Chapter 68
68. Back to You (1) 2021.12.22.
“Just say one word.”
In the suffocating silence, he opened his mouth.
“That child is my child.”
His heavy voice resonated, making her chest tingle. Jeong-o felt like an inevitable sigh would escape, but she tightly closed her lips. Had he reached certainty, or did he just want to believe it? She couldn't read him. Her heart, which always raced quickly for him, now throbbed. When she strained her eyes, the corners of her eyes became even hotter.
“Yena is my daughter.”
Jeong-o recognized that his eyes, which were looking at her, were also trembling slightly. Even his voice was earnest and desperate.
“Tell me she’s our daughter.”
As she didn't answer, Ji-heon spoke repeatedly. He tried hard to suppress his emotions, but a wave surged inside his throat. All the same words. Demanding an answer, Ji-heon's suspicion had become certainty. There was only one acceptable answer. Just answer. If you just answer, I'll give you everything. Had his desperate feelings been conveyed? Jeong-o's right hand rose to his cheek. It was a soft and gentle touch, as if tickling his skin, but her lips remained tightly sealed. It seemed like the answer he wanted would never come. It seemed like she was trying to soothe and appease him to get out of this situation. Anxious, Ji-heon grabbed her hand that was caressing his cheek.
“Say it.”
“……”
“Say it. Please.”
Now his voice was pleading. Jeong-o, looking at him, also felt a pang in her heart. Anxious emotions surged throughout. What made you like this? Who drove this man crazy? Who made this man so desperate? Jeong-o, who had no way of knowing what had happened to him in the meantime, couldn't help but be confused. Whether it was the truth or a lie, he didn't seem to care anymore. He just wanted an answer. She had to open her mouth for him. Her eyes, measuring the weight of her answer, wandered like a lost child. As always, she had to think rationally. She had to make a realistic judgment. It was possible that his desire for her to be entirely his had led to a wrong decision. It might be a dangerous impulse to throw everything else away in order to grasp her alone. Is it okay to say it? Is it really okay? If he had really reached the truth, if he knew everything, she couldn't weigh his memories and confuse him further. I was just waiting for you to tell the truth. It was also something she desperately wanted. She, who was twenty-three, had become thirty. A full seven years. She wanted to end this pain now. She wanted to become someone who didn't deceive herself and her daughter. Jeong-o's lips, having made up her mind, parted heavily.
“That’s right. She’s your child.”
Seven years of time. Returning to you after a long, long time. She spoke calmly, but the end of her words soon blurred. His eyes, which had a reddish hue even under the streetlights, widened even more. Even though she had given the answer he wanted. After urging only one answer so much, his mouth slowly opened with a shocked expression, as if he hadn't expected anything. As if he had lost his words, as if he had even lost his voice. His lips moved slowly up and down, but she couldn't hear any sound. Jeong-o told him the truth once more, clearly.
“Our… our child.”
It was a difficult confession for her too. Her eyes, which had become blurred, were filled with his face distorted with pain. Heo-eo-eo……. Had she ever seen such a pitiful expression? It was the saddest face in the world she had ever encountered. Jeong-o also felt a pang in her heart. The sorrow of someone who had learned the truth they had not known for a long time was devastating. It was the first time she had seen it. A man who had always shown her a cold and arrogant appearance, a confident and dignified appearance, a rational and strong appearance, had a face that had collapsed as if he had lost everything in his life. It was an expression as if the world supporting him had collapsed. He seemed to have forgotten to breathe. She grabbed Ji-heon, who was staggering as if his legs had lost strength. He also grabbed Jeong-o's arms, but couldn't hold on. He seemed to lean on her shoulder, but he collapsed as if he had lost the legs to support him. Jeong-o also sat down with him. Heo-eo, heo-eo, heo-eo-eo……. A panting voice, as if he was about to stop breathing, was heard from above her shoulder. There was nothing Jeong-o could do. She just hugged him tightly. His desperate breathing darkened the darkness even more. No, this was crying. Heueueu. Heueueueueue…….
A beast-like sob, as if he was wailing with his heart crushed and his vocal cords taken away, soaked her shoulder. His arms and shoulders, which he was holding onto and hugging, were stiff. His shoulders were trembling as if he had encountered a cold wave in the middle of this summer. Not long ago, Jeong-o had asked him. How did you live for seven years? Isn't losing your memory the same as losing yourself? That was true. He had lived those seven years having lost himself. It was no different from living with his eyes closed and his ears blocked, just breathing. I didn't know. I really didn't know……. There was nothing in my world without you, so I didn't even know how to get to you. I thought there might be something precious to me, but I couldn't tell anyone, no one. There was no one, so I couldn't say anything. Time had not only passed for the child, but also for Jeong-o. Ji-heon, who was twenty-six, had also become thirty-three. He was still living in the prime of his youth, but that fact didn't turn back the time that had passed. Yena at one, two, three, four, five, and six years old……. Ji-heon couldn't hug or touch that beautiful child now. He had missed it like that. Everything. Jeong Ji-heon, who was so foolish and didn't know anything at twenty-seven. Jeong Ji-heon at twenty-eight. The empty Jeong Ji-heon at twenty-nine, thirty, thirty-one, and thirty-two all screamed together. Eueueue……. Eueueueueueue……. Jeong-o hugged Ji-heon's shoulder even tighter. Jeong-o's tears, unable to bear it, also flowed down. His still-shaking shoulders made her guess at his despair. Jeong-o realized one pitiful fact in the midst of his heartbreaking sobs. This man was really alone. Who would compensate for his grief, his time? The beautiful daughter who had changed seasons dozens of times and shone in new ways each time. The benefactor of her life who had pulled her mother, who was in hell, into heaven. He had never even thought about all the happiness that Jeong-o had enjoyed because of her daughter, the beauty and preciousness of that life. This person was the one who had walked through real hell……. Tears flowed incessantly. \\ Seven years ago, on the last day of the year. Jeong-o boarded a train. It was to spend the New Year with her mother, Ms. Lee Guk-soon, who ran a restaurant with a friend in Gunsan. As it was the day, the train was crowded. Every time she brushed against people, Jeong-o's hand naturally went to her stomach. A woman in her 30s was sitting next to Jeong-o. And next to her, across the aisle, sat a child of about 10 years old and his father, who seemed to be the woman's family. The child was constantly putting food into his mouth. The child's mother nagged him to stop eating so much, and the child's father gave him candy in both hands, saying, "What's wrong with it on a special day?" The family shared stories that only they knew and laughed together at jokes that weren't even that funny. It was a very beautiful and harmonious family. One that she had never had and would never have. Jeong-o stared at the scene with a heavy heart and turned her head. She decided to press the passing scenery outside the window into her eyes. She could vaguely guess her future. She thought she might never be able to return. The train, which had been running for about three hours, arrived at Gunsan Station. Her mother, who had been bragging to everyone in the neighborhood that her daughter was coming from Seoul, that her smart and admirable daughter was coming, was waiting for her daughter with a flushed face.
“Lee Jeong-o!”
Her mother, who immediately recognized her daughter getting off the train, waved her hand happily. But her mother's flushed expression soon disappeared. Her mother quickly realized that something was wrong with her child's body. And the way the child quickly retreated as if protecting something in her arms every time she brushed against people.
“Mom.”
That smiling face as she approached after finding her mother. Guk-soon couldn't make any expression on that sad face. Guk-soon took a break from work and went straight to Seoul to clean up her daughter's house and returned to Gunsan.
“You can live here. You don't have to worry about anything. You can go to the hospital with Mom and stay healthy and then go back to school.”
That's how the mother and daughter's life together began again. Guk-soon took care of Jeong-o firmly. She was the only support Jeong-o could rely on. Knowing this well, Guk-soon didn't collapse easily either.
“There's no problem. Just trust Mom.”
Whenever Jeong-o was depressed even for a moment, Guk-soon showed an even more energetic appearance. Even if her heart was breaking, even if the desire to run after the child's father immediately filled her head, she didn't show tears or put curses on her lips in front of her daughter. She didn't scold her daughter either. She protected her daughter with everything her mother could do. No matter what darkness the child was trapped in, Lee Guk-soon was Jeong-o's eternal sun. Under her mother's care, Jeong-o slowly regained her real smile. Last winter, Jeong-o, who seemed to have lost everything, realized that she actually had a lot. And the child was born. Jeong-o realized that she could fall in love again. She also realized the heart of a mother who wanted to become stronger for her child. Jeong-o vowed that she too would become a strong person who could say "Just trust Mom" to her daughter like her mother. A long time ago. Now it's a past story. Everything is now left as a memory. \\ Inside Ji-heon's car. Ji-heon told Jeong-o about what had happened in the past few days and what he had remembered. That he and Jeong-o were lovers, and that there was a child to be born. Jeong-o was a little disappointed that that was all Ji-heon had remembered. But she wanted to applaud his will to reach her by tracing his traces from 7 years ago. Her heart was warmed by the story that he had tried to propose to her 7 years ago. Jeong-o also briefly told Ji-heon about the past 7 years. As time passed, she was able to laugh while reminiscing about the wandering and the hard days back then. His eyes were constantly wet as he looked at her, though. Ji-heon, who had listened to Jeong-o's story silently, asked.
“Why did we end up like that?”
Why did we break up? I wouldn't have let you go. It was such a natural thing that Ji-heon's suspicion immediately flowed in a natural direction.
“Why couldn't you contact me? Who blocked us?”
Jeong-o's eyes also tightened at Ji-heon's accurate question. It was time to tell the truth. Jeong-o carefully started speaking in a relatively calm voice.
“Can you listen to my story? It might be a bit of a shock to Oppa.”
* After Eun-bi left, Youngmi's convulsions didn't stop for a long time. No way. It can't be. It won't be.
‘That can't be. It must be someone with the same name.’
Youngmi, who couldn't sleep and paced busily back and forth in the hallway with her cell phone tightly in her hand, eventually called Ji-heon's secretary in the middle of the night.
[Yes. Ma'am.]
Ji-heon's secretary responded immediately to Youngmi's call.
“Secretary Yoon. You're off work, right? I'm sorry. I have something I'm curious about. Is there an employee named Lee Jeong-o in the company? Can you send me a picture of that employee right now?”
[Yes. I understand.]
The secretary responded to Youngmi's request without complaint. A little later, Youngmi's cell phone rang. It was a picture sent by the secretary. Youngmi pressed the screen with trembling fingertips. The picture appeared. How could this be! As if she had met a grim reaper, Youngmi's face froze after confirming the picture. That child from 7 years ago. That child who was said to be the daughter of a single mother. The face of that girl, Lee Jeong-o, who was so obsessed with her son, was captured on the cell phone screen.
‘Then that seven-year-old child is……!’
