me a strand of the child’s hair.”
“I can’t do that.”
“What? After giving birth to a completely useless daughter, you’re putting on airs.”
Despite Daesik's roar, Jian didn't answer, instead approaching him and sitting down opposite him.
She met his gaze directly.
“There’s no need for a test.”
“What?”
“Because even if you test her, the results will say Seol-ah isn’t Taejun’s biological child.”
At Jian's answer, Daesik's face turned purple with rage.
“What? Are you saying you brought a child into this house who isn’t even of our bloodline?”
Daesik's voice grew louder.
In the past, this was a situation where Jian would have flinched and cowered in fear.
“Yes. Seol-ah is not Taejun-ssi’s child. She is my child.”
“What?”
“So don’t you dare think of meddling in Seol-ah’s life.”
But Jian was different now.
The reason was that as long as Seol-ah was by her side, she had no reason to tremble at Daesik's every action.
Jian clenched her trembling hands into fists and added,
“One life ruined by you is enough, isn’t it?”
‘The life you ruined, my life is enough.’
‘So you can't have my Seol-ah's life.’
Author: Donggeurami (Son Yoon-seo)
Publisher: Toonplus
Email: [email protected]
ISBN: 9791157738274
© Donggeurami (Son Yoon-seo), 2022
※ This e-book is published by <Toonplus> under an agreement with the copyright holder. Unauthorized reproduction and distribution are prohibited. Violators may be held legally responsible.
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