Chapter : 53
“Half-siblings… what does that… mean?”
It was such a shocking declaration.
Juhye stammered as she spoke, asking again, and Eunjae’s expression grew even darker.
She had expected this reaction, but now she realized there was no point in hiding it any longer.
“I couldn’t tell you until now. Oppa wanted it that way too.”
The truth that Song Eunjae was not Daehyun’s mistress, but his younger sister, Seo Eunjae, hit Juhye like a thunderclap.
Her face paled and flushed in rapid succession at the shocking revelation.
“But the name is clearly…”
“I applied to change my family registry when I became an adult and independent. I didn’t want to be tied to my father anymore…”
As Eunjae mentioned Chairman Seo Namjae, her expression turned chillingly cold.
Just by looking at her eyes, one could sense how completely she rejected her father.
Juhye suddenly remembered Daehyun’s family situation and felt a pang of realization. Thinking back, Woo-hyun and Daehyun’s relationship had never been good either.
“He abandoned my mother.”
Eunjae’s voice was cold and merciless as she explained.
She carefully gazed at her mother’s face lying in bed and clenched her fists on her knees.
“When Mom was sick… and needed hospital bills, I was only a high school student.”
It was pitiful, but she had no choice but to ask the father who had abandoned them for help.
Her mother could no longer work in the entertainment industry, so there was no way to quickly raise funds, and it was difficult for a high school student like her to start working.
“When I went to ask for help, he immediately refused. He probably didn’t even want to acknowledge me as his child, someone he couldn’t reveal to the outside world.”
“….”
“Seo Woo-hyun said the same thing. He said he couldn’t recognize someone like me as family.”
Eunjae looked at Juhye as if asking whether she knew about Woo-hyun.
How could she not know? Juhye bitterly recounted the past.
“Actually, he came to me and said it himself.”
“To the director… what did he say?”
“That Eunjae was my husband’s mistress.”
Eunjae’s mouth slowly opened, and a short curse slipped out between her full lips.
It was a curse that sounded almost elegant when spoken softly.
When Juhye looked at her in surprise, an awkward smile appeared on Eunjae’s face.
“Sorry… I was just so angry… I never imagined he would do something like that.”
“I understand. Looking back now, it’s absurd to me too.”
Juhye agreed and pressed her hand to her forehead.
Too much information was flooding in, making her head feel hot.
One thing was clear: Woo-hyun’s deliberate deception had only deepened the misunderstanding.
“The only one who ever considered me family, back then and now, was Daehyun Oppa.”
Eunjae hesitated as she checked Juhye’s reaction, then whispered carefully.
Juhye lowered her hand from her forehead and listened to her story again.
“I helped Oppa so he could take down Woo-nam Construction. I was also the one who gathered evidence of Seo Woo-hyun’s embezzlement.”
Eunjae fiddled with a canned coffee, recalling old memories.
“Oppa repeatedly apologized, saying he was sorry for using me for personal revenge… but there was nothing to apologize for.”
Eunjae thought of herself as a parasite clinging to him.
Yet each time, Daehyun scolded her not to say such things and defended her, saying it was natural for family to ask for such things.
Perhaps that very part had made Woo-hyun even more resentful.
“Anyway, I was so grateful just to be used by Oppa. I was happy just knowing I could help him.”
“…”
“The one who helped Mom get treatment, and the one who made it possible for me to safely enter university… it was only Oppa.”
To Eunjae, Daehyun was more than a half-brother.
He willingly took on the role of a father in place of the one who had abandoned her.
Without him, she couldn’t even imagine how she would have survived.
“I sincerely apologize for causing you any unnecessary misunderstandings, Madam. I am truly sorry.”
Eunjae bowed so low that her head nearly touched her knees.
Juhye was startled and placed her hand on Eunjae’s shoulder.
She shook her gently to raise her head, but Eunjae remained silent.
“Lift your head. This isn’t something you should be apologizing for…”
“Oppa truly loves you, Madam.”
But when she said that, Juhye paused and froze.
A faint moisture touched Eunjae’s voice.
“When I asked Oppa what it would be like if I told the truth, he only worried about that. He said he wanted to protect this marriage, even if it meant signing an unfair contract…”
Juhye’s eyes flickered at the mention of the unfair contract.
Watching Eunjae’s tears fall onto her knees, her mind swirled with thoughts.
‘So Eunjae knew about the contract too… it was really only me who didn’t know… only me…’
Juhye sighed deeply, worriedly watching Eunjae.
The time she had spent anxiously trying to gauge Daehyun’s feelings without knowing the truth now felt wasted.
She wondered if things might have been different had they been honest with each other from the start.
“Eunjae.”
Juhye waited until Eunjae raised her head before revealing a truth she hadn’t yet confessed.
“We’re divorced.”
“Yes…?”
“We’re in the process of a consensual divorce, but it’s still within the reflection period. We’re only living separately for now.”
Eunjae’s expression froze instantly at the news.
Her trembling voice asked if it was because of a misunderstanding about her, but Juhye shook her head.
The divorce wasn’t solely because of Eunjae being mistaken as a mistress.
“I had always doubted this marriage. I thought Oppa didn’t truly love me.”
“Hah, but—”
“Even if he was honest with Eunjae, we never had that conversation.”
At the last moment, bound by that contract, Daehyun had been unable to refuse divorce. Juhye recalled his expression.
She also wondered why he hadn’t told the truth until then.
If he truly didn’t want a divorce, couldn’t he have been honest back then?
“Did you… ask Oppa about this too?”
Breaking the silence, Eunjae asked carefully.
“Or did he not speak honestly?”
The question itself contained its own answer.
‘Did you ask him honestly?’
It was a question Juhye hadn’t dared ask Daehyun herself.
She had never dared to ask if he truly loved her, fearing the answer would be no.
‘Even if it’s the last moment, it should be sweet so I won’t regret it later.’
‘I’ll regret it from tomorrow anyway.’
‘That’s fine too. I want you to feel a little regret, honestly…’
Yet his answer when they last saw each other had felt meaningful:
‘Everything will go as you think, Juhye.’
But he was wrong. Juhye was regretting her hasty choices instead.
She bit her lower lip in frustration, blaming herself, yet ultimately resented Daehyun for not being honest.
She couldn’t wait to confront him and demand answers.
She even wondered how he would react if she suddenly told him she was pregnant.
“Do you have any idea where Daehyun might be right now?”
Juhye looked at Eunjae with a desperate gaze.
After thinking deeply, Eunjae clapped her hands as a memory surfaced.
“Ah, he said he recently got a villa.”
“A villa?”
“Yes, he said it was a special place, and he wanted to show it to someone in particular. Maybe if you go there, you’ll find him. I don’t know the exact location…”
Eunjae scratched her head, anxious because she hadn’t been able to contact Daehyun for several days.
She looked apologetic for not being able to provide more details.
“Thank you, Eunjae.”
That was enough. There was only one villa it could be.
The villa surrounded by the forest she loved.
The place where she had spent days confined with Daehyun, just the two of them.
The place where he had whispered countless “I love you”s and held her as if to crush her in his arms.
“I think I know which villa it is.”
Juhye stood up without hesitation and ran out the door.
It was finally time to catch her beloved, cowardly husband.
