“Seonwoo.”

Even when Yeongja called out to her, Ina didn’t respond. She simply continued cleaning the kitchen.

They had only recently moved in, and the house was still far from being organized properly. There wasn’t much luggage, but with three people now living there, it would still take a while to put everything in its place.

Sitting in front of the cabinet beneath the sink, Ina wiped the dishes over and over again.

To stop her chaotic thoughts from overwhelming her, she needed to keep busy.

Her chest felt unbearably tight, as if something were lodged inside it, and the slightest touch seemed likely to reduce her to tears.

“Stop that and come here for a moment.”

Although Yeongja said something, Ina continued to focus solely on wiping the dishes.

After bringing Dahyeon home, she acted as if nothing had happened and prepared dinner.

Even while taking care of Dahyeon and putting her to bed, she didn’t ask Yeongja a single question.

Yeongja wondered if Ina knew the man had come by; seeing her still awake and cleaning the house made it clear that she did.

Whenever Ina was struggling or her thoughts became too complicated, she would clean like this.

“Go to sleep first. I’ll sleep after I finish organizing everything.”

Ina managed to speak without turning around.

“No one is at fault.”

Not Yeongja, who had told him everything about the past five years that Ina had endured.

Not Taeyun, who had only just found out that Dahyeon was his daughter.

And not herself either, who had given birth to and raised that child.

This made it even more suffocating.

No one had done anything wrong.

So why did they have to suffer like this?

Ina furrowed her brow in pain.

“I told him everything. You probably already know that.”

Unable to hold back any longer, Yeongja spoke first.

Ina’s hands, which had been wiping the dishes with a cloth, froze for a moment.

She stared blankly for a second before resuming her work and answering.

“You did the right thing.”

“He already knew. That Dahyeon is his daughter.”

“Yes.”

As if making an excuse, Yeongja added more.

Her voice had softened slightly, as though she were watching Ina carefully.

Ina stacked the plates neatly and let out a quiet sigh.

“When I think about what that woman did to you, you must never see that bastard again.”

Ina already knew that.

Hearing Yeongja say it out loud only made her feel resentful.

She wished Yeongja would just leave her alone.

Again and again, her vision blurred as tears filled her eyes.

“So I told him. I told him to get his head straight. If his mother did that, then he should know about it too.”

“….”

“I know you still have feelings for him. So steel your heart. Alright?”

“Grandma.”

Ina, who had been tidying up, called Yeongja softly.

Yeongja looked at the back of her head with sorrowful eyes.

“I know everything. And I’m not even planning to get back together with him… but my heart keeps wavering.”

“Seonwoo.”

“I’m so foolish, aren’t I? But… he didn’t do anything wrong.”

She couldn’t stop herself from falling for him.

Even a brief encounter caused her to waver, and simply thinking about him made her chest ache.

Now he was so close — close enough that she felt she could reach out and touch him.

The person she had missed so desperately was standing right in front of her. Yet she could not bring herself to reach out to him.

She kept reminding herself that it was over between them. But no matter how many times she told herself this, the turmoil in her heart never ceased.

“He was really such a kind person. Because of him, I was able to go to college… and travel to places I couldn’t go to on school trips.”

She would never forget the countless memories they had shared or how much Taeyun had cared for her.

Without him, she would never have been able to endure those difficult days.

Her first year at university had been so happy.

When her parents had abandoned and hurt her, he had comforted her and filled her life with love.

That was why her heart still hurt so much.

“I… still like him so much.”

At last, the tears she had been holding back came pouring out.

She buried her face in her hands and sobbed.

Whenever he looked at her with those desperate eyes, her heart shook violently.

Even though it made her look pathetic, she couldn’t help it.

Still, she knew in her heart that it couldn’t be.

So she endured it with all her strength, believing it to be the right choice.

“Tsk, tsk.”

How pitiful.

Yeongja looked at her with a troubled expression.

She had known for a long time that Ina still had feelings for him.

Despite it only being five years, Yeongja had got to know Ina quite well.

Although she hadn’t given birth to Ina, she had kept her by her side, living with her as if she were her own daughter. Yeongja could tell what Ina was feeling just by looking at her face.

“Then go and grab that bastard instead of crying here like this.”

“…Hic.”

“If he’s really that kind, won’t he still take your side?”

As Yeongja said that, she remembered the look on that man’s face as he listened to the story of everything that had happened.

Taeyun had barely managed to sit there and endure it all, yet he listened until the very end before leaving.

“Thank you for taking care of Ina.”

Before leaving, Taeyun bowed to Yeongja and spoke those words.

He thanked her, even in that situation.

He truly meant it.

Despite looking as if he might collapse at any moment, it was quite surprising the way he had greeted her respectfully before leaving.

No wonder Seonwoo couldn’t forget him.

Seeing how one person’s interference had twisted the relationship between the two made Yeongja feel sorry for them both.

She rose from her chair and walked over to Ina.

She crouched down in front of her and gently lowered her hands.

Ina’s face was a mess of tears.

Letting out a small sigh, Yeongja wiped her cheeks with her hands.

“Should I go tell him for you?”

Ina shook her head.

“If you can’t do it, I’ll say it for you. I’ll tell him my daughter still has feelings for him.”

Without saying anything, Taeyun probably already knew.

She was deliberately pushing him away. And that she still loved him.

Ina looked at Yeongja with tearful eyes.

“What am I supposed to do with you?”

Yeongja’s eyes also welled up as she looked at the pitiful girl in front of her.

She pulled Ina into her arms.

Ina began to sob heavily as she leaned into the embrace.

Without saying anything, Yeongja simply patted her on the back.

***

“Ha…”

Holding the genetic test results in her hands, Namhee’s face turned cold.

She had bribed a teacher at the nursery where the child was enrolled.

Obtaining the child’s toothbrush was easy for someone like Namhee.

At her command, Chief Secretary Jeon had swiftly taken care of everything.

Today, when the results came through, he brought them straight to her.

“The probability of paternity is…”

99.9997%.

It was absurd.

Namhee stared at the paternity test results, unable to speak.

Ultimately, the girl really was Taeyun’s daughter. It was the same woman who had lied to her about a miscarriage.

The same woman who had hidden her pregnancy and then disappeared.

Realizing that they had hidden the child right under her nose made her furious.

“Then what about the girl’s age?”

Chief Secretary Jeon stood beside her, looking anxious and lowering his head slightly as he spoke.

It wasn’t just Namhee who had hoped that the child wasn’t Taeyun’s.

Having lost Ina all those years ago himself, Chief Secretary Jeon had also prayed that it wasn’t true. But when faced with the devastating result, his face turned pale.

“It seems the birth registration was delayed.”

“To deceive me?”

“Yes.”

She had delayed registering the child’s birth to avoid arousing suspicion that the child was her own.

The absurdity of it all caused Namhee to let out a hollow laugh.

This was the only flaw of her precious son.

She had done everything she could to ensure that her noble son would never be caught up with a girl from a humble background.

And yet it had still ended like this.

This thought left Namhee unable to hide her devastation.

“Does Taeyun know about this?”

“…Not that far.”

Smack.

With the sharp crack of the slap, Chief Secretary Jeon’s face snapped to the side.

Namhee glared at him through clenched teeth before swinging her hand again.

She slapped him several more times, yet her anger showed no sign of subsiding.

“I told you to handle things properly! You couldn’t even keep an eye on that woman and let this disaster happen!!”

Namhee shouted, the veins in her neck bulging as her voice thundered through the living room.

Chief Secretary Jeon bent forward like a folding hinge, lowering his head.

Even if he had ten mouths, he would have nothing to say.

“What are we going to do now? What are we supposed to do about this?!”

She had believed that everything was over. But when she recently saw that woman standing beside her son with a child, she felt that something was terribly wrong.

She should have kept watching them.

The moment she let her guard down, her son’s future became threatened.

She should have watched them for another year.

After six months, she was certain that the child had been miscarried.

Now, regret surged through her.

Her heart began to pound irregularly with anxiety.

Namhee’s restless gaze wandered.

“Taeyun must not find out.”

She muttered the words anxiously.

If he found out the truth, he would certainly take responsibility for the girl — not to mention finding out about everything she had done.

Her son had always been kind by nature.

He would never let it go.

“…What if he already knows?”

After a moment of thought, Namhee muttered in horror.

Now that she thought about it…

Recently he had refused to marry.

Something about it had felt strange.

A dreadful thought crept into her mind—that perhaps he had already taken action.

“Ha…”

Namhee pressed her hand to her forehead and sank onto the sofa.

“Before Taeyun does something reckless, I need to act first.”

Her dark eyes rolled with calculation.

Then suddenly, a sharp glint flashed through them.