“It just happened that way. Siwoo said he didn’t want to be alone at the restaurant.”

After agonizing over her answer for a while, Yeonsu spoke toward Sukgyeong with difficulty.

Strangely, the heavy atmosphere made even speaking feel like explaining herself to Sukgyeong.

It was when they were looking at each other.

“So Siwoo has allergies. There are none in our family.”

Seonjae approached the bedside where Yeonsu stood facing Sukgyeong.

And with his next words.

“Allergies are usually hereditary, aren’t they.”

The atmosphere surrounding them instantly froze.

※※※

Amid everyone’s stiffness at Seonjae’s words, Yeonsu was the one who broke the silence.

〈Allergies can develop without family history too. Though genetic predisposition is highly probable.〉

Unfortunately, Dr. Kim Dongju, the Taeseo family’s personal physician, was off attending a conference when Siwoo was rushed to the emergency room.

Siwoo, who had been in the emergency room for a while, was immediately moved to the VIP ward when a room was prepared.

Unlike Sukgyeong and the Sehee couple who moved together to the hospital room, Yeonsu and Seonjae left the emergency room.

In the elevator heading to the parking lot, the two remained silent.

Strangely, Siwoo kept floating through Yeonsu’s mind.

The child kept appearing in her thoughts. The words about him going into shock kept circling in her head.

It felt like seeing herself.

She too had once nearly died after eating food containing bisque sauce.

‘Come to think of it, Sehee doesn’t have allergies either.’

Judging from Seonjae’s words, it seemed Gijun didn’t have them either.

〈The symptoms had been present since yesterday, but they didn’t know until the nanny gave him an injection just in time. Your husband was shocked because he didn’t know about the allergy.〉

It was chilling to think that if the off-duty nanny hadn’t returned, it could have led to a serious accident.

Perhaps it was because of what Seonjae had said.

The thought that the child shared similarities with her kept bothering her.

The elevator arrival chime rang out. As the doors opened, Seonjae stepped out first.

But when Yeonsu remained staring blankly into space, the doors began to close again.

“Ms. Seo Yeonsu, aren’t you getting off?”

Yeonsu came to her senses at the sound of his voice.

Only when she saw Seonjae’s hand blocking the closing elevator did she realize they had arrived.

“I’m sorry. I was lost in thought for a moment.”

The elevator doors closed as Yeonsu stepped out.

Having parked in a hurry, she was confused about where she had left her car.

As she looked around searching for her car—

“The car is over there.”

Yeonsu turned toward where his long finger was pointing.

And spotted her car parked in a corner.

Yeonsu began walking toward the vehicle.

“Team Leader Seo Yeonsu.”

She turned at the sound of Seonjae’s low voice.

He remained standing in place, though she had expected him to follow.

“Is Managing Director Hong Sehee’s family important to you? Important enough to drive for them late at night like this.”

Yeonsu fully turned her body to face him.

It was strange that he suddenly asked about Sehee’s family.

Even when they were dating, Seungjae had never shown interest in Yeonsu’s family situation.

He neither asked nor brought up his own story first.

But now suddenly talking about Chairman Hong’s household.

Silence flowed between them.

If asked whether they were important, she would have answered yes without hesitation under normal circumstances.

But today, strangely, the words wouldn’t come easily. Sukgyeong’s overly sensitive reaction kept overlapping in her mind.

After a long moment of facing each other, Yeonsu parted her lips.

“I suppose so.”

After all, she had lived half her life with them.

In truth, for Yeonsu who was all alone in the world, there was no one she could call family except Sehee’s family.

“We’ve been together for 14 years. I consider them family at this point.”

Seonjae’s brow twitched at Yeonsu’s quiet words.

His eyes had deepened, indicating he was deep in thought.

After a long silence, he slowly approached.

“Team Leader Seo, you’re more romantic than I thought.”

Then, stopping one step away from Yeonsu, he bent down.

“If I told you not to trust Managing Director Hong’s family too much.”

Their gazes met directly as he whispered in a low voice.

“Would I be overstepping again?”

That brief moment felt stretched out to Yeonsu.

His unfathomable gaze added to her confusion.

Don’t trust Sehee’s family?

The unexpected direction of the conversation made it even more perplexing.

“Why are you saying this?”

He straightened up from his bent position toward Yeonsu.

His eyes looking down at her were resolute. His lips, which had been closed in a straight line, opened.

“Because distrust runs rampant even among blood relatives in this world?”

“……”

“I’ll see you next time then. Someone’s here to pick me up.”

With those words, Seonjae turned his back on Yeonsu.

And walked toward a sedan waiting at the parking lot entrance.

Yeonsu clenched her fist.

Why did that man’s words disturb her so much?

He was a man who effortlessly shook her world with just a word, toppling the tower she had carefully built over 14 years.

Today’s Yeonsu also felt something familiar. No, perhaps she already knew things weren’t the same with Sehee’s family anymore.

But she didn’t want to have that fact confirmed through Moon Seonjae.

It might be something to be grateful for, but with that man, resentment outweighed gratitude.

“You’ve definitely crossed the line.”

Seonjae stopped at the sound of Yeonsu’s voice echoing through the parking lot.

“I don’t appreciate hearing this kind of talk from you, CEO.”

He seemed to look at Yeonsu for a long time before pulling up one corner of his mouth.

“If that’s how you feel, there’s nothing I can do.”

With those words, he got into the sedan.

Soon, the car he was in drove away.

Yeonsu remained in place for a long time, until the car disappeared from view.

※※※

The VIP room was quiet, a stark contrast to the bustling emergency room they had left.

Gijun returned straight to Oksu-dong for a meeting the next day.

Entering the hospital room after her son-in-law left, Sukgyeong nervously put down her bag on the sofa.

“Haah.”

Sitting back on the sofa, Sukgyeong rubbed her deeply sunken eyes.

She had thought she would go crazy pretending to be calm in front of Seonjae and Gijun.

When Gijun called, she had been more urgent because of her son-in-law’s displeased voice.

Sukgyeong was always anxious about potential discord between the couple because of the child.

So she had called hoping Sehee would quickly go to the emergency room.

But to think she was with Seo Yeonsu and CEO Moon Seonjae!

She couldn’t have imagined Sehee would be with those two today.

Just as Sukgyeong was about to hold her head from the throbbing headache, the hospital room door opened and Sehee entered.

She had returned after meeting with the attending physician who helped with Siwoo’s admission procedures.

Sukgyeong jumped to her feet upon seeing Sehee.

“Are you in your right mind or not?”

Her voice trembled as she looked at her daughter who had made her anxious all day.

But Sehee entered with a composed face and plopped down on the sofa where Sukgyeong had been sitting.

“Don’t you start too, Mom. I’ve had a rough day.”

Sehee leaned back deeply into the sofa.

Then she covered her face with the cardigan she was holding.

Sukgyeong’s anger surged at this clear attempt to block conversation.

She immediately pulled off the cardigan and threw it aside.

“Ah, what!”

“‘Ah, what?’ Are you in any position to be annoyed with me?”

Sukgyeong’s voice became highly agitated, matching her crumpled face.

Sehee frowned at her hysterical voice.

“What if Yeonsu finds out because of this? I told you to keep Siwoo and Yeonsu from meeting if possible! That we need to be careful! A mother can recognize her own child somehow.”

Sehee looked at Sukgyeong and abruptly stood up.

Then she looked at Siwoo’s firmly closed hospital room door and felt relieved.

He was in a deep sleep from the sedative, but she was still concerned.

“Mom, please! No one would know if you just didn’t say such things out loud.”

Sehee sat back down with her tension released and continued.

“She thinks her baby was stillborn. She had surgery and never even saw the baby’s face, so how could she recognize him? It doesn’t make sense.”

“But I told you about a mother’s intuition. You were too hasty bringing those two to the emergency room today!”

Sehee looked at Sukgyeong with a fed-up expression.

She couldn’t understand Sukgyeong’s hypersensitivity—bordering on overreaction—when it came to matters related to Siwoo.

“So when the three of us were together, should I have gotten out alone and taken a taxi? That would have been more suspicious! It’s more natural to let them meet than to hide Siwoo.”

She stood up from her seat.