Part 32

Seowoo smiled bitterly as she glanced at the small box containing the ring.

“I imagined receiving a proposal from you so many times… and now I’m getting it.”

“…”

“But I’m going to refuse.”

Tears fell down Seowoo’s pale cheeks.

A refusal… It was a firm statement.

The look in her eyes was different from other times. It seemed like she really meant it.

His heart shattered.

If she had just said she needed more time, it wouldn’t hurt so much.

Jiwook found himself speechless.

“Sung-hyun confessed his feelings to me.”

Seowoo brought up that fact intentionally. Although her relationship with Sung-hyun had already cleared, she said whatever she could to make Jiwool let go.

She knew it wouldn’t be easy.

It would be hard, but this too shall pass, so she had to endure.

“Even if we have a past… even though I’m divorced, he said it’s okay.”

“What do you mean?”

“When I saw how nice he was to Haewon, I thought to myself during the whole shoot, of how I wished someone like him, so sweet, could be my child’s father.  To someone like that……It must be nice to be a loved woman.”

Seowoo trailed off, pausing to catch her breath.

Watching his face crumble before her was more painful than she had imagined.

I must not waver.

She must end things before Jiwook finds out she is pregnant.

“Being loved like that must be nice.”

It was like being hit in the head with a blunt object.

Jiwook gazed blankly at her. Seowoo smiled faintly and wiped the tears on her cheek with the back of her hand.

“I want to be loved too.”

“…”

“Not the kind where I love alone, from someone who doesn’t even look at me. A mutual love.”

She had chosen words that could pierce his heart, but half of it was sincere. The time she had spent by Jiwook’s side had felt incredibly lonely.

“I’m going to try opening up my heart to someone else.”

“Seowoo.”

“Sung-hyun is a really good person.”

“I know it’s been hard. I’m sorry for making you feel lonely. But please rethink this. Okay?”

She wondered why he was being so sweet today. The ring in front of her was dazzlingly beautiful.

Seowoo shook her head slightly and continued.

“After today, let’s never see each other again. I’m begging you.”

With those words, Seowoo stood up from her seat. Jiwook stood up hastily and blocked her path. Then he tightly grabbed her delicate wrist

“Don’t say something you don’t mean. I know you.”

He was confident her feelings were swaying.

At times like this, and when she looked at him, Seowoo’s eyes told him so.

He couldn’t be mistaken. He had never felt such a connection before.

“No. You can’t end it like this. I let it go 2 years ago, but not this time.”

“Our relationship ended two years ago.”

He knew she spoke harshly on purpose.

She must have been scared of repeating the past after hearing what Myeong-hye had said.

It was his fault for not being able to gain her trust, so there was no excuse. But he couldn’t let her go like this.

“It was a one-sided ending. I never wanted that divorce.”

“If that was the case, you should have come to hold onto me then.”

After completing the divorce formalities, she truly can’t comprehend why he is doing this now.

Seowoo detached his hand from her wrist. Then she met his eyes directly.

“There was a reason for that…”

“I hope so, because that’ll give you an excuse.”

“I’ll tell you- Why it happened, why we got divorced, and what happened to me.”

“I don’t want to hear it. I heard you’ve met someone, a good person. Someone your mother would approve of.”

After saying that, Seowoo walked past him

“Met someone…”

He was dazed.

Suddenly, a thought flashed through Jiwook’s mind. He hadn’t been seeing anyone, but there was only one way she could have known.

He hurriedly followed her and grabbed her arm.

“Me seeing someone, where did you hear that?”

“…”

His glare pierced through her.

Seowoo clamped her mouth shut and pushed his hand away again. But his grip was so firm that it was hard to pull away.

Then Seowoo grimaced and sighed.

“Let go of me. Unless you want this to make the front page of the news tomorrow.”

She felt the stares of people glancing at them. If things continued this way, tomorrow’s headlines on the portal sites might indeed be about Jiwook and her.

“You met my mother again? Is that it?”

His face was filled with despair. It seemed that his mother had gone behind his back again, stirring things up, which turned Seowoo’s heart away.

Why hadn’t I noticed?

He still couldn’t protect Seowoo, and he felt utterly pathetic.

“Why don’t you ever tell me when something is wrong!”

Jiwook raised his voice unknowingly. He was furious with her for not saying a word, just like before. The thought that this was all happening again overwhelmed him.

“What should I say? Do you want me to tell you everything your mother did to me?”

Seowoo’s expression turned icy cold.

She couldn’t bring herself to say those unspeakable words to him. No, she didn’t want to.

Those words that would make her feel wretched would eat away at her self-esteem.

“Your mother told me not to call you even if something was wrong with your child. Despite being her own blood, she told me not to contact you, fearing it might ruin her precious son’s future.”

“…”

“You’re your mother’s blood, too, and I hate you for it.”

His grip on her arm loosened. Jiwook’s hand fell limply downward.

Seowoo moistened her dry lips and added.

“I keep thinking about that moment, lying alone in the delivery room, going through labor, waiting for your call. Crying as I said goodbye to our child.”

“…”

“I can’t count the reasons why I can’t start over with you, so let’s stop now. Because I don’t want to see you again.” 

With those words, Seowoo walked away.

“Ha.”

A self-pitying sigh escaped his lips.

This wasn’t how he had planned the proposal to flow. It felt like he was in a dream.

The harsh words she had hurled at him still haunted him, and Jiwook found himself unable to move from that spot for a long time.

****

“What on earth are you doing!”

Jiwook suddenly burst into the main house and started throwing all the potted plants into the living room. They were the plants that Myeong-hye had cherished and doted on. 

Collected over and over again. They were expensive and had been lovingly tended for over ten years.

And Jiwook threw them away.

“Stop it. Jiwook!!”

Myeong-hye thoughtfully grabbed Jiwook’s arm, but it was useless.

Bang, crash, thud.

Glass shards flew everywhere in the living room and soil spilled out. Hyeong-gyeong, who had come out late, stepped in front of Jiwook.

Slap.

With a ripping sound, his face turned to the right. Only then did Jiwook stop.

“Ha. Haha.”

Jiwook started laughing out loud, and Myeong-hye’s face turned ashen at the sight of her son, who seemed to have lost his senses.

“Jiwook, what’s going on? Why are you doing this, dear?”

Jiwook’s cold gaze fixed on Myeong-hye. It was the first time she had seen such madness in her son’s face.

Blood dripped from Jiwook’s hands from all the smashing he’d done.

“Is your hand okay? We need to stop the bleeding, your hand is…”

“How does it feel to have all the things you cherished so much, all gone before your eyes, Mother?”

The corners of his mouth twisted coldly.

“Ah, maybe I should have just disappeared instead. I’m the most precious thing to you, mother, aren’t I?”

“How can you say that to your parents, really!!”

Myeong-hye cried out in despair. Yet even seeing his mother like this, Jiwook did not blink an eye.

He was the most important thing in Myeong-hye’s life.

“I warned you not to touch Seowoo again. She has it bad enough. She’s barely surviving the loss of her child!”

His clenched hand was soaked with blood. At the sight of the gruesome wound, Myeong-hye’s expression changed again and she began to soothe him.

“Let’s stop this. Jiwook, you’re going to collapse if this goes on.”

“I should have died back then, in America.”

Myeong-hye suddenly stopped tending to his hand. She slowly raised her head and looked at Jiwook.

“What?”

“I should have died when you deliberately caused that accident to keep me from coming back to Korea!”

At Jiwook’s words, Myeong-hye’s lips tightened. Hyeong-gyeong, shocked by his son’s outburst, asked Myeong-hye with a startled face.

“What did he mean? Did you deliberately cause the accident?”

In a moment of crisis, Myeong-hye burst into fake tears and clung to Jiwook’s arm, but he swiftly shook her off his arm.

In a flash, Myeong-hye was on the ground and looked up at him with teary eyes.

“Your child had almost died, living in the U.S. like a dog for the chairman. When you threatened Seowoo to divorce me, I was like a fool, not knowing anything. Are you satisfied now? Isn’t this what you wanted, mother? So you intentionally hired someone to cause an accident and not only forced a divorce but also went after Seowoo again?”

Jiwook’s face turned cold.

He couldn’t stand it anymore, thinking she had caused another scene and had gone to see Seowoo again. 

Myeong-hye looked terribly flustered at the revelation of her secret. She shook her head vigorously and clung to Jiwook’s leg.

“No, I don’t know what misunderstanding you have, but Mommy never did such a thing. Is that what she said? Did that woman say that?”

“Ha, ‘that woman’?”

Jiwook tilted his head back and laughed like a madman. He laughed for a long time, then lowered his gaze to meet Myeong-hye’s.

“Live thinking your precious son is dead. It wouldn’t have been strange if I had died in the U.S., after all,  given how big the accident you caused was.”

“Jiwook!”

After shaking off Myeong-hye clinging to his leg, he crossed the living room and walked out. Hyeong-gyeong, now aware of everything, clicked his tongue in contempt.

“Really, unless you’re insane, are you in your right mind?”

“No, that’s not true! No! Jiwook, Jiwook!”

Myeong-hye vehemently denied it, shaking her head. The thought that she might truly lose her son if she let him go like this prompted Myeong-hye to desperately chase after Jiwook barefoot.

Continued in Volume 4.