Chapter 80
80. Gift 2022.02.02.
Ji-heon answered as if it were obvious.
“Is it Lee Jung-oh?”
“What?”
Wow. Jeong Ji-heon is such an idiot. He doesn't seem like it, and he often looks smart when he's working, but when it's just the two of them, he seems surprisingly simple.
“Why am I a gift? I'm a person.”
His eyes, faced with a difficult task, belatedly glazed over. No, Lee Jung-oh is the most precious person in the world to me, like a gift... Ji-heon couldn't even guess what she was trying to give him. He also had a desire to decide the gift according to his own wishes.
“But you said it's a really good gift.”
Besides Lee Jung-oh, what else is so great? If it's not you, I don't need anything right now.
“It is really good.”
“What is it?”
A gift that isn't Lee Jung-oh. With little curiosity, Ji-heon asked sullenly. Jeong-o deeply bowed her head as if to enter inside, rummaging through her bag. Her hand stopped inside the bag. She had found the gift. Seeing her expression, blooming like a person receiving a gift even though she was the one giving it, he also suddenly became curious about what he hadn't been curious about. What on earth could it be?
“Ta-da.”
Following her, he raised the corners of his lips, and Jeong-o held a photo right up to his eyes. Ji-heon took the photo from her. So, this was it. Seven years ago. A photo taken at the restaurant 'The Crown' in Australia.
“I deleted all our photos a long time ago. I got one thanks to the restaurant owner.”
“Haa. I, because of this photo……”
He sighed, but he couldn't get angry. The two people in the photo looked as affectionate as siblings and even seemed somewhat alike. After getting off the elevator, he kept fiddling with the photo for a long time, so Jeong-o asked.
“Why? Don't you like it?”
“No.”
“……”
“The me in the photo looks happy.”
I smiled like this. I was someone who could smile like this. Even in his hidden past, which he thought was empty and therefore not worth remembering, such a bright smile lived.
“Oppa was traveling in Australia at that time, but he canceled all his subsequent plans and rented an apartment to stay in Melbourne. Until he returned to Korea.”
Ji-heon quietly nodded. He had once looked through the records of his trip to Australia seven years ago. Melbourne seemed to be the last destination, but he was puzzled because the record of staying at a hotel in Melbourne was only for three days. He had been curious about where he stayed for the following three weeks, but that was what happened. He didn't remember, but he thought he could guess the reason. He didn't want to break up with you. He must have canceled the rest of his trip because he wanted to be with you longer. I guess I also fell in love with you at first sight back then. To Ji-heon, who was lost in sentiment and couldn't say anything, Jeong-o held out another gift.
“And, you'll be even happier if you see this.”
A real gift that she had desperately wanted to give him for a long time.
“I brought the history of Yena.”
It was a USB memory card containing photos of Yena. Jeong-o and Ji-heon sat on the living room sofa and looked through Yena's photos together on the large TV screen. Jeong-o had organized the photos well, so Ji-heon was able to see Yena's growth process in chronological order. Jeong-o had seen the photos dozens of times, but it was Ji-heon's first time, so it took a long time to flip through each photo. Jeong-o wondered if they could see all the photos today. Ji-heon couldn't take his eyes off even the ugly photos that made him doubt whether it was a newborn baby or a red sweet potato. There were many videos as well as photos. Yena crying, Yena laughing, Yena babbling, Yena rolling over... All sorts of lovely images of Yena captivated Ji-heon's attention and wouldn't let go. When Yena laughed, Ji-heon laughed with her, and when Yena cried, Ji-heon felt like crying too. No, he felt like crying at every moment. Before he knew it, a film of tears welled up, blurring his vision. Ji-heon pulled a box of tissues close to him.
“Yena received a lot of love. Mom loved her a lot in Oppa's place.”
Jeong-o said, flipping through a photo of the restaurant owner in Gunsan and one-year-old Yena together.
“The restaurant ladies all adored her like their own granddaughter. When she cried, the ladies would take turns holding her and playing with her. That's why our Yena learned to talk quickly and is so sociable.”
Ms. Lee Guk-soon told Ji-heon not to hate himself or blame himself, but he couldn't help but regret missing all those beautiful moments. If he could, he wanted to go into the photo and hug Yena tightly. But the child would have been even cuter and prettier outside the photo... Imagining the moments that weren't recorded in the photos, his eyes were constantly watering. In the midst of all that, the photos suddenly stopped.
“Huh? Didn't I bring all the photos?”
Jeong-o moved closer to the TV and looked through the folders in the USB. Then she sighed deeply. There had been a mistake.
“I left my seat while transferring the files in the middle. I guess the computer froze. I'll bring them again. Sorry, sorry.”
“No, it's okay. If you had brought everything, I wouldn't have been able to sleep for days. Let's watch what we saw again.”
At Ji-heon's suggestion, Jeong-o replayed the photo files, but this time, a new photo came up instead of the first one. There were a few photos separately in the folder. It was an ultrasound photo of Yena during her fetal period.
“Ah, this is a photo of our Yena when she was in my belly.”
Jeong-o didn't go to the hospital until she was over 15 weeks pregnant. She was scared to go alone, so she told her mom and started preparing. For Jeong-o, it was like yesterday, six years ago, the day she first met Yena. Jeong-o checked Yena's appearance with a 3D ultrasound. The baby, building a house inside her mother's body, moving her small arms and legs, and steadfastly enduring her small world, was so admirable and lovely. It was as if she was whispering, 'Mom, I'm here. Mom, you're not alone.' It was the comfort of life that Jeong-o first confirmed. Recalling that time, Jeong-o's heart also became wet. Ji-heon, who had even checked the appearance of the fetus, came closer to Jeong-o.
“It must have been really hard.”
“……”
“Thank you.”
It wasn't an appreciation for the cute Yena, but gratitude towards Jeong-o. Ji-heon, sitting close to Jeong-o and crossing his legs, pulled her waist closer. His gentle and calm low voice resonated softly nearby, as if trying to comb her hair. His voice was gentle, but his lips were not. While a few deep kisses, which he couldn't do when Yena was around, passed, something even less gentle suddenly touched her lower abdomen.
As their lips parted, he repeated the same words again.
“Thank you, really.”
“For someone who's grateful, your hands seem a bit naughty?”
Jeong-o pointed out with a smile. Even in the midst of that, her upper body was leaning down, following the direction he was covering her.
“That's because you don't know how truly naughty you are.”
“……”
“This is a reward.”
Eventually, her head touched the floor. Ji-heon stared for a long time, as if admiring her tantalizingly revealed slender waist. As if trying to confirm the place where the child had stayed. And the moment his large hand, which wrapped around her flat stomach, tried to move further up. The phone vibrated. Jeong-o jumped up and ran to where she had left her bag. Ji-heon couldn't stop her.
“It's Mom, Mom.”
Since she had entrusted her young daughter to her mother, she couldn't relax for a moment. In fact, she was on standby so that she could run to Yena whenever she called.
“Hello.”
[Are you at the company?]
Guk-soon's voice came from the other side. She sounded a little tired.
“Yeah, yeah. Did you meet your friends well? Where are you sleeping tonight?”
[I met my friends well, and I'm going home now. I'm almost there.]
“To Seoul? Why?”
[The child won't sleep in Gunsan. She can't leave her mom to sleep alone. Oh, my. She doesn't even think about her grandmother's suffering. Who did she take after to be such a filial daughter?]
Guk-soon complained as if she was at a loss. Jeong-o blankly hung up the phone.
“Yena is being stubborn about not sleeping in Gunsan, so she's coming home. She's almost here.”
“……I should go.”
Ji-heon also got up from his seat. The destiny of parents who have to run to their child when they call. Even in the midst of that, Ji-heon's heart swelled as he thought of Yena's cute face, whining that she wanted to go home.
“Let's go quickly.”
Thinking about it, he wanted to see her even more. * Eun-yeop couldn't stand it. Ms. Jang Young-mi and Driver Choi didn't answer the phone either. He couldn't help but suspect that they had blocked him. How much time had he devoted to Jeong Ji-heon, how much had he invested, and they were going to ruin his efforts like this. He was furious at Lee Jung-oh and Chae Eun-bi. Eun-yeop couldn't stay still, so he went directly to Ms. Jang Young-mi's mansion. He was friendly with the security guard at the entrance, so there was no problem getting inside, but they wouldn't open the door inside the building, so he had to stand there for a long time. After about 10 minutes, the person who opened the door herself was Ms. Jang Young-mi.
“Mother, how have you been?”
“You don't need to come in. I'll go out.”
Youngmi answered Eun-yeop, who greeted her politely, in a cold tone, unlike before. Youngmi, who came out of the house, crossed her arms and asked.
“What's going on?”
“I called you about the real estate issue, but I couldn't reach you, so I came because I was worried.”
Hearing the polite answer, her heart wavered. But because of what her son had said, she couldn't let her guard down. Youngmi ended up revealing her frustrated feelings because she resented Eun-yeop.
“Let me ask you just one thing. Did you really manipulate the paternity test results?”
“What are you talking about, Mother?”
Eun-yeop still had a clueless expression. If Eun-yeop really didn't know, the words 'paternity test' could rather cause trouble.
“Please tell me exactly, Mother. I can’t answer until I know what you’re talking about.”
Youngmi was at a loss at Eun-yeop's questioning.
“A paternity test? Does that mean Ji-heon isn’t the Chairman’s biological son?”
“What nonsense!”
“Then did your hidden child appear? Or Ji-heon's hidden child?”
“……That’s enough. Just go. If our Ji-heon finds out, you’ll be even more humiliated.”
Youngmi waved her hand as if refusing to talk to Eun-yeop. Eun-yeop's eyes were filled with determination. Jeong Ji-heon knows everything. Lee Jung-oh and Jeong Ji-heon knew everything after all. Then…….
“Mother, I know everything you’ve done.”
Eun-yeop had no choice but to use other tactics.
“Seven years ago, you even used Seong-woo to break up Lee Jung-oh and Ji-heon.”
“……”
“I didn’t want to know about this either, but Seong-woo is my friend, so I happened to find out.”
Eun-yeop clearly saw Youngmi's eyes widen. She had regained a favorable position. Eun-yeop nodded as if understanding Youngmi's feelings.
“I understand. A daughter-in-law like Lee Jung-oh is nothing but a disgrace to the family.”
“……”
“Now that Lee Jung-oh is sticking to Ji-heon, she’s made Eun-bi and Ji-heon break up. Eun-bi and Ji-heon were so good together. Eun-bi was so good to you too, Mother.”
In situations like this, a preemptive strike is always advantageous. She had to finish her work behind the scenes before Lee Jung-oh could bring back a falsified paternity test result.
“Ah, Lee Jung-oh was a single mother, wasn’t she? Is this paternity test related to Lee Jung-oh? Is Lee Jung-oh claiming to be raising Ji-heon's child? If so, Lee Jung-oh will somehow manipulate the paternity test results and bring them to you. She’ll do it over and over again until you believe her.”
Youngmi's clenched fist trembled.
“Mother and Ji-heon might end up raising a cuckoo’s chick for the rest of their lives.”
Youngmi was confused about what was true and what was false at Eun-yeop's bold statement.
