=========================================
SERIES: An Impure Reunion
CHAPTER: An Impure Reunion Chapter 4
=========================================
4.
“I guess you were just giving yourself an easy way out?”
Taejun's sharp, hostile gaze clawed at Jian.
It left a deep wound, especially on her heart.
‘That's right, I was the one who suggested it.’
What Taejun said was true. Jian was the one who had proposed delaying their marriage registration.
But it was absolutely not to create an easy escape route, as he claimed.
If she had been setting up an escape route as Taejun said, she would have just left quietly without saying a word.
Jian quietly recalled the Written Pledge she had tucked away in a drawer of her vanity, and its contents.
The reason she had asked Taejun to delay the marriage registration lay in that Written Pledge.
The pledge she had been forced to stamp with her thumbprint by Daesik on their wedding day two years ago.
Two years ago, right after the wedding, Jian moved into their new home.
Taejun, her new husband, had left Korea for work the very next day, so she had to enter the new house all alone.
Jian's body and mind were exhausted from keeping the large house by herself and adapting to the sudden change in her environment.
It was then that Daesik, Taejun's father and now her father-in-law, summoned the vulnerable Jian to the main family home.
‘Tsk.’
No sooner had Jian sat down before Daesik than he clicked his tongue, looking at her with a displeased expression.
What followed was a speech about how worthless her existence was to Taejun.
Jian still remembered how terrible the humiliation she felt at that moment was.
It was only natural that he disliked the woman his son had chosen out of rebellion.
As Jian, utterly cowed by Daesik's contemptuous gaze and his every word, lowered her head...
Daesik took something out and held it out to Jian.
What he offered was a piece of paper with the words Written Pledge at the top.
It seemed to have been prepared long before Jian arrived.
‘Stamp it.’
Before Jian could even read the conditions of the pledge, Daesik took out an ink pad and thrust it toward the middle of the paper as if throwing it.
He was demanding that she stamp it immediately.
At twenty-three, Jian's mind went blank under the pressure from Daesik, an elder she was supposed to respect.
And before she could even think of defying him, she came to her senses to find she had already stamped it as Daesik demanded.
Only after seeing Jian's thumbprint on the Written Pledge did Daesik's expression soften slightly.
Only then did Daesik hand the full pledge over to Jian.
‘Three years. I will give you exactly three years.’
‘…….’
‘If you fail to have a child within that time, you are to leave quietly on your own.’
And then Jian was able to read the contents of the pledge.
[I, the undersigned, Heo Jian, will faithfully fulfill the contractual condition of bearing Joo Taejun's son within three years. Should I be at fault for failing to meet the terms of this pledge, I, the pledger, will take full responsibility and will not raise any objections whatsoever. I hereby pledge to comply.]
As Jian carefully read the contents of the pledge, her face turned deathly pale.
Paying no mind to her paling face, Daesik added.
‘A daughter is not needed. You must bear a son.’
When Jian saw the clause in the additional provisions that read, ‘I swear to terminate the pregnancy immediately if the child is confirmed to be a daughter,’ her hands began to tremble.
To not only discuss the gender of an unborn child, but to decide its life or death based on it.
Jian's body shook at Daesik's atrocious attitude.
‘And register the marriage only after you've given birth to a son. Don't even think about doing anything rash before then and becoming an obstacle in Taejun's life.’
She immediately understood that his next words were a warning not to breathe a word to Taejun about what had happened between them today.
After being kicked out with nothing but the paper envelope in her hand, Jian spent the entire week before Taejun's return thinking and thinking.
About how she could naturally bring up delaying the marriage registration without revealing what had happened between her and Daesik.
‘I'd like to postpone the marriage registration.’
When she said this to Taejun upon his return, he narrowed his eyes.
‘Why.’
‘I'm scared of legally becoming someone's wife at such a young age.’
After much deliberation, this was the answer Jian came up with.
Jian was anxious, worried that Taejun might see through her lie.
But his response was concise.
‘Do as you please.’
As Jian mulled over Taejun's response from back then, a sharp pain spread through her heart.
To think it still hurt this much, even after so much time had passed.
Jian thought of the suitcase she had packed and stowed away in the corner of her room long ago, and steeled her resolve.
‘Let's leave.’
A moment ago, Jian had made up her mind to leave this place.
The reason she had decided to leave was right there in her pocket.
A pregnancy test. One with two distinct lines.
She had conceived within the time limit promised to Daesik, but Jian had no intention of giving birth to this child here.
This place had killed her own life; it would surely try to trample on her child's life as well.
The child, she wanted her child, at least, to live freely, doing whatever they wanted.
TL/N: The child's gender wasn’t known yet.
Not a puppet's life, like her own.
“I'll be leaving this house tomorrow.”
“You say you're leaving so easily?”
Facing the snarling Taejun, Jian continued to speak calmly.
“I know the reason you married me, Mr. Taejun.”
“Reason? And what reason is that?”
“It was because of your father.”
Taejun's eyebrow twitched.
Standing close enough to see his expression change from moment to moment was a truly terrifying thing.
Watching Taejun's expression gradually harden, Jian moved her lips, wanting to say her piece and be done with it.
“It was because of that petty, childish desire to show your father, the man you so intensely despise, that you could succeed even while defying his wishes.”
She was only voicing the facts she had known for a long time, one by one, so why did she feel so miserable?
Jian said, struggling to suppress her emotions.
“I just saw the article. Congratulations. You got what you wanted, right?”
Although a sharp pain spread through her heart, she endured it as best she could and offered him her congratulations.
Yes, if you achieved what you wanted through this marriage, then that's enough.
Noticing Taejun's lips about to move, Jian quickly added.
“But if it gets out that your wife is carrying another man's child, you'll suffer a great loss. Is that what you want?”
Taejun stared blankly at Jian as she spoke in a soft, calm voice.
But there was something unsettled in Taejun's expression.
Finally, his mouth opened.
“Shut your mouth.”
Was it just her imagination, or had Taejun's eyes grown fierce?
The voice that burst from between his lips was colder than usual.
His wide-open eyes.
The trembling of his lips.
Everything about him screamed that he was furious.
“How dare you say such a thing. Is this how you repay the pity I showed you?”
Hearing that voice, dripping with ice, Jian finally began to feel truly afraid.
Taejun took a step toward her, and Jian, frozen in place, was instantly in his grasp.
Grabbing her shoulders, Taejun said with a sneer.
“Take off your clothes. Now.”
“…….”
“Get undressed, and get on the bed.”
Taejun's words were completely unexpected.
Jian, who had expected him to tell her to get out of the house immediately, faltered for a moment.
“Why so surprised? Was there anything else between us besides that?”
“B-but, right now…!”
While she hesitated, Taejun grabbed her wrist and pulled her.
In the blink of an eye, they had reached the second floor where the master bedroom was,
and in the time it took Jian to blink once, she realized she was lying on the bed, half-undressed.
And above her, Taejun was roughly loosening his tie.
Seeing this, Jian's whole body began to tremble.
“Mr. T-Taejun.”
It was because she knew all too well what would happen next.
Jian instinctively placed both hands on her stomach.
“Don't, please don't do this.”
As she avoided his gaze and turned her head away, Taejun snatched both of Jian's hands.
And then he restrained her wrists so she couldn't move them freely.
“Wh-what are you…!”
Before Jian could finish, Taejun's lips were on hers.
At this, Jian's mind grew distant.
After the long kiss ended, Jian spoke through her sobs.
“M-my hands, please, sob…”
But Taejun was not one to listen to her.
“Why? So you can hit me if I let go? So you can land a punch and then scurry away like a rat?”
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 contract with the copyright holder. Unauthorized reproduction and distribution are prohibited. Violation of this may result in legal action.
0 Comments