Chapter 54
54. Wanting Everything 2021.11.03.
Eun-yeop visited Ms. Jang Young-mi's mansion on his way home from work. Now that Ji-heon was away on a business trip, it was the perfect time. He was ostensibly there to advise on Ms. Jang Young-mi's personal real estate dispute, but he had other intentions. Youngmi also had something she wanted to confirm with Eun-yeop. After hesitating several times, Youngmi asked, as if she couldn't believe it.
“Ji-heon suddenly said that. That he broke up with Eun-bi. …Is that true?”
Eun-yeop replied as if it were nothing.
“Did Ji-heon say that? Actually, they’ve broken up and gotten back together a few times, so I don’t really know.”
“Oh, really? I didn’t know.”
“Even when she was broken up with Ji-heon, Eun-bi apparently called you every time, Mother.”
“Oh, my. Where else would you find such a devoted girl?”
Youngmi lamented, and Eun-yeop smiled faintly.
“Ji-heon, I don’t know what whim made him do this to such a nice girl.”
“Mother, there’s something I’d like to ask you.”
Eun-yeop carefully brought up his business with Youngmi. It was the perfect timing.
“Did Ji-heon happen to have a girlfriend seven years ago?”
Youngmi's eyes widened at Eun-yeop's question. After a moment, Youngmi avoided Eun-yeop's gaze and feigned ignorance.
“A girlfriend. You know. Our Ji-heon…”
“You can tell me.”
Eun-yeop requested again. It became difficult for Youngmi to deny it outright.
“It really wasn’t a big deal. You couldn’t even call her a girlfriend. There was just this strange girl who followed our boy around, and after I spoke to her nicely so she would understand, she never contacted him again. All contact was cut off seven years ago. Ji-heon is flawless.”
Eun-yeop was deeply relieved inside. So, she really doesn't know anything. It was clear that Youngmi didn't know how Lee Jung-oh was doing now. She believed that everything had been resolved cleanly after she had Seong-woo block Lee Jung-oh seven years ago. If so, the solution might be a little easier.
“I understand that it must have been a casual encounter anyway. Because that's what Ji-heon was like back then…”
Eun-yeop continued, as if he understood Youngmi's feelings.
“But, Mother, you may want to protect Ji-heon, but… the Ji-heon I see as a friend is a little different.”
“……”
“Thanks to the amnesia, Ji-heon's surroundings were cleaned up once, but Ji-heon's true nature still remains. You know about the rumors from four years ago, right? The women Ji-heon messed with, or was rumored to have messed with. It was really too much. I couldn't stop him because he seemed to be having a hard time with the memory loss.”
“……”
“Eun-bi is the only one who can keep Ji-heon in check.”
It was so easy to manipulate someone's private life. The mother and son in this family seemed close, but they didn't know anything about each other. He would break the trust between the two and make them both move according to his will.
“Eun-bi is the only one who can keep Ji-heon in check. Mother.”
Eun-yeop firmly told Youngmi.
\ Seung-gyu received the results of the investigation into Lee Jung-oh by email. His hands trembled at the fact that he had done something dishonest. Lee Jung-oh. 30 years old. Her age, where she lives, education, occupation, family. A woman's diligently lived history was contained in a few documents. The most special thing, if anything, was that her mother was also a single mother, and she was also a single mother. It was impossible to know if she had a man in the past, or if there was a father of the child. Lee Jung-oh never stayed anywhere other than her home, her mother's store, and her company. Recently, there was only a record of her frequently visiting the hospital due to her superior, Team Leader Seong Mi-ran's surgery. It was a report that was so unremarkable it made him yawn. However, Seung-gyu's eyes, which had been smoothly reading through the document, stopped when he reached the child's photo. Seung-gyu rubbed his eyes and checked the photo, then returned to the previous page to check the child's name again. Daughter Lee Yena. 7 years old.
‘That Yena is Lee Yena?’
Seung-gyu's mouth hung open blankly. Yena, my son Do-bin's first love, is Department Head Lee Jung-oh's daughter? Seung-gyu leaned back in his chair and sighed deeply.
‘Ah. Why is everything so twisted…’
Could it be that Lee Jung-oh is using Yena to approach Jeong Ji-heon on purpose? Could it be that my wife was also used by Lee Jung-oh? He felt uneasy for some reason. Seung-gyu's heart, which loved his friend, was filled with worry. How should he tell his precious friend this fact? \ An hour ago, Ji-heon saw Jeong-o lingering in front of the front desk on the first floor of the hotel. He could guess what she was hesitating about. In his heart, he desperately wanted her to leave the lobby quickly, but he couldn't apply any other pressure. He had no choice but to quietly return to his room without being noticed by her and wait for her. He wanted her to make the final decision herself. And after a long, long wait, he finally heard a knock. Even though he had given her a card key, she knocked, so at first he thought it might be someone else, and Ji-heon's tense expression was revealed as it was. But after confirming her face, which was flushed as if she was embarrassed, the string of reason quickly snapped.
“Director…”
Before she could even call him, he pulled her into his arms as if snatching her away. She lost her balance as she was pulled in and was buried in his arms. He held her up and looked at her. Her eyes, sparkling and trembling as if she had brought stars into the room, seemed to be filled with anxiety, resignation about the time to come, and some kind of longing. Ji-heon wanted to swallow it all. Jeong-o was actually a little scared. Jeong-o's shoulders flinched at the hot fingers that came behind her neck. Her body, which seemed to have been warmed up for a long time, was so hot that she was a little worried. Jeong-o put her hand on his cheek as if trying to check his heat. As if he had been waiting for that moment, he quickly lowered his lips. Responding to this, the hand she had placed on his cheek slid down. The body temperature transmitted through his lips was getting hotter and her heartbeat was getting faster and faster, but as soon as his lips fully touched hers, the anxiety in her heart somehow subsided. The lumps of desire that could be read in his breath stirred up Jeong-o's other thoughts. He touched the button on the front of her neatly dressed blouse with his fingertips. When she gasped in surprise, he took the opportunity to slip in deeper. Even though she had experienced it all before, Jeong-o couldn't remember anything, as if it were the first time. Finally, when he took his lips away, a faint breath that had been trapped between her lips escaped with a 'haah'. He gazed at her as if admiring the sight, then asked.
“Do you think we’re just going to kiss?”
He asked teasingly. With his ardent eyes and smile, he looked even more mischievous and greedy. She had clearly heard a warning to be prepared yesterday, but she couldn't pretend to be innocent and say no. She wasn't a naive little kid either. But still, her heart was full. Ji-heon watched her expression, which was constantly changing slightly. It seemed like it would be fun just to look at her. But now he wanted to see a more disheveled face. He also knew that if he confirmed that, he would go even crazier.
“What should we do?”
He asked leisurely, as if he were entrusting her with the final choice. He was already completely captivated by her eyes, which sparkled as if tears would fall at any moment.
“You know everything.”
She pouted her lips and replied as he teased her. It was a tone of resentment towards him for asking even though he knew full well why she had come here. It was reasonably satisfactory. He had heard all the answers. He didn't want to wait any longer. He wouldn't wait. While his warm fingertips flicked at the buttons, a rough sigh slowly brushed her cheek. Her shoulders tilted inward as if she was ashamed to show her body. At every moment, a kind of impulse to grab both her arms to one side wriggled inside him, but Ji-heon fully enjoyed that precarious moment. For some reason, he felt that this woman was embarrassed, but she was adjusting her body to his touch. Ji-heon gently laid her down on the bed and immediately took over. But she suddenly raised her upper body. He also paused and lowered his head towards her. Eyes that looked like they would burst into tears at any moment stared at his exposed body. A scar. The place Jeong-o was looking at was the scar from the surgery seven years ago. Eventually, she traced the scar with her fingertips and asked in a trembling voice.
“Are you okay?”
“About what?”
“You… had an accident, right?”
At this moment. Quite unexpectedly. Ji-heon chuckled at Jeong-o, who was asking about the distant accident from seven years ago, because she was so cute. There was no hint of a smile on Jeong-o's face.
“The scar looks deep.”
“Because my ribs were broken.”
“Does it hurt?”
Had the pain at that time also evaporated along with his memories? Ji-heon had been hospitalized for a long time at the time, but he didn't have many difficult memories. Fortunately, there was no damage to his organs either. Ji-heon replied in a light tone.
“If it still hurt, there would be a lot of problems.”
“You still don’t have your memories.”
She retorted stubbornly. Memories. Are memories important? I don't know what my past was like? After visiting 'The Crown', his heart felt heavy about his memories. He couldn't help but be afraid that he would face a past that was better left unknown. Anyway, isn't the present more important than the past?
“Do you want me to find my memories?”
“Of course. It’s a whole three years of memories.”
Her expression invariably contained her honest sincerity. His heart tingled, but he felt good about her concern. He had long wanted to be cared for in this state. After a while, she asked cautiously.
“……How did you live?”
This time it was quite serious. She even seemed to be on the verge of tears. Ji-heon watched her quietly, wondering if she was trying to postpone the things that were about to happen even a little bit. As he did so, she added.
“For seven years. If you lose your memories, it’s like losing yourself.”
……No one had ever said this to him. He also felt his cold eyes becoming moist. He immediately put away his darkening heart.
“As I said before, uninterestingly.”
That was really the case. Ji-heon wasn't very interested in anything in the world. The me before I knew her wasn't very important. The most exciting moment in his life was now. At this important moment, he was unbearably fond of the beautiful woman who was only caressing the scars of the past, but he was also disappointed and anxious, wondering if this woman had the same desperate desire as him, and he expressed his dissatisfaction.
“Why do you keep touching only there? There are many other places to touch.”
That it doesn't hurt at all now. Rather, if she touches him like that, he'll go crazy with frustration. He almost gave that warning but swallowed it down. The fingertips, which would have focused on touching him for half a day if he hadn't pointed it out, flinched back. When he suggested she touch him somewhere else, she let go of him altogether. In some ways, she's so bold, and in others, she's so cautious that he wonders if it's even necessary, and her actions draw his attention every moment. After teasing her once, she's back to having frightened eyes. She came prepared for anything, but he couldn't understand what she was so afraid of, and he wanted to look inside her head. You wouldn't understand the desperate feeling of rummaging through her clothes because he can't look inside her head. Ji-heon realized that his noble arrogance, wanting to have her while protecting his own heart, had been completely shattered. I want everything about you.
