=========================================With a troubled expression, Jian glanced around self-consciously.
The reason for her troubled expression was that the attention of all the parents at the children's talent show was focused on her.
To be precise, all eyes were fixed on Jian and Taejun, who had taken a seat beside her.
As he was a public figure, it was hardly surprising that everyone was staring.
Jian whispered to Taejun in a low voice.
"You said you couldn't come."
"..."
At her whisper, Taejun said nothing and simply looked at Jian.
Taejun's gaze was rather intense.
Having no way of knowing what that gaze wanted to say, Jian only felt more awkward.
Taejun was still staring intently at Jian.
'So, it was true that Heo Jian cheated on me right under my nose.'
The incident at Grace came to Taejun's mind.
To be precise, he remembered the moment he had definitively told her to her face that she had cheated.
'Why did you just stand there when I said that?'
You should have denied it and cleared up the misunderstanding. Why did you let me misunderstand you?
A million different thoughts tangled in Taejun's mind.
There had been plenty of opportunities to correct the misunderstanding.
Back when I was tormenting her and causing her pain, and even right now, that it wasn't what I thought, that I was wrong.
All you had to do was say it, so why on earth.
Taejun turned his gaze from Jian and spoke.
"I had some free time, so I came."
"If you had free time, you should have rested. Coming all this way..."
Taejun's gaze, which had turned away, returned to Jian.
This time, a deep furrow was etched between his brows.
You didn't want me to come, did you?
If that's true, then why?
'Why do you...'
...say nothing to me and make me a fool like this?
Taejun felt both confusion and anger at Jian's actions.
'Heo Jian.'
What on earth are you thinking?
Just as Jian was wondering about Taejun staring at her, Seol-ah's class began their performance.
Children in colorful traditional outfits came out in a line, and Seol-ah was the last to appear.
As soon as she was on stage, the child craned her neck, scanning the audience.
Then, she spotted Jian and waved.
Then she noticed Taejun sitting next to her and, with a bright smile, began to wave even more enthusiastically.
'Ah...'
The moment the child waved at him, Taejun felt his heart plummet to the floor.
Thump. His heart plunged endlessly to the floor, then returned to its place, over and over.
The heart that returned to its place was completely different from the one he'd had before.
At that completely new, unfamiliar feeling, Taejun's heart began to pound uncontrollably.
'Mister!'
Seol-ah mouthed to Taejun.
It was only the shape of her lips, but it was as if he could hear the child's voice vividly in his ears.
Then, Seol-ah mouthed something once more.
Taejun focused his gaze on the child's lips.
'Watch carefully.'
Taejun understood its meaning immediately.
The music started, and the children began their dance routine in time with the sound.
Among them, Seol-ah, dancing in the center, was by far the most eye-catching.
It seemed she was trying to show off everything she had practiced.
Taejun's eyes moved busily.
Seol-ah's focused face, her firmly extended arms and legs, the sharp lines of her fingertips—it was a desperate attempt to capture every part of the child with his eyes.
The more he took in every part of the child, the more he felt one single thing.
'You are...'
...my daughter.
That Seol-ah was his daughter, that was the only thing he felt, bone-deep.
Seol-ah's performance was over in an instant.
The child's voice seeped into the ears of Taejun, who was staring blankly at the stage.
"Mommy!"
The moment the performance ended, Seol-ah came down from the stage and shot like an arrow toward Jian and Taejun in the audience.
"Hee hee."
She had called for her mother as she ran, but it was into Taejun's arms that she actually threw herself.
Taejun lifted Seol-ah into his arms with an awkward posture.
Seol-ah then hugged Taejun's neck tightly.
"I'm so happy you came, Mister!"
The moment he heard those words, Taejun's heart plummeted to the abyss and back.
Jian stroked Seol-ah's hair and said, "Our Seol-ah did so well, didn't she?"
"Yup! I practiced hard with Mister. But Mister, how did you get to come?"
"...I had some free time."
Seol-ah hugged Taejun's neck again and whispered in his ear.
"I tried even harder because you came, Mister."
Every moment the child's voice whispered in his ear felt like a brand-new experience, remaking him.
Taejun, for his part, pulled the child a little closer.
The sweet scent of the child that filled his nose gently prodded at Taejun's heart.
Each and every one of those prods made the tip of his nose tingle.
"Seol-ah, Mister must be tired, so let's get down now."
"Okay!"
A sense of reluctance filled Taejun's hands as he held onto the child who was about to get down easily at her mother's words.
Seol-ah left Taejun's embrace and this time hugged her mother.
Taejun's gaze was deep as he watched them.
"Mommy, did I do a good job?"
"Yes, I couldn't see anyone but our Seol-ah."
Mommy. That word provoked a reaction in Taejun.
To me, she should be saying Daddy.
Suddenly, his stomach churned.
When Jian, who had been looking at Seol-ah, briefly turned her gaze, Taejun's face caught her eye.
"Are you okay? You don't look well."
Seeing his deathly pale expression, Jian's face naturally filled with worry.
"Mister, are you sick? Do you need to go to the hospital?"
Seol-ah, too, was worrying about Taejun's condition with a surprised look.
Just then, a cell phone rang from Taejun's pocket.
The place Taejun arrived at immediately after taking the call was Buam-dong.
Taejun's expression as he got out of the car was hard and stiff, unlike when he had been looking at Seol-ah.
As the large gate opened, he walked up the visible stone steps, and a man came into view.
"You've arrived, sir."
It was Butler Kang, who managed the overall affairs of this household.
Taejun gave him a slight nod and entered the house.
His steps, which had been moving down the hallway, stopped in front of a door.
As he stood before the door, Taejun's expression was no different from when he had been watching Seol-ah's performance at the talent show moments before.
Knock, knock. As soon as he knocked and opened the door, a sharp shattering sound was heard right next to him.
"You worthless fool."
Daesik had thrown a glass cup at the open door.
A small shard of glass must have grazed his face, as a thread-like trickle of blood appeared on Taejun's cheek.
Without so much as batting an eye at the sudden crash, Butler Kang entered and silently cleaned up the glass shards.
"What are you going to do about that child?"
Daesik spoke the moment Taejun sat down across from him.
Looking at him, Taejun let out a hollow laugh inwardly.
As expected, with that impatient temper of his, he was still the same, always pushing his own agenda first.
Daesik had an impatient nature and would always just push things forward, no matter what it was.
This was no different whether he was dealing with people or with women.
One couldn't even dare to count how many women he had laid his hands on like that.
"What do you think you're doing, bringing in a brat who isn't even your blood?"
As if frustrated by Taejun's lack of response, Daesik thumped his chest and added, "When she's old enough to live on her own, send her abroad."
Abroad. Hearing that word, Taejun let out a cynical sneer.
That decision was no different from the one Daesik had made after the nightmare Taejun had experienced in the past.
"Bring her to the founding anniversary party tomorrow, and make sure she's dressed properly."
"If you consider her such a thorn in your side, why are you telling me to bring her?"
"With rumors already spread everywhere that she's my grandchild, how can I just leave it be!"
"What does it matter?"
"What?"
"There are lives filled with countless siblings born of the same blood but from different wombs."
Taejun growled lowly.
"Thanks to having a father like that, I'm someone who witnessed my mother's tragic end with my own eyes."
Right after he personally witnessed Daesik taking his female secretary, countless arguments passed between Daesik and Taejun's mother.
In the midst of it all, Taejun was alone.
A few days of this passed, and then one day, Taejun's mother packed her bags.
He ended up seeing his mother packing her bags with his own eyes.
Standing up with her suitcase in hand, she finally noticed her son.
'Taejun, I'm sorry. Mommy... I don't think I can stay by your side anymore.'
'Why? Can't you stay, Mommy?'
'Our Taejun can be brave even without his mommy, right?'
After saying that, his mother left the house just like that.
And a few months later, on the day he went to visit his mother at the new house where she was staying, that day, Taejun discovered his mother, who had taken her own life.
He was only eight years old at the time.
To Taejun, who was trembling uncontrollably at the shocking sight, Daesik said this:
'Honestly, your mother was out of her mind, so of course she'd do something like this.'
And a short while later, Taejun had to leave Korea alone.
In that distant foreign land, all alone, he grew into an adult, the pain in his heart never having healed.
"In a life like that, what's the big deal about one more kid with different blood?"
A madness crept into Taejun's eyes as he looked at Daesik.
"No matter what life I lead, my life, stained by you, will never get better."
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.
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