Chapter 42 ….
Chaido was always like this. Handling troublesome matters as if an overflowing amount of money could solve them. Arbitrary and careless.
She didn’t expect him to offer delicate consolation, but when it came to soothing her wounded heart, he had no interest, no talent, whatsoever.
“Hngh!”
Sehee, trembling and gasping with all her strength, turned her head away from Chaido and barely exhaled.
In the end, she did not give him what he wanted. She did not plead like she used to, nor did she sway helplessly, succumbing to instinct.
Perhaps from using so much effort, her body stiffened, and the room spun before her eyes. Darkness soon came.
It had to be one of two things:
Either she was a woman with a body so vile that it could feel even when crushed under the murderer who killed her father, or she loved Chaido.
Which of the two would be worse?
Her weakly trembling eyelids slowly closed.
It was sleep after three days.
She felt her body go limp. After that, no memories came back.
Sehee, lying helplessly on the bed, slowly opened her eyes at a faint sound.
She had lost count of how many days had passed, night or day. Each time she opened her eyes, a newly attached IV hung from her arm.
She did not know what Chaido had done while she was asleep.
She had simply lost all will.
One thing was certain: Chaido would revive her dozens, hundreds of times over.
Because there would be no one else who resembled Haesoo so much.
His mind was obsessed entirely with the days gone by. Her pain, her emptiness, none of it mattered.
“No. You do this filthy thing only with me.”
Her dazed gaze fixed on the ceiling.
She did not know how many weeks had passed. Occasionally, Chaido would enter her room, leaning against the door, watching her with eyes unreadable.
As always, his face was emotionless—but if she truly acted as if she were dying, a faint stir would ripple through those icy eyes. A clumsy guise of fear.
“…Leave.”
Sehee spoke without turning her head from the ceiling. The only one who could stand silently in her room like that was Chaido.
She did not want to face him yet.
Chaido slowly moved away from the wall.
“What do you want?”
Finally, it seemed he intended to listen.
“I can’t bring back the dead. I’m not a god either.”
“Then can you kill the living?”
Sehee asked back, as if she had been waiting.
“I’d rather die. Then maybe I could live in peace.”
Chaido did not answer. Even saying a few words seemed to make emotions surge, and she tightly shut her eyes.
She knew Chaido was not the one to blame.
He had not fired the gun at her father nor pushed him to die.
He had, in fact, saved and treated her. Unlike the fellow prosecutors who stayed in the shadows while her father’s honor was butchered without a single word of support.
When her family was cornered and everyone else betrayed them, Chaido was the only one who reached out.
But she could not live like this. Not as Chaido’s wife, not pretending to be his cherished first love, giving him her body and heart whenever he desired, filling the void he wanted.
‘A trophy. So everyone can see clearly. To show what happened to Yu Hyungjin when he recklessly ran out of the house.’
She could not allow her dead father’s name to be tarnished to the end. He had given his life to make her accept the situation.
“Haesoo.”
Sehee calmly turned her head toward Chaido, who stood in the dark.
“That girl’s name is Haesoo, right?”
The sudden mention made his eyebrows twitch downward.
“…Did you like her a lot?”
Chaido seemed to think for a moment. His gaze drifted before returning, appearing utterly exhausted.
“No. She was just a debt. Now…”
He swallowed a bitter laugh after a long pause.
“What if you could meet her again?”
“It doesn’t matter. Whether she’s dead or alive.”
He answered indifferently, as if talking about something irrelevant.
Of course.
Chaido was simply obsessively perfectionist. He could not have tolerated a girl with the same-colored eyes being humiliated in another country.
First love? That never existed.
Even if she revealed she was truly Haesoo, nothing would change.
Chaido would not even blink.
She had been foolish to cling to such a trivial, debt-like feeling.
“And you?”
Chaido, who had been talking about Haesoo, suddenly asked her.
“While being with me, was there ever any sincerity?”
Not for a single moment.
His fingers habitually rubbed the ring on her left hand.
“No.”
Sehee turned her gaze away from Chaido and returned to staring at the ceiling.
“…I only thought Chaido was slightly better than the merchants who tried to sell me. And I only wanted to live.”
“……”
“Every moment was horrible and disgusting. When seeing someone off, when going out to greet someone, when eating together… and even when forced to spend nights in the same bed…”
Her throat tightened more and more as she continued.
Yes, it was horrific. She did not know what the feeling meant, but it was terrifying, bewildering, and confusing to the point of madness.
“Leave… just leave.”
As she tightly closed her eyes, tears streamed down.
“Breathing is hard, so just… leave…”
Her breathing became irregular again. Her head throbbed painfully, and nausea rose.
Memories of Chaido flooded her mind: stroking his sleeping hair, calling him with awkward titles, stealing little kisses whenever there was a chance.
Her heart constricted. She did not want to recall them.
Eventually, she heard the quiet click of the door closing. Clutching the blanket, she turned over and forced herself to calm her rapidly rising breaths.
Late at night, Chaido checked on the sleeping Sehee once more.
On the dim bed, without distinction of night or day, Sehee curled up, her cheeks flushed red as she breathed shallowly.
Her cheeks would always redden slightly when deeply asleep due to the elevated body temperature.
A faint movement caused her phone to drop from her hands to the floor, rolling beneath the bed. But Sehee did not wake, only flinching slightly as if tossing in her sleep.
Was she dreaming deeply?
Chaido slowly reached out to adjust the blanket draped over her shoulders. Her tightly shut eyes showed dried tear marks. Her body bore the mess of his animalistic insistence, the traces of his mouth, everywhere.
He knew that the Choi Kyungsoo lawyer’s family had already marked Sehee as a prospective daughter-in-law.
He remembered the look on his face during the company’s anniversary event, constantly stealing glances at someone else’s wife. How her eyes trembled, lost and unsure.
And when the fake documents had gone through his hands… how would she feel if she knew?
He picked up the phone and quietly placed it beside her, lowering his gaze slightly.
Sehee’s pale, neck was enticing; even a slight touch would cause it to heat up.
He wanted to grip it tightly in his hand, yet restrained himself as if holding a small, fragile bird.
Her pulse gradually increased. When her moist eyes met his, it was like looking into a pleading, still-living animal.
Chaido lifted his hand toward her soft hair, then paused.
He could not understand why she was acting so wildly.
Born to a mother he never saw and a father who disposed of her personally, she had never known family love.
Yu Hyungjin was doomed to die anyway. It was better for him as well.
Her injuries were severe. Any slight negligence could put her in danger. Of course, if it were up to him, he would have tried to save her even with a crippled body.
“Ah… ah… hngh.”
He had thought he would feel better. Seeing her body, forcibly tamed yet responding to him. Seeing her completely covered in his traces, languid and subdued.
But…
“Director Cha. As you instructed…”
Through the slightly open door, Director Lee walked in and saw Sehee asleep, stopping in place. Chaido raised a hand to signal silence.
After a deep breath, Sehee slowly settled her heaving shoulders.
“As you instructed, Director Cha, I handled it.”
Director Lee cautiously entered, keeping his voice low.
“And what about Haesoo?”
His gaze landed awkwardly on Chaido’s hand patting her shoulder.
“No need to look for her. Not anymore.”
Sehee, seemingly deep in sleep again, breathed steadily at last.
